,,the ,,collected ,,works ,,of ,,william ,,hazlitt ,,in ,,twelve ,,volumes ,,volume ,,six ,all rights reserved ,illustration3 ,charles ,lamb4 ,from the portrait in the ,national ,portrait ,gallery1 painted in #ahje by ,william ,hazlitt4 ,,the ,,collected ,,works ,,of ,,william ,,hazlitt ,,edited ,,by ,a4 ,r4 ,,waller ,,and ,,arnold ,,glover ,,with ,,an ,,introduction ,,by ,w4 ,e4 ,,henley ,table ,talk and ,conversations of ,james ,northcote1 ,esq41 ,r4,a4 #aijc ,,london3 ,j4 ,m4 ,,dent ,,co4 ,mc,c,l,u,r,e1 ,,phillips ,,co43 ,,new ,,york ,edinburgh3 ,printed by ,t4 and ,a4 ,,constable ,,contents ,,page ,,table ,,talk #a ,,conversations ,,of ,,james ,,northcote1 ,,esq41 ,r4,a4 #cca ,,notes #dfg ,,table ,,talk2 ,,or1 ,,original ,,essays ,,on ,,men ,,and ,,manners ,,bibliographical ,,note ,the first edition was published in two #hvo volumes1 the first volume in #ahba with the following title-page3 #8,table-,talk2 or1 ,original ,essays4 ,by ,william ,hazlitt4 ,london3 ,john ,warren1 ,old ,bond-,street #ahba'2 the second volume in #ahbb with the following title-page3 #8,table-,talk2 or1 ,original ,essays4 ,by ,william ,hazlitt4 ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,london3 ,printed for ,henry ,colburn and ,co4 #ahbb4' ,both volumes were printed by ,thomas ,davison1 ,whitefriars4 ,the first volume contained the following ,advertisement3 #8,it may be proper to observe1 that the ,essays 8,on the ,pleasure of ,painting0 and 8,on the ,ignorance of the ,learned10 in this ,volume1 have already appeared in periodical publications4' ,the second volume contained a list of #8errata4' ,the second edition appeared in #ahbd in two #hvo volumes4 ,the title-page ran as follows3 #8,table-,talk1 or ,original ,essays on ,men and ,manners4 ,second ,edition4 ,london3 ,printed for ,henry ,colburn1 ,new ,burlington ,street4 #ahbd4' ,the volumes were printed by ,j4 ,nichols and ,son1 #be ,parliament ,street4 ,this edition1 apparently a mere reprint of the first edition1 is here reprinted verbatim except that the mistakes referred to in the #8errata' of the first edition have been corrected4 ,in #ahbe two #hvo volumes appeared in ,paris 7,a4 ,w4 ,galignani7 entitled1 #8,table-,talk3 or ,original ,essays1 ,by ,william ,hazlitt4' ,this edition omitted several of the essays included in the ,english editions of ,table ,talk1 and included several papers which were afterwards published in ,england in ,the ,plain ,speaker4 ,an ,advertisement 7see notes to this volume7 was prefixed to ,vol4 ,i4 ,in the third edition 7#b vols4 foolscap #hvo #ahde7 entitled #8,table-,talk3 ,original ,essays on ,men and ,manners4 ,by ,william ,hazlitt4 ,edited by his ,son4 ,london3 ,c4 ,templeman1 #f1 ,great ,portland ,street1' some essays were omitted1 the order of the essays was altered1 and two essays1 #8,on ,travelling ,abroad' and #8,on the ,spirit of ,controversy1' were added4 ,the fourth edition 7#aheg-ahfa7 is a reprint or a re-issue of the third4 ,in the fifth edition 7#a volume #hvo1 #ahfi1 ,bell ,daldy71 edited by ,mr4 ,william ,carew ,hazlitt1 the text and arrangement of the first two editions are restored1 but the essays are divided into three ,series4 ,in a later edition edited by ,mr4 ,hazlitt 7#a vol4 #hvo ,bohn's ,library1 #ahia7 the essays are arranged continuously4 ,,contents ,,essay ,i4 ,,page ,on the ,pleasure of ,painting #e ,,essay ,,ii4 ,the same ,subject continued #ac ,,essay ,,iii4 ,on the ,past and ,future #ba ,,essay ,,iv4 ,on ,genius and ,common ,sense #ca ,,essay ,v4 ,the same ,subject continued #db ,,essay ,,vi4 ,character of ,cobbett #ej ,,essay ,,vii4 ,on ,people with one ,idea #ei ,,essay ,,viii4 ,on the ,ignorance of the ,learned #gj ,,essay ,,ix4 ,the ,indian ,jugglers #gg ,,essay ,x4 ,on ,living to one's-self #ij ,,essay ,,xi4 ,on ,thought and ,action #aja ,,essay ,,xii4 ,on ,will-making #aac ,,essay ,,xiii4 ,on certain ,inconsistencies in ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's ,discourses #abb ,,essay ,,xiv4 ,the same ,subject continued #aca ,,essay ,,xv4 ,on ,paradox and ,common-place #adf ,,essay ,,xvi4 ,on ,vulgarity and ,affectation #aef ,,essay ,,xvii4 ,on a ,landscape of ,nicholas ,poussin #afh ,,essay ,,xviii4 ,on ,milton's ,sonnets #agd ,,essay ,,xix4 ,on going a ,journey #aha ,,essay ,,xx4 ,on ,coffee-house ,politicians #ahi ,,essay ,,xxi4 ,on the ,aristocracy of ,letters #bje ,,essay ,,xxii4 ,on ,criticism #bad ,,essay ,,xxiii4 ,on great and little ,things #bbf ,,essay ,,xxiv4 ,on familiar ,style #bdb ,,essay ,,xxv4 ,on ,effeminacy of ,character #bdh ,,essay ,,xxvi4 ,why distant ,objects please #bee ,,essay ,,xxvii4 ,on ,corporate ,bodies #bfd ,,essay ,,xxviii4 ,whether ,actors ought to sit in the ,boxes #bgb ,,essay ,,xxix4 ,on the ,disadvantages of intellectual ,superiority #bgi ,,essay ,,xxx4 ,on ,patronage and ,puffing #bhi ,,essay ,,xxxi4 ,on the ,knowledge of ,character #cjc ,,essay ,,xxxii4 ,on the ,picturesque and ,ideal #cag ,,essay ,,xxxiii4 ,on the ,fear of ,death #cba ,,table ,,talk ,,essay ,i ,,on ,,the ,,pleasure ,,of ,,painting #8,there is a pleasure in painting which none but painters know4' ,in writing1 you have to contend with the world2 in painting1 you have only to carry on a friendly strife with ,nature4 ,you sit down to your task1 and are happy4 ,from the moment that you take up the pencil1 and look ,nature in the face1 you are at peace with your own heart4 ,no angry passions rise to disturb the silent progress of the work1 to shake the hand1 or dim the brow3 no irritable humours are set afloat3 you have no absurd opinions to combat1 no point to strain1 no adversary to crush1 no fool to annoy--you are actuated by fear or favour to no man4 ,there is #8no juggling here1' no sophistry1 no intrigue1 no tampering with the evidence1 no attempt to make black white1 or white black3 but you resign yourself into the hands of a greater power1 that of ,nature1 with the simplicity of a child1 and the devotion of an enthusiast--'study with joy her manner1 and with rapture taste her style4' ,the mind is calm1 and full at the same time4 ,the hand and eye are equally employed4 ,in tracing the commonest object1 a plant or the stump of a tree1 you learn something every moment4 ,you perceive unexpected differences1 and discover likenesses where you looked for no such thing4 ,you try to set down what you see--find out your error1 and correct it4 ,you need not play tricks1 or purposely mistake3 with all your pains1 you are still far short of the mark4 ,patience grows out of the endless pursuit1 and turns it into a luxury4 ,a streak in a flower1 a wrinkle in a leaf1 a tinge in a cloud1 a stain in an old wall or ruin grey1 are seized with avidity as the spolia opima of this sort of mental warfare1 and furnish out labour for another half day4 ,the hours pass away untold1 without chagrin1 and without weariness2 nor would you ever wish to pass them otherwise4 ,innocence is joined with industry1 pleasure with business2 and the mind is satisfied1 though it is not engaged in thinking or in doing any mischief4#a ,i have not much pleasure in writing these ,essays1 or in reading them afterwards2 though ,i own ,i now and then meet with a phrase that ,i like1 or a thought that strikes me as a true one4 ,but after ,i begin them1 ,i am only anxious to get to the end of them1 which ,i am not sure ,i shall do1 for ,i seldom see my way a page or even a sentence beforehand2 and when ,i have as by a miracle escaped1 ,i trouble myself little more about them4 ,i sometimes have to write them twice over3 then it is necessary to read the proof1 to prevent mistakes by the printer2 so that by the time they appear in a tangible shape1 and one can con them over with a conscious1 sidelong glance to the public approbation1 they have lost their gloss and relish1 and become #8more tedious than a twice-told tale4' ,for a person to read his own works over with any great delight1 he ought first to forget that he ever wrote them4 ,familiarity naturally breeds contempt4 ,it is1 in fact1 like poring fondly over a piece of blank paper3 from repetition1 the words convey no distinct meaning to the mind1 are mere idle sounds1 except that our vanity claims an interest and property in them4 ,i have more satisfaction in my own thoughts than in dictating them to others3 words are necessary to explain the impression of certain things upon me to the reader1 but they rather weaken and draw a veil over than strengthen it to myself4 ,however ,i might say with the poet1 #8,my mind to me a kingdom is1' yet ,i have little ambition #8to set a throne or chair of state in the understandings of other men4' ,the ideas we cherish most1 exist best in a kind of shadowy abstraction1 #8,pure in the last recesses of the mind2' and derive neither force nor interest from being exposed to public view4 ,they are old familiar acquaintance1 and any change in them1 arising from the adventitious ornaments of style or dress1 is little to their advantage4 ,after ,i have once written on a subject1 it goes out of my mind3 my feelings about it have been melted down into words1 and them ,i forget4 ,i have1 as it were1 discharged my memory of its old habitual reckoning1 and rubbed out the score of real sentiment4 ,for the future1 it exists only for the sake of others4--,but ,i cannot say1 from my own experience1 that the same process takes place in transferring our ideas to canvas2 they gain more than they lose in the mechanical transformation4 ,one is never tired of painting1 because you have to set down not what you knew already1 but what you have just discovered4 ,in the former case1 you translate feelings into words2 in the latter1 names into things4 ,there is a continual creation out of nothing going on4 ,with every stroke of the brush1 a new field of inquiry is laid open2 new difficulties arise1 and new triumphs are prepared over them4 ,by comparing the imitation with the original1 you see what you have done1 and how much you have still to do4 ,the test of the senses is severer than that of fancy1 and an over-match even for the delusions of our self-love4 ,one part of a picture shames another1 and you determine to paint up to yourself1 if you cannot come up to nature4 ,every object becomes lustrous from the light thrown back upon it by the mirror of art3 and by the aid of the pencil we may be said to touch and handle the objects of sight4 ,the air-drawn visions that hover on the verge of existence have a bodily presence given them on the canvas3 the form of beauty is changed into a substance3 the dream and the glory of the universe is made #8palpable to feeling as to sight4'--,and see6 a rainbow starts from the canvas1 with all its humid train of glory1 as if it were drawn from its cloudy arch in heaven4 ,the spangled landscape glitters with drops of dew after the shower4 ,the #8fleecy fools' show their coats in the gleams of the setting sun4 ,the shepherds pipe their farewell notes in the fresh evening air4 ,and is this bright vision made from a dead dull blank1 like a bubble reflecting the mighty fabric of the universe8 ,who would think this miracle of ,rubens' pencil possible to be performed8 ,who1 having seen it1 would not spend his life to do the like8 ,see how the rich fallows1 the bare stubble-field1 the scanty harvest-home1 drag in ,rembrandt's landscapes6 ,how often have ,i looked at them and nature1 and tried to do the same1 till the very #8light thickened1' and there was an earthiness in the feeling of the air6 ,there is no end of the refinements of art and nature in this respect4 ,one may look at the misty glimmering horizon till the eye dazzles and the imagination is lost1 in hopes to transfer the whole interminable expanse at one blow upon canvas4 ,wilson said1 he used to try to paint the effect of the motes dancing in the setting sun4 ,at another time1 a friend coming into his painting-room when he was sitting on the ground in a melancholy posture1 observed that his picture looked like a landscape after a shower3 he started up with the greatest delight1 and said1 #8,that is the effect ,i intended to produce1 but thought ,i had failed4' ,wilson was neglected2 and1 by degrees1 neglected his art to apply himself to brandy4 ,his hand became unsteady1 so that it was only by repeated attempts that he could reach the place1 or produce the effect he aimed at2 and when he had done a little to a picture1 he would say to any acquaintance who chanced to drop in1 #8,i have painted enough for one day3 come1 let us go somewhere4' ,it was not so ,claude left his pictures1 or his studies on the banks of the ,tiber1 to go in search of other enjoyments1 or ceased to gaze upon the glittering sunny vales and distant hills2 and while his eye drank in the clear sparkling hues and lovely forms of nature1 his hand stamped them on the lucid canvas to last there for ever6--,one of the most delightful parts of my life was one fine summer1 when ,i used to walk out of an evening to catch the last light of the sun1 gemming the green slopes or russet lawns1 and gilding tower or tree1 while the blue sky gradually turning to purple and gold1 or skirted with dusky grey1 hung its broad marble pavement over all1 as we see it in the great master of ,italian landscape4 ,but to come to a more particular explanation of the subject4 ,the first head ,i ever tried to paint was an old woman with the upper part of the face shaded by her bonnet1 and ,i certainly laboured it with great perseverance4 ,it took me numberless sittings to do it4 ,i have it by me still1 and sometimes look at it with surprise1 to think how much pains were thrown away to little purpose1--yet not altogether in vain if it taught me to see good in every thing1 and to know that there is nothing vulgar in nature seen with the eye of science or of true art4 ,refinement creates beauty everywhere3 it is the grossness of the spectator that discovers nothing but grossness in the object4 ,be this as it may1 ,i spared no pains to do my best4 ,if art was long1 ,i thought that life was so too at that moment4 ,i got in the general effect the first day2 and pleased and surprised enough ,i was at my success4 ,the rest was a work of time--of weeks and months 7if need were7 of patient toil and careful finishing4 ,i had seen an old head by ,rembrandt at ,burleigh-,house1 and if ,i could produce a head at all like ,rembrandt in a year1 in my life-time1 it would be glory and felicity1 and wealth and fame enough for me6 ,the head ,i had seen at ,burleigh was an exact and wonderful fac-simile of nature1 and ,i resolved to make mine 7as nearly as ,i could7 an exact fac-simile of nature4 ,i did not then1 nor do ,i now believe1 with ,sir ,joshua1 that the perfection of art consists in giving general appearances without individual details1 but in giving general appearances with individual details4 ,otherwise1 ,i had done my work the first day4 ,but ,i saw something more in nature than general effect1 and ,i thought it worth my while to give it in the picture4 ,there was a gorgeous effect of light and shade3 but there was a delicacy as well as depth in the chiaro scuro1 which ,i was bound to follow into all its dim and scarce perceptible variety of tone and shadow4 ,then ,i had to make the transition from a strong light to as dark a shade1 preserving the masses1 but gradually softening off the intermediate parts4 ,it was so in nature3 the difficulty was to make it so in the copy4 ,i tried1 and failed again and again2 ,i strove harder1 and succeeded as ,i thought4 ,the wrinkles in ,rembrandt were not hard lines2 but broken and irregular4 ,i saw the same appearance in nature1 and strained every nerve to give it4 ,if ,i could hit off this edgy appearance1 and insert the reflected light in the furrows of old age in half a morning1 ,i did not think ,i had lost a day4 ,beneath the shrivelled yellow parchment look of the skin1 there was here and there a streak of the blood colour tinging the face2 this ,i made a point of conveying1 and did not cease to compare what ,i saw with what ,i did 7with jealous lynx-eyed watchfulness7 till ,i succeeded to the best of my ability and judgment4 ,how many revisions were there6 ,how many attempts to catch an expression which ,i had seen the day before6 ,how often did we try to get the old position1 and wait for the return of the same light6 ,there was a puckering up of the lips1 a cautious introversion of the eye under the shadow of the bonnet1 indicative of the feebleness and suspicion of old age1 which at last we managed1 after many trials and some quarrels1 to a tolerable nicety4 ,the picture was never finished1 and ,i might have gone on with it to the present hour4#b ,i used to set it on the ground when my day's work was done1 and saw revealed to me with swimming eyes the birth of new hopes1 and of a new world of objects4 ,the painter thus learns to look at nature with different eyes4 ,he before saw her #8as in a glass darkly1 but now face to face4' ,he understands the texture and meaning of the visible universe1 and #8sees into the life of things1' not by the help of mechanical instruments1 but of the improved exercise of his faculties1 and an intimate sympathy with nature4 ,the meanest thing is not lost upon him1 for he looks at it with an eye to itself1 not merely to his own vanity or interest1 or the opinion of the world4 ,even where there is neither beauty nor use--if that ever were--still there is truth1 and a sufficient source of gratification in the indulgence of curiosity and activity of mind4 ,the humblest painter is a true scholar2 and the best of scholars--the scholar of nature4 ,for myself1 and for the real comfort and satisfaction of the thing1 ,i had rather have been ,jan ,steen1 or ,gerard ,dow1 than the greatest casuist or philologer that ever lived4 ,the painter does not view things in clouds or #8mist1 the common gloss of theologians1' but applies the same standard of truth and disinterested spirit of inquiry1 that influence his daily practice1 to other subjects4 ,he perceives form1 he distinguishes character4 ,he reads men and books with an intuitive eye4 ,he is a critic as well as a connoisseur4 ,the conclusions he draws are clear and convincing1 because they are taken from the things themselves4 ,he is not a fanatic1 a dupe1 or a slave3 for the habit of seeing for himself also disposes him to judge for himself4 ,the most sensible men ,i know 7taken as a class7 are painters2 that is1 they are the most lively observers of what passes in the world about them1 and the closest observers of what passes in their own minds4 ,from their profession they in general mix more with the world than authors2 and if they have not the same fund of acquired knowledge1 are obliged to rely more on individual sagacity4 ,i might mention the names of ,opie1 ,fuseli1 ,northcote1 as persons distinguished for striking description and acquaintance with the subtle traits of character4#c ,painters in ordinary society1 or in obscure situations where their value is not known1 and they are treated with neglect and indifference1 have sometimes a forward self-sufficiency of manner3 but this is not so much their fault as that of others4 ,perhaps their want of regular education may also be in fault in such cases4 ,richardson1 who is very tenacious of the respect in which the profession ought to be held1 tells a story of ,michael ,angelo1 that after a quarrel between him and ,pope ,julius ,,ii4 #8upon account of a slight the artist conceived the pontiff had put upon him1 ,michael ,angelo was introduced by a bishop1 who1 thinking to serve the artist by it1 made it an argument that the ,pope should be reconciled to him1 because men of his profession were commonly ignorant1 and of no consequence otherwise3 his holiness1 enraged at the bishop1 struck him with his staff1 and told him1 it was he that was the blockhead1 and affronted the man himself would not offend2 the prelate was driven out of the chamber1 and ,michael ,angelo had the ,pope's benediction accompanied with presents4 ,this bishop had fallen into the vulgar error1 and was rebuked accordingly4' ,besides the exercise of the mind1 painting exercises the body4 ,it is a mechanical as well as a liberal art4 ,to do any thing1 to dig a hole in the ground1 to plant a cabbage1 to hit a mark1 to move a shuttle1 to work a pattern1--in a word1 to attempt to produce any effect1 and to succeed1 has something in it that gratifies the love of power1 and carries off the restless activity of the mind of man4 ,indolence is a delightful but distressing state3 we must be doing something to be happy4 ,action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame2 and painting combines them both incessantly4#d ,the hand furnishes a practical test of the correctness of the eye2 and the eye thus admonished1 imposes fresh tasks of skill and industry upon the hand4 ,every stroke tells1 as the verifying of a new truth2 and every new observation1 the instant it is made1 passes into an act and emanation of the will4 ,every step is nearer what we wish1 and yet there is always more to do4 ,in spite of the facility1 the fluttering grace1 the evanescent hues1 that play round the pencil of ,rubens and ,vandyke1 however ,i may admire1 ,i do not envy them this power so much as ,i do the slow1 patient1 laborious execution of ,correggio1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 and ,andrea del ,sarto1 where every touch appears conscious of its charge1 emulous of truth1 and where the painful artist has so distinctly wrought1 #8,that you might almost say his picture thought6' ,in the one case1 the colours seem breathed on the canvas as by magic1 the work and the wonder of a moment3 in the other1 they seem inlaid in the body of the work1 and as if it took the artist years of unremitting labour1 and of delightful never-ending progress to perfection4#e ,who would wish ever to come to the close of such works1--not to dwell on them1 to return to them1 to be wedded to them to the last8 ,rubens1 with his florid1 rapid style1 complained that when he had just learned his art1 he should be forced to die4 ,leonardo1 in the slow advances of his1 had lived long enough6 ,painting is not1 like writing1 what is properly understood by a sedentary employment4 ,it requires not indeed a strong1 but a continued and steady exertion of muscular power4 ,the precision and delicacy of the manual operation makes up for the want of vehemence1--as to balance himself for any time in the same position the rope-dancer must strain every nerve4 ,painting for a whole morning gives one as excellent an appetite for one's dinner1 as old ,abraham ,tucker acquired for his by riding over ,banstead ,downs4 ,it is related of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 that #8he took no other exercise than what he used in his painting-room1'--the writer means1 in walking backwards and forwards to look at his picture2 but the act of painting itself1 of laying on the colours in the proper place1 and proper quantity1 was a much harder exercise than this alternate receding from and returning to the picture4 ,this last would be rather a relaxation and relief than an effort4 ,it is not to be wondered at1 that an artist like ,sir ,joshua1 who delighted so much in the sensual and practical part of his art1 should have found himself at a considerable loss when the decay of his sight precluded him1 for the last year or two of his life1 from the following up of his profession1--#8the source1' according to his own remark1 #8of thirty years uninterrupted enjoyment and prosperity to him4' ,it is only those who never think at all1 or else who have accustomed themselves to brood incessantly on abstract ideas1 that never feel ennui4 ,to give one instance more1 and then ,i will have done with this rambling discourse4 ,one of my first attempts was a picture of my father1 who was then in a green old age1 with strong-marked features1 and scarred with the small-pox4 ,i drew it with a broad light crossing the face1 looking down1 with spectacles on1 reading4 ,the book was ,shaftesbury's ,characteristics1 in a fine old binding1 with ,gribelin's etchings4 ,my father would as lieve it had been any other book2 but for him to read was to be content1 was #8riches fineless4' ,the sketch promised well2 and ,i set to work to finish it1 determined to spare no time nor pains4 ,my father was willing to sit as long as ,i pleased2 for there is a natural desire in the mind of man to sit for one's picture1 to be the object of continued attention1 to have one's likeness multiplied2 and besides his satisfaction in the picture1 he had some pride in the artist1 though he would rather ,i should have written a sermon than painted like ,rembrandt or like ,raphael4 ,those winter days1 with the gleams of sunshine coming through the chapel-windows1 and cheered by the notes of the robin-redbreast in our garden 7that #8ever in the haunch of winter sings'7--as my afternoon's work drew to a close1--were among the happiest of my life4 ,when ,i gave the effect ,i intended to any part of the picture for which ,i had prepared my colours1 when ,i imitated the roughness of the skin by a lucky stroke of the pencil1 when ,i hit the clear pearly tone of a vein1 when ,i gave the ruddy complexion of health1 the blood circulating under the broad shadows of one side of the face1 ,i thought my fortune made2 or rather it was already more than made1 in my fancying that ,i might one day be able to say with ,correggio1 #8,i also am a painter6' ,it was an idle thought1 a boy's conceit2 but it did not make me less happy at the time4 ,i used regularly to set my work in the chair to look at it through the long evenings2 and many a time did ,i return to take leave of it before ,i could go to bed at night4 ,i remember sending it with a throbbing heart to the ,exhibition1 and seeing it hung up there by the side of one of the ,honourable ,mr4 ,skeffington 7now ,sir ,george74 ,there was nothing in common between them1 but that they were the portraits of two very good-natured men4 ,i think1 but am not sure1 that ,i finished this portrait 7or another afterwards7 on the same day that the news of the battle of ,austerlitz came2 ,i walked out in the afternoon1 and1 as ,i returned1 saw the evening star set over a poor man's cottage with other thoughts and feelings than ,i shall ever have again4 ,oh for the revolution of the great ,platonic year1 that those times might come over again6 ,i could sleep out the three hundred and sixty-five thousand intervening years very contentedly6--,the picture is left3 the table1 the chair1 the window where ,i learned to construe ,livy1 the chapel where my father preached1 remain where they were2 but he himself is gone to rest1 full of years1 of faith1 of hope1 and charity6 ,,essay ,,ii ,,the ,,same ,,subject ,,continued ,the painter not only takes a delight in nature1 he has a new and exquisite source of pleasure opened to him in the study and contemplation of works of art-- #8,whate'er ,lorraine light touch'd with soft'ning hue1 ,or savage ,rosa dash'd1 or learned ,poussin drew4' ,he turns aside to view a country-gentleman's seat with eager looks1 thinking it may contain some of the rich products of art4 ,there is an air round ,lord ,radnor's park1 for there hang the two ,claudes1 the ,morning and ,evening of the ,roman ,empire--round ,wilton-house1 for there is ,vandyke's picture of the ,pembroke family--round ,blenheim1 for there is his picture of the ,duke of ,buckingham's children1 and the most magnificent collection of ,rubenses in the world--at ,knowsley1 for there is ,rembrandt's ,hand-writing on the ,wall--and at ,burleigh1 for there are some of ,guido's angelic heads4 ,the young artist makes a pilgrimage to each of these places1 eyes them wistfully at a distance1 #8bosomed high in tufted trees1' and feels an interest in them of which the owner is scarce conscious3 he enters the well-swept walks and echoing arch-ways1 passes the threshold1 is led through wainscoted rooms1 is shown the furniture1 the rich hangings1 the tapestry1 the massy services of plate--and1 at last1 is ushered into the room where his treasure is1 the idol of his vows--some speaking face or bright landscape6 ,it is stamped on his brain1 and lives there thenceforward1 a tally for nature1 and a test of art4 ,he furnishes out the chambers of the mind from the spoils of time1 picks and chooses which shall have the best places--nearest his heart4 ,he goes away richer than he came1 richer than the possessor2 and thinks that he may one day return1 when he perhaps shall have done something like them1 or even from failure shall have learned to admire truth and genius more4 ,my first initiation in the mysteries of the art was at the ,orleans ,gallery3 it was there ,i formed my taste1 such as it is2 so that ,i am irreclaimably of the old school in painting4 ,i was staggered when ,i saw the works there collected1 and looked at them with wondering and with longing eyes4 ,a mist passed away from my sight3 the scales fell off4 ,a new sense came upon me1 a new heaven and a new earth stood before me4 ,i saw the soul speaking in the face--#8hands that the rod of empire had swayed' in mighty ages past--#8a forked mountain or blue promontory1' #8--with trees upon #8t ,that nod unto the world1 and mock our eyes with air4' ,old ,time had unlocked his treasures1 and ,fame stood portress at the door4 ,we had all heard of the names of ,titian1 ,raphael1 ,guido1 ,domenichino1 the ,caracci--but to see them face to face1 to be in the same room with their deathless productions1 was like breaking some mighty spell--was almost an effect of necromancy6 ,from that time ,i lived in a world of pictures4 ,battles1 sieges1 speeches in parliament seemed mere idle noise and fury1 #8signifying nothing1' compared with those mighty works and dreaded names that spoke to me in the eternal silence of thought4 ,this was the more remarkable1 as it was but a short time before that ,i was not only totally ignorant of1 but insensible to the beauties of art4 ,as an instance1 ,i remember that one afternoon ,i was reading the ,provoked ,husband with the highest relish1 with a green woody landscape of ,ruysdael or ,hobbima just before me1 at which ,i looked off the book now and then1 and wondered what there could be in that sort of work to satisfy or delight the mind--at the same time asking myself1 as a speculative question1 whether ,i should ever feel an interest in it like what ,i took in reading ,vanbrugh and ,cibber8 ,i had made some progress in painting when ,i went to the ,louvre to study1 and ,i never did any thing afterwards4 ,i never shall forget conning over the ,catalogue which a friend lent me just before ,i set out4 ,the pictures1 the names of the painters1 seemed to relish in the mouth4 ,there was one of ,titian's ,mistress at her toilette4 ,even the colours with which the painter had adorned her hair were not more golden1 more amiable to sight1 than those which played round and tantalised my fancy ere ,i saw the picture4 ,there were two portraits by the same hand--#8,a young ,nobleman with a glove'--,another1 #8a companion to it'--,i read the description over and over with fond expectancy1 and filled up the imaginary outline with whatever ,i could conceive of grace1 and dignity1 and an antique gusto--all but equal to the original4 ,there was the ,transfiguration too4 ,with what awe ,i saw it in my mind's eye1 and was overshadowed with the spirit of the artist6 ,not to have been disappointed with these works afterwards1 was the highest compliment ,i can pay to their transcendant merits4 ,indeed1 it was from seeing other works of the same great masters that ,i had formed a vague1 but no disparaging idea of these4--,the first day ,i got there1 ,i was kept for some time in the ,french ,exhibition-room1 and thought ,i should not be able to get a sight of the old masters4 ,i just caught a peep at them through the door 7vile hindrance67 like looking out of purgatory into paradise--from ,poussin's noble mellow-looking landscapes to where ,rubens hung out his gaudy banner1 and down the glimmering vista to the rich jewels of ,titian and the ,italian school4 ,at last1 by much importunity1 ,i was admitted1 and lost not an instant in making use of my new privilege4--,it was un beau jour to me4 ,i marched delighted through a quarter of a mile of the proudest efforts of the mind of man1 a whole creation of genius1 a universe of art6 ,i ran the gauntlet of all the schools from the bottom to the top2 and in the end got admitted into the inner room1 where they had been repairing some of their greatest works4 ,here the ,transfiguration1 the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr1 and the ,st4 ,jerome of ,domenichino stood on the floor1 as if they had bent their knees1 like camels stooping1 to unlade their riches to the spectator4 ,on one side1 on an easel1 stood ,hippolito de ,medici 7a portrait by ,titian7 with a boar-spear in his hand1 looking through those he saw1 till you turned away from the keen glance3 and thrown together in heaps were landscapes of the same hand1 green pastoral hills and vales1 and shepherds piping to their mild mistresses underneath the flowering shade4 ,reader1 #8if thou hast not seen the ,louvre1 thou art damned6'--for thou hast not seen the choicest remains of the works of art2 or thou hast not seen all these together1 with their mutually reflected glories4 ,i say nothing of the statues2 for ,i know but little of sculpture1 and never liked any till ,i saw the ,elgin marbles4444 ,here1 for four months together1 ,i strolled and studied1 and daily heard the warning sound--#8,quatre heures passes1 il faut fermer1 ,citoyens1' 7ah6 why did they ever change their style87 muttered in coarse provincial ,french2 and brought away with me some loose draughts and fragments1 which ,i have been forced to part with1 like drops of life-blood1 for #8hard money4' ,how often1 thou tenantless mansion of godlike magnificence--how often has my heart since gone a pilgrimage to thee6 ,it has been made a question1 whether the artist1 or the mere man of taste and natural sensibility1 receives most pleasure from the contemplation of works of art8 and ,i think this question might be answered by another as a sort of experimentum crucis1 namely1 whether any one out of that #8number numberless' of mere gentlemen and amateurs1 who visited ,paris at the period here spoken of1 felt as much interest1 as much pride or pleasure in this display of the most striking monuments of art as the humblest student would8 ,the first entrance into the ,louvre would be only one of the events of his journey1 not an event in his life1 remembered ever after with thankfulness and regret4 ,he would explore it with the same unmeaning curiosity and idle wonder as he would the ,regalia in the ,tower1 or the ,botanic ,garden in the ,thuilleries1 but not with the fond enthusiasm of an artist4 ,how should he8 ,his is #8casual fruition1 joyless1 unendeared4' ,but the painter is wedded to his art1 the mistress1 queen1 and idol of his soul4 ,he has embarked his all in it1 fame1 time1 fortune1 peace of mind1 his hopes in youth1 his consolation in age3 and shall he not feel a more intense interest in whatever relates to it than the mere indolent trifler8 ,natural sensibility alone1 without the entire application of the mind to that one object1 will not enable the possessor to sympathise with all the degrees of beauty and power in the conception of a ,titian or a ,correggio2 but it is he only who does this1 who follows them into all their force and matchless grace1 that does or can feel their full value4 ,knowledge is pleasure as well as power4 ,no one but the artist who has studied nature and contended with the difficulties of art1 can be aware of the beauties1 or intoxicated with a passion for painting4 ,no one who has not devoted his life and soul to the pursuit of art1 can feel the same exultation in its brightest ornaments and loftiest triumphs which an artist does4 ,where the treasure is1 there the heart is also4 ,it is now seventeen years since ,i was studying in the ,louvre 7and ,i have long since given up all thoughts of the art as a profession71 but long after ,i returned1 and even still1 ,i sometimes dream of being there again--of asking for the old pictures--and not finding them1 or finding them changed or faded from what they were1 ,i cry myself awake6 ,what gentleman-amateur ever does this at such a distance of time1--that is1 ever received pleasure or took interest enough in them to produce so lasting an impression8 ,but it is said that if a person had the same natural taste1 and the same acquired knowledge as an artist1 without the petty interests and technical notions1 he would derive a purer pleasure from seeing a fine portrait1 a fine landscape1 and so on4 ,this however is not so much begging the question as asking an impossibility3 he cannot have the same insight into the end without having studied the means2 nor the same love of art without the same habitual and exclusive attachment to it4 ,painters are1 no doubt1 often actuated by jealousy1 partiality1 and a sordid attention to that only which they find useful to themselves in painting4 ,w-- has been seen poring over the texture of a ,dutch cabinet-picture1 so that he could not see the picture itself4 ,but this is the perversion and pedantry of the profession1 not its true or genuine spirit4 ,if ,w-- had never looked at any thing but megilps and handling1 he never would have put the soul of life and manners into his pictures1 as he has done4 ,another objection is1 that the instrumental parts of the art1 the means1 the first rudiments1 paints1 oils1 and brushes1 are painful and disgusting2 and that the consciousness of the difficulty and anxiety with which perfection has been attained1 must take away from the pleasure of the finest performance4 ,this1 however1 is only an additional proof of the greater pleasure derived by the artist from his profession2 for these things which are said to interfere with and destroy the common interest in works of art1 do not disturb him2 he never once thinks of them1 he is absorbed in the pursuit of a higher object2 he is intent1 not on the means but the end2 he is taken up1 not with the difficulties1 but with the triumph over them4 ,as in the case of the anatomist1 who overlooks many things in the eagerness of his search after abstract truth2 or the alchemist who1 while he is raking into his soot and furnaces1 lives in a golden dream2 a lesser gives way to a greater object4 ,but it is pretended that the painter may be supposed to submit to the unpleasant part of the process only for the sake of the fame or profit in view4 ,so far is this from being a true state of the case1 that ,i will venture to say1 in the instance of a friend of mine who has lately succeeded in an important undertaking in his art1 that not all the fame he has acquired1 not all the money he has received from thousands of admiring spectators1 not all the newspaper puffs1--nor even the praise of the ,edinburgh ,review1--not all these1 put together1 ever gave him at any time the same genuine1 undoubted satisfaction as any one half-hour employed in the ardent and propitious pursuit of his art--in finishing to his heart's content a foot1 a hand1 or even a piece of drapery4 ,what is the state of mind of an artist while he is at work8 ,he is then in the act of realising the highest idea he can form of beauty or grandeur3 he conceives1 he embodies that which he understands and loves best3 that is1 he is in full and perfect possession of that which is to him the source of the highest happiness and intellectual excitement which he can enjoy4 ,in short1 as a conclusion to this argument1 ,i will mention a circumstance which fell under my knowledge the other day4 ,a friend had bought a print of ,titian's ,mistress1 the same to which ,i have alluded above4 ,he was anxious to shew it me on this account4 ,i told him it was a spirited engraving1 but it had not the look of the original4 ,i believe he thought this fastidious1 till ,i offered to shew him a rough sketch of it1 which ,i had by me4 ,having seen this1 he said he perceived exactly what ,i meant1 and could not bear to look at the print afterwards4 ,he had good sense enough to see the difference in the individual instance2 but a person better acquainted with ,titian's manner and with art in general1 that is1 of a more cultivated and refined taste1 would know that it was a bad print1 without having any immediate model to compare it with4 ,he would perceive with a glance of the eye1 with a sort of instinctive feeling1 that it was hard1 and without that bland1 expansive1 and nameless expression which always distinguished ,titian's most famous works4 ,any one who is accustomed to a head in a picture can never reconcile himself to a print from it3 but to the ignorant they are both the same4 ,to a vulgar eye there is no difference between a ,guido and a daub1 between a penny-print or the vilest scrawl1 and the most finished performance4 ,in other words1 all that excellence which lies between these two extremes1--all1 at least1 that marks the excess above mediocrity1--all that constitutes true beauty1 harmony1 refinement1 grandeur1 is lost upon the common observer4 ,but it is from this point that the delight1 the glowing raptures of the true adept commence4 ,an uninformed spectator may like an ordinary drawing better than the ablest connoisseur2 but for that very reason he cannot like the highest specimens of art so well4 ,the refinements not only of execution but of truth and nature are inaccessible to unpractised eyes4 ,the exquisite gradations in a sky of ,claude's are not perceived by such persons1 and consequently the harmony cannot be felt4 ,where there is no conscious apprehension1 there can be no conscious pleasure4 ,wonder at the first sight of works of art may be the effect of ignorance and novelty2 but real admiration and permanent delight in them are the growth of taste and knowledge4 #8,i would not wish to have your eyes1' said a good-natured man to a critic1 who was finding fault with a picture1 in which the other saw no blemish4 ,why so8 ,the idea which prevented him from admiring this inferior production was a higher idea of truth and beauty which was ever present with him1 and a continual source of pleasing and lofty contemplations4 ,it may be different in a taste for outward luxuries and the privations of mere sense2 but the idea of perfection1 which acts as an intellectual foil1 is always an addition1 a support1 and a proud consolation6 ,richardson1 in his ,essays1 which ought to be better known1 has left some striking examples of the felicity and infelicity of artists1 both as it relates to their external fortune1 and to the practice of their art4 ,in speaking of the knowledge of hands1 he exclaims--#8,when one is considering a picture or a drawing1 one at the same time thinks this was done by him#f who had many extraordinary endowments of body and mind1 but was withal very capricious2 who was honoured in life and death1 expiring in the arms of one of the greatest princes of that age1 ,francis ,i4 ,king of ,france1 who loved him as a friend4 ,another is of him#g who lived a long and happy life1 beloved of ,charles ,v4 emperour2 and many others of the first princes of ,europe4 ,when one has another in hand1 we think this was done by one#h who so excelled in three arts1 as that any of them in that degree had rendered him worthy of immortality2 and one moreover that durst contend with his sovereign 7one of the haughtiest popes that ever was7 upon a slight offered to him1 and extricated himself with honour4 ,another is the work of him#i who1 without any one exterior advantage but mere strength of genius1 had the most sublime imaginations1 and executed them accordingly1 yet lived and died obscurely4 ,another we shall consider as the work of him#aj who restored ,painting when it had almost sunk2 of him whom art made honourable1 but who1 neglecting and despising greatness with a sort of cynical pride1 was treated suitably to the figure he gave himself1 not his intrinsic worth2 which1 not having philosophy enough to bear it1 broke his heart4 ,another is done by one#aa who 7on the contrary7 was a fine gentleman1 and lived in great magnificence1 and was much honoured by his own and foreign princes2 who was a courtier1 a statesman1 and a painter2 and so much all these1 that when he acted in either character1 that seemed to be his business1 and the others his diversion4 ,i say when one thus reflects1 besides the pleasure arising from the beauties and excellences of the work1 the fine ideas it gives us of natural things1 the noble way of thinking it may suggest to us1 an additional pleasure results from the above considerations4 ,but1 oh6 the pleasure1 when a connoisseur and lover of art has before him a picture or drawing1 of which he can say this is the hand1 these are the thoughts of him#ab who was one of the politest1 best-natured gentlemen that ever was2 and beloved and assisted by the greatest wits and the greatest men then in ,rome3 of him who lived in great fame1 honour1 and magnificence1 and died extremely lamented2 and missed a ,cardinal's hat only by dying a few months too soon2 but was particularly esteemed and favoured by two ,popes1 the only ones who filled the chair of ,st4 ,peter in his time1 and as great men as ever sat there since that apostle1 if at least he ever did3 one1 in short1 who could have been a ,leonardo1 a ,michael ,angelo1 a ,titian1 a ,correggio1 a ,parmegiano1 an ,annibal1 a ,rubens1 or any other whom he pleased1 but none of them could ever have been a ,rafaelle4' ,page #bea4 ,the same writer speaks feelingly of the change in the style of different artists from their change of fortune1 and as the circumstances are little known1 ,i will quote the passage relating to two of them4 #8,guido ,reni from a prince-like affluence of fortune 7the just reward of his angelic works7 fell to a condition like that of a hired servant to one who supplied him with money for what he did at a fixed rate2 and that by his being bewitched with a passion for gaming1 whereby he lost vast sums of money2 and even what he got in this his state of servitude by day1 he commonly lost at night3 nor could he ever be cured of this cursed madness4 ,those of his works1 therefore1 which he did in this unhappy part of his life1 may easily be conceived to be in a different style to what he did before1 which in some things1 that is1 in the airs of his heads 7in the gracious kind71 had a delicacy in them peculiar to himself1 and almost more than human4 ,but ,i must not multiply instances4 ,parmegiano is one that alone takes in all the several kinds of variation1 and all the degrees of goodness1 from the lowest of the indifferent up to the sublime4 ,i can produce evident proofs of this in so easy a gradation1 that one cannot deny but that he that did this1 might do that1 and very probably did so2 and thus one may ascend and descend1 like the angels on ,jacob's ladder1 whose foot was upon the earth1 but its top reached to ,heaven4 #8,and this great man had his unlucky circumstance3 he became mad after the philosopher's stone1 and did but very little in painting or drawing afterwards4 ,judge what that was1 and whether there was not an alteration of style from what he had done1 before this devil possessed him4 ,his creditors endeavoured to exorcise him1 and did him some good1 for he set himself to work again in his own way3 but if a drawing ,i have of a ,lucretia be that he made for his last picture1 as it probably is 7,vasari says that was the subject of it71 it is an evident proof of his decay3 it is good indeed1 but it wants much of the delicacy which is commonly seen in his works2 and so ,i always thought before ,i knew or imagined it to be done in this his ebb of genius4' ,page #aec4 ,we have had two artists of our own country1 whose fate has been as singular as it was hard4 ,gandy was a portrait-painter in the beginning of the last century1 whose heads were said to have come near to ,rembrandt's1 and he was the undoubted prototype of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's style4 ,yet his name has scarcely been heard of2 and his reputation1 like his works1 never extended beyond his own county4 ,what did he think of himself and of a fame so bounded6 ,did he ever dream he was indeed an artist8 ,or how did this feeling in him differ from the vulgar conceit of the lowest pretender8 ,the best known of his works is a portrait of an alderman of ,exeter1 in some public building in that city4 ,poor ,dan4 ,stringer6 ,forty years ago he had the finest hand and the clearest eye of any artist of his time1 and produced heads and drawings that would not have disgraced a brighter period in the art4 ,but he fell a martyr 7like ,burns7 to the society of country-gentlemen1 and then of those whom they would consider as more his equals4 ,i saw him many years ago1 when he treated the masterly sketches he had by him 7one in particular of the group of citizens in ,shakespear #8swallowing the tailor's news'7 as #8bastards of his genius1 not his children2' and seemed to have given up all thoughts of his art4 ,whether he is since dead1 ,i cannot say3 the world do not so much as know that he ever lived6 ,,essay ,,iii ,,on ,,the ,,past ,,and ,,future ,i have naturally but little imagination1 and am not of a very sanguine turn of mind4 ,i have some desire to enjoy the present good1 and some fondness for the past2 but ,i am not at all given to building castles in the air1 nor to look forward with much confidence or hope to the brilliant illusions held out by the future4 ,hence ,i have perhaps been led to form a theory1 which is very contrary to the common notions and feelings on the subject1 and which ,i will here try to explain as well as ,i can4--,when ,sterne in the ,sentimental ,journey told the ,french ,minister that if the ,french people had a fault1 it was that they were too serious1 the latter replied that if that was his opinion1 he must defend it with all his might1 for he would have all the world against him2 so ,i shall have enough to do to get well through the present argument4 ,i cannot see1 then1 any rational or logical ground for that mighty difference in the value which mankind generally set upon the past and future1 as if the one was every thing1 and the other nothing1 of no consequence whatever4 ,on the other hand1 ,i conceive that the past is as real and substantial a part of our being1 that it is as much a bona fide1 undeniable consideration in the estimate of human life1 as the future can possibly be4 ,to say that the past is of no importance1 unworthy of a moment's regard1 because it has gone by1 and is no longer any thing1 is an argument that cannot be held to any purpose3 for if the past has ceased to be1 and is therefore to be accounted nothing in the scale of good or evil1 the future is yet to come1 and has never been any thing4 ,should any one choose to assert that the present only is of any value in a strict and positive sense1 because that alone has a real existence1 that we should seize the instant good1 and give all else to the winds1 ,i can understand what he means 7though perhaps he does not himself#ac73 but ,i cannot comprehend how this distinction between that which has a downright and sensible1 and that which has only a remote and airy existence1 can be applied to establish the preference of the future over the past2 for both are in this point of view equally ideal1 absolutely nothing1 except as they are conceived of by the mind's eye1 and are thus rendered present to the thoughts and feelings4 ,nay1 the one is even more imaginary1 a more fantastic creature of the brain than the other1 and the interest we take in it more shadowy and gratuitous2 for the future1 on which we lay so much stress1 may never come to pass at all1 that is1 may never be embodied into actual existence in the whole course of events1 whereas the past has certainly existed once1 has received the stamp of truth1 and left an image of itself behind4 ,it is so far then placed beyond the possibility of doubt1 or as the poet has it1 #8,those joys are lodg'd beyond the reach of fate4' ,it is not1 however1 attempted to be denied that though the future is nothing at present1 and has no immediate interest while we are speaking1 yet it is of the utmost consequence in itself1 and of the utmost interest to the individual1 because it will have a real existence1 and we have an idea of it as existing in time to come4 ,well then1 the past also has no real existence2 the actual sensation and the interest belonging to it are both fled2 but it has had a real existence1 and we can still call up a vivid recollection of it as having once been2 and therefore1 by parity of reasoning1 it is not a thing perfectly insignificant in itself1 nor wholly indifferent to the mind1 whether it ever was or not4 ,oh no6 ,far from it6 ,let us not rashly quit our hold upon the past1 when perhaps there may be little else left to bind us to existence4 ,is it nothing to have been1 and to have been happy or miserable8 ,or is it a matter of no moment to think whether ,i have been one or the other8 ,do ,i delude myself1 do ,i build upon a shadow or a dream1 do ,i dress up in the gaudy garb of idleness and folly a pure fiction1 with nothing answering to it in the universe of things and the records of truth1 when ,i look back with fond delight or with tender regret to that which was at one time to me my all1 when ,i revive the glowing image of some bright reality1 #8,the thoughts of which can never from my heart8' ,do ,i then muse on nothing1 do ,i bend my eyes on nothing1 when ,i turn back in fancy to #8those suns and skies so pure' that lighted up my early path8 ,is it to think of nothing1 to set an idle value upon nothing1 to think of all that has happened to me1 and of all that can ever interest me8 ,or1 to use the language of a fine poet 7who is himself among my earliest and not least painful recollections7-- #8,what though the radiance which was once so bright ,be now for ever vanish'd from my sight1 ,though nothing can bring back the hour ,of glory in the grass1 of splendour in the flow'r'-- yet am ,i mocked with a lie1 when ,i venture to think of it8 ,or do ,i not drink in and breathe again the air of heavenly truth1 when ,i but #8retrace its footsteps1 and its skirts far off adore8' ,i cannot say with the same poet-- #8,and see how dark the backward stream1 ,a little moment past so smiling'-- for it is the past that gives me most delight and most assurance of reality4 ,what to me constitutes the great charm of the ,confessions of ,rousseau is their turning so much upon this feeling4 ,he seems to gather up the past moments of his being like drops of honey-dew to distil a precious liquor from them2 his alternate pleasures and pains are the beadroll that he tells over1 and piously worships2 he makes a rosary of the flowers of hope and fancy that strewed his earliest years4 ,when he begins the last of the ,reveries of a ,solitary ,walker1 #8,il y a aujourd'hui1 jour des ,pques ,fleuris1 cinquante ans depuis que j'ai premier vu ,madame ,warens1' what a yearning of the soul is implied in that short sentence6 ,was all that had happened to him1 all that he had thought and felt in that sad interval of time1 to be accounted nothing8 ,was that long1 dim1 faded retrospect of years happy or miserable1 a blank that was not to make his eyes fail and his heart faint within him in trying to grasp all that had once filled it and that had since vanished1 because it was not a prospect into futurity8 ,was he wrong in finding more to interest him in it than in the next fifty years--which he did not live to see2 or if he had1 what then8 ,would they have been worth thinking of1 compared with the times of his youth1 of his first meeting with ,madame ,warens1 with those times which he has traced with such truth and pure delight #8in our heart's tables8' ,when #8all the life of life was flown1' was he not to live the first and best part of it over again1 and once more be all that he then was8--,ye woods that crown the clear lone brow of ,norman ,court1 why do ,i revisit ye so oft1 and feel a soothing consciousness of your presence1 but that your high tops waving in the wind recal to me the hours and years that are for ever fled1 that ye renew in ceaseless murmurs the story of long-cherished hopes and bitter disappointment1 that in your solitudes and tangled wilds ,i can wander and lose myself as ,i wander on and am lost in the solitude of my own heart2 and that as your rustling branches give the loud blast to the waste below--borne on the thoughts of other years1 ,i can look down with patient anguish at the cheerless desolation which ,i feel within6 ,without that face pale as the primrose with hyacinthine locks1 for ever shunning and for ever haunting me1 mocking my waking thoughts as in a dream1 without that smile which my heart could never turn to scorn1 without those eyes1 dark with their own lustre1 still bent on mine1 and drawing the soul into their liquid mazes like a sea of love1 without that name trembling in fancy's ear1 without that form gliding before me like ,oread or ,dryad in fabled groves1 what should ,i do1 how pass away the listless leaden-footed hours8 ,then wave1 wave on1 ye woods of ,tuderley1 and lift your high tops in the air2 my sighs and vows uttered by your mystic voice breathe into me my former being1 and enable me to bear the thing ,i am6--,the objects that we have known in better days are the main props that sustain the weight of our affections1 and give us strength to await our future lot4 ,the future is like a dead wall or a thick mist hiding all objects from our view3 the past is alive and stirring with objects1 bright or solemn1 and of unfading interest4 ,what is it in fact that we recur to oftenest8 ,what subjects do we think or talk of8 ,not the ignorant future1 but the well-stored past4 ,othello1 the ,moor of ,venice1 amused himself and his hearers at the house of ,signor ,brabantio by #8running through the story of his life even from his boyish days2' and oft #8beguiled them of their tears1 when he did speak of some disastrous stroke which his youth suffered4' ,this plan of ingratiating himself would not have answered1 if the past had been1 like the contents of an old almanac1 of no use but to be thrown aside and forgotten4 ,what a blank1 for instance1 does the history of the world for the next six thousand years present to the mind1 compared with that of the last6 ,all that strikes the imagination or excites any interest in the mighty scene is what has been6#ad ,neither in itself then1 nor as a subject of general contemplation1 has the future any advantage over the past4 ,but with respect to our grosser passions and pursuits it has4 ,as far as regards the appeal to the understanding or the imagination1 the past is just as good1 as real1 of as much intrinsic and ostensible value as the future3 but there is another principle in the human mind1 the principle of action or will2 and of this the past has no hold1 the future engrosses it entirely to itself4 ,it is this strong lever of the affections that gives so powerful a bias to our sentiments on this subject1 and violently transposes the natural order of our associations4 ,we regret the pleasures we have lost1 and eagerly anticipate those which are to come3 we dwell with satisfaction on the evils from which we have escaped 7,posthc meminisse juvabit7--and dread future pain4 ,the good that is past is in this sense like money that is spent1 which is of no further use1 and about which we give ourselves little concern4 ,the good we expect is like a store yet untouched1 and in the enjoyment of which we promise ourselves infinite gratification4 ,what has happened to us we think of no consequence3 what is to happen to us1 of the greatest4 ,why so8 ,simply because the one is still in our power1 and the other not--because the efforts of the will to bring any object to pass or to prevent it strengthen our attachment or aversion to that object--because the pains and attention bestowed upon any thing add to our interest in it1 and because the habitual and earnest pursuit of any end redoubles the ardour of our expectations1 and converts the speculative and indolent satisfaction we might otherwise feel in it into real passion4 ,our regrets1 anxiety1 and wishes are thrown away upon the past3 but the insisting on the importance of the future is of the utmost use in aiding our resolutions1 and stimulating our exertions4 ,if the future were no more amenable to our wills than the past2 if our precautions1 our sanguine schemes1 our hopes and fears were of as little avail in the one case as the other2 if we could neither soften our minds to pleasure1 nor steel our fortitude to the resistance of pain beforehand2 if all objects drifted along by us like straws or pieces of wood in a river1 the will being purely passive1 and as little able to avert the future as to arrest the past1 we should in that case be equally indifferent to both2 that is1 we should consider each as they affected the thoughts and imagination with certain sentiments of approbation or regret1 but without the importunity of action1 the irritation of the will1 throwing the whole weight of passion and prejudice into one scale1 and leaving the other quite empty4 ,while the blow is coming1 we prepare to meet it1 we think to ward off or break its force1 we arm ourselves with patience to endure what cannot be avoided1 we agitate ourselves with fifty needless alarms about it2 but when the blow is struck1 the pang is over1 the struggle is no longer necessary1 and we cease to harass or torment ourselves about it more than we can help4 ,it is not that the one belongs to the future and the other to time past2 but that the one is a subject of action1 of uneasy apprehension1 of strong passion1 and that the other has passed wholly out of the sphere of action1 into the region of #8,calm contemplation and majestic pains4'#ae ,it would not give a man more concern to know that he should be put to the rack a year hence1 than to recollect that he had been put to it a year ago1 but that he hopes to avoid the one1 whereas he must sit down patiently under the consciousness of the other4 ,in this hope he wears himself out in vain struggles with fate1 and puts himself to the rack of his imagination every day he has to live in the mean while4 ,when the event is so remote or so independent of the will as to set aside the necessity of immediate action1 or to baffle all attempts to defeat it1 it gives us little more disturbance or emotion than if it had already taken place1 or were something to happen in another state of being1 or to an indifferent person4 ,criminals are observed to grow more anxious as their trial approaches2 but after their sentence is passed1 they become tolerably resigned1 and generally sleep sound the night before its execution4 ,it in some measure confirms this theory1 that men attach more or less importance to past and future events1 according as they are more or less engaged in action and the busy scenes of life4 ,those who have a fortune to make1 or are in pursuit of rank and power1 think little of the past1 for it does not contribute greatly to their views3 those who have nothing to do but to think1 take nearly the same interest in the past as in the future4 ,the contemplation of the one is as delightful and real as