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Reynold*, professed them in a superior manner did not always 

 Sir Jonhua. preserve when tin v delineated individual nature. His 

 > **" v ""' portraits remind the spectator of the invention of li:-=- 

 tory anil the amenity of landscape. In painting por- 

 traits in- appears not to be raised upon that platform, 

 but to di-.-eend to it from a higher sphere. Ilia paint- 

 ings illustrate his lessons, and his lessons seem to be 

 derived from his pointings. 



lie possessed the theory as perfectly as the practice 

 of his art. To be such a painter he was a profound 

 and penetrating philosopher. 



In full happpiness of foreign and domestic fame ; 

 admired by the expert in art, and by the learned in 

 science, courted by the great, caressed by sovereign 

 powers, and celebrated by distinguished poets, his na- 

 tive humility, modesty, *nd candour, never forsook 

 lam, even on surprise or provocation ; nor was the 

 least degree of arrogance or assumption visible to the 

 most scrutinizing eye in any part of his conduct or 

 discourse. 



His talents of every kind, powerful from nature, 

 and not meanly cultivated in letters ; his social virtues, 

 in all the relations and all the habitudes of life, ren- 

 dered him the centre of a very great and unparalleled 

 variety of agreeable societies, which were dissipated by 

 his death. 



He had too much merit not to excite some jea- 

 lousy, too much innocence to provoke any enmity. 

 The loss of no man of his time can be felt with more 

 sincere, general, and unmixed sorrow." 



The following character of Sir Joshna as an artist 

 has been drawn by Fuseli in the Supplement to Pil- 

 kington's Dictionary : 



" In many respects, both as a man and as a painter, 

 Sir Joshua Reynolds cannot be too much praised, stu- 

 died, and imitated, by every one who wishes to attain 

 the like eminence. All nature, and all art, was his 

 academy, and his mind was constantly awake, ever on 

 the wing comprehensive, vigorous, discriminative, 

 and retentive. With taste to perceive all the varieties 

 of the picturesque, judgment to select, and skill to 

 combine, what would serve his purpose ! Few have 

 ever been empowered by nature to do more from the 

 funds of his own genius ; and have ever endeavoured 

 more to take advantage of the labours of others in 

 making a splendid and useful collection, for which no 

 expense was spared. His house was filled to the re- 

 motest corners, with casts from the antique, pictures, 

 statues, drawings, and prints, and by the various 

 masters of all the different schools and nations. Beau- 

 tiful and seducing as his style undoubtedly was, it can- 

 not be recommended in so unreserved a manner as his 

 industry both in study and in practice. Colouring was 

 evidently his first excellence, to which all others were 

 more or less sacrificed ; and though in splendour and 

 brilliancy he was exceeded by Rubens and Paul Vero- 

 nese, in force and depth by Titian and Rembrandt, 

 and in freshness and truth by Velasquez and Vandyke, 

 yet, perhaps, he possessed a more exquisite combina- 

 tion of all these qualities, and that peculiarly his own, 

 than is to be found in the works of any of those cele- 

 brated masters. His discourses are written in an easy, 

 agreeable manner, and contain many just observations, 

 much excellent criticism and valuable advice; but, 

 being undertaken before he had profoundly considered 

 the subject, they are frequently vague and unintelligi- 

 ble, and sometimes contradictory." 



It has been impertinently stated, that Sir Joshua did 

 not write his own discourses, and that they were com- 

 posed, or greatly modified, by Mr. Burke. The evi- 



dence of Mr. Northcote, who lived with Sir Joshua R*ynoid, 

 when he composed them, and who saw the manuscript 

 fresh from the hand of its author, and after it had been 

 submitted to Dr. Johnson and Mr. Rurke, completely 

 contradicts this unfounded supposition. 



The following is list of the principal historical pic- 

 tures executed by Sir Joshua Reynold*: Hope nursing 

 Love ; Venus chastising Cupid for having learned to 

 cast accounts ; Count Ugolino in the Dungeon, which 

 i one of his \ye*t works ; the Calling of Samuel ; Ari- 

 adne; a Captain of Banditti ; Beggar Boy ; a Lady in 

 the character of St. Agnes; Thais; Dionysius the 

 Areopagite ; an Infant Jupiter ; Master Crewe in the 

 character of Henry VIII. ; the Death of Dido; a Child 

 asleep ; Cupid sleeping- ; Covent Garden Cupid ; Cu- 

 pid in the Clouds; Cupid* painting; Boy laughing; 

 Master Herbert in the character of Bacchus ; Hebe ; 

 Miss Meyer in the character of Hebe ; Madonna, a 

 head ; the Black-guard Mercury ; a Little Boy (Sa- 

 muel) praying; an Old Man reading; Love loosing 

 the Zone of Beauty ; the Children in the Wood ; Cleo- 

 patra dissolving the Pearl ; Garrick in the character of 

 Kitely ; Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy; Mrs. 

 Abingdon in the character of Comedy ; a Child sur- 

 rounded by Guardian Angels ; Miss Beauclerc in the 

 character of Spencer's Una ; Resignation ; the Duchess 

 of Manchester in the character of Diana ; Lady Blake 

 in the character of Juno; Mrs. Sheridan in the charac- 

 ter of St. Cecilia ; Edwin, from Beattie's Minstrel ; the 

 Nativity ; Four Cardinal Virtues, and Faith, Hope, 

 and Charity, for the window of New College Chapel, 

 Oxford ; the Studious Boy ; a Bacchante ; a Daughter 

 of Lord W. Gordon as an Angel; the Hdy Family; 

 the Cottagers, from Thomson ; the Vestal ; the Care- 

 ful Shepherdess ; a Gipsy telling Fortunes ; the In- 

 fant Hercules strangling the Serpent ; the Mouse-trap 

 Girl; Venus; Cornelia and her Children; the Bird; 

 Melancholy ; Mrs. Siddons in Tragedy ; Head of Lear ; 

 Mrs. Talmash in the character of Miranda, with Pros- 

 pero and Calrban ; Robin Goodfellow ; Death of Car- 

 dinal Beaufort; Macbeth with the Chaldron of the 

 Witches. 



For farther information respecting this eminent 

 painter, see Malone's Life of him, prefixed to his edi- 

 tion of Sir Joshua's works, Northcote's Memoirs of Sir 

 Joshua Reynolds, Pilkington's Dictionary, Supplement, 

 and Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, vol. xxvi. p. 

 152. 



RHEIMS, an'ancient city of France, and in thedepart- 

 ment of the Marne, is situated in a plain on the banks 

 of the small river Vesle. The city is of an oblong 

 form, and is surrounded with a ditch and earthen 

 mound, planted with double rows of trees on both sides. 

 The walls with which it is surrounded are by no means 

 strong. The lower half of the wall seems in many 

 places to be common stone, and the upper half chalk 

 stone. The streets are generally straight, and wide, 

 and clean ; and the houses well built. The principal 

 street passes nearly in a straight line from the eastern 

 to the western gate, through the Place Royale. There 

 are six gates to the town, which have a fine appearance 

 in entering them, from the grand avenues of trees which 

 lead to the town. One of them is called the Pont de 

 Mars, and another the Porte de Ceres. 



The Place Royale, which is nearly in the centre of 

 the town, is a very handsome square, with very elegant 

 houses. In the centre of the square stands a short and 

 thick frustum of a marble column, with two huge 

 statues of bronze at its base, one of which represents 

 Commerce, and the other Force, with a lion at its side. 



