APPENDIX. 157 



Writings and their Pictures. We fee nothing of this kind in 

 Virgil : That which comes the nearefl to it is the Adven- 

 ture of the Cave, where Dido and ^Eneas were driven by the 

 florin ; yet even there, the Poet pretends a marriage before 

 the confummation, and Juno herfelf was prefent at it. Neither 

 is there any expreffion in that ftory which a Roman Matron 

 might not read without a blufh. Befides, the Poet pafles it 

 over as haflily as he can, as if he were afraid of flaying in the 

 cave with the two lovers, and of being a witnefs to their ac- 

 tions. Now I fuppofe that a Painter would not be much 

 commended, who mould pick out this cavern from the whole 

 JEneis, when there is not another in the work. He had better 

 leave them in their obfcurity, than let in a flam of lightning 

 to clear the natural darknefs of the place, by which he mud 

 difcover himfelf as much as them. The altar-pieces, and holy 

 decorations of Painting, mew that Art may be applied to better 

 ufes as well as Poetry; and,, amongft many other inftances, the 

 Farnefe Gallery, painted by Hannibal Carracci, is a fufficient 

 witnefs yet remaining : The whole work being morally in- 

 flrudive, and particularly the Hercules Bivium, which is a 

 perfect Triumph of Virtue over Vice, as it is wonderfully well 

 defcribed by the ingenious Bellori. 



Hitherto I have only told the reader what ought not to be 

 the fubject of a Picture, or of a Poem. What it ought to be 

 on either fide, our Author tells us. It mufl, in general, be 

 great and noble - y and in this the parallel is exactly true. The 

 fubjecl of a Poet, either in Tragedy, or in an Epic Poem, is a 

 great action of fome illuflrious Hero. It is the fame in Paint- 

 ing : not every action, nor every perfon, is conliderable enough 

 to enter into the cloth. It muft be the Anger of an Achilles,, 

 the Piety of an ^Eneas, the Sacrifice .of an Iphigenia, for He* 



U 3 roines 