that of the other4 ,the season of hope has an end2 but the remembrance of it is left4 ,the past still lives in the memory of those who have leisure to look back upon the way that they have trod1 and can from it #8catch glimpses that may make them less forlorn4' ,the turbulence of action1 and uneasiness of desire1 must point to the future3 it is only in the quiet innocence of shepherds1 in the simplicity of pastoral ages1 that a tomb was found with this inscription--#8,i ,,also ,,was ,,an ,,arcadian6' ,though ,i by no means think that our habitual attachment to life is in exact proportion to the value of the gift1 yet ,i am not one of those splenetic persons who affect to think it of no value at all4 ,que peu de chose est la vie humaine--is an exclamation in the mouths of moralists and philosophers1 to which ,i cannot agree4 ,it is little1 it is short1 it is not worth having1 if we take the last hour1 and leave out all that has gone before1 which has been one way of looking at the subject4 ,such calculators seem to say that life is nothing when it is over1 and that may in their sense be true4 ,if the old rule--,respice finem--were to be made absolute1 and no one could be pronounced fortunate till the day of his death1 there are few among us whose existence would1 upon those conditions1 be much to be envied4 ,but this is not a fair view of the case4 ,a man's life is his whole life1 not the last glimmering snuff of the candle2 and this1 ,i say1 is considerable1 and not a little matter1 whether we regard its pleasures or its pains4 ,to draw a peevish conclusion to the contrary from our own superannuated desires or forgetful indifference is about as reasonable as to say1 a man never was young because he is grown old1 or never lived because he is now dead4 ,the length or agreeableness of a journey does not depend on the few last steps of it1 nor is the size of a building to be judged of from the last stone that is added to it4 ,it is neither the first nor last hour of our existence1 but the space that parts these two--not our exit nor our entrance upon the stage1 but what we do1 feel1 and think while there--that we are to attend to in pronouncing sentence upon it4 ,indeed it would be easy to shew that it is the very extent of human life1 the infinite number of things contained in it1 its contradictory and fluctuating interests1 the transition from one situation to another1 the hours1 months1 years spent in one fond pursuit after another2 that it is1 in a word1 the length of our common journey and the quantity of events crowded into it1 that1 baffling the grasp of our actual perception1 make it slide from our memory1 and dwindle into nothing in its own perspective4 ,it is too mighty for us1 and we say it is nothing6 ,it is a speck in our fancy1 and yet what canvas would be big enough to hold its striking groups1 its endless subjects6 ,it is light as vanity1 and yet if all its weary moments1 if all its head and heart aches were compressed into one1 what fortitude would not be overwhelmed with the blow6 ,what a huge heap1 a #8huge1 dumb heap1' of wishes1 thoughts1 feelings1 anxious cares1 soothing hopes1 loves1 joys1 friendships1 it is composed of6 ,how many ideas and trains of sentiment1 long and deep and intense1 often pass through the mind in only one day's thinking or reading1 for instance6 ,how many such days are there in a year1 how many years in a long life1 still occupied with something interesting1 still recalling some old impression1 still recurring to some difficult question and making progress in it1 every step accompanied with a sense of power1 and every moment conscious of #8the high endeavour or the glad success2' for the mind seizes only on that which keeps it employed1 and is wound up to a certain pitch of pleasurable excitement or lively solicitude1 by the necessity of its own nature4 ,the division of the map of life into its component parts is beautifully made by ,king ,henry ,,vi4 #8,oh ,god6 methinks it were a happy life ,to be no better than a homely swain1 ,to sit upon a hill as ,i do now1 ,to carve out dials quaintly1 point by point1 ,thereby to see the minutes how they run2 ,how many make the hour full complete1 ,how many hours bring about the day1 ,how many days will finish up the year1 ,how many years a mortal man may live3 ,when this is known1 then to divide the times2 ,so many hours must ,i tend my flock1 ,so many hours must ,i take my rest1 ,so many hours must ,i contemplate1 ,so many hours must ,i sport myself2 ,so many days my ewes have been with young1 ,so many weeks ere the poor fools will yean1 ,so many months ere ,i shall shear the fleece2 ,so many minutes1 hours1 weeks1 months1 and years ,past over to the end they were created1 ,would bring grey hairs unto a quiet grave4' ,i myself am neither a king nor a shepherd3 books have been my fleecy charge1 and my thoughts have been my subjects4 ,but these have found me sufficient employment at the time1 and enough to think of for the time to come4 ,the passions contract and warp the natural progress of life4 ,they paralyse all of it that is not devoted to their tyranny and caprice4 ,this makes the difference between the laughing innocence of childhood1 the pleasantness of youth1 and the crabbedness of age4 ,a load of cares lies like a weight of guilt upon the mind3 so that a man of business often has all the air1 the distraction and restlessness and hurry of feeling of a criminal4 ,a knowledge of the world takes away the freedom and simplicity of thought as effectually as the contagion of its example4 ,the artlessness and candour of our early years are open to all impressions alike1 because the mind is not clogged and pre-occupied with other objects4 ,our pleasures and our pains come single1 make room for one another1 and the spring of the mind is fresh and unbroken1 its aspect clear and unsullied4 ,hence #8the tear forgot as soon as shed1 the sunshine of the breast4' ,but as we advance farther1 the will gets greater head4 ,we form violent antipathies1 and indulge exclusive preferences4 ,we make up our minds to some one thing1 and if we cannot have that1 will have nothing4 ,we are wedded to opinion1 to fancy1 to prejudice2 which destroys the soundness of our judgments1 and the serenity and buoyancy of our feelings4 ,the chain of habit coils itself round the heart1 like a serpent1 to gnaw and stifle it4 ,it grows rigid and callous2 and for the softness and elasticity of childhood1 full of proud flesh and obstinate tumours4 ,the violence and perversity of our passions comes in more and more to overlay our natural sensibility and well-grounded affections2 and we screw ourselves up to aim only at those things which are neither desirable nor practicable4 ,thus life passes away in the feverish irritation of pursuit and the certainty of disappointment4 ,by degrees1 nothing but this morbid state of feeling satisfies us3 and all common pleasures and cheap amusements are sacrificed to the demon of ambition1 avarice1 or dissipation4 ,the machine is over-wrought3 the parching heat of the veins dries up and withers the flowers of ,love1 ,hope1 and ,joy2 and any pause1 any release from the rack of ecstacy on which we are stretched1 seems more insupportable than the pangs which we endure4 ,we are suspended between tormenting desires1 and the horrors of ennui4 ,the impulse of the will1 like the wheels of a carriage going down hill1 becomes too strong for the driver1 reason1 and cannot be stopped nor kept within bounds4 ,some idea1 some fancy1 takes possession of the brain2 and however ridiculous1 however distressing1 however ruinous1 haunts us by a sort of fascination through life4 ,not only is this principle of excessive irritability to be seen at work in our more turbulent passions and pursuits1 but even in the formal study of arts and sciences1 the same thing takes place1 and undermines the repose and happiness of life4 ,the eagerness of pursuit overcomes the satisfaction to result from the accomplishment4 ,the mind is overstrained to attain its purpose2 and when it is attained1 the ease and alacrity necessary to enjoy it are gone4 ,the irritation of action does not cease and go down with the occasion for it2 but we are first uneasy to get to the end of our work1 and then uneasy for want of something to do4 ,the ferment of the brain does not of itself subside into pleasure and soft repose4 ,hence the disposition to strong stimuli observable in persons of much intellectual exertion to allay and carry off the over-excitement4 ,the improvisatori poets 7it is recorded by ,spence in his ,anecdotes of ,pope7 cannot sleep after an evening's continued display of their singular and difficult art4 ,the rhymes keep running in their head in spite of themselves1 and will not let them rest4 ,mechanics and labouring people never know what to do with themselves on a ,sunday1 though they return to their work with greater spirit for the relief1 and look forward to it with pleasure all the week4 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds was never comfortable out of his painting-room1 and died of chagrin and regret1 because he could not paint on to the last moment of his life4 ,he used to say that he could go on retouching a picture for ever1 as long as it stood on his easel2 but as soon as it was once fairly out of the house1 he never wished to see it again4 ,an ingenious artist of our own time has been heard to declare1 that if ever the ,devil got him into his clutches1 he would set him to copy his own pictures4 ,thus the secure self-complacent retrospect to what is done is nothing1 while the anxious1 uneasy looking forward to what is to come is every thing4 ,we are afraid to dwell upon the past1 lest it should retard our future progress2 the indulgence of ease is fatal to excellence2 and to succeed in life1 we lose the ends of being6 ,,essay ,,iv ,,on ,,genius ,,and ,,common ,,sense ,we hear it maintained by people of more gravity than understanding1 that genius and taste are strictly reducible to rules1 and that there is a rule for every thing4 ,so far is it from being true that the finest breath of fancy is a definable thing1 that the plainest common sense is only what ,mr4 ,locke would have called a mixed mode1 subject to a particular sort of acquired and undefinable tact4 ,it is asked1 #8,if you do not know the rule by which a thing is done1 how can you be sure of doing it a second time8' ,and the answer is1 #8,if you do not know the muscles by the help of which you walk1 how is it you do not fall down at every step you take8' ,in art1 in taste1 in life1 in speech1 you decide from feeling1 and not from reason2 that is1 from the impression of a number of things on the mind1 which impression is true and well-founded1 though you may not be able to analyse or account for it in the several particulars4 ,in a gesture you use1 in a look you see1 in a tone you hear1 you judge of the expression1 propriety1 and meaning from habit1 not from reason or rules2 that is to say1 from innumerable instances of like gestures1 looks1 and tones1 in innumerable other circumstances1 variously modified1 which are too many and too refined to be all distinctly recollected1 but which do not therefore operate the less powerfully upon the mind and eye of taste4 ,shall we say that these impressions 7the immediate stamp of nature7 do not operate in a given manner till they are classified and reduced to rules1 or is not the rule itself grounded upon the truth and certainty of that natural operation8 ,how then can the distinction of the understanding as to the manner in which they operate be necessary to their producing their due and uniform effect upon the mind8 ,if certain effects did not regularly arise out of certain causes in mind as well as matter1 there could be no rule given for them3 nature does not follow the rule1 but suggests it4 ,reason is the interpreter and critic of nature and genius1 not their lawgiver and judge4 ,he must be a poor creature indeed whose practical convictions do not in almost all cases outrun his deliberate understanding1 or who does not feel and know much more than he can give a reason for4--,hence the distinction between eloquence and wisdom1 between ingenuity and common sense4 ,a man may be dextrous and able in explaining the grounds of his opinions1 and yet may be a mere sophist1 because he only sees one half of a subject4 ,another may feel the whole weight of a question1 nothing relating to it may be lost upon him1 and yet he may be able to give no account of the manner in which it affects him1 or to drag his reasons from their silent lurking-places4 ,this last will be a wise man1 though neither a logician nor rhetorician4 ,goldsmith was a fool to ,dr4 ,johnson in argument2 that is1 in assigning the specific grounds of his opinions3 ,dr4 ,johnson was a fool to ,goldsmith in the fine tact1 the airy1 intuitive faculty with which he skimmed the surfaces of things1 and unconsciously formed his opinions4 ,common sense is the just result of the sum-total of such unconscious impressions in the ordinary occurrences of life1 as they are treasured up in the memory1 and called out by the occasion4 ,genius and taste depend much upon the same principle exercised on loftier ground and in more unusual combinations4 ,i am glad to shelter myself from the charge of affectation or singularity in this view of an often debated but ill-understood point1 by quoting a passage from ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's ,discourses1 which is full1 and1 ,i think1 conclusive to the purpose4 ,he says1 #8,i observe1 as a fundamental ground common to all the ,arts with which we have any concern in this ,discourse1 that they address themselves only to two faculties of the mind1 its imagination and its sensibility4 #8,all theories which attempt to direct or to control the ,art1 upon any principles falsely called rational1 which we form to ourselves upon a supposition of what ought in reason to be the end or means of ,art1 independent of the known first effect produced by objects on the imagination1 must be false and delusive4 ,for though it may appear bold to say it1 the imagination is here the residence of truth4 ,if the imagination be affected1 the conclusion is fairly drawn2 if it be not affected1 the reasoning is erroneous1 because the end is not obtained2 the effect itself being the test1 and the only test1 of the truth and efficacy of the means4 #8,there is in the commerce of life1 as in ,art1 a sagacity which is far from being contradictory to right reason1 and is superior to any occasional exercise of that faculty2 which supersedes it2 and does not wait for the slow progress of deduction1 but goes at once1 by what appears a kind of intuition1 to the conclusion4 ,a man endowed with this faculty feels and acknowledges the truth1 though it is not always in his power1 perhaps1 to give a reason for it2 because he cannot recollect and bring before him all the materials that gave birth to his opinion2 for very many and very intricate considerations may unite to form the principle1 even of small and minute parts1 involved in1 or dependent on1 a great system of things3--though these in process of time are forgotten1 the right impression still remains fixed in his mind4 #8,this impression is the result of the accumulated experience of our whole life1 and has been collected1 we do not always know how1 or when4 ,but this mass of collective observation1 however acquired1 ought to prevail over that reason1 which1 however powerfully exerted on any particular occasion1 will probably comprehend but a partial view of the subject2 and our conduct in life1 as well as in the arts1 is or ought to be generally governed by this habitual reason3 it is our happiness that we are enabled to draw on such funds4 ,if we were obliged to enter into a theoretical deliberation on every occasion before we act1 life would be at a stand1 and ,art would be impracticable4 #8,it appears to me therefore' 7continues ,sir ,joshua7 #8that our first thoughts1 that is1 the effect which any thing produces on our minds1 on its first appearance1 is never to be forgotten2 and it demands for that reason1 because it is the first1 to be laid up with care4 ,if this be not done1 the artist may happen to impose on himself by partial reasoning2 by a cold consideration of those animated thoughts which proceed1 not perhaps from caprice or rashness 7as he may afterwards conceit71 but from the fulness of his mind1 enriched with the copious stores of all the various inventions which he had ever seen1 or had ever passed in his mind4 ,these ideas are infused into his design1 without any conscious effort2 but if he be not on his guard1 he may reconsider and correct them1 till the whole matter is reduced to a common-place invention4 #8,this is sometimes the effect of what ,i mean to caution you against2 that is to say1 an unfounded distrust of the imagination and feeling1 in favour of narrow1 partial1 confined1 argumentative theories1 and of principles that seem to apply to the design in hand2 without considering those general impressions on the fancy in which real principles of sound reason1 and of much more weight and importance1 are involved1 and1 as it were1 lie hid under the appearance of a sort of vulgar sentiment4 ,reason1 without doubt1 must ultimately determine every thing2 at this minute it is required to inform us when that very reason is to give way to feeling4'--,discourse ,,xiii4 vol4 ii4 p4 #aac-ag4 ,mr4 ,burke1 by whom the foregoing train of thinking was probably suggested1 has insisted on the same thing1 and made rather a perverse use of it in several parts of his ,reflections on the ,french ,revolution2 and ,windham in one of his ,speeches has clenched it into an aphorism--#8,there is nothing so true as habit4' ,once more ,i would say1 common sense is tacit reason4 ,conscience is the same tacit sense of right and wrong1 or the impression of our moral experience and moral apprehensions on the mind1 which1 because it works unseen1 yet certainly1 we suppose to be an instinct1 implanted in the mind2 as we sometimes attribute the violent operations of our passions1 of which we can neither trace the source nor assign the reason1 to the instigation of the ,devil6 ,i shall here try to go more at large into this subject1 and to give such instances and illustrations of it as occur to me4 ,one of the persons who had rendered themselves obnoxious to ,government1 and been included in a charge for high treason in the year #agid1 had retired soon after into ,wales to write an epic poem and enjoy the luxuries of a rural life4 ,in his peregrinations through that beautiful scenery1 he had arrived one fine morning at the inn at ,llangollen1 in the romantic valley of that name4 ,he had ordered his breakfast1 and was sitting at the window in all the dalliance of expectation1 when a face passed of which he took no notice at the instant--but when his breakfast was brought in presently after1 he found his appetite for it gone1 the day had lost its freshness in his eye1 he was uneasy and spiritless2 and without any cause that he could discover1 a total change had taken place in his feelings4 ,while he was trying to account for this odd circumstance1 the same face passed again--it was the face of ,taylor the spy2 and he was no longer at a loss to explain the difficulty4 ,he had before caught only a transient glimpse1 a passing side-view of the face2 but though this was not sufficient to awaken a distinct idea in his memory1 his feelings1 quicker and surer1 had taken the alarm2 a string had been touched that gave a jar to his whole frame1 and would not let him rest1 though he could not at all tell what was the matter with him4 ,to the flitting1 shadowy1 half-distinguished profile that had glided by his window was linked unconsciously and mysteriously1 but inseparably1 the impression of the trains that had been laid for him by this person2--in this brief moment1 in this dim1 illegible short-hand of the mind he had just escaped the speeches of the ,attorney and ,solicitor-,general over again2 the gaunt figure of ,mr4 ,pitt glared by him2 the walls of a prison enclosed him2 and he felt the hands of the executioner near him1 without knowing it till the tremor and disorder of his nerves gave information to his reasoning faculties that all was not well within4 ,that is1 the same state of mind was recalled by one circumstance in the series of association that had been produced by the whole set of circumstances at the time1 though the manner in which this was done was not immediately perceptible4 ,in other words1 the feeling of pleasure or pain1 of good or evil1 is revived1 and acts instantaneously upon the mind1 before we have time to recollect the precise objects which have originally given birth to it4#af ,the incident here mentioned was merely1 then1 one case of what the learned understand by the association of ideas3 but all that is meant by feeling or common sense is nothing but the different cases of the association of ideas1 more or less true to the impression of the original circumstances1 as reason begins with the more formal developement of those circumstances1 or pretends to account for the different cases of the association of ideas4 ,but it does not follow that the dumb and silent pleading of the former 7though sometimes1 nay often mistaken7 is less true than that of its babbling interpreter1 or that we are never to trust its dictates without consulting the express authority of reason4 ,both are imperfect1 both are useful in their way1 and therefore both are best together1 to correct or to confirm one another4 ,it does not appear that in the singular instance above mentioned1 the sudden impression on the mind was superstition or fancy1 though it might have been thought so1 had it not been proved by the event to have a real physical and moral cause4 ,had not the same face returned again1 the doubt would never have been properly cleared up1 but would have remained a puzzle ever after1 or perhaps have been soon forgot4--,by the law of association1 as laid down by physiologists1 any impression in a series can recal any other impression in that series without going through the whole in order3 so that the mind drops the intermediate links1 and passes on rapidly and by stealth to the more striking effects of pleasure or pain which have naturally taken the strongest hold of it4 ,by doing this habitually and skilfully with respect to the various impressions and circumstances with which our experience makes us acquainted1 it forms a series of unpremeditated conclusions on almost all subjects that can be brought before it1 as just as they are of ready application to human life2 and common sense is the name of this body of unassuming but practical wisdom4 ,common sense1 however1 is an impartial1 instinctive result of truth and nature1 and will therefore bear the test and abide the scrutiny of the most severe and patient reasoning4 ,it is indeed incomplete without it4 ,by ingrafting reason on feeling1 we #8make assurance double sure4' #8',tis the last key-stone that makes up the arch-- ,then stands it a triumphal mark6 ,then men ,observe the strength1 the height1 the why and when ,it was erected3 and still walking under1 ,meet some new matter to look up1 and wonder4' ,but reason1 not employed to interpret nature1 and to improve and perfect common sense and experience1 is1 for the most part1 a building without a foundation4--,the criticism exercised by reason then on common sense may be as severe as it pleases1 but it must be as patient as it is severe4 ,hasty1 dogmatical1 self-satisfied reason is worse than idle fancy1 or bigotted prejudice4 ,it is systematic1 ostentatious in error1 closes up the avenues of knowledge1 and #8shuts the gates of wisdom on mankind4' ,it is not enough to shew that there is no reason for a thing1 that we do not see the reason of it3 if the common feeling1 if the involuntary prejudice sets in strong in favour of it1 if1 in spite of all we can do1 there is a lurking suspicion on the side of our first impressions1 we must try again1 and believe that truth is mightier than we4 ,so1 in offering a definition of any subject1 if we feel a misgiving that there is any fact or circumstance omitted1 but of which we have only a vague apprehension1 like a name we cannot recollect1 we must ask for more time1 and not cut the matter short by an arrogant assumption of the point in dispute4 ,common sense thus acts as a check-weight on sophistry1 and suspends our rash and superficial judgments4 ,on the other hand1 if not only no reason can be given for a thing1 but every reason is clear against it1 and we can account from ignorance1 from authority1 from interest1 from different causes1 for the prevalence of an opinion or sentiment1 then we have a right to conclude that we have mistaken a prejudice for an instinct1 or have confounded a false and partial impression with the fair and unavoidable inference from general observation4 ,mr4 ,burke said that we ought not to reject every prejudice1 but should separate the husk of prejudice from the truth it encloses1 and so try to get at the kernel within2 and thus far he was right4 ,but he was wrong in insisting that we are to cherish our prejudices1 #8because they are prejudices3' for if they are all well-founded1 there is no occasion to inquire into their origin or use2 and he who sets out to philosophise upon them1 or make the separation ,mr4 ,burke talks of in this spirit and with this previous determination1 will be very likely to mistake a maggot or a rotten canker for the precious kernel of truth1 as was indeed the case with our political sophist4 ,there is nothing more distinct than common sense and vulgar opinion4 ,common sense is only a judge of things that fall under common observation1 or immediately come home to the business and bosoms of men4 ,this is of the very essence of its principle1 the basis of its pretensions4 ,it rests upon the simple process of feeling1 it anchors in experience4 ,it is not1 nor it cannot be1 the test of abstract1 speculative opinions4 ,but half the opinions and prejudices of mankind1 those which they hold in the most unqualified approbation and which have been instilled into them under the strongest sanctions1 are of this latter kind1 that is1 opinions1 not which they have ever thought1 known1 or felt one tittle about1 but which they have taken up on trust from others1 which have been palmed on their understandings by fraud or force1 and which they continue to hold at the peril of life1 limb1 property1 and character1 with as little warrant from common sense in the first instance as appeal to reason in the last4 ,the ultima ratio regum proceeds upon a very different plea4 ,common sense is neither priestcraft nor state-policy4 ,yet #8there's the rub that makes absurdity of so long life2' and1 at the same time1 gives the sceptical philosophers the advantage over us4 ,till nature has fair play allowed it1 and is not adulterated by political and polemical quacks 7as it so often has been71 it is impossible to appeal to it as a defence against the errors and extravagances of mere reason4 ,if we talk of common sense1 we are twitted with vulgar prejudice1 and asked how we distinguish the one from the other3 but common and received opinion is indeed #8a compost heap' of crude notions1 got together by the pride and passions of individuals1 and reason is itself the thrall or manumitted slave of the same lordly and besotted masters1 dragging its servile chain1 or committing all sorts of ,saturnalian licences1 the moment it feels itself freed from it4--,if ten millions of ,englishmen are furious in thinking themselves right in making war upon thirty millions of ,frenchmen1 and if the last are equally bent upon thinking the others always in the wrong1 though it is a common and national prejudice1 both opinions cannot be the dictate of good sense3 but it may be the infatuated policy of one or both governments to keep their subjects always at variance4 ,if a few centuries ago all ,europe believed in the infallibility of the ,pope1 this was not an opinion derived from the proper exercise or erroneous direction of the common sense of the people3 common sense had nothing to do with it--they believed whatever their priests told them4 ,england at present is divided into ,whigs and ,tories1 ,churchmen and ,dissenters3 both parties have numbers on their side2 but common sense and party-spirit are two different things4 ,sects and heresies are upheld partly by sympathy1 and partly by the love of contradiction3 if there was nobody of a different way of thinking1 they would fall to pieces of themselves4 ,if a whole court say the same thing1 this is no proof that they think it1 but that the individual at the head of the court has said it3 if a mob agree for a while in shouting the same watch-word1 this is not to me an example of the sensus communis2 they only repeat what they have heard repeated by others4 ,if indeed a large proportion of the people are in want of food1 of clothing1 of shelter1 if they are sick1 miserable1 scorned1 oppressed1 and if each feeling it in himself1 they all say so with one voice and one heart1 and lift up their hands to second their appeal1 this ,i should say was but the dictate of common sense1 the cry of nature4 ,but to wave this part of the argument1 which it is needless to push farther1 ,i believe that the best way to instruct mankind is not by pointing out to them their mutual errors1 but by teaching them to think rightly on indifferent matters1 where they will listen with patience in order to be amused1 and where they do not consider a definition or a syllogism as the greatest injury you can offer them4 ,there is no rule for expression4 ,it is got at solely by feeling1 that is1 on the principle of the association of ideas1 and by transferring what has been found to hold good in one case 7with the necessary modifications7 to others4 ,a certain look has been remarked strongly indicative of a certain passion or trait of character1 and we attach the same meaning to it or are affected in the same pleasurable or painful manner by it1 where it exists in a less degree1 though we can define neither the look itself nor the modification of it4 ,having got the general clue1 the exact result may be left to the imagination to vary1 to extenuate or aggravate it according to circumstances4 ,in the admirable profile of ,oliver ,cromwell after --1 the drooping eye-lids1 as if drawing a veil over the fixed1 penetrating glance1 the nostrils somewhat distended1 and lips compressed so as hardly to let the breath escape him1 denote the character of the man for high-reaching policy and deep designs as plainly as they can be written4 ,how is it that we decipher this expression in the face8 ,first1 by feeling it3 and how is it that we feel it8 ,not by pre-established rules1 but by the instinct of analogy1 by the principle of association1 which is subtle and sure in proportion as it is variable and indefinite4 ,a circumstance1 apparently of no value1 shall alter the whole interpretation to be put upon an expression or action2 and it shall alter it thus powerfully because in proportion to its very insignificance it shews a strong general principle at work that extends in its ramifications to the smallest things4 ,this in fact will make all the difference between minuteness and subtlety or refinement2 for a small or trivial effect may in given circumstances imply the operation of a great power4 ,stillness may be the result of a blow too powerful to be resisted2 silence may be imposed by feelings too agonising for utterance4 ,the minute1 the trifling and insipid1 is that which is little in itself1 in its causes and its consequences3 the subtle and refined is that which is slight and evanescent at first sight1 but which mounts up to a mighty sum in the end1 which is an essential part of an important whole1 which has consequences greater than itself1 and where more is meant than meets the eye or ear4 ,we complain sometimes of littleness in a ,dutch picture1 where there are a vast number of distinct parts and objects1 each small in itself1 and leading to nothing else4 ,a sky of ,claude's cannot fall under this censure1 where one imperceptible gradation is as it were the scale to another1 where the broad arch of heaven is piled up of endlessly intermediate gold and azure tints1 and where an infinite number of minute1 scarce noticed particulars blend and melt into universal harmony4 ,the subtlety in ,shakespear1 of which there is an immense deal every where scattered up and down1 is always the instrument of passion1 the vehicle of character4 ,the action of a man pulling his hat over his forehead is indifferent enough in itself1 and1 generally speaking1 may mean any thing or nothing3 but in the circumstances in which ,macduff is placed1 it is neither insignificant nor equivocal4 #8,what6 man1 ne'er pull your hat upon your brows1' c4 ,it admits but of one interpretation or inference1 that which follows it3-- #8,give sorrow words3 the grief that does not speak1 ,whispers the o'er-fraught heart1 and bids it break4' ,the passage in the same play1 in which ,duncan and his attendants are introduced commenting on the beauty and situation of ,macbeth's castle1 though familiar in itself1 has been often praised for the striking contrast it presents to the scenes which follow4--,the same look in different circumstances may convey a totally different expression4 ,thus the eye turned round to look at you without turning the head indicates generally slyness or suspicion3 but if this is combined with large expanded eye-lids or fixed eyebrows1 as we see it in ,titian's pictures1 it will denote calm contemplation or piercing sagacity1 without any thing of meanness or fear of being observed4 ,in other cases1 it may imply merely indolent enticing voluptuousness1 as in ,lely's portraits of women4 ,the languor and weakness of the eye-lids gives the amorous turn to the expression4 ,how should there be a rule for all this beforehand1 seeing it depends on circumstances ever varying1 and scarce discernible but by their effect on the mind8 ,rules are applicable to abstractions1 but expression is concrete and individual4 ,we know the meaning of certain looks1 and we feel how they modify one another in conjunction4 ,but we cannot have a separate rule to judge of all their combinations in different degrees and circumstances1 without foreseeing all those combinations1 which is impossible3 or1 if we did foresee them1 we should only be where we are1 that is1 we could only make the rule as we now judge without it1 from imagination and the feeling of the moment4 ,the absurdity of reducing expression to a preconcerted system was perhaps never more evidently shewn than in a picture of the ,judgment of ,solomon by so great a man as ,n4 ,poussin1 which ,i once heard admired for the skill and discrimination of the artist in making all the women1 who are ranged on one side1 in the greatest alarm at the sentence of the judge1 while all the men on the opposite side see through the design of it4 ,nature does not go to work or cast things in a regular mould in this sort of way4 ,i once heard a person remark of another--#8,he has an eye like a vicious horse4' ,this was a fair analogy4 ,we all1 ,i believe1 have noticed the look of a horse's eye1 just before he is going to bite or kick4 ,but will any one1 therefore1 describe to me exactly what that look is8 ,it was the same acute observer that said of a self-sufficient prating music-master--#8,he talks on all subjects at sight'--which expressed the man at once by an allusion to his profession4 ,the coincidence was indeed perfect4 ,nothing else could compare to the easy assurance with which this gentleman would volunteer an explanation of things of which he was most ignorant2 but the nonchalance with which a musician sits down to a harpsichord to play a piece he has never seen before4 ,my physiognomical friend would not have hit on this mode of illustration without knowing the profession of the subject of his criticism2 but having this hint given him1 it instantly suggested itself to his #8sure trailing4' ,the manner of the speaker was evident2 and the association of the music-master sitting down to play at sight1 lurking in his mind1 was immediately called out by the strength of his impression of the character4 ,the feeling of character1 and the felicity of invention in explaining it1 were nearly allied to each other4 ,the first was so wrought up and running over1 that the transition to the last was easy and unavoidable4 ,when ,mr4 ,kean was so much praised for the action of ,richard in his last struggle with his triumphant antagonist1 where he stands1 after his sword is wrested from him1 with his hands stretched out1 #8as if his will could not be disarmed1 and the very phantoms of his despair had a withering power1' he said that he borrowed it from seeing the last efforts of ,painter in his fight with ,oliver4 ,this assuredly did not lessen the merit of it4 ,thus it ever is with the man of real genius4 ,he has the feeling of truth already shrined in his own breast1 and his eye is still bent on nature to see how she expresses herself4 ,when we thoroughly understand the subject1 it is easy to translate from one language into another4 ,raphael1 in muffling up the figure of ,elymas the ,sorcerer in his garments1 appears to have extended the idea of blindness even to his clothes4 ,was this design8 ,probably not2 but merely the feeling of analogy thoughtlessly suggesting this device1 which being so suggested was retained and carried on1 because it flattered or fell in with the original feeling4 ,the tide of passion1 when strong1 overflows and gradually insinuates itself into all nooks and corners of the mind4 ,invention 7of the best kind7 ,i therefore do not think so distinct a thing from feeling1 as some are apt to imagine4 ,the springs of pure feeling will rise and fill the moulds of fancy that are fit to receive it4 ,there are some striking coincidences of colour in well-composed pictures1 as in a straggling weed in the foreground streaked with blue or red to answer to a blue or red drapery1 to the tone of the flesh or an opening in the sky3--not that this was intended1 or done by rule 7for then it would presently become affected and ridiculous71 but the eye being imbued with a certain colour1 repeats and varies it from a natural sense of harmony1 a secret craving and appetite for beauty1 which in the same manner soothes and gratifies the eye of taste1 though the cause is not understood4 ,tact1 finesse1 is nothing but the being completely aware of the feeling belonging to certain situations1 passions1 c4 and the being consequently sensible to their slightest indications or movements in others4 ,one of the most remarkable instances of this sort of faculty is the following story1 told of ,lord ,shaftesbury1 the grandfather of the author of the ,characteristics4 ,he had been to dine with ,lady ,clarendon and her daughter1 who was at that time privately married to the ,duke of ,york 7afterwards ,james ,,ii47 and as he returned home with another nobleman who had accompanied him1 he suddenly turned to him1 and said1 #8,depend upon it1 the ,duke has married ,hyde's daughter4' ,his companion could not comprehend what he meant2 but on explaining himself1 he said1 #8,her mother behaved to her with an attention and a marked respect that it is impossible to account for in any other way2 and ,i am sure of it4' ,his conjecture shortly afterwards proved to be the truth4 ,this was carrying the prophetic spirit of common sense as far as it could go4-- ,,essay ,v ,,the ,,same ,,subject ,,continued ,genius or originality is1 for the most part1 some strong quality in the mind1 answering to and bringing out some new and striking quality in nature4 ,imagination is1 more properly1 the power of carrying on a given feeling into other situations1 which must be done best according to the hold which the feeling itself has taken of the mind4#ag ,in new and unknown combinations1 the impression must act by sympathy1 and not by rule2 but there can be no sympathy1 where there is no passion1 no original interest4 ,the personal interest may in some cases oppress and circumscribe the imaginative faculty1 as in the instance of ,rousseau3 but in general the strength and consistency of the imagination will be in proportion to the strength and depth of feeling2 and it is rarely that a man even of lofty genius will be able to do more than carry on his own feelings and character1 or some prominent and ruling passion1 into fictitious and uncommon situations4 ,milton has by allusion embodied a great part of his political and personal history in the chief characters and incidents of ,paradise ,lost4 ,he has1 no doubt1 wonderfully adapted and heightened them1 but the elements are the same2 you trace the bias and opinions of the man in the creations of the poet4 ,shakespear 7almost alone7 seems to have been a man of genius1 raised above the definition of genius4 #8,born universal heir to all humanity1' he was #8as one1 in suffering all who suffered nothing2' with a perfect sympathy with all things1 yet alike indifferent to all3 who did not tamper with nature or warp her to his own purposes2 who #8knew all qualities with a learned spirit1' instead of judging of them by his own predilections2 and was rather #8a pipe for the ,muse's finger to play what stop she pleased1' than anxious to set up any character or pretensions of his own4 ,his genius consisted in the faculty of transforming himself at will into whatever he chose3 his originality was the power of seeing every object from the exact point of view in which others would see it4 ,he was the ,proteus of human intellect4 ,genius in ordinary is a more obstinate and less versatile thing4 ,it is sufficiently exclusive and self-willed1 quaint and peculiar4 ,it does some one thing by virtue of doing nothing else3 it excels in some one pursuit by being blind to all excellence but its own4 ,it is just the reverse of the cameleon2 for it does not borrow1 but lend its colour to all about it3 or like the glow-worm1 discloses a little circle of gorgeous light in the twilight of obscurity1 in the night of intellect1 that surrounds it4 ,so did ,rembrandt4 ,if ever there was a man of genius1 he was one1 in the proper sense of the term4 ,he lived in and revealed to others a world of his own1 and might be said to have invented a new view of nature4 ,he did not discover things out of nature1 in fiction or fairy land1 or make a voyage to the moon #8to descry new lands1 rivers1 or mountains in her spotty globe1' but saw things in nature that every one had missed before him1 and gave others eyes to see them with4 ,this is the test and triumph of originality1 not to shew us what has never been1 and what we may therefore very easily never have dreamt of1 but to point out to us what is before our eyes and under our feet1 though we have had no suspicion of its existence1 for want of sufficient strength of intuition1 of determined grasp of mind to seize and retain it4 ,rembrandt's conquests were not over the ideal1 but the real4 ,he did not contrive a new story or character1 but we nearly owe to him a fifth part of painting1 the knowledge of chiaroscuro--a distinct power and element in art and nature4 ,he had a steadiness1 a firm keeping of mind and eye1 that first stood the shock of #8fierce extremes' in light and shade1 or reconciled the greatest obscurity and the greatest brilliancy into perfect harmony2 and he therefore was the first to hazard this appearance upon canvas1 and give full effect to what he saw and delighted in4 ,he was led to adopt this style of broad and startling contrast from its congeniality to his own feelings3 his mind grappled with that which afforded the best exercise to its master-powers3 he was bold in act1 because he was urged on by a strong native impulse4 ,originality is then nothing but nature and feeling working in the mind4 ,a man does not affect to be original3 he is so1 because he cannot help it1 and often without knowing it4 ,this extraordinary artist indeed might be said to have had a particular organ for colour4 ,his eye seemed to come in contact with it as a feeling1 to lay hold of it as a substance1 rather than to contemplate it as a visual object4 ,the texture of his landscapes is #8of the earth1 earthy'--his clouds are humid1 heavy1 slow2 his shadows are #8darkness that may be felt1' a #8palpable obscure2' his lights are lumps of liquid splendour6 ,there is something more in this than can be accounted for from design or accident3 ,rembrandt was not a man made up of two or three rules and directions for acquiring genius4 ,i am afraid ,i shall hardly write so satisfactory a character of ,mr4 ,wordsworth1 though he1 too1 like ,rembrandt1 has a faculty of making something out of nothing1 that is1 out of himself1 by the medium through which he sees and with which he clothes the barrenest subject4 ,mr4 ,wordsworth is the last man to #8look abroad into universality1' if that alone constituted genius3 he looks at home into himself1 and is #8content with riches fineless4' ,he would in the other case be #8poor as winter1' if he had nothing but general capacity to trust to4 ,he is the greatest1 that is1 the most original poet of the present day1 only because he is the greatest egotist4 ,he is #8self-involved1 not dark4' ,he sits in the centre of his own being1 and there #8enjoys bright day4' ,he does not waste a thought on others4 ,whatever does not relate exclusively and wholly to himself1 is foreign to his views4 ,he contemplates a whole-length figure of himself1 he looks along the unbroken line of his personal identity4 ,he thrusts aside all other objects1 all other interests with scorn and impatience1 that he may repose on his own being1 that he may dig out the treasures of thought contained in it1 that he may unfold the precious stores of a mind for ever brooding over itself4 ,his genius is the effect of his individual character4 ,he stamps that character1 that deep individual interest1 on whatever he meets4 ,the object is nothing but as it furnishes food for internal meditation1 for old associations4 ,if there had been no other being in the universe1 ,mr4 ,wordsworth's poetry would have been just what it is4 ,if there had been neither love nor friendship1 neither ambition nor pleasure nor business in the world1 the author of the ,lyrical ,ballads need not have been greatly changed from what he is--might still have #8kept the noiseless tenour of his way1' retired in the sanctuary of his own heart1 hallowing the ,sabbath of his own thoughts4 ,with the passions1 the pursuits1 and imaginations of other men1 he does not profess to sympathise1 but #8finds tongues in the trees1 books in the running brooks1 sermons in stones1 and good in every thing4' ,with a mind averse from outward objects1 but ever intent upon its own workings1 he hangs a weight of thought and feeling upon every trifling circumstance connected with his past history4 ,the note of the cuckoo sounds in his ear like the voice of other years2 the daisy spreads its leaves in the rays of boyish delight1 that stream from his thoughtful eyes2 the rainbow lifts its proud arch in heaven but to mark his progress from infancy to manhood2 an old thorn is buried1 bowed down under the mass of associations he has wound about it2 and to him1 as he himself beautifully says1 --#8,the meanest flow'r that blows can give ,thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears4' ,it is this power of habitual sentiment1 or of transferring the interest of our conscious existence to whatever gently solicits attention1 and is a link in the chain of association1 without rousing our passions or hurting our pride1 that is the striking feature in ,mr4 ,wordsworth's mind and poetry4 ,others have felt and shown this power before1 as ,withers1 ,burns1 c4 but none have felt it so intensely and absolutely as to lend to it the voice of inspiration1 as to make it the foundation of a new style and school in poetry4 ,his strength1 as it so often happens1 arises from the excess of his weakness4 ,but he has opened a new avenue to the human heart1 has explored another secret haunt and nook of nature1 #8sacred to verse1 and sure of everlasting fame4' ,compared with his lines1 ,lord ,byron's stanzas are but exaggerated common-place1 and ,walter ,scott's poetry 7not his prose7 old wives' fables4#ah ,there is no one in whom ,i have been more disappointed than in the writer here spoken of1 nor with whom ,i am more disposed on certain points to quarrel3 but the love of truth and justice which obliges me to do this1 will not suffer me to blench his merits4 ,do what he can1 he cannot help being an original-minded man4 ,his poetry is not servile4 ,while the cuckoo returns in the spring1 while the daisy looks bright in the sun1 while the rainbow lifts its head above the storm-- #8,yet ,i'll remember thee1 ,glencairn1 ,and all that thou hast done for me6' ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 in endeavouring to show that there is no such thing as proper originality1 a spirit emanating from the mind of the artist and shining through his works1 has traced ,raphael through a number of figures which he has borrowed from ,masaccio and others4 ,this is a bad calculation4 ,if ,raphael had only borrowed those figures from others1 would he1 even in ,sir ,joshua's sense1 have been entitled to the praise of originality8 ,plagiarism1 ,i presume1 in so far as it is plagiarism1 is not originality4 ,salvator is considered by many as a great genius4 ,he was what they call an irregular genius4 ,my notion of genius is not exactly the same as theirs4 ,it has also been made a question whether there is not more genius in ,rembrandt's ,three ,trees than in all ,claude ,lorraine's landscapes8 ,i do not know how that may be3 but it was enough for ,claude to have been a perfect landscape-painter4 ,capacity is not the same thing as genius4 ,capacity may be described to relate to the quantity of knowledge1 however acquired2 genius to its quality and the mode of acquiring it4 ,capacity is a power over given ideas or combinations of ideas2 genius is the power over those which are not given1 and for which no obvious or precise rule can be laid down4 ,or capacity is power of any sort3 genius is power of a different sort from what has yet been shown4 ,a retentive memory1 a clear understanding is capacity1 but it is not genius4 ,the admirable ,crichton was a person of prodigious capacity2 but there is no proof 7that ,i know7 that he had an atom of genius4 ,his verses that remain are dull and sterile4 ,he could learn all that was known of any subject3 he could do any thing if others could show him the way to do it4 ,this was very wonderful3 but that is all you can say of it4 ,it requires a good capacity to play well at chess3 but1 after all1 it is a game of skill1 and not of genius4 ,know what you will of it1 the understanding still moves in certain tracks in which others have trod before it1 quicker or slower1 with more or less comprehension and presence of mind4 ,the greatest skill strikes out nothing for itself1 from its own peculiar resources2 the nature of the game is a thing determinate and fixed3 there is no royal or poetical road to check-mate your adversary4 ,there is no place for genius but in the indefinite and unknown4 ,the discovery of the binomial theorem was an effort of genius2 but there was none shown in ,jedediah ,buxton's being able to multiply #i figures by #i in his head4 ,if he could have multiplied #ij figures by #ij instead of #i1 it would have been equally useless toil and trouble4#ai ,he is a man of capacity who possesses considerable intellectual riches3 he is a man of genius who finds out a vein of new ore4 ,originality is the seeing nature differently from others1 and yet as it is in itself4 ,it is not singularity or affectation1 but the discovery of new and valuable truth4 ,all the world do not see the whole meaning of any object they have been looking at4 ,habit blinds them to some things3 short-sightedness to others4 ,every mind is not a gauge and measure of truth4 ,nature has her surface and her dark recesses4 ,she is deep1 obscure1 and infinite4 ,it is only minds on whom she makes her fullest impressions that can penetrate her shrine or unveil her ,holy of ,holies4 ,it is only those whom she has filled with her spirit that have the boldness or the power to reveal her mysteries to others4 ,but nature has a thousand aspects1 and one man can only draw out one of them4 ,whoever does this1 is a man of genius4 ,one displays her force1 another her refinement1 one her power of harmony1 another her suddenness of contrast1 one her beauty of form1 another her splendour of colour4 ,each does that for which he is best fitted by his particular genius1 that is to say1 by some quality of mind in which the quality of the object sinks deepest1 where it finds the most cordial welcome1 is perceived to its utmost extent1 and where again it forces its way out from the fulness with which it has taken possession of the mind of the student4 ,the imagination gives out what it has first absorbed by congeniality of temperament1 what it has attracted and moulded into itself by elective affinity1 as the loadstone draws and impregnates iron4 ,a little originality is more esteemed and sought for than the greatest acquired talent1 because it throws a new light upon things1 and is peculiar to the individual4 ,the other is common2 and may be had for the asking1 to any amount4 ,the value of any work is to be judged of by the quantity of originality contained in it4 ,a very little of this will go a great way4 ,if ,goldsmith had never written any thing but the two or three first chapters of the ,vicar of ,wakefield1 or the character of a ,village-,schoolmaster1 they would have stamped him a man of genius4 ,the ,editors of ,encyclopedias are not usually reckoned the first literary characters of the age4 ,the works1 of which they have the management1 contain a great deal of knowledge1 like chests or warehouses1 but the goods are not their own4 ,we should as soon think of admiring the shelves of a library2 but the shelves of a library are useful and respectable4 ,i was once applied to1 in a delicate emergency1 to write an article on a difficult subject for an ,encyclopedia1 and was advised to take time and give it a systematic and scientific form1 to avail myself of all the knowledge that was to be obtained on the subject1 and arrange it with clearness and method4 ,i made answer that as to the first1 ,i had taken time to do all that ,i ever pretended to do1 as ,i had thought incessantly on different matters for twenty years of my life2#bj that ,i had no particular knowledge of the subject in question1 and no head for arrangement2 and that the utmost ,i could do in such a case would be1 when a systematic and scientific article was prepared1 to write marginal notes upon it1 to insert a remark or illustration of my own 7not to be found in former ,encyclopedias7 or to suggest a better definition than had been offered in the text4 ,there are two sorts of writing4 ,the first is compilation2 and consists in collecting and stating all that is already known of any question in the best possible manner1 for the benefit of the uninformed reader4 ,an author of this class is a very learned amanuensis of other people's thoughts4 ,the second sort proceeds on an entirely different principle4 ,instead of bringing down the account of knowledge to the point at which it has already arrived1 it professes to start from that point on the strength of the writer's individual reflections2 and supposing the reader in possession of what is already known1 supplies deficiencies1 fills up certain blanks1 and quits the beaten road in search of new tracts of observation or sources of feeling4 ,it is in vain to object to this last style that it is disjointed1 disproportioned1 and irregular4 ,it is merely a set of additions and corrections to other men's works1 or to the common stock of human knowledge1 printed separately4 ,you might as well expect a continued chain of reasoning in the notes to a book4 ,it skips all the trite1 intermediate1 level common-places of the subject1 and only stops at the difficult passages of the human mind1 or touches on some striking point that has been overlooked in previous editions4 ,a view of a subject1 to be connected and regular1 cannot be all new4 ,a writer will always be liable to be charged either with paradox or common-place1 either with dulness or affectation4 ,but we have no right to demand from any one more than he pretends to4 ,there is indeed a medium in all things1 but to unite opposite excellencies1 is a task ordinarily too hard for mortality4 ,he who succeeds in what he aims at1 or who takes the lead in any one mode or path of excellence1 may think himself very well off4 ,it would not be fair to complain of the style of an ,encyclopedia as dull1 as wanting volatile salt2 nor of the style of an ,essay because it is too light and sparkling1 because it is not a caput mortuum4 ,so it is rather an odd objection to a work that is made up entirely of #8brilliant passages'--at least it is a fault that can be found with few works1 and the book might be pardoned for its singularity4 ,the censure might indeed seem like adroit flattery1 if it were not passed on an author whom any objection is sufficient to render unpopular and ridiculous4 ,i grant it is best to unite solidity with show1 general information with particular ingenuity4 ,this is the pattern of a perfect style3 but ,i myself do not pretend to be a perfect writer4 ,in fine1 we do not banish light ,french wines from our tables1 or refuse to taste sparkling ,champagne when we can get it1 because it has not the body of ,old ,port4 ,besides1 ,i do not know that dulness is strength1 or that an observation is slight1 because it is striking4 ,mediocrity1 insipidity1 want of character is the great fault4 ,mediocribus esse poetis non ,dii1 non homines1 non concessre column4 ,neither is this privilege allowed to prose-writers in our time1 any more than to poets formerly4 ,it is not then acuteness of organs or extent of capacity that constitutes rare genius or produces the most exquisite models of art1 but an intense sympathy with some one beauty or distinguishing characteristic in nature4 ,irritability alone1 or the interest taken in certain things1 may supply the place of genius in weak and otherwise ordinary minds4 ,as there are certain instruments fitted to perform certain kinds of labour1 there are certain minds so framed as to produce certain chef-d'uvres in art and literature1 which is surely the best use they can be put to4 ,if a man had all sorts of instruments in his shop and wanted one1 he would rather have that one than be supplied with a double set of all the others4 ,if he had them all twice over1 he could only do what he can do as it is1 whereas without that one he perhaps cannot finish any one work he has in hand4 ,so if a man can do one thing better than any body else1 the value of this one thing is what he must stand or fall by1 and his being able to do a hundred other things merely as well as any body else1 would not alter the sentence or add to his respectability2 on the contrary1 his being able to do so many other things well would probably interfere with and incumber him in the execution of the only thing that others cannot do as well as he1 and so far be a drawback and a disadvantage4 ,more people in fact fail from a multiplicity of talents and pretensions than from an absolute poverty of resources4 ,i have given instances of this elsewhere4 ,perhaps ,shakespear's tragedies would in some respects have been better1 if he had never written comedies at all2 and in that case1 his comedies might well have been spared1 though they might have cost us some regret4 ,racine1 it is said1 might have rivalled ,moliere in comedy2 but he gave up the cultivation of his comic talents to devote himself wholly to the tragic ,muse4 ,if1 as the ,french tell us1 he in consequence attained to the perfection of tragic composition1 this was better than writing comedies as well as ,moliere and tragedies as well as ,crebillon4 ,yet ,i count those persons fools who think it a pity ,hogarth did not succeed better in serious subjects4 ,the division of labour is an excellent principle in taste as well as in mechanics4 ,without this1 ,i find from ,adam ,smith1 we could not have a pin made to the degree of perfection it is4 ,we do not1 on any rational scheme of criticism1 inquire into the variety of a man's excellences1 or the number of his works1 or his facility of production4 ,venice ,preserved is sufficient for ,otway's fame4 ,i hate all those nonsensical stories about ,lopez de ,vega and his writing a play in a morning before breakfast4 ,he had time enough to do it after4 ,if a man leaves behind him any work which is a model in its kind1 we have no right to ask whether he could do any thing else1 or how he did it1 or how long he was about it4 ,all that talent which is not necessary to the actual quantity of excellence existing in the world1 loses its object1 is so much waste talent or talent to let4 ,i heard a sensible man say he should like to do some one thing better than all the rest of the world1 and in every thing else to be like all the rest of the world4 ,why should a man do more than his part8 ,the rest is vanity and vexation of spirit4 ,we look with jealous and grudging eyes at all those qualifications which are not essential2 first1 because they are superfluous1 and next1 because we suspect they will be prejudicial4 ,why does ,mr4 ,kean play all those harlequin tricks of singing1 dancing1 fencing1 c48 ,they say1 #8,it is for his benefit4' ,it is not for his reputation4 ,garrick indeed shone equally in comedy and tragedy4 ,but he was first1 not second-rate in both4 ,there is not a greater impertinence than to ask1 if a man is clever out of his profession4 ,i have heard of people trying to cross-examine ,mrs4 ,siddons4 ,i would as soon try to entrap one of the ,elgin ,marbles into an argument4 ,good nature and common sense are required from all people3 but one proud distinction is enough for any one individual to possess or to aspire to6 ,,essay ,,vi ,,character ,,of ,,cobbett ,people have about as substantial an idea of ,cobbett as they have of ,cribb4 ,his blows are as hard1 and he himself is as impenetrable4 ,one has no notion of him as making use of a fine pen1 but a great mutton-fist2 his style stuns his readers1 and he #8fillips the ear of the public with a three-man beetle4' ,he is too much for any single newspaper antagonist2 #8lays waste' a city orator or ,member of ,parliament1 and bears hard upon the government itself4 ,he is a kind of fourth estate in the politics of the country4 ,he is not only unquestionably the most powerful political writer of the present day1 but one of the best writers in the language4 ,he speaks and thinks plain1 broad1 downright ,english4 ,he might be said to have the clearness of ,swift1 the naturalness of ,defoe1 and the picturesque satirical description of ,mandeville2 if all such comparisons were not impertinent4 ,a really great and original writer is like nobody but himself4 ,in one sense1 ,sterne was not a wit1 nor ,shakespear a poet4 ,it is easy to describe