I did as desired, and brought the picture to the side of my friend.
Poor Percival! His paintings are framed now; and the one which I am about to describe hangs opposite to the table at which I am writing. He bequeathed to me the sketches which were the children of his brain, his hand, his heart.
To avoid needless repetition of the objectionable "I" in my brief descriptions of Percival's picture gallery, I shall make my recollections take the form of dialogue: except where what my friend called "A Legend" comes in, which I will copy from the MS * left by the author.
* Manuscript
It is impossible, however, to give on paper the charm of Percival's voice; the lighting up of his countenance; his soul-absorption in his subjects. My description looks to me like the colourless photograph of a window of fine stained glass; the beauty lost; the bare outline of the pattern depicted.
But it may be that friendship for the departed "casts a halo" over works on which he so lovingly wrought. Percival did not himself set a high value on his pictures; though their subjects had a fascination for his mind. He often lamented his want of finish, and said that he could not delineate as an artist what he might dream as a poet.
The Passage through the Red Sea.
Seyton. Why, Percival, this strange, weird production of yours must have been the outcome of a nightmare!
Percival. The idea of it came to my mind during a night somewhat more painful and restless than usual.
Seyton. Let me see what I can make out of it. Here, in the centre, the first object to catch the eye is the skeleton of some huge leviathan; some monster unknown to modern science, who might have taken his pastime in the deep waters, or lashed the surface of the sea into foam in the days of Noah. Half of the picture is in light, and half in shadow, for in upper air hangs the pillar of cloud and fire; thus one half of the skeleton reflects the ruddy glare, which gilds the bare ribs, and partly reveals the vast proportions of the sea monster; while darkness on the other hand conceals the length of the leviathan, as he lies on his bed of sea-weed, green and brown, with the glimmering glassy wall of water as a background behind him.