FIRST LECTURE.

in them as a whole: for he begins his defcription. at oneend of the pi&ure, and finifhes it at the oppofite ex-tremity, a fenfelefs method if we fuppofe that a centralgroup, or a principal figure to which the reft were in acertain degree fubordinate, attrafted the eye; it appearsas plain that they had no perfpedtive, the feries offigures On the fecond or middle ground being defcribedas placed above thofe on the foreground, as the figuresin the diftance above the whole: the honeft methodtoo which the painter chofe of annexing to many of hisfigures, their names in writing, favours much of theinfancy of painting.—We ftiould however be cautiousto impute folely to ignorance or imbecility, what mightreft on the firm bafe of permanent principle. Thegenius of Polygnotus was more than that of any otherartift before or after, Phidias perhaps alone excepted, apublic genius, his works monumental works, and thefevery pi&ures the votive offerings of the Gnidians. Theart at that fummit, when exerting its powers to recordthe feats, confecrate the a<fts, perpetuate the rites, pro-pagate the religion, or to difteminate the peculiar doc-trines of a nation, heedlefs of the rules prefcribed toinferior excellence and humbler purfuits, returns to itselements, leaps ftricft poflibility, combines remote caufeswith prefent effeffs, connects local diftance and unitesfeparate moments.—Simplicity, parallelifm, appofition,

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