a private person; he disliked public functions and fled from them if
there were any attempt to draw attention to him. His habits of work were
consistent with these unusual traits. At sunrise he was at his easel.
During the hot months of summer he was hard at work in his London
studio, leaving for the country only for a few weeks during foggy
weather.

At the age of sixty-nine Watts married Miss Mary Fraser-Tytler, with
whom he journeyed to Egypt, painting there a study of the "Sphinx," one
of the cleverest of his landscapes. Three years after his return, he
settled at Limnerslease, Compton, in Surrey, where he took great
interest in the attempt to revive industrial art among the rural
population.

Twice, in 1885 and 1894, the artist refused, for private reasons, the
baronetcy that other artists had accepted. He lived henceforth and died
the untitled patriot and artist, George Frederick Watts.




II

THE MAN AND THE MESSENGER


Having given in the preceding pages the briefest possible outline of the
life of Watts as a man amongst men, we are now able to come to closer
quarters. He was essentially a messenger--a teacher, delivering to the
world, in such a manner that his genius and temperament made possible,