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clar,Ishall venture one step further, and try 

 to account for the passage's having been so 

 rendered. I think Mr. West and Mr. Gray 

 might probably have been impressed with 

 the same idea as Mr. Gilpin, that the ima- 

 gery in this passage was highly picturesque, 

 but might have felt that smooth feathers 

 would not accord with that character ; and 

 therefore perhaps (as Sir Joshua Reynolds 

 observes on Algarotti's ill-founded eulogium 

 of a picture of Titian) they chose to find 

 in Pindar, what they thought they ought 

 to have found. With all the respect I 

 have for their abilities (and Mr. Gray's 

 cannot be rated too high) I must think that 

 by one word they have changed the cha- 

 racter of that famous passage ; and it may 

 be doubted whether they have improved it. 



Were the image which they have substi- 

 tuted representejd in painting, it might be 

 more striking, more catching to the eye 

 than Pindar's ; and that is the true cha- 

 racter of the picturesque : but his would 

 have more of that repose, that solemn 

 breadth, that freedom from all bustle, 

 b b 4 



