34 Oil Pamilrig. 



But in our choice from the above, oi- any other work, \vi 

 are not bound, like cattle, to follow a leader; the fubjefts 

 unhandled are endlcfs ; thofe in the Bible abound from the 

 moft fimplc paftoral to fisch as are in tlie higheft degree fub- 

 lime. Befides, by exerting a proper degree of independence 

 we fliall not only be left free to aft, but thereby ftand the 

 greater chance to give oar works the chara£lcr of originality, 

 ^^'iik could be more mortifying than to have it faid that the 

 bed part r.f our pitlure was pitifully (loicn from another ? 

 This would render us like the poor animal when ftripped of his 

 borrowed cjuthes, in which he looked fo formidable, when be- 

 hold he pr jved a mere afs ! Such a conduft cannot be jufiified 

 by any example found in a great mafter, whatever proofs he 

 had given of his power- of invention, and it w ould be equally 

 unpardonable in an artifl; of lefs celebritv. Nothing can be 

 fo contemptible as that poornefs of fpirit that goes limping 

 after another, crawling over obje£ls like a Aug, and leaving 

 nothing but ftime behind : he never can be great that dt)es not 

 greatly dare. The mind, acting from its own inipulfe, will 

 eneruize with more vigour than it poffibly could bv feeing 

 objefls through the medium of another's feeliiigs. He who 

 imitates the manner of another debafes himfelf, by giving 

 his company to the Cervant when the miftrefs is ready to- en- 

 tertain him. 



Prints and drawings are nfeful to pleafe the eye or enrich 

 our thoughts, or, by having them before us, to keen up the 

 fervour of the mind while employed on fimilar works cf our 

 own : then it is we may catch a grace from a figure, a grand 

 or beautiful caft of drapery, or a thought that may give energy 

 or brilliancy to our own, and that without copying. Collec- 

 tions of good prints are highly valuable to the artift ; they 

 add a noblenefs to his conceptions, aud raife and warm his 

 imagination : fo do fine defcriptions in hillorv and poetiv. 

 The prints after Raphael, M. Angelo, and the Caracci, will 

 afford a fund of entertainment and in(1:ru6l:ion ; and fine in- 

 ftances of forms in the back -grounds of Titian and Paul Vero- 

 nefe will be found with occafional oocxl compofition. Rnbens's 

 prints bv Bolfwert will be highly worthy attention, as well 

 as thofe after the mod celebrated French and Brilidi artifis. 



We fliould be careful not to fuller our purfuits to be inter- 

 rupted by vulgar opinions or prejudices, but purftie our ftudies 

 full of the conviftion, " that patience and perfeverance will 

 lead to perfeftion." Nothing can be more abfurd than ta 

 imagine one perfon too lively for fuch a fludy, another too 

 £.Tave, or a third too fober or honeft for a genius : the iaft is, 

 if we fuifer the opinions of others to afi'cel our choice or ove?- 



po'A er 



