330 



relish, which arises from many rude, and 

 even mean but strongly marked pictu- 

 resque circumstances ; and that peculiar 

 relish, as it does arise from those circum- 

 stances, cannot exist, or cannot be equally 

 powerful, where they are changed for others 

 of a more noble, or a more beautiful, but of 

 a different character. Nor let it be ima- 

 gined, that such a union of them as is dis- 

 played in the buildings of some of the 

 Dutch masters is common : every old cot- 

 tage will no more make a good Ostade, 

 than every fine piece of architecture or an?, 

 cient ruin in a beautiful country, will make 

 a good Claude ; and he who has been used 

 to look at objects with a painter's eye, will 

 be little less surprised (I do not say pleas- 

 ed) at rinding a perfect Ostade in nature, 

 than a- perfect Claude. 



Notwithstanding the great delight which 

 Ostade seems to have taken in representing 

 all the picturesque circumstances of build- 

 ings, there is one painter who has sought 

 after their varieties with still greater passion. 

 Many of my readers will be surprised when 



