The oiled paper of the skylight hung down in black, sooty, furred slips. The damp here and there had free access; and it is certain that while many of the pictures ripened and improved, others were cracked, warped, chilled, and seriously injured. Both the "Hero and Leander," and "The Building of Carthage," suffered. Mr. E. Godall tells me that in one picture particularly, a great white button of paint that had stood for the sun had dropped off.
'"I think some one has picked it off intentionally," he could not help saying.
'"I think he has," replied Turner, quite unmoved.'
Turner was 'quite unmoved.' As he grew older he cared less and less for the things that most people deem so important. His golden visions did not depend upon material accessories. May we not find a hint of his almost inarticulate inner life in that little red book unearthed by Thornbury from his studio, where, amid notes about chemistry, memoranda as to colours, and prophylactics against the Maltese plague, are certain scraps of verse, something about 'Anna's Kiss,' 'A Look Back,' 'A Toilsome Dream,' 'Human Joy, Ecstasy, and Hope'?
But I am anticipating. We are still in the year 1812 and Turner is preparing 'A Frosty Morning' for exhibition, and considering one of his earliest series of book illustrations,—The Southern Coast of England, which was probably begun about 1812, although the first seven plates, including 'St. Michael's Mount,' 'Poole,' and 'Land's End,' were not published until 1814. The last issue was in 1826. De Wint, Clennell and Prout were also contributors to The Southern Coast. Turner was to receive seven and a half guineas apiece for the drawings, which was increased later to ten and twelve guineas. But in spite of that advance he became dissatisfied and broke with W. B. Cooke, the line engraver and publisher of The Southern Coast. Business relations with Turner were not easy.
[CHAPTER XX]
1813: AGED THIRTY-EIGHT
HOAR FROST AT SUNRISE THAT HAS VANISHED FROM 'A FROSTY MORNING'
Turner was anxious about his health this year, if we may judge from an entry in the 'Chemistry and Apuleia' Sketch-Book detailing the symptoms of the Maltese plague, and the cure. A 'receipt for covering Linen to make it impenetrable to water, etc.,' follows, then 'Study of Sky,' 'River with Hills on Either Side,' notes as to varnishes and sketches of nymphs dancing, showing that his anxiety about the symptoms of the Maltese plague had passed away.
In this year he exhibited the attractive and popular 'A Frosty Morning: Sunrise,' with a quotation from Thomson's Seasons: 'The rigid hoar-frost melts before his beam'; also 'The Deluge' with some lines from Paradise Lost:—