second-rate talents1 because they fall into a class1 and enlist under a standard3 but first-rate powers defy calculation or comparison1 and can be defined only by themselves4 ,they are sui generis1 and make the class to which they belong4 ,i have tried half a dozen times to describe ,burke's style without ever succeeding2--its severe extravagance2 its literal boldness2 its matter-of-fact hyperboles2 its running away with a subject1 and from it at the same time--but there is no making it out1 for there is no example of the same thing any where else4 ,we have no common measure to refer to2 and his qualities contradict even themselves4 ,cobbett is not so difficult4 ,he has been compared to ,paine2 and so far it is true there are no two writers who come more into juxtaposition from the nature of their subjects1 from the internal resources on which they draw1 and from the popular effect of their writings1 and their adaptation 7though that is a bad word in the present case7 to the capacity of every reader4 ,but still if we turn to a volume of ,paine's 7his ,common ,sense or ,rights of ,man71 we are struck 7not to say somewhat refreshed7 by the difference4 ,paine is a much more sententious writer than ,cobbett4 ,you cannot open a page in any of his best and earlier works without meeting with some maxim1 some antithetical and memorable saying1 which is a sort of starting-place for the argument1 and the goal to which it returns4 ,there is not a single bon-mot1 a single sentence in ,cobbett that has ever been quoted again4 ,if any thing is ever quoted from him1 it is an epithet of abuse or a nickname4 ,he is an excellent hand at invention in that way1 and has #8damnable iteration in him4' ,what could be better than his pestering ,erskine year after year with his second title of ,baron ,clackmannan8 ,he is rather too fond of the ,sons and ,daughters of ,corruption4 ,paine affected to reduce things to first principles1 to announce self-evident truths4 ,cobbett troubles himself about little but the details and local circumstances4 ,the first appeared to have made up his mind beforehand to certain opinions1 and to try to find the most compendious and pointed expressions for them3 his successor appears to have no clue1 no fixed or leading principles1 nor ever to have thought on a question till he sits down to write about it2 but then there seems no end of his matters of fact and raw materials1 which are brought out in all their strength and sharpness from not having been squared or frittered down or vamped up to suit a theory--he goes on with his descriptions and illustrations as if he would never come to a stop2 they have all the force of novelty with all the familiarity of old acquaintance2 his knowledge grows out of the subject1 and his style is that of a man who has an absolute intuition of what he is talking about1 and never thinks of any thing else4 ,he deals in premises and speaks to evidence--the coming to a conclusion and summing up 7which was ,paine's forte7 lies in a smaller compass4 ,the one could not compose an elementary treatise on politics to become a manual for the popular reader2 nor could the other in all probability have kept up a weekly journal for the same number of years with the same spirit1 interest1 and untired perseverance4 ,paine's writings are a sort of introduction to political arithmetic on a new plan3 ,cobbett keeps a day-book and makes an entry at full of all the occurrences and troublesome questions that start up throughout the year4 ,cobbett1 with vast industry1 vast information1 and the utmost power of making what he says intelligible1 never seems to get at the beginning or come to the end of any question3 ,paine1 in a few short sentences1 seems by his peremptory manner #8to clear it from all controversy1 past1 present1 and to come4' ,paine takes a bird's-eye view of things4 ,cobbett sticks close to them1 inspects the component parts1 and keeps fast hold of the smallest advantages they afford him4 ,or1 if ,i might here be indulged in a pastoral allusion1 ,paine tries to enclose his ideas in a fold for security and repose3 ,cobbett lets his pour out upon the plain like a flock of sheep to feed and batten4 ,cobbett is a pleasanter writer for those to read who do not agree with him2 for he is less dogmatical1 goes more into the common grounds of fact and argument to which all appeal1 is more desultory and various1 and appears less to be driving at a previous conclusion than urged on by the force of present conviction4 ,he is therefore tolerated by all parties1 though he has made himself by turns obnoxious to all2 and even those he abuses read him4 ,the ,reformers read him when he was a ,tory1 and the ,tories read him now that he is a ,reformer4 ,he must1 ,i think1 however1 be caviare to the ,whigs4#ba ,if he is less metaphysical and poetical than his celebrated prototype1 he is more picturesque and dramatic4 ,his episodes1 which are numerous as they are pertinent1 are striking1 interesting1 full of life and navet1 minute1 double measure running over1 but never tedious--nunquam sufflaminandus erat4 ,he is one of those writers who can never tire us1 not even of himself2 and the reason is1 he is always #8full of matter4' ,he never runs to lees1 never gives us the vapid leavings of himself1 is never #8weary1 stale1 and unprofitable1' but always setting out afresh on his journey1 clearing away some old nuisance1 and turning up new mould4 ,his egotism is delightful1 for there is no affectation in it4 ,he does not talk of himself for lack of something to write about1 but because some circumstance that has happened to himself is the best possible illustration of the subject1 and he is not the man to shrink from giving the best possible illustration of the subject from a squeamish delicacy4 ,he likes both himself and his subject too well4 ,he does not put himself before it1 and say--#8admire me first'--but places us in the same situation with himself1 and makes us see all that he does4 ,there is no blindman's-buff1 no conscious hints1 no awkward ventriloquism1 no testimonies of applause1 no abstract1 senseless self-complacency1 no smuggled admiration of his own person by proxy3 it is all plain and above-board4 ,he writes himself plain ,william ,cobbett1 strips himself quite as naked as any body would wish--in a word1 his egotism is full of individuality1 and has room for very little vanity in it4 ,we feel delighted1 rub our hands1 and draw our chair to the fire1 when we come to a passage of this sort3 we know it will be something new and good1 manly and simple1 not the same insipid story of self over again4 ,we sit down at table with the writer1 but it is to a course of rich viands1 flesh1 fish1 and wild-fowl1 and not to a nominal entertainment1 like that given by the ,barmecide in the ,arabian ,nights1 who put off his visitors with calling for a number of exquisite things that never appeared1 and with the honour of his company4 ,mr4 ,cobbett is not a make-believe writer4 ,his worst enemy cannot say that of him4 ,still less is he a vulgar one4 ,he must be a puny1 common-place critic indeed1 who thinks him so4 ,how fine were the graphical descriptions he sent us from ,america3 what a transatlantic flavour1 what a native gusto1 what a fine sauce-piquante of contempt they were seasoned with6 ,if he had sat down to look at himself in the glass1 instead of looking about him like ,adam in ,paradise1 he would not have got up these articles in so capital a style4 ,what a noble account of his first breakfast after his arrival in ,america6 ,it might serve for a month4 ,there is no scene on the stage more amusing4 ,how well he paints the gold and scarlet plumage of the ,american birds1 only to lament more pathetically the want of the wild wood-notes of his native land6 ,the groves of the ,ohio that had just fallen beneath the axe's stroke #8live in his description1' and the turnips that he transplanted from ,botley #8look green' in prose6 ,how well at another time he describes the poor sheep that had got the tick1 and had tumbled down in the agonies of death6 ,it is a portrait in the manner of ,bewick1 with the strength1 the simplicity1 and feeling of that great naturalist4 ,what havoc he makes1 when he pleases1 of the curls of ,dr4 ,parr's wig and of the ,whig consistency of ,mr4 --6 ,his ,grammar too is as entertaining as a story-book4 ,he is too hard upon the style of others1 and not enough 7sometimes7 on his own4 ,as a political partisan1 no one can stand against him4 ,with his brandished club1 like ,giant ,despair in the ,pilgrim's ,progress1 he knocks out their brains2 and not only no individual1 but no corrupt system could hold out against his powerful and repeated attacks1 but with the same weapon1 swung round like a flail1 that he levels his antagonists1 he lays his friends low1 and puts his own party hors de combat4 ,this is a bad propensity1 and a worse principle in political tactics1 though a common one4 ,if his blows were straight forward and steadily directed to the same object1 no unpopular ,minister could live before him2 instead of which he lays about right and left1 impartially and remorselessly1 makes a clear stage1 has all the ring to himself1 and then runs out of it1 just when he should stand his ground4 ,he throws his head into his adversary's stomach1 and takes away from him all inclination for the fight1 hits fair or foul1 strikes at every thing1 and as you come up to his aid or stand ready to pursue his advantage1 trips up your heels or lays you sprawling1 and pummels you when down as much to his heart's content as ever the ,yanguesian carriers belaboured ,rosinante with their pack-staves4 #8,he has the back-trick simply the best of any man in ,illyria4' ,he pays off both scores of old friendship and new-acquired enmity in a breath1 in one perpetual volley1 one raking fire of #8arrowy sleet' shot from his pen4 ,however his own reputation or the cause may suffer in consequence1 he cares not one pin about that1 so that he disables all who oppose1 or who pretend to help him4 ,in fact1 he cannot bear success of any kind1 not even of his own views or party2 and if any principle were likely to become popular1 would turn round against it to shew his power in shouldering it on one side4 ,in short1 wherever power is1 there is he against it3 he naturally butts at all obstacles1 as unicorns are attracted to oak-trees1 and feels his own strength only by resistance to the opinions and wishes of the rest of the world4 ,to sail with the stream1 to agree with the company1 is not his humour4 ,if he could bring about a ,reform in ,parliament1 the odds are that he would instantly fall foul of and try to mar his own handy-work2 and he quarrels with his own creatures as soon as he has written them into a little vogue--and a prison4 ,i do not think this is vanity or fickleness so much as a pugnacious disposition1 that must have an antagonist power to contend with1 and only finds itself at ease in systematic opposition4 ,if it were not for this1 the high towers and rotten places of the world would fall before the battering-ram of his hard-headed reasoning3 but if he once found them tottering1 he would apply his strength to prop them up1 and disappoint the expectations of his followers4 ,he cannot agree to any thing established1 nor to set up any thing else in its stead4 ,while it is established1 he presses hard against it1 because it presses upon him1 at least in imagination4 ,let it crumble under his grasp1 and the motive to resistance is gone4 ,he then requires some other grievance to set his face against4 ,his principle is repulsion1 his nature contradiction3 he is made up of mere antipathies1 an ,ishmaelite indeed without a fellow4 ,he is always playing at hunt-the-slipper in politics4 ,he turns round upon whoever is next him4 ,the way to wean him from any opinion1 and make him conceive an intolerable hatred against it1 would be to place somebody near him who was perpetually dinning it in his ears4 ,when he is in ,england1 he does nothing but abuse the ,boroughmongers1 and laugh at the whole system3 when he is in ,america1 he grows impatient of freedom and a republic4 ,if he had staid there a little longer1 he would have become a loyal and a loving subject of his ,majesty ,king ,george ,,iv4 ,he lampooned the ,french ,revolution when it was hailed as the dawn of liberty by millions3 by the time it was brought into almost universal ill-odour by some means or other 7partly no doubt by himself7 he had turned1 with one or two or three others1 staunch ,buonapartist4 ,he is always of the militant1 not of the triumphant party3 so far he bears a gallant shew of magnanimity2 but his gallantry is hardly of the right stamp4 ,it wants principle3 for though he is not servile or mercenary1 he is the victim of self-will4 ,he must pull down and pull in pieces3 it is not his disposition to do otherwise4 ,it is a pity2 for with his great talents he might do great things1 if he would go right forward to any useful object1 make thorough-stitch work of any question1 or join hand and heart with any principle4 ,he changes his opinions as he does his friends1 and much on the same account4 ,he has no comfort in fixed principles3 as soon as any thing is settled in his own mind1 he quarrels with it4 ,he has no satisfaction but in the chase after truth1 runs a question down1 worries and kills it1 then quits it like vermin1 and starts some new game1 to lead him a new dance1 and give him a fresh breathing through bog and brake1 with the rabble yelping at his heels1 and the leaders perpetually at fault4 ,this he calls sport-royal4 ,he thinks it as good as cudgel-playing or single-stick1 or any thing else that has life in it4 ,he likes the cut and thrust1 the falls1 bruises1 and dry blows of an argument3 as to any good or useful results that may come of the amicable settling of it1 any one is welcome to them for him4 ,the amusement is over1 when the matter is once fairly decided4 ,there is another point of view in which this may be put4 ,i might say that ,mr4 ,cobbett is a very honest man with a total want of principle1 and ,i might explain this paradox thus4 ,i mean that he is1 ,i think1 in downright earnest in what he says1 in the part he takes at the time2 but in taking that part1 he is led entirely by headstrong obstinacy1 caprice1 novelty1 pique or personal motive of some sort1 and not by a stedfast regard for truth1 or habitual anxiety for what is right uppermost in his mind4 ,he is not a feed1 time-serving1 shuffling advocate 7no man could write as he does who did not believe himself sincere7--but his understanding is the dupe and slave of his momentary1 violent1 and irritable humours4 ,he does not adopt an opinion #8deliberately or for money2' yet his conscience is at the mercy of the first provocation he receives1 of the first whim he takes in his head2 he sees things through the medium of heat and passion1 not with reference to any general principles1 and his whole system of thinking is deranged by the first object that strikes his fancy or sours his temper4--,one cause of this phenomenon is perhaps his want of a regular education4 ,he is a self-taught man1 and has the faults as well as excellences of that class of persons in their most striking and glaring excess4 ,it must be acknowledged that the ,editor of the ,political ,register 7the two-penny trash1 as it was called1 till a bill passed the ,house to raise the price to sixpence7 is not #8the gentleman and scholar3' though he has qualities that1 with a little better management1 would be worth 7to the public7 both those titles4 ,for want of knowing what has been discovered before him1 he has not certain general landmarks to refer to1 or a general standard of thought to apply to individual cases4 ,he relies on his own acuteness and the immediate evidence1 without being acquainted with the comparative anatomy or philosophical structure of opinion4 ,he does not view things on a large scale or at the horizon 7dim and airy enough perhaps7--but as they affect himself1 close1 palpable1 tangible4 ,whatever he finds out1 is his own1 and he only knows what he finds out4 ,he is in the constant hurry and fever of gestation3 his brain teems incessantly with some fresh project4 ,every new light is the birth of a new system1 the dawn of a new world to him4 ,he is continually outstripping and overreaching himself4 ,the last opinion is the only true one4 ,he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday4 ,why should he not be wiser to-morrow than he was to-day8--,men of a learned education are not so sharp-witted as clever men without it3 but they know the balance of the human intellect better2 if they are more stupid1 they are more steady2 and are less liable to be led astray by their own sagacity and the over-weening petulance of hard-earned and late-acquired wisdom4 ,they do not fall in love with every meretricious extravagance at first sight1 or mistake an old battered hypothesis for a vestal1 because they are new to the ways of this old world4 ,they do not seize upon it as a prize1 but are safe from gross imposition by being as wise and no wiser than those who went before them4 ,paine said on some occasion--#8,what ,i have written1 ,i have written'--as rendering any farther declaration of his principles unnecessary4 ,not so ,mr4 ,cobbett4 ,what he has written is no rule to him what he is to write4 ,he learns something every day1 and every week he takes the field to maintain the opinions of the last six days against friend or foe4 ,i doubt whether this outrageous inconsistency1 this headstrong fickleness1 this understood want of all rule and method1 does not enable him to go on with the spirit1 vigour1 and variety that he does4 ,he is not pledged to repeat himself4 ,every new ,register is a kind of new ,prospectus4 ,he blesses himself from all ties and shackles on his understanding2 he has no mortgages on his brain2 his notions are free and unincumbered4 ,if he was put in trammels1 he might become a vile hack like so many more4 ,but he gives himself #8ample scope and verge enough4' ,he takes both sides of a question1 and maintains one as sturdily as the other4 ,if nobody else can argue against him1 he is a very good match for himself4 ,he writes better in favour of ,reform than any body else2 he used to write better against it4 ,wherever he is1 there is the tug of war1 the weight of the argument1 the strength of abuse4 ,he is not like a man in danger of being bed-rid in his faculties--,he tosses and tumbles about his unwieldy bulk1 and when he is tired of lying on one side1 relieves himself by turning on the other4 ,his shifting his point of view from time to time not merely adds variety and greater compass to his topics 7so that the ,political ,register is an armoury and magazine for all the materials and weapons of political warfare71 but it gives a greater zest and liveliness to his manner of treating them4 ,mr4 ,cobbett takes nothing for granted as what he has proved before2 he does not write a book of reference4 ,we see his ideas in their first concoction1 fermenting and overflowing with the ebullitions of a lively conception4 ,we look on at the actual process1 and are put in immediate possession of the grounds and materials on which he forms his sanguine1 unsettled conclusions4 ,he does not give us samples of reasoning1 but the whole solid mass1 refuse and all4 --#8,he pours out all as plain ,as downright ,shippen or as old ,montaigne4' ,this is one cause of the clearness and force of his writings4 ,an argument does not stop to stagnate and muddle in his brain1 but passes at once to his paper4 ,his ideas are served up1 like pancakes1 hot and hot4 ,fresh theories give him fresh courage4 ,he is like a young and lusty bridegroom that divorces a favourite speculation every morning1 and marries a new one every night4 ,he is not wedded to his notions1 not he4 ,he has not one ,mrs4 ,cobbett among all his opinions4 ,he makes the most of the last thought that has come in his way1 seizes fast hold of it1 rumples it about in all directions with rough strong hands1 has his wicked will of it1 takes a surfeit1 and throws it away4--,our author's changing his opinions for new ones is not so wonderful3 what is more remarkable is his facility in forgetting his old ones4 ,he does not pretend to consistency 7like ,mr4 ,coleridge72 he frankly disavows all connexion with himself4 ,he feels no personal responsibility in this way1 and cuts a friend or principle with the same decided indifference that ,antipholis of ,ephesus cuts geon of ,syracuse4 ,it is a hollow thing4 ,the only time he ever grew romantic was in bringing over the relics of ,mr4 ,thomas ,paine with him from ,america to go a progress with them through the disaffected districts4 ,scarce had he landed in ,liverpool when he left the bones of a great man to shift for themselves2 and no sooner did he arrive in ,london than he made a speech to disclaim all participation in the political and theological sentiments of his late idol1 and to place the whole stock of his admiration and enthusiasm towards him to the account of his financial speculations1 and of his having predicted the fate of paper-money4 ,if he had erected a little gold statue to him1 it might have proved the sincerity of this assertion3 but to make a martyr and a patron-saint of a man1 and to dig up #8his canonised bones' in order to expose them as objects of devotion to the rabble's gaze1 asks something that has more life and spirit in it1 more mind and vivifying soul1 than has to do with any calculation of pounds1 shillings1 and pence6 ,the fact is1 he ratted from his own project4 ,he found the thing not so ripe as he had expected4 ,his heart failed him3 his enthusiasm fled1 and he made his retractation4 ,his admiration is short-lived3 his contempt only is rooted1 and his resentment lasting4--,the above was only one instance of his building too much on practical data4 ,he has an ill habit of prophesying1 and goes on1 though still deceived4 ,the art of prophesying does not suit ,mr4 ,cobbett's style4 ,he has a knack of fixing names and times and places4 ,according to him1 the ,reformed ,parliament was to meet in ,march1 #ahah--;it did not1 and we heard no more of the matter4 ,when his predictions fail1 he takes no farther notice of them1 but applies himself to new ones--like the country-people who turn to see what weather there is in the almanac for the next week1 though it has been out in its reckoning every day of the last4 ,mr4 ,cobbett is great in attack1 not in defence3 he cannot fight an up-hill battle4 ,he will not bear the least punishing4 ,if any one turns upon him 7which few people like to do7 he immediately turns tail4 ,like an overgrown school-boy1 he is so used to have it all his own way1 that he cannot submit to any thing like competition or a struggle for the mastery2 he must lay on all the blows1 and take none4 ,he is bullying and cowardly2 a ,big ,ben in politics1 who will fall upon others and crush them by his weight1 but is not prepared for resistance1 and is soon staggered by a few smart blows4 ,whenever he has been set upon he has slunk out of the controversy4 ,the ,edinburgh ,review made 7what is called7 a dead set at him some years ago1 to which he only retorted by an eulogy on the superior neatness of an ,english kitchen-garden to a ,scotch one4 ,i remember going one day into a bookseller's shop in ,fleet-street to ask for the ,review2 and on my expressing my opinion to a young ,scotchman1 who stood behind the counter1 that ,mr4 ,cobbett might hit as hard in his reply1 the ,north ,briton said with some alarm--#8,but you don't think1 ,sir1 ,mr4 ,cobbett will be able to injure the ,scottish nation8' ,i said ,i could not speak to that point1 but ,i thought he was very well able to defend himself4 ,he however did not1 but has borne a grudge to the ,edinburgh ,review ever since1 which he hates worse than the ,quarterly4 ,i cannot say ,i do4#bb ,,essay ,,vii ,,on ,,people ,,with ,,one ,,idea ,there are people who have but one idea3 at least1 if they have more1 they keep it a secret1 for they never talk but of one subject4 ,there is ,major ,c--3 he has but one idea or subject of discourse1 ,parliamentary ,reform4 ,now ,parliamentary ,reform is 7as far as ,i know7 a very good thing1 a very good idea1 and a very good subject to talk about2 but why should it be the only one8 ,to hear the worthy and gallant ,major resume his favourite topic1 is like law-business1 or a person who has a suit in ,chancery going on4 ,nothing can be attended to1 nothing can be talked of but that4 ,now it is getting on1 now again it is standing still2 at one time the ,master has promised to pass judgment by a certain day1 at another he has put it off again and called for more papers1 and both are equally reasons for speaking of it4 ,like the piece of packthread in the barrister's hands1 he turns and twists it all ways1 and cannot proceed a step without it4 ,some school-boys cannot read but in their own book3 and the man of one idea cannot converse out of his own subject4 ,conversation it is not2 but a sort of recital of the preamble of a bill1 or a collection of grave arguments for a man's being of opinion with himself4 ,it would be well if there was any thing of character1 of eccentricity in all this2 but that is not the case4 ,it is a political homily personified1 a walking common-place we have to encounter and listen to4 ,it is just as if a man was to insist on your hearing him go through the fifth chapter of the ,book of ,judges every time you meet1 or like the story of the ,cosmogony in the ,vicar of ,wakefield4 ,it is a tune played on a barrel-organ4 ,it is a common vehicle of discourse into which they get and are set down when they please1 without any pains or trouble to themselves4 ,neither is it professional pedantry or trading quackery3 it has no excuse4 ,the man has no more to do with the question which he saddles on all his hearers than you have4 ,this is what makes the matter hopeless4 ,if a farmer talks to you about his pigs or his poultry1 or a physician about his patients1 or a lawyer about his briefs1 or a merchant about stock1 or an author about himself1 you know how to account for this1 it is a common infirmity1 you have a laugh at his expense1 and there is no more to be said4 ,but here is a man who goes out of his way to be absurd1 and is troublesome by a romantic effort of generosity4 ,you cannot say to him1 #8,all this may be interesting to you1 but ,i have no concern in it3' you cannot put him off in that way4 ,he retorts the ,latin adage upon you--,nihil humani a me alienum puto4 ,he has got possession of a subject which is of universal and paramount interest 7not #8a fee-grief1 due to some single breast'7--and on that plea may hold you by the button as long as he chooses4 ,his delight is to harangue on what nowise regards himself3 how then can you refuse to listen to what as little amuses you8 ,time and tide wait for no man4 ,the business of the state admits of no delay4 ,the question of ,universal ,suffrage and ,annual ,parliaments stands first on the order of the day--takes precedence in its own right of every other question4 ,any other topic1 grave or gay1 is looked upon in the light of impertinence1 and sent to ,coventry4 ,business is an interruption2 pleasure a digression from it4 ,it is the question before every company where the ,major comes1 which immediately resolves itself into a committee of the whole world upon it1 is carried on by means of a perpetual virtual adjournment1 and it is presumed that no other is entertained while this is pending--a determination which gives its persevering advocate a fair prospect of expatiating on it to his dying day4 ,as ,cicero says of study1 it follows him into the country1 it stays with him at home3 it sits with him at breakfast1 and goes out with him to dinner4 ,it is like a part of his dress1 of the costume of his person1 without which he would be at a loss what to do4 ,if he meets you in the street1 he accosts you with it as a form of salutation3 if you see him at his own house1 it is supposed you come upon that4 ,if you happen to remark1 #8,it is a fine day1 or the town is full1' it is considered as a temporary compromise of the question2 you are suspected of not going the whole length of the principle4 ,as ,sancho when reprimanded for mentioning his homely favourite in the ,duke's kitchen1 defended himself by saying--#8,there ,i thought of ,dapple1 and there ,i spoke of him'--so the true stickler for ,reform neglects no opportunity of introducing the subject wherever he is4 ,place its veteran champion under the frozen north1 and he will celebrate sweet smiling ,reform3 place him under the mid-day ,afric suns1 and he will talk of nothing but ,reform--,reform so sweetly smiling and so sweetly promising for the last forty years-- ,dulce ridentem ,lalagen1 ,dulce loquentem6 ,a topic of this sort1 of which the person himself may be considered as almost sole proprietor and patentee1 is an estate for life1 free from all incumbrance of wit1 thought1 or study1 you live upon it as a settled income2 and others might as well think to eject you out of a capital freehold house and estate as think to drive you out of it into the wide world of common sense and argument4 ,every man's house is his castle2 and every man's common-place is his stronghold1 from which he looks out and smiles at the dust and heat of controversy1 raised by a number of frivolous and vexatious questions--#8,rings the world with the vain stir6' ,a cure for this and every other evil would be a ,parliamentary ,reform2 and so we return in a perpetual circle to the point from which we set out4 ,is not this a species of sober madness more provoking than the real8 ,has not the theoretical enthusiast his mind as much warped1 as much enslaved1 by one idea as the acknowledged lunatic1 only that the former has no lucid intervals8 ,if you see a visionary of this class going along the street1 you can tell as well what he is thinking of and will say next as the man that fancies himself a teapot or the ,czar of ,muscovy4 ,the one is as inaccessible to reason as the other3 if the one raves1 the other dotes6 ,there are some who fancy the ,corn ,bill the root of all evil1 and others who trace all the miseries of life to the practice of muffling up children in night-clothes when they sleep or travel4 ,they will declaim by the hour together on the first1 and argue themselves black in the face on the last4 ,it is in vain that you give up the point4 ,they persist in the debate1 and begin again--#8,but don't you see--8' ,these sort of partial obliquities1 as they are more entertaining and original1 are also by their nature intermittent4 ,they hold a man but for a season4 ,he may have one a year or every two years2 and though1 while he is in the heat of any new discovery1 he will let you hear of nothing else1 he varies from himself1 and is amusing undesignedly4 ,he is not like the chimes at midnight4 ,people of the character here spoken of1 that is1 who tease you to death with some one idea1 generally differ in their favourite notion from the rest of the world2 and indeed it is the love of distinction which is mostly at the bottom of this peculiarity4 ,thus one person is remarkable for living on a vegetable diet1 and never fails to entertain you all dinner-time with an invective against animal food4 ,one of this self-denying class1 who adds to the primitive simplicity of this sort of food the recommendation of having it in a raw state1 lamenting the death of a patient whom he had augured to be in a good way as a convert to his system1 at last accounted for his disappointment in a whisper--#8,but she ate meat privately1 depend upon it4' ,it is not pleasant1 though it is what one submits to willingly from some people1 to be asked every time you meet1 whether you have quite left off drinking wine1 and to be complimented or condoled with on your looks according as you answer in the negative or affirmative4 ,abernethy thinks his pill an infallible cure for all disorders4 ,a person once complaining to his physician that he thought his mode of treatment had not answered1 he assured him it was the best in the world1--#8and as a proof of it1' says he1 #8,i have had one gentleman1 a patient with your disorder1 under the same regimen for the last sixteen years6'--,i have known persons whose minds were entirely taken up at all times and on all occasions with such questions as the ,abolition of the ,slave-,trade1 the ,restoration of the ,jews1 or the progress of ,unitarianism4 ,i myself at one period took a pretty strong turn to inveighing against the doctrine of ,divine ,right1 and am not yet cured of my prejudice on that subject4 ,how many projectors have gone mad in good earnest from incessantly harping on one idea1 the discovery of the philosopher's stone1 the finding out the longitude1 or paying off the national debt6 ,the disorder at length comes to a fatal crisis2 but long before this1 and while they were walking about and talking as usual1 the derangement of the fancy1 the loss of all voluntary power to control or alienate their ideas from the single subject that occupied them1 was gradually taking place1 and overturning the fabric of the understanding by wrenching it all on one side4 ,alderman ,wood has1 ,i should suppose1 talked of nothing but the ,queen in all companies for the last six months4 ,happy ,alderman ,wood6 ,some persons have got a definition of the verb1 others a system of short-hand1 others a cure for typhus fever1 others a method for preventing the counterfeiting of bank notes1 which they think the best possible1 and indeed the only one4 ,others insist there have been only three great men in the world1 leaving you to add a fourth4 ,a man who has been in ,germany will sometimes talk of nothing but what is ,german3 a ,scotchman always leads the discourse to his own country4 ,some descant on the ,kantean philosophy4 ,there is a conceited fellow about town who talks always and every where on this subject4 ,he wears the ,categories round his neck like a pearl-chain2 he plays off the names of the primary and transcendental qualities like rings on his fingers4 ,he talks of the ,kantean system while he dances2 he talks of it while he dines1 he talks of it to his children1 to his apprentices1 to his customers4 ,he called on me to convince me of it1 and said ,i was only prevented from becoming a complete convert by one or two prejudices4 ,he knows no more about it than a pike-staff4 ,why then does he make so much ridiculous fuss about it8 ,it is not that he has got this one idea in his head1 but that he has got no other4 ,a dunce may talk on the subject of the ,kantean philosophy with great impunity3 if he opened his lips on any other1 he might be found out4 ,a ,french lady1 who had married an ,englishman who said little1 excused him by saying--#8,he is always thinking of ,locke and ,newton4' ,this is one way of passing muster by following in the suite of great names6--,a friend of mine1 whom ,i met one day in the street1 accosted me with more than usual vivacity1 and said1 #8,well1 we're selling1 we're selling6' ,i thought he meant a house4 #8,no1' he said1 #8haven't you seen the advertisement in the newspapers8 ,i mean five-and-twenty copies of the ,essay4' ,this work1 a comely1 capacious quarto on the most abstruse metaphysics1 had occupied his sole thoughts for several years1 and he concluded that ,i must be thinking of what he was4 ,i believe1 however1 ,i may say ,i am nearly the only person that ever read1 certainly that ever pretended to understand it4 ,it is an original and most ingenious work1 nearly as incomprehensible as it is original1 and as quaint as it is ingenious4 ,if the author is taken up with the ideas in his own head and no others1 he has a right3 for he has ideas there1 that are to be met with nowhere else1 and which occasionally would not disgrace a ,berkeley4 ,a dextrous plagiarist might get himself an immense reputation by putting them in a popular dress4 ,oh6 how little do they know1 who have never done any thing but repeat after others by rote1 the pangs1 the labour1 the yearnings1 and misgivings of mind it costs1 to get the germ of an original idea--to dig it out of the hidden recesses of thought and nature1 and bring it half-ashamed1 struggling1 and deformed into the day--to give words and intelligible symbols to that which was never imagined or expressed before6 ,it is as if the dumb should speak for the first time1 as if things should stammer out their own meaning1 through the imperfect organs of mere sense4 ,i wish that some of our fluent1 plausible declaimers1 who have such store of words to cover the want of ideas1 could lend their art to this writer4 ,if he1 #8poor1 unfledged' in this respect1 #8who has scarce winged from view o' th' nest1' could find a language for his ideas1 truth would find a language for some of her secrets4 ,mr4 ,fearn was buried in the woods of ,indostan4 ,in his leisure from business and from tiger-shooting1 he took it into his head to look into his own mind4 ,a whim or two1 an odd fancy1 like a film before the eye1 now and then crossed it3 it struck him as something curious1 but the impression at first disappeared like breath upon glass4 ,he thought no more of it2 yet still the same conscious feelings returned1 and what at first was chance or instinct1 became a habit4 ,several notions had taken possession of his brain relating to mental processes which he had never heard alluded to in conversation1 but not being well versed in such matters1 he did not know whether they were to be found in learned authors or not4 ,he took a journey to the capital of the ,peninsula on purpose1 bought ,locke1 ,reid1 ,stewart1 and ,berkeley1 whom he consulted with eager curiosity when he got home1 but did not find what he looked for4 ,he set to work himself2 and in a few weeks sketched out a rough draught of his thoughts and observations on bamboo paper4 ,the eagerness of his new pursuit1 together with the diseases of the climate1 proved too much for his constitution1 and he was forced to return to this country4 ,he put his metaphysics1 his bamboo manuscript1 into the boat with him1 and as he floated down the ,ganges1 said to himself1 #8,if ,i live1 this will live3 if ,i die1 it will not be heard of4' ,what is fame to this feeling8 ,the babbling of an idiot6 ,he brought the work home with him1 and twice had it stereotyped4 ,the first sketch he allowed was obscure1 but the improved copy he thought could not fail to strike4 ,it did not succeed4 ,the world1 as ,goldsmith said of himself1 made a point of taking no notice of it4 ,ever since he has had nothing but disappointment and vexation--the greatest and most heart-breaking of all others--that of not being able to make yourself understood4 ,mr4 ,fearn tells me there is a sensible writer in the ,monthly ,review who sees the thing in its proper light1 and says so4 ,but ,i have heard of no other instance4 ,there are1 notwithstanding1 ideas in this work1 neglected and ill-treated as it has been1 that lead to more curious and subtle speculations on some of the most disputed and difficult points of the philosophy of the human mind 7such as relation1 abstraction1 c47 than have been thrown out in any work for the last sixty years1 ,i mean since ,hume2 for since his time1 there has been no metaphysician in this country worth the name4 ,yet his ,treatise on ,human ,nature1 he tells us1 #8fell stillborn from the press4' ,so it is that knowledge works its way1 and reputation lingers far behind it4 ,but truth is better than opinion1 ,i maintain it2 and as to the two stereotyped and unsold editions of the ,essay on ,consciousness1 ,i say1 ,honi soit qui mal y pense#bc6--,my ,uncle ,toby had one idea in his head1 that of his bowling-green1 and another1 that of the ,widow ,wadman4 ,oh1 spare them both6 ,i will only add one more anecdote in illustration of this theory of the mind's being occupied with one idea1 which is most frequently of a man's self4 ,a celebrated lyrical writer happened to drop into a small party where they had just got the novel of ,rob ,roy1 by the author of ,waverley4 ,the motto in the title-page was taken from a poem of his4 ,this was a hint sufficient1 a word to the wise4 ,he instantly went to the book-shelf in the next room1 took down the volume of his own poems1 read the whole of that in question aloud with manifest complacency1 replaced it on the shelf1 and walked away2 taking no more notice of ,rob ,roy than if there had been no such person1 nor of the new novel than if it had not been written by its renowned author4 ,there was no reciprocity in this4 ,but the writer in question does not admit of any merit1 second to his own4#bd ,mr4 ,owen is a man remarkable for one idea4 ,it is that of himself and the ,lanark cotton-mills4 ,he carries this idea backwards and forwards with him from ,glasgow to ,london1 without allowing any thing for attrition1 and expects to find it in the same state of purity and perfection in the latter place as at the former4 ,he acquires a wonderful velocity and impenetrability in his undaunted transit4 ,resistance to him is vain1 while the whirling motion of the mail-coach remains in his head4 #8,nor ,alps nor ,apennines can keep him out1 ,nor fortified redoubt4' ,he even got possession1 in the suddenness of his onset1 of the steam-engine of the ,times ,newspaper1 and struck off ten thousand wood-cuts of the ,projected ,villages1 which afforded an ocular demonstration to all who saw them of the practicability of ,mr4 ,owen's whole scheme4 ,he comes into a room with one of these documents in his hand1 with the air of a schoolmaster and a quack-doctor mixed1 asks very kindly how you do1 and on hearing you are still in an indifferent state of health owing to bad digestion1 instantly turns round1 and observes1 #8,that all that will be remedied in his plan3 that indeed he thinks too much attention has been paid to the mind1 and not enough to the body2 that in his system1 which he has now perfected1 and which will shortly be generally adopted1 he has provided effectually for both3 that he has been long of opinion that the mind depends altogether on the physical organisation1 and where the latter is neglected or disordered1 the former must languish and want its due vigour3 that exercise is therefore a part of his system1 with full liberty to develop every faculty of mind and body3 that two objections had been made to his ,new ,view of ,society1 viz4 its want of relaxation from labour1 and its want of variety2 but the first of these1 the too great restraint1 he trusted he had already answered1 for where the powers of mind and body were freely exercised and brought out1 surely liberty must be allowed to exist in the highest degree2 and as to the second1 the monotony which would be produced by a regular and general plan of co-operation1 he conceived he had proved in his 8,new ,view0 and 8,addresses to the higher ,classes20 that the co-operation he had recommended was necessarily conducive to the most extensive improvement of the ideas and faculties1 and where this was the case1 there must be the greatest possible variety instead of a want of it4' ,and having said this1 this expert and sweeping orator takes up his hat and walks down stairs after reading his lecture of truisms like a play-bill or an apothecary's advertisement2 and should you stop him at the door to say by way of putting in a word in common1 that ,mr4 ,southey seems somewhat favourable to his plan in his late ,letter to ,mr4 ,william ,smith1 he looks at you with a smile of pity at the futility of all opposition and the idleness of all encouragement4 ,people who thus swell out some vapid scheme of their own into undue importance1 seem to me to labour under water in the head--to exhibit a huge hydrocephalus6 ,they may be very worthy people for all that1 but they are bad companions and very indifferent reasoners4 ,tom ,moore says of some one somewhere1 #8,that he puts his hand in his breeches' pocket like a crocodile4' ,the phrase is hieroglyphical3 but ,mr4 ,owen and others might be said to put their foot in the question of social improvement and reform much in the same unaccountable manner4 ,i hate to be surfeited with any thing1 however sweet4 ,i do not want to be always tied to the same question1 as if there were no other in the world4 ,i like a mind more ,catholic4 #8,i love to talk with mariners1 ,that come from a far countre4' ,i am not for #8a collusion' but #8an exchange' of ideas4 ,it is well to hear what other people have to say on a number of subjects4 ,i do not wish to be always respiring the same confined atmosphere1 but to vary the scene1 and get a little relief and fresh air out of doors4 ,do all we can to shake it off1 there is always enough pedantry1 egotism1 and self-conceit left lurking behind3 we need not seal ourselves up hermetically in these precious qualities2 so as to think of nothing but our own wonderful discoveries1 and hear nothing but the sound of our own voice4 ,scholars1 like princes1 may learn something by being incognito4 ,yet we see those who cannot go into a bookseller's shop1 or bear to be five minutes in a stage-coach1 without letting you know who they are4 ,they carry their reputation about with them as the snail does its shell1 and sit under its canopy1 like the lady in the lobster4 ,i cannot understand this at all4 ,what is the use of a man's always revolving round his own little circle8 ,he must1 one should think1 be tired of it himself1 as well as tire other people4 ,a well-known writer says with much boldness both in the thought and expression1 that #8a ,lord is imprisoned in the ,bastille of a name1 and cannot enlarge himself into man3' and ,i have known men of genius in the same predicament4 ,why must a man be for ever mouthing out his own poetry1 comparing himself with ,milton1 passage by passage1 and weighing every line in a balance of posthumous fame which he holds in his own hands8 ,it argues a want of imagination as well as common sense4 ,has he no ideas but what he has put into verse2 or none in common with his hearers8 ,why should he think it the only scholar-like thing1 the only #8virtue extant' to see the merit of his writings1 and that #8men were brutes without them8' ,why should he bear a grudge to all art1 to all beauty1 to all wisdom that does not spring from his own brain8 ,or why should he fondly imagine that there is but one fine thing in the world1 namely poetry1 and that he is the only poet in it8 ,it will never do4 ,poetry is a very fine thing2 but there are other things besides it4 ,every thing must have its turn4 ,does a wise man think to enlarge his comprehension by turning his eyes only on himself1 or hope to conciliate the admiration of others by scouting1 proscribing1 and loathing all that they delight in8 ,he must either have a disproportionate idea of himself1 or be ignorant of the world in which he lives4 ,it is quite enough to have one class of people born to think the universe made for them6--,it seems also to argue a want of repose1 of confidence1 and firm faith in a man's real pretensions to be always dragging them forward into the foreground1 as if the proverb held here--,out of sight out of mind4 ,does he1 for instance1 conceive that no one would ever think of his poetry1 unless he forced it upon them by repeating it himself8 ,does he believe all competition1 all allowance of another's merit fatal to him8 ,must he1 like ,moody in the ,country ,girl1 lock up the faculties of his admirers in ignorance of all other fine things1 painting1 music1 the antique1 lest they should play truant to him8 ,methinks such a proceeding implies no good opinion of his own genius or their taste3--it is deficient in dignity and in decorum4 ,surely if any one is convinced of the reality of an acquisition1 he can bear not to have it spoken of every minute4 ,if he knows he has an undoubted superiority in any respect1 he will not be uneasy because every one he meets is not in the secret1 nor staggered by the report of rival excellence4 ,one of the first mathematicians and classical scholars of the day was mentioning it as a compliment to himself that a cousin of his1 a girl from school1 had said of him--#8,you know ,m-- is a very plain good sort of a young man1 but he is not any thing at all out of the common4' ,l4 ,h4 once said to me--#8,i wonder ,i never heard you speak upon this subject before1 which you seem to have studied a good deal4' ,i answered1 #8,why1 we were not reduced to that1 that ,i know of6'-- ,there are persons1 who without being chargeable with the vice here spoken of1 yet #8stand accountant for as great a sin3' though not dull and monotonous1 they are vivacious mannerists in their conversation1 and excessive egotists4 ,though they run over a thousand subjects in mere gaiety of heart1 their delight still flows from one idea1 namely1 themselves4 ,open the book in what page you will1 there is a frontispiece of themselves staring you in the face4 ,they are a sort of ,jacks o' the ,green1 with a sprig of laurel1 a little tinsel1 and a little smut1 but still playing antics and keeping in incessant motion1 to attract attention and extort your pittance of approbation4 ,whether they talk of the town or the country1 poetry or politics1 it comes to much the same thing4 ,if they talk to you of the town1 its diversions1 #8its palaces1 its ladies1 and its streets1' they are the delight1 the grace1 and ornament of it4 ,if they are describing the charms of the country1 they give no account of any individual spot or object or source of pleasure but the circumstance of their being there4 #8,with them conversing1 we forget all place1 all seasons1 and their change4' ,they perhaps pluck a leaf or a flower1 patronise it1 and hand it you to admire1 but select no one feature of beauty or grandeur to dispute the palm of perfection with their own persons4 ,their rural descriptions are mere landscape back-grounds with their own portraits in an engaging attitude in front4 ,they are not observing or enjoying the scene1 but doing the honours as masters of the ceremonies to nature1 and arbiters of elegance to all humanity4 ,if they tell a love-tale of enamoured princesses1 it is plain they fancy themselves the hero of the piece4 ,if they discuss poetry1 their encomiums still turn on something genial and unsophisticated1 meaning their own style3 if they enter into politics1 it is understood that a hint from them to the potentates of ,europe is sufficient4 ,in short1 as a lover 7talk of what you will7 brings in his mistress at every turn1 so these persons contrive to divert your attention to the same darling object--they are1 in fact1 in love with themselves2 and1 like lovers1 should be left to keep their own company4 ,,essay ,,viii ,,on ,,the ,,ignorance ,,of ,,the ,,learned #8,for the more languages a man can speak1 ,his talent has but sprung the greater leak3 ,and1 for the industry he has spent upon #8t1 ,must full as much some other way discount4 ,the ,hebrew1 ,chaldee1 and the ,syriac1 ,do1 like their letters1 set men's reason back1 ,and turn their wits that strive to understand it 7,like those that write the characters7 left-handed4 ,yet he that is but able to express ,no sense at all in several languages1 ,will pass for learneder than he that's known ,to speak the strongest reason in his own1' ,,butler4 ,the description of persons who have the fewest ideas of all others are mere authors and readers4 ,it is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else4 ,a lounger who is ordinarily seen with a book in his hand1 is 7we may be almost sure7 equally without the power or inclination to attend either to what passes around him1 or in his own mind4 ,such a one may be said to carry his understanding about with him in his pocket1 or to leave it at home on his library shelves4 ,he is afraid of venturing on any train of reasoning1 or of striking out any observation that is not mechanically suggested to him by passing his eyes over certain legible characters2 shrinks from the fatigue of thought1 which1 for want of practice1 becomes insupportable to him2 and sits down contented with an endless wearisome succession of words and half-formed images1 which fill the void of the mind1 and continually efface one another4 ,learning is1 in too many cases1 but a foil to common sense2 a substitute for true knowledge4 ,books are less often made use of as #8spectacles' to look at nature with1 than as blinds to keep out its strong light and shifting scenery from weak eyes and indolent dispositions4 ,the book-worm wraps himself up in his web of verbal generalities1 and sees only the glimmering shadows of things reflected from the minds of others4 ,nature puts him out4 ,the impressions of real objects1 stripped of the disguises of words and voluminous roundabout descriptions1 are blows that stagger him2 their variety distracts1 their rapidity exhausts him2 and he turns from the bustle1 the noise1 and glare1 and whirling motion of the world about him 7which he has not an eye to follow in its fantastic changes1 nor an understanding to reduce to fixed principles17 to the quiet monotony of the dead languages1 and the less startling and more intelligible combinations of the letters of the alphabet4 ,it is well1 it is perfectly well4 #8,leave me to my repose1' is the motto of the sleeping and the dead4 ,you might as well ask the paralytic to leap from his chair and throw away his crutch1 or1 without a miracle1 to #8take up his bed and walk1' as expect the learned reader to throw down his book and think for himself4 ,he clings to it for his intellectual support2 and his dread of being left to himself is like the horror of a vacuum4 ,he can only breathe a learned atmosphere1 as other men breathe common air4 ,he is a borrower of sense4 ,he has no ideas of his own1 and must live on those of other people4 ,the habit of supplying our ideas from foreign sources #8enfeebles all internal strength of thought1' as a course of dram-drinking destroys the tone of the stomach4 ,the faculties of the mind1 when not exerted1 or when cramped by custom and authority1 become listless1 torpid1 and unfit for the purposes of thought or action4 ,can we wonder at the languor and lassitude which is thus produced by a life of learned sloth and ignorance2 by poring over lines and syllables that excite little more idea or interest than if they were the characters of an unknown tongue1 till the eye closes on vacancy1 and the book drops from the feeble hand6 ,i would rather be a wood-cutter1 or the meanest hind1 that all day #8sweats in the eye of ,phbus1 and at night sleeps in ,elysium1' than wear out my life so1 'twixt dreaming and awake4 ,the learned author differs from the learned student in this1 that the one transcribes what the other reads4 ,the learned are mere literary drudges4 ,if you set them upon original composition1 their heads turn2 they don't know where they are4 ,the indefatigable readers of books are like the everlasting copiers of pictures1 who1 when they attempt to do any thing of their own1 find they want an eye quick enough1 a hand steady enough1 and colours bright enough1 to trace the living forms of nature4 ,any one who has passed through the regular gradations of a classical education1 and is not made a fool by it1 may consider himself as having had a very narrow escape4 ,it is an old remark1 that boys who shine at school do not make the greatest figure when they grow up and come out into the world4 ,the things1 in fact1 which a boy is set to learn at school1 and on which his success depends1 are things which do not require the exercise either of the highest or the most useful faculties of the mind4 ,memory 7and that of the lowest kind7 is the chief faculty called into play1 in conning over and repeating lessons by rote in grammar1 in languages1 in geography1 arithmetic1 c4 so that he who has the most of this technical memory1 with the least turn for other things1 which have a stronger and more natural claim upon his childish attention1 will make the most forward school-boy4 ,the jargon containing the definitions of the parts of speech1 the rules for casting up an account1 or the inflections of a ,greek verb1 can have no attraction to the tyro of ten years old1 except as they are imposed as a task upon him by others1 or from his feeling the want of sufficient relish or amusement in other things4 ,a lad with a sickly constitution1 and no very active mind1 who can just retain what is pointed out to him1 and has neither sagacity to distinguish nor spirit to enjoy for himself1 will generally be at the head of his form4 ,an idler at school1 on the other hand1 is one who has high health and spirits1 who has the free use of his limbs1 with all his wits about him1 who feels the circulation of his blood and the motion of his heart1 who is ready to laugh and cry in a breath1 and who had rather chase a ball or a butterfly1 feel the open air in his face1 look at the fields or the sky1 follow a winding path1 or enter with eagerness into all the little conflicts and interests of his acquaintances and friends1 than doze over a musty spelling-book1 repeat barbarous distichs after his master1 sit so many hours pinioned to a writing-desk1 and receive his reward for the loss of time and pleasure in paltry prize-medals at ,christmas and ,midsummer4 ,there is indeed a degree of stupidity which prevents children from learning the usual lessons1 or ever arriving at these puny academic honours4 ,but what passes for stupidity is much oftener a want of interest1 of a sufficient motive to fix the attention1 and force a reluctant application to the dry and unmeaning pursuits of school-learning4 ,the best capacities are as much above this drudgery1 as the dullest are beneath it4 ,our men of the greatest genius have not been most distinguished for their acquirements at school or at the university4 #8,th' enthusiast ,fancy was a truant ever4' ,gray and ,collins were among the instances of this wayward disposition4 ,such persons do not think so highly of the advantages1 nor can they submit their imaginations so servilely to the trammels of strict scholastic discipline4 ,there is a certain kind and degree of intellect in which words take root1 but into which things have not power to penetrate4 ,a mediocrity of talent1 with a certain slenderness of moral constitution1 is the soil that produces the most brilliant specimens of successful prize-essayists and ,greek epigrammatists4 ,it should not be forgotten1 that the least respectable character among modern politicians was the cleverest boy at ,eton4 ,learning is the knowledge of that which is not generally known to others1 and which we can only derive at second-hand from books or other artificial sources4 ,the knowledge of that which is before us1 or about us1 which appeals to our experience1 passions1 and pursuits1 to the bosoms and businesses of men1 is not learning4 ,learning is the knowledge of that which none but the learned know4 ,he is the most learned man who knows the most of what is farthest removed from common life and actual observation1 that is of the least practical utility1 and least liable to be brought to the test of experience1 and that1 having been handed down through the greatest number of intermediate stages1 is the most full of uncertainty1 difficulties1 and contradictions4 ,it is seeing with the eyes of others1 hearing with their ears1 and pinning our faith on their understandings4 ,the learned man prides himself in the knowledge of names1 and dates1 not of men or things4 ,he thinks and cares nothing about his next-door neighbours1 but he is deeply read in the tribes and casts of the ,hindoos and ,calmuc ,tartars4 ,he can hardly find his way into the next street1 though he is acquainted with the exact dimensions of ,constantinople and ,pekin4 ,he does not know whether his oldest acquaintance is a knave or a fool1 but he can pronounce a pompous lecture on all the principal characters in history4 ,he cannot tell whether an object is black or white1 round or square1 and yet he is a professed master of the laws of optics and the rules of perspective4 ,he knows as much of what he talks about1 as a blind man does of colours4 ,he cannot give a satisfactory answer to the plainest question1 nor is he ever in the right in any one of his opinions1 upon any one matter of fact that really comes before him1 and yet he gives himself out for an infallible judge on all those points1 of which it is impossible that he or any other person living should know any thing but by conjecture4 ,he is expert in all the dead and in most of the living languages2 but he can neither speak his own fluently1 nor write it correctly4 ,a person of this class1 the second ,greek scholar of his day1 undertook to point out several solecisms in ,milton's ,latin style2 and in his own performance there is hardly a sentence of common ,english4 ,such was ,dr4 --4 ,such is ,dr4 --4 ,such was not ,porson4 ,he was an exception that confirmed the general rule1--a man that1 by uniting talents and knowledge with learning1 made the distinction between them more striking and palpable4 ,a mere scholar1 who knows nothing but books1 must be ignorant even of them4 #8,books do not teach the use of books4' ,how should he know any thing of a work1 who knows nothing of the subject of it8 ,the learned pedant is conversant with books only as they are made of other books1 and those again of others1 without end4 ,he parrots those who have parroted others4 ,he can translate the same word into ten different languages1 but he knows nothing of the thing which it means in any one of them4 ,he stuffs his head with authorities built on authorities1 with quotations quoted from quotations1 while he locks up his senses1 his understanding1 and his heart4 ,he is unacquainted with the maxims and manners of the world2 he is to seek in the characters of individuals4 ,he sees no beauty in the face of nature or of art4 ,to him #8the mighty world of eye and ear' is hid2 and #8knowledge1' except at one entrance1 #8quite shut out4' ,his pride takes part with his ignorance2 and his self-importance rises with the number of things of which he does not know the value1 and which he therefore despises as unworthy of his notice4 ,he knows nothing of pictures2--#8of the colouring of ,titian1 the grace of ,raphael1 the purity of ,domenichino1 the corregiescity of ,corregio1 the learning of ,poussin1 the airs of ,guido1 the taste of the ,caracci1 or the grand contour of ,michael ,angelo1'--of all those glories of the ,italian and miracles of the ,flemish school1 which have filled the eyes of mankind with delight1 and to the study and imitation of which thousands have in vain devoted their lives4 ,these are to him as if they had never been1 a mere dead letter1 a bye-word2 and no wonder3 for he neither sees nor understands their prototypes in nature4 ,a print of ,rubens's ,watering-place1 or ,claude's ,enchanted ,castle1 may be hanging on the walls of his room for months without his once perceiving them2 and if you point them out to him1 he will turn away from them4 ,the language of nature1 or of art 7which is another nature71 is one that he does not understand4 ,he repeats indeed the names of ,apelles and ,phidias1 because they are to be found in classic authors1 and boasts of their works as prodigies1 because they no longer