Sect. I,] Painting. 133 



Bunbury has much distinguished himself. His ex- 

 hibitions of scenes in Trlstrarn Shandy, and other 

 works, present his genius in very strong and lively 

 colours, and deserve to be mentioned among the 

 signal peculiarities of tlie age. Bunbury is tiie 

 only successful imitator of Hogarth, and is among 

 the very few imitators who rise, in their respective 

 kinds of excellence, to thll equality witli their ori- 

 ginal. Like his great predecessor, he displays 

 more humour when he invents than when lie il- 

 lustrates. 



It is probable that Portrait Painting was never 

 before so much practised as in the eighteenth 

 century *, In this branch of the art sir Joshua 

 Reynolds was the great and unrivalled master. 

 *' This celebrated painter," says an eloquent writer, 

 *' was the first Englishman who added the praise 

 of the elegant arts to the other glories of his coun- 

 try. In taste, in grace, in facility, in happy inven- 

 tion, an,d in the richness and harmony of colour- 

 ing, he was equal to the great masters of the most 

 renowned ages. In poiHrait he went beyond them, 

 for he communicated to that description of the art, 

 in which English artists are the most engaged, a 

 variety, a fancy, and a dignity, derived from the 

 liigher l)ranches, which even those who professed 

 them in a superior manner did not always preserve 



* A taste for Vortrait Painting has, perhaps, been more pre- 

 valent in Great Britain, especially during the last age, than in any 

 Gther country on earth : insomuch that some foreigners ha\e 

 brought the charge of vanity against the English on this account. 

 But a more serious consideration is, that this taste, by limiting 

 the cultivation of historical subjects, has had a disadvantageous in- 

 fluence on the higher branches of the art. 



