DRAWING. 
tween him and the remotest objects, has 
shewn very distant hills obscured by blue, 
or fdintly-purple vapours, which becoming 
less dense in nearer objects, are gradually 
made more perfect, till those in the front ot 
the drawing exhibit a decided boundary, 
and clearly "defined lights and shades. Con- 
trary to Sir Isaac Newton’s opinion, that 
the rays of the sun contained seven primi- 
tive colours, more modern philosophers in- 
sist there are but three, blue, red, and yel- 
low; those must therefore serve as the 
grand basis in colouring, but as nature ne- 
ver glares in fierce tints, they should be 
tempered according to her dictates, and tor 
the causes mentioned above. No one co- 
lour should prevail in a good landscape, nei- 
ther should they be disposed in the prisma- 
tic form, but all parts ought to harmonizs 
and give a pleasing aggregate. The colour- 
ing of objects in the fore-ground requires 
particular attention, as neither a wall, a 
bank, or a tree presents one uniforin tint ; 
on the contrai-y, the stones, or bricks, o 
which the first is composed, always ditter 
from each other in colour ; besides, the 
trickling of dews, the vegetation of dd- 
ferent species of moss, the corroding effects 
of time and the weather, produce charac- 
teristic effects extremely picturesque : this 
is equally observable on wood ; and the 
bark of trees, and banks present numerous 
tints in the sand, clay, and stones of whieh 
they are composed, exclusive of the variety 
of plants scattered on their surface. The 
wails of castles and of monasteries adorned 
witli beautiful masses of ivy, the north sides 
of houses in damp situations, and trees, are 
excellent subjects for contemplation in this 
particular; indeed every substance in a 
state of decay seems to invite repieseiita- 
tion, by the beautiful properties they as- 
sume, which are still further observable as 
they become useless to the possessoi. The 
peasant’s house, in this mstance, in com- 
plete ruins, with fallen bricks, or broken 
plastered sides, and almost without thatch, 
is more inviting to the artist than all the 
splendor of Grecian faqades and magnifi- 
cent porticos. 
In composing a drawing, the best parts 
of various views from nature shouid be se- 
lected, always remembering that those parts 
should never resemble each other, and that 
none of their lines should be parallel ; if no- 
thing more is intended than a good compo- 
sition, such are to be obtained from reality, 
by merely correcting little errors commit- 
ted by nature ; for instance, a stream of wa- 
ter may flow in nearly a straight line 
through a most beautiful district, yet, thus 
represented, it would have a bad effect in 
the drawing ; equally disagreeable are two 
or three hills of similar outlines ranged be- 
yond each other: to turn the stream into a 
more serpentine form, or change the out- 
lines of the hills, will therefore be no devia- 
tion from propriety : it is far otherwise in 
making a view of any particular place for 
topographical purposes ; in that case, the 
object to be attained is not an unexcep- 
tionable drawing, but a true representation 
even of deformity. 
The best colours are those sold in boxes, 
properly mixed with gum, which rubbed on 
a tile, and diluted with water in the brush, 
flow readily, and are very clear : those com- 
monly used will be found properly placed 
and named in the cases alluded to. Nothing 
will contribute more towards obtaining 
correctness in drawing than a free and un- 
embarrassed conduct of the black-lead pen- 
cil and port-crayon, which should not be 
held too near the points, nor should ths 
rulciand compasses be employed, except in 
making admeasurements and drawings ot 
architecture ; when copying from any given 
subject, it will greatly expedite the progress 
to imagine the picture or drawing divided 
into squares, and the paper in an equal 
number ; by this means the true situation of 
each figure, within these imaginary squares, 
may be transferred to the same imaginary 
squares on the paper. A more mechanical 
method to copy in the same size as the 
original, or to reduce or enlarge the copy, 
is to draw real lines across each, forming 
an equal number of exact squares, and 
numbering them throughout so as to cor- 
respond: threads stretched across a pic- 
ture instead of lines pmst he less injurious 
to it, and ought to be preferred. The 
pentagraph is an useful instrument, invent- 
ed for enlarging or reducing the outlines 
of pictures, drawings, prints, or plans, 
or copying them of the original size. In 
drawing from nature, much circumspection 
should be used in chusing the spot whence 
the view is to be seen, as a few feet or yards 
often makes an essential difference in the 
beauty of the groupes and individual ob- 
jects; a gentle elevation should be prefer- 
red, whence the eye may embrace a large 
circumference; then fixing upon some cer- 
tain points, imagine several perpendicular 
lines, and marking an equal number on the 
paper, let the horizontal line intersect them, 
the objects to be represented are thSs ob- 
