portraiture. The first sketches of Paul Veronese, the first patterns of
the Gobelin tapestry, are not to be criticised for the sake of pointing
out their inevitable and too manifest imperfections. They are to be
carefully studied as the earliest efforts of the hand which painted the
Marriage at Cana, of the art which taught the rude fabrics made to be
trodden under foot to rival the glowing canvas of the great painters.
None of Motley's subsequent writings give such an insight into his
character and mental history. It took many years to train the as yet
undisciplined powers into orderly obedience, and to bring the unarranged
materials into the organic connection which was needed in the
construction of a work that should endure. There was a long interval
between his early manhood and the middle term of life, during which the
slow process of evolution was going on. There are plants which open
their flowers with the first rays of the sun; there are others that wait
until evening to spread their petals. It was already the high noon of
life with him before his genius had truly shown itself; if he had not
lived beyond this period, he would have left nothing to give him a
lasting name.




V.

1841-1842. AEt. 27-28.

FIRST DIPLOMATIC APPOINTMENT, SECRETARY OF LEGATION TO THE RUSSIAN
MISSION.--BRIEF RESIDENCE AT ST. PETERSBURG.--LETTER TO HIS MOTHER.--
RETURN.