321 



monotony of mere breadth, massiveness, 

 and uniformity.* 



In the works of many of the Dutch and 

 Flemish masters, mills are anions the truest 

 specimens of the picturesque, unmixed with 

 grandeur, or beauty ; and are therefore 

 perfect in their kind. But there are other 

 painters who have overshot the mark ; and 

 as I have taken one instance of the most ju^ 

 dicious conduct from a French master, I 

 will mention another of an opposite kind, 

 irom the same school. There is a picture 

 of a mill at Beauvais, the print from which 

 is common, by Boucher, in which he seems 

 4o have collected together all the singu- 

 larly abrupt and irregular forms that he 

 had ever seen, in order to be superlatively 



* There is a passage in some Essays on Painting by 



Diderot, which very aptly illustrates this idea of the use and 



the limits of the picturesque, in the higher style of the art. 



" Mais rev^nons i Tordonnance et I'ensemble des person* 



nages. On peut, on doit en sacrifier un peu au technique, 



Jusqu'ou ? je n'en S9ai rien. Mais je ne veux pas qu'il en 



codte la moindre chose a I'expression, a I'efFet du sujet 



Touche moi, etome moi, dechire moi, fais moi tressaillir, 



pleurer, frtmir, m'indign«r d'abord, tu recrec raa mes yeux 

 apres si tu peux." 



VOL. II. Y 



