357 



have been more simple and satisfactory to 

 have named things according to their ob- 

 vious and prevailing qualities; and to have 

 allowed that painters sometimes preferred 

 beautiful, sometimes picturesque, some- 

 times grand and sublime objects, and some- 

 times objects where the two or the three 

 characters, were equally, or in different de- 

 grees mixed with each other. 



Many of the examples that I have given 

 of picturesque animals, are taken from Mr. 

 Gilpin's very ingenious work on forest sce- 

 nery. He there observes, that among all 

 the tribes of animals scarce any one is more 

 ornamental in landscape than the ass. He 

 adds "in what this picturesque beauty con- 

 sists, whether in his peculiar character, in 

 his strong lines, in his colouring, in the 

 roughness of his coat, or in the mixture of 

 them, would perhaps be difficult to ascer- 

 tain When I read this passage I had not 

 seen the Essay on Picturesque Beauty, and 

 it gave me great satisfaction to find my 

 ideas of the causes of the picturesque con- 

 firmed by so attentive an observer as Mr. 



