MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 281 



body and mind with such symmetry and health in 

 the one, and such energy in the other that he may 

 advance a great way towards perfection in anything 

 he ardently pursues. But an "Admirable Crichton," 

 or a vSir Joshua Reynolds, does not often appear. 

 Men so gifted by nature, whether as artists, or in 

 any other way where intellectual powers are to be 

 drawn forth, ought never to despair of rising to 

 eminence, or to imagine that they can never equal 

 such men as have excelled all others in their day. 

 It ought to be kept in mind that the same superin- 

 tending Providence which gifted those men with 

 talents to excite wonder and to improve society 

 from time to time, in all ages, still rules the world 

 and the affairs of mankind, and will continue to do 

 so for ever, as often as the services of such men 

 are wanted ; and this consideration ought to act 

 as a stimulant to their successors, to endeavour 

 to surpass in excellence the brilliant luminaries 

 who have only gone before them to pave the way 

 and to enlighten their paths. All artists and 

 indeed all men ought to divide their time by 

 regularly appropriating one portion of it to one 

 purpose, and another part of it to the varied 

 business that may be set apart for another. In 

 this way a deal of work may be got through ; and 

 the artist, after leaving off his too intense applica- 

 tion, would see, as it were, what he had been doing 

 w r ith new eyes, and would thus be enabled to criticise 

 the almost endless variety of lights, shades, and 

 effects, which await his pencil to produce. 



Had I been a painter, I never would have copied 

 the works of "old masters," or others, however 

 highly they might be esteemed. I would have 



gone to nature for all my patterns ; for she exhibits 



2 L 



