398 DRAWING THE FIGURE. 



In some, an inclination to pursue the arts 

 appears at a very early period of life, and it is often 

 difficult to ascertain the circumstance which gave 

 that particular impulse to the mind ; though there 

 must always be some accidental circumstance, not 

 depending upon ourselves, that creates in us that 

 desire. 



When a boy is possessed of good talents, and 

 has so strong a passion for the arts, that scarcely 

 any thing can restrain him, there can be little fear 

 of his doing well, if suffered to follow the bent of 

 his inclination ; but without this, nothing should 

 induce him to engage in a profession of so arduous 

 a nature, and which requires such unwearied appli- 

 cation. He may learn to draw the correct outlines 

 of buildings, and other regular objects, by the rules 

 of perspective ; but the forming fine pictures, so as 

 to affect the mind, is an art not reducible to rule ; 

 and though much may be taught, yet much more 

 will ever depend upon the mind of the artist. Here it 

 is that the existence of a quality which distin- 

 guishes one man from another is so obvious. 

 This has been denominated by various appellations, 

 none of which are capable of being correctly de- 

 fined. It has been called genius, taste, soul, mind, 

 and a variety of other terms, all of which are inde- 

 finite, and prove that we know but little of our 

 own nature. 



It will be foreign to our purpose to enter into any 

 discussion on this subject; but we shall add a pas- 

 sage relating to it from the lectures of the late Sir 

 Joshua Reynolds : " There is one precept," he 

 observes, " in which I shall be opposed only by 

 the vain, the ignorant, and the idle. I am not 

 afraid that I shall repeat it too often. You must 

 have no dependence on your own genius. If you, 



