XIV PREFACE. 



Plurimus inde labor tabulas imitando juvabit 

 "Egregias, operumque typos^ sed plura docebit 

 Natura ante oculos pr^esens, nam firmat et auget 

 Vim genii, ex illaque artem experientia complet. * 



Descriptive poetry is still more indebt- 

 ed to natural knowlege, than either paint- 

 ing or sculpture : the poet has the whole 

 creation for his range ; nor can his art 

 exist without borrowing metaphors, allu- 

 sions, or descriptions, from the face of na- 

 ture, which is the only fund of great ideas. 

 The depths of the seas, the internal ca- 

 verns of the earth, and the planetary 

 system, are out of the painter's reach; 

 but can supply the poet with the sublimest 

 conceptions : nor is the knowlege of ani- 

 mals and vegetables less requisite, while 

 his creative pen adds life and motion 

 to every object. 



From hence it may be easily inferred, 

 that an acquaintance with the works of 

 nature is equally necessary to form a 

 genuine and correct taste for any of the 



giving pleasure to all admirers of nature represented 

 as herself. 



* Fresnoy de arte graph, lin, 537- 



