PREFACE, xi 



tlons : They are not ilruck by feeing reli- 

 gion fhaded only a little darker or a little 

 lighter. It was at Conftantinople alone 

 where the very fhopkeepers had fubtlety 

 enough to fight for a letter more or lefs in 

 a Greek adje6live * that expreffed an abftrat5l 

 idea. Happily at this time there is fo total 

 an extindion of all party-animofity both in 

 religion and politics, that men are at liberty 

 to propofe whatever may be ufefuU to their 

 country, without its being imputed to them 

 as a crime, and to invent what they mean 

 fliould give pleafure without danger of dif- 

 pleafing by the very attempt. 



At this epoch of common fenfe, one may 

 reafonably expevfb to fee the arts flourifh to 

 as proud a height as they attained at Athens, 

 Rome, or Florence. Painting has hitherto 

 made but faint efforts in England. Our 

 eloquence and the glory of our arms have 

 been carried to the highell pitch. The 

 more peacefull arts have in other countries 

 generally attended national glory. If there 



* In the decline of the empire there were two fedls 

 who proceeded to the greateil violences agdinft each 

 other in the difpute whether the nature of the fecond 

 perfon was '0|Hoy7K>?, co*eflentialis ; or o^,ojaator, fimili^ 

 cffentiae. 



are 



