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have failed. We want sentiment and a connected history in 

 his groups, with an association which carries the mind beyond, 

 or out of, the picture. Perhaps much of this feeling has arisen 

 from the times in which he lived, and the country in which he 

 painted. If he had had the advantages which the present times 

 afford, his works would doubtless have been without a faidt. 



In Wilkie we have much of the charm of silvery colouring 

 and fine painting,- with an equally clear and natural effect, 

 which we see in the works of Teniers, while his groups are 

 better disposed, and selected with a greater degree of refine- 

 ment ; the subjects which he chooses for his pictures of com- 

 mon life have a higher aim, and in many instances convey 

 a moral lesson. If, like his great predecessor, he paints a 

 village festival, there is an association beyond the scene of 

 action; we are led out of the picture, not by any direct 

 means, but by a delicate indication, leaving the mind its full 

 scope to fill up the drama. He has also taken a much higher 

 range of art, and displayed qualities of a superior order, with 

 an elevation of thought surpassing Teniers. The expression 

 in the figures of Mulready, united to truth of colour, effect, 

 and all those combinations which I have alluded to before, are 

 so pre-eminently successful, that if seen their unsurpassed 

 merit must be admitted. 



If we compare the works of Brower, Ostade, and other 

 eminent Dutch Painters, with Webster and Praser, it would 

 be to display the superior power of our own countrymen in 

 those qualities to which I have alluded in Wilkie and Teniers. 



There are many others, whose names and works could be 

 brought into comparison, such as Paul Potter and Cooper, 

 Hobbima and Lienull, with varied advantages. Potter and 

 Cooper so nearly resemble each other, and are so equal in 

 point of merit, that we may congratulate ourselves on posses- 

 sing an artist who, while he is far from being a copyist, has 

 dared to compete with a name which the common consent of 

 well-informed minds has fixed as a standard of excellence. 

 In manv of the old masters nature has nothing to do with 



