300 Gilpin's itorest scenbkt. 



perhaps, or dock, if his piece be large, lie might 

 condescend to imitate ; but if he wanted a few 

 touches of red, or blue, or yellow, to enliven and 

 enrich any particular spot on his foreground, 

 instead of aiming at the exact representation of 

 any natural plant, he will more judiciously give 

 the tint he wants in a few random, general touches 

 of something like Nature ; and leave the spectator, 

 if he please, to find out a resemblance. Botanical 

 precision may please us in the flower pieces of 

 Van Huysom; but it would be paltry and affected 

 in the landscapes of Claude or Salvator. The 

 following remark I found in a work of Dr. John- 

 son's, which I transcribe, not only because it is 

 judicious, and may be introduced here in place, 

 but because it affords a new argument to show 

 the resemblance between poetry and painting. 

 Johnson was a critic in the former, but I never 

 heard that he was a judge of the latter. His 

 opinion therefore, in a point of this kind, was 

 unbiassed. ' The business of a poet,' says he, ' is, 

 to examine — not the individual, but the species 

 — to remark general, and large appearances. 

 He does not number the streaks of the Tulip, 



