a24- O"' 'Paint'i^. 



Ihed obfe'rvM'^t'hat chininevs were a noveltv, as were pcwtef 

 ornaments for the table. Straw formed the bed, and a good 

 hard block of wood the pillow. Tlieii was the dawn of the 

 arts. Since which time they have been advancing, and are 

 row, thank God ! matured inrto' a glorious mid-day, undci* 

 the aufpiccs of his prefent majefiy. 



It is impoffible to fpeak of the arts without e^preffing our 

 gratitude towards their great patron ; and were his name ia 

 flourifli in no other wav, that of George II f. will be facred 

 to pofterity with thofe of Leo, Julius, and all fuch as have a 

 claim on eternity, as their protestors. His majedy has done 

 for the arts what no monarch of this nation ever did before : 

 he has given, by hii patronage, a turn to the national taftc 

 highly beneficial to the profeffion, which the public are bound 

 to fupport by a liberal and fair encouragement. WJth refpeft 

 to the mere a£l of buying, we are bound to confider his ma- 

 jelty in the light of a private gentleman, who regulates his 

 expenditure according to his incomt : and we ought to thank 

 God it is fo. 



Holbein had not tafte enough to change the grotefque fa* 

 fliions of the court of Henry \^III. He brought about a re- 

 volution in architefture; but he introduced a mungrel flylej 

 inferior to the Gothic of that period. Zuccaro was iii 

 England in the time of Elizabeth; and during that long; 

 reign we find little improvement in architefture, drefs, or 

 in the general circle of elegancies. It was a court of in- 

 trigue and vanity. In the reign of James I. Van Somer and 

 Cornelius Janfon paved the way for Van Dyck — an epoch 

 of tafte : but this appears to have been confined to the court 

 and a few noble colleftors ; and the troubles of Charles his 

 fucceflbr prevented his giving them a more general influence. 

 His reign ftands high in the hiftory of arch i tenure, from hav- 

 ing produced Inigo Jones. Under Lely tafte funk into Indian 

 gowns and flowing perukes ; till fafhion became a monfter in 

 the time of Kneller, and appeared in buckram coats, fquare- 

 toed {hoes, and difproportioned head-dreffes in the ladies. 

 This flylc of drefs prevailed till within thcfe few years, when 

 good fcnfc and a more juft tafle broke through the buckram 

 and whalebone, and produced the picfent cafy and elegant 

 mode of attire ; which may be faid to mark a point of 

 national excellence. Reynolds contributed much to thi*s 

 change ; his whole life was a flruggle with the hydra fafhion, 

 as his works evince. 



The above ftatement will be found not to apply only to 

 the article of drefs, but to extend to every department. Let 

 us, for inftance, from the period of Henry VIII. examine 



fliip- 



