same idea is repeated in the chain of draped women who are emerging from
the watery deep; at first they are swept along in isolation, then they
fly in closer company, next they dance and finally walk in orderly
procession. But Chaos, for all this, is a unity; of all material forms
it is the most ancient form; Cosmos however is the long-drawn tale
beginning with the day when "The Spirit of God brooded on the face of
the waters." Cosmos might have been Watts' synthetic pictorial
philosophy; Herbert Spencer with his pen, and he with his brush, as it
were, should labour side by side. But this was not to be; the Directors
of the North-Western Railway declined the artist's generous offer, and
he had to get his "Cosmos" painted by degrees. On the whole, perhaps, we
should be thankful that the railway company liberated Watts from this
self-imposed task. We remember that Dante in his exile set out to write
"Il Convivio," a Banquet of so many courses that one might tremble at
the prospect of sitting down to it; the four treatises we have are
interesting, though dry as dust; but if Dante had finished his Banquet,
he might never have had time for his "Divine Comedy"; so perhaps, after
all, we shall be well content to be without Watts' "Cosmos," remembering
what we have gained thereby. Besides, the continuous and spontaneous
self-revelation of an artist or a poet is sometimes truer than a rigid
predetermined plan.

[Illustration: PLATE IV.--THOMAS CARLYLE

(At the South Kensington Museum)

This canvas was painted in 1868, and is the earlier of the two
portraits of the famous historian painted by Watts. It formed
part of the Foster Bequest. It is interesting to compare this
with the painting in the National Portrait Gallery.]