XVI

.PREFACE.

, “ conformable, with respect to each different subject," so that all the attitude, and all the adjustment os the." draperies of each figure ought to answer or corre-" spond to the subject chosen. Briefly, it is a true de-" corum, a bienseance or a congruent disposition of" ideas, as well for the face and stature, _as for the" attitudes. A bright genius, in my opinion, who" aspires to excel in the ideal, should propose this to" himself, as what has been the principal study of the" most famous artists. ’Tis in this part that the great" masters cannot be imitated or copied but by them-" selves, or by those that are advanced in the know-" ledge os the ideal, and who are as knowing as thole" masters in the rules or laws of the pittoresque and" poetical nature, altho’ inferior to the masters in the" high spirit of invention.”

The words in this quotation " It is also an infinitevariety of parts ,” seem at first to have some meaning fiithem, but it is entirely destroy’d by the rest of the pa-ragraph, and all the other pages are filled, according tocustom, with descriptions of pictures.

Now, as every one has a right to conjecture whatthis discovery of the ancients might be, it shall be mybusiness to shew it was a key to the thorough know-ledge of variety both in form, and movement. Shake-spear, who had the deepest penetration into nature, hasfum’d up all the charms of beauty in two words,

INFINITE