exist2 or1 when he sees the finest remains of ,grecian art actually before him in the ,elgin marbles1 takes no other interest in them than as they lead to a learned dispute1 and 7which is the same thing7 a quarrel about the meaning of a ,greek particle4 ,he is equally ignorant of music2 he #8knows no touch of it1' from the strains of the all-accomplished ,mozart to the shepherd's pipe upon the mountain4 ,his ears are nailed to his books2 and deadened with the sound of the ,greek and ,latin tongues1 and the din and smithery of school-learning4 ,does he know any thing more of poetry8 ,he knows the number of feet in a verse1 and of acts in a play2 but of the soul or spirit he knows nothing4 ,he can turn a ,greek ode into ,english1 or a ,latin epigram into ,greek verse1 but whether either is worth the trouble1 he leaves to the critics4 ,does he understand #8the act and practique part of life' better than #8the theorique8' ,no4 ,he knows no liberal or mechanic art2 no trade or occupation2 no game of skill or chance4 ,learning #8has no skill in surgery1' in agriculture1 in building1 in working in wood or in iron2 it cannot make any instrument of labour1 or use it when made2 it cannot handle the plough or the spade1 or the chisel or the hammer2 it knows nothing of hunting or hawking1 fishing or shooting1 of horses or dogs1 of fencing or dancing1 or cudgel-playing1 or bowls1 or cards1 or tennis1 or any thing else4 ,the learned professor of all arts and sciences cannot reduce any one of them to practice1 though he may contribute an account of them to an ,encyclopdia4 ,he has not the use of his hands or of his feet2 he can neither run1 nor walk1 nor swim2 and he considers all those who actually understand and can exercise any of these arts of body or mind1 as vulgar and mechanical men2--though to know almost any one of them in perfection requires long time and practice1 with powers originally fitted1 and a turn of mind particularly devoted to them4 ,it does not require more than this to enable the learned candidate to arrive1 by painful study1 at a doctor's degree and a fellowship1 and to eat1 drink1 and sleep1 the rest of his life6 ,the thing is plain4 ,all that men really understand1 is confined to a very small compass2 to their daily affairs and experience2 to what they have an opportunity to know1 and motives to study or practise4 ,the rest is affectation and imposture4 ,the common people have the use of their limbs2 for they live by their labour or skill4 ,they understand their own business1 and the characters of those they have to deal with2 for it is necessary that they should4 ,they have eloquence to express their passions1 and wit at will to express their contempt and provoke laughter4 ,their natural use of speech is not hung up in monumental mockery1 in an obsolete language2 nor is their sense of what is ludicrous1 or readiness at finding out allusions to express it1 buried in collections of ,anas4 ,you will hear more good things on the outside of a stage-coach from ,london to ,oxford1 than if you were to pass a twelvemonth with the under-graduates1 or heads of colleges1 of that famous university2 and more home truths are to be learnt from listening to a noisy debate in an alehouse1 than from attending to a formal one in the ,house of ,commons4 ,an elderly country gentlewoman will often know more of character1 and be able to illustrate it by more amusing anecdotes taken from the history of what has been said1 done1 and gossiped in a country town for the last fifty years1 than the best blue-stocking of the age will be able to glean from that sort of learning which consists in an acquaintance with all the novels and satirical poems published in the same period4 ,people in towns1 indeed1 are woefully deficient in a knowledge of character1 which they see only in the bust1 not as a whole-length4 ,people in the country not only know all that has happened to a man1 but trace his virtues or vices1 as they do his features1 in their descent through several generations1 and solve some contradiction in his behaviour by a cross in the breed1 half a century ago4 ,the learned know nothing of the matter1 either in town or country4 ,above all1 the mass of society have common sense1 which the learned in all ages want4 ,the vulgar are in the right when they judge for themselves2 they are wrong when they trust to their blind guides4 ,the celebrated nonconformist divine1 ,baxter1 was almost stoned to death by the good women of ,kidderminster1 for asserting from the pulpit that #8hell was paved with infants' skulls2' but1 by the force of argument1 and of learned quotations from the ,fathers1 the reverend preacher at length prevailed over the scruples of his congregation1 and over reason and humanity4 ,such is the use which has been made of human learning4 ,the labourers in this vineyard seem as if it was their object to confound all common sense1 and the distinctions of good and evil1 by means of traditional maxims1 and preconceived notions1 taken upon trust1 and increasing in absurdity1 with increase of age4 ,they pile hypothesis on hypothesis1 mountain high1 till it is impossible to come at the plain truth on any question4 ,they see things1 not as they are1 but as they find them in books2 and #8wink and shut their apprehensions up1' in order that they may discover nothing to interfere with their prejudices1 or convince them of their absurdity4 ,it might be supposed that the height of human wisdom consisted in maintaining contradictions1 and rendering nonsense sacred4 ,there is no dogma1 however fierce or foolish1 to which these persons have not set their seals1 and tried to impose on the understandings of their followers1 as the will of ,heaven1 clothed with all the terrors and sanctions of religion4 ,how little has the human understanding been directed to find out the true and useful6 ,how much ingenuity has been thrown away in the defence of creeds and systems6 ,how much time and talents have been wasted in theological controversy1 in law1 in politics1 in verbal criticism1 in judicial astrology1 and in finding out the art of making gold6 ,what actual benefit do we reap from the writings of a ,laud or a ,whitgift1 or of ,bishop ,bull or ,bishop ,waterland1 or ,prideaux' ,connections1 or ,beausobre1 or ,calmet1 or ,st4 ,augustine1 or ,puffendorf1 or ,vattel1 or from the more literal but equally learned and unprofitable labours of ,scaliger1 ,cardan1 and ,scioppius8 ,how many grains of sense are there in their thousand folio or quarto volumes8 ,what would the world lose if they were committed to the flames to-morrow8 ,or are they not already #8gone to the vault of all the ,capulets8' ,yet all these were oracles in their time1 and would have scoffed at you or me1 at common sense and human nature1 for differing with them4 ,it is our turn to laugh now4 ,to conclude this subject4 ,the most sensible people to be met with in society are men of business and of the world1 who argue from what they see and know1 instead of spinning cobweb distinctions of what things ought to be4 ,women have often more of what is called good sense than men4 ,they have fewer pretensions2 are less implicated in theories2 and judge of objects more from their immediate and involuntary impression on the mind1 and1 therefore1 more truly and naturally4 ,they cannot reason wrong2 for they do not reason at all4 ,they do not think or speak by rule2 and they have in general more eloquence and wit1 as well as sense1 on that account4 ,by their wit1 sense1 and eloquence together1 they generally contrive to govern their husbands4 ,their style1 when they write to their friends 7not for the booksellers7 is better than that of most authors4--,uneducated people have most exuberance of invention1 and the greatest freedom from prejudice4 ,shakespear's was evidently an uneducated mind1 both in the freshness of his imagination1 and in the variety of his views2 as ,milton's was scholastic1 in the texture both of his thoughts and feelings4 ,shakespear had not been accustomed to write themes at school in favour of virtue or against vice4 ,to this we owe the unaffected1 but healthy tone of his dramatic morality4 ,if we wish to know the force of human genius1 we should read ,shakespear4 ,if we wish to see the insignificance of human learning1 we may study his commentators4 ,,essay ,,ix ,,the ,,indian ,,jugglers ,coming forward and seating himself on the ground in his white dress and tightened turban1 the chief of the ,indian ,jugglers begins with tossing up two brass balls1 which is what any of us could do1 and concludes with keeping up four at the same time1 which is what none of us could do to save our lives1 nor if we were to take our whole lives to do it in4 ,is it then a trifling power we see at work1 or is it not something next to miraculous8 ,it is the utmost stretch of human ingenuity1 which nothing but the bending the faculties of body and mind to it from the tenderest infancy with incessant1 ever-anxious application up to manhood1 can accomplish or make even a slight approach to4 ,man1 thou art a wonderful animal1 and thy ways past finding out6 ,thou canst do strange things1 but thou turnest them to little account6--,to conceive of this effort of extraordinary dexterity distracts the imagination and makes admiration breathless4 ,yet it costs nothing to the performer1 any more than if it were a mere mechanical deception with which he had nothing to do but to watch and laugh at the astonishment of the spectators4 ,a single error of a hair's-breadth1 of the smallest conceivable portion of time1 would be fatal3 the precision of the movements must be like a mathematical truth1 their rapidity is like lightning4 ,to catch four balls in succession in less than a second of time1 and deliver them back so as to return with seeming consciousness to the hand again1 to make them revolve round him at certain intervals1 like the planets in their spheres1 to make them chase one another like sparkles of fire1 or shoot up like flowers or meteors1 to throw them behind his back and twine them round his neck like ribbons or like serpents1 to do what appears an impossibility1 and to do it with all the ease1 the grace1 the carelessness imaginable1 to laugh at1 to play with the glittering mockeries1 to follow them with his eye as if he could fascinate them with its lambent fire1 or as if he had only to see that they kept time with the music on the stage--there is something in all this which he who does not admire may be quite sure he never really admired any thing in the whole course of his life4 ,it is skill surmounting difficulty1 and beauty triumphing over skill4 ,it seems as if the difficulty once mastered naturally resolved itself into ease and grace1 and as if to be overcome at all1 it must be overcome without an effort4 ,the smallest awkwardness or want of pliancy or self-possession would stop the whole process4 ,it is the work of witchcraft1 and yet sport for children4 ,some of the other feats are quite as curious and wonderful1 such as the balancing the artificial tree and shooting a bird from each branch through a quill2 though none of them have the elegance or facility of the keeping up of the brass balls4 ,you are in pain for the result1 and glad when the experiment is over2 they are not accompanied with the same unmixed1 unchecked delight as the former2 and ,i would not give much to be merely astonished without being pleased at the same time4 ,as to the swallowing of the sword1 the police ought to interfere to prevent it4 ,when ,i saw the ,indian ,juggler do the same things before1 his feet were bare1 and he had large rings on the toes1 which kept turning round all the time of the performance1 as if they moved of themselves4--,the hearing a speech in ,parliament1 drawled or stammered out by the ,honourable ,member or the ,noble ,lord1 the ringing the changes on their common-places1 which any one could repeat after them as well as they1 stirs me not a jot1 shakes not my good opinion of myself3 but the seeing the ,indian ,jugglers does4 ,it makes me ashamed of myself4 ,i ask what there is that ,i can do as well as this8 ,nothing4 ,what have ,i been doing all my life8 ,have ,i been idle1 or have ,i nothing to shew for all my labour and pains8 ,or have ,i passed my time in pouring words like water into empty sieves1 rolling a stone up a hill and then down again1 trying to prove an argument in the teeth of facts1 and looking for causes in the dark1 and not finding them8 ,is there no one thing in which ,i can challenge competition1 that ,i can bring as an instance of exact perfection1 in which others cannot find a flaw8 ,the utmost ,i can pretend to is to write a description of what this fellow can do4 ,i can write a book3 so can many others who have not even learned to spell4 ,what abortions are these ,essays6 ,what errors1 what ill-pieced transitions1 what crooked reasons1 what lame conclusions6 ,how little is made out1 and that little how ill6 ,yet they are the best ,i can do4 ,i endeavour to recollect all ,i have ever observed or thought upon a subject1 and to express it as nearly as ,i can4 ,instead of writing on four subjects at a time1 it is as much as ,i can manage to keep the thread of one discourse clear and unentangled4 ,i have also time on my hands to correct my opinions1 and polish my periods3 but the one ,i cannot1 and the other ,i will not do4 ,i am fond of arguing3 yet with a good deal of pains and practice it is often as much as ,i can do to beat my man2 though he may be a very indifferent hand4 ,a common fencer would disarm his adversary in the twinkling of an eye1 unless he were a professor like himself4 ,a stroke of wit will sometimes produce this effect1 but there is no such power or superiority in sense or reasoning4 ,there is no complete mastery of execution to be shewn there3 and you hardly know the professor from the impudent pretender or the mere clown4#be ,i have always had this feeling of the inefficacy and slow progress of intellectual compared to mechanical excellence1 and it has always made me somewhat dissatisfied4 ,it is a great many years since ,i saw ,richer1 the famous rope-dancer1 perform at ,sadler's ,wells4 ,he was matchless in his art1 and added to his extraordinary skill exquisite ease1 and unaffected natural grace4 ,i was at that time employed in copying a half-length picture of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's2 and it put me out of conceit with it4 ,how ill this part was made out in the drawing6 ,how heavy1 how slovenly this other was painted6 ,i could not help saying to myself1 #8,if the rope-dancer had performed his task in this manner1 leaving so many gaps and botches in his work1 he would have broke his neck long ago2 ,i should never have seen that vigorous elasticity of nerve and precision of movement6'--,is it then so easy an undertaking 7comparatively7 to dance on a tight-rope8 ,let any one1 who thinks so1 get up and try4 ,there is the thing4 ,it is that which at first we cannot do at all1 which in the end is done to such perfection4 ,to account for this in some degree1 ,i might observe that mechanical dexterity is confined to doing some one particular thing1 which you can repeat as often as you please1 in which you know whether you succeed or fail1 and where the point of perfection consists in succeeding in a given undertaking4--,in mechanical efforts1 you improve by perpetual practice1 and you do so infallibly1 because the object to be attained is not a matter of taste or fancy or opinion1 but of actual experiment1 in which you must either do the thing or not do it4 ,if a man is put to aim at a mark with a bow and arrow1 he must hit it or miss it1 that's certain4 ,he cannot deceive himself1 and go on shooting wide or falling short1 and still fancy that he is making progress4 ,the distinction between right and wrong1 between true and false1 is here palpable2 and he must either correct his aim or persevere in his error with his eyes open1 for which there is neither excuse nor temptation4 ,if a man is learning to dance on a rope1 if he does not mind what he is about1 he will break his neck4 ,after that1 it will be in vain for him to argue that he did not make a false step4 ,his situation is not like that of ,goldsmith's pedagogue4-- #8,in argument they own'd his wondrous skill1 ,and e'en though vanquish'd1 he could argue still4' ,danger is a good teacher1 and makes apt scholars4 ,so are disgrace1 defeat1 exposure to immediate scorn and laughter4 ,there is no opportunity in such cases for self-delusion1 no idling time away1 no being off your guard 7or you must take the consequences7--neither is there any room for humour or caprice or prejudice4 ,if the ,indian ,juggler were to play tricks in throwing up the three case-knives1 which keep their positions like the leaves of a crocus in the air1 he would cut his fingers4 ,i can make a very bad antithesis without cutting my fingers4 ,the tact of style is more ambiguous than that of double-edged instruments4 ,if the ,juggler were told that by flinging himself under the wheels of the ,juggernaut1 when the idol issues forth on a gaudy day1 he would immediately be transported into ,paradise1 he might believe it1 and nobody could disprove it4 ,so the ,brahmins may say what they please on that subject1 may build up dogmas and mysteries without end1 and not be detected3 but their ingenious countryman cannot persuade the frequenters of the ,olympic ,theatre that he performs a number of astonishing feats without actually giving proofs of what he says4--,there is then in this sort of manual dexterity1 first a gradual aptitude acquired to a given exertion of muscular power1 from constant repetition1 and in the next place1 an exact knowledge how much is still wanting and necessary to be supplied4 ,the obvious test is to increase the effort or nicety of the operation1 and still to find it come true4 ,the muscles ply instinctively to the dictates of habit4 ,certain movements and impressions of the hand and eye1 having been repeated together an infinite number of times1 are unconsciously but unavoidably cemented into closer and closer union2 the limbs require little more than to be put in motion for them to follow a regular track with ease and certainty2 so that the mere intention of the will acts mathematically1 like touching the spring of a machine1 and you come with ,locksley in ,ivanhoe1 in shooting at a mark1 #8to allow for the wind4' ,farther1 what is meant by perfection in mechanical exercises is the performing certain feats to a uniform nicety1 that is1 in fact1 undertaking no more than you can perform4 ,you task yourself1 the limit you fix is optional1 and no more than human industry and skill can attain to3 but you have no abstract1 independent standard of difficulty or excellence 7other than the extent of your own powers74 ,thus he who can keep up four brass balls does this to perfection2 but he cannot keep up five at the same instant1 and would fail every time he attempted it4 ,that is1 the mechanical performer undertakes to emulate himself1 not to equal another4#bf ,but the artist undertakes to imitate another1 or to do what nature has done1 and this it appears is more difficult1 viz4 to copy what she has set before us in the face of nature or #8human face divine1' entire and without a blemish1 than to keep up four brass balls at the same instant2 for the one is done by the power of human skill and industry1 and the other never was nor will be4 ,upon the whole1 therefore1 ,i have more respect for ,reynolds1 than ,i have for ,richer2 for1 happen how it will1 there have been more people in the world who could dance on a rope like the one than who could paint like ,sir ,joshua4 ,the latter was but a bungler in his profession to the other1 it is true2 but then he had a harder task-master to obey1 whose will was more wayward and obscure1 and whose instructions it was more difficult to practise4 ,you can put a child apprentice to a tumbler or rope-dancer with a comfortable prospect of success1 if they are but sound of wind and limb3 but you cannot do the same thing in painting4 ,the odds are a million to one4 ,you may make indeed as many ,h--s and ,h--s1 as you put into that sort of machine1 but not one ,reynolds amongst them all1 with his grace1 his grandeur1 his blandness of gusto1 #8in tones and gestures hit1' unless you could make the man over again4 ,to snatch this grace beyond the reach of art is then the height of art--where fine art begins1 and where mechanical skill ends4 ,the soft suffusion of the soul1 the speechless breathing eloquence1 the looks #8commercing with the skies1' the ever-shifting forms of an eternal principle1 that which is seen but for a moment1 but dwells in the heart always1 and is only seized as it passes by strong and secret sympathy1 must be taught by nature and genius1 not by rules or study4 ,it is suggested by feeling1 not by laborious microscopic inspection3 in seeking for it without1 we lose the harmonious clue to it within3 and in aiming to grasp the substance1 we let the very spirit of art evaporate4 ,in a word1 the objects of fine art are not the objects of sight but as these last are the objects of taste and imagination1 that is1 as they appeal to the sense of beauty1 of pleasure1 and of power in the human breast1 and are explained by that finer sense1 and revealed in their inner structure to the eye in return4 ,nature is also a language4 ,objects1 like words1 have a meaning2 and the true artist is the interpreter of this language1 which he can only do by knowing its application to a thousand other objects in a thousand other situations4 ,thus the eye is too blind a guide of itself to distinguish between the warm or cold tone of a deep blue sky1 but another sense acts as a monitor to it1 and does not err4 ,the colour of the leaves in autumn would be nothing without the feeling that accompanies it2 but it is that feeling that stamps them on the canvas1 faded1 seared1 blighted1 shrinking from the winter's flaw1 and makes the sight as true as touch-- #8,and visions1 as poetic eyes avow1 ,cling to each leaf and hang on every bough4' ,the more ethereal1 evanescent1 more refined and sublime part of art is the seeing nature through the medium of sentiment and passion1 as each object is a symbol of the affections and a link in the chain of our endless being4 ,but the unravelling this mysterious web of thought and feeling is alone in the ,muse's gift1 namely1 in the power of that trembling sensibility which is awake to every change and every modification of its ever-varying impressions1 that1 #8,thrills in each nerve1 and lives along the line4' ,this power is indifferently called genius1 imagination1 feeling1 taste2 but the manner in which it acts upon the mind can neither be defined by abstract rules1 as is the case in science1 nor verified by continual unvarying experiments1 as is the case in mechanical performances4 ,the mechanical excellence of the ,dutch painters in colouring and handling is that which comes the nearest in fine art to the perfection of certain manual exhibitions of skill4 ,the truth of the effect and the facility with which it is produced are equally admirable4 ,up to a certain point1 every thing is faultless4 ,the hand and eye have done their part4 ,there is only a want of taste and genius4 ,it is after we enter upon that enchanted ground that the human mind begins to droop and flag as in a strange road1 or in a thick mist1 benighted and making little way with many attempts and many failures1 and that the best of us only escape with half a triumph4 ,the undefined and the imaginary are the regions that we must pass like ,satan1 difficult and doubtful1 #8half flying1 half on foot4' ,the object in sense is a positive thing1 and execution comes with practice4 ,cleverness is a certain knack or aptitude at doing certain things1 which depend more on a particular adroitness and off-hand readiness than on force or perseverance1 such as making puns1 making epigrams1 making extempore verses1 mimicking the company1 mimicking a style1 c4 ,cleverness is either liveliness and smartness1 or something answering to sleight of hand1 like letting a glass fall sideways off a table1 or else a trick1 like knowing the secret spring of a watch4 ,accomplishments are certain external graces1 which are to be learnt from others1 and which are easily displayed to the admiration of the beholder1 viz4 dancing1 riding1 fencing1 music1 and so on4 ,these ornamental acquirements are only proper to those who are at ease in mind and fortune4 ,i know an individual who if he had been born to an estate of five thousand a year1 would have been the most accomplished gentleman of the age4 ,he would have been the delight and envy of the circle in which he moved--would have graced by his manners the liberality flowing from the openness of his heart1 would have laughed with the women1 have argued with the men1 have said good things and written agreeable ones1 have taken a hand at piquet or the lead at the harpsichord1 and have set and sung his own verses--nug canor--with tenderness and spirit2 a ,rochester without the vice1 a modern ,surrey6 ,as it is1 all these capabilities of excellence stand in his way4 ,he is too versatile for a professional man1 not dull enough for a political drudge1 too gay to be happy1 too thoughtless to be rich4 ,he wants the enthusiasm of the poet1 the severity of the prose-writer1 and the application of the man of business4--,talent is the capacity of doing any thing that depends on application and industry1 such as writing a criticism1 making a speech1 studying the law4 ,talent differs from genius1 as voluntary differs from involuntary power4 ,ingenuity is genius in trifles1 greatness is genius in undertakings of much pith and moment4 ,a clever or ingenious man is one who can do any thing well1 whether it is worth doing or not3 a great man is one who can do that which when done is of the highest importance4 ,themistocles said he could not play on the flute1 but that he could make of a small city a great one4 ,this gives one a pretty good idea of the distinction in question4 ,greatness is great power1 producing great effects4 ,it is not enough that a man has great power in himself1 he must shew it to all the world in a way that cannot be hid or gainsaid4 ,he must fill up a certain idea in the public mind4 ,i have no other notion of greatness than this two-fold definition1 great results springing from great inherent energy4 ,the great in visible objects has relation to that which extends over space3 the great in mental ones has to do with space and time4 ,no man is truly great1 who is great only in his life-time4 ,the test of greatness is the page of history4 ,nothing can be said to be great that has a distinct limit1 or that borders on something evidently greater than itself4 ,besides1 what is short-lived and pampered into mere notoriety1 is of a gross and vulgar quality in itself4 ,a ,lord ,mayor is hardly a great man4 ,a city orator or patriot of the day only shew1 by reaching the height of their wishes1 the distance they are at from any true ambition4 ,popularity is neither fame nor greatness4 ,a king 7as such7 is not a great man4 ,he has great power1 but it is not his own4 ,he merely wields the lever of the state1 which a child1 an idiot1 or a madman can do4 ,it is the office1 not the man we gaze at4 ,any one else in the same situation would be just as much an object of abject curiosity4 ,we laugh at the country girl who having seen a king expressed her disappointment by saying1 #8,why1 he is only a man6' ,yet1 knowing this1 we run to see a king as if he was something more than a man4--,to display the greatest powers1 unless they are applied to great purposes1 makes nothing for the character of greatness4 ,to throw a barley-corn through the eye of a needle1 to multiply nine figures by nine in the memory1 argues infinite dexterity of body and capacity of mind1 but nothing comes of either4 ,there is a surprising power at work1 but the effects are not proportionate1 or such as take hold of the imagination4 ,to impress the idea of power on others1 they must be made in some way to feel it4 ,it must be communicated to their understandings in the shape of an increase of knowledge1 or it must subdue and overawe them by subjecting their wills4 ,admiration1 to be solid and lasting1 must be founded on proofs from which we have no means of escaping2 it is neither a slight nor a voluntary gift4 ,a mathematician who solves a profound problem1 a poet who creates an image of beauty in the mind that was not there before1 imparts knowledge and power to others1 in which his greatness and his fame consists1 and on which it reposes4 ,jedediah ,buxton will be forgotten2 but ,napier's bones will live4 ,lawgivers1 philosophers1 founders of religion1 conquerors and heroes1 inventors and great geniuses in arts and sciences1 are great men2 for they are great public benefactors1 or formidable scourges to mankind4 ,among ourselves1 ,shakespear1 ,newton1 ,bacon1 ,milton1 ,cromwell1 were great men2 for they shewed great power by acts and thoughts1 which have not yet been consigned to oblivion4 ,they must needs be men of lofty stature1 whose shadows lengthen out to remote posterity4 ,a great farce-writer may be a great man2 for ,moliere was but a great farce-writer4 ,in my mind1 the author of ,don ,quixote was a great man4 ,so have there been many others4 ,a great chess-player is not a great man1 for he leaves the world as he found it4 ,no act terminating in itself constitutes greatness4 ,this will apply to all displays of power or trials of skill1 which are confined to the momentary1 individual effort1 and construct no permanent image or trophy of themselves without them4 ,is not an actor then a great man1 because #8he dies and leaves the world no copy8' ,i must make an exception for ,mrs4 ,siddons1 or else give up my definition of greatness for her sake4 ,a man at the top of his profession is not therefore a great man4 ,he is great in his way1 but that is all1 unless he shews the marks of a great moving intellect1 so that we trace the master-mind1 and can sympathise with the springs that urge him on4 ,the rest is but a craft or mystery4 ,john ,hunter was a great man--that any one might see without the smallest skill in surgery4 ,his style and manner shewed the man4 ,he would set about cutting up the carcase of a whale with the same greatness of gusto that ,michael ,angelo would have hewn a block of marble4 ,lord ,nelson was a great naval commander2 but for myself1 ,i have not much opinion of a sea-faring life4 ,sir ,humphry ,davy is a great chemist1 but ,i am not sure that he is a great man4 ,i am not a bit the wiser for any of his discoveries1 nor ,i never met with any one that was4 ,but it is in the nature of greatness to propagate an idea of itself1 as wave impels wave1 circle without circle4 ,it is a contradiction in terms for a coxcomb to be a great man4 ,a really great man has always an idea of something greater than himself4 ,i have observed that certain sectaries and polemical writers have no higher compliment to pay their most shining lights than to say that #8,such a one was a considerable man in his day4' ,some new elucidation of a text sets aside the authority of the old interpretation1 and a #8great scholar's memory outlives him half a century1' at the utmost4 ,a rich man is not a great man1 except to his dependants and his steward4 ,a lord is a great man in the idea we have of his ancestry1 and probably of himself1 if we know nothing of him but his title4 ,i have heard a story of two bishops1 one of whom said 7speaking of ,st4 ,peter's at ,rome7 that when he first entered it1 he was rather awe-struck1 but that as he walked up it1 his mind seemed to swell and dilate with it1 and at last to fill the whole building--the other said that as he saw more of it1 he appeared to himself to grow less and less every step he took1 and in the end to dwindle into nothing4 ,this was in some respects a striking picture of a great and little mind--for greatness sympathises with greatness1 and littleness shrinks into itself4 ,the one might have become a ,wolsey2 the other was only fit to become a ,mendicant ,friar--or there might have been court-reasons for making him a bishop4 ,the ,french have to me a character of littleness in all about them2 but they have produced three great men that belong to every country1 ,moliere1 ,rabelais1 and ,montaigne4 ,to return from this digression1 and conclude the ,essay4 ,a singular instance of manual dexterity was shewn in the person of the late ,john ,cavanagh1 whom ,i have several times seen4 ,his death was celebrated at the time in an article in the ,examiner newspaper 7,feb4 #g1 #ahai71 written apparently between jest and earnest3 but as it is pat to our purpose1 and falls in with my own way of considering such subjects1 ,i shall here take leave to quote it4 #8,died at his house in ,burbage-street1 ,st4 ,giles's1 ,john ,cavanagh1 the famous hand fives-player4 ,when a person dies1 who does any one thing better than any one else in the world1 which so many others are trying to do well1 it leaves a gap in society4 ,it is not likely that any one will now see the game of fives played in its perfection for many years to come--for ,cavanagh is dead1 and has not left his peer behind him4 ,it may be said that there are things of more importance than striking a ball against a wall--there are things indeed which make more noise and do as little good1 such as making war and peace1 making speeches and answering them1 making verses and blotting them2 making money and throwing it away4 ,but the game of fives is what no one despises who has ever played at it4 ,it is the finest exercise for the body1 and the best relaxation for the mind4 ,the ,roman poet said that 8,care mounted behind the horseman and stuck to his skirts40 ,but this remark would not have applied to the fives-player4 ,he who takes to playing at fives is twice young4 ,he feels neither the past nor future 8in the instant40 ,debts1 taxes1 8domestic treason1 foreign levy1 nothing can touch him further40 ,he has no other wish1 no other thought1 from the moment the game begins1 but that of striking the ball1 of placing it1 of making it6 ,this ,cavanagh was sure to do4 ,whenever he touched the ball1 there was an end of the chase4 ,his eye was certain1 his hand fatal1 his presence of mind complete4 ,he could do what he pleased1 and he always knew exactly what to do4 ,he saw the whole game1 and played it2 took instant advantage of his adversary's weakness1 and recovered balls1 as if by a miracle and from sudden thought1 that every one gave for lost4 ,he had equal power and skill1 quickness1 and judgment4 ,he could either out-wit his antagonist by finesse1 or beat him by main strength4 ,sometimes1 when he seemed preparing to send the ball with the full swing of his arm1 he would by a slight turn of his wrist drop it within an inch of the line4 ,in general1 the ball came from his hand1 as if from a racket1 in a straight horizontal line2 so that it was in vain to attempt to overtake or stop it4 ,as it was said of a great orator that he never was at a loss for a word1 and for the properest word1 so ,cavanagh always could tell the degree of force necessary to be given to a ball1 and the precise direction in which it should be sent4 ,he did his work with the greatest ease2 never took more pains than was necessary2 and while others were fagging themselves to death1 was as cool and collected as if he had just entered the court4 ,his style of play was as remarkable as his power of execution4 ,he had no affectation1 no trifling4 ,he did not throw away the game to show off an attitude1 or try an experiment4 ,he was a fine1 sensible1 manly player1 who did what he could1 but that was more than any one else could even affect to do4 ,his blows were not undecided and ineffectual--lumbering like ,mr4 ,wordsworth's epic poetry1 nor wavering like ,mr4 ,coleridge's lyric prose1 nor short of the mark like ,mr4 ,brougham's speeches1 nor wide of it like ,mr4 ,canning's wit1 nor foul like the ,quarterly1 not let balls like the ,edinburgh ,review4 ,cobbett and ,junius together would have made a ,cavanagh4 ,he was the best up-hill player in the world2 even when his adversary was fourteen1 he would play on the same or better1 and as he never flung away the game through carelessness and conceit1 he never gave it up through laziness or want of heart4 ,the only peculiarity of his play was that he never volleyed1 but let the balls hop2 but if they rose an inch from the ground1 he never missed having them4 ,there was not only nobody equal1 but nobody second to him4 ,it is supposed that he could give any other player half the game1 or beat him with his left hand4 ,his service was tremendous4 ,he once played ,woodward and ,meredith together 7two of the best players in ,england7 in the ,fives-court1 ,st4 ,martin's-street1 and made seven and twenty aces following by services alone--a thing unheard of4 ,he another time played ,peru1 who was considered a first-rate fives-player1 a match of the best out of five games1 and in the three first games1 which of course decided the match1 ,peru got only one ace4 ,cavanagh was an ,irishman by birth1 and a house-painter by profession4 ,he had once laid aside his working-dress1 and walked up1 in his smartest clothes1 to the ,rosemary ,branch to have an afternoon's pleasure4 ,a person accosted him1 and asked him if he would have a game4 ,so they agreed to play for half-a-crown a game1 and a bottle of cider4 ,the first game began--it was seven1 eight1 ten1 thirteen1 fourteen1 all4 ,cavanagh won it4 ,the next was the same4 ,they played on1 and each game was hardly contested4 8,there10 said the unconscious fives-player1 8there was a stroke that ,cavanagh could not take3 ,i never played better in my life1 and yet ,i can't win a game4 ,i don't know how it is40 ,however1 they played on1 ,cavanagh winning every game1 and the by-standers drinking the cider1 and laughing all the time4 ,in the twelfth game1 when ,cavanagh was only four1 and the stranger thirteen1 a person came in1 and said1 8,what6 are you here1 ,cavanagh80 ,the words were no sooner pronounced than the astonished player let the ball drop from his hand1 and saying1 8,what6 have ,i been breaking my heart all this time to beat ,cavanagh80 refused to make another effort4 8,and yet1 ,i give you my word10 said ,cavanagh1 telling the story with some triumph1 8,i played all the while with my clenched fist40--,he used frequently to play matches at ,copenhagen-house for wagers and dinners4 ,the wall against which they play is the same that supports the kitchen-chimney1 and when the wall resounded louder than usual1 the cooks exclaimed1 8,those are the ,irishman's balls10 and the joints trembled on the spit6--,goldsmith consoled himself that there were places where he too was admired3 and ,cavanagh was the admiration of all the fives-courts1 where he ever played4 ,mr4 ,powell1 when he played matches in the ,court in ,st4 ,martin's-street1 used to fill his gallery at half a crown a head1 with amateurs and admirers of talent in whatever department it is shown4 ,he could not have shown himself in any ground in ,england1 but he would have been immediately surrounded with inquisitive gazers1 trying to find out in what part of his frame his unrivalled skill lay1 as politicians wonder to see the balance of ,europe suspended in ,lord ,castlereagh's face1 and admire the trophies of the ,british ,navy lurking under ,mr4 ,croker's hanging brow4 ,now ,cavanagh was as good-looking a man as the ,noble ,lord1 and much better looking than the ,right ,hon4 ,secretary4 ,he had a clear1 open countenance1 and did not look sideways or down1 like ,mr4 ,murray the bookseller4 ,he was a young fellow of sense1 humour1 and courage4 ,he once had a quarrel with a waterman at ,hungerford-stairs1 and1 they say1 served him out in great style4 ,in a word1 there are hundreds at this day1 who cannot mention his name without admiration1 as the best fives-player that perhaps ever lived 7the greatest excellence of which they have any notion7--and the noisy shout of the ring happily stood him in stead of the unheard voice of posterity6--,the only person who seems to have excelled as much in another way as ,cavanagh did in his1 was the late ,john ,davies1 the racket-player4 ,it was remarked of him that he did not seem to follow the ball1 but the ball seemed to follow him4 ,give him a foot of wall1 and he was sure to make the ball4 ,the four best racket-players of that day were ,jack ,spines1 ,jem4 ,harding1 ,armitage1 and ,church4 ,davies could give any one of these two hands a time1 that is1 half the game1 and each of these1 at their best1 could give the best player now in ,london the same odds4 ,such are the gradations in all exertions of human skill and art4 ,he once played four capital players together1 and beat them4 ,he was also a first-rate tennis-player1 and an excellent fives-player4 ,in the ,fleet or ,king's ,bench1 he would have stood against ,powell1 who was reckoned the best open-ground player of his time4 ,this last-mentioned player is at present the keeper of the ,fives-court1 and we might recommend to him for a motto over his door--8,who enters here1 forgets himself1 his country1 and his friends40 ,and the best of it is1 that by the calculation of the odds1 none of the three are worth remembering6--,cavanagh died from the bursting of a blood-vessel1 which prevented him from playing for the last two or three years4 ,this1 he was often heard to say1 he thought hard upon him4 ,he was fast recovering1 however1 when he was suddenly carried off1 to the regret of all who knew him4 ,as ,mr4 ,peel made it a qualification of the present ,speaker1 ,mr4 ,manners ,sutton1 that he was an excellent moral character1 so ,jack ,cavanagh was a zealous ,catholic1 and could not be persuaded to eat meat on a ,friday1 the day on which he died4 ,we have paid this willing tribute to his memory4 8,let no rude hand deface it1 ,and his forlorn #8,hic ,jacet4'0' ,,essay ,x ,,on ,,living ,,to ,,one',s-,,self#bg #8,remote1 unfriended1 melancholy1 slow1 ,or by the lazy ,scheldt or wandering ,po4' ,i never was in a better place or humour than ,i am at present for writing on this subject4 ,i have a partridge getting ready for my supper1 my fire is blazing on the hearth1 the air is mild for the season of the year1 ,i have had but a slight fit of indigestion to-day 7the only thing that makes me abhor myself71 ,i have three hours good before me1 and therefore ,i will attempt it4 ,it is as well to do it at once as to have it to do for a week to come4 ,if the writing on this subject is no easy task1 the thing itself is a harder one4 ,it asks a troublesome effort to ensure the admiration of others3 it is a still greater one to be satisfied with one's own thoughts4 ,as ,i look from the window at the wide bare heath before me1 and through the misty moonlight air see the woods that wave over the top of ,winterslow1 #8,while ,heav'n's chancel-vault is blind with sleet1' my mind takes its flight through too long a series of years1 supported only by the patience of thought and secret yearnings after truth and good1 for me to be at a loss to understand the feeling ,i intend to write about2 but ,i do not know that this will enable me to convey it more agreeably to the reader4 ,lady ,g4 in a letter to ,miss ,harriet ,byron1 assures her that #8her brother ,sir ,charles lived to himself3' and ,lady ,l4 soon after 7for ,richardson was never tired of a good thing7 repeats the same observation2 to which ,miss ,byron frequently returns in her answers to both sisters--#8,for you know ,sir ,charles lives to himself1' till at length it passes into a proverb among the fair correspondents4 ,this is not1 however1 an example of what ,i understand by living to one's-self1 for ,sir ,charles ,grandison was indeed always thinking of himself2 but by this phrase ,i mean never thinking at all about one's-self1 any more than if there was no such person in existence4 ,the character ,i speak of is as little of an egotist as possible3 ,richardson's great favourite was as much of one as possible4 ,some satirical critic has represented him in ,elysium #8bowing over the faded hand of ,lady ,grandison' 7,miss ,byron that was7--he ought to have been represented bowing over his own hand1 for he never admired any one but himself1 and was the god of his own idolatry4 ,neither do ,i call it living to one's-self to retire into a desert 7like the saints and martyrs of old7 to be devoured by wild beasts1 nor to descend into a cave to be considered as a hermit1 nor to get to the top of a pillar or rock to do fanatic penance and be seen of all men4 ,what ,i mean by living to one's-self is living in the world1 as in it1 not of it3 it is as if no one knew there was such a person1 and you wished no one to know it3 it is to be a silent spectator of the mighty scene of things1 not an object of attention or curiosity in it2 to take a thoughtful1 anxious interest in what is passing in the world1 but not to feel the slightest inclination to make or meddle with it4 ,it is such a life as a pure spirit might be supposed to lead1 and such an interest as it might take in the affairs of men1 calm1 contemplative1 passive1 distant1 touched with pity for their sorrows1 smiling at their follies without bitterness1 sharing their affections1 but not troubled by their passions1 not seeking their notice1 nor once dreamt of by them4 ,he who lives wisely to himself and to his own heart1 looks at the busy world through the loop-holes of retreat1 and does not want to mingle in the fray4 #8,he hears the tumult1 and is still4' ,he is not able to mend it1 nor willing to mar it4 ,he sees enough in the universe to interest him without putting himself forward to try what he can do to fix the eyes of the universe upon him4 ,vain the attempt6 ,he reads the clouds1 he looks at the stars1 he watches the return of the seasons1 the falling leaves of autumn1 the perfumed breath of spring1 starts with delight at the note of a thrush in a copse near him1 sits by the fire1 listens to the moaning of the wind1 pores upon a book1 or discourses the freezing hours away1 or melts down hours to minutes in pleasing thought4 ,all this while he is taken up with other things1 forgetting himself4 ,he relishes an author's style1 without thinking of turning author4 ,he is fond of looking at a print from an old picture in the room1 without teasing himself to copy it4 ,he does not fret himself to death with trying to be what he is not1 or to do what he cannot4 ,he hardly knows what he is capable of1 and is not in the least concerned whether he shall ever make a figure in the world4 ,he feels the truth of the lines-- #8,the man whose eye is ever on himself1 ,doth look on one1 the least of nature's works2 ,one who might move the wise man to that scorn ,which wisdom holds unlawful ever'-- he looks out of himself at the wide extended prospect of nature1 and takes an interest beyond his narrow pretensions in general humanity4 ,he is free as air1 and independent as the wind4 ,woe be to him when he first begins to think what others say of him4 ,while a man is contented with himself and his own resources1 all is well4 ,when he undertakes to play a part on the stage1 and to persuade the world to think more about him than they do about themselves1 he is got into a track where he will find nothing but briars and thorns1 vexation and disappointment4 ,i can speak a little to this point4 ,for many years of my life ,i did nothing but think4 ,i had nothing else to do but solve some knotty point1 or dip in some abstruse author1 or look at the sky1 or wander by the pebbled sea-side-- #8,to see the children sporting on the shore1 ,and hear the mighty waters rolling evermore4' ,i cared for nothing1 ,i wanted nothing4 ,i took my time to consider whatever occurred to me1 and was in no hurry to give a sophistical answer to a question--there was no printer's devil waiting for me4 ,i used to write a page or two perhaps in half a year2 and remember laughing heartily at the celebrated experimentalist ,nicholson1 who told me that in twenty years he had written as much as would make three hundred octavo volumes4 ,if ,i was not a great author1 ,i could read with ever fresh delight1 #8never ending1 still beginning1' and had no occasion to write a criticism when ,i had done4 ,if ,i could not paint like ,claude1 ,i could admire #8the witchery of the soft blue sky' as ,i walked out1 and was satisfied with the pleasure it gave me4 ,if ,i was dull1 it gave me little concern3 if ,i was lively1 ,i indulged my spirits4 ,i wished well to the world1 and believed as favourably of it as ,i could4 ,i was like a stranger in a foreign land1 at which ,i looked with wonder1 curiosity1 and delight1 without expecting to be an object of attention in return4 ,i had no relations to the state1 no duty to perform1 no ties to bind me to others3 ,i had neither friend nor mistress1 wife or child4 ,i lived in a world of contemplation1 and not of action4 ,this sort of dreaming existence is the best4 ,he who quits it to go in search of realities1 generally barters repose for repeated disappointments and vain regrets4 ,his time1 thoughts1 and feelings are no longer at his own disposal4 ,from that instant he does not survey the objects of nature as they are in themselves1 but looks asquint at them to see whether he cannot make them the instruments of his ambition1 interest1 or pleasure2 for a candid1 undesigning1 undisguised simplicity of character1 his views become jaundiced1 sinister1 and double3 he takes no farther interest in the great changes of the world but as he has a paltry share in producing them3 instead of opening his senses1 his understanding1 and his heart to the resplendent fabric of the universe1 he holds a crooked mirror before his face1 in which he may admire his own person and pretensions1 and just glance his eye aside to see whether others are not admiring him too4 ,he no more exists in the impression which #8the fair variety of things' makes upon him1 softened and subdued by habitual contemplation1 but in the feverish sense of his own upstart self-importance4 ,by aiming to fix1 he is become the slave of opinion4 ,he is a tool1 a part of a machine that never stands still1 and is sick and giddy with the ceaseless motion4 ,he has no satisfaction but in the reflection of his own image in the public gaze1 but in the repetition of his own name in the public ear4 ,he himself is mixed up with1 and spoils every thing4 ,i wonder ,buonaparte was not tired of the ,n4,n4's stuck all over the ,louvre and throughout ,france4 ,goldsmith 7as we all know71 when in ,holland1 went out into a balcony with some handsome ,englishwomen1 and on their being applauded by the spectators1 turned round1 and said peevishly--#8,there are places where ,i also am admired4' ,he could not give the craving appetite of an author's vanity one day's respite4 ,i have seen a celebrated talker of our own time turn pale and go out of the room when a showy-looking girl has come into it1 who for a moment divided the attention of his hearers4 ,infinite are the mortifications of the bare attempt to emerge from obscurity2 numberless the failures2 and greater and more galling still the vicissitudes and tormenting accompaniments of success-- --#8,whose top to climb ,is certain falling1 or so slippery1 that ,the fear's as bad as falling4' #8,would to ,god1' exclaimed ,oliver ,cromwell1 when he was at any time thwarted by the ,parliament1 #8that ,i had remained by my wood-side to tend a flock of sheep1 rather than have been thrust on such a government as this6' ,when ,buonaparte got into his carriage to proceed on his ,russian expedition1 carelessly twirling his glove1 and singing the air--#8,malbrook to the wars is going'--he did not think of the tumble he has got since1 the shock of which no one could have stood but himself4 ,we see and hear chiefly of the favourites of ,fortune and the ,muse1 of great generals1 of first-rate actors1 of celebrated poets4 ,these are at the head2 we are struck with the glittering eminence on which they stand1 and long to set out on the same tempting career3--not thinking how many discontented half-pay lieutenants are in vain seeking promotion all their lives1 and obliged to put up with #8the insolence of office1 and the spurns which patient merit of the unworthy takes2' how many half-starved strolling-players are doomed to penury and tattered robes in country-places1 dreaming to the last of a ,london engagement2 how many wretched daubers shiver and shake in the ague-fit of alternate hopes and fears1 waste and pine away in the atrophy of genius1 or else turn drawing-masters1 picture-cleaners1 or newspaper critics2 how many hapless poets have sighed out their souls to the ,muse in vain1 without ever getting their effusions farther known than the ,poet's-,corner of a country newspaper1 and looked and looked with grudging1 wistful eyes at the envious horizon that bounded their provincial fame6 ,suppose an actor1 for instance1 #8after the heart-aches and the thousand natural pangs that flesh is heir to1' does get at the top of his profession1 he can no longer bear a rival near the throne2 to be second or only equal to another1 is to be nothing3 he starts at the prospect of a successor1 and retains the mimic sceptre with a convulsive grasp3 perhaps as he is about to seize the first place which he has long had in his eye1 an unsuspected competitor steps in before him1 and carries off the prize1 leaving him to commence his irksome toil again3 he is in a state of alarm at every appearance or rumour of the appearance of a new actor3 #8a mouse that takes up its lodging in a cat's ear'#bh has a mansion of peace to him3 he dreads every hint of an objection1 and least of all can forgive praise mingled with censure3 to doubt is to insult1 to discriminate is to degrade3 he dare hardly look into a criticism unless some one has tasted it for him1 to see that there is no offence in it3 if he does not draw crowded houses every night1 he can neither eat nor sleep2 or if all these terrible inflictions are removed1 and he can #8eat his meal in peace1' he then becomes surfeited with applause and dissatisfied with his profession3 he wants to be something else1 to be distinguished as an author1 a collector1 a classical scholar1 a man of sense and information1 and weighs every word he utters1 and half retracts it before he utters it1 lest if he were to make the smallest slip of the tongue1 it should get buzzed abroad that ,mr4 -- was only clever as an actor6 ,if ever there was a man who did not derive more pain than pleasure from his vanity1 that man1 says ,rousseau1 was no other than a fool4 ,a country-gentleman near ,taunton spent his whole life in making some hundreds of wretched copies of second-rate pictures1 which were bought up at his death by a neighbouring ,baronet1 to whom #8,some demon whisper'd1 ,l--1 have a taste6' ,a little ,wilson in an obscure corner escaped the man of virt1 and was carried off by a ,bristol picture-dealer for three guineas1 while the muddled copies of the owner of the mansion 7with the frames7 fetched thirty1 forty1 sixty1 a hundred ducats a piece4 ,a friend of mine found a very fine ,canaletti in a state of strange disfigurement1 with the upper part of the sky smeared over and fantastically variegated with ,english clouds2 and on enquiring of the person to whom it belonged whether something had not been done to it1 received for answer #8that a gentleman1 a great artist in the neighbourhood1 had retouched some parts of it4' ,what infatuation6 ,yet this candidate for the honours of the pencil might probably have made a jovial fox-hunter or respectable justice of the peace1 if he could only have stuck to what nature and fortune intended him for4 ,miss -- can by no means be persuaded to quit the boards of the theatre at --1 a little country town in the ,west of ,england4 ,her salary has been abridged1 her person ridiculed1 her acting laughed at2 nothing will serve--she is determined to be an actress1 and scorns to return to her former business as a milliner4 ,shall ,i go on8 ,an actor in the same company was visited by the apothecary of the place in an ague-fit1 who1 on asking his landlady as to his way of life1 was told that the poor gentleman was very quiet and gave little trouble1 that he generally had a plate of mashed potatoes for his dinner1 and lay in bed most of his time1 repeating his part4 ,a young couple1 every way amiable and deserving1 were to have been married1 and a benefit-play was bespoke by the officers of the regiment quartered there1 to defray the expense of a license and of the wedding-ring1 but the profits of the night did not amount to the necessary sum1 and they have1 ,i fear1 #8virgined it e'er since6' ,oh for the pencil of ,hogarth or ,wilkie to give a view of the comic strength of the company at --1 drawn up in battle-array in the ,clandestine ,marriage1 with a coup d'il of the pit1 boxes1 and gallery1 to cure for ever the love of the ideal1 and the desire to shine and make holiday in the eyes of others1 instead of retiring within ourselves and keeping our wishes and our thoughts at home6 ,even in the common affairs of life1 in love1 friendship1 and marriage1 how little security have we when we trust our happiness in the hands of others6 ,most of the friends ,i have seen have turned out the bitterest enemies1 or cold1 uncomfortable acquaintance4 ,old companions are like meats served up too often that lose their relish and their wholesomeness4 ,he who looks at beauty to admire1 to adore it1 who reads of its wondrous power in novels1 in poems1 or in plays1 is not unwise3 but let no man fall in love1 for from that moment he is #8the baby of a girl4' ,i like very well to repeat such lines as these in the play of ,mirandola-- --#8,with what a waving air she goes ,along the corridor4 ,how like a fawn6 ,yet statelier4 ,hark6 ,no sound1 however soft1 ,nor gentlest echo telleth when she treads1 ,but every motion of her shape doth seem ,hallowed by silence'-- but however beautiful the description1 defend me from meeting with the original6 #8,the fly that sips treacle ,is lost in the sweets2 ,so he that tastes woman ,ruin meets4' ,the song is ,gay's1 not mine1 and a bitter-sweet it is4--,how few out of the infinite number of those that marry and are given in marriage1 wed with those they would prefer to all the world2 nay1 how far the greater proportion are joined together by mere motives of convenience1 accident1 recommendation of friends1 or indeed not unfrequently by the very fear of the event1 by repugnance and a sort of fatal fascination3 yet the tie is for life1 not to be shaken off but with disgrace or death3 a man no longer lives to himself1 but is a body 7as well as mind7 chained to another1 in spite of himself-- #8,like life and death in disproportion met4' ,so ,milton 7perhaps from his own experience7 makes ,adam exclaim1 in the vehemence of his despair1 #8,for either ,he never shall find out fit mate1 but such ,as some misfortune brings him or mistake2 ,or whom he wishes most shall seldom gain ,through her perverseness1 but shall see her gain'd ,by a far worse2 or if she love1 withheld ,by parents2 or his happiest choice too late ,shall meet1 already link'd and wedlock-bound ,to a fell adversary1 his hate and shame2 ,which infinite calamity shall cause ,to human life1 and household peace confound4' ,if love at first sight were mutual1 or to be conciliated by kind offices2 if the fondest affection were not so often repaid and chilled by indifference and scorn2 if so many lovers both before and since the madman in ,don ,quixote had not #8worshipped a statue1 hunted the wind1 cried aloud to the desert2' if friendship were lasting2 if merit were renown1 and renown were health1 riches1 and long life2 or if the homage of the world were paid to conscious worth and the true aspirations after excellence1 instead of its gaudy signs and outward trappings3--then indeed ,i might be of opinion that it is better to live to others than one's-self3 but as the case stands1 ,i incline to the negative side of the question4#bi-- #8,i have not loved the world1 nor the world me2 ,i have not flattered its rank breath1 nor bow'd ,to its idolatries a patient knee-- ,nor coin'd my cheek to smiles--nor cried aloud ,in worship of an echo2 in the crowd ,they could not deem me one of such2 ,i stood ,among them1 but not of them2 in a shroud ,of thoughts which were not their thoughts1 and still could1 ,had ,i not filed my mind which thus itself subdued4 ,i have not loved the world1 nor the world me-- ,but let us part fair foes2 ,i do believe1 ,though ,i have found them not1 that there may be ,words which are things--hopes which will not deceive1 ,and virtues which are merciful nor weave ,snares for the failing3 ,i would also deem ,o'er others' griefs that some sincerely grieve2 ,that two1 or one1 are almost what they seem-- ,that goodness is no name1 and happiness no dream4' ,sweet verse embalms the spirit of sour misanthropy3 but woe betide the ignoble prose-writer who should thus dare to compare notes with the world1 or tax it roundly with imposture4 ,if ,i had sufficient provocation to rail at the public1 as ,ben ,jonson did at the audience in the ,prologues to his plays1 ,i think ,i should do it in good set terms1 nearly as follows4 ,there is not a more mean1 stupid1 dastardly1 pitiful1 selfish1 spiteful1 envious1 ungrateful animal than the ,public4 ,it is the greatest of cowards1 for it is afraid of itself4 ,from its unwieldy1 overgrown dimensions1 it dreads the least opposition to it1 and shakes like isinglass at the touch of a finger4 ,it starts at its own shadow1 like the man in the ,hartz mountains1 and trembles at the mention of its own name4 ,it has a lion's mouth1 the heart of a hare1 with ears erect and sleepless eyes4 ,it stands #8listening its fears4' ,it is so in awe of its own opinion1 that it never dares to form any1 but catches up the first idle rumour1 lest it should be behind-hand in its judgment1 and echoes it till it is deafened with the sound of its own voice4 ,the idea of what the public will think prevents the public from ever thinking at all1 and acts as a spell on the exercise of private judgment1 so that in short the public ear is at the mercy of the first impudent pretender who chooses to fill it with noisy assertions1 or false surmises1 or secret whispers4 ,what is said by one is heard by all2 the supposition that a thing is known to all the world makes all the world believe it1 and the hollow repetition of a vague report drowns the #8still1 small voice' of reason4 ,we may believe or know that what is said is not true3 but we know or fancy that others believe it--we dare not contradict or are too indolent to dispute with them1 and therefore give up our internal1 and1 as we think1 our solitary conviction to a sound without substance1 without proof1 and often without meaning4 ,nay more1 we may believe and know not only that a thing is false1 but that others believe and know it to be so1 that they are quite as much in the secret of the imposture as we are1 that they see the puppets at work1 the nature of the machinery1 and yet if any one has the art or power to get the management of it1 he shall keep possession of the public ear by virtue of