in this figure of Love by Mr. Stanhope, and the whole picture is full of
grace, though there is, perhaps, too great a luxuriance of colour, and it
would have been a relief had the girl been dressed in pure white.

Mr. Frederick Burton, of whom all Irishmen are so justly proud, is
represented by a fine water-colour portrait of Mrs. George Smith; one
would almost believe it to be in oils, so great is the lustre on this
lady's raven-black hair, and so rich and broad and vigorous is the
painting of a Japanese scarf she is wearing. Then as we turn to the east
wall of the gallery we see the three great pictures of Burne-Jones, the
Beguiling of Merlin, the Days of Creation, and the Mirror of Venus. The
version of the legend of Merlin's Beguiling that Mr. Burne-Jones has
followed differs from Mr. Tennyson's and from the account in the Morte
d'Arthur. It is taken from the Romance of Merlin, which tells the story
in this wise:

It fell on a day that they went through the forest of Breceliande, and
found a bush that was fair and high, of white hawthorn, full of
flowers, and there they sat in the shadow. And Merlin fell on sleep;
and when she felt that he was on sleep she arose softly, and began her
enchantments, such as Merlin had taught her, and made the ring nine
times, and nine times the enchantments.

. . . . .

And then he looked about him, and him seemed he was in the fairest
tower of the world, and the most strong; neither of iron was it
fashioned, nor steel, nor timber, nor of stone, but of the air,
without any other thing; and in sooth so strong it is that it may
never be undone while the world endureth.