PART VII. PICTURESQUE IMPROVEMENT. 359 



them interesting, as the prevailing virtues of others: take away 

 these attractions, and though they may still be good, or useful 

 members of society, they will, to use the words of one deeply 

 versed in human character, be " men of no mark or likelihood." 

 Whenever we find, either in scenery or in the human species, all 

 the qualities of mind, or all the parts in the composition, mak- 

 ing equal claims to our regard, we may safely apply this lan- 

 guage; and if we attentively observe what takes place in our 

 own minds, we shall find that either men, portraits, or composi- 

 tions of this kind, are soon forgotten or neglected. Where cha- 

 racter is wanting, and even where it does exist, there are fre- 

 quently occasional or accidental peculiarities, which often de- 

 ceive the unpractised both in life and art. Those peculiarities 

 can only be distinguished by experience, both with the parti- 

 cular individual, and with others of the same kind. For cha- 

 racters are so various, and often so slightly marked, that the 

 unpractised and unskilful are ever liable to err; either by per- 

 ceiving marks which are only accidental, or by passing over 

 such as have genuine indications of character, but faintly im- 

 pressed, or of a kind not generally known, perceived, or re- 

 lished. 



Characters, in picturesque improvement, are either original 

 or appropriate ; and the operations of art are with a view either 

 of heightening or destroying them. Original characters are 



