352 Gilpin's poeest scenery. 



But while the former of these is the work of 

 genius, the latter is a mere mechanical knack. 

 The one, therefore, is admired by the man of taste 

 — the other, except for a moment, only by the 

 ignorant and uninformed. 



This is just the case before us. The painter, 

 who chooses a winter subject, in general, gix&s up 

 composition and effect, to show how naturally he 

 can represent snow, or hoar-frost. It is almost 

 impossible to produce a good effect with these 

 appendages of winter ; they must naturally create 

 false and glaring lights, to which the painter 

 generally makes his composition subservient. 



Among the sources of incidental beauty in a 

 forest may be mentioned, (what perhaps may 

 appear odd) the felling of timber. If you wish to 

 fell trees with some particular view to improve- 



excellent remark in one of Sir Joshua Reynolds' notes on Mr. 

 Mason's translation of Fresnoy, p. 114 : — 'Deception, -wliich is 

 so often recommended by writers on the theory of painting, 

 instead of advancing the art, is in reality carrying it back to its 

 infant state. The first essays of painting -were certainly nothing 

 but mere imitations of individual objects, and when this 

 amounted to a deception, the artist had accomplished his 

 purpose.' 



