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that they are fubjedl to a thoufand varieties 

 from the different modifications of the atmof- 

 phere ; and yet beautiful in all. 



A vaft fcene however, like this, is un- 

 manageable as v^e have often obferved, the 



it may be highly pidurefque. But our 



obfervations on this fubjed: may be ear- 

 ned farther, than we have yet carried 

 them. 



It is a com.mon aflertion among landfcape- 

 painters, that if the pidure be juftly painted, 

 an extenfive diftance in miniature will have 

 the fame effect on the mind of the fpecflator, 

 as if it were painted on the largeft fcale. Stand 

 near a window, they tell you, and the whole 

 may be brought within the circumference 

 of a pane of glafs.. If then the fame land- 

 fcape were exaBly painted on the pane of glafs, 

 it would have the fame effed: in a picture, 

 which it has in nature. 



This reafoning, I fear, is falfe. It depends 

 intirely on the fuppofition, that we collect all 

 our notices of external objeds from the eye ; 

 agreeably to that conftrudion of it, which 

 the anatomifi gives us. Whereas, in fad:, 



the 



