the Reign of Henry VIII. 185 



and the unreftrained licentioufnefs of that 

 which is called Godiic. Yet I am clear that 

 the perfons who executed the latter, had 

 much more knowledge of their art, more 

 tafte, more genius, and more propriety 

 than we chufe to imagine. There is a ma- 

 gic hardinefs in the execution of fome of 

 their works which would not have fuflained 

 themfelves if didtated by mere caprice. 

 There is a tradition that Sir Chriflopher a l^tn^i 

 Wren went once a year to furvey the roof 

 of the chapel of King's college, and faid that 

 if any man would fhow him v/here to place 

 the firfl: ftone, he would engage to build 

 fuch another. That there is great grace in 

 feveral places, even in their clufters of (len- 

 der pillars, and in the application of their 

 ornaments, though the principles of the lat- 



precipices, by Salvator Rofa, may be preferred to a ferene fun/hine 

 of Claud Lorrain } not becaufe it is a more pleafing, but a more 

 ftriking pifture. Cato is a regular drama, Mav:beth an extravagant 

 one ; yet who thinks the genius of Addifon equal to Shakefpear's ? 

 The one copies rules, the other the paflions. A Gibbs and money, 

 a French critic and an Englifh fchoolmafter, can make a building or 

 a tragedy without a fault againft proportion or the three unitie* j and 

 the one or the other might make either. It required a little more 

 genius to write Macbeth, or to eftabliHi the Roman Catholic reli- 

 gion ; and though Monfr. Mariette does not know it, his creed, 

 which he miftakes for architcdlure, was more obliged to Gothic 

 architeds than to Michael Angelo and the reft, who defigned St. 

 Peter's. 



ter 



