"66 
prevalence of portraiture in England; 
the infinite mats of old piétures fupply- 
ing the demand in every other depart- 
ment of the art; and, were it poffible 
for new people to buy old portraits of 
themfelves and their children, there can 
be little doubt that the fame artifices 
would be praétifed with the fame fuc- 
cefs, and the profeffors of portrait-paint- 
ing, in confequence, meet with as little 
encouragement as the profellors of hiftory- 
or landfcape. It may be proper here to 
remark, that we muft not hope, not- 
withftanding the quantity of employ- 
ment, to carry even this branch of the 
art to any creditable degree of excellence, - 
which cannot happen without the accom- 
panying example of the hiftoric mufe to 
elevate and give dignity to the ftyle of 
it. OF the truth of this, our annual exhi- 
bition affords proof abundant, for who 
attends it and cannot fee portrait-paint- 
ing dwindling into a fort of meagre fan- 
paimting? and it is no lefs true than 
remarkable, that VANDYKE himfelf 
foon ki. ft ail his force, firmnefs of execu- 
tion, richnefs ef colour, all the breadth 
and grandeur of his ftyle, on leaving 
ltaly and Flanders, where hiftory-paint- 
ing was practifed, and coming to Eng- 
Jand, where its powerful influence 
ceafed to reach and fupport him. 
The evils above defcribed, which Eng- 
land feels fo feverely, cannot, however, 
avife in France from what fhe has now 
imiported from Italy, as they are all works 
ef unqueftionably the firft excellence, 
aad wil be depofited in the national 
mufeum, ta ferve 3s objects of ftudy, not 
of trafic. But France has, probably, 
been long overftocked with the produc- 
tions of the Italian, Flemifh, and Dutch 
tchools ; and the inconvenience fhe has 
felt from it, is evident from the arts not 
having been carried to that degree of 
perfection it attained in thofe countries 
whence they were derived, where the 
colleéting the works of foreign {chools 
never was fo prevalent and fafhionable. 
A fimilar caufe, perhaps, the influx of 
Grecian painting and {fculpture, may 
have contributed to the apparent infe- 
riority of the Romans to the’ Greeks in 
thofe arts. 
Tt has been farther objeéted, that Paris 
being more expofed to the buftle of 
politics, trade, &c. cannot be fo eligible 
a place for ftudy as Rome; but this opt- 
nion the general experience of mankind 
will, by no means, warrant cur adopting ; 
for ir will, perhaps, be too generally 
Eppets of the Removal of Works of rt to Parise 
f Sept. 
found, that a man is too apt to fleep _ 
than to labour under fuch circumftances ; 
where, if there are fewer temptations to 
diffipation, there are many incitements 
to activity alfo wanting. Hiftory will 
inform us, that neither the fineft works 
of the Greeks, or thofe of the modern 
painters and {culptors of Italy, have been 
the production of ages or places of 
remarkable tranquillity. 
As an object of ftudy, the immenfe 
colleétion made at Paris may, perhaps, 
be for England a fortunate circumftance ; 
for, though it muft be granted that the. 
aggregate will, at laft, be much lefs than | 
what remains in Italy, architeéture 
wholly, and moft ef the great works of 
the moderns, in painting, being im- 
moveable, yet, as it cannot be neceflary, 
or pollible, for a ftudent to fee every 
individual work of art, theré will, per- 
haps, be enough for the purpofe, and by 
being fo much nearer than Rome, it will 
certainly be ufeful to at leaft ten times 
the number; one moft important ad- 
vantage it will alfo have in the contigu- 
ity of the different parts of the colleétion, 
which will render it poffible to fee them 
under a peint of view much better cal- 
culated for comprehending the whole, 
and making a comparifon of the excel- 
lencies of the ftyle and manner of each 
different mafter, with the others: this 
will tend to prevent the ftudent’s falling 
in love with one Particular manner, or 
mafter, and becoming a mere copyift, 
3 : : . F 
and he will gradually improve himfelf in 
all the branches of the art at once; 
whereas, in Italy, being obliged to wander 
from place to place, he is apt to forget 
the excellence of one fchool, whilft he is 
ftudying that of another ; to lofe at Rome 
what he learned at Parma; and at Venice 
what he made himfelf mafter of at Rome. 
Sept. 6, 1797. QR. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
I* reply to your correfpondent at p. 89, 
of your Magazine for the laft month, 
who is of opinion that the accounts re- 
lative to the inclofure of toads in the body 
of ftones, are not fatisfaétorily authen- 
ticated, accept the two following parti- 
culars : 
_A cylindrical ftone, placed at the en- 
trance of the late College in Hackney, 
to keep carriages off the foot-path, was 
broken in two by a Hackney-Coach, about 
eight or nine years ago, and fet at liberty 2 
a toad; confined in it. This I well re- 
member 

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