OF APES. 57 



runs over the fmalleft fpace, and employs the 

 ieaft poffible time in accompHfhing his end. 

 What an expence of thought, how many com- 

 binations are neceffary to avoid thofe deceitful 

 and fallacious roads which at firft prefeni them- 

 felves in iuch numbers, that the choice of the 

 right pa'.h requires the niceft difcernment ? I'his 

 path, however, is not beyond the reach of the 

 human intellefl, which can proceed without 

 deviating from the ftraight line. The mind is 

 enabled to arrive at a point by means of a line ; 

 and, if another point muft be gained, it can 

 only be attained by another line. The train of 

 our ideas is a delicate thread, which extends in 

 leagth, withoutany other dimenfions. Nature,on 

 the contrary, never moves a ftep which extends 

 not on all fides, and runs at once through the three 

 dimeniions of length, brcadth,and thlcknefs. While 

 man reaches but one point, Nature accompliflies a 

 folid, by penetrating the whole parts which com- 

 pofe a mafs. In beftowing form on brute matter, 

 our llatuaries, by the union of art and time, are 

 enabled to make a furface wjiich exaclly reprefents 

 the outfide of an objedl. Every point of this fur- 

 face requires a. thouiand combinations. Their 

 genius is direftly exerted upon as many lines 

 as there are ftrokes in the figure. The fmalleft 

 deviation would be a deformity. This marble, 

 lo perfcft that it feems to breathe, is, of courfe, 

 only a multitude of points at which the artift 

 arrives by a long fucceflion of labour; becaufe 

 ^uman genius, being unable to feize more than 



one 



