7 



Fielding would have been. The parallel 

 that I wish to establish is very obvious: 

 the works of genius in writing awaken and 

 direct our attention towards many striking 

 scenes and characters, which might other- 

 wise escape us in real life, and the works 

 of genius in painting point out to our 

 notice a thousand effects and combina- 

 tions of the happiest, though not of the 

 most obvious kind, in real scenery. 



Had the art of improving been cultivated 

 for as long a time, and upon as settled 

 principles as that of painting, and were 

 there extant various works of genius, which, 

 like those of the other art, had stood the 

 test of ages (though from the great change 

 which the growth and decay of trees must 

 produce in the original design of the artist, 

 this is hardly possible) there would not be 

 the same necessity of referring and com- 

 paring the works of reality to those of imi- 

 tation ; but as the case stands at present, 

 the only models of composition that ap- 

 proach to perfection, the only fixed and 

 unchanging selections from the works of 



v 4 



