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    others ? And yet many turn from this picture because it is ' immoral . ' Let them turn back , remembering that nothing tends so much to immorality as ignorance . Endymion , too , by Girodet , would doubtless be treated by these immoral moralists as the Samaritan was treated by the Levite—a glance ^ and a passing by on the other side . The richly-robed have no dealings with the

    naked . And yet that picture is more than poetical—it is a poem . Usually we have seen the subject illustrated thus : Endymion sufficiently muscular for a life-guardsman , ( that is , a man whose business it is to take life away whenever his superior (?) chooses to order him , ) is fast asleep , with his head tucked under his arm , as a bird goes to roost with its head under its wing ; ( perhaps they mean to denote his aerial nature !) to him descends a sort of

    dancing damsel , fat , fair , and flourishing , with a star just above her head , as large as a saucer , ( inclusive of the beams emitted therefrom , ) to show that she means the moon ; that is to say , the stars come in the night , so does she , for there is no other earthly or heavenly reason for it ; and there ends the matter;—matter indeed , for where is the spirit ? Look on that picture—now on this . A figure scarcely too old , and quite sufficiently beautiful for the

    full-grown Cupid—we do not mean the little , silly , spoiled , mischievous urchin , but the young god who inspired the love of Psyche—sleeps in a bower . His upturned face , long , clustering , rich , raven locks , and lovely , listless limbs , bathed in a flood of moonlight , which has descended and still pours down from above , flashing through the twisted vine leaves , warm as if it were full summer / glowing as if it would burn a passage through the branches :

    The very sunshine by night . And the face beneath so beautiful , so happy , smiling in its sleep , as if dreaming of the fulness of love shining upon it . The whole picture is itself like a dream , a bright glimpse by night , caught from the old mythology , and fixed by the wonder-working magic of art . It has that creative power which always waits on genius . Thought chases thought through the mind ; image after image is suggested .

    But he—if love hath won him , Tho' conceal'd from the day , Night ' s deepest shade upon , him , Love will find out the way . ' Love and moonlight make sunshine for the heart . Though the night be dark , though man be weary , there is yet an unseen

    influence watching over him and working out his happiness , —the light of almighty love . How many pictures might be made from itl—a Jewish outline , a figure somewhat more suited to the Hebrew shepherd , and you have Jacob's dream . Upon that ladder of rays you have angels descending and ascending , their dazzling glory preventing those who gaze from tracing any distinct form . A bright way of escaping from the * strange fowl' who are flying up and down in Rembrandt ' s picture in the Dulwich gallery .

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    A National Gallery . 843

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1833, page 843, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2628/page/39/