155 



to my feelings and inclination to have 

 pointed out those passages in which I 

 concur with the author of The Landscape; 

 but I am compelled by the duties of my 

 profession to notice those parts only which 

 tend to vitiate the taste of the nation, by 

 introducing false principles; by recom- 

 mending negligence for ease, and slo- 

 venly M^eeds for native beauty. Extremes 

 are equally to be avoided; and I trust 

 that the taste of this country will neither 

 insipidly slide into the trammels of that 

 smooth shaven " genius of the bare and 

 bald," which he so justly ridicules; nor 

 enlist under the banners of that shaggy 

 and harsh-featured spirit, which knows 

 no delight but in the scenes of Salvator 

 Rosa; scenes of horror, well calculated 

 for the residence of banditti, 



" Breathing bloody calamity, and strife," 



Thus have I been led to consider the 

 theory'' of this ingenious author, or rather 



•* In Mr. Knight's work there are two etchings from 

 the masterly pencil of Mr. Heme, which, though in- 

 tended as examples of good and bad taste, serve rather 



