Few in their parts, yet those distinct and great; Your Colouring boldly strong, yet softly sweet.

d Know, he that well begins has half achiev'd His destin'd work. Yet late shall be retriev❜d 580 That time mispent, that labour worse than lost, The young disciple, to his dearest cost, Gives to a dull preceptor's tame designs;

585

His tawdry colours, his erroneous lines,
Will to the soul that poison rank convey,
Which life's best length shall fail to purge away,
Yet let not your untutor'd childhood strive
Of Nature's living charms the sketch to give,

Nobilibus signis, sunt grandia, dissita, pura,
Tersa, velut minimè confusa, labore ligata,
Partibus ex magnis paucisque efficta, colorum
Corporious distincta feris, sed semper amicis.

e

420

Qui bene cæpit, uti facti jam fertur habere Dimidium; picturam ita nil sub limine primo Ingrediens, puer offendit damnosius arti, Quàm varia errorum genera, ignorante magistro, Ex pravis libare typis, mentemque veneno Inficere, in toto quod non abstergitur ævo. Nec graphidos rudis artis adhuc eito qualiacunque

4 LVIII. Advice to a young Painter.

• LVIII. Pictor Tyro.

425

Till, skill'd her separate features to design, 589
You know each muscle's site, and how they join.

These while beneath some master's eye youtrace,
Vers'd in the lore of
symmetry and grace,
Boldly proceed his precepts shall impart
Each sweet deception of the pleasing art :
Still more than precept shall his practice teach,
And add what self-reflection ne'er can reach. 596

f Oft, when alone, the studious hour employ On what may aid your art, and what destroy: & Diversity of parts is sure to please, If all the various parts unite with ease;

600

430

Corpora viva super studium meditabitur, ante
Illorum quàm symmetriam, internodia, formam
Noverit, inspectis, docto evolvente magistro,
Archetypis, dulcesque dolos præsenserit artis.
Plusque manu ante oculos quam voce docebitur usis.
Quære artem qæcunque juvant; fuge quæque re-

h

As surely charms that voluntary style,

Which careless plays, and seems to mock at toil:
For labour'd lines with cold exactness tire,

'Tis freedom only gives the force and fire
Etherial; she, with alchymy divine,
Brightens each touch, ennobles every line;
Yet pains and practice only can bestow

This facile

605

power of hand, whose liberal flow With grateful fraud its own exertions veils : He best employs his art who best conceals. 610 * This to obtain, let taste with judgement join'd The future whole infix upon thy mind; Be there each line in truth ideal drawn, Or ere a colour on the canvas dawn;

Æthereus quippe ignis inest et spiritus illis ;
Mente diu versata, manu celeranda repenti.
Arsque laborque operis grata sic fraude latebit :
Maxima deinde erit ars, nihil artis inesse videri.

1

Nec prius inducas tabulæ pigmenta colorum,
Expensi quàm signa typi stabilita nitescant,
Et menti præsens operis sit pegma

* LXI. The Original must be in the Head, and the Copy on the Cloth.

futuri.

440

1 LXI. Archetypus in mente, Apographus in tela. ́,

Then as the work proceeds, that work submit 615 To sight instinctive, not to doubting wit;

m The eye each obvious errour swift descries, Hold then the compass only in the eyes.

n Give to the dictates of the Learn'd respect, Nor proudly untaught sentiments reject, * 620 Severe to self alone: for self is blind,

And deems each merit in its offspring join'd: Such fond delusion time can best remove, Concealing for a while the child we love ; By absence then the eye impartial grown, Will, tho' no friend assist, each errour own;

625

Prævaleat sensus rationi, quæ officit arti Conspicua; inque oculis tantummodo circinus esto. Utere doctorum monitis, nec sperne suberbus 445 Discere, quæ de te fuerit sententia vulgi : Est cæcus nam quisque suis in rebus, et expers Judicii, prolemque suam miratur amatque. Ast ubi consilium deerit sapientis amici, Id tempus dabit, atque mora, intermissa labori.

m LXII. The Compass to

be in the Eyes.

a LXIII. Pride an enemy

to good Painting.

450

• LXII. Circinus in Ocu. lis.

P LXIII. Superbia Pictori nocet plurimum.

But these subdued, let thy determin'd mind
Veer not with every critick's veering wind,
Or e'er submit thy genius to the rules

630

Of prating fops, or self-important fools;
Enough if from the Learn'd applause be won:
Who doat on random praises, merit none.
9 By Nature's sympathetick power, we see,
As is the Parent, such the
progeny:

Ev'n Artists, bound by their instinctive law, 635
In all their works their own resemblance draw:
Learn then "to know thyself;" that precept sage
Shall best allay luxuriant Fancy's rage;
Shall point how far indulgent Genius deigns
To aid her flight, and to what point restrains. 640

Non facilis tamen ad nutus, et inania vulgi
Dicta, levis mutabis opus, geniumque relinques:
Nam qui parte sua sperat bene posse mereri

Multivaga de plebe, nocet sibi, nec placet ullį.

I

* Cumque opere in proprio soleat se pingere

pictor,

(Prolem adeo sibi ferre parem natura suevit,) Proderit imprimis pictori γνωθι σεαυτον,

Ut data quæ genio colat, abstineatque negatis.

455

• LXIV. Know thyself.

T. Nosce teipsum.