[373] Element, subject-matter would be really a better word.
[374] Kein bloss quantatives. They are not like a heap of stones, for example, but they possess relations which qualify each other, as of course the heap of stones will do in so far as it is distinguished by diversity of colour.
[375] I think this must be the meaning of the words noch ah blass aufgelöste Gegensätze auftreten.
[376] Grau is the word Hegel uses, but I think he must use it in the sense I have translated it. Gray in itself is a very beautiful compound, and the subtlety of its use is that which is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the very greatest colourists such as Turner and Velazquez.
[377] I am not quite sure that Hegel means this exactly, but it is no doubt what an artist would mean and in water-colour especially it is of the utmost importance. Compare the flesh colour of the artists such as our Watts or Titian with that of Leighton. One of the most marvellous examples I know is a small picture of Titian, the subject of which is Herodias with the head of John the Baptist, in one of the palaces at Rome. But a modern critic would, apart from the question of dirtiness, about which there can be no doubt, say that Hegel insists too much, precisely as Ruskin does, on the superiority of the pure single colour.
[378] Hegel appears to be himself slightly incorrect here. No doubt a string may ring false if it is not tightly fastened or if too slack or too long it may produce sounds the human ear is unable to appreciate. But primarily what musicians mean by a string ringing false, with wolf notes and so on, is due to the bad material or false composition of the string itself.
[379] Disparat, i.e., composed of different elements, not merely separate in position.
[380] I think the expression ein blosses an-sich must mean this here. Of course the usual meaning is that of something potential, unrealized, but here I think it rather signifies "not objectively or really valid." No doubt in relation to the heads of discussion it is potential also.
[381] Die traurige Bünkelsängerei. I think the adjective must here rather refer to the contrast than to the nature of the poetry. I presume the Minnesingers are referred to.
[382] I do not know what book this is, nor have I ever heard of a hero with the name of Otnith.