a cant-phrase or nickname2 and1 by dint of effrontery and perseverance1 make all the world believe and repeat what all the world know to be false4 ,the ear is quicker than the judgment4 ,we know that certain things are said2 by that circumstance alone we know that they produce a certain effect on the imagination of others1 and we conform to their prejudices by mechanical sympathy1 and for want of sufficient spirit to differ with them4 ,so far then is public opinion from resting on a broad and solid basis1 as the aggregate of thought and feeling in a community1 that it is slight and shallow and variable to the last degree--the bubble of the moment--so that we may safely say the public is the dupe of public opinion1 not its parent4 ,the public is pusillanimous and cowardly1 because it is weak4 ,it knows itself to be a great dunce1 and that it has no opinions but upon suggestion4 ,yet it is unwilling to appear in leading-strings1 and would have it thought that its decisions are as wise as they are weighty4 ,it is hasty in taking up its favourites1 more hasty in laying them aside1 lest it should be supposed deficient in sagacity in either case4 ,it is generally divided into two strong parties1 each of which will allow neither common sense nor common honesty to the other side4 ,it reads the ,edinburgh and ,quarterly ,reviews1 and believes them both--or if there is a doubt1 malice turns the scale4 ,taylor and ,hessey told me that they had sold nearly two editions of the ,characters of ,shakespear's ,plays in about three months1 but that after the ,quarterly ,review of them came out1 they never sold another copy4 ,the public1 enlightened as they are1 must have known the meaning of that attack as well as those who made it4 ,it was not ignorance then but cowardice that led them to give up their own opinion4 ,a crew of mischievous critics at ,edinburgh having fixed the epithet of the ,cockney ,school to one or two writers born in the metropolis1 all the people in ,london became afraid of looking into their works1 lest they too should be convicted of cockneyism4 ,oh brave public6 ,this epithet proved too much for one of the writers in question1 and stuck like a barbed arrow in his heart4 ,poor ,keats6 ,what was sport to the town was death to him4 ,young1 sensitive1 delicate1 he was like #8,a bud bit by an envious worm1 ,ere he could spread his sweet leaves to the air1 ,or dedicate his beauty to the sun'-- and unable to endure the miscreant cry and idiot laugh1 withdrew to sigh his last breath in foreign climes4--,the public is as envious and ungrateful as it is ignorant1 stupid1 and pigeon-livered-- #8,a huge-sized monster of ingratitudes4' ,it reads1 it admires1 it extols only because it is the fashion1 not from any love of the subject or the man4 ,it cries you up or runs you down out of mere caprice and levity4 ,if you have pleased it1 it is jealous of its own involuntary acknowledgment of merit1 and seizes the first opportunity1 the first shabby pretext1 to pick a quarrel with you1 and be quits once more4 ,every petty caviller is erected into a judge1 every tale-bearer is implicitly believed4 ,every little low paltry creature that gaped and wondered only because others did so1 is glad to find you 7as he thinks7 on a level with himself4 ,an author is not then1 after all1 a being of another order4 ,public admiration is forced1 and goes against the grain4 ,public obloquy is cordial and sincere3 every individual feels his own importance in it4 ,they give you up bound hand and foot into the power of your accusers4 ,to attempt to defend yourself is a high crime and misdemeanour1 a contempt of court1 an extreme piece of impertinence4 ,or1 if you prove every charge unfounded1 they never think of retracting their error1 or making you amends4 ,it would be a compromise of their dignity2 they consider themselves as the party injured1 and resent your innocence as an imputation on their judgment4 ,the celebrated ,bub ,doddington1 when out of favour at court1 said #8he would not justify before his sovereign3 it was for ,majesty to be displeased1 and for him to believe himself in the wrong6' ,the public are not quite so modest4 ,people already begin to talk of the ,scotch ,novels as overrated4 ,how then can common authors be supposed to keep their heads long above water8 ,as a general rule1 all those who live by the public starve1 and are made a bye-word and a standing jest into the bargain4 ,posterity is no better 7not a bit more enlightened or more liberal71 except that you are no longer in their power1 and that the voice of common fame saves them the trouble of deciding on your claims4 ,the public now are the posterity of ,milton and ,shakespear4 ,our posterity will be the living public of a future generation4 ,when a man is dead1 they put money in his coffin1 erect monuments to his memory1 and celebrate the anniversary of his birthday in set speeches4 ,would they take any notice of him if he were living8 ,no6--,i was complaining of this to a ,scotchman who had been attending a dinner and a subscription to raise a monument to ,burns4 ,he replied1 he would sooner subscribe twenty pounds to his monument than have given it him while living2 so that if the poet were to come to life again1 he would treat him just as he was treated in fact4 ,this was an honest ,scotchman4 ,what he said1 the rest would do4 ,enough3 my soul1 turn from them1 and let me try to regain the obscurity and quiet that ,i love1 #8far from the madding strife1' in some sequestered corner of my own1 or in some far-distant land6 ,in the latter case1 ,i might carry with me as a consolation the passage in ,bolingbroke's ,reflections on ,exile1 in which he describes in glowing colours the resources which a man may always find within himself1 and of which the world cannot deprive him4 #8,believe me1 the providence of ,god has established such an order in the world1 that of all which belongs to us1 the least valuable parts can alone fall under the will of others4 ,whatever is best is safest2 lies out of the reach of human power2 can neither be given nor taken away4 ,such is this great and beautiful work of nature1 the world4 ,such is the mind of man1 which contemplates and admires the world whereof it makes the noblest part4 ,these are inseparably ours1 and as long as we remain in one we shall enjoy the other4 ,let us march therefore intrepidly wherever we are led by the course of human accidents4 ,wherever they lead us1 on what coast soever we are thrown by them1 we shall not find ourselves absolutely strangers4 ,we shall feel the same revolution of seasons1 and the same sun and moon#cj will guide the course of our year4 ,the same azure vault1 bespangled with stars1 will be every where spread over our heads4 ,there is no part of the world from whence we may not admire those planets which roll1 like ours1 in different orbits round the same central sun2 from whence we may not discover an object still more stupendous1 that army of fixed stars hung up in the immense space of the universe1 innumerable suns whose beams enlighten and cherish the unknown worlds which roll around them2 and whilst ,i am ravished by such contemplations as these1 whilst my soul is thus raised up to heaven1 imports me little what ground ,i tread upon4' ,,essay ,,xi ,,on ,,thought ,,and ,,action ,those persons who are much accustomed to abstract contemplation are generally unfitted for active pursuits1 and vice vers4 ,i myself am sufficiently decided and dogmatical in my opinions1 and yet in action ,i am as imbecile as a woman or a child4 ,i cannot set about the most indifferent thing without twenty efforts1 and had rather write one of these ,essays than have to seal a letter4 ,in trying to throw a hat or a book upon a table1 ,i miss it2 it just reaches the edge and falls back again1 and instead of doing what ,i mean to perform1 ,i do what ,i intend to avoid4 ,thought depends on the habitual exercise of the speculative faculties2 action on the determination of the will4 ,the one assigns reasons for things1 the other puts causes into act4 ,abraham ,tucker relates of a friend of his1 an old special pleader1 that once coming out of his chambers in the ,temple with him to take a walk1 he hesitated at the bottom of the stairs which way to go--proposed different directions1 to ,charing ,cross1 to ,st4 ,paul's1--found some objection to them all1 and at last turned back for want of a casting motive to incline the scale4 ,tucker gives this as an instance of professional indecision1 or of that temper of mind which having been long used to weigh the reasons for things with scrupulous exactness1 could not come to any conclusion at all on the spur of the occasion1 or without some grave distinction to justify its choice4 ,louvet1 in his ,narrative1 tells us1 that when several of the ,brissotin party were collected at the house of ,barbaroux 7,i think it was7 ready to effect their escape from the power of ,robespierre1 one of them going to the window and finding a shower of rain coming on1 seriously advised their stopping till the next morning1 for that the emissaries of government would not think of coming in search of them in such bad weather4 ,some of them deliberated on this wise proposal1 and were nearly taken4 ,such is the effeminacy of the speculative and philosophical temperament1 compared with the promptness and vigour of the practical6 ,it is on such unequal terms that the refined and romantic speculators on possible good and evil contend with their strong-nerved1 remorseless adversaries1 and we see the result4 ,reasoners in general are undecided1 wavering1 and sceptical1 or yield at last to the weakest motive1 as most congenial to their feeble habit of soul4#ca ,some men are mere machines4 ,they are put in a go-cart of business1 and are harnessed to a profession--yoked to fortune's wheels4 ,they plod on1 and succeed4 ,their affairs conduct them1 not they their affairs4 ,all they have to do is to let things take their course1 and not go out of the beaten road4 ,a man may carry on the business of farming on the same spot and principle that his ancestors have done for many generations before him without any extraordinary share of capacity3 the proof is1 it is done every day in every county and parish in the kingdom4 ,all that is necessary is that he should not pretend to be wiser than his neighbours4 ,if he has a grain more wit or penetration than they1 if his vanity gets the start of his avarice only half a neck1 if he has ever thought or read any thing upon the subject1 it will most probably be the ruin of him4 ,he will turn theoretical or experimental farmer1 and no more need be said4 ,mr4 ,cobbett1 who is a sufficiently shrewd and practical man1 with an eye also to the main chance1 had got some notions in his head 7from ,tull's ,husbandry7 about the method of sowing turnips1 to which he would have sacrificed not only his estate at ,botley1 but his native county of ,hampshire itself1 sooner than give up an inch of his argument4 #8,tut6 will you baulk a man in the career of his humour8' ,therefore1 that a man may not be ruined by his humours1 he should be too dull and phlegmatic to have any3 he must have #8no figures nor no fantasies which busy thought draws in the brains of men4' ,the fact is1 that the ingenuity or judgment of no one man is equal to that of the world at large1 which is the fruit of the experience and ability of all mankind4 ,even where a man is right in a particular notion1 he will be apt to overrate the importance of his discovery1 to the detriment of his affairs4 ,action requires co-operation1 but in general if you set your face against custom1 people will set their faces against you4 ,they cannot tell whether you are right or wrong1 but they know that you are guilty of a pragmatical assumption of superiority over them1 which they do not like4 ,there is no doubt that if a person two hundred years ago had foreseen and attempted to put in practice the most approved and successful methods of cultivation now in use1 it would have been a death-blow to his credit and fortune4 ,so that though the experiments and improvements of private individuals from time to time gradually go to enrich the public stock of information and reform the general practice1 they are mostly the ruin of the person who makes them1 because he takes a part for the whole1 and lays more stress upon the single point in which he has found others in the wrong1 than on all the rest in which they are substantially and prescriptively in the right4 ,the great requisite1 it should appear then1 for the prosperous management of ordinary business1 is the want of imagination1 or of any ideas but those of custom and interest on the narrowest scale3--and as the affairs of the world are necessarily carried on by the common run of its inhabitants1 it seems a wise dispensation of ,providence that it should be so4 ,if no one could rent a piece of glebeland without a genius for mechanical inventions1 or stand behind a counter without a large benevolence of soul1 what would become of the commercial and agricultural interests of this great 7and once flourishing7 country8 ,i would not be understood as saying that there is not what may be called a genius for business1 an extraordinary capacity for affairs1 quickness and comprehension united1 an insight into character1 an acquaintance with a number of particular circumstances1 a variety of expedients1 a tact for finding out what will do3 ,i grant all this 7in ,liverpool and ,manchester they would persuade you that your merchant and manufacturer is your only gentleman and scholar7--but still1 making every allowance for the difference between the liberal trader and the sneaking shopkeeper1 ,i doubt whether the most surprising success is to be accounted for from any such unusual attainments1 or whether a man's making half a million of money is a proof of his capacity for thought in general4 ,it is much oftener owing to views and wishes bounded but constantly directed to one particular object4 ,to succeed1 a man should aim only at success4 ,the child of ,fortune should resign himself into the hands of ,fortune4 ,a plotting head frequently overreaches itself3 a mind confident of its resources and calculating powers enters on critical speculations1 which1 in a game depending so much on chance and unforeseen events1 and not entirely on intellectual skill1 turn the odds greatly against any one in the long run4 ,the rule of business is to take what you can get1 and keep what you have got3 or an eagerness in seizing every opportunity that offers for promoting your own interest1 and a plodding persevering industry in making the most of the advantages you have already obtained1 are the most effectual as well as safest ingredients in the composition of the mercantile character4 ,the world is a book in which the ,chapter of ,accidents is none of the least considerable2 or it is a machine that must be left1 in a great measure1 to turn itself4 ,the most that a worldly-minded man can do is1 to stand at the receipt of custom1 and be constantly on the look-out for windfalls4 ,the true devotee in this way waits for the revelations of ,fortune as the poet waits for the inspiration of the ,muse1 and does not rashly anticipate her favours4 ,he must be neither capricious nor wilful4 ,i have known people untrammelled in the ways of business1 but with so intense an apprehension of their own interest1 that they would grasp at the slightest possibility of gain as a certainty1 and were led into as many mistakes by an over-griping usurious disposition as they could have been by the most thoughtless extravagance4--,we hear a great outcry about the want of judgment in men of genius4 ,it is not a want of judgment1 but an excess of other things4 ,they err knowingly1 and are wilfully blind4 ,the understanding is out of the question4 ,the profound judgment which soberer people pique themselves upon is in truth a want of passion and imagination4 ,give them an interest in any thing1 a sudden fancy1 a bait for their favourite foible1 and who so besotted as they8 ,stir their feelings1 and farewel to their prudence6 ,the understanding operates as a motive to action only in the silence of the passions4 ,i have heard people of a sanguine temperament reproached with betting according to their wishes1 instead of their opinion who should win3 and ,i have seen those who reproached them do the very same thing the instant their own vanity or prejudices were concerned4 ,the most mechanical people1 once thrown off their balance1 are the most extravagant and fantastical4 ,what passion is there so unmeaning and irrational as avarice itself8 ,the ,dutch went mad for tulips1 and -- -- for love6--,to return to what was said a little way back1 a question might be started1 whether1 as thought relates to the whole circumference of things and interests1 and business is confined to a very small part of them1 viz4 to a knowledge of a man's own affairs and the making of his own fortune1 whether a talent for the latter will not generally exist in proportion to the narrowness and grossness of his ideas1 nothing drawing his attention out of his own sphere1 or giving him an interest except in those things which he can realise and bring home to himself in the most undoubted shape8 ,to the man of business all the world is a ,fable but the ,stock-,exchange3 to the money-getter nothing has a real existence that he cannot convert into a tangible feeling1 that he does not recognise as property1 that he cannot #8measure with a two-foot rule or count upon ten fingers4' ,the want of thought1 of imagination1 drives the practical man upon immediate realities3 to the poet or philosopher all is real and interesting that is true or possible1 that can reach in its consequences to others1 or be made a subject of curious speculation to himself6 ,but is it right1 then1 to judge of action by the quantity of thought implied in it1 any more than it would be to condemn a life of contemplation for being inactive8 ,or1 has not every thing a source and principle of its own1 to which we should refer it1 and not to the principles of other things8 ,he who succeeds in any pursuit in which others fail1 may be presumed to have qualities of some sort or other which they are without4 ,if he has not brilliant wit1 he may have solid sense2 if he has not subtlety of understanding1 he may have energy and firmness of purpose3 if he has only a few advantages1 he may have modesty and prudence to make the most of what he possesses4 ,propriety is one great matter in the conduct of life2 which1 though like a graceful carriage of the body it is neither definable nor striking at first sight1 is the result of finely balanced feelings1 and lends a secret strength and charm to the whole character4 --,quicquid agit1 quoquo vestigia vertit1 ,componit furtim1 subsequiturque decor4 ,there are more ways than one in which the various faculties of the mind may unfold themselves4 ,neither words1 nor ideas reducible to words1 constitute the utmost limit of human capacity4 ,man is not a merely talking nor a merely reasoning animal4 ,let us then take him as he is1 instead of #8curtailing him of nature's fair proportions' to suit our previous notions4 ,doubtless1 there are great characters both in active and contemplative life4 ,there have been heroes as well as sages1 legislators and founders of religion1 historians and able statesmen and generals1 inventors of useful arts and instruments1 and explorers of undiscovered countries1 as well as writers and readers of books4 ,it will not do to set all these aside under any fastidious or pedantic distinction4 ,comparisons are odious1 because they are impertinent1 and lead only to the discovery of defects by making one thing the standard of another which has no relation to it4 ,if1 as some one proposed1 we were to institute an inquiry1 #8,which was the greatest man1 ,milton or ,cromwell1 ,buonaparte or ,rubens8'--we should have all the authors and artists on one side1 and all the military men and the whole diplomatic body on the other1 who would set to work with all their might to pull in pieces the idol of the other party1 and the longer the dispute continued1 the more would each grow dissatisfied with his favourite1 though determined to allow no merit to any one else4 ,the mind is not well competent to take in the full impression of more than one style of excellence or one extraordinary character at once2 contradictory claims puzzle and stupefy it2 and however admirable any individual may be in himself1 and unrivalled in his particular way1 yet if we try him by others in a totally opposite class1 that is1 if we consider not what he was but what he was not1 he will be found to be nothing4 ,we do not reckon up the excellences on either side1 for then these would satisfy the mind and put an end to the comparison3 we have no way of exclusively setting up our favourite but by running down his supposed rival2 and for the gorgeous hues of ,rubens1 the lofty conceptions of ,milton1 the deep policy and cautious daring of ,cromwell1 or the dazzling exploits and fatal ambition of the modern chieftain1 the poet is transformed into a pedant1 the artist sinks into a mechanic1 the politician turns out no better than a knave1 and the hero is exalted into a madman4 ,it is as easy to get the start of our antagonist in argument by frivolous and vexatious objections to one side of the question1 as it is difficult to do full and heaped justice to the other4 ,if ,i am asked which is the greatest of those who have been the greatest in different ways1 ,i answer the one that we happen to be thinking of at the time1 for while that is the case1 we can conceive of nothing higher4 ,if there is a propensity in the vulgar to admire the achievements of personal prowess or instances of fortunate enterprise too much1 it cannot be denied that those who have to weigh out and dispense the meed of fame in books1 have been too much disposed1 by a natural bias1 to confine all merit and talent to the productions of the pen1 or at least to those works which1 being artificial or abstract representations of things1 are transmitted to posterity1 and cried up as models in their kind4 ,this1 though unavoidable1 is hardly just4 ,actions pass away and are forgotten1 or are only discernible in their effects3 conquerors1 statesmen1 and kings live but by their names stamped on the page of history4 ,hume says rightly that more people think about ,virgil and ,homer 7and that continually7 than ever trouble their heads about ,csar or ,alexander4 ,in fact1 poets are a longer-lived race than heroes3 they breathe more of the air of immortality4 ,they survive more entire in their thoughts and acts4 ,we have all that ,virgil or ,homer did1 as much as if we had lived at the same time with them3 we can hold their works in our hands1 or lay them on our pillows1 or put them to our lips4 ,scarcely a trace of what the others did is left upon the earth1 so as to be visible to common eyes4 ,the one1 the dead authors1 are living men1 still breathing and moving in their writings4 ,the others1 the conquerors of the world1 are but the ashes in an urn4 ,the sympathy 7so to speak7 between thought and thought is more intimate and vital than that between thought and action4 ,thought is linked to thought as flame kindles into flame3 the tribute of admiration to the manes of departed heroism is like burning incense in a marble monument4 ,words1 ideas1 feelings1 with the progress of time harden into substances3 things1 bodies1 actions1 moulder away1 or melt into a sound1 into thin air6 ,yet though the ,schoolmen in the middle ages disputed more about the texts of ,aristotle than the battle of ,arbela1 perhaps ,alexander's ,generals in his life-time admired his pupil as much1 and liked him better4 ,for not only a man's actions are effaced and vanish with him2 his virtues and generous qualities die with him also3--his intellect only is immortal1 and bequeathed unimpaired to posterity4 ,words are the only things that last for ever4 ,if however the empire of words and general knowledge is more durable in proportion as it is abstracted and attenuated1 it is less immediate and dazzling3 if authors are as good after they are dead as when they were living1 while living they might as well be dead3 and moreover with respect to actual ability1 to write a book is not the only proof of taste1 sense1 or spirit1 as pedants would have us suppose4 ,to do any thing well1 to paint a picture1 to fight a battle1 to make a plough or a threshing-machine1 requires1 one would think1 as much skill and judgment as to talk about or write a description of it when done4 ,words are universal1 intelligible signs1 but they are not the only real1 existing things4 ,did not ,julius ,csar shew himself as much of a man in conducting his campaigns as in composing his ,commentaries8 ,or was the ,retreat of the ,ten ,thousand under ,xenophon1 or his work of that name1 the most consummate performance8 ,or would not ,lovelace1 supposing him to have existed and to have conceived and executed all his fine stratagems on the spur of the occasion1 have been as clever a fellow as ,richardson1 who invented them in cold blood8 ,if to conceive and describe an heroic character is the height of a literary ambition1 we can hardly make it out that to be and to do all that the wit of man can feign1 is nothing4 ,to use means to ends1 to set causes in motion1 to wield the machine of society1 to subject the wills of others to your own1 to manage abler men than yourself by means of that which is stronger in them than their wisdom1 viz4 their weakness and their folly1 to calculate the resistance of ignorance and prejudice to your designs1 and by obviating to turn them to account1 to foresee a long1 obscure1 and complicated train of events1 of chances and openings of success1 to unwind the web of others' policy1 and weave your own out of it1 to judge of the effects of things not in the abstract but with reference to all their bearings1 ramifications and impediments1 to understand character thoroughly1 to see latent talent or lurking treachery1 to know mankind for what they are1 and use them as they deserve1 to have a purpose steadily in view and to effect it after removing every obstacle1 to master others and be true to yourself1 asks power and knowledge1 both nerves and brain4 ,such is the sort of talent that may be shewn1 and that has been possessed by the great leaders on the stage of the world4 ,to accomplish great things argues1 ,i imagine1 great resolution3 to design great things implies no common mind4 ,ambition is in some sort genius4 ,though ,i would rather wear out my life in arguing a broad speculative question than in caballing for the election to a wardmote1 or canvassing for votes in a rotten borough1 yet ,i should think that the loftiest ,epicurean philosopher might descend from his punctilio to identify himself with the support of a great principle1 or to prop a falling state4 ,this is what the legislators and founders of empire did of old2 and the permanence of their institutions shewed the depth of the principles from which they emanated4 ,a tragic poem is not the worse for acting well3 if it will not bear this test1 it savours of effeminacy4 ,well-digested schemes will stand the touchstone of experience4 ,great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts4 ,again1 great acts grow out of great occasions1 and great occasions spring from great principles1 working changes in society1 and tearing it up by the roots4 ,but still ,i conceive that a genius for action depends essentially on the strength of the will rather than on that of the understanding2 that the long-headed calculation of causes and consequences arises from the energy of the first cause1 which is the will1 setting others in motion and prepared to anticipate the results2 that its sagacity is activity delighting in meeting difficulties and adventures more than half way1 and its wisdom courage not to shrink from danger1 but to redouble its efforts with opposition4 ,its humanity1 if it has much1 is magnanimity to spare the vanquished1 exulting in power but not prone to mischief1 with good sense enough to be aware of the instability of fortune1 and with some regard to reputation4 ,what may serve as a criterion to try this question by is the following consideration1 that we sometimes find as remarkable a deficiency of the speculative faculty coupled with great strength of will and consequent success in active life1 as we do a want of voluntary power and total incapacity for business1 frequently joined to the highest mental qualifications4 ,in some cases it will happen that #8to be wise1 is to be obstinate4' ,if you are deaf to reason but stick to your own purposes1 you will tire others out1 and bring them over to your way of thinking4 ,self-will and blind prejudice are the best defence of actual power and exclusive advantages4 ,the forehead of the late king was not remarkable for the character of intellect1 but the lower part of his face was expressive of strong passions and fixed resolution4 ,charles ,fox had an animated1 intelligent eye1 and brilliant1 elastic forehead 7with a nose indicating fine taste71 but the lower features were weak1 unsettled1 fluctuating1 and without purchase--it was in them the ,whigs were defeated4 ,what a fine iron binding ,buonaparte had round his face1 as if it had been cased in steel6 ,what sensibility about the mouth6 ,what watchful penetration in the eye6 ,what a smooth1 unruffled forehead6 ,mr4 ,pitt1 with little sunken eyes1 had a high1 retreating forehead1 and a nose expressing pride and aspiring self-opinion3 it was on that 7with submission7 that he suspended the decisions of the ,house of ,commons1 and dangled the ,opposition as he pleased4 ,lord ,castlereagh is a man rather deficient than redundant in words and topics4 ,he is not 7any more than ,st4 ,augustine was1 in the opinion of ,la ,fontaine7 so great a wit as ,rabelais1 nor is he so great a philosopher as ,aristotle3 but he has that in him which is not to be trifled with4 ,he has a noble mask of a face 7not well filled up in the expression1 which is relaxed and dormant71 with a fine person and manner4 ,on the strength of these he hazards his speeches in the ,house4 ,he has also a knowledge of mankind1 and of the composition of the ,house4 ,he takes a thrust which he cannot parry on his shield--is #8all tranquillity and smiles' under a volley of abuse1 sees when to pay a compliment to a wavering antagonist1 soothes the melting mood of his hearers1 or gets up a speech full of indignation1 and knows how to bestow his attentions on that great public body1 whether he wheedles or bullies1 so as to bring it to compliance4 ,with a long reach of undefined purposes 7the result of a temper too indolent for thought1 too violent for repose7 he has equal perseverance and pliancy in bringing his objects to pass4 ,i would rather be ,lord ,castlereagh1 as far as a sense of power is concerned 7principle is out of the question71 than such a man as ,mr4 ,canning1 who is a mere fluent sophist1 and never knows the limits of discretion1 or the effect which will be produced by what he says1 except as far as florid common-places may be depended on4 ,buonaparte is referred by ,mr4 ,coleridge to the class of active rather than of intellectual characters3 and ,cowley has left an invidious but splendid eulogy on ,oliver ,cromwell1 which sets out on much the same principle4 #8,what1' he says1 #8can be more extraordinary1 than that a person of mean birth1 no fortune1 no eminent qualities of body1 which have sometimes1 or of mind1 which have often raised men to the highest dignities1 should have the courage to attempt1 and the happiness to succeed in1 so improbable a design1 as the destruction of one of the most ancient and most solidly-founded monarchies upon the earth8 ,that he should have the power or boldness to put his prince and master to an open and infamous death2 to banish that numerous and strongly-allied family2 to do all this under the name and wages of a ,parliament2 to trample upon them too as he pleased1 and spurn them out of doors when he grew weary of them2 to raise up a new and unheard-of monster out of their ashes2 to stifle that in the very infancy1 and set up himself above all things that ever were called sovereign in ,england2 to oppress all his enemies by arms1 and all his friends afterwards by artifice2 to serve all parties patiently for a while1 and to command them victoriously at last2 to over-run each corner of the three nations1 and overcome with equal facility both the riches of the south and the poverty of the north2 to be feared and courted by all foreign princes1 and adopted a brother to the ,gods of the earth2 to call together ,parliaments with a word of his pen1 and scatter them again with the breath of his mouth2 to be humbly and daily petitioned that he would please to be hired1 at the rate of two millions a year1 to be the master of those who had hired him before to be their servant2 to have the estates and lives of three kingdoms as much at his disposal1 as was the little inheritance of his father1 and to be as noble and liberal in the spending of them2 and lastly1 7for there is no end of all the particular of his glory7 to bequeath all this with one word to his posterity2 to die with peace at home1 and triumph abroad2 to be buried among kings1 and with more than regal solemnity2 and to leave a name behind him1 not to be extinguished but with the whole world2 which as it is now too little for his praises1 so might have been too narrow for his conquests1 if the short line of his human life could have been stretched out to the extent of his immortal designs6' ,cromwell was a bad speaker and a worse writer4 ,milton wrote his dispatches for him in elegant and erudite ,latin3 and the pen of the one1 like the sword of the other1 was #8sharp and sweet4' ,we have not that union in modern times of the heroic and literary character which was common among the ancients4 ,julius ,csar and ,xenophon recorded their own acts with equal clearness of style and modesty of temper4 ,the ,duke of ,wellington 7worse off than ,cromwell7 is obliged to get ,mr4 ,mudford to write the ,history of his ,life4 ,sophocles1 schylus1 and ,socrates1 were distinguished for their military prowess among their contemporaries1 though now only remembered for what they did in poetry and philosophy4 ,cicero and ,demosthenes1 the two greatest orators of antiquity1 appear to have been cowards3 ,nor does ,horace seem to give a very favourable picture of his martial achievements4 ,but in general there was not that division in the labours of the mind and body among the ,greeks and ,romans that has been introduced among us either by the progress of civilisation or by a greater slowness and inaptitude of parts4 ,the ,french1 for instance1 appear to unite a number of accomplishments1 the literary character and the man of the world1 better than we do4 ,among us1 a scholar is almost another name for a pedant or a clown3 it is not so with them4 ,their philosophers and wits went into the world1 and mingled in the society of the fair4 ,of this there needs no other proof than the spirited print of most of the great names in ,french literature1 to whom ,moliere is reading a comedy in the presence of the celebrated ,ninon de l',enclos4 ,d',alembert1 one of the first mathematicians of his age1 was a wit1 a man of gallantry and letters4 ,with us a learned man is absorbed in himself and some particular study1 and minds nothing else4 ,there is something ascetic and impracticable in his very constitution1 and he answers to the description of the ,monk in ,spenser-- #8,from every work he challenged essoin ,for contemplation's sake'-- ,perhaps the superior importance attached to the institutions of religion1 as well as the more abstracted and visionary nature of its objects1 has led 7as a general result7 to a wider separation between thought and action in modern times4--,ambition is of a higher and more heroic strain than avarice4 ,its objects are nobler1 and the means by which it attains its ends less mechanical4 #8,better be lord of them that riches have1 ,than riches have myself1 and be their servile slave4' ,the incentive to ambition is the love of power2 the spur to avarice is either the fear of poverty1 or a strong desire of self-indulgence4 ,the amassers of fortunes seem divided into two opposite classes1 lean1 penurious-looking mortals1 or jolly fellows who are determined to get possession of1 because they want to enjoy1 the good things of the world4 ,the one have famine and a work-house always before their eyes1 the others1 in the fulness of their persons and the robustness of their constitutions1 seem to bespeak the reversion of a landed estate1 rich acres1 fat beeves1 a substantial mansion1 costly clothing1 a chine and turkey1 choice wines1 and all other good things consonant to the wants and full-fed desires of their bodies4 ,such men charm fortune by the sleekness of their aspects and the goodly rotundity of their honest faces1 as the others scare away poverty by their wan1 meagre looks4 ,the last starve themselves into riches by care and carking3 the first eat1 drink1 and sleep their way into the good things of this life4 ,the greatest number of warm men in the city are good1 jolly fellows4 ,look at ,sir ,william -- --,callipash and callipee are written in his face3 he rolls about his unwieldy bulk in a sea of turtle-soup4 ,how many haunches of venison does he carry on his back6 ,he is larded with jobs and contracts2 he is stuffed and swelled out with layers of bank-notes1 and invitations to dinner6 ,his face hangs out a flag of defiance to mischance3 the roguish twinkle in his eye with which he lures half the city and beats ,alderman -- hollow1 is a smile reflected from heaps of unsunned gold6 ,nature and ,fortune are not so much at variance as to differ about this fellow4 ,to enjoy the good the ,gods provide us1 is to deserve it4 ,nature meant him for a ,knight1 ,alderman1 and ,city-,member2 and ,fortune laughed to see the goodly person and prospects of the man6#cb--;,i am not1 from certain early prejudices1 much given to admire the ostentatious marks of wealth 7there are persons enough to admire them without me7--but ,i confess1 there is something in the look of the old banking-houses in ,lombard ,street1 the posterns covered with mud1 the doors opening sullenly and silently1 the absence of all pretence1 the darkness and the gloom within1 the gleaming of lamps in the day-time1 #8,like a faint shadow of uncertain light1' that almost realises the poetical conception of the cave of ,mammon in ,spenser1 where dust and cobwebs concealed the roofs and pillars of solid gold1 and lifts the mind quite off its ordinary hinges4 ,the account of the manner in which the founder of ,guy's ,hospital accumulated his immense wealth has always to me something romantic in it1 from the same force of contrast4 ,he was a little shopkeeper1 and out of his savings bought ,bibles1 and purchased seamen's tickets in ,queen ,anne's wars1 by which he left a fortune of two hundred thousand pounds4 ,the story suggests the idea of a magician2 nor is there anything in the ,arabian ,nights that looks more like a fiction4 ,,essay ,,xii ,,on ,,will-,,making ,few things show the human character in a more ridiculous light than the circumstance of will-making4 ,it is the latest opportunity we have of exercising the natural perversity of the disposition1 and we take care to make a good use of it4 ,we husband it with jealousy1 put it off as long as we can1 and then use every precaution that the world shall be no gainer by our deaths4 ,this last act of our lives seldom belies the former tenor of them1 for stupidity1 caprice1 and unmeaning spite4 ,all that we seem to think of is to manage matters so 7in settling accounts with those who are so unmannerly as to survive us7 as to do as little good1 and to plague and disappoint as many people as possible4 ,many persons have a superstition on the subject of making their last will and testament1 and think that when every thing is ready signed and sealed1 there is nothing farther left to delay their departure4 ,i have heard of an instance of one person who having a feeling of this kind on his mind1 and being teazed into making his will by those about him1 actually fell ill with pure apprehension1 and thought he was going to die in good earnest1 but having executed the deed over-night1 awoke1 to his great surprise1 the next morning1 and found himself as well as ever he was4#cc ,an elderly gentleman possessed of a good estate and the same idle notion1 and who found himself in a dangerous way1 was anxious to do this piece of justice to those who remained behind him1 but when it came to the point1 his heart failed him1 and his nervous fancies returned in full force3--even on his death-bed he still held back and was averse to sign what he looked upon as his own death-warrant1 and just at the last gasp1 amidst the anxious looks and silent upbraidings of friends and relatives that surrounded him1 he summoned resolution to hold out his feeble hand which was guided by others to trace his name1 and he fell back--a corpse6 ,if there is any pressing reason for it1 that is1 if any particular person would be relieved from a state of harassing uncertainty1 or materially benefited by their making a will1 the old and infirm 7who do not like to be put out of their way7 generally make this an excuse to themselves for putting it off to the very last moment1 probably till it is too late3 or where this is sure to make the greatest number of blank faces1 contrive to give their friends the slip1 without signifying their final determination in their favour4 ,where some unfortunate individual has been kept long in suspense1 who has been perhaps sought out for that very purpose1 and who may be in a great measure dependent on this as a last resource1 it is nearly a certainty that there will be no will to be found2 no trace1 no sign to discover whether the person dying thus intestate ever had any intention of the sort1 or why they relinquished it4 ,this it is to bespeak the thoughts and imaginations of others for victims after we are dead1 as well as their persons and expectations for hangers-on while we are living4 ,a celebrated beauty of the middle of the last century1 towards its close sought out a female relative1 the friend and companion of her youth1 who had lived during the forty years of their separation in rather straitened circumstances1 and in a situation which admitted of some alleviations4 ,twice they met after that long lapse of time--once her relation visited her in the splendour of a rich old family-mansion1 and once she crossed the country to become an inmate of the humble dwelling of her early and only remaining friend4 ,what was this for8 ,was it to revive the image of her youth in the pale and careworn face of her friend8 ,or was it to display the decay of her charms and recal her long-forgotten triumphs to the memory of the only person who could bear witness to them8 ,was it to show the proud remains of herself to those who remembered or had often heard what she was--her skin like shrivelled alabaster1 her emaciated features chiseled by nature's finest hand1 her eyes that when a smile lighted them up1 still shone like diamonds1 the vermilion hues that still bloomed among wrinkles8 ,was it to talk of bone-lace1 of the flounces and brocades of the last century1 of race-balls in the year #fb1 and of the scores of lovers that had died at her feet1 and to set whole counties in a flame again1 only with a dream of faded beauty8 ,whether it was for this1 or whether she meant to leave her friend any thing 7as was indeed expected1 all things considered1 not without reason7 nobody knows--for she never breathed a syllable on the subject herself1 and died without a will4 ,the accomplished coquet of twenty1 who had pampered hopes only to kill them1 who had kindled rapture with a look and extinguished it with a breath1 could find no better employment at seventy than to revive the fond recollections and raise up the drooping hopes of her kinswoman only to let them fall--to rise no more4 ,such is the delight we have in trifling with and tantalising the feelings of others by the exquisite refinements1 the studied sleights of love or friendship6 ,where a property is actually bequeathed1 supposing the circumstances of the case and the usages of society to leave a practical discretion to the testator1 it is most frequently in such portions as can be of the least service4 ,where there is much already1 much is given2 where much is wanted1 little or nothing4 ,poverty invites a sort of pity1 a miserable dole of assistance2 necessity neglect and scorn2 wealth attracts and allures to itself more wealth1 by natural association of ideas1 or by that innate love of inequality and injustice1 which is the favourite principle of the imagination4 ,men like to collect money into large heaps in their life-time3 they like to leave it in large heaps after they are dead4 ,they grasp it into their own hands1 not to use it for their own good1 but to hoard1 to lock it up1 to make an object1 an idol1 and a wonder of it4 ,do you expect them to distribute it so as to do others good2 that they will like those who come after them better than themselves2 that if they were willing to pinch and starve themselves1 they will not deliberately defraud their sworn friends and nearest kindred of what would be of the utmost use to them8 ,no1 they will thrust their heaps of gold and silver into the hands of others 7as their proxies7 to keep for them untouched1 still increasing1 still of no use to any one1 but to pamper pride and avarice1 to glitter in the huge1 watchful1 insatiable eye of fancy1 to be deposited as a new offering at the shrine of ,mammon1 their ,god--this is with them to put it to its intelligible and proper use1 this is fulfilling a sacred1 indispensable duty1 this cheers them in the solitude of the grave1 and throws a gleam of satisfaction across the stony eye of death4 ,but to think of frittering it down1 of sinking it in charity1 of throwing it away on the idle claims of humanity1 where it would no longer peer in monumental pomp over their heads2 and that too when on the point of death themselves1 in articulo mortis1 oh6 it would be madness1 waste1 extravagance1 impiety6 ,thus worldlings feel and argue without knowing it2 and while they fancy they are studying their own interest or that of some booby successor1 their alter idem1 are but the dupes and puppets of a favourite idea1 a phantom1 a prejudice1 that must be kept up somewhere 7no matter where7 if it still plays before and haunts their imagination while they have sense or understanding left--to cling to their darling follies4 ,there was a remarkable instance of this tendency to the heap1 this desire to cultivate an abstract passion for wealth1 in a will of one of the ,thellusons some time back4 ,this will went to keep the greater part of a large property from the use of the natural heirs and next-of-kin for a length of time1 and to let it accumulate at compound interest in such a way and so long1 that it would at last mount up in value to the purchase-money of a whole county4 ,the interest accruing from the funded property or the rent of the lands at certain periods was to be employed to purchase other estates1 other parks and manors in the neighbourhood or farther off1 so that the prospect of the future demesne that was to devolve at some distant time to the unborn lord of acres1 swelled and enlarged itself1 like a sea1 circle without circle1 vista beyond vista1 till the imagination was staggered1 and the mind exhausted4 ,now here was a scheme for the accumulation of wealth1 and for laying the foundation of family-aggrandisement purely imaginary1 romantic--one might almost say disinterested4 ,the vagueness1 the magnitude1 the remoteness of the object1 the resolute sacrifice of all immediate and gross advantages1 clothe it with the privileges of an abstract idea1 so that the project has the air of a fiction or of a story in a novel4 ,it was an instance of what might be called posthumous avarice1 like the love of posthumous fame4 ,it had little more to do with selfishness than if the testator had appropriated the same sums in the same way to build a pyramid1 to construct an aqueduct1 to endow an hospital1 or effect any other patriotic or merely fantastic purpose4 ,he wished to heap up a pile of wealth 7millions of acres7 in the dim horizon of future years1 that could be of no use to him or to those with whom he was connected by positive and personal ties1 but as a crotchet of the brain1 a gew-gaw of the fancy4#cd ,yet to enable himself to put this scheme in execution1 he had perhaps toiled and watched all his life1 denied himself rest1 food1 pleasure1 liberty1 society1 and persevered with the patience and self-denial of a martyr4 ,i have insisted on this point the more1 to shew how much of the imaginary and speculative there is interfused even in those passions and purposes which have not the good of others for their object1 and how little reason this honest citizen and builder of castles in the air would have had to treat those who devoted themselves to the pursuit of fame1 to obloquy and persecution for the sake of truth and liberty1 or who sacrificed their lives for their country in a just cause1 as visionaries and enthusiasts1 who did not understand what was properly due to their own interest and the securing of the main-chance4 ,man is not the creature of sense and selfishness1 even in those pursuits which grow up out of that origin1 so much as of imagination1 custom1 passion1 whim1 and humour4 ,i have heard of a singular instance of a will made by a person who was addicted to a habit of lying4 ,he was so notorious for this propensity 7not out of spite or cunning1 but as a gratuitous exercise of invention71 that from a child no one could ever believe a syllable he uttered4 ,from the want of any dependence to be placed on him1 he became the jest and bye-word of the school where he was brought up4 ,the last act of his life did not disgrace him4 ,for having gone abroad1 and falling into a dangerous decline1 he was advised to return home4 ,he paid all that he was worth for his passage1 went on ship-board1 and employed the few remaining days he had to live in making and executing his will2 in which he bequeathed large estates in different parts of ,england1 money in the funds1 rich jewels1 rings1 and all kinds of valuables1 to his old friends and acquaintance1 who not knowing how far the force of nature could go1 were not for some time convinced that all this fairy wealth had never had an existence any where but in the idle coinage of his brain whose whims and projects were no more6 ,the extreme keeping in this character is only to be accounted for by supposing such an original constitutional levity as made truth entirely indifferent to him1 and the serious importance attached to it by others an object of perpetual sport and ridicule6 ,the art of will-making chiefly consists in baffling the importunity of expectation4 ,i do not so much find fault with this when it is done as a punishment and oblique satire on servility and selfishness4 ,it is in that case ,diamond cut ,diamond--a trial of skill between the legacy-hunter and the legacy-maker1 which shall fool the other4 ,the cringing toad-eater1 the officious tale-bearer1 is perhaps well paid for years of obsequious attendance with a bare mention and a mourning-ring2 nor can ,i think that ,gil ,blas' library was not quite as much as the coxcombry of his pretensions deserved4 ,there are some admirable scenes in ,ben ,jonson's ,volpone1 shewing the humours of a legacy-hunter1 and the different ways of fobbing him off with excuses and assurances of not being forgotten4 ,yet it is hardly right after all1 to encourage this kind of pitiful1 barefaced intercourse1 without meaning to pay for it2 as the coquette has no right to jilt the lovers she has trifled with4 ,flattery and submission are marketable commodities like any other1 have their price1 and ought scarcely to be obtained under false pretences4 ,if we see through and despise the wretched creature that attempts to impose on our credulity1 we can at any time dispense with his services2 if we are soothed by this mockery of respect and friendship1 why not pay him like any other drudge1 or as we satisfy the actor who performs a part in a play by our particular desire8 ,but often these premeditated disappointments are as unjust as they are cruel1 and are marked with circumstances of indignity1 in proportion to the worth of the object4 ,the suspecting1 the taking it for granted that your name is down in the will1 is sufficient provocation to have it struck out3 the hinting at an obligation1 the consciousness of it on the part of the testator1 will make him determined to avoid the formal acknowledgment of it1 at any expence4 ,the disinheriting of relations is mostly for venial offences1 not for base actions3 we punish out of pique1 to revenge some case in which we have been disappointed of our wills1 some act of disobedience to what had no reasonable ground to go upon2 and we are obstinate in adhering to our resolution1 as it was sudden and rash1 and doubly bent on asserting our authority in what we have least right to interfere in4 ,it is the wound inflicted upon our self-love1 not the stain upon the character of the thoughtless offender1 that calls for condign punishment4 ,crimes1 vices may go unchecked1 or unnoticed3 but it is the laughing at our weaknesses1 or thwarting our humours1 that is never to be forgotten4 ,it is not the errors of others1 but our own miscalculations1 on which we wreak our lasting vengeance4 ,it is ourselves that we cannot forgive4 ,in the will of ,nicholas ,gimcrack1 the virtuoso recorded in the ,tatler1 we learn1 among other items1 that his eldest son is cut off with a single cockle-shell for his undutiful behaviour in laughing at his little sister whom his father kept preserved in spirits of wine4 ,another of his relations has a collection of grasshoppers bequeathed him1 as in the testator's opinion an adequate reward and acknowledgment due to his merit4 ,the whole will of the said ,nicholas ,gimcrack1 ,esq4 is a curious document and exact picture of the mind of the worthy virtuoso defunct1 where his various follies1 littlenesses1 and quaint humours are set forth1 as orderly and distinct as his butterflies' wings and cockle-shells and skeletons of fleas in glass-cases4#ce ,we often successfully try in this way to give the finishing stroke to our pictures1 hang up our weaknesses in perpetuity1 and embalm our mistakes in the memories of others4 #8,even from the tomb the voice of nature cries1 ,even in our ashes live their wonted fires4' ,i shall not speak here of unwarrantable commands imposed upon survivors1 by which they were to carry into effect the sullen and revengeful purposes of unprincipled men1 after they had breathed their last2 but we meet with continual examples of the desire to keep up the farce 7if not the tragedy7 of life1 after we1 the performers in it1 have quitted the stage1 and to have our parts rehearsed by proxy4 ,we thus make a caprice immortal1 a peculiarity proverbial4 ,hence we see the number of legacies and fortunes left1 on condition that the legatee shall take the name and style of the testator1 by which device we provide for the continuance of the sounds that formed our names1 and endow them with an estate1 that they may be repeated with proper respect4 ,in the ,memoirs of an ,heiress1 all the difficulties of the plot turn on the necessity imposed by a clause in her uncle's will that her future husband should take the family-name of ,beverley4 ,poor ,cecilia6 ,what delicate perplexities she was thrown into by this improvident provision2 and with what minute1 endless1 intricate distresses has the fair authoress been enabled to harrow up the reader on this account6 ,there was a ,sir ,thomas ,dyot in the reign of ,charles ,,ii4 who left the whole range of property which forms ,dyot-street1 in ,st4 ,giles's1 and the neighbourhood1 on the sole and express condition that it should be appropriated entirely to that sort of buildings1 and to the reception of that sort of population1 which still keeps undisputed1 undivided possession of it4 ,the name was changed the other day to ,george-street as a more genteel appellation1 which1 ,i should think1 is an indirect forfeiture of the estate4 ,this ,sir ,thomas ,dyot ,i should be disposed to put upon the list of old ,english worthies--as humane1 liberal1 and no flincher from what he took in his head4 ,he was no common-place man in his line4 ,he was the best commentator on that old-fashioned text--#8,the foxes have holes1 and the birds of the air have nests1 but the ,son of man hath not where to lay his head4'--,we find some that are curious in the mode in which they shall be buried1 and others in the place4 ,lord ,camelford had his remains buried under an ash-tree that grew on one of the mountains in ,switzerland2 and ,sir ,francis ,bourgeois had a little mausoleum built for him in the ,college at ,dulwich1 where he once spent a pleasant1 jovial day with the master and wardens#cf4 ,it is1 no doubt1 proper to attend1 except for strong reasons to the contrary1 to these sort of requests2 for by breaking faith with the dead1 we loosen the confidence of the living4 ,besides1 there is a stronger argument2 we sympathise with the dead as well as with the living1 and are bound to them by the most sacred of all ties1 our own involuntary fellow-feeling with others6 ,thieves1 as a last donation1 leave advice to their friends1 physicians a nostrum1 authors a manuscript work1 rakes a confession of their faith in the virtue of the sex--all1 the last dwellings of their egotism and impertinence4 ,one might suppose that if any thing could1 the approach and contemplation of death might bring men to a sense of reason and self-knowledge4 ,on the contrary1 it seems only to deprive them of the little wit they had1 and to make them even more the sport of their wilfulness and short-sightedness4 ,some men think that because they are going to be hanged1 they are fully authorised to declare a future state of rewards and punishments4 ,all either indulge their caprices or cling to their prejudices4 ,they make a desperate attempt to escape from reflection by taking hold of any whim or fancy that crosses their minds1 or by throwing themselves implicitly on old habits and attachments4 ,an old man is twice a child3 the dying man becomes the property of his family4 ,he has no choice left1 and his voluntary power is merged in old saws and prescriptive usages4 ,the property we have derived from our kindred reverts tacitly to them3 and not to let it take its course1 is a sort of violence done to nature as well as custom4 ,the idea of property1 of something in common1 does not mix cordially with friendship1 but is inseparable from near relationship4 ,we owe a return in kind1 where we feel no obligation for a favour2 and consign our possessions to our next of kin as mechanically as we lean our heads on the pillow1 and go out of the world in the same state of stupid amazement that we came into it6444 ,ctera desunt4 ,oh6 might that heart prove the root from which the tree of ,liberty may spring up and flourish once more1 as the basil-tree grew and grew from the cherished head of ,isabella's lover6 ,,essay ,,xiii ,,on ,,certain ,,inconsistencies ,,in ,,sir ,,joshua ,,reynold',s ,,discourses ,the two chief points which ,sir ,joshua aims at in his ,discourses are to shew that excellence in the ,fine ,arts is the result of pains and study1 rather than of genius1 and that all beauty1 grace1 and grandeur are to be found1 not in actual nature1 but in an idea existing in the mind4 ,on both these points he appears to have fallen into considerable inconsistencies1 or very great latitude of expression1 so as to make it difficult to know what conclusion to draw from his various reasonings4 ,i shall attempt little more in this ,essay than to bring together several passages1 that from their contradictory import seem to imply some radical defect in ,sir ,joshua's theory1 and a doubt as to the possibility of placing an implicit reliance on his authority4 ,to begin with the first of these subjects1 the question of original genius4 ,in the ,second ,discourse1 ,on the ,method of ,study1 ,sir ,joshua observes towards the end1 #8,there is one precept1 however1 in which ,i shall only be opposed by the vain1 the ignorant1 and the idle4 ,i am not afraid that ,i shall repeat it too often4 ,you must have no dependence on your own genius4 ,if you have great talents1 industry will improve them3 if you have but moderate abilities1 industry will supply their deficiency4 ,nothing is denied to well-directed labour2 nothing is to be obtained without it4 ,not to enter into metaphysical discussions on the nature or essence of genius1 ,i will venture to assert1 that assiduity unabated by difficulty1 and a disposition eagerly directed to the object of its pursuit1 will produce effects similar to those which some call the result of natural powers4'--,vol4 ,i4 p4 #dd4 ,the only tendency of the maxim here laid down seems to be to lure those students on with the hopes of excellence who have no chance of succeeding1 and to deter those who have1 from relying on the only prop and source of real excellence--the strong bent and impulse of their natural powers4 ,industry alone can only produce mediocrity2 but mediocrity in art is not worth the trouble of industry4 ,genius1 great natural powers will give industry and ardour in the pursuit of their proper object1 but not if you divert them from that object into the trammels of common-place mechanical labour4 ,by this method you neutralise all distinction of character--make a pedant of the blockhead1 and a drudge of the man of genius4 ,what1 for instance1 would have been the effect of persuading ,hogarth or ,rembrandt to place no dependence on their own genius1 and to apply themselves to the general study of the different branches of the art and of every sort of excellence1 with a confidence of success proportioned to their misguided efforts1 but to destroy both those great artists8 #8,you take my house when you do take the prop that doth sustain my house6' ,you undermine the superstructure of art when you strike at its main pillar and support1 confidence and faith in nature4 ,we might as well advise a person who had discovered a silver or lead mine on his estate to close it up1 or the common farmer to plough up every acre he rents in the hope of discovering hidden treasure1 as advise the man of original genius to neglect his particular vein for the study of rules and the imitation of others1 or try to persuade the man of no strong natural powers that he can supply their deficiency by laborious application4--,sir ,joshua soon after1 in the ,third ,discourse1 alluding to the terms1 inspiration1 genius1 gusto1 applied by critics and orators to painting1 proceeds1 #8,such is the warmth with which both the ,ancients and ,moderns speak of this divine principle of the art2 but1 as ,i have formerly observed1 enthusiastick admiration seldom promotes knowledge4 ,though a student by such praise may have his attention roused