STUDY XII. 65 



i iliall adduce but one example more to my 

 prefent purpofe, taken from Poujfin, an Artiil mod 

 admirable for his fkill in graphic compofition) but 

 Nvhofe colours have fuffered confiderably from the 

 hand of time. The piece to which I refer is his 

 pidure of the rape of the Sabine women. While 

 the Roman foldiery are carrying off by force, in 

 their arms, the terrified young women of the Sa- 

 bines, there is a Roman officer, who is defirous of 

 getting pofTeffion of one extremely beautiful as 

 well as young. She has taken refuge in the arms 

 of her mother. He dares not prefume to offer vio- 

 lence to her, but feems to addrcfs the mother with 

 all the ardour of love, tempered with refped; his 

 countenance thus fpeaks : " She will be happy 

 " with me ! Let me be indebted for her to love, 

 *' and not to fear ! I am lefs eager to rob you of 

 ^' a daughter, than to give you a fon." It is thus 

 that, while he conforms himfelf, in dreffing his 

 charaders, to the fimplicity of the age, which ren- 

 dered all conditions nearly fimilar, he has diftin- 

 guilhed the officer from the foldier, not by his 

 garb, but by his manners. He has caught, as he 

 ulually does, the moral charader of his fubjed, 

 which produces a very different effed from that of 

 mere cojîume, 



Ï (îiould have been extremely happy had we been 



favoured, from the pencil of the fame ingenious 



VOL. IV. F Artifr, 



