238 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Past II. 



tinguishing between good and bad art, to censure at first sight 

 what is presented to them, with a view to cover ignorance, 

 and affect discrimination ; and if anything can be discovered 

 to excite ridicule, it is eagerly laid hold of to conceal the want 

 of real criticism. This has been fully exemplified in the 

 statue of George III., where the pigtail has served as a most 

 useful scapegoat for ignorance ; and the merits of the rider, 

 placed so admirably in his saddle, the resemblance of a horse 

 to a horse (both of them rare in equestrian statues) and the 

 oneness of conception in the whole subject, are unperceived; 

 and even the secondary recommendation it possesses, of not 

 being placed too high above the eye, has been found fault 

 with, merely because custom has sanctioned the mistake of 

 sacrificing art to honour, or to caprice, by an over-elevated 

 position. For it is an obvious error to place an equestrian 

 statue at such a height that the soles of the rider's boots and 

 the belly of the horse shall be presented to the spectator as 

 its most conspicuous features ; or (if looked at from a proper 

 distance) that it shall cease to be distinctly seen. What, 

 again, is more inconsistent than raising a statue on a column ? 

 where neither the art of the sculptor, nor the features of the 

 hero, can be discovered ; and no greater poverty of invention 

 can be shown, than by extracting one member of a building, 

 and depriving it of the office for which it was created, (of sup- 

 porting an entablature,) in order that it may render the 

 individual it exalts almost invisible ; while " stems jpede in 

 uno? it might be the solitary remnant of a ruined temple. 



This was a caprice welcomed by Roman bad taste, which 

 also introduced the truncated column to support a bust, thus 

 giving it another head instead of its own.] And though, as 

 Pliny tells us (xxxiv. 6), the custom of placing statues on 

 columns originated in Greece ; though the figure of a deity, 

 a sphinx, or some emblems are represented on a column in 

 Greek paintings ; and though mention is made of Greek 



