Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/87

SKETCH. Ixxvii The difference between the two men was simply this: the sailor was a man whose genius led him instinctively to the work of exploration^ and who devoted himself to it^ not for the sake of profit or reward — ^he got neither — ^but because he loved the work for its own sake^ and saw in it a straight road to immor- tality. The artist was nothing more than a commercial gentle- man^ who knew too well that he could make neither money nor reputation out of any Views of New Holland he might publish in London. There was no market for them there, the British public — ^with the exception of a few men like Banks and Phillip — ^having no taste for colonial scenery. No wonder, then, that he looked upon the wreck of the Porpoise as a happy release, because it put an end to the dismal expedition he had foolishly joined, and gave him a chance of getting away to brighter scenes — Ceylon and India — ^where subjects of intense interest in England, full of colour, life, and movement, were waiting for the artist's touch. Digitized by Google