On Painting.^ 99 



penetration to apply a juftnefs of chara5:er, with patience^ 

 and induftry to carry him through the detail : in faft, his 

 nature (hould be I'd formed as to pofiefs the contrarieties of' 

 hot and cold ; that is, with the greateft vigour fliould be 

 united the grcated caution. 



O the jrcKlHke attribute of extending benefits beyond the 

 grave! \V here are now the anticnt heroes? Their names are 

 fcarcelv remembered, atid their mifchiefs have long ceafed tO 

 trouble; while the labours of a Homer, a Virgil, a Shake- 

 fpeare, and Milton, with a long lift of worthies, give bread 

 at prefent to thoufands ! 



Some one has well obferved, " The great end of books is 

 to fet the mind a-going:" all we can hope from our efforts 

 is, to raife in the nnnd that fpirit of inquiry that may ulti- 

 mately lead to an imitation of the great, the noble, or beau- 

 tiful :'all the reft is froth. 



It was their high notions of the art that led the old matters 

 to fuch an exalted perfcdion as to become the admiration of 

 the civilizL-d part of the world, and placed them among the 

 firft order of mortals, or thofe who have extended their ferviceS 

 beyond their being. 



Anger, hatred, and revenge, are paffions pofleffed by every 

 one in comrnon with the brute; but to underltand that in- 

 finitely remote point of perft-ftion which comtilutes the foun- 

 dation of true art, is the reward of tew. 



It is a misfortune for the art, that every one Imagines him- 

 felf a critic in painting; all are tried by their peers but the 

 poor painter : but let thofe who are in aft"c6led raptures at the 

 touch of a pencil, or the neatnefs of handling, recoiled they 

 are the inoft trifling and infignificant parts of the art; crili- 

 cifm fliould be general in all great works : it is a cominon 

 precept in art, that an attention to the whole fuperfedes all 

 coufideration for the parts *. 



In uit, ab nature, what afflfts our hearts 

 Is not the exaftnefs of peculiar parts; 

 'Tis not a lip or eye wc beauty call, 

 But the joint force and full reluk of all. 



Pope's Ejfay on CrU'idfm. 



* It muft not be underftood that the above precept goes to recommend 

 a negleft of the lubordinatc ptirts. Over-finithing (that is, the nicelv de- 

 fining thit form of each part of an objcft, as a hand, foot, &c.) is not one 

 of the faults of the Britifli Ichool. This fault, of want of care in making 

 out the part-., is by fomc imprpcrly afciibtd to fir Jofhua Keynoidsi. 

 That great man was not without his defers 5 hut wc, as rational bein>;s, 

 Ih-iuid avoid ihtm. It would uc a poor jurtilication for the pr:i(fticc ot a 

 vice, bccaufe wc (aw it in an.nlicr. It is much to be doubted, whether 

 the ptrfcdlions of a ijrcat maftcr will ever be properly ft It by the mere 

 imitator : the reverie is certain. 



G a Petty 



