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of this I shall now give, as it will illustrate 

 and confirm what I have advanced on the 

 subject of slanting roofs, and of their want 

 of grandeur ; and as it will likewise shew, 

 what, in this great painter's idea, the gene- 

 ral appearance of a magnificent city ought 

 to be. The picture I allude to, was in the 

 Orleans collection ; the subject, the infant 

 Moses exposed on the Nile. And here, 

 though I wish to confine myself strictly to 

 the design of my Essay, I cannot help say- 

 ing a few words on the expression of the 

 figures ; for more true, more varied and 

 dignified expressions, are scarcely to be 

 found in the whole compass of the art. The 

 mother is represented, hardly enduring to 

 push from the shore the little basket that 

 holds her child : her face is turned from it; 

 and in that face, all a mother s agony is 

 painted. The father is slowly walking from 

 the scene; a smothered grief in his counte- 

 nance : but his hand, which clasps his dra- 

 pery, seems more strongly to betray his feel- 

 ings. Close behind, and clinging to him, 

 is the elder boy : his head is turned round, 



