Morris, William: An address delivered by William Morris at the distribution of prizes to students of the Birmingham Municipal School of Art on Feb. 21, 1894 (London, 1898)

of the reward of fresh pleasure of the eyes that will
accompany every casting off of the follies which
still beset us*
But to/day I will not say much of those things
which the eyes bid us hate, all the more as this is
a festive occasion, and as also one ought to have
more to say on the things which the eyes bid us to
love, and which are less understood than the hor/
rors above/said* Of these things which we of the
present day ought especially to turn our eyes to for
pleasure, there are, I take it, two kinds: the beau/
ties of Nature, & the beauties of Art* Of the first,
considered purely by themselves, I will say little:
mainly this, that our fault in respect of regarding
these is that for the most part we refuse to pay at/
tention to anything in Nature which is not tre/
mendous and exciting; it must bean Alpinepass,
or a rocky sea shore, or the richness Sc luxury of an
Italian landscape, or at the least a piece of mourn
tain in Scotland or Wales: less than that will
scarcely draw our eyes to beholding* Now, who
would not be moved at such scenes as these ? Yet,
I must tell you that, if you can get no pleasure out
of the sight of a Warwickshire meadow, or the
hedgerows and little waving hills of my native
Essex, or the flat fields and limestone banks of
my adopted Oxfordshire/Berkshire land, I say,
if these be nothing to you I doubt your capacity
for really seeing the huge Swiss mountain and
valley scenery, or the flank of the Apennine, or
9

Birming/
ham School
of Art, 1894*