Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/249

Rh one of his assistants. But the mere mechanical work of engraving was not enough for such an original spirit: he must draw as well as engrave, create as well as copy; and therefore he frequently drew those designs which he afterwards produced with his graver, as the frontispieces and vignettes of books. Although he abandoned the graving-tool for the pencil, as soon as circumstances permitted the exchange, he did not lose sight of the early art which had formed the chief stepping-stone of his progress; and, accordingly, he etched with his own hand the "Monograms of Man," and the Illustrations of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner," and just previous to his death, had purposed to do the same for his designs expressive of the emotions produced by the contemplations of sidereal astronomy. Still, however, his love of painting so completely predominated, that among his early sketches there were two that especially indicated the ardour of his aspirations. The one was inscribed, "Character of David Scott, 1826," in which he was delineated as seated at the engraving table, with his hands clenched in despair. Another, of a similar bearing, dated 1828, represents him with the engraving tools thrown away, and the palette pressed to his heart. But he did not confine himself to aspirations merely; on the contrary, he accompanied them with that laborious diligent practice for which his life was distinguished to the close. Having associated himself with the young lovers of art, with whom Edinburgh even already had begun to abound, he formed with them the Life Academy in 1827, in which, as the name indicates, the living model was the subject of study and delineation. In the following year he attended Dr. Munro's class of anatomy, and made a short visit to London, for the purpose of taking sketches in the National Gallery and the British Institution. Of the same date, also, was his first exhibited picture, entitled "The Hopes of Early Genius dispelled by Death." As may be supposed, it was a stern, Dante-like allegory, chiefly valuable for the indication it gave of the bent of the young artist's mind, and the struggle, already commenced, that was certain to lead to high excellence. His next, of a similar unearthly character, was the "Combat of Fingal with the Spirit of Lodi," on which a considerate friend remarked to him, "Shoot a lower aim; you speak a dead language." Following these were his "Adam and Eve singing their Morning Hymn," "The Death of Sappho," "Wallace defending Scotland," and "Monograms of Man;" and subsequently, "Lot," "Nimrod," "Sarpedon carried by Sleep and Death," and "Cain." These, and several other intermediate sketches, were produced between the years 1828 and 1832; and as most of them were sent to the exhibition, the talents of Mr. Scott, as an artist of high promise, were generally felt, although this feeling was mingled with much wonderment, and not a little misgiving as to the ultimate tendency of such fervid idealism. This inability of the public to sympathize in his views, and consequent tendency to disparage them, Scott, as might be expected, very keenly felt; and he thus writes of the subject in his journal: "Various are the causes that render my going abroad necessary. I lose myself in thinking over the journey, and what it may do. Everything I have yet attempted has been unsuccessful; so many disappointments make effort appear vain. What I must do is to cut off all recurrence to former efforts, except in so far as they may coincide with my later formed ideas of art, and to hold grimly on in the conscientious course. A great happiness it is that futurity is yet unseen and unmade; therein yet may be somewhat to answer my desires. Happy are those new hopes and wishes that still descend on us when all we value in ourselves is burned up and scattered!"