xiv PREFACE. 



treasures of the sublime and the beautiful, 

 it shares in common with Sculpture ; but 

 the Picturesque is almost exclusively its 

 own. A writer of eminence lays great 

 stress on the advantage which painting 

 possesses over sculpture, in being able to 

 give value to insignificant objects, and even 

 to those which are offensive: many such ob- 

 jects are highly picturesque in spite of their 

 offensive qualities, and in a degree that has 

 sometimes caused it to be imagined, that 

 they were rendered so by means of them. 

 I remember a picture of Wovermans, in 

 which the principal objects were a dung- 

 cart just loaded ; some carrion lying on the 

 dung; a dirty fellow with a dirty shovel; 

 the dunghill itself, and a dog, that from his 

 attitude seemed likely to add to it. These 

 most unsavoury materials the painter had 

 worked up with so much skill, that the pic- 

 ture was viewed by every one with delight. 



