1806.] _ Methods of taking Impreffions of Medals with Ifinglafs. 521 
duced has been upheld for many, very 
many years: but now, I fay, now its end 
is come. Such an artift as Fufeli is in- 
vulnerable, he needs not my defence ; but 
I fhould be afhamed not to fet my hand 
and fhoulder, and whole ftrength, againtt 
thofe wretches who, wnder preience of 
criticiim, ule the dagger and the poifon. 
My criticifm on this picture is as fol- 
lo ws: 
Mr. Fafeli’s Count Ugolino is the fa- 
tier of fons of feeling and dignity, who 
wouid not fit looking in their parent’s face 
in the moment of his agony, but would 
rather retire and die io fecret, while they 
fuffer him to indulge his paffionate and 
innocent griet, his innocent and venerable 
eiadnefs, and infanity, and fury, avd what. 
ever paltry cold.bearted critics cannot, 
becauie they dare not, look upon. Fu- 
Sely’s Count Ugolino is a man cf wonder 
and admiration, of refentment againit man 
and devil, and of !.umiliation betore God; 
prayer and parerial affeétion fills the t- 
gure trom head to foot. 
arms, whether boy cr girl fignifies not, 
(out the critic mult be a foo! who has not 
read Dante, and who does not know a 
boy from a girl); I fay, the child isa 
beautifully drawn as it is coloured—in 
beth, inimitable! and the effect of the 
whole is truly iubiime, on account cf thet 
very colouring which our critic cails black 
and heavy. The-German flute colour, 
which was ufea by the Flemings, (they 
call it burnt bowe), has poffeficd the eye 
of certain connoiifeurs, that they cannot 
fee appropriate colouring, and are blind 
to the gloom of a real. terior. 
The tae of Englifh amateurs has been 
too much formed upon pictures imported 
from Flanders and Hol.iand ; confequently 
eur countrymen are ealily brow-beat on 
the tubjeét of painting ; and hence it is fo 
common to hear aman fay,.‘¢ Lam no judge 
of piciures:”? but, O Englifamen! know 
thar every man ought to bea judge cf 
pictores, and every man is [o who has not 
been connoieured out of his fentes. 
A genticman who vifited me the other 
day, taid, ** } am very much (urprifed at 
tue difl. ke that forme connoifieurs thew on 
viewing the p.ctures of Mr. Fuleli; but 
the truth is, he is ahundred years beyond 
the prelfent generation.” Though I am 
ftartied at fuch an affertion, I nope the 
cotemporary tafte will fhorten the hun- 
dred ycars into as many hours; for I am 
fure that any perfon confuiting his own 
eyes muft prefer what is fo (upereminent ; 
and I am as fure that any perfon confulr- 
ing his own reputation, or the reputation 
+ Monruzry Mag. No, 144. 
The child in his’ 
of his country, willrefrain from difgra- 
cing either by-fuch ill-judged criticifms im 
future, Yours, 
Wha. BLAKE. 
‘ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
WILL feel obliged to any of your car- 
Js refpondents who will give me an zec- 
count of the Philolophical Society of 
Bombay mentioned by the late newfpa- 
pers. Is it an inftitution of the fame kind 
as that at Calcutta, founded by the great 
Sir William Jones? Is there any fimilar 
In{tiution at Madras, in Ceylon, or to 
the eaftward ? I am rejoiced to hear of the 
diffaGon of thefe focieties abroad, and that 
our countrymen in the Eaft do not bend 
their fole attention to acquiring fortunes. 
The attention paid at home and abroad to 
the cultivation of Eaftern literature and 
hiftory entitle Englifhmen to the gratitude 
of the refb of the world. I fhould be 
giad to hear of attempts to cultivate lis 
terature in our Weft Indian poffeffions. 
Lyndburft, Yours, 
20th May, 480%. A Wesr Inptan, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
st the following methods of taking im- 
preffions of -meda!s or coins with ifin- 
gleis meets with your approbation, the in- 
{-rtien of them in your Magazine may 
oblige many of your readers :— 
Take an ounce of ifinglafs, beat it ina 
mortar, then pick it into {mall pieces, and 
nut them into a half-pint phial, and then 
fll it up witha {pirituous liquor, common 
brandy or geneva will do, put a cork into 
the phial with anotch cut in one fide of it 
for a paflage for air, and fet it by a fire 
fur three or four hours, fhaking it often 
in that time (the heat fhould be great 
enough to keep it near boiling all the 
wale). The tinglafs will then be fufi- 
ciently diflolved, and the whole muft be 
poured into a cloth and ftrained off ; it is 
(nen to be put into a clean phial, well 
corked, and kept for ufe. : 
When you propofe to ufe it take the 
plue and fet it by thefire, and it wili {con 
liguify or become fluid ;then having made 
the medal clean and placed it quite level, 
pouron fo much of the glue‘as will cover 
it all over and lie without running off; you 
then letit ftandto dry, which in the fum- 
mer time and dry weather will be in one 
day, at other times it will take near two; 
when itis quiledry, itis {carcely fen on 
the medal, and mult be taken off by en- 
3X " teting 
rz 
—s ee re 
