Page:Dr Stiggins, His Views and Principles.pdf/109

 of it, an unsavoury one. What I say is that the artist who wishes to succeed in England must win the affections of the English People, and the English People are, as has been often observed, Puritan to the backbone. Consider the popularity of such pictures as the "Railway Station," the "Derby Day," and that eloquent series called, I think, "The Road to Ruin." Note the humanity, the appeal to our best instincts in all of them, the gratification of that eminently worthy instinct that demands that every picture should tell a story. Note, too, the moral appeal; who, however thoughtless, or, it may be, criminal, would wish to go to the great gambling carnival after gazing at Mr. Frith's vivid picture? Take a more modern example, the wonderful "Doctor"; how it tends to raise our opinion of the whole medical profession, to excite our sympathies for the anxious parents! Take that class of pictures which are often so admirably reproduced in the Christmas numbers of the illustrated journals. The pictures in question may not be,