236 



shew this plainly and strongly, and with- 

 out any affected candour or reserve, it 

 might be said to me with great reason — 

 you assert that a knowledge of the princi- 

 ples of painting is the first qualification for 

 an improver ; the founder of English gar- 

 dening was a professed artist, and yet you 

 object to him ! 



Kent, it is true, was by profession a 

 painter, as well as an improver; but we 

 may learn from his example, how little a 

 certain degree of mechanical practice will 

 qualify its possessor, to direct the taste of 

 a nation in either of those arts. 



The most enlightened judge, both of his 

 own art, and of all that relates to it, is a 

 painter of a liberal and comprehensive 

 mind, who has added extensive observa- 

 tion and reflection, to practical execution ; 

 and if in addition to those natural and ac- 

 quired talents, he likewise possess the 

 power of expressing his ideas clearly and 

 forcibly in words, the most capable of en- 

 lightening others : to such a rare combina- 

 tiou we owe Sir Joshua Reynolds's dis- 



2 