and a desire excited of running in this great career2 yet it is possible that what has been said to excite1 may only serve to deter him4 ,he examines his own mind1 and perceives there nothing of that divine inspiration1 with which1 he is told1 so many others have been favoured4 ,he never travelled to heaven to gather new ideas2 and he finds himself possessed of no other qualifications than what mere common observation and a plain understanding can confer4 ,thus he becomes gloomy amidst the splendour of figurative declamation1 and thinks it hopeless to pursue an object which he supposes out of the reach of human industry4'--,vol4 ,i4 p4 #ef4 ,yet presently after he adds1 #8,it is not easy to define in what this great style consists2 nor to describe by words the proper means of acquiring it1 if the mind of the student should be at all capable of such an acquisition4 ,could we teach taste or genius by rules1 they would be no longer taste and genius4'--,ibid4 p4 #eg4 ,here then ,sir ,joshua admits that it is a question whether the student is likely to be at all capable of such an acquisition as the higher excellences of art1 though he had said in the passage just quoted above1 that it is within the reach of constant assiduity1 and of a disposition eagerly directed to the object of its pursuit1 to effect all that is usually considered as the result of natural powers4 ,is the theory which our author means to inculcate a mere delusion1 a mere arbitrary assumption8 ,at one moment1 ,sir ,joshua attributes the hopelessness of the student to attain perfection to the discouraging influence of certain figurative and overstrained expressions1 and in the next doubts his capacity for such an acquisition under any circumstances4 ,would he have him hope against hope1 then8 ,if he #8examines his own mind and finds nothing there of that divine inspiration1 with which he is told so many others have been favoured1' but which he has never felt himself2 if #8he finds himself possessed of no other qualifications' for the highest efforts of genius and imagination #8than what mere common observation and a plain understanding can confer1' he may as well desist at once from #8ascending the brightest heaven of invention3'--if the very idea of the divinity of art deters instead of animating him1 if the enthusiasm with which others speak of it damps the flame in his own breast1 he had better not enter into a competition where he wants the first principle of success1 the daring to aspire and the hope to excel4 ,he may be assured he is not the man4 ,sir ,joshua himself was not struck at first by the sight of the masterpieces of the great style of art1 and he seems unconsciously to have adopted this theory to shew that he might still have succeeded in it but for want of due application4 ,his hypothesis goes to this--to make the common run of his readers fancy they can do all that can be done by genius1 and to make the man of genius believe he can only do what is to be done by mechanical rules and systematic industry4 ,this is not a very feasible scheme2 nor is ,sir ,joshua sufficiently clear and explicit in his reasoning in support of it4 ,in speaking of ,carlo ,maratti1 he confesses the inefficiency of this doctrine in a very remarkable manner3-- #8,carlo ,maratti succeeded better than those ,i have first named1 and ,i think owes his superiority to the extension of his views3 besides his master ,andrea ,sacchi1 he imitated ,raffaelle1 ,guido1 and the ,caraccis4 ,it is true1 there is nothing very captivating in ,carlo ,maratti2 but this proceeded from a want which cannot be completely supplied2 that is1 want of strength of parts4 ,in this certainly men are not equal2 and a man can bring home wares only in proportion to the capital with which he goes to market4 ,carlo1 by diligence1 made the most of what he had3 but there was undoubtedly a heaviness about him1 which extended itself uniformly to his invention1 expression1 his drawing1 colouring1 and the general effect of his pictures4 ,the truth is1 he never equalled any of his patterns in any one thing1 and he added little of his own4'--,ibid4 p4 #agb4 ,here then ,reynolds1 we see1 fairly gives up the argument4 ,carlo1 after all1 was a heavy hand2 nor could all his diligence and his making the most of what he had1 make up for the want of #8natural powers4' ,sir ,joshua's good sense pointed out to him the truth in the individual instance1 though he might be led astray by a vague general theory4 ,such however is the effect of a false principle that there is an evident bias in the artist's mind to make genius lean upon others for support1 instead of trusting to itself1 and developing its own incommunicable resources4 ,so in treating in the ,twelfth ,discourse of the way in which great artists are formed1 ,sir ,joshua reverts very nearly to his first position4 #8,the daily food and nourishment of the mind of an ,artist is found in the great works of his predecessors4 ,there is no other way for him to become great himself4 ,serpens1 nisi serpentem comederit1 non fit draco4 ,raffaelle1 as appears from what has been said1 had carefully studied the works of ,masaccio1 and indeed there was no other1 if we except ,michael ,angelo 7whom he likewise imitated7#cg so worthy of his attention3 and though his manner was dry and hard1 his compositions formal1 and not enough diversified1 according to the custom of ,painters in that early period1 yet his works possess that grandeur and simplicity which accompany1 and even sometimes proceed from1 regularity and hardness of manner4 ,we must consider the barbarous state of the arts before his time1 when skill in drawing was so little understood1 that the best of the painters could not even foreshorten the foot1 but every figure appeared to stand upon his toes2 and what served for drapery had1 from the hardness and smallness of the folds1 too much the appearance of cords clinging round the body4 ,he first introduced large drapery1 flowing in an easy and natural manner3 indeed he appears to be the first who discovered the path that leads to every excellence to which the art afterwards arrived1 and may therefore be justly considered as one of the ,great ,fathers of ,modern ,art4 #8,though ,i have been led on to a longer digression respecting this great painter than ,i intended1 yet ,i cannot avoid mentioning another excellence which he possessed in a very eminent degree2 he was as much distinguished among his contemporaries for his diligence and industry1 as he was for the natural faculties of his mind4 ,we are told that his whole attention was absorbed in the pursuit of his art1 and that he acquired the name of ,masaccio from his total disregard to his dress1 his person1 and all the common concerns of life4 ,he is indeed a signal instance of what well-directed diligence will do in a short time3 he lived but twenty-seven years2 yet in that short space carried the art so far beyond what it had before reached1 that he appears to stand alone as a model for his successors4 ,vasari gives a long catalogue of painters and sculptors who formed their taste and learned their art1 by studying his works2 among those1 he names ,michael ,angelo1 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 ,pietro ,perugino1 ,raffaelle1 ,bartolomeo1 ,andrea del ,sarto1 ,il ,rosso1 and ,pierino del ,vaga4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #ie4 ,sir ,joshua here again halts between two opinions4 ,he tells us the names of the painters who formed themselves upon ,masaccio's style3 he does not tell us on whom he formed himself4 ,at one time the natural faculties of his mind were as remarkable as his industry2 at another he was only a signal instance of what well-directed diligence will do in a short time4 ,then again #8he appears to have been the first who discovered the path that leads to every excellence to which the ,art afterwards arrived1' though he is introduced in an argument to shew that #8the daily food and nourishment of the mind of the ,artist must be found in the works of his predecessors4' ,there is something surely very wavering and unsatisfactory in all this4 ,sir ,joshua1 in another part of his work1 endeavours to reconcile and prop up these contradictions by a paradoxical sophism which ,i think turns upon himself4 ,he says1 #8,i am on the contrary persuaded1 that by imitation only' 7by which he has just explained himself to mean the study of other masters7 #8variety and even originality of invention is produced4 ,i will go further2 even genius1 at least1 what is so called1 is the child of imitation4 ,but as this appears to be contrary to the general opinion1 ,i must explain my position before ,i enforce it4 #8,genius is supposed to be a power of producing excellencies1 which are out of the reach of the rules of art2 a power which no precepts can teach1 and which no industry can acquire4 #8,this opinion of the impossibility of acquiring those beauties1 which stamp the work with the character of genius1 supposes that it is something more fixed than in reality it is2 and that we always do and ever did agree in opinion1 with respect to what should be considered as the characteristick of genius4 ,but the truth is1 that the degree of excellence which proclaims ,genius is different in different times and different places2 and what shows it to be so is1 that mankind have often changed their opinion upon this matter4 #8,when the ,arts were in their infancy1 the power of merely drawing the likeness of any object1 was considered as one of its greatest efforts4 ,the common people1 ignorant of the principles of art1 talk the same language even to this day4 ,but when it was found that every man could be taught to do this1 and a great deal more1 merely by the observance of certain precepts2 the name of ,genius then shifted its application1 and was given only to him who added the peculiar character of the object he represented2 to him who had invention1 expression1 grace1 or dignity1 in short1 those qualities or excellencies1 the power of producing which could not then be taught by any known and promulgated rules4 #8,we are very sure that the beauty of form1 the expression of the passions1 the art of composition1 even the power of giving a general air of grandeur to a work1 is at present very much under the dominion of rules4 ,these excellencies were heretofore considered merely as the effects of genius2 and justly1 if genius is not taken for inspiration1 but as the effect of close observation and experience4'--,,the ,,sixth ,,discourse1 ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #aec4 ,sir ,joshua began with undertaking to shew that #8genius was the child of the imitation of others2 and now it turns out not to be inspiration indeed1 but the effect of close observation and experience4' ,the whole drift of this argument appears to be contrary to what the writer intended2 for the obvious inference is that the essence of genius consists entirely1 both in kind and degree1 in the single circumstance of originality4 ,the very same things are or are not genius1 according as they proceed from invention or from mere imitation4 ,in so far as a thing is original1 as it has never been done before1 it acquires and it deserves the appellation of genius3 in so far as it is not original1 and is borrowed from others or taught by rule1 it is not1 neither is it called1 genius4 ,this does not make much for the supposition that genius is a traditional and second-hand quality4 ,because1 for example1 a man without much genius can copy a picture of ,michael ,angelo's1 does it follow that there was no genius in the original design1 or that the inventor and the copyist are equal8 ,if indeed1 as ,sir ,joshua labours to prove1 mere imitation of existing models and attention to established rules could produce results exactly similar to those of natural powers1 if the progress of art as a learned profession were a gradual but continual accumulation of individual excellence1 instead of being a sudden and almost miraculous start to the highest beauty and grandeur nearly at first1 and a regular declension to mediocrity ever after1 then indeed the distinction between genius and imitation would be little worth contending for2 the causes might be different1 the effects would be the same1 or rather skill to avail ourselves of external advantages would be of more importance and efficacy than the most powerful internal resources4 ,but as the case stands1 all the great works of art have been the offspring of individual genius1 either projecting itself before the general advances of society or striking out a separate path for itself2 all the rest is but labour in vain4 ,for every purpose of emulation or instruction1 we go back to the original inventors1 not to those who imitated1 and as it is falsely pretended1 improved upon their models3 or if those who followed have at any time attained as high a rank or surpassed their predecessors1 it was not from borrowing their excellences1 but by unfolding new and exquisite powers of their own1 of which the moving principle lay in the individual mind1 and not in the stimulus afforded by previous example and general knowledge4 ,great faults1 it is true1 may be avoided1 but great excellences can never be attained in this way4 ,if ,sir ,joshua's hypothesis of progressive refinement in art was any thing more than a verbal fallacy1 why does he go back to ,michael ,angelo as the ,god of his idolatry8 ,why does he find fault with ,carlo ,maratti for being heavy8 ,or why does he declare as explicitly as truly1 that #8the judgment1 after it has been long passive1 by degrees loses its power of becoming active when exertion is necessary8'--,once more to point out the fluctuation in ,sir ,joshua's notions on this subject of the advantages of natural genius and artificial study1 he says1 when recommending the proper objects of ambition to the young artist-- #8,my advice in a word is this3 keep your principal attention fixed upon the higher excellencies4 ,if you compass them1 and compass nothing more1 you are still in the first class4 ,we may regret the innumerable beauties which you may want2 you may be very imperfect2 but still you are an imperfect artist of the highest order4'--,vol4 ,i4 p4 #aaf4 ,this is in the ,fifth ,discourse4 ,in the ,seventh our artist seems to waver1 and fling a doubt on his former decision1 whereby #8it loses some colour4' #8,indeed perfection in an inferior style may be reasonably preferred to mediocrity in the highest walks of art4 ,a landscape of ,claude ,lorraine may#ch be preferred to a history by ,luca ,giordano3 but hence appears the necessity of the connoisseur's knowing in what consists the excellency of each class1 in order to judge how near it approaches to perfection4'--,ibid4 p4 #bag4 ,as he advances1 however1 he grows bolder1 and altogether discards his theory of judging of the artist by the class to which he belongs--#8,but we have the sanction of all mankind1' he says1 #8in preferring genius in a lower rank of art1 to feebleness and insipidity in the highest4' ,this is in speaking of ,gainsborough4 ,the whole passage is excellent1 and1 ,i should think1 conclusive against the general and factitious style of art on which he insists so much at other times4 #8,on this ground1 however unsafe1 ,i will venture to prophesy1 that two of the last distinguished ,painters of that country1 ,i mean ,pompeio ,battoni1 and ,raffaelle ,mengs1 however great their names may at present sound in our ears1#ci will very soon fall into the rank of ,imperiale1 ,sebastian ,concha1 ,placido ,constanza1 ,massuccio1 and the rest of their immediate predecessors2 whose names1 though equally renowned in their life-time1 are now fallen into what is little short of total oblivion4 ,i do not say that those painters were not superior to the artist ,i allude to1#dj and whose loss we lament1 in a certain routine of practice1 which1 to the eyes of common observers1 has the air of a learned composition1 and bears a sort of superficial resemblance to the manner of the great men who went before them4 ,i know this perfectly well2 but ,i know likewise1 that a man looking for real and lasting reputation must unlearn much of the common-place method so observable in the works of the artists whom ,i have named4 ,for my own part1 ,i confess1 ,i take more interest in and am more captivated with the powerful impression of nature1 which ,gainsborough exhibited in his portraits and in his landscapes1 and the interesting simplicity and elegance of his little ordinary beggar-children1 than with any of the works of that ,school1 since the time of ,andrea ,sacchi1 or perhaps we may say1 ,carlo ,maratti2 two painters who may truly be said to be ,,ultimi ,,romanorum4 #8,i am well aware how much ,i lay myself open to the censure and ridicule of the ,academical professors of other nations1 in preferring the humble attempts of ,gainsborough to the works of those regular graduates in the great historical style4 ,but we have the sanction of all mankind in preferring genius in a lower rank of art to feebleness and insipidity in the highest4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #aeb4 ,yet this excellent artist and critic had said but a few pages before1 when working upon his theory--#8,for this reason ,i shall beg leave to lay before you a few thoughts on the subject2 to throw out some hints that may lead your minds to an opinion 7which ,i take to be the true one7 that ,painting is not only not to be considered as an imitation operating by deception1 but that it is1 and ought to be1 in many points of view and strictly speaking1 no imitation at all of external nature4 ,perhaps it ought to be as far removed from the vulgar idea of imitation as the refined civilised state in which we live is removed from a gross state of nature2 and those who have not cultivated their imaginations1 which the majority of mankind certainly have not1 may be said1 in regard to arts1 to continue in this state of nature4 ,such men will always prefer imitation' 7the imitation of nature7 #8to that excellence which is addressed to another faculty that they do not possess2 but these are not the persons to whom a painter is to look1 any more than a judge of morals and manners ought to refer controverted points upon those subjects to the opinions of people taken from the banks of the ,ohio1 or from ,new ,holland4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #aai4 ,in opposition to the sentiment here expressed1 that #8,painting is and ought to be1 in many points of view and strictly speaking1 no imitation at all of external nature1' it is emphatically said in another place--#8,nature is and must be the fountain which alone is inexhaustible2 and from which all excellencies must originally flow4'--,discourse ,,vi4 ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #afb4 ,i cannot undertake to reconcile so many contradictions1 nor do ,i think it an easy task for the student to derive any simple or intelligible clue from these conflicting authorities and broken hints in the prosecution of his art4 ,sir ,joshua appears to have imbibed from others 7,burke or ,johnson7 a spurious metaphysical notion that art was to be preferred to nature1 and learning to genius1 with which his own good sense and practical observation were continually at war1 but from which he only emancipates himself for a moment to relapse into the same error again shortly after4#da ,the conclusion of the ,twelfth ,discourse is1 ,i think1 however1 a triumphant and unanswerable denunciation of his own favourite paradox on the objects and study of art4 #8,those artists1' 7he says with a strain of eloquent truth17 #8who have quitted the service of nature1 7whose service1 when well understood1 is perfect freedom17 and have put themselves under the direction of ,i know not what capricious fantastical mistress1 who fascinates and overpowers their whole mind1 and from whose dominion there are no hopes of their being ever reclaimed 7since they appear perfectly satisfied1 and not at all conscious of their forlorn situation7 like the transformed followers of ,comus4 8,not once perceive their foul disfigurement2 ,but boast themselves more comely than before40 #8,methinks1 such men1 who have found out so short a path1 have no reason to complain of the shortness of life and the extent of art2 since life is so much longer than is wanted for their improvement1 or is indeed necessary for the accomplishment of their idea of perfection4#db ,on the contrary1 he who recurs to nature1 at every recurrence renews his strength4 ,the rules of art he is never likely to forget3 they are few and simple3 but ,nature is refined1 subtle1 and infinitely various1 beyond the power and retention of memory2 it is necessary therefore to have continual recourse to her4 ,in this intercourse1 there is no end of his improvement3 the longer he lives1 the nearer he approaches to the true and perfect idea of ,art4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #ajh4 ,,essay ,,xiv ,,the ,,same ,,subject ,,continued ,the first inquiry which runs through ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's ,discourses is1 whether the student ought to look at nature with his own eyes or with the eyes of others1 and on the whole1 he apparently inclines to the latter4 ,the second question is1 what is to be understood by nature2 whether it is a general and abstract idea1 or an aggregate of particulars2 and he strenuously maintains the former of these positions4 ,yet it is not easy always to determine how far or with what precise limitations he does so4 ,the first germ of his speculations on this subject is to be found in two papers in the ,idler4 ,in the last paragraph of the second of these1 he says1 #8,if it has been proved that the ,painter1 by attending to the invariable and general ideas of nature1 produces beauty1 he must1 by regarding minute particularities and accidental discriminations1 deviate from the universal rule1 and pollute his canvas with deformity4'--,see ,works1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #bdb4 ,in answer to this1 ,i would say that deformity is not the being varied in the particulars1 in which all things differ 7for on this principle all nature1 which is made up of individuals1 would be a heap of deformity7 but in violating general rules1 in which they all or almost all agree4 ,thus there are no two noses in the world exactly alike1 or without a great variety of subordinate parts1 which may still be handsome1 but a face without any nose at all1 or a nose 7like that of a mask7 without any particularity in the details1 would be a great deformity in art or nature4 ,sir ,joshua seems to have been led into his notions on this subject either by an ambiguity of terms1 or by taking only one view of nature4 ,he supposes grandeur1 or the general effect of the whole1 to consist in leaving out the particular details1 because these details are sometimes found without any grandeur of effect1 and he therefore conceives the two things to be irreconcileable and the alternatives of each other4 ,this is very imperfect reasoning4 ,if the mere leaving out the details constituted grandeur1 any one could do this3 the greatest dauber would at that rate be the greatest artist4 ,a house or sign-painter might instantly enter the lists with ,michael ,angelo1 and might look down on the little1 dry1 hard manner of ,raphael4 ,but grandeur depends on a distinct principle of its own1 not on a negation of the parts2 and as it does not arise from their omission1 so neither is it incompatible with their insertion or the highest finishing4 ,in fact1 an artist may give the minute particulars of any object one by one1 and with the utmost care1 and totally neglect the proportions1 arrangement and general masses1 on which the effect of the whole more immediately depends2 or he may give the latter1 viz4 the proportions and arrangement of the larger parts and the general masses of light and shade1 and leave all the minuter parts of which those parts are composed a mere blotch1 one general smear1 like the first crude and hasty getting in of the ground-work of a picture3 he may do either of these1 or he may combine both1 that is1 finish the parts1 but put them in their right places1 and keep them in due subordination to the general effect and massing of the whole4 ,if the exclusion of the parts were necessary to the grandeur of the whole composition1 if the more entire this exclusion1 if the more like a tabula rasa1 a vague1 undefined1 shadowy and abstracted representation the picture was1 the greater the grandeur1 there could be no danger of pushing this principle too far1 and going the full length of ,sir ,joshua's theory without any restrictions or mental reservations4 ,but neither of these suppositions is true4 ,the greatest grandeur may co-exist with the most perfect1 nay with a microscopic accuracy of detail1 as we see it does often in nature3 the greatest looseness and slovenliness of execution may be displayed without any grandeur at all either in the outline or distribution of the masses of colour4 ,to explain more particularly what ,i mean4 ,i have seen and copied portraits by ,titian1 in which the eyebrows were marked with a number of small strokes1 like hair-lines 7indeed1 the hairs of which they were composed were in a great measure given7--but did this destroy the grandeur of expression1 the truth of outline1 arising from the arrangement of these hair-lines in a given form8 ,the grandeur1 the character1 the expression remained1 for the general form or arched and expanded outline remained1 just as much as if it had been daubed in with a blacking-brush3 the introduction of the internal parts and texture only added delicacy and truth to the general and striking effect of the whole4 ,surely a number of small dots or lines may be arranged into the form of a square or a circle indiscriminately2 the square or circle1 that is1 the larger figure1 remains the same1 whether the line of which it consists is broken or continuous2 as we may see in prints where the outlines1 features1 and masses remain the same in all the varieties of mezzotinto1 dotted and line engraving4 ,if ,titian in marking the appearance of the hairs had deranged the general shape and contour of the eyebrows1 he would have destroyed the look of nature2 but as he did not1 but kept both in view1 he proportionately improved his copy of it4 ,so in what regards the masses of light and shade1 the variety1 the delicate transparency and broken transitions of the tints is not inconsistent with the greatest breadth or boldest contrasts4 ,if the light1 for instance1 is thrown strongly on one side of a face1 and the other is cast into deep shade1 let the individual and various parts of the surface be finished with the most scrupulous exactness both in the drawing and in the colours3 provided nature is not exceeded1 this will not nor cannot destroy the force and harmony of the composition4 ,one side of the face will still have that great and leading distinction of being seen in shadow1 and the other of being seen in the light1 let the subordinate differences be as many and as precise as they will4 ,suppose a panther is painted in the sun3 will it be necessary to leave out the spots to produce breadth and the great style1 or will not this be done more effectually by painting the spots of one side of his shaggy coat as they are seen in the light1 and those of the other as they really appear in natural shadow8 the two masses are thus preserved completely1 and no offence is done to truth and nature4 ,otherwise we resolve the distribution of light and shade into local colouring4 ,the masses1 the grandeur exist equally in external nature with the local differences of different colours4 ,yet ,sir ,joshua seems to argue that the grandeur1 the effect of the whole object1 is confined to the general idea in the mind1 and that all the littleness and individuality is in nature4 ,this is an essentially false view of the subject4 ,this grandeur1 this general effect1 is indeed always combined with the details1 or what our theoretical reasoner would designate as littleness in nature3 and so it ought to be in art1 as far as art can follow nature with prudence and profit4 ,what is the fault of ,denner's style8 ,it is1 that he does not give this combination of properties3 that he gives only one view of nature1 that he abstracts the details1 the finishing1 the curiosities of natural appearances from the general result1 truth and character of the whole1 and in finishing every part with elaborate care1 totally loses sight of the more important and striking appearance of the object as it presents itself to us in nature4 ,he gives every part of a face2 but the shape1 the expression1 the light and shade of the whole is wrong1 and as far as can be from what is natural4 ,he gives an infinite variety of tints1 but they are not the tints of the human face1 nor are they subjected to any principle of light and shade4 ,he is different from ,rembrandt or ,titian4 ,the ,english school1 formed on ,sir ,joshua's theory1 give neither the finishing of the parts nor the effect of the whole1 but an inexplicable dumb mass without distinction or meaning4 ,they do not do as ,denner did1 and think that not to do as he did is to do as ,titian and ,rembrandt did2 ,i do not know whether they would take it as a compliment to be supposed to imitate nature4 ,some few artists1 it must be said1 have #8of late reformed this indifferently among us6 ,oh6 let them reform it altogether6' ,i have no doubt they would if they could2 but ,i have some doubts whether they can or not4--,before ,i proceed to consider the question of beauty and grandeur as it relates to the selection of form1 ,i will quote a few passages from ,sir ,joshua with reference to what has been said on the imitation of particular objects4 ,in the ,third ,discourse he observes1 #8,i will now add that nature herself is not to be too closely copied4444 ,a mere copier of nature can never produce any thing great2 can never raise and enlarge the conceptions1 or warm the heart of the spectator4 ,the wish of the genuine painter must be more extensive3 instead of endeavouring to amuse mankind with the minute neatness of his imitations1 he must endeavour to improve them by the grandeur of his ideas2 instead of seeking praise by deceiving the superficial sense of the spectator1 he must strive for fame by captivating the imagination4'--,vol4 ,i4 p4 #ec4 ,from this passage it would surely seem that there was nothing in nature but minute neatness and superficial effect3 nothing great in her style1 for an imitator of it can produce nothing great2 nothing #8to enlarge the conceptions or warm the heart of the spectator4' #8,what word hath passed thy lips1 ,adam severe8' ,all that is truly grand or excellent is a figment of the imagination1 a vapid creation out of nothing1 a pure effect of overlooking and scorning the minute neatness of natural objects4 ,this will not do4 ,again1 ,sir ,joshua lays it down without any qualification that #8,the whole beauty and grandeur of the art consists in being able to get above all singular forms1 local customs1 peculiarities1 and details of every kind4'--,page #eh4 ,yet at p4 #hb we find him acknowledging a different opinion4 #8,i am very ready to allow' 7he says1 in speaking of history-painting7 #8that some circumstances of minuteness and particularity frequently tend to give an air of truth to a piece1 and to interest the spectator in an extraordinary manner4 ,such circumstances therefore cannot wholly be rejected3 but if there be any thing in the ,art which requires peculiar nicety of discernment1 it is the disposition of these minute circumstantial parts2 which1 according to the judgment employed in the choice1 become so useful to truth or so injurious to grandeur4'--,page #hb4 ,that's true2 but the sweeping clause against #8all particularities and details of every kind' is clearly got rid of4 ,the undecided state of ,sir ,joshua's feelings on this subject of the incompatibility between the whole and the details is strikingly manifested in two short passages which follow each other in the space of two pages4 ,speaking of some pictures of ,paul ,veronese and ,rubens as distinguished by the dexterity and the unity of style displayed in them1 he adds-- #8,it is by this and this alone1 that the mechanical power is ennobled1 and raised much above its natural rank4 ,and it appears to me1 that with propriety it acquires this character1 as an instance of that superiority with which mind predominates over matter1 by contracting into one whole what nature has made multifarious4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #fc4 ,this would imply that the principle of unity and integrity is only in the mind1 and that nature is a heap of disjointed1 disconnected particulars1 a chaos of points and atoms4 ,in the very next page1 the following sentence occurs-- #8,as painting is an art1 they' 7the ignorant7 #8think they ought to be pleased in proportion as they see that art ostentatiously displayed2 they will from this supposition prefer neatness1 high finishing1 and gaudy colouring1 to the truth1 simplicity and unity of nature4' ,before1 neatness and high finishing were supposed to belong exclusively to the littleness of nature1 but here truth1 simplicity and unity are her characteristics4 ,soon after1 ,sir ,joshua says1 #8,i should be sorry if what has been said should be understood to have any tendency to encourage that carelessness which leaves work in an unfinished state4 ,i commend nothing for the want of exactness2 ,i mean to point out that kind of exactness which is the best1 and which is alone truly to be so esteemed4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #fe4 ,this ,sir ,joshua has already told us consists in getting above #8all particularities and details of every kind4' ,once more we find it is stated that #8,it is in vain to attend to the variation of tints1 if in that attention the general hue of flesh is lost2 or to finish ever so minutely the parts1 if the masses are not observed1 or the whole not well put together4' ,nothing can be truer3 but why always suppose the two things at variance with each other8 #8,titian's manner was then new to the world1 but that unshaken truth on which it is founded1 has fixed it as a model to all succeeding painters2 and those who will examine into the artifice1 will find it to consist in the power of generalising1 and in the shortness and simplicity of the means employed4'--,page #ea4 ,titian's real excellence consisted in the power of generalising and of individualising at the same time3 if it were merely the former1 it would be difficult to account for the error immediately after pointed out by ,sir ,joshua4 ,he says in the very next paragraph3 #8,many artists1 as ,vasari likewise observes1 have ignorantly imagined they are imitating the manner of ,titian1 when they leave their colours rough1 and neglect the detail3 but not possessing the principles on which he wrought1 they have produced what he calls goffe pitture1 absurd1 foolish pictures4'--,ibid4 p4 #ed4 ,many artists have also imagined they were following the directions of ,sir ,joshua when they did the same thing1 that is1 neglected the detail1 and produced the same results1 vapid generalities1 absurd1 foolish pictures4 ,i will only give two short passages more1 and have done with this part of the subject4 ,i am anxious to confront ,sir ,joshua with his own authority4 #8,the advantage of this method of considering objects 7as a whole7 is what ,i wish now more particularly to enforce4 ,at the same time ,i do not forget1 that a painter must have the power of contracting as well as dilating his sight2 because he that does not at all express particulars1 expresses nothing2 yet it is certain that a nice discrimination of minute circumstances1 and a punctilious delineation of them1 whatever excellence it may have 7and ,i do not mean to detract from it71 never did confer on the artist the character of ,genius4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #dd4 ,at page #ec1 we find the following words3 #8,whether it is the human figure1 and animal1 or even inanimate objects1 there is nothing1 however unpromising in appearance1 but may be raised into dignity1 convey sentiment1 and produce emotion1 in the hands of a ,painter of genius4 ,what was said of ,virgil1 that he threw even the dung about the ground with an air of dignity1 may be applied to ,titian2 whatever he touched1 however naturally mean1 and habitually familiar1 by a kind of magic he invested with grandeur and importance4'--,no1 not by magic1 but by seeking and finding in individual nature1 and combined with details of every kind1 that grace and grandeur and unity of effect which ,sir ,joshua supposes to be a mere creation of the artist's brain6 ,titian's practice was1 ,i conceive1 to give general appearances with individual forms and circumstances3 ,sir ,joshua's theory goes too often1 and1 in its prevailing bias1 to separate the two things as inconsistent with each other1 and thereby to destroy or bring into question that union of striking effect with accuracy of resemblance in which the essence of sound art 7as far as relates to imitation7 consists4 ,farther1 as ,sir ,joshua is inclined to merge the details of individual objects in general effect1 so he is resolved to reduce all beauty or grandeur in natural objects to a central form or abstract idea of a certain class1 so as to exclude all peculiarities or deviations from this ideal standard as unfit subjects for the artist's pencil1 and as polluting his canvas with deformity4 ,as the former principle went to destroy all exactness and solidity in particular things1 this goes to confound all variety1 distinctness1 and characteristic force in the broader scale of nature4 ,there is a principle of conformity in nature or of something in common between a number of individuals of the same class1 but there is also a principle of contrast1 of discrimination and identity1 which is equally essential in the system of the universe and in the structure of our ideas both of art and nature4 ,sir ,joshua would hardly neutralise the tints of the rainbow to produce a dingy grey1 as a medium or central colour3 why then should he neutralise all features1 forms1 c4 to produce an insipid monotony8 ,he does not indeed consider his theory of beauty as applicable to colour1 which he well understood1 but insists upon1 and literally enforces it as to form and ideal conceptions1 of which he knew comparatively little1 and where his authority is more questionable4 ,i will not in this place undertake to shew that his theory of a middle form 7as the standard of taste and beauty7 is not true of the outline of the human face and figure or other organic bodies1 though ,i think that even there it is only one principle or condition of beauty2 but ,i do say that it has little or nothing to do with those other capital parts of painting1 colour1 character1 expression1 and grandeur of conception4 ,sir ,joshua himself contends that #8beauty in creatures of the same species is the medium or centre of all its various forms2' and he maintains that grandeur is the same abstraction of the species in the individual4 ,therefore beauty and grandeur must be the same thing1 which they are not2 so that this definition must be faulty4 ,grandeur ,i should suppose to imply something that elevates and expands the mind1 which is chiefly power or magnitude4 ,beauty is that which soothes and melts it1 and its source ,i apprehend is a certain harmony1 softness1 and gradation of form1 within the limits of our customary associations1 no doubt1 or of what we expect of certain species1 but not independent of every other consideration4 ,our critic himself confesses of ,michael ,angelo1 whom he regards as the pattern of the great and sublime style1 that #8his people are a superior order of beings2 there is nothing about them1 nothing in the air of their actions or their attitudes1 or the style or cast of their limbs or features1 that reminds us of their belonging to our own species4 ,rafaelle's imagination is not so elevated3 his figures are not so much disjoined from our own diminutive race of beings1 though his ideas are chaste1 noble1 and of great conformity to their subjects4 ,michael ,angelo's works have a strong1 peculiar1 and marked character3 they seem to proceed from his own mind entirely1 and that mind so rich and abundant1 that he never needed or seemed to disdain to look abroad for foreign help4 ,rafaelle's materials are generally borrowed1 though the noble structure is his own4' ,,fifth ,,discourse4 ,how does all this accord with the same writer's favourite theory that all beauty1 all grandeur1 and all excellence1 consist in an approximation to that central form or habitual idea of mediocrity1 from which every deviation is so much deformity and littleness8 ,michael ,angelo's figures are raised above our diminutive race of beings1 yet they are confessedly the standard of sublimity in what regards the human form4 ,grandeur then admits of an exaggeration of our habitual impressions2 and #8the strong1 marked1 and peculiar character which ,michael ,angelo has at the same time given to his works1' does not take away from it4 ,this is fact against argument4 ,i would take ,sir ,joshua's word for the goodness of a picture1 and for its distinguishing properties1 sooner than ,i would for an abstract metaphysical theory4 ,our artist also speaks continually of high and low subjects4 ,there can be no distinction of this kind upon his principle1 that the standard of taste is the adhering to the central form of each species1 and that every species is in itself equally beautiful4 ,the painter of flowers1 of shells1 or of any thing else1 is equally elevated with ,raphael or ,michael1 if he adheres to the generic or established form of what he paints3 the rest1 according to this definition1 is a matter of indifference4 ,there must therefore be something besides the central or customary form to account for the difference of dignity1 for the high and low style in nature or in art4 ,michael ,angelo's figures1 we are told1 are more than ordinarily grand3 why1 by the same rule1 may not ,raphael's be more than ordinarily beautiful1 have more than ordinary softness1 symmetry1 and grace8--,character and expression are still less included in the present theory4 ,all character is a departure from the common-place form2 and ,sir ,joshua makes no scruple to declare that expression destroys beauty4 ,thus he says1 #8,if you mean to preserve the most perfect beauty in its most perfect state1 you cannot express the passions1 all of which produce distortion and deformity1 more or less1 in the most beautiful faces4'--,vol4 ,i4 p4 #aah4 ,he goes on--#8,guido1 from want of choice in adapting his subject to his ideas and his powers1 or from attempting to preserve beauty where it could not be preserved1 has in this respect succeeded very ill4 ,his figures are often engaged in subjects that required great expression3 yet his ,judith and ,holofernes1 the daughter of ,herodias with the ,baptist's head1 the ,andromeda1 and some even of the ,mothers of the ,innocents1 have little more expression than his ,venus attired by the ,graces4'--,ibid4 ,what a censure is this passed upon ,guido1 and what a condemnation of his own theory1 which would reduce and level all that is truly great and praiseworthy in art to this insipid1 tasteless standard1 by setting aside as illegitimate all that does not come within the middle1 central form6 ,yet ,sir ,joshua judges of ,hogarth as he deviates from this standard1 not as he excels in individual character1 which he says is only good or tolerable as it partakes of general nature2 and he might accuse ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael1 the one for his grandeur of style1 the other for his expression2 for neither are what he sets up as the goal of perfection4--,i will just stop to remark here1 that ,sir ,joshua has committed himself very strangely in speaking of the character and expression to be found in the ,greek statues4 ,he says in one place-- #8,i cannot quit the ,apollo1 without making one observation on the character of this figure4 ,he is supposed to have just discharged his arrow at the ,python2 and by the head retreating a little towards the right shoulder1 he appears attentive to its effect4 ,what ,i would remark1 is the difference of this attention from that of the ,discobolus1 who is engaged in the same purpose1 watching the effect of his ,discus4 ,the graceful1 negligent1 though animated air of the one1 and the vulgar eagerness of the other1 furnish an instance of the judgment of the ancient ,sculptors in their nice discrimination of character4 ,they are both equally true to nature1 and equally admirable4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #ba4 ,after a few observations on the limited means of the art of ,sculpture1 and the inattention of the ancients to almost every thing but form1 we meet with the following passage3-- #8,those who think ,sculpture can express more than we have allowed may ask1 by what means we discover1 at the first glance1 the character that is represented in a ,bust1 a ,cameo1 or ,intaglio8 ,i suspect it will be found1 on close examination1 by him who is resolved not to see more than he really does see1 that the figures are distinguished by their insignia more than by any variety of form or beauty4 ,take from ,apollo his ,lyre1 from ,bacchus his ,thyrsus and ,vine-leaves1 and ,meleager the ,boar's ,head1 and there will remain little or no difference in their characters4 ,in a ,juno1 ,minerva1 or ,flora1 the idea of the artist seems to have gone no further than representing perfect beauty1 and afterwards adding the proper attributes1 with a total indifference to which they gave them4' ,what then becomes of that #8nice discrimination of character' for which our author has just before celebrated them8 #8,thus ,john ,de ,bologna1 after he had finished a group of a young man holding up a young woman in his arms1 with an old man at his feet1 called his friends together1 to tell him what name he should give it1 and it was agreed to call it ,the ,rape of the ,sabines2 and this is the celebrated group which now stands before the old ,palace at ,florence4 ,the figures have the same general expression which is to be found in most of the antique ,sculpture2 and yet it would be no wonder1 if future critics should find out delicacy of expression which was never intended2 and go so far as to see1 in the old man's countenance1 the exact relation which he bore to the woman who appears to be taken from him4'--,ibid4 p4 #be4 ,so it is that ,sir ,joshua's theory seems to rest on an inclined plane1 and is always glad of an excuse to slide1 from the severity of truth and nature1 into the milder and more equable regions of insipidity and inanity6 ,i am sorry to say so1 but so it appears to me4 ,i confess1 it strikes me as a self-evident truth that variety or contrast is as essential a principle in art and nature as uniformity1 and as necessary to make up the harmony of the universe and the contentment of the mind4 ,who would destroy the shifting effects of light and shade1 the sharp1 lively opposition of colours in the same or in different objects1 the streaks in a flower1 the stains in a piece of marble1 to reduce all to the same neutral1 dead colouring1 the same middle tint8 ,yet it is on this principle that ,sir ,joshua would get rid of all variety1 character1 expression1 and picturesque effect in forms1 or at least measure the worth or the spuriousness of all these according to their reference to or departure from a given or average standard4 ,surely1 nature is more liberal1 art is wider than ,sir ,joshua's theory4 ,allow 7for the sake of argument7 that all forms are in themselves indifferent1 and that beauty or the sense of pleasure in forms can therefore only arise from customary association1 or from that middle impression to which they all tend3 yet this cannot by the same rule apply to other things4 ,suppose there is no capacity in form to affect the mind except from its corresponding to previous expectation1 the same thing cannot be said of the idea of power or grandeur4 ,no one can say that the idea of power does not affect the mind with the sense of awe and sublimity4 ,that is1 power and weakness1 grandeur and littleness1 are not indifferent things1 the perfection of which consists in a medium between both4 ,again1 expression is not a thing indifferent in itself1 which derives its value or its interest solely from its conformity to a neutral standard4 ,who would neutralise the expression of pleasure and pain8 ,or say that the passions of the human mind1 pity1 love1 joy1 sorrow1 c4 are only interesting to the imagination and worth the attention of the artist1 as he can reduce them to an equivocal state which is neither pleasant nor painful1 neither one thing nor the other8 ,or who would stop short of the utmost refinement1 precision1 and force in the delineation of each8 ,ideal expression is not neutral expression1 but extreme expression4 ,again1 character is a thing of peculiarity1 of striking contrast1 of distinction1 and not of uniformity4 ,it is necessarily opposed to ,sir ,joshua's exclusive theory1 and yet it is surely a curious and interesting field of speculation for the human mind4 ,lively1 spirited discrimination of character is one source of gratification to the lover of nature and art1 which it could not be1 if all truth and excellence consisted in rejecting individual traits4 ,ideal character is not common-place1 but consistent character marked throughout1 which may take place in history or portrait4 ,historical truth in a picture is the putting the different features of the face or muscles of the body into consistent action4 ,the picturesque altogether depends on particular points or qualities of an object1 projecting as it were beyond the middle line of beauty1 and catching the eye of the spectator4 ,it was less1 however1 my intention to hazard any speculations of my own1 than to confirm the common-sense feelings on the subject by ,sir ,joshua's own admissions in different places4 ,in the ,tenth ,discourse1 speaking of some objections to the ,apollo1 he has these remarkable words-- #8,in regard to the last objection 7viz4 that the lower half of the figure is longer than just proportion allows7 it must be remembered1 that ,apollo is here in the exertion of one of his peculiar powers1 which is swiftness2 he has therefore that proportion which is best adapted to that character4 ,this is no more incorrectness1 than when there is given to an ,hercules an extraordinary swelling and strength of muscles4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #bj4 ,strength and activity then do not depend on the middle form2 and the middle form is to be sacrificed to the representation of these positive qualities4 ,character is thus allowed not only to be an integrant part of the antique and classical style of art1 but even to take precedence of and set aside the abstract idea of beauty4 ,little more would be required to justify ,hogarth in his ,gothic resolution1 that if he were to make a figure of ,charon1 he would give him bandy legs1 because watermen are generally bandy-legged4 ,it is very well to talk of the abstract idea of a man or of a ,god1 but if you come to any thing like an intelligible proposition1 you must either individualise and define1 or destroy the very idea you contemplate4 ,sir ,joshua goes into this question at considerable length in the ,third ,discourse4 #8,to the principle ,i have laid down1 that the idea of beauty in each species of beings is an invariable one1 it may be objected1' he says1 #8that in every particular species there are various central forms1 which are separate and distinct from each other1 and yet are undeniably beautiful2 that in the human figure1 for instance1 the beauty of ,hercules is one1 of the ,gladiator another1 of the ,apollo another1 which makes so many different ideas of beauty4 ,it is true1 indeed1 that these figures are each perfect in their kind1 though of different characters and proportions2 but still none of them is the representation of an individual1 but of a class4 ,and as there is one general form1 which1 as ,i have said1 belongs to the human kind at large1 so in each of these classes there is one common idea which is the abstract of the various individual forms belonging to that class4 ,thus1 though the forms of childhood and age differ exceedingly1 there is a common form in childhood1 and a common form in age1 which is the more perfect as it is remote from all peculiarities4 ,but ,i must add further1 that though the most perfect forms of each of the general divisions of the human figure are ideal1 and superior to any individual form of that class2 yet the highest perfection of the human figure is not to be found in any of them4 ,it is not in the ,hercules1 nor in the ,gladiator1 nor in the ,apollo2 but in that form which is taken from all1 and which partakes equally of the activity of the ,gladiator1 of the delicacy of the ,apollo1 and of the muscular strength of the ,hercules4 ,for perfect beauty in any species must combine all the characters which are beautiful in that species4 ,it cannot consist in any one to the exclusion of the rest3 no one1 therefore1 must be predominant1 that no one may be deficient4'--,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #fd4 ,sir ,joshua here supposes the distinctions of classes and character to be necessarily combined with the general leading idea of a middle form4 ,this middle form is not to confound age1 sex1 circumstance1 under one sweeping abstraction3 but we must limit the general idea by certain specific differences and characteristic marks1 belonging to the several subordinate divisions and ramifications of each class4 ,this is enough to shew that there is a principle of individuality as well as of abstraction inseparable from works of art as well as nature4 ,we are to keep the human form distinct from that of other living beings1 that of men from that of women2 we are to distinguish between age and infancy1 between thoughtfulness and gaiety1 between strength and softness4 ,where is this to stop8 ,but ,sir ,joshua turns round upon himself in this very passage1 and says1 #8,no3 we are to unite the strength of the ,hercules with the delicacy of the ,apollo2 for perfect beauty in any species must combine all the characters which are beautiful in that species4' ,now if these different characters are beautiful in themselves1 why not give them for their own sakes and in their most striking appearances1 instead of qualifying and softening them down in a neutral form2 which must produce a compromise1 not a union of different excellencies4 ,if all excess of beauty1 if all character is deformity1 then we must try to lose it as fast as possible in other qualities4 ,but if strength is an excellence1 if activity is an excellence1 if delicacy is an excellence1 then the perfection1 i4e4 the highest degree of each of these qualities cannot be attained but by remaining satisfied with a less degree of the rest4 ,but let us hear what ,sir ,joshua himself advances on this subject in another part of the ,discourses4 #8,some excellencies bear to be united1 and are improved by union3 others are of a discordant nature3 and the attempt to unite them only produces a harsh jarring of incongruent principles4 ,the attempt to unite contrary excellencies 7of form1 for instance#dc7 in a single figure1 can never escape degenerating into the monstrous but by sinking into the insipid2 by taking away its marked character1 and weakening its expression4 #8,obvious as these remarks appear1 there are many writers on our art1 who not being of the profession1 and consequently not knowing what can or cannot be done1 have been very liberal of absurd praises in their description of favourite works4 ,they always find in them what they are resolved to find4 ,they praise excellencies that can hardly exist together2 and above all things are fond of describing with great exactness the expression of a mixed passion1 which more particularly appears to me out of the reach of our art4'#dd #8,such are many disquisitions which ,i have read on some of the ,cartoons and other pictures of ,raffaelle1 where the critics have described their own imaginations2 or indeed where the excellent master himself may have attempted this expression of passions above the powers of the art2 and has1 therefore1 by an indistinct and imperfect marking1 left room for every imagination with equal probability to find a passion of his own4 ,what has been1 and what can be done in the art1 is sufficiently difficult3 we need not be mortified or discouraged at not being able to execute the conceptions of a romantic imagination4 ,art has its boundaries1 though imagination has none4 ,we can easily1 like the ancients1 suppose a ,jupiter to be possessed of all those powers and perfections which the subordinate ,deities were endowed with separately4 ,yet when they employed their art to represent him1 they confined his character to majesty alone4 ,pliny1 therefore1 though we are under great obligations to him for the information he has given us in relation to the works of the ancient artists1 is very frequently wrong when he speaks of them1 which he does very often1 in the style of many of our modern connoisseurs4 ,he observes that in a statue of ,paris1 by ,euphranor1 you might discover at the same time three different characters2 the dignity of a ,judge of the ,goddesses1 the ,lover of ,helen1 and the ,conqueror of ,achilles4 ,a statue in which you endeavour to unite stately dignity1 youthful elegance1 and stern valour1 must surely possess none of these to any eminent degree4 #8,from hence it appears1 that there is much difficulty as well as danger in an endeavour to concentrate in a single subject those various powers1 which1 rising from various points1 naturally move in different directions4'--,vol4 ,i4 p4 #abj4 ,what real clue to the art or sound principles of judging the student can derive from these contradictory statements1 or in what manner it is possible to reconcile them one to the other1 ,i confess ,i am at a loss to discover4 ,as it appears to me1 all the varieties of nature in the infinite number of its qualities1 combinations1 characters1 expressions1 incidents1 etc4 rise from distinct points or centres and must move in distinct directions1 as the forms of different species are to be referred to a separate standard4 ,it is the object of art to bring them out in all their force1 clearness1 and precision1 and not to blend them into a vague1 vapid1 nondescript ideal conception1 which pretends to unite1 but in reality destroys4 ,sir ,joshua's theory limits nature and paralyses art4 ,according to him1 the middle form or the average of our various impressions is the source from which all beauty1 pleasure1 interest1 imagination springs4 ,i contend1 on the contrary1 that this very variety is good in itself1 nor do ,i agree with him that the whole of nature as it exists in fact is stark naught1 and that there is nothing worthy of the contemplation of a wise man but that ideal perfection which never existed in the world nor even on canvas4 ,there is something fastidious and sickly in ,sir ,joshua's system4 ,his code of taste consists too much of negations1 and not enough of positive1 prominent qualities4 ,it accounts for nothing but the beauty of the common ,antique1 and hardly for that4 ,the merit of ,hogarth1 ,i grant1 is different from that of the ,greek statues2 but ,i deny that ,hogarth is to be measured by this standard1 or by ,sir ,joshua's middle forms3 he has powers of instruction and amusement that #8rising from a different point1 naturally move in a different direction1' and completely attain their end4 ,it would be just as reasonable to condemn a comedy for not having the pathos of a tragedy or the stateliness of an epic poem4 ,if ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's theory were true1 ,dr4 ,johnson's ,irene would be a better tragedy than any of ,shakespear's4 ,the reasoning of the ,discourses is1 ,i think then1 deficient in the following particulars3 #a4 ,it seems to imply that general effect in a picture is produced by leaving out the details1 whereas the largest masses and the grandest outline are consistent with the utmost delicacy of finishing in the parts4 #b4 ,it makes no distinction between beauty and grandeur1 but refers both to an ideal or middle form1 as the centre of the various forms of the species1 and yet inconsistently attributes the grandeur of ,michael ,angelo's style to the superhuman appearance of his prophets and apostles4 #c4 ,it does not at any time make mention of power or magnitude in an object as a distinct source of the sublime 7though this is acknowledged unintentionally in the case of ,michael ,angelo1 etc471 nor of softness or symmetry of form as a distinct source of beauty1 independently of1 though still in connection with another source arising from what we are accustomed to expect from each individual species4 #d4 ,sir ,joshua's theory does not leave room for character1 but rejects it as an anomaly4 #e4 ,it does not point out the source of expression1 but considers it as hostile to beauty2 and yet1 lastly1 he allows that the middle form1 carried to the utmost theoretical extent1 neither defined by character1 nor impregnated by passion1 would produce nothing but vague1 insipid1 unmeaning generality4 ,in a word1 ,i cannot think that the theory here laid down is clear and satisfactory1 that it is consistent with itself1 that it accounts for the various excellences of art from a few simple principles1 or that the method which ,sir ,joshua has pursued in treating the subject is1 as he himself expresses it1 #8a plain and honest method4' ,it is1 ,i fear1 more calculated to baffle and perplex the student in his progress1 than to give him clear lights as to the object he should have in view1 or to furnish him with strong motives of emulation to attain it4 ,,essay ,,xv ,,on ,,paradox ,,and ,,common-,,place ,i have been sometimes accused of a fondness for paradoxes1 but ,i cannot in my own mind plead guilty to the charge4 ,i do not indeed swear by an opinion1 because it is old3 but neither do ,i fall in love with every extravagance at first sight1 because it is new4 ,i conceive that a thing may have been repeated a thousand times1 without being a bit more reasonable than it was the first time3 and ,i also conceive that an argument or an observation may be very just1 though it may so happen that it was never stated before4 ,but ,i do not take it for granted that every prejudice is ill-founded2 nor that every paradox is self-evident1 merely because it contradicts the vulgar opinion4 ,sheridan once said of some speech in his acute1 sarcastic way1 that #8it contained a great deal both of what was new and what was true3 but that unfortunately what was new was not true1 and what was true was not new4' ,this appears to me to express the whole sense of the question4 ,i do not see much use in dwelling on a common-place1 however fashionable or well-established3 nor am ,i very ambitious of starting the most specious novelty1 unless ,i imagine ,i have reason on my side4 ,originality implies independence