On Pain ting. 12? 



Little minds will ever be employed in the purfuit of trifles, 

 while the elevated foul will feize mountains in its grafp : 



Who that from Alpine heights his lab'ring eye 



Shoots round the wide horizon to furvey 



"Nilus or Ganges rolling his bright wave 



Through mountains, plains, through empires black with fhade, 



And continents, of iand, will turn his gaze 



To mark rhe windings of a fcanty rill 



That murmurs at his feet ? Akenside. 



Wifdom is the parent of tafte and virtue, the offspring of 

 tafte is pleafure — of virtue, happinefs. A man without tafte 

 may be faid to be without piety, as by not feeling he is in- 

 capable of offerjhg that praife which refults from an admira- 

 tion of the beauties of creation ; he has a natural difrelim for 

 what is good ; he becomes the enemy of all the world ; he 

 feels not for a relative, a friend, or fociety : the law of the 

 land is his gofpel, and his attorney regulates his conference; 

 he lives without love, and dies without pity. 



We have two ways open to us to acquire a good tafte ; the 

 firft and mod difficult is by a reference to nature, the fecond 

 is through the medium of art. But, as the former would 

 prove too difficult a talk, we mult therefore firft diligently 

 apply ourfelves to difcover it in the works of the molt cele- 

 brated artifts, and thereby fit ourfelves to purfue the fame 

 inquiry in nature. 



Befides a perfection of judgment, we have alfo a truth of 

 hand to attain. To this end, having feleitcd an object worthy 

 our attention, we are bound to imitate it with all the fidelity 

 we are mafters of; and, as each mafter has in him excel- 

 lencies not to be found in any other, we muft avoid a par- 

 tiality, or we (hall lofe the benefit to be derived from them all. 

 Thus we (hall obtain a mafs of information not to be derived 

 from any particular one. Hence the benefit refulting from 

 viewing galleries of pictures, as the various mafters become 

 correctives to each other, and truth refults from their general 

 teftimony. The company and conversation of men well in- 

 formed in the arts will contribute to improve our tafte, be- 

 caufe artifts form opinions on the works of different mafters 

 according to their peculiar manner of thinking, which will 

 naturally furnifh us with hints which we did not attend to, 

 and enable us to enjoy other men's parts and reflections as 

 well as our own. Information from this fource muft not, 

 however, be generally expected; the artifts are not all wife 

 or liberal', many produce an effect without knowigN^the 

 caufe, fome are morofe and referved, others unwilling to 

 4 teacfc 



