are few parts of his figures but what are fore-shortened more or less, and cannot, therefore, be drawn or corrected by measures. Though he begins his studies with the compass in his hand, as we learn a dead language by grammar, yet, after a certain time, they are both flung aside, and in their place a kind of mechanical correctness of the eye and ear is substituted, which operates without any conscious effort of the

mind.

Ꭱ.

NOTE XLIX. VERSE 619.

Give to the dictates of the learn'd respect.

There are few spectators of a Painter's work, learned or unlearned, who if they can be induced to speak their real sensations, would not be profitable to the Artist. The only opinions of which no use can be made, are those of half-learned connoisseurs, who have quitted nature and have not acquired art. That same sagacity which makes a man excel in his profession must assist him in the proper use to be made of the judgement of the learned, and the opinions of the vulgar. Of many things the

vulgar are as competent judges as the most learned connoisseur; of the portrait, for instance, of an animal; or, perhaps, of the truth of the representations of some vulgar passions.

It must be expected that the untaught vulgar will carry with them the same want of right taste in the judgement they make of the effect or character in a picture as they do in life, and prefer a strutting figure and gaudy colours to the grandeur of simplicity; but if this same vulgar person, or even an infant, should mistake for dirt what was intended to be a shade, it might be apprehended that the shadow was not the true colour of nature, with almost as much certainty as if the observation had been made by the most able connoisseur.

NOTE L. VERSE 703.

Know that ere perfect taste matures the mind,
Or perfect practice to that taste be join'd,-

R.

However admirable his taste may be, he is but half a Painter who can only conceive his subject, and is without knowledge of the mechanical part of his art; as on the

other hand his skill may be said to be thrown away, who has employed his colours on subjects that create no interest from their beauty, their character, or expression. One part often absorbs the whole mind, to the neglect of the rest: the young Students, whilst at Rome, studying the works of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, are apt to lose all relish for any kind of excellence, except what is found in their works. Perhaps going afterwards to Venice they may be induced to think there are other things required, and that nothing but the most superlative excellence in design, character, and dignity of style, can atone for a deficiency in the ornamental graces of the art. Excellence must of course be rare; and one of the causes of its rarity, is the necessity of uniting qualities which in their nature are contrary to each other; and yet no approaches can be made towards perfection without it. Every art or profession requires this union of contrary qualities, like the harmony of colouring, which is produced by an opposition of hot and cold hues. The Poet and the Painter must unite to the warmth that accompanies a poetical ima

gination, patience and perseverance: the one in counting syllables and toiling for a rhyme, and the other in labouring the minute parts, and finishing the detail of his works, in order to produce the great effect he desires: they must both possess a comprehensive mind that takes in the whole at one view, and at the same time an accuracy of eye or mind that distinguishes between two things that, to an ordinary spectator, appear the same, whether this consists in tints or words, or the nice discrimination on which expression and elegance depend.

弗

R.

NOTE LI. VERSE 715.

While free from prejudice your active eye
Preserves its first unsullied purity.

Prejudice is generally used in a bad sense, to imply a predilection, not founded on reason or nature, in favour of a particular master, or a particular manner, and therefore ought to be opposed with all our force; but totally to eradicate in advanced age what has so much assisted us in our youth, is a point

to which we cannot hope to arrive. The difficulty of conquering this prejudice is to be considered in the number of those causes which makes excellence so very rare.

Whoever would make a happy progress in any art or science, must begin by having great confidence in, and even prejudice in favour of, his instructor; but to continue to think him infallible, would be continuing for ever in a state of infancy.

It is impossible to draw a line when the Artist shall begin to dare to examine and criticise the works of his Master, or of the greatest master-pieces of art; we can only say, that his progress to this capacity will be gradual. In proportion as the scholar learns to analyse the excellence of the Masters he esteems, in proportion as he comes exactly to distinguish in what that excellence consists, and refer it to some precise rule and fixed standard, in that proportion he becomes free. When he has once laid hold of their principle, he will see when they deviate from it, or fail to come up to it; so that it is in reality through his extreme admiration of, and blind deference to, these masters, (without