of opinion2 but differs as widely from mere singularity as from the tritest truism4 ,it consists in seeing and thinking for one's-self3 whereas singularity is only the affectation of saying something to contradict other people1 without having any real opinion of one's own upon the matter4 ,mr4 ,burke was an original1 though an extravagant writer2 ,mr4 ,windham was a regular manufacturer of paradoxes4 ,the greatest number of minds seem utterly incapable of fixing on any conclusion1 except from the pressure of custom and authority3 opposed to these1 there is another class less numerous but pretty formidable1 who in all their opinions are equally under the influence of novelty and restless vanity4 ,the prejudices of the one are counter-balanced by the paradoxes of the other2 and folly1 #8putting in one scale a weight of ignorance1 in that of pride1' might be said to #8smile delighted with the eternal poise4' ,a sincere and manly spirit of inquiry is neither blinded by example nor dazzled by sudden flashes of light4 ,nature is always the same1 the store-house of lasting truth1 and teeming with inexhaustible variety2 and he who looks at her with steady and well-practised eyes1 will find enough to employ all his sagacity1 whether it has or has not been seen by others before him4 ,strange as it may seem1 to learn what any object is1 the true philosopher looks at the object itself1 instead of turning to others to know what they think or say or have heard of it1 or instead of consulting the dictates of his vanity1 petulance1 and ingenuity1 to see what can be said against their opinion1 and to prove himself wiser than all the rest of the world4 ,for want of this1 the real powers and resources of the mind are lost and dissipated in a conflict of opinions and passions1 of obstinacy against levity1 of bigotry against self-conceit1 of notorious abuses against rash innovations1 of dull1 plodding1 old-fashioned stupidity against new-fangled folly1 of worldly interest against headstrong egotism1 of the incorrigible prejudices of the old and the unmanageable humours of the young2 while truth lies in the middle1 and is overlooked by both parties4 ,or as ,luther complained long ago1 #8human reason is like a drunken man on horseback3 set it up on one side1 and it tumbles over on the other4'--,with one sort1 example1 authority1 fashion1 ease1 interest1 rule all3 with the other1 singularity1 the love of distinction1 mere whim1 the throwing off all restraint and showing an heroic disregard of consequences1 an impatient and unsettled turn of mind1 the want of sudden and strong excitement1 of some new play-thing for the imagination1 are equally #8lords of the ascendant1' and are at every step getting the start of reason1 truth1 nature1 common sense and feeling4 ,with one party1 whatever is1 is right3 with their antagonists1 whatever is1 is wrong4 ,these swallow every antiquated absurdity3 those catch at every new1 unfledged project--and are alike enchanted with the velocipedes or the ,french ,revolution4 ,one set1 wrapped up in impenetrable forms and technical traditions1 are deaf to every thing that has not been dinned in their ears1 and in those of their forefathers1 from time immemorial3 their hearing is thick with the same old saws1 the same unmeaning form of words1 everlastingly repeated3 the others pique themselves on a jargon of their own1 a ,babylonish dialect1 crude1 unconcocted1 harsh1 discordant1 to which it is impossible for any one else to attach either meaning or respect4 ,these last turn away at the mention of all usages1 creeds1 institutions of more than a day's standing as a mass of bigotry1 superstition1 and barbarous ignorance1 whose leaden touch would petrify and benumb their quick1 mercurial1 #8apprehensive1 forgetive' faculties4 ,the opinion of to-day supersedes that of yesterday3 that of to-morrow supersedes by anticipation that of to-day4 ,the wisdom of the ancients1 the doctrines of the learned1 the laws of nations1 the common sentiments of mortality1 are to them like a bundle of old almanacs4 ,as the modern politician always asks for this day's paper1 the modern sciolist always inquires after the latest paradox4 ,with him instinct is a dotard1 nature a changeling1 and common sense a discarded bye-word4 ,as with the man of the world1 what every body says must be true1 the citizen of the world has a quite different notion of the matter4 ,with the one the majority1 #8the powers that be1' have always been in the right in all ages and places1 though they have been cutting one another's throats and turning the world upside down with their quarrels and disputes from the beginning of time3 with the other1 what any two people have ever agreed in1 is an error on the face of it4 ,the credulous bigot shudders at the idea of altering any thing in #8time-hallowed' institutions2 and under this cant-phrase can bring himself to tolerate any knavery1 or any folly1 the ,inquisition1 ,holy ,oil1 the ,right ,divine1 c4 ,the more refined sceptic will laugh in your face at the idea of retaining any thing which has the damning stamp of custom upon it1 and is for abating all former precedents1 #8all trivial1 fond records1' the whole frame and fabric of society as a nuisance in the lump4 ,is not this a pair of wiseacres well-matched8 ,the one stickles through thick and thin for his own religion and government3 the other scouts all religions and all governments with a smile of ineffable disdain4 ,the one will not move for any consideration out of the broad and beaten path3 the other is continually turning off at right angles1 and losing himself in the labyrinths of his own ignorance and presumption4 ,the one will not go along with any party2 the other always joins the strongest side4 ,the one will not conform to any common practice2 the other will subscribe to any thriving system4 ,the one is the slave of habit1 the other is the sport of caprice4 ,the first is like a man obstinately bed-rid3 the last is troubled with ,st4 ,vitus's dance4 ,he cannot stand still1 he cannot rest upon any conclusion4 #8,he never is--but always to be right4' ,the author of the ,prometheus ,unbound 7to take an individual instance of the last character7 has a fire in his eye1 a fever in his blood1 a maggot in his brain1 a hectic flutter in his speech1 which mark out the philosophic fanatic4 ,he is sanguine-complexioned1 and shrill-voiced4 ,as is often observable in the case of religious enthusiasts1 there is a slenderness of constitutional stamina1 which renders the flesh no match for the spirit4 ,his bending1 flexible form appears to take no strong hold of things1 does not grapple with the world about him1 but slides from it like a river-- #8,and in its liquid texture mortal wound ,receives no more than can the fluid air4' ,the shock of accident1 the weight of authority make no impression on his opinions1 which retire like a feather1 or rise from the encounter unhurt1 through their own buoyancy4 ,he is clogged by no dull system of realities1 no earth-bound feelings1 no rooted prejudices1 by nothing that belongs to the mighty trunk and hard husk of nature and habit1 but is drawn up by irresistible levity to the regions of mere speculation and fancy1 to the sphere of air and fire1 where his delighted spirit floats in #8seas of pearl and clouds of amber4' ,there is no caput mortuum of worn-out1 thread-bare experience to serve as ballast to his mind2 it is all volatile intellectual salt of tartar1 that refuses to combine its evanescent1 inflammable essence with any thing solid or any thing lasting4 ,bubbles are to him the only realities3--touch them1 and they vanish4 ,curiosity is the only proper category of his mind1 and though a man in knowledge1 he is a child in feeling4 ,hence he puts every thing into a metaphysical crucible to judge of it himself and exhibit it to others as a subject of interesting experiment1 without first making it over to the ordeal of his common sense or trying it on his heart4 ,this faculty of speculating at random on all questions may in its overgrown and uninformed state do much mischief without intending it1 like an overgrown child with the power of a man4 ,mr4 ,shelley has been accused of vanity--,i think he is chargeable with extreme levity2 but this levity is so great1 that ,i do not believe he is sensible of its consequences4 ,he strives to overturn all established creeds and systems3 but this is in him an effect of constitution4 ,he runs before the most extravagant opinions1 but this is because he is held back by none of the merely mechanical checks of sympathy and habit4 ,he tampers with all sorts of obnoxious subjects1 but it is less because he is gratified with the rankness of the taint1 than captivated with the intellectual phosphoric light they emit4 ,it would seem that he wished not so much to convince or inform as to shock the public by the tenor of his productions1 but ,i suspect he is more intent upon startling himself with his electrical experiments in morals and philosophy2 and though they may scorch other people1 they are to him harmless amusements1 the coruscations of an ,aurora ,borealis1 that #8play round the head1 but do not reach the heart4' ,still ,i could wish that he would put a stop to the incessant1 alarming whirl of his ,voltaic battery4 ,with his zeal1 his talent1 and his fancy1 he would do more good and less harm1 if he were to give up his wilder theories1 and if he took less pleasure in feeling his heart flutter in unison with the panic-struck apprehensions of his readers4 ,persons of this class1 instead of consolidating useful and acknowledged truths1 and thus advancing the cause of science and virtue1 are never easy but in raising doubtful and disagreeable questions1 which bring the former into disgrace and discredit4 ,they are not contented to lead the minds of men to an eminence overlooking the prospect of social amelioration1 unless1 by forcing them up slippery paths and to the utmost verge of possibility1 they can dash them down the precipice the instant they reach the promised ,pisgah4 ,they think it nothing to hang up a beacon to guide or warn1 if they do not at the same time frighten the community like a comet4 ,they do not mind making their principles odious1 provided they can make themselves notorious4 ,to win over the public opinion by fair means is to them an insipid1 common-place mode of popularity3 they would either force it by harsh methods1 or seduce it by intoxicating potions4 ,egotism1 petulance1 licentiousness1 levity of principle 7whatever be the source7 is a bad thing in any one1 and most of all1 in a philosophical reformer4 ,their humanity1 their wisdom is always #8at the horizon4' ,any thing new1 any thing remote1 any thing questionable1 comes to them in a shape that is sure of a cordial welcome--a welcome cordial in proportion as the object is new1 as it is apparently impracticable1 as it is a doubt whether it is at all desirable4 ,just after the final failure1 the completion of the last act of the ,french ,revolution1 when the legitimate wits were crying out1 #8,the farce is over1 now let us go to supper1' these provoking reasoners got up a lively hypothesis about introducing the domestic government of the ,nayrs into this country as a feasible set-off against the success of the ,boroughmongers4 ,the practical is with them always the antipodes of the ideal2 and like other visionaries of a different stamp1 they date the ,millennium or ,new ,order of ,things from the ,restoration of the ,bourbons4 ,fine words butter no parsnips1 says the proverb4 #8,while you are talking of marrying1 ,i am thinking of hanging1' says ,captain ,macheath4 ,of all people the most tormenting are those who bid you hope in the midst of despair1 who1 by never caring about any thing but their own sanguine1 hair-brained ,utopian schemes1 have at no time any particular cause for embarrassment and despondency because they have never the least chance of success1 and who by including whatever does not hit their idle fancy1 kings1 priests1 religion1 government1 public abuses or private morals1 in the same sweeping clause of ban and anathema1 do all they can to combine all parties in a common cause against them1 and to prevent every one else from advancing one step farther in the career of practical improvement than they do in that of imaginary and unattainable perfection4 ,besides1 all this untoward heat and precocity often argues rottenness and a falling-off4 ,i myself remember several instances of this sort of unrestrained licence of opinion and violent effervescence of sentiment in the first period of the ,french ,revolution4 ,extremes meet3 and the most furious anarchists have since become the most barefaced apostates4 ,among the foremost of these ,i might mention the present poet-laureate and some of his friends4 ,the prose-writers on that side of the question1 ,mr4 ,godwin1 ,mr4 ,bentham1 c4 have not turned round in this extraordinary manner3 they seem to have felt their ground 7however mistaken in some points7 and have in general adhered to their first principles4 ,but #8poets 7as it has been said7 have such seething brains1 that they are disposed to meddle with every thing1 and mar all4 ,they make bad philosophers and worse politicians4#de ,they live1 for the most part1 in an ideal world of their own2 and it would perhaps be as well if they were confined to it4 ,their flights and fancies are delightful to themselves and to everybody else3 but they make strange work with matter of fact2 and if they were allowed to act in public affairs1 would soon turn the world the wrong side out4 ,they indulge only their own flattering dreams or superstitious prejudices1 and make idols or bugbears of whatever they please1 caring as little for history or particular facts as for general reasoning4 ,they are dangerous leaders and treacherous followers4 ,their inordinate vanity runs them into all sorts of extravagances2 and their habitual effeminacy gets them out of them at any price4 ,always pampering their own appetite for excitement1 and wishing to astonish others1 their whole aim is to produce a dramatic effect1 one way or other--to shock or delight the observers2 and they are apparently as indifferent to the consequences of what they write1 as if the world were merely a stage for them to play their fantastic tricks on1 and to make their admirers weep4 ,not less romantic in their servility than their independence1 and equally importunate candidates for fame or infamy1 they require only to be distinguished1 and are not scrupulous as to the means of distinction4 ,jacobins or ,anti-,jacobins--outrageous advocates for anarchy and licentiousness1 or flaming apostles of political persecution--always violent and vulgar in their opinions1 they oscillate1 with a giddy and sickening motion1 from one absurdity to another1 and expiate the follies of youth by the heartless vices of advancing age4 ,none so ready as they to carry every paradox to its most revolting and ridiculous excess--none so sure to caricature1 in their own persons1 every feature of the prevailing philosophy6 ,in their days of blissful innovation1 indeed1 the philosophers crept at their heels like hounds1 while they darted on their distant quarry like hawks2 stooping always to the lowest game2 eagerly snuffing up the most tainted and rankest scents2 feeding their vanity with a notion of the strength of their digestion of poisons1 and most ostentatiously avowing whatever would most effectually startle the prejudices of others4#df ,preposterously seeking for the stimulus of novelty in abstract truth1 and the eclat of theatrical exhibition in pure reason1 it is no wonder that these persons at last became disgusted with their own pursuits1 and that in consequence of the violence of the change1 the most inveterate prejudices and uncharitable sentiments have rushed in to fill up the void produced by the previous annihilation of common sense1 wisdom1 and humanity6' ,i have so far been a little hard on poets and reformers4 ,lest ,i should be thought to have taken a particular spite to them1 ,i will try to make them the amende honourable by turning to a passage in the writings of one who neither is nor ever pretended to be a poet or a reformer1 but the antithesis of both1 an accomplished man of the world1 a courtier1 and a wit1 and who has endeavoured to move the previous question on all schemes of fanciful improvement1 and all plans of practical reform1 by the following declaration4 ,it is in itself a finished common-place2 and may serve as a test whether that sort of smooth1 verbal reasoning which passes current because it excites no one idea in the mind1 is much freer from inherent absurdity than the wildest paradox4 #8,my lot1' says ,mr4 ,canning in the conclusion of the ,liverpool speech1 #8is cast under the ,british ,monarchy4 ,under that ,i have lived2 under that ,i have seen my country flourish2#dg under that ,i have seen it enjoy as great a share of prosperity1 of happiness1 and of glory1 as ,i believe any modification of human society to be capable of bestowing2 and ,i am not prepared to sacrifice or to hazard the fruit of centuries of experience1 of centuries of struggles1 and of more than one century of liberty1 as perfect as ever blessed any country upon the earth1 for visionary schemes of ideal perfectibility1 for doubtful experiments even of possible improvement4'--,mr4 ,canning's ,speech at the ,liverpool ,dinner1 given in celebration of his ,re-election1 ,march #ah1 #ahbj4 ,fourth ,edition1 revised and corrected4 ,such is ,mr4 ,canning's common-place2 and in giving the following answer to it1 ,i do not think ,i can be accused of falling into that extravagant and unmitigated strain of paradoxical reasoning1 with which ,i have already found so much fault4 ,the passage then which the gentleman here throws down as an effectual bar to all change1 to all innovation1 to all improvement1 contains at every step a refutation of his favourite creed4 ,he is not #8prepared to sacrifice or to hazard the fruit of centuries of experience1 of centuries of struggles1 and of one century of liberty1 for visionary schemes of ideal perfectibility4' ,so here are centuries of experience and centuries of struggles to arrive at one century of liberty2 and yet according to ,mr4 ,canning's general advice1 we are never to make any experiments or to engage in any struggles either with a view to future improvement1 or to recover benefits which we have lost4 ,man 7they repeat it in our ears1 line upon line1 precept upon precept7 is always to turn his back upon the future1 and his face to the past4 ,he is to believe that nothing is possible or desirable but what he finds already established to his hands in time worn institutions or inveterate abuses4 ,his understanding is to be buried in implicit creeds1 and he himself is to be made into a political automaton1 a go-cart of superstition and prejudice1 never stirring hand or foot but as he is pulled by the wires and strings of the state-conjurors1 the legitimate managers and proprietors of the shew4 ,his powers of will1 of thought1 and action are to be paralysed in him1 and he is to be told and to believe that whatever is1 must be4 ,perhaps ,mr4 ,canning will say that men were to make experiments1 and to resolve upon struggles formerly1 but that now they are to surrender their understandings and their rights into his keeping4 ,but at what period of the world was the system of political wisdom stereotyped1 like ,mr4 ,cobbett's #8,gold against ,paper1' so as to admit of no further alterations or improvements1 or correction of errors of the press8 ,when did the experience of mankind become stationary or retrograde1 so that we must act from the obsolete inferences of past periods1 not from the living impulse of existing circumstances1 and the consolidated force of the knowledge and reflection of ages up to the present instant1 naturally projecting us forward into the future1 and not driving us back upon the past8 ,did ,mr4 ,canning never hear1 did he never think1 of ,lord ,bacon's axiom1 #8,that those times are the ancient times in which we live1 and not those which counting backwards from ourselves1 ordine retrogrado1 we call ancient8' ,the latest periods must necessarily have the advantage of the sum-total of the experience that has gone before them1 and of the sum-total of human reason exerted upon that experience1 or upon the solid foundation of nature and history1 moving on in its majestic course1 not fluttering in the empty air of fanciful speculation1 nor leaving a gap of centuries between us and the long-mouldered grounds on which we are to think and act4 ,mr4 ,canning cannot plead with ,mr4 ,burke that no discoveries1 no improvements have been made in political science and institutions2 for he says we have arrived through centuries of experience and of struggles at one century of liberty4 ,is the world then at a stand8 ,mr4 ,canning knows well enough that it is in ceaseless progress and everlasting change1 but he would have it to be the change from liberty to slavery1 the progress of corruption1 not of regeneration and reform4 ,why1 no longer ago than the present year1 the two epochs of ,november and ,january last presented 7he tells us in this very speech7 as great a contrast in the state of the country as any two periods of its history the most opposite or most remote4 ,well then1 are our experience and our struggles at an end8 ,no1 he says1 #8the crisis is at hand for every man to take part for1 or against the institutions of the ,british ,monarchy4' ,his part is taken3 #8but of this be sure1 to do aught good will never be his task6' ,he will guard carefully against all possible improvements1 and maintain all possible abuses sacred1 impassive1 immortal4 ,he will not give up the fruit of centuries of experience1 of struggles1 and of one century at least of liberty1 since the ,revolution of #afhh1 for any doubtful experiments whatever4 ,we are arrived at the end of our experience1 our struggles1 and our liberty--and are to anchor through time and eternity in the harbour of passive obedience and non-resistance4 ,we 7the people of ,england7 will tell ,mr4 ,canning frankly what we think of his magnanimous and ulterior resolution4 ,it is our own2 and it has been the resolution of mankind in all ages of the world4 ,no people1 no age1 ever threw away the fruits of past wisdom1 or the enjoyment of present blessings1 for visionary schemes of ideal perfection4 ,it is the knowledge of the past1 the actual infliction of the present1 that has produced all changes1 all innovations1 and all improvements--not 7as is pretended7 the chimerical anticipation of possible advantages1 but the intolerable pressure of long-established1 notorious1 aggravated1 and growing abuses4 ,it was the experience of the enormous and disgusting abuses and corruptions of the ,papal power that produced the ,reformation4 ,it was the experience of the vexations and oppressions of the feudal system that produced its abolition after centuries of sufferings and of struggles4 ,it was the experience of the caprice and tyranny of the ,monarch that extorted ,magna ,charta at ,runnymede4 ,it was the experience of the arbitrary and insolent abuse of the prerogative in the reigns of the ,tudors and the first ,stuarts that produced the resistance to it in the reign of ,charles ,i4 and the ,grand ,rebellion4 ,it was the experience of the incorrigible attachment of the same ,stuarts to ,popery and ,slavery1 with their many acts of cruelty1 treachery1 and bigotry1 that produced the ,revolution1 and set the ,house of ,brunswick on the ,throne4 ,it was the conviction of the incurable nature of the abuse1 increasing with time and patience1 and overcoming the obstinate attachment to old habits and prejudices1 an attachment not to be rooted out by fancy or theory1 but only by repeated1 lasting1 and incontrovertible proofs1 that has abated every nuisance that ever was abated1 and introduced every innovation and every example of revolution and reform4 ,it was the experience of the abuses1 licentiousness1 and innumerable oppressions of the old ,government in ,france that produced the ,french ,revolution4 ,it was the experience of the determination of the ,british ,ministry to harass1 insult1 and plunder them1 that produced the ,revolution of the ,united ,states4 ,away then with this miserable cant against fanciful theories1 and appeal to acknowledged experience6 ,men never act against their prejudices but from the spur of their feelings1 the necessity of their situations--their theories are adapted to their practical convictions and their varying circumstances4 ,nature has ordered it so1 and ,mr4 ,canning1 by shewing off his rhetorical paces1 by his #8ambling and lisping and nicknaming ,god's creatures1' cannot invert that order1 efface the history of the past1 or arrest the progress of the future4--,public opinion is the result of public events and public feelings2 and government must be moulded by that opinion1 or maintain itself in opposition to it by the sword4 ,mr4 ,canning indeed will not consent that the social machine should in any case receive a different direction from what it has had1 #8lest it should be hurried over the precipice and dashed to pieces4' ,these warnings of national ruin and terrific accounts of political precipices put one in mind of ,edgar's exaggerations to ,gloster3 they make one's hair stand on end in the perusal2 but the poor old man1 like poor ,old ,england1 could fall no lower than he was4 ,mr4 ,montgomery1 the ingenious and amiable poet1 after he had been shut up in solitary confinement for a year and a half for printing the ,duke of ,richmond's ,letter on ,reform1 when he first walked out into the narrow path of the adjoining field1 was seized with an apprehension that he should fall over it1 as if he had trod on the brink of an abrupt declivity4 ,the author of the loyal ,speech at the ,liverpool ,dinner has been so long kept in the solitary confinement of his prejudices1 and the dark cells of his interest and vanity1 that he is afraid of being dashed to pieces if he makes a single false step1 to the right or the left1 from his dangerous and crooked policy4 ,as to himself1 his ears are no doubt closed to any advice that might here be offered him2 and as to his country1 he seems bent on its destruction4 ,if1 however1 an example of the futility of all his projects and all his reasonings on a broader scale1 #8to warn and scare1 be wanting1' let him look at ,spain1 and take leisure to recover from his incredulity and his surprise4 ,spain1 as ,ferdinand1 as the ,monarchy1 has fallen from its pernicious height1 never to rise again3 ,spain1 as ,spain1 as the ,spanish people1 has risen from the tomb of liberty1 never 7it is to be hoped7 to sink again under the yoke of the bigot and the oppressor6 ,,essay ,,xvi ,,on ,,vulgarity ,,and ,,affectation ,few subjects are more nearly allied than these two--vulgarity and affectation4 ,it may be said of them truly that #8thin partitions do their bounds divide4' ,there cannot be a surer proof of a low origin or of an innate meanness of disposition1 than to be always talking and thinking of being genteel4 ,one must feel a strong tendency to that which one is always trying to avoid3 whenever we pretend1 on all occasions1 a mighty contempt for any thing1 it is a pretty clear sign that we feel ourselves very nearly on a level with it4 ,of the two classes of people1 ,i hardly know which is to be regarded with most distaste1 the vulgar aping the genteel1 or the genteel constantly sneering at and endeavouring to distinguish themselves from the vulgar4 ,these two sets of persons are always thinking of one another2 the lower of the higher with envy1 the more fortunate of their less happy neighbours with contempt4 ,they are habitually placed in opposition to each other2 jostle in their pretensions at every turn2 and the same objects and train of thought 7only reversed by the relative situation of either party7 occupy their whole time and attention4 ,the one are straining every nerve1 and outraging common sense1 to be thought genteel2 the others have no other object or idea in their heads than not to be thought vulgar4 ,this is but poor spite2 a very pitiful style of ambition4 ,to be merely not that which one heartily despises1 is a very humble claim to superiority3 to despise what one really is1 is still worse4 ,most of the characters in ,miss ,burney's novels1 the ,branghtons1 the ,smiths1 the ,dubsters1 the ,cecilias1 the ,delvilles1 c4 are well met in this respect1 and much of a piece3 the one half are trying not to be taken for themselves1 and the other half not to be taken for the first4 ,they neither of them have any pretensions of their own1 or real standard of worth4 #8,a feather will turn the scale of their avoirdupois3' though the fair authoress was not aware of the metaphysical identity of her principal and subordinate characters4 ,affectation is the master-key to both4 ,gentility is only a more select and artificial kind of vulgarity4 ,it cannot exist but by a sort of borrowed distinction4 ,it plumes itself up and revels in the homely pretensions of the mass of mankind4 ,it judges of the worth of everything by name1 fashion1 opinion2 and hence1 from the conscious absence of real qualities or sincere satisfaction in itself1 it builds its supercilious and fantastic conceit on the wretchedness and wants of others4 ,violent antipathies are always suspicious1 and betray a secret affinity4 ,the difference between the #8,great ,vulgar and the ,small' is mostly in outward circumstances4 ,the coxcomb criticises the dress of the clown1 as the pedant cavils at the bad grammar of the illiterate1 or the prude is shocked at the backslidings of her frail acquaintance4 ,those who have the fewest resources in themselves1 naturally seek the food of their self-love elsewhere4 ,the most ignorant people find most to laugh at in strangers3 scandal and satire prevail most in country-places2 and a propensity to ridicule every the slightest or most palpable deviation from what we happen to approve1 ceases with the progress of common sense and decency4#dh ,true worth does not exult in the faults and deficiencies of others2 as true refinement turns away from grossness and deformity1 instead of being tempted to indulge in an unmanly triumph over it4 ,raphael would not faint away at the daubing of a sign-post1 nor ,homer hold his head the higher for being in the company of a ,grub-street bard4 ,real power1 real excellence1 does not seek for a foil in inferiority2 nor fear contamination from coming in contact with that which is coarse and homely4 ,it reposes on itself1 and is equally free from spleen and affectation4 ,but the spirit of gentility is the mere essence of spleen and affectation2--of affected delight in its own would-be qualifications1 and of ineffable disdain poured out upon the involuntary blunders or accidental disadvantages of those whom it chooses to treat as its inferiors4 ,thus a fashionable ,miss titters till she is ready to burst her sides at the uncouth shape of a bonnet1 or the abrupt drop of a courtesy 7such as ,jeanie ,deans would make7 in a country-girl who comes to be hired by her ,mamma as a servant3--yet to shew how little foundation there is for this hysterical expression of her extreme good opinion of herself and contempt for the untutored rustic1 she would herself the next day be delighted with the very same shaped bonnet if brought her by a ,french milliner and told it was all the fashion1 and in a week's time will become quite familiar with the maid1 and chatter with her 7upon equal terms7 about caps and ribbons and lace by the hour together4 ,there is no difference between them but that of situation in the kitchen or in the parlour3 let circumstances bring them together1 and they fit like hand and glove4 ,it is like mistress1 like maid4 ,their talk1 their thoughts1 their dreams1 their likings and dislikes are the same4 ,the mistress's head runs continually on dress and finery1 so does the maid's3 the young lady longs to ride in a coach and six1 so does the maid1 if she could3 ,miss forms a beau idal of a lover with black eyes and rosy cheeks1 which does not differ from that of her attendant3 both like a smart man1 the one the footman and the other his master1 for the same reason3 both like handsome furniture and fine houses3 both apply the terms1 shocking and disagreeable1 to the same things and persons3 both have a great notion of balls1 plays1 treats1 song-books and love-tales3 both like a wedding or a christening1 and both would give their little fingers to see a coronation1 with this difference1 that the one has a chance of getting a seat at it1 and the other is dying of envy that she has not4 ,indeed1 this last is a ceremony that delights equally the greatest monarch and the meanest of his subjects--the vilest of the rabble4 ,yet this1 which is the height of gentility and the consummation of external distinction and splendour1 is1 ,i should say1 a vulgar ceremony4 ,for what degree of refinement1 of capacity1 of virtue is required in the individual who is so distinguished1 or is necessary to his enjoying this idle and imposing parade of his person8 ,is he delighted with the state-coach and gilded pannels8 ,so is the poorest wretch that gazes at it4 ,is he struck with the spirit1 the beauty and symmetry of the eight cream-coloured horses8 ,there is not one of the immense multitude1 who flock to see the sight from town or country1 ,st4 ,giles's or ,whitechapel1 young or old1 rich or poor1 gentle or simple1 who does not agree to admire the same object4 ,is he delighted with the yeomen of the guard1 the military escort1 the groups of ladies1 the badges of sovereign power1 the kingly crown1 the marshal's truncheon and the judge's robe1 the array that precedes and follows him1 the crowded streets1 the windows hung with eager looks8 ,so are the mob1 for they #8have eyes and see them6' ,there is no one faculty of mind or body1 natural or acquired1 essential to the principal figure in this procession1 more than is common to the meanest and most despised attendant on it4 ,a wax-work figure would answer the same purpose3 a ,lord ,mayor of ,london has as much tinsel to be proud of4 ,i would rather have a king do something that no one else has the power or magnanimity to do1 or say something that no one else has the wisdom to say1 or look more handsome1 more thoughtful1 or benign than any one else in his dominions4 ,but ,i see nothing to raise one's idea of him in his being made a shew of3 if the pageant would do as well without the man1 the man would do as well without the pageant6 ,kings have been declared to be #8lovers of low company3' and this maxim1 besides the reason sometimes assigned for it1 viz4 that they meet with less opposition to their wills from such persons1 will ,i suspect be found to turn at last on the consideration ,i am here stating1 that they also meet with more sympathy in their tastes4 ,the most ignorant and thoughtless have the greatest admiration of the baubles1 the outward symbols of pomp and power1 the sound and shew1 which are the habitual delight and mighty prerogative of kings4 ,the stupidest slave worships the gaudiest tyrant4 ,the same gross motives appeal to the same gross capacities1 flatter the pride of the superior1 and excite the servility of the dependant3 whereas a higher reach of moral and intellectual refinement might seek in vain for higher proofs of internal worth and inherent majesty in the object of its idolatry1 and not finding the divinity lodged within1 the unreasonable expectation raised would probably end in mortification on both sides6--,there is little to distinguish a king from his subjects but the rabble's shout--if he loses that1 and is reduced to the forlorn hope of gaining the suffrages of the wise and good1 he is of all men the most miserable4--,but enough of this4 #8,i like it1' says ,miss ,branghton#di in ,evelina 7meaning the ,opera7 #8because it is not vulgar4' ,that is1 she likes it1 not because there is any thing to like in it1 but because other people are prevented from liking or knowing any thing about it4 ,janus ,weathercock1 ,esq4 laugheth to scorn and spitefully entreateth and hugely condemneth my dramatic criticisms in the ,london1 for a like exquisite reason4 ,i must therefore make an example of him in terrorem to all such hypercritics4 ,he finds fault with me and calls my taste vulgar1 because ,i go to ,sadler's ,wells 7#8a place he has heard of'--,o ,lord1 ,sir67--because ,i notice the ,miss ,dennets1 #8great favourites with the ,whitechapel orders'--praise ,miss ,valancy1 #8a bouncing ,columbine at ,ashley's and them there places1 as his barber informs him1' 7has he no way of establishing himself in his own good opinion but by triumphing over his barber's bad ,english87--and finally1 because ,i recognise the existence of the ,cobourg and the ,surrey theatres1 at the names of which he cries #8,faugh' with great significance1 as if he had some personal disgust at them1 and yet he would be supposed never to have entered them4 ,it is not his cue as a well-bred critic4 ,c'est beau a4 ,now this appears to me a very crude1 unmeaning1 indiscriminate1 wholesale and vulgar way of thinking4 ,it is prejudging things in the lump1 by names and places and classes1 instead of judging of them by what they are in themselves1 by their real qualities and shades of distinction4 ,there is no selection1 truth1 or delicacy in such a mode of proceeding4 ,it is affecting ignorance1 and making it a title to wisdom4 ,it is a vapid assumption of superiority4 ,it is exceeding impertinence4 ,it is rank coxcombry4 ,it is nothing in the world else4 ,to condemn because the multitude admire is as essentially vulgar as to admire because they admire4 ,there is no exercise of taste or judgment in either case3 both are equally repugnant to good sense1 and of the two ,i should prefer the good-natured side4 ,i would as soon agree with my barber as differ from him3 and why should ,i make a point of reversing the sentence of the ,whitechapel orders8 ,or how can it affect my opinion of the merits of an actor at the ,cobourg or the ,surrey theatres1 that these theatres are in or out of the ,bills of ,mortality8 ,this is an easy1 short-hand way of judging1 as gross as it is mechanical4 ,it is not a difficult matter to settle questions of taste by consulting the map of ,london1 or to prove your liberality by geographical distinctions4 ,janus jumbles things together strangely4 ,if he had seen ,mr4 ,kean in a provincial theatre1 at ,exeter or ,taunton1 he would have thought it vulgar to admire him3 but when he had been stamped in ,london1 ,janus would no doubt shew his discernment and the subtlety of his tact for the display of character and passion1 by not being behind the fashion4 ,the ,miss ,dennetts are #8little unformed girls1' for no other reason than because they danced at one of the ,minor ,theatres3 let them but come out on the ,opera boards1 and let the beauty and fashion of the season greet them with a fairy shower of delighted applause1 and they would outshine ,milanie #8with the foot of fire4' ,his gorge rises at the mention of a certain quarter of the town3 whatever passes current in another1 he #8swallows total grist unsifted1 husks and all4' ,this is not taste1 but folly4 ,at this rate1 the hackney-coachman who drives him1 or his horse ,contributor1 whom he has introduced as a select personage to the vulgar reader1 knows as much of the matter as he does4 ,in a word1 the answer to all this in the first instance is to say what vulgarity is4 ,now its essence1 ,i imagine1 consists in taking manners1 actions1 words1 opinions on trust from others1 without examining one's own feelings or weighing the merits of the case4 ,it is coarseness or shallowness of taste arising from want of individual refinement1 together with the confidence and presumption inspired by example and numbers4 ,it may be defined to be a prostitution of the mind or body to ape the more or less obvious defects of others1 because by so doing we shall secure the suffrages of those we associate with4 ,to affect a gesture1 an opinion1 a phrase1 because it is the rage with a large number of persons1 or to hold it in abhorrence because another set of persons very little1 if at all1 better informed1 cry it down to distinguish themselves from the former1 is in either case equal vulgarity and absurdity4 ,a thing is not vulgar merely because it is common4 ',tis common to breathe1 to see1 to feel1 to live4 ,nothing is vulgar that is natural1 spontaneous1 unavoidable4 ,grossness is not vulgarity1 ignorance is not vulgarity1 awkwardness is not vulgarity3 but all these become vulgar when they are affected and shewn off on the authority of others1 or to fall in with the fashion or the company we keep4 ,caliban is coarse enough1 but surely he is not vulgar4 ,we might as well spurn the clod under our feet1 and call it vulgar4 ,cobbett is coarse enough1 but he is not vulgar4 ,he does not belong to the herd4 ,nothing real1 nothing original can be vulgar3 but ,i should think an imitator of ,cobbett a vulgar man4 ,emery's ,yorkshireman is vulgar1 because he is a ,yorkshireman4 ,it is the cant and gibberish1 the cunning and low life of a particular district2 it has #8a stamp exclusive and provincial4' ,he might #8gabble most brutishly' and yet not fall under the letter of the definition3 but #8his speech bewrayeth him1' his dialect 7like the jargon of a ,bond-street lounger7 is the damning circumstance4 ,if he were a mere blockhead1 it would not signify3 but he thinks himself a knowing hand1 according to the notions and practices of those with whom he was brought up1 and which he thinks the go every where4 ,in a word1 this character is not the offspring of untutored nature but of bad habits2 it is made up of ignorance and conceit4 ,it has a mixture of slang in it4 ,all slang phrases are for the same reason vulgar2 but there is nothing vulgar in the common ,english idiom4 ,simplicity is not vulgarity2 but the looking to affectation of any sort for distinction is4 ,a cockney is a vulgar character1 whose imagination cannot wander beyond the suburbs of the metropolis3 so is a fellow who is always thinking of the ,high-street1 ,edinburgh4 ,we want a name for this last character4 ,an opinion is vulgar that is stewed in the rank breath of the rabble3 nor is it a bit purer or more refined for having passed through the well cleansed teeth of a whole court4 ,the inherent vulgarity is in having no other feeling on any subject than the crude1 blind1 headlong1 gregarious notion acquired by sympathy with the mixed multitude or with a fastidious minority1 who are just as insensible to the real truth1 and as indifferent to every thing but their own frivolous and vexatious pretensions4 ,the upper are not wiser than the lower orders1 because they resolve to differ from them4 ,the fashionable have the advantage of the unfashionable in nothing but the fashion4 ,the true vulgar are the servum pecus imitatorum--the herd of pretenders to what they do not feel and to what is not natural to them1 whether in high or low life4 ,to belong to any class1 to move in any rank or sphere of life1 is not a very exclusive distinction or test of refinement4 ,refinement will in all classes be the exception1 not the rule2 and the exception may fall out in one class as well as another4 ,a king is but an hereditary title4 ,a nobleman is only one of the ,house of ,peers4 ,to be a knight or alderman is confessedly a vulgar thing4 ,the king the other day made ,sir ,walter ,scott a baronet1 but not all the power of the ,three ,estates could make another ,author of ,waverley4 ,princes1 heroes are often common-place people3 ,hamlet was not a vulgar character1 neither was ,don ,quixote4 ,to be an author1 to be a painter1 is nothing4 ,it is a trick1 it is a trade4 #8,an author6 'tis a venerable name3 ,how few deserve it1 yet what numbers claim6' ,nay1 to be a ,member of the ,royal ,academy1 or a ,fellow of the ,royal ,society1 is but a vulgar distinction4 ,but to be a ,virgil1 a ,milton1 a ,raphael1 a ,claude1 is what fell to the lot of humanity but once6 ,i do not think they were vulgar people1 though for any thing ,i know to the contrary1 the first ,lord of the ,bed-chamber may be a very vulgar man3 for anything ,i know to the contrary1 he may not be so4--,such are pretty much my notions of gentility and vulgarity4 ,there is a well-dressed and an ill-dressed mob1 both which ,i hate4 ,odi profanum vulgus1 et arceo4 ,the vapid affectation of the one is to me even more intolerable than the gross insolence and brutality of the other4 ,if a set of low-lived fellows are noisy1 rude1 and boisterous to shew their disregard of the company1 a set of fashionable coxcombs are1 to a nauseous degree1 finical and effeminate to shew their thorough breeding4 ,the one are governed by their feelings1 however coarse and misguided1 which is something3 the others consult only appearances1 which are nothing1 either as a test of happiness or virtue4 ,hogarth in his prints has trimmed the balance of pretension between the downright blackguard and the soi-disant fine gentleman unanswerably4 ,it does not appear in his moral demonstrations 7whatever it may do in the genteel letter-writing of ,lord ,chesterfield1 or the chivalrous rhapsodies of ,burke7 that vice by losing all its grossness loses half its evil4 ,it becomes more contemptible1 not less disgusting4 ,what is there in common1 for instance1 between his beaux and belles1 his rakes and his coquets1 and the men and women1 the true heroic and ideal characters in ,raphael8 ,but his people of fashion and quality are just upon a par with the low1 the selfish1 the unideal characters in the contrasted view of human life1 and are often the very same characters1 only changing places4 ,if the lower ranks are actuated by envy and uncharitableness towards the upper1 the latter have scarcely any feelings but of pride1 contempt1 and aversion to the lower4 ,if the poor would pull down the rich to get at their good things1 the rich would tread down the poor as in a vine-press1 and squeeze the last shilling out of their pockets1 and the last drop of blood out of their veins4 ,if the headstrong self-will and unruly turbulence of a common alehouse are shocking1 what shall we say to the studied insincerity1 the insipid want of common sense1 the callous insensibility of the drawing-room and boudoir8 ,i would rather see the feelings of our common nature 7for they are the same at bottom7 expressed in the most naked and unqualified way1 than see every feeling of our nature suppressed1 stifled1 hermetically sealed under the smooth1 cold1 glittering varnish of pretended refinement and conventional politeness4 ,the one may be corrected by being better informed2 the other is incorrigible1 wilful1 heartless depravity4 ,i cannot describe the contempt and disgust ,i have felt at the tone of what would be thought good company1 when ,i have witnessed the sleek1 smiling1 glossy1 gratuitous assumption of superiority to every feeling of humanity1 honesty1 or principle1 as a part of the etiquette1 the mental and moral costume of the table1 and every profession of toleration or favour for the lower orders1 that is1 for the great mass of our fellow-creatures1 treated as an indecorum and breach of the harmony of well-regulated society4 ,in short1 ,i prefer a bear-garden to the adder's den4 ,or to put this case in its extremest point of view1 ,i have more patience with men in a rude state of nature outraging the human form1 than ,i have with apes #8making mops and mows' at the extravagances they have first provoked4 ,i can endure the brutality 7as it is termed7 of mobs better than the inhumanity of courts4 ,the violence of the one rages like a fire2 the insidious policy of the other strikes like a pestilence1 and is more fatal and inevitable4 ,the slow poison of despotism is worse than the convulsive struggles of anarchy4 #8,of all evils1' says ,hume1 #8anarchy is the shortest lived4' ,the one may #8break out like a wild overthrow2' but the other from its secret1 sacred stand1 operates unseen1 and undermines the happiness of kingdoms for ages1 lurks in the hollow cheek1 and stares you in the face in the ghastly eye of want and agony and woe4 ,it is dreadful to hear the noise and uproar of an infuriated multitude stung by the sense of wrong1 and maddened by sympathy3 it is more appalling to think of the smile answered by other gracious smiles1 of the whisper echoed by other assenting whispers1 which doom them first to despair and then to destruction4 ,popular fury finds its counterpart in courtly servility4 ,if every outrage is to be apprehended from the one1 every iniquity is deliberately sanctioned by the other1 without regard to justice or decency4 ,the word of a king1 #8,go thou and do likewise1' makes the stoutest heart dumb3 truth and honesty shrink before it4#ej ,if there are watch-words for the rabble1 have not the polite and fashionable their hackneyed phrases1 their fulsome unmeaning jargon as well8 ,both are to me anathema6 ,to return to the first question1 as it regards individual and private manners4 ,there is a fine illustration of the effects of preposterous and affected gentility in the character of ,gertrude1 in the old comedy of ,eastward ,hoe1 written by ,ben ,jonson1 ,marston1 and ,chapman in conjunction4 ,this play is supposed to have given rise to ,hogarth's series of prints of the ,idle and ,industrious ,apprentice2 and there is something exceedingly ,hogarthian in the view both of vulgar and of genteel life here displayed4 ,the character of ,gertrude in particular1 the heroine of the piece1 is inimitably drawn4 ,the mixture of vanity and meanness1 the internal worthlessness1 and external pretence1 the rustic ignorance and fine lady-like airs1 the intoxication of novelty and infatuation of pride1 appear like a dream or romance1 rather than anything in real life4 ,cinderella and her glass-slipper are common-place to it4 ,she is not1 like ,millimant 7a century afterwards7 the accomplished fine lady1 but a pretender to all the foppery and finery of the character4 ,it is the honey-moon with her ladyship1 and her folly is at the full4 ,to be a wife and the wife of a knight are to her pleasures #8worn in their newest gloss1' and nothing can exceed her raptures in the contemplation of both parts of the dilemma4 ,it is not familiarity but novelty1 that weds her to the court4 ,she rises into the air of gentility from the ground of a city life1 and flutters about there with all the fantastic delight of a butterfly that has just changed its caterpillar state4 ,the sound of ,my ,lady intoxicates her with delight1 makes her giddy1 and almost turns her brain4 ,on the bare strength of it she is ready to turn her father and mother out of doors1 and treats her brother and sister with infinite disdain and judicial hardness of heart4 ,with some speculators the modern philosophy has deadened and distorted all the natural affections3 and before abstract ideas and the mischievous refinements of literature were introduced1 nothing was to be met with in the primeval state of society but simplicity and pastoral innocence of manners-- #8,and all was conscience and tender heart4' ,this historical play gives the lie to the above theory pretty broadly1 yet delicately4 ,our heroine is as vain as she is ignorant1 and as unprincipled as she is both2 and without an idea or wish of any kind but that of adorning her person in the glass1 and being called and thought a lady1 something superior to a citizen's wife4#ea ,she is so bent on finery that she believes in miracles to obtain it1 and expects the fairies to bring it her4#eb ,she is quite above thinking of a settlement1 jointure1 or pin-money4 ,she takes the will for the deed all through the piece1 and is so besotted with this ignorant1 vulgar notion of rank and title as a real thing that cannot be counterfeited1 that she is dupe of her own fine stratagems1 and marries a gull1 a dolt1 a broken adventurer for an accomplished and brave gentleman4 ,her meanness is equal to her folly and her pride 7and nothing can be greater71 yet she holds out on the strength of her original pretensions for a long time1 and plays the upstart with decent and imposing consistency4 ,indeed her infatuation and caprices are akin to the flighty perversity of a disordered imagination2 and another turn of the wheel of good or evil fortune would have sent her to keep company with ,hogarth's ,merveilleuses in ,bedlam1 or with ,deckar's group of coquets in the same place4 ,the other parts of the play are a dreary lee-shore1 like ,cuckold's ,point on the coast of ,essex1 where the preconcerted shipwreck takes place that winds up the catastrophe of the piece4 ,but this is also characteristic of the age1 and serves as a contrast to the airy and factitious character which is the principal figure in the plot4 ,we had made but little progress from that point till ,hogarth's time1 if ,hogarth is to be believed in his description of city manners4 ,how wonderfully we have distanced it since6 ,without going into this at length1 there is one circumstance ,i would mention in which ,i think there has been a striking improvement in the family economy of modern times--and that is in the relation of mistresses and servants4 ,after visits and finery1 a married woman of the old school had nothing to do but to attend to her housewifery4 ,she had no other resource1 no other sense of power1 but to harangue and lord it over her domestics4 ,modern book-education supplies the place of the old-fashioned system of kitchen persecution and eloquence4 ,a well-bred woman now seldom goes into the kitchen to look after the servants3--formerly what was called a good manager1 an exemplary mistress of a family1 did nothing but hunt them from morning to night1 from one year's end to another1 without leaving them a moment's rest1 peace1 or comfort4 ,now a servant is left to do her work without this suspicious and tormenting interference and fault-finding at every step1 and she does it all the better4 ,the proverbs about the mistress's eye1 c4 are no longer held for current4 ,a woman from this habit1 which at last became an unconquerable passion1 would scold her maids for fifty years together1 and nothing could stop her3 now the temptation to read the last new poem or novel1 and the necessity of talking of it in the next company she goes into1 prevent her--and the benefit to all parties is incalculable6 ,,essay ,,xvii ,,on ,a ,,landscape ,,of ,,nicolas ,,poussin #8,and blind ,orion hungry for the morn4' ,orion1 the subject of this landscape1 was the classical ,nimrod2 and is called by ,homer1 #8a hunter of shadows1 himself a shade4' ,he was the son of ,neptune2 and having lost an eye in some affray between the ,gods and men1 was told that if he would go to meet the rising sun1 he would recover his sight4 ,he is represented setting out on his journey1 with men on his shoulders to guide him1 a bow in his hand1 and ,diana in the clouds greeting him4 ,he stalks along1 a giant upon earth1 and reels and falters in his gait1 as if just awaked out of sleep1 or uncertain of his way2--you see his blindness1 though his back is turned4 ,mists rise around him1 and veil the sides of the green forests2 earth is dank and fresh with dews1 the #8grey dawn and the ,pleiades before him dance1' and in the distance are seen the blue hills and sullen ocean4 ,nothing was ever more finely conceived or done4 ,it breathes the spirit of the morning2 its moisture1 its repose1 its obscurity1 waiting the miracle of light to kindle it into smiles3 the whole is1 like the principal figure in it1 #8a forerunner of the dawn4' ,the same atmosphere tinges and imbues every object1 the same dull light #8shadowy sets off' the face of nature3 one feeling of vastness1 of strangeness1 and of primeval forms pervades the painter's canvas1 and we are thrown back upon the first integrity of things4 ,this great and learned man might be said to see nature through the glass of time3 he alone has a right to be considered as the painter of classical antiquity4 ,sir ,joshua has done him justice in this respect4 ,he could give to the scenery of his heroic fables that unimpaired look of original nature1 full1 solid1 large1 luxuriant1 teeming with life and power2 or deck it with all the pomp of art1 with temples and towers1 and mythologic groves4 ,his pictures #8denote a foregone conclusion4' ,he applies nature to his purposes1 works out her images according to the standard of his thoughts1 embodies high fictions2 and the first conception being given1 all the rest seems to grow out of1 and be assimilated to it1 by the unfailing process of a studious imagination4 ,like his own ,orion1 he overlooks the surrounding scene1 appears to #8take up the isles as a very little thing1 and to lay the earth in a balance4' ,with a laborious and mighty grasp1 he put nature into the mould of the ideal and antique2 and was among painters 7more than any one else7 what ,milton was among poets4 ,there is in both something of the same pedantry1 the same stiffness1 the same elevation1 the same grandeur1 the same mixture of art and nature1 the same richness of borrowed materials1 the same unity of character4 ,neither the poet nor the painter lowered the subjects they treated1 but filled up the outline in the fancy1 and added strength and reality to it2 and thus not only satisfied1 but surpassed the expectations of the spectator and the reader4 ,this is held for the triumph and the perfection of works of art4 ,to give us nature1 such as we see it1 is well and deserving of praise2 to give us nature1 such as we have never seen1 but have often wished to see it1 is better1 and deserving of higher praise4 ,he who can show the world in its first naked glory1 with the hues of fancy spread over it1 or in its high and palmy state1 with the gravity of history stamped on the proud monuments of vanished empire1--who1 by his #8so potent art1' can recal time past1 transport us to distant places1 and join the regions of imagination 7a new conquest7 to those of reality1--who shows us not only what nature is1 but what she has been1 and is capable of1--he who does this1 and does it with simplicity1 with truth1 and grandeur1 is lord of nature and her powers2 and his mind is universal1 and his art the master-art6 ,there is nothing in this #8more than natural1' if criticism could be persuaded to think so4 ,the historic painter does not neglect or contravene nature1 but follows her more closely up into her fantastic heights1 or hidden recesses4 ,he demonstrates what she would be in conceivable circumstances1 and under implied conditions4 ,he #8gives to airy nothing a local habitation1' not #8a name4' ,at his touch1 words start up into images1 thoughts become things4 ,he clothes a dream1 a phantom with form and colour and the wholesome attributes of reality4 ,his art is a second nature2 not a different one4 ,there are those1 indeed1 who think that not to copy nature1 is the rule for attaining perfection4 ,because they cannot paint the objects which they have seen1 they fancy themselves qualified to paint the ideas which they have not seen4 ,but it is possible to fail in this latter and more difficult style of imitation1 as well as in the former humbler one4 ,the detection1 it is true1 is not so easy1 because the objects are not so nigh at hand to compare1 and therefore there is more room both for false pretension and for self-deceit4 ,they take an epic motto or subject1 and conclude that the spirit is implied as a thing of course4 ,they paint inferior portraits1 maudlin lifeless faces1 without ordinary expression1 or one look1 feature1 or particle of nature in them1 and think that this is to rise to the truth of history4 ,they vulgarise and degrade whatever is interesting or sacred to the mind1 and suppose that they thus add to the dignity of their profession4 ,they represent a face that seems as if no thought or feeling of any kind had ever passed through it1 and would have you believe that this is the very sublime of expression1 such as it would appear in heroes1 or demi-gods of old1 when rapture or agony was raised to its height4 ,they show you a landscape that looks as if the sun never shone upon it1 and tell you that it is not modern--that so earth looked when ,titan first kissed it with his rays4 ,this is not the true ideal4 ,it is not to fill the moulds of the imagination1 but to deface and injure them3 it is not to come up to1 but to fall short of the poorest conception in the public mind4 ,such pictures should not be hung in the same room with that of ,orion4#ec ,poussin was1 of all painters1 the most poetical4 ,he was the painter of ideas4 ,no one ever told a story half so well1 nor so well knew what was capable of being told by the pencil4 ,he seized on1 and struck off with grace and precision1 just that point of view which would be likely to catch the reader's fancy4 ,there is a significance1 a consciousness in whatever he does 7sometimes a vice1 but oftener a virtue7 beyond any other painter4 ,his ,giants sitting on the tops of craggy mountains1 as huge themselves1 and playing idly on their ,pan's-pipes1 seem to have been seated there these three thousand years1 and to know the beginning and the end of their own story4 ,an infant ,bacchus or ,jupiter is big with his future destiny4 ,even inanimate and dumb things speak a language of their own4 ,his snakes1 the messengers of fate1 are inspired with human intellect4 ,his trees grow and expand their leaves in the air1 glad of the rain1 proud of the sun1 awake to the winds of heaven4 ,in his ,plague of ,athens1 the very buildings seem stiff with horror4 ,his picture of the ,deluge is1 perhaps1 the finest historical landscape in the world4 ,you see a waste of waters1 wide1 interminable3 the sun is labouring1 wan and weary1 up the sky2 the clouds1 dull and leaden1 lie like a load upon the eye1 and heaven and earth seem commingling into one confused mass6 ,his human figures are sometimes #8o'er-informed' with this kind of feeling4 ,their actions have too much gesticulation1 and the set expression of the features borders too much on the mechanical and caricatured style4 ,in this respect1 they form a contrast to ,raphael's1 whose figures never appear to be sitting for their pictures1 or to be conscious of a spectator1 or to have come from the painter's hand4 ,in ,nicolas ,poussin1 on the contrary1 every thing seems to have a distinct understanding with the artist3 #8the very stones prate of their whereabout3' each object has its part and place assigned1 and is in a sort of compact with the rest of the picture4 ,it is this conscious keeping1 and1 as it were1 internal design1 that gives their peculiar character to the works of this artist4 ,there was a picture of ,aurora in the ,british ,gallery a year or two ago4 ,it was a suffusion of golden light4 ,the ,goddess wore her saffron-coloured robes1 and appeared just risen from the gloomy bed of old ,tithonus4 ,her very steeds1 milk-white1 were tinged with the yellow dawn4 ,it was a personification of the morning4--,poussin succeeded better in classic than in sacred subjects4 ,the latter are comparatively heavy1 forced1 full of violent contrasts of colour1 of red1 blue1 and black1 and without the true prophetic inspiration