172 Mr. Kendal’s account of the Dighton rock. 
representation, and not such as aims at the'natural forms of things/ 
If this be so, then we must try the artist in other points, than in ‘the 
beauty of his outline, which was not within his control, or in its fidele 
ity, of which we can form no opinion. We must look solely to what 
is to be termed his pencilling ; to the decision and masterlike protrac- 
tion of his lines ; and, in this view, though nevertheless I think but 
humbly of the work, I shall risk nothing in declaring, that the ordi- 
nary artists of our own age, our:sign-painters, our sculptors of grave- 
stones and mill-stones, and others, exhibit less ability, than the draw- 
er of the inscription on the writing-rock in Taunton river. As to 
the drawing of what appears to be human figures, it ought to be ob- 
served, that if what purports to be a human head, namely a circle or 
ne 1t 3 Pe 
an oval, with s for the eyes, and one, which serves for a nos¢ 
and srciniy topetoes if what purports to be a human head, be mea 
very rude and imperfect representation, we shall find on looki ver, 
> 4V 
that all effort to produce the human figure is utterly declined. or 
wholly unintelligible, and to the last degree remote, supply the place ; 
and force us to acknowledge, that the want of will is more certain, than 
the want of capacity. The curved lines have a freedom not torbe 
a by every hand among ourselves. © 
On the contents of the inscription, I have little or nothing to offer. 
To describe would, in a majority of instances, be to explain ; and 
this last is beyond the limits of my pretensions. The figures must 
remain, for me, just what every man pleases to call them. I shall 
only repeat my opinion, that some of them are mere ligatures be- 
tween others ; and remark; in further proof of the tincture of imita- 
tive betrayed in this sculpture, and consequently of the implied previ- 
ous and known existence of other works of art, that cach of the three 
figures, bearing human heads, may be observed to stand upon a foot 
or pedestal. Now this support can never haye been imitated from 
