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minutest detail ; who have observed every 

 variety of form and of colour ; have been 

 abie to select and combine, and then, by 

 the magic of their art, to fix upon the 

 canvas all these various beauties. 



But, however highly I may think of the 

 art of painting, compared with that of 

 improving, nothing can be farther from 

 my intention (and I wish to impress it in 

 the strongest manner on the reader's mind) 

 than to recommend the study of pictures 

 in preference to that of nature, much less 

 to the exclusion of it. Whoever studies 

 art alone, will have a narrow pedantic 

 manner of considering all objects, and of 

 referring them solely to the minute and 

 practical purposes of that art, whatever 

 it be, to which his attention has been par- 

 ticularly directed: of this Mr. Brown's 

 followers afford a very striking example ; 

 and if it be right that every thing should 

 be referred to art, at least let it be refer- 

 red to one, whose variety, compared to 

 the monotony of what is called improve- 

 ment, appears infinite, but which again 



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