denser, while one by one the arrows drop from his hand. The thought of
"Life's Illusions" and "Fata Morgana" is again set forth in "Sic Transit
Gloria Mundi," where we see the body of a king whose crown, and all that
represents to him the glory of the world, is left at death. It is not,
however, in Watts' conception essential glory that passes away, but the
_Glory of the World_. Upon the dark curtain that hangs behind the
shrouded figure are words that represent his final wisdom, "What I
spent, I had; what I saved, I lost; what I gave, I have."

[Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE GOOD SAMARITAN

(At the Manchester Art Gallery)

This is an early picture, painted in the year 1852 and
presented to the city of Manchester by the artist in honour of
the prison philanthropist, a native of that city.]

These I call "Pessimistic paintings," because they represent the true
discovery ever waiting to be made by man, that the sum total of all that
can be gained in man's external life--wealth, fame, strength, and
power--that these inevitably pass from him. To know this, to see it
clearly, to accept it, is the happiness of the pessimist, who
thenceforward fixes his hope and bends his energies to the realisation
of other and higher goods. In this he becomes an optimist, for this is
the pursuit, as Watts never ceases to teach, in which man can and does
attain his goal. Thus our prophet-painter, having seen and known and
felt all this, having tested it in the personal and intimate life,
brings to a triumphant close his great series, where positive rather
than negative teaching is given.