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Agent  No 3   18

prevent from producing a response from his own nature. I thought at least it would be worth while to see such a representation of the ideal motherhood as this fact indicated this to be - a subject [[strikethrough]] ed [[/strikethrough]] so often attempted and so seldom really well represented. I went, and I must say I was astonished and delighted, not only with the beauty of the mother and babe, but equally with the beautiful personifications and natural representations of principals and conditions which to the Herald man was only "allegorical and metaphysical balderdash". I found the artists conception was as comprehensive as it was beautiful—that her picture was at one an enbodied poem, lecture and treatise on philosophy. The latter part she showed she had well studied, as was evinced by her answers to several criticisms which I made on it, for I soon perceived that I was talking to a real artist who would welcome rather than be offended at criticism. One of my criticisms and her answer I will mention. I suggested that she had represented falsehood as a powerful muscular demon &c whereas I thought he should be represented as malignant, but weak cowardly and embecile. She

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