DRAWING THE FIGURE. 395 



which have been previously gathered and deposited 

 in the memory. Nothing can come of nothing ; 

 he who has laid up no materials, can produce no 

 combination. 



" He should study the works of former artists, 

 learn what subjects they have painted, and liow 

 they have treated them. A student unacquainted 

 with the attempts of former adventurers, is always 

 apt to over-rate his own abilities, to mistake the 

 most trifling excursions for discoveries of moment, 

 and every coast new to him, for a newly-discovered 

 country. 



" On whom, however, can he rely, or wlio shall 

 show him the path that leads to excellence ? The 

 answer is obvious : those great masters who have 

 travelled the same road with success are the most 

 likely to conduct others. The works of those who 

 have stood the test of ages, have a claim to that 

 respect and veneration to which no modern can 

 pretend. The duration and stability of their fame 

 is sufficient to evince that it has not been sus- 

 pended upon the slender thread of fashion and 

 caprice, but bound to the human heart by every 

 tie of sympathetic approbation. 



*' But though these masters should be studied, 

 they should not be servilely followed. The stu- 

 dent, instead of treading in their footsteps, should 

 only keep the same road. He should endeavour 

 to invent on their principles and way of thinking j 

 he should possess himself with their spirit ; he 

 should consider how they would treat his subject, 

 and should work himself into a belief that they are 

 to see and criticise his picture when completed. 

 Every attempt of this kind will rouse his powers." 



Whenever a story is related, every man forms a 

 picture in his mind of the action and the expression 



