I 144 3 



being actually reprefented. Can it be 

 doubted, whether the ftyle of the immedi- 

 ate fore-ground and every part of it — the 

 difpofition and chara6ter of the trees quite 

 down to the roots — the effects of light and 

 fhadow — the harmony of the colours — the 

 whole of the compofition, may not be judged 

 of in that, juft as in any other landfcape ? 

 And let me afk you, whether you would not 

 think a painter tolerably affected, who, if 

 his opinion were defired of all thofe particu- 

 lars, were to anfwer, that he could not judge 

 of them at all, nor of any fcene in that direc- 

 tion, for it was incapable of being painted. 

 Had I not fo often heard this circum fiance 

 mentioned, and with great triumph, by the 

 adverfaries of painting, I mould be afhamed 

 of having faid fo much about an impoflibi- 

 lity, that feems to have no more to do with 

 the application of the principles of painting to 

 obje6ts of fight, or with the affinity between 



painting 



