C 2U 



isted and whose fame is now as fresh as 

 ever ? The Helen of Zeuxis, and the Venus 

 of Apelles, in which no qualities could have 

 had place, except such as accorded with 

 beauty in its strictest sense. 



From the ideas which we are well jus- 

 tified in forming to ourselves of those 

 paintings, it seems probable that the de- 

 light they produced was immediate and 

 universal ; that to see and feel their charms, 

 it did not require any knowledge of pic- 

 tures, or any habit of examining them 

 (however such knowledge might enhance 

 and refine the pleasure) but only the com- 

 mon sensibility which all must experience, 

 when such objects present themselves in 

 real life. Unfortunately not a trace re- 

 mains of those, and other exquisite works 

 of that age : but the art since its revival 

 will furnish us with no mean examples ; 

 and thanks to that of engraving, which 

 ought to have been coeval with it, the 

 .compositions at least of the finest paintings 

 are very generally known. If then we 

 suppose a person of natural sensibility and 



