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great Painter, with an Account of the time when he 
wrought each Piece, to fit rae for the making the Experi- 
ment. And why might not this Notion be ad vane Vi a 
little farther, and the Painter s Complexion be known by 
his Piftures, as well as his Age ? As fuppofing that the 
Sanguine do naturally run upon Pourtraits^ Poetical Hijlo- 
ries. Nudities^ &c. The Cholerick upon Battel-pieces^ Sea- 
fights^ Fire-pieces by Land or Sea^ Tempejis^ &c. Tlie 
Plegmatick upon the Still- life ^ Flower-pieces^ Birds, Beafls^ 
FiJ/jesy &c. and the Melancholic upon Landslips, Archi- 
tehure^ Pieces of Perfpe&ive, &c. Not but that the diffe- 
rent Genius of a Country, or the Defires of a goodCufto- 
raer, may oblige a Painter to work upon a fubjeft, which 
he had no great Fancy fon 
As to che difference in the works of Painters grown old, 
in refpeft of what they did when young, I doubt no cer- 
tain Rule^ can be Eftablifh'd as to their Performances in 
that kind. I know, my Lord, that Painters do generally 
live fafter than other men, which may at length occafion 
a failure in their Sight and Memory, a trepidation in their 
Hands, &c. And yet I never heard that Michael Angela^ 
AIL Dnrer, Titian, and others, painted worfe at the latter 
lend of their long lives, than they did before. Nay, I 
hear that Signior Verrio, tho grown old, Paints now far 
better than ever, and is grown almoft a(bam'd of fome of 
his own Works which he Painted at Windfor- CaJIk in the 
time of K. Charles 11. There may be this in it, that Aged 
Perfons having attain d, thro long Praftice, to a greater 
-Experience, to a more Solid and Mature Judgment than 
they had when younger, are more Cautious of th^x which 
they let go out of their Hands 5 and correal: thofe flaChy 
touches of their Pencil, and other fuperfiuous Irregula- 
rities, which they and others were formerly very fond 
o£ 
As for the Flam and Motion of the Eyes in a Pifture, or 
the Breath in its Month, I can fay but little, having as yet 
Gggggggggggg %^ neve 
