282 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



an endless variety not possible to be surpassed, and 

 scarcely ever to be truly imitated. I would, indeed, 

 have endeavoured to discover how those artists of 

 old made or compounded their excellent colours, as 

 well as the disposition of their lights and shades, 

 by which they were enabled to accomplish so much 

 and so well. 



The work of the painter may be said to be as 

 endless as the objects which nature continually 

 presents to his view ; and it is his judgment that 

 must direct him in the choice of such as may be 

 interesting. In this he will see what others have 

 done before him, and the shoals and quicksands 

 that have retarded their progress, as well as the 

 rocks they have at last entirely split upon. On his 

 taking a proper survey of all this, he will see the 

 "labour in vain" that has been bestowed upon 

 useless designs, which have found, and will continue 

 to find, their way to a garret, while those of an 

 opposite character will, from their excellence, be 

 preserved with perhaps increasing value for ages 

 to come. In performing all this, great industry 

 will be required, and it ought ever to be kept in 

 mind, that, as in morals, nothing is worth listening 

 to but truth, so in arts nothing is worth looking at 

 but such productions as have been faithfully copied 

 from nature. Poetry, indeed, may launch out or 

 take further liberties to charm the intellect of its 

 votaries. It is only such youths as Providence has 

 gifted with strong intellectual, innate powers that 

 are perfectly fit to embark in the fine arts, and the 

 power and propensity is often found early to bud 

 out and show itself. This is seen in the young 

 musician, who, without having even learned his 

 A B C's, breaks out, with a random kind of unre- 



