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for what is orange, green, and indigo, but a compound each of the two 
colours contiguous to them'?—these may he termed pure compounds; also an 
equal mixture of any of the remaining colours : but when light or shade, 
that is, white or black, is mixed with them, then they may be deemed 
treble compounds ; but, mix three of them together, and you produce a more 
undecided colour,—for instance, red, orange, yellow, and the mixture will 
be neither a true red, a true orange, nor a true yellow, the just balance that 
formed the red and the yellow into a pure orange is destroyed, and you get 
a compound that is neither the one nor the other: or take yellow, green, 
blue, and again the balance is disturbed; it is not the pure green, but a 
gradation from it towards yellow: the same with blue, indigo, and violet; 
it becomes neither a blue, an indigo, nor a violet, but an obscuier tint dif¬ 
fering from all. The foregoing, it must be observed, aie successive piismatic 
tints, and it is only the varying from the prismatic proportions, in some of 
the instances, that produces the difference mentioned ; but when you come 
to mix tints not contiguous to one another, you get into an obscurer class : 
for instance, red and violet; red and indigo; red and green ; orange and 
violet; orange and blue; orange and green, &c. &c. Now, I believe, it 
will appear in some degree from this, bow necessary it is for every one who 
wishes to excel in painting to be rvell acquainted with the mixture of 
colours, that is, the variety of different tints that may be formed by that 
means; and that it is working quite in the dark, ami leaving it to mere 
chance, to attempt producing any particular effect, till the means of doing 
it are fully understood;—that, without knowing it, is proceeding pretty much 
upon the same footing with a person Avho sits down to copy a Greek^or an 
Hebrew manuscript, ignorant of those languages ',—the chaiacters may be 
exactly and beautifully imitated , still the sense is lost: but (to carry on the 
allusion) if the languages are understood, then the meaning, and beauty of 
the subject are as it were translated into your mind, and another such sub¬ 
ject, or another such picture, may be formed from the information gained ; 
you then work as an original performer, not as a mere copyist. 
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