(68 NOTE S, 



much have thefe Divine Arts been honored;" in confequence 

 >of which the Frenchman gives us a note of four pages, enu- 

 merating the inftances in which Painting and its profeflbrs 

 have been honored by kings and great men, antient and mo- 

 dern. Frefnoy had not this in ; his idea : He fays, " tantus Ineft 

 divis honor artibus atque poteftas," which Wills juftly and 

 literally tranflates, 



Such powers, fuch honors are in arts divine. M. 



NOTE III. VERSE 51. 

 '*27j Paintings Jirft chief bufinefs to explore, 

 What lovelier forms in nature s boundlefs jlore, 

 Are befl to art and antient tafte allied t 

 For antient tajie thofe forms has befl applied. 



The Poet, with great propriety, begins, by declaring what 

 is the Jirft chief bufinefs of Theory, and pronounces it to be a 

 knowledge of what is beautiful in nature : 



That form alone, where glows peculiar grace, 

 The genuine Painter condefcends to trace, ver. 9. 

 There is an abfolute neceffity for the Painter to generalize his 

 notions - y to paint particulars is not to paint nature, it is only 

 to paint circumflances. When the Artift has conceived in his 

 imagination the image of perfect beauty, or the abftraft idea 

 of forms, he may be ,faid to be admitted into the great Council 

 of .Nature, and to 



" Trace Beauty's beam to its eternal fpring, 

 " And pure to man the fire celeftial bring." ver. 19. 

 To facilitate the acquifition of this ideal beauty, the Artift is 

 recommended to a ftudious examination of antient Sculpture. 



R. 



NOTE 



