Lost, presently, amidst bankless, boundless marsh
--soaking in slow shallowness, as it will, hither and thither, listless
among the poisonous reeds and unresisting slime--it is free also. We may
choose which liberty we like,--the restraint of voiceful rock, or the
dumb and edgeless shore of darkened sand. Of that evil liberty which men
are now glorifying and proclaiming as essence of gospel to all the earth,
and will presently, I suppose, proclaim also to the stars, with
invitation to them out of their courses,--and of its opposite continence,
which is the clasp and 'chrusee perone' of Aglaia's cestus, we must try
to find out something true. For no quality of Art has been more powerful
in its influence on public mind; none is more frequently the subject of
popular praise, or the end of vulgar effort, than what we call "Freedom."
It is necessary to determine the justice or injustice of this popular
praise.
144. I said, a little while ago, that the practical teaching of the
masters of Art was summed by the O of Giotto. "You may judge my
masterhood of craft," Giotto tells us, "by seeing that I can draw a
circle unerringly.
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