9 



all the intermediate parts, with all their 

 bearings, relations, and connections, must 

 be taken into the account. I have sup- 

 posed, what I wish were oftener the case, 

 a union of the two professions ; for it can 

 hardly be doubted, that he who can best 

 select the happiest compositions from the 

 general mass of objects, and knows the 

 principles on which he makes those selec- 

 tions, must also be the best qualified, 

 should he turn his thoughts that way, to 

 arrange the connections throughout an 

 extensive scenery. He likewise must be 

 the most competent judge (and nothing in 

 the whole art of improvement requires a 

 nicer discrimination) where, and in what 

 degree, some inferior beauties should be 

 sacrificed, in order to give greater effect to 

 those of a higher order. I am far from 

 meaning by this, that every painter is ca- 

 pable of becoming an improver in the 

 good sense of the word, but only such 

 as to a liberal mind, join a strong feel- 

 ing for nature as well as art, and have 

 directed their attention to the arrange-^ 



