SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON. 199 



his patriotism and of his taste ; but his labours would not 

 probably have been attended with their full and proper 

 advantages to society, without the aid of Mr. Wedgwood, 

 who diffused the knowledge of these fine models throughout 

 the world, and brought them within the reach of every 

 artist. Those who have given attention to the subject, must 

 feel the difficulty of making a good copy of a fine form, 

 where the slightest deviation destroys the effect. The most 

 minute exactness will not always be sufficient, for some 

 essential thing will escape it unless the artist is capable of 

 comprehending the original intention, is conscious of each 

 beauty as he proceeds, and is warmed with his subject In 

 addition to these talents others were necessary to a suc- 

 cessful imitation of the vases of ancient Etruria, which the 

 industry and energy of Sir William Hamilton had rescued 

 from the oblivion of ages. The art of painting them in 

 durable colours, without the shining appearance of enamel 

 that offends the critical eye, had been lost, it is supposed, 

 ever since the time of Pliny. The ingenious Count Caylus 

 had supplied this desideratum of the moderns in another 

 branch of painting, by the discovery of colours that, applied 

 on canvas by the mediation of wax, made encaustic pictures 

 in the ancient manner. Under the discouraging judgment 

 of all the antiquaries and connoisseurs who spoke upon the 

 subject at that time, and who gave up the art as irretriev- 

 able, Wedgwood had the good fortune to produce the same 

 effects in paintings burnt in upon porcelain with a red heat. 

 The colours he made for this purpose had also another 

 advantage ; they never spread in the fire, or ran out of the 

 drawing as other enamels must necessarily do, in a greater 

 or less degree, in consequence of their vitrifying and melting 

 upon the piece. 



" Mr. Wedgwood was advised by his friends to take out a 

 patent for this discovery, and it was the only one he ever 

 had. He procured it in this instance, not probably with the 

 full consent of his own mind ; for at other times when patents 

 have been the subject of conversation among his friends, 