of the characters4 ,but in his ,pagan allegories and fables he was quite at home4 ,the native gravity and native levity of the ,frenchman were combined with ,italian scenery and an antique gusto1 and gave even to his colouring an air of learned indifference4 ,he wants1 in one respect1 grace1 form1 expression2 but he has every where sense and meaning1 perfect costume and propriety4 ,his personages always belong to the class and time represented1 and are strictly versed in the business in hand4 ,his grotesque compositions in particular1 his ,nymphs and ,fauns1 are superior 7at least1 as far as style is concerned7 even to those of ,rubens4 ,they are taken more immediately out of fabulous history4 ,rubens's ,satyrs and ,bacchantes have a more jovial and voluptuous aspect1 are more drunk with pleasure1 more full of animal spirits and riotous impulses2 they laugh and bound along-- ,leaping like wanton kids in pleasant spring3 but those of ,poussin have more of the intellectual part of the character1 and seem vicious on reflection1 and of set purpose4 ,rubens's are noble specimens of a class2 ,poussin's are allegorical abstractions of the same class1 with bodies less pampered1 but with minds more secretly depraved4 ,the ,bacchanalian groups of the ,flemish painter were1 however1 his masterpieces in composition4 ,witness those prodigies of colour1 character1 and expression1 at ,blenheim4 ,in the more chaste and refined delineation of classic fable1 ,poussin was without a rival4 ,rubens1 who was a match for him in the wild and picturesque1 could not pretend to vie with the elegance and purity of thought in his picture of ,apollo giving a poet a cup of water to drink1 nor with the gracefulness of design in the figure of a nymph squeezing the juice of a bunch of grapes from her fingers 7a rosy wine-press7 which falls into the mouth of a chubby infant below4 ,but1 above all1 who shall celebrate1 in terms of fit praise1 his picture of the shepherds in the ,vale of ,tempe going out in a fine morning of the spring1 and coming to a tomb with this inscription3--,,et ,,ego ,,in ,,arcadia ,,vixi6 ,the eager curiosity of some1 the expression of others who start back with fear and surprise1 the clear breeze playing with the branches of the shadowing trees1 #8the valleys low1 where the mild zephyrs use1' the distant1 uninterrupted1 sunny prospect speak 7and for ever will speak on7 of ages past to ages yet to come6#ed ,pictures are a set of chosen images1 a stream of pleasant thoughts passing through the mind4 ,it is a luxury to have the walls of our rooms hung round with them1 and no less so to have such a gallery in the mind1 to con over the relics of ancient art bound up #8within the book and volume of the brain1 unmixed 7if it were possible7 with baser matter6' ,a life passed among pictures1 in the study and the love of art1 is a happy noiseless dream3 or rather1 it is to dream and to be awake at the same time2 for it has all #8the sober certainty of waking bliss1' with the romantic voluptuousness of a visionary and abstracted being4 ,they are the bright consummate essences of things1 and #8he who knows of these delights to taste and interpose them oft1 is not unwise6'--,the ,orion1 which ,i have here taken occasion to descant upon1 is one of a collection of excellent pictures1 as this collection is itself one of a series from the old masters1 which have for some years back embrowned the walls of the ,british ,gallery1 and enriched the public eye4 ,what hues 7those of nature mellowed by time7 breathe around1 as we enter6 ,what forms are there1 woven into the memory6 ,what looks1 which only the answering looks of the spectator can express6 ,what intellectual stores have been yearly poured forth from the shrine of ancient art6 ,the works are various1 but the names the same--heaps of ,rembrandts frowning from the darkened walls1 ,rubens's glad gorgeous groups1 ,titians more rich and rare1 ,claudes always exquisite1 sometimes beyond compare1 ,guido's endless cloying sweetness1 the learning of ,poussin and the ,caracci1 and ,raphael's princely magnificence1 crowning all4 ,we read certain letters and syllables in the catalogue1 and at the well-known magic sound1 a miracle of skill and beauty starts to view4 ,one might think that one year's prodigal display of such perfection would exhaust the labours of one man's life2 but the next year1 and the next to that1 we find another harvest reaped and gathered in to the great garner of art1 by the same immortal hands-- ,old ,,genius the porter of them was2 ,he letteth in1 he letteth out to wend4-- ,their works seem endless as their reputation--to be many as they are complete--to multiply with the desire of the mind to see more and more of them2 as if there were a living power in the breath of ,fame1 and in the very names of the great heirs of glory #8there were propagation too6' ,it is something to have a collection of this sort to count upon once a year2 to have one last1 lingering look yet to come4 ,pictures are scattered like stray gifts through the world2 and while they remain1 earth has yet a little gilding left1 not quite rubbed off1 dishonoured1 and defaced4 ,there are plenty of standard works still to be found in this country1 in the collections at ,blenheim1 at ,burleigh1 and in those belonging to ,mr4 ,angerstein1 ,lord ,grosvenor1 the ,marquis of ,stafford1 and others1 to keep up this treat to the lovers of art for many years3 and it is the more desirable to reserve a privileged sanctuary of this sort1 where the eye may dote1 and the heart take its fill of such pictures as ,poussin's ,orion1 since the ,louvre is stripped of its triumphant spoils1 and since he1 who collected it1 and wore it as a rich jewel in his ,iron ,crown1 the hunter of greatness and of glory1 is himself a shade6-- ,,essay ,,xviii ,,on ,,milton',s ,,sonnets ,the great object of the ,sonnet seems to be1 to express in musical numbers1 and as it were with undivided breath1 some occasional thought or personal feeling1 #8some fee-grief due to the poet's breast4' ,it is a sigh uttered from the fulness of the heart1 an involuntary aspiration born and dying in the same moment4 ,i have always been fond of ,milton's ,sonnets for this reason1 that they have more of this personal and internal character than any others2 and they acquire a double value when we consider that they come from the pen of the loftiest of our poets4 ,compared with ,paradise ,lost1 they are like tender flowers that adorn the base of some proud column or stately temple4 ,the author in the one could work himself up with unabated fortitude #8to the height of his great argument2' but in the other he has shewn that he could condescend to men of low estate1 and after the lightning and the thunder-bolt of his pen1 lets fall some drops of #8natural pity' over hapless infirmity1 mingling strains with the nightingale's1 #8most musical1 most melancholy4' ,the immortal poet pours his mortal sorrows into our breasts1 and a tear falls from his sightless orbs on the friendly hand he presses4 ,the ,sonnets are a kind of pensive record of past achievements1 loves1 and friendships1 and a noble exhortation to himself to bear up with cheerful hope and confidence to the last4 ,some of them are of a more quaint and humorous character2 but ,i speak of those only1 which are intended to be serious and pathetical4--,i do not know indeed but they may be said to be almost the first effusions of this sort of natural and personal sentiment in the language4 ,drummond's ought perhaps to be excepted1 were they formed less closely on the model of ,petrarch's1 so as to be often little more than translations of the ,italian poet4 ,but ,milton's ,sonnets are truly his own in allusion1 thought1 and versification4 ,those of ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 who was a great transgressor in this way1 turn sufficiently on himself and his own adventures2 but they are elaborately quaint and intricate1 and more like riddles than sonnets4 ,they are #8very tolerable and not to be endured4' ,shakespear's1 which some persons better-informed in such matters than ,i can pretend to be1 profess to cry up as #8the divine1 the matchless1 what you will1'--to say nothing of the want of point or a leading1 prominent idea in most of them1 are ,i think overcharged and monotonous1 and as to their ultimate drift1 as for myself1 ,i can make neither head nor tail of it4 ,yet some of them1 ,i own1 are sweet even to a sense of faintness1 luscious as the woodbine1 and graceful and luxuriant like it4 ,here is one4 #8,from you have ,i been absent in the spring1 ,when proud-pied ,april1 dress'd in all his trim1 ,hath put a spirit of youth in every thing2 ,that heavy ,saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him4 ,yet nor the lays of birds1 nor the sweet smell ,of different flowers in odour and in hue1 ,could make me any summer's story tell1 ,or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew3 ,nor did ,i wonder at the lilies white1 ,nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose2 ,they were but sweet1 but figures of delight1 ,drawn after you1 you pattern of all those4 ,yet seem'd it winter still2 and you away1 ,as with your shadow1 ,i with these did play4' ,i am not aware of any writer of ,sonnets worth mentioning here till long after ,milton1 that is1 till the time of ,warton and the revival of a taste for ,italian and for our own early literature4 ,during the rage for ,french models1 the ,sonnet had not been much studied4 ,it is a mode of composition that depends entirely on expression2 and this the ,french and artificial style gladly dispenses with1 as it lays no particular stress on any thing--except vague1 general common-places4 ,warton's ,sonnets are undoubtedly exquisite1 both in style and matter3 they are poetical and philosophical effusions of very delightful sentiment2 but the thoughts1 though fine and deeply felt1 are not1 like ,milton's subjects1 identified completely with the writer1 and so far want a more individual interest4 ,mr4 ,wordsworth's are also finely conceived and high-sounding ,sonnets4 ,they mouth it well1 and are said to be sacred to ,liberty4 ,brutus's exclamation1 #8,oh ,virtue1 ,i thought thee a substance1 but ,i find thee a shadow1' was not considered as a compliment1 but as a bitter sarcasm4 ,the beauty of ,milton's ,sonnets is their sincerity1 the spirit of poetical patriotism which they breathe4 ,either ,milton's or the living bard's are defective in this respect4 ,there is no ,sonnet of ,milton's on the ,restoration of ,charles ,,ii4 ,there is no ,sonnet of ,mr4 ,wordsworth's1 corresponding to that of #8the poet blind and bold1' ,on the late ,massacre in ,piedmont4 ,it would be no niggard praise to ,mr4 ,wordsworth to grant that he was either half the man or half the poet that ,milton was4 ,he has not his high and various imagination1 nor his deep and fixed principle4 ,milton did not worship the rising sun1 nor turn his back on a losing and fallen cause4 #8,such recantation had no charms for him6' ,mr4 ,southey has thought proper to put the author of ,paradise ,lost into his late ,heaven1 on the understood condition that he is #8no longer to kings and to hierarchs hostile4' ,in his life-time1 he gave no sign of such an alteration2 and it is rather presumptuous in the poet-laureate to pursue the deceased antagonist of ,salmasius into the other world to compliment him with his own infirmity of purpose4 ,it is a wonder he did not add in a note that ,milton called him aside to whisper in his ear that he preferred the new ,english hexameters to his own blank verse6 ,our first of poets was one of our first of men4 ,he was an eminent instance to prove that a poet is not another name for the slave of power and fashion2 as is the case with painters and musicians--things without an opinion--and who merely aspire to make up the pageant and shew of the day4 ,there are persons in common life who have that eager curiosity and restless admiration of bustle and splendour1 that sooner than not be admitted on great occasions of feasting and luxurious display1 they will go in the character of livery-servants to stand behind the chairs of the great4 ,there are others who can so little bear to be left for any length of time out of the grand carnival and masquerade of pride and folly1 that they will gain admittance to it at the expense of their characters as well as of a change of dress4 ,milton was not one of these4 ,he had too much of the ideal faculty in his composition1 a lofty contemplative principle1 and consciousness of inward power and worth1 to be tempted by such idle baits4 ,we have plenty of chaunting and chiming in among some modern writers with the triumphs over their own views and principles2 but none of a patient resignation to defeat1 sustaining and nourishing itself with the thought of the justice of their cause1 and with firm-fixed rectitude4 ,i do not pretend to defend the tone of ,milton's political writings 7which was borrowed from the style of controversial divinity7 or to say that he was right in the part he took3--,i say that he was consistent in it1 and did not convict himself of error3 he was consistent in it in spite of danger and obloquy1 #8on evil days though fallen1 and evil tongues1' and therefore his character has the salt of honesty about it4 ,it does not offend in the nostrils of posterity4 ,he had taken his part boldly and stood to it manfully1 and submitted to the change of times with pious fortitude1 building his consolations on the resources of his own mind and the recollection of the past1 instead of endeavouring to make himself a retreat for the time to come4 ,as an instance of this1 we may take one of the best and most admired of these ,sonnets1 that addressed to ,cyriac ,skinner1 on his own blindness4 #8,cyriac1 this three years' day1 these eyes1 though clear1 ,to outward view1 of blemish or of spot1 ,bereft of light their seeing have forgot1 ,nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear ,of sun or moon or star throughout the year1 ,or man or woman4 ,yet ,i argue not ,against ,heav'n's hand or will1 nor bate a jot ,of heart or hope2 but still bear up and steer ,right onward4 ,what supports me1 dost thou ask8 ,the conscience1 ,friend1 to have lost them overply'd ,in liberty's defence1 my noble task1 ,of which all ,europe talks from side to side4 ,this thought might lead me through the world's vain mask1 ,content though blind1 had ,i no better guide4' ,nothing can exceed the mild1 subdued tone of this ,sonnet1 nor the striking grandeur of the concluding thought4 ,it is curious to remark what seems to be a trait of character in the two first lines4 ,from ,milton's care to inform the reader that #8his eyes were still clear to outward view of spot or blemish1' it would be thought that he had not yet given up all regard to personal appearance2 a feeling to which his singular beauty at an earlier age might be supposed naturally enough to lead4--,of the political or 7what may be called7 his ,state-,sonnets1 those to ,cromwell1 to ,fairfax1 and to the younger ,vane1 are full of exalted praise and dignified advice4 ,they are neither familiar nor servile4 ,the writer knows what is due to power and to fame4 ,he feels the true1 unassumed equality of greatness4 ,he pays the full tribute of admiration for great acts atchieved1 and suggests becoming occasion to deserve higher praise4 ,that to ,cromwell is a proof how completely our poet maintained the erectness of his understanding and spirit in his intercourse with men in power4 ,it is such a compliment as a poet might pay to a conqueror and head of the state1 without the possibility of self-degradation4 #8,cromwell1 our chief of men1 who through a cloud1 ,not of war only1 but detractions rude1 ,guided by faith and matchless fortitude1 ,to peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough'd1 ,and on the neck of crowned fortune proud ,hast rear'd ,god's trophies and his work pursued1 ,while ,darwen stream with blood of ,scots imbrued1 ,and ,dunbar field resounds thy praises loud1 ,and ,worcester's laureat wreath4 ,yet much remains ,to conquer still2 peace hath her victories ,no less renown'd than war3 new foes arise ,threatening to bind our souls with secular chains2 ,help us to save free conscience from the paw ,of hireling wolves1 whose gospel is their maw4' ,the most spirited and impassioned of them all1 and the most inspired with a sort of prophetic fury1 is the one1 entitled ,on the late ,massacre in ,piedmont4 #8,avenge1 ,o ,lord1 thy slaughter'd saints1 whose bones ,lie scatter'd on the ,alpine mountains cold2 ,even them who kept thy truth so pure of old1 ,when all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones1 ,forget not3 in thy book record their groans ,who were thy sheep1 and in their ancient fold ,slain by the bloody ,piedmontese that roll'd ,mother with infant down the rocks4 ,their moans ,the vales redoubled to the hills1 and they ,to ,heav'n4 ,their martyr'd blood and ashes sow ,o'er all the ,italian fields1 where still doth sway ,the triple ,tyrant2 that from these may grow ,a hundred fold1 who having learn'd thy way ,early may fly the ,babylonian woe4' ,in the ,nineteenth ,sonnet1 which is also ,on his blindness1 we see the jealous watchfulness of his mind over the use of his high gifts1 and the beautiful manner in which he satisfies himself that virtuous thoughts and intentions are not the least acceptable offering to the ,almighty4 #8,when ,i consider how my light is spent ,ere half my days1 in this dark world and wide1 ,and that one talent which is death to hide1 ,lodged with me useless1 though my soul more bent ,to serve therewith my ,maker1 and present ,my true account1 lest he returning chide2 ,doth ,god exact day-labour1 light denied1 ,i fondly ask3 ,but patience1 to prevent ,that murmur1 soon replies1 ,god doth not need ,either man's work or his own gifts2 who best ,bear his mild yoke1 they serve him best2 his state ,is kingly2 thousands at his bidding speed1 ,and post o'er land and ocean without rest2 ,they also serve who only stand and wait4' ,those to ,mr4 ,henry ,lawes ,on his ,airs1 and to ,mr4 ,lawrence1 can never be enough admired4 ,they breathe the very soul of music and friendship4 ,both have a tender1 thoughtful grace2 and for their lightness1 with a certain melancholy complaining intermixed1 might be stolen from the harp of olus4 ,the last is the picture of a day spent in social retirement and elegant relaxation from severer studies4 ,we sit with the poet at table and hear his familiar sentiments from his own lips afterwards4 #8,lawrence1 of virtuous father virtuous son1 ,now that the fields are dank and ways are mire1 ,where shall we sometimes meet1 and by the fire ,help waste a sullen day1 what may be won ,from the hard season gaining8 ,time will run ,on smoother1 till ,favonius re-inspire ,the frozen earth1 and clothe in fresh attire ,the lily and rose1 that neither sow'd nor spun4 ,what neat repast shall feast us1 light and choice1 ,of ,attic taste1 with wine1 whence we may rise ,to hear the lute well-touch'd1 or artful voice ,warble immortal notes and ,tuscan air8 ,he who of these delights can judge1 and spare ,to interpose them oft1 is not unwise4' ,in the last1 ,on his deceased ,wife1 the allusion to ,alcestis is beautiful1 and shews how the poet's mind raised and refined his thoughts by exquisite classical conceptions1 and how these again were enriched by a passionate reference to actual feelings and images4 ,it is this rare union that gives such voluptuous dignity and touching purity to ,milton's delineation of the female character4 #8,methought ,i saw my late espoused saint ,brought to me like ,alcestis from the grave1 ,whom ,jove's great son to her glad husband gave1 ,rescued from death by force1 though pale and faint4 ,mine1 as whom wash'd from spot of child-bed taint ,purification in the old law did save1 ,and such1 as yet once more ,i trust to have ,full sight of her in ,heav'n without restraint1 ,came vested all in white1 pure as her mind3 ,her face was veil'd1 yet to my fancied sight ,love1 sweetness1 goodness in her person shined ,so clear1 as in no face with more delight3 ,but ,o as to embrace me she inclined1 ,i waked1 she fled1 and day brought back my night4' ,there could not have been a greater mistake or a more unjust piece of criticism than to suppose that ,milton only shone on great subjects2 and that on ordinary occasions and in familiar life1 his mind was unwieldy1 averse to the cultivation of grace and elegance1 and unsusceptible of harmless pleasures4 ,the whole tenour of his smaller compositions contradicts this opinion1 which however they have been cited to confirm4 ,the notion first got abroad from the bitterness 7or vehemence7 of his controversial writings1 and has been kept up since with little meaning and with less truth4 ,his ,letters to ,donatus and others are not more remarkable for the display of a scholastic enthusiasm1 than for that of the most amiable dispositions4 ,they are #8severe in youthful virtue unreproved4' ,there is a passage in his prose-works 7the ,treatise on ,education7 which shews1 ,i think1 his extreme openness and proneness to pleasing outward impressions in a striking point of view4 #8,but to return to our own institute1' he says1 #8besides these constant exercises at home1 there is another opportunity of gaining experience to be won from pleasure itself abroad4 ,in those vernal seasons of the year1 when the air is calm and pleasant1 it were an injury and sullenness against nature1 not to go out and see her riches1 and partake in her rejoicing with ,heaven and earth4 ,i should not therefore be a persuader to them of studying much then1 but to ride out in companies with prudent and well staid guides1 to all quarters of the land1' c4 ,many other passages might be quoted1 in which the poet breaks through the ground-work of prose1 as it were1 by natural fecundity and a genial1 unrestrained sense of delight4 ,to suppose that a poet is not easily accessible to pleasure1 or that he does not take an interest in individual objects and feelings1 is to suppose that he is no poet2 and proceeds on the false theory1 which has been so often applied to poetry and the ,fine ,arts1 that the whole is not made up of the particulars4 ,if our author1 according to ,dr4 ,johnson's account of him1 could only have treated epic1 high-sounding subjects1 he would not have been what he was1 but another ,sir ,richard ,blackmore4--,i may conclude with observing1 that ,i have often wished that ,milton had lived to see the ,revolution of #afhh4 ,this would have been a triumph worthy of him1 and which he would have earned by faith and hope4 ,he would then have been old1 but would not have lived in vain to see it1 and might have celebrated the event in one more undying strain6 ,,essay ,,xix ,,on ,,going ,a ,,journey ,one of the pleasantest things in the world is going a journey2 but ,i like to go by myself4 ,i can enjoy society in a room2 but out of doors1 nature is company enough for me4 ,i am then never less alone than when alone4 #8,the fields his study1 nature was his book4' ,i cannot see the wit of walking and talking at the same time4 ,when ,i am in the country1 ,i wish to vegetate like the country4 ,i am not for criticising hedge-rows and black cattle4 ,i go out of town in order to forget the town and all that is in it4 ,there are those who for this purpose go to watering-places1 and carry the metropolis with them4 ,i like more elbow-room1 and fewer incumbrances4 ,i like solitude1 when ,i give myself up to it1 for the sake of solitude2 nor do ,i ask for --#8a friend in my retreat1 ,whom ,i may whisper solitude is sweet4' ,the soul of a journey is liberty1 perfect liberty1 to think1 feel1 do just as one pleases4 ,we go a journey chiefly to be free of all impediments and of all inconveniences2 to leave ourselves behind1 much more to get rid of others4 ,it is because ,i want a little breathing-space to muse on indifferent matters1 where ,contemplation4 #8,may plume her feathers and let grow her wings1 ,that in the various bustle of resort ,were all too ruffled1 and sometimes impair'd1' that ,i absent myself from the town for awhile1 without feeling at a loss the moment ,i am left by myself4 ,instead of a friend in a postchaise or in a ,tilbury1 to exchange good things with1 and vary the same stale topics over again1 for once let me have a truce with impertinence4 ,give me the clear blue sky over my head1 and the green turf beneath my feet1 a winding road before me1 and a three hours' march to dinner--and then to thinking6 ,it is hard if ,i cannot start some game on these lone heaths4 ,i laugh1 ,i run1 ,i leap1 ,i sing for joy4 ,from the point of yonder rolling cloud1 ,i plunge into my past being1 and revel there1 as the sun-burnt ,indian plunges headlong into the wave that wafts him to his native shore4 ,then long-forgotten things1 like #8sunken wrack and sumless treasuries1' burst upon my eager sight1 and ,i begin to feel1 think1 and be myself again4 ,instead of an awkward silence1 broken by attempts at wit or dull common-places1 mine is that undisturbed silence of the heart which alone is perfect eloquence4 ,no one likes puns1 alliterations1 antitheses1 argument1 and analysis better than ,i do2 but ,i sometimes had rather be without them4 #8,leave1 oh1 leave me to my repose6' ,i have just now other business in hand1 which would seem idle to you1 but is with me #8very stuff of the conscience4' ,is not this wild rose sweet without a comment8 ,does not this daisy leap to my heart set in its coat of emerald8 ,yet if ,i were to explain to you the circumstance that has so endeared it to me1 you would only smile4 ,had ,i not better then keep it to myself1 and let it serve me to brood over1 from here to yonder craggy point1 and from thence onward to the far-distant horizon8 ,i should be but bad company all that way1 and therefore prefer being alone4 ,i have heard it said that you may1 when the moody fit comes on1 walk or ride on by yourself1 and indulge your reveries4 ,but this looks like a breach of manners1 a neglect of others1 and you are thinking all the time that you ought to rejoin your party4 #8,out upon such half-faced fellowship1' say ,i4 ,i like to be either entirely to myself1 or entirely at the disposal of others2 to talk or be silent1 to walk or sit still1 to be sociable or solitary4 ,i was pleased with an observation of ,mr4 ,cobbett's1 that #8he thought it a bad ,french custom to drink our wine with our meals1 and that an ,englishman ought to do only one thing at a time4' ,so ,i cannot talk and think1 or indulge in melancholy musing and lively conversation by fits and starts4 #8,let me have a companion of my way1' says ,sterne1 #8were it but to remark how the shadows lengthen as the sun declines4' ,it is beautifully said3 but in my opinion1 this continual comparing of notes interferes with the involuntary impression of things upon the mind1 and hurts the sentiment4 ,if you only hint what you feel in a kind of dumb show1 it is insipid3 if you have to explain it1 it is making a toil of a pleasure4 ,you cannot read the book of nature1 without being perpetually put to the trouble of translating it for the benefit of others4 ,i am for the synthetical method on a journey1 in preference to the analytical4 ,i am content to lay in a stock of ideas then1 and to examine and anatomise them afterwards4 ,i want to see my vague notions float like the down of the thistle before the breeze1 and not to have them entangled in the briars and thorns of controversy4 ,for once1 ,i like to have it all my own way2 and this is impossible unless you are alone1 or in such company as ,i do not covet4 ,i have no objection to argue a point with any one for twenty miles of measured road1 but not for pleasure4 ,if you remark the scent of a beanfield crossing the road1 perhaps your fellow-traveller has no smell4 ,if you point to a distant object1 perhaps he is short-sighted1 and has to take out his glass to look at it4 ,there is a feeling in the air1 a tone in the colour of a cloud which hits your fancy1 but the effect of which you are unable to account for4 ,there is then no sympathy1 but an uneasy craving after it1 and a dissatisfaction which pursues you on the way1 and in the end probably produces ill humour4 ,now ,i never quarrel with myself1 and take all my own conclusions for granted till ,i find it necessary to defend them against objections4 ,it is not merely that you may not be of accord on the objects and circumstances that present themselves before you--these may recal a number of objects1 and lead to associations too delicate and refined to be possibly communicated to others4 ,yet these ,i love to cherish1 and sometimes still fondly clutch them1 when ,i can escape from the throng to do so4 ,to give way to our feelings before company1 seems extravagance or affectation2 and on the other hand1 to have to unravel this mystery of our being at every turn1 and to make others take an equal interest in it 7otherwise the end is not answered7 is a task to which few are competent4 ,we must #8give it an understanding1 but no tongue4' ,my old friend ,c--1 however1 could do both4 ,he could go on in the most delightful explanatory way over hill and dale1 a summer's day1 and convert a landscape into a didactic poem or a ,pindaric ode4 #8,he talked far above singing4' ,if ,i could so clothe my ideas in sounding and flowing words1 ,i might perhaps wish to have some one with me to admire the swelling theme2 or ,i could be more content1 were it possible for me still to hear his echoing voice in the woods of ,all-,foxden4 ,they had #8that fine madness in them which our first poets had2' and if they could have been caught by some rare instrument1 would have breathed such strains as the following4 --#8,here be woods as green ,as any1 air likewise as fresh and sweet ,as when smooth ,zephyrus plays on the fleet ,face of the curled stream1 with flow'rs as many ,as the young spring gives1 and as choice as any2 ,here be all new delights1 cool streams and wells1 ,arbours o'ergrown with woodbine1 caves and dells2 ,choose where thou wilt1 while ,i sit by and sing1 ,or gather rushes to make many a ring ,for thy long fingers2 tell thee tales of love1 ,how the pale ,phbe1 hunting in a grove1 ,first saw the boy ,endymion1 from whose eyes ,she took eternal fire that never dies2 ,how she convey'd him softly in a sleep1 ,his temples bound with poppy1 to the steep ,head of old ,latmos1 where she stoops each night1 ,gilding the mountain with her brother's light1 ,to kiss her sweetest4'-- ,,faithful ,,shepherdess4 ,had ,i words and images at command like these1 ,i would attempt to wake the thoughts that lie slumbering on golden ridges in the evening clouds3 but at the sight of nature my fancy1 poor as it is1 droops and closes up its leaves1 like flowers at sunset4 ,i can make nothing out on the spot3--,i must have time to collect myself4-- ,in general1 a good thing spoils out-of-door prospects3 it should be reserved for ,table-talk4 ,l-- is for this reason1 ,i take it1 the worst company in the world out of doors2 because he is the best within4 ,i grant1 there is one subject on which it is pleasant to talk on a journey2 and that is1 what one shall have for supper when we get to our inn at night4 ,the open air improves this sort of conversation or friendly altercation1 by setting a keener edge on appetite4 ,every mile of the road heightens the flavour of the viands we expect at the end of it4 ,how fine it is to enter some old town1 walled and turreted just at the approach of night-fall1 or to come to some straggling village1 with the lights streaming through the surrounding gloom2 and then after inquiring for the best entertainment that the place affords1 to #8take one's ease at one's inn6' ,these eventful moments in our lives' history are too precious1 too full of solid1 heartfelt happiness to be frittered and dribbled away in imperfect sympathy4 ,i would have them all to myself1 and drain them to the last drop3 they will do to talk of or to write about afterwards4 ,what a delicate speculation it is1 after drinking whole goblets of tea1 #8,the cups that cheer1 but not inebriate1' and letting the fumes ascend into the brain1 to sit considering what we shall have for supper--eggs and a rasher1 a rabbit smothered in onions1 or an excellent veal-cutlet6 ,sancho in such a situation once fixed upon cow-heel2 and his choice1 though he could not help it1 is not to be disparaged4 ,then in the intervals of pictured scenery and ,shandean contemplation1 to catch the preparation and the stir in the kitchen--,procul1 ,o procul este profani6 ,these hours are sacred to silence and to musing1 to be treasured up in the memory1 and to feed the source of smiling thoughts hereafter4 ,i would not waste them in idle talk2 or if ,i must have the integrity of fancy broken in upon1 ,i would rather it were by a stranger than a friend4 ,a stranger takes his hue and character from the time and place2 he is a part of the furniture and costume of an inn4 ,if he is a ,quaker1 or from the ,west ,riding of ,yorkshire1 so much the better4 ,i do not even try to sympathise with him1 and he breaks no squares4 ,i associate nothing with my travelling companion but present objects and passing events4 ,in his ignorance of me and my affairs1 ,i in a manner forget myself4 ,but a friend reminds one of other things1 rips up old grievances1 and destroys the abstraction of the scene4 ,he comes in ungraciously between us and our imaginary character4 ,something is dropped in the course of conversation that gives a hint of your profession and pursuits2 or from having some one with you that knows the less sublime portions of your history1 it seems that other people do4 ,you are no longer a citizen of the world3 but your #8unhoused free condition is put into circumscription and confine4' ,the incognito of an inn is one of its striking privileges--#8lord of one's-self1 uncumber'd with a name4' ,oh6 it is great to shake off the trammels of the world and of public opinion--to lose our importunate1 tormenting1 everlasting personal identity in the elements of nature1 and become the creature of the moment1 clear of all ties--to hold to the universe only by a dish of sweet-breads1 and to owe nothing but the score of the evening--and no longer seeking for applause and meeting with contempt1 to be known by no other title than the ,gentleman in the parlour6 ,one may take one's choice of all characters in this romantic state of uncertainty as to one's real pretensions1 and become indefinitely respectable and negatively rightworshipful4 ,we baffle prejudice and disappoint conjecture2 and from being so to others1 begin to be objects of curiosity and wonder even to ourselves4 ,we are no more those hackneyed common-places that we appear in the world3 an inn restores us to the level of nature1 and quits scores with society6 ,i have certainly spent some enviable hours at inns--sometimes when ,i have been left entirely to myself1 and have tried to solve some metaphysical problem1 as once at ,witham-common1 where ,i found out the proof that likeness is not a case of the association of ideas--at other times1 when there have been pictures in the room1 as at ,st4 ,neot's1 7,i think it was7 where ,i first met with ,gribelin's engravings of the ,cartoons1 into which ,i entered at once1 and at a little inn on the borders of ,wales1 where there happened to be hanging some of ,westall's drawings1 which ,i compared triumphantly 7for a theory that ,i had1 not for the admired artist7 with the figure of a girl who had ferried me over the ,severn1 standing up in the boat between me and the twilight--at other times ,i might mention luxuriating in books1 with a peculiar interest in this way1 as ,i remember sitting up half the night to read ,paul and ,virginia1 which ,i picked up at an inn at ,bridgewater1 after being drenched in the rain all day2 and at the same place ,i got through two volumes of ,madame ,d',arblay's ,camilla4 ,it was on the tenth of ,april1 #agih1 that ,i sat down to a volume of the ,new ,eloise1 at the inn at ,llangollen1 over a bottle of sherry and a cold chicken4 ,the letter ,i chose was that in which ,st4 ,preux describes his feelings as he first caught a glimpse from the heights of the ,jura of the ,pays de ,vaud1 which ,i had brought with me as a bon bouche to crown the evening with4 ,it was my birthday1 and ,i had for the first time come from a place in the neighbourhood to visit this delightful spot4 ,the road to ,llangollen turns off between ,chirk and ,wrexham2 and on passing a certain point1 you come all at once upon the valley1 which opens like an amphitheatre1 broad1 barren hills rising in majestic state on either side1 with #8green upland swells that echo to the bleat of flocks' below1 and the river ,dee babbling over its stony bed in the midst of them4 ,the valley at this time #8glittered green with sunny showers1' and a budding ash-tree dipped its tender branches in the chiding stream4 ,how proud1 how glad ,i was to walk along the high road that overlooks the delicious prospect1 repeating the lines which ,i have just quoted from ,mr4 ,coleridge's poems6 ,but besides the prospect which opened beneath my feet1 another also opened to my inward sight1 a heavenly vision1 on which were written1 in letters large as ,hope could make them1 these four words1 ,,liberty1 ,,genius1 ,,love1 ,,virtue2 which have since faded into the light of common day1 or mock my idle gaze4 #8,the beautiful is vanished1 and returns not4' ,still ,i would return some time or other to this enchanted spot2 but ,i would return to it alone4 ,what other self could ,i find to share that influx of thoughts1 of regret1 and delight1 the fragments of which ,i could hardly conjure up to myself1 so much have they been broken and defaced6 ,i could stand on some tall rock1 and overlook the precipice of years that separates me from what ,i then was4 ,i was at that time going shortly to visit the poet whom ,i have above named4 ,where is he now8 ,not only ,i myself have changed2 the world1 which was then new to me1 has become old and incorrigible4 ,yet will ,i turn to thee in thought1 ,o sylvan ,dee1 in joy1 in youth and gladness as thou then wert2 and thou shalt always be to me the river of ,paradise1 where ,i will drink of the waters of life freely6 ,there is hardly any thing that shows the short-sightedness or capriciousness of the imagination more than travelling does4 ,with change of place we change our ideas2 nay1 our opinions and feelings4 ,we can by an effort indeed transport ourselves to old and long-forgotten scenes1 and then the picture of the mind revives again2 but we forget those that we have just left4 ,it seems that we can think but of one place at a time4 ,the canvas of the fancy is but of a certain extent1 and if we paint one set of objects upon it1 they immediately efface every other4 ,we cannot enlarge our conceptions1 we only shift our point of view4 ,the landscape bares its bosom to the enraptured eye1 we take our fill of it1 and seem as if we could form no other image of beauty or grandeur4 ,we pass on1 and think no more of it3 the horizon that shuts it from our sight1 also blots it from our memory like a dream4 ,in travelling through a wild barren country1 ,i can form no idea of a woody and cultivated one4 ,it appears to me that all the world must be barren1 like what ,i see of it4 ,in the country we forget the town1 and in town we despise the country4 #8,beyond ,hyde ,park1' says ,sir ,fopling ,flutter1 #8all is a desert4' ,all that part of the map that we do not see before us is a blank4 ,the world in our conceit of it is not much bigger than a nutshell4 ,it is not one prospect expanded into another1 county joined to county1 kingdom to kingdom1 lands to seas1 making an image voluminous and vast2--the mind can form no larger idea of space than the eye can take in at a single glance4 ,the rest is a name written in a map1 a calculation of arithmetic4 ,for instance1 what is the true signification of that immense mass of territory and population1 known by the name of ,china to us8 ,an inch of paste-board on a wooden globe1 of no more account than a ,china orange6 ,things near us are seen of the size of life3 things at a distance are diminished to the size of the understanding4 ,we measure the universe by ourselves1 and even comprehend the texture of our own being only piece-meal4 ,in this way1 however1 we remember an infinity of things and places4 ,the mind is like a mechanical instrument that plays a great variety of tunes1 but it must play them in succession4 ,one idea recalls another1 but it at the same time excludes all others4 ,in trying to renew old recollections1 we cannot as it were unfold the whole web of our existence2 we must pick out the single threads4 ,so in coming to a place where we have formerly lived and with which we have intimate associations1 every one must have found that the feeling grows more vivid the nearer we approach the spot1 from the mere anticipation of the actual impression3 we remember circumstances1 feelings1 persons1 faces1 names1 that we had not thought of for years2 but for the time all the rest of the world is forgotten6--,to return to the question ,i have quitted above4 ,i have no objection to go to see ruins1 aqueducts1 pictures1 in company with a friend or a party1 but rather the contrary1 for the former reason reversed4 ,they are intelligible matters1 and will bear talking about4 ,the sentiment here is not tacit1 but communicable and overt4 ,salisbury ,plain is barren of criticism1 but ,stonehenge will bear a discussion antiquarian1 picturesque1 and philosophical4 ,in setting out on a party of pleasure1 the first consideration always is where we shall go to3 in taking a solitary ramble1 the question is what we shall meet with by the way4 #8,the mind is its own place2' nor are we anxious to arrive at the end of our journey4 ,i can myself do the honours indifferently well to works of art and curiosity4 ,i once took a party to ,oxford with no mean eclat--shewed them that seat of the ,muses at a distance1 #8,with glistering spires and pinnacles adorn'd'-- descanted on the learned air that breathes from the grassy quadrangles and stone walls of halls and colleges--was at home in the ,bodleian2 and at ,blenheim quite superseded the powdered ,ciceroni that attended us1 and that pointed in vain with his wand to common-place beauties in matchless pictures4--,as another exception to the above reasoning1 ,i should not feel confident in venturing on a journey in a foreign country without a companion4 ,i should want at intervals to hear the sound of my own language4 ,there is an involuntary antipathy in the mind of an ,englishman to foreign manners and notions that requires the assistance of social sympathy to carry it off4 ,as the distance from home increases1 this relief1 which was at first a luxury1 becomes a passion and an appetite4 ,a person would almost feel stifled to find himself in the deserts of ,arabia without friends and countrymen3 there must be allowed to be something in the view of ,athens or old ,rome that claims the utterance of speech2 and ,i own that the ,pyramids are too mighty for any single contemplation4 ,in such situations1 so opposite to all one's ordinary train of ideas1 one seems a species by one's-self1 a limb torn off from society1 unless one can meet with instant fellowship and support4--,yet ,i did not feel this want or craving very pressing once1 when ,i first set my foot on the laughing shores of ,france4 ,calais was peopled with novelty and delight4 ,the confused1 busy murmur of the place was like oil and wine poured into my ears2 nor did the mariners' hymn1 which was sung from the top of an old crazy vessel in the harbour1 as the sun went down1 send an alien sound into my soul4 ,i only breathed the air of general humanity4 ,i walked over #8the vine-covered hills and gay regions of ,france1' erect and satisfied2 for the image of man was not cast down and chained to the foot of arbitrary thrones3 ,i was at no loss for language1 for that of all the great schools of painting was open to me4 ,the whole is vanished like a shade4 ,pictures1 heroes1 glory1 freedom1 all are fled3 nothing remains but the ,bourbons and the ,french people6--,there is undoubtedly a sensation in travelling into foreign parts that is to be had nowhere else3 but it is more pleasing at the time than lasting4 ,it is too remote from our habitual associations to be a common topic of discourse or reference1 and1 like a dream or another state of existence1 does not piece into our daily modes of life4 ,it is an animated but a momentary hallucination4 ,it demands an effort to exchange our actual for our ideal identity2 and to feel the pulse of our old transports revive very keenly1 we must #8jump' all our present comforts and connexions4 ,our romantic and itinerant character is not to be domesticated4 ,dr4 ,johnson remarked how little foreign travel added to the facilities of conversation in those who had been abroad4 ,in fact1 the time we have spent there is both delightful and in one sense instructive2 but it appears to be cut out of our substantial1 downright existence1 and never to join kindly on to it4 ,we are not the same1 but another1 and perhaps more enviable individual1 all the time we are out of our own country4 ,we are lost to ourselves1 as well as our friends4 ,so the poet somewhat quaintly sings1 #8,out of my country and myself ,i go4' ,those who wish to forget painful thoughts1 do well to absent themselves for a while from the ties and objects that recal them3 but we can be said only to fulfil our destiny in the place that gave us birth4 ,i should on this account like well enough to spend the whole of my life in travelling abroad1 if ,i could any where borrow another life to spend afterwards at home6-- ,,essay ,,xx ,,on ,,coffee-,,house ,,politicians ,there is a set of people who fairly come under this denomination4 ,they spend their time and their breath in coffee-houses and other places of public resort1 hearing or repeating some new thing4 ,they sit with a paper in their hands in the morning1 and with a pipe in their mouths in the evening1 discussing the contents of it4 ,the ,times1 the ,morning ,chronicle1 and the ,herald are necessary to their existence3 in them #8they live and move and have their being4' ,the ,evening ,paper is impatiently expected1 and called for at a certain critical minute3 the news of the morning become stale and vapid by the dinner-hour4 ,a fresher interest is required1 an appetite for the latest-stirring information is excited with the return of their meals2 and a glass of old port or humming ale hardly relishes as it ought without the infusion of some lively topic that had its birth with the day1 and perishes before night4 #8,then come in the sweets of the evening3'--the ,queen1 the coronation1 the last new play1 the next fight1 the insurrection of the ,greeks or ,neapolitans1 the price of stocks1 or death of kings1 keep them on the alert till bed-time4 ,no question comes amiss to them that is quite new--none is ever heard of that is at all old4 #8,that of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker4' ,the ,world before the ,flood or the ,intermediate ,state of the ,soul are never once thought of--such is the quick succession of subjects1 the suddenness and fugitiveness of the interest taken in them1 that the ,two-penny ,post-,bag would be at present looked upon as an old-fashioned publication1 and the ,battle of ,waterloo1 like the proverb1 is somewhat musty4 ,it is strange that people should take so much interest at one time in what they so soon forget3--the truth is1 they feel no interest in it at any time1 but it does for something to talk about4 ,their ideas are served up to them1 like their bill of fare1 for the day2 and the whole creation1 history1 war1 politics1 morals1 poetry1 metaphysics1 is to them like a file of antedated newspapers1 of no use1 not even for reference1 except the one which lies on the table6--,you cannot take any of these persons at a greater disadvantage than before they are provided with their cue for the day4 ,they ask with a face of dreary vacuity1 #8,have you any thing new8'--and on receiving an answer in the negative1 have nothing farther to say4 ,talk of the ,westminster ,election1 the ,bridge-street ,association1 or ,mr4 ,cobbett's ,letter to ,john ,cropper of ,liverpool1 and they are alive again4 ,beyond the last twenty-four hours1 or the narrow round in which they move1 they are utterly to seek1 without ideas1 feelings1 interests1 apprehensions of any sort2 so that if you betray any knowledge beyond the vulgar routine of ,,second ,,editions and firsthand private intelligence1 you pass with them for a dull fellow1 not acquainted with what is going forward in the world or with the practical value of things4 ,i have known a person of this stamp censure ,john ,cam ,hobhouse for referring so often as he does to the affairs of the ,greeks and ,romans1 as if the affairs of the nation were not sufficient for his hands3 another asks you if a ,general in modern times cannot throw a bridge over a river without having studied ,csar's ,commentaries2 and a third cannot see the use of the learned languages1 as he has observed that the greatest proficients in them are rather taciturn than otherwise1 and hesitate in their speech more than other people4 ,a dearth of general information is almost necessary to the thorough-paced coffee-house politician2 in the absence of thought1 imagination1 sentiment1 he is attracted immediately to the nearest common-place1 and floats through the chosen regions of noise and empty rumours without difficulty and without distraction4 ,meet #8any six of these men in buckram1' and they will accost you with the same question and the same answer3 they have seen it somewhere in print1 or had it from some city-oracle1 that morning2 and the sooner they vent their opinions the better1 for they will not keep4 ,like tickets of admission to the theatre for a particular evening1 they must be used immediately1 or they will be worth nothing3 and the object is to find auditors for the one and customers for the other1 neither of which is difficult2 since people who have no ideas of their own are glad to hear what any one else has to say1 as those who have not free admissions to the play will very obligingly take up with an occasional order4--,it sometimes gives one a melancholy but mixed sensation to see one of the better sort of this class of politicians1 not without talents or learning1 absorbed for fifty years together in the all-engrossing topic of the day3 mounting on it for exercise and recreation of his faculties1 like the great horse at a riding-school1 and after his short1 improgressive1 untired career dismounting just where he got up2 flying abroad in continual consternation on the wings of all the newspapers2 waving his arm like a pump-handle in sign of constant change1 and spouting out torrents of puddled politics from his mouth2 dead to all interests but those of the state2 seemingly neither older nor wiser for age2 unaccountably enthusiastic1 stupidly romantic1 and actuated by no other motive than the mechanical operations of the spirit of newsmongering6#ee #8,what things1' exclaims ,beaumont in his verses to ,ben ,jonson1 #8have we not seen done at the ,mermaid6 --,then when there hath been thrown ,wit able enough to justify the town ,for three days past1 wit that might warrant be ,for the whole city to talk foolishly6' ,i cannot say the same of the ,s--1 though it stands on classic ground1 and is connected by local tradition with the great names of the ,elizabethan age4 ,what a falling-off is here6 ,our ancestors of that period seem not only to be older by two hundred years1 and proportionably wiser and wittier than we1 but hardly a trace of them is left1 not even the memory of what has been4 ,how should ,i make my friend ,m-- stare1 if ,i were to mention the name of my still better friend1 old honest ,signor ,friscobaldo1 the father of ,bellafront3--yet his name was perhaps invented1 and the scenes in which he figures unrivalled might for the first time have been read aloud to thrilling ears on this very spot6 ,who reads ,deckar now8 ,or if by chance any one awakes the strings of that ancient lyre1 and starts with delight as they yield wild1 broken music1 is he not accused of envy to the living ,muse8 ,what would a linen-draper from ,holborn think1 if ,i were to ask him after the clerk of ,st4 ,andrew's1 the immortal1 the forgotten ,webster8 ,his name and his works are no more heard of3 though these were written with a pen of adamant1 #8within the red-leaved tables of the heart1' his fame was #8writ in water4' ,so perishable is genius1 so swift is time1 so fluctuating is knowledge1 and so far is it from being true that men perpetually accumulate the means of improvement and refinement4 ,on the contrary1 living knowledge is the tomb of the dead1 and while light and worthless materials float on the surface1 the solid and sterling as often sink to the bottom1 and are swallowed up for ever in weeds and quicksands6--,a striking instance of the short-lived nature of popular reputation occurred one evening at the ,s--1 when we got into a dispute1 the most learned and recondite that ever took place1 on the comparative merits of ,lord ,byron and ,gray4 ,a country-gentleman happened to drop in1 and thinking to show off in ,london company1 launched into a lofty panegyric on the ,bard of ,gray as the sublimest composition in the ,english language4 ,this assertion presently appeared to be an anachronism1 though it was probably the opinion in vogue thirty years ago1 when the gentleman was last in town4 ,after a little floundering1 one of the party volunteered to express a more contemporary sentiment1 by asking in a tone of mingled confidence and doubt--#8,but you don't think1 ,sir1 that ,gray is to be mentioned as a poet in the same day with my ,lord ,byron8' ,the disputants were now at issue3 all that resulted was that ,gray was set aside as a poet who would not go down among readers of the present day1 and his patron treated the works of the ,noble ,bard as mere ephemeral effusions1 and spoke of poets that would be admired thirty years hence1 which was the farthest stretch of his critical imagination4 ,his antagonist's did not even reach so far4 ,this was the most romantic digression we ever had2 and the subject was not afterwards resumed4--,no one here 7generally speaking7 has the slightest notion of any thing that has happened1 that has been said1 thought1 or done out of his own recollection4 ,it would be in vain to hearken after those #8wit-skirmishes1' those #8brave sublunary things1' which were the employment and delight of the ,beaumonts and ,bens of former times3 but we may happily repose on dulness1 drift with the tide of nonsense1 and gain an agreeable vertigo by lending an ear to endless controversies4 ,the confusion1 provided you do not mingle in the fray and try to disentangle it1 is amusing and edifying enough4 ,every species of false wit and spurious argument may be learnt here by potent examples4 ,whatever observations you hear dropt1 have been picked up in the same place or in a kindred atmosphere4 ,there is a kind of conversation made up entirely of scraps and hearsay1 as there are a kind of books made up entirely of references to other books4 ,this may account for the frequent contradictions which abound in the discourse of persons educated and disciplined wholly in coffee-houses4 ,there is nothing stable or well-grounded in it3 it is #8nothing but vanity1 chaotic vanity4' ,they hear a remark at the ,globe which they do not know what to make of2 another at the ,rainbow in direct opposition to it2 and not having time to reconcile them1 vent both at the ,mitre4 ,in the course of half an hour1 if they are not more than ordinarily dull1 you are sure to find them on opposite sides of the question4 ,this is the sickening part of it4 ,people do not seem to talk for the sake of expressing their opinions1 but to maintain an opinion for the sake of talking4 ,we meet neither with modest ignorance nor studious acquirement4 ,their knowledge has been taken in too much by snatches to digest properly4 ,there is neither sincerity nor system in what they say4 ,they hazard the first crude notion that comes to hand1 and then defend it how they can2 which is for the most part but ill4 #8,don't you think1' says ,m--1 #8that ,mr4 -- is a very sensible1 well-informed man8'--#8,why no1' ,i say1 #8he seems to me to have no ideas of his own1 and only to wait to see what others will say in order to set himself against it4 ,i should not think that is the way to get at the truth4 ,i do not desire to be driven out of my conclusions 7such as they are7 merely to make way for his upstart pretensions4'--#8,then there is --3 what of him8'--#8,he might very well express all he has to say in half the time1 and with half the trouble4 ,why should he beat about the bush as he does8 ,he appears to be getting up a little speech1 and practising on a smaller scale for a ,debating ,society--the lowest ambition a man can have4 ,besides1 by his manner of drawling out his words1 and interlarding his periods with inuendos and formal reservations1 he is evidently making up his mind all the time which side he shall take4 ,he puts his sentences together as printers set up types1 letter by letter4 ,there is certainly no principle of short-hand in his mode of elocution4 ,he goes round for a meaning1 and the sense waits for him4 ,it is not conversation1 but rehearsing a part4 ,men of education and men of the world order this matter better4 ,they know what they have to say on a subject1 and come to the point at once4 ,your coffee-house politician balances between what he heard last and what he shall say next2 and not seeing his way clearly1 puts you off with circumstantial phrases1 and tries to gain time for fear of making a false step4 ,this gentleman has heard some one admired for precision and copiousness of language2 and goes away1 congratulating himself that he has not made a blunder in grammar or in rhetoric the whole evening4 ,he is a theoretical ,quidnunc--is tenacious in argument1 though wary2 carries his point thus and thus1 bandies objections and answers with uneasy pleasantry1 and when he has the worst of the dispute1 puns very emphatically on his adversary's name1 if it admits of that kind of misconstruction4' ,g-- is admired by the waiter1 who is a sleek hand#ef for his temper in managing an argument4 ,any one else would perceive that the latent cause is not patience with his antagonist1 but satisfaction with himself4 ,i think this unmoved self-complacency1 this cavalier smooth simpering indifference is more annoying than the extremest violence or irritability4 ,the one shews that your opponent does care something about you1 and may be put out of his way by your remarks2 the other seems to announce that nothing you say can shake his opinion a jot1 that he has considered the whole of what you have to offer beforehand1 and that he is in all respects much wiser and more accomplished than you4 ,such persons talk to grown people with the same air of patronage and condescension that they do to children4 #8,they will explain'--is a familiar expression with them1 thinking you can only differ from them in consequence of misconceiving what they say4 ,or if you detect them in any error in point of fact 7as to acknowledged deficiency in wit or argument1 they would smile at the idea7 they add some correction to your correction1 and thus have the whip-hand of you again1 being more correct than you who corrected them4 ,if you hint some obvious oversight1 they know what you are going to say1 and were aware of the objection before you uttered it3--#8,so shall their anticipation prevent your discovery4' ,by being in the right you gain no advantage3 by being in the wrong you are entitled to the benefit of their pity or scorn6 ,it is sometimes curious to see a select group of our little ,gotham getting about a knotty point that will bear a wager1 as whether ,dr4 ,johnson's ,dictionary was originally published in quarto or folio4 ,the confident assertions1 the cautious overtures1 the length of time demanded to ascertain the fact1 the precise terms of the forfeit1 the provisos for getting out of paying it at last1 lead to a long and inextricable discussion4 ,g-- was however so convinced in his own mind that the ,mourning ,bride was written by ,shakespear1 that he ran headlong into the snare3 the bet was decided1 and the punch was drank4 ,he has skill in numbers1 and seldom exceeds his sevenpence4--,he had a brother once1 no ,michael ,cassio1 no great arithmetician3 ,r-- was a rare fellow1 of the driest humour1 and the nicest tact1 of infinite sleights and evasions1 of a picked phraseology1 and the very soul of mimicry4 ,i fancy ,i have some insight into physiognomy myself1 but he could often expound to me at a single glance the characters of those of my acquaintance that ,i had been most at fault about4 ,the account as it was cast up and balanced between us was not always very favourable4 ,how finely1 how truly1 how gaily he took off the company at the ,s--6 ,poor and faint are my sketches compared to his6 ,it was like looking into a camera obscura--you saw faces shining and speaking--the smoke curled1 the lights dazzled1 the oak wainscoting took a higher polish--there was old ,s--1 tall and gaunt1 with his couplet from ,pope and case at ,nisi ,prius1 ,m-- eyeing the ventilator and lying perdu for a moral1 and ,h-- and ,a-- taking another friendly finishing glass6--,these and many more windfalls of character he gave us in thought1 word1 and action4 ,i remember his once describing three different persons together to myself and ,m-- ,b--1 viz4 the manager of a country theatre1 a tragic and a comic performer1 till we were ready to tumble on the floor with laughing at the oddity of their humours1 and at ,r--'s extraordinary powers of ventriloquism1 bodily and mental2 and ,b-- said 7such was the vividness of the scene7 that when he awoke the next morning1 he wondered what three amusing characters he had been in company with the evening before4 ,oh6 it was a rich treat to see him describe ,m--df--rd1 him of the ,courier1 the ,contemplative ,man1 who wrote an answer to ,clebs1 coming into a room1 folding up his great coat1 taking out a little pocket volume1 laying it down to think1 rubbing the calf of his leg with grave self-complacency1 and starting out of his reverie when spoken to with an inimitable vapid exclamation of #8,eh6' ,m--df--rd is like a man made of fleecy hosiery3 ,r-- was lank and lean #8as is the ribbed sea-sand4' ,yet he seemed the very man he represented1 as fat1 pert1 and dull as it was possible to be4 ,i have not seen him of late3-- #8,for ,kais is fled1 and our tents are forlorn4' ,but ,i thought of him the other day when the news of the death of ,buonaparte came1 whom we both loved for precisely contrary reasons1 he for putting down the rabble of the people1 and ,i because he had put down the rabble of kings4 ,perhaps this event may rouse him from his lurking-place1 where he lies like ,reynard1 with head declined1 in feigned slumbers6#eg-- ,i had almost forgotten the ,s-- ,tavern4 ,we for some time took ,c-- for a lawyer1