106 On Painting. 



Petty criticlfm ftiould be puniflied with filent contempt. 

 "We might as well '•' hew blocks uf marble with a razor/' or 

 *' whiftie to mile-ftones," as attempt to convince fonie people. 

 There is an applaufe which is fuperior to all others, tliat is, 

 our own, from a conviftion of well doing ; or, in other words, 

 a confcioufiiefs that our induflry is rewarded with improve- 

 ment. He who is too anxioufly eager for the applaufe of 

 others, exchanges independence for uncertainty, and happi- 

 nefs for difappointment. Befides, he is in danger of falling 

 into a ftyle familiar and common, fuch as may beft fait the 

 ideas of ordinary life and vulgar opinion. We mnft be care- 

 ful not to refine our delicacy to too high a pitch, olherwifc 

 ve (liall render ourfelves liable to be wounded by every petty 

 criticifm. JNIany with whom our fituation compels us to have 

 an intercourfe are no judges of art; others are influenced by 

 prejudice ; many delight to wound : but, whether the obferva- 

 tion be the refult of ignorance or vanity, the beft mode of 

 puniflmient will be negleft. 



We have already noticed, under Invention, the two clia- 

 ra£lers of compofition, as the grand and pifturefquc ; that the 

 former applies to grave and ferious fubjefts, while the latter 

 appears to afl'ociate beft with gay and fportive ones. Beauty 

 and grace not only delight in, but derive their greatefl power 

 from, mild variety : hence one of the great beauties in ou;' 

 common writing charafters refults from the fwell or the op- 

 pofition of force and delicacy in the lines, which give grace 

 independent of form : the fame thing enriches and adds fpirit 

 to a maflerly outline, to which if we join fine (we mean true) 

 form, it will polTefs the firft or higheft.kind of excellence. 

 Among the profcflion there is great ditTerence of opinion re- 

 lative to compofition ; we Ihould therefore wifli to be under- 

 ilood as offering thofe rules that relate to matters of tafie with 

 delicacy and modeflv, for fear of forcing genius into one par- 

 ticular track of operation. 



Nothing can be more fiilfe than to fuppofe the art of com- 

 pofition fubjcft to fome pofitivc law, or that the figures of a 

 group fiiould be invariably compoled under fome particular' 

 lorm. Men who look to pi(!ilurcs,and from them obtain all their 

 knowledge, are apt to run into this error, and fuppofe, be- 

 caufe they fee ;l group in fome celebrated pi6lure make fome- 

 what of an angle, that all figures to be well put together muft 

 alfunie ihe triangle. Others, in contradiction to that doc- 

 trine, maintain that the true Venetian method of compofition 

 requires the group to incline diagonally, that is, running 

 from corner to corner of the picture, aflerting that the former 

 niclhod is' barbarous and French : another iet of mcja call 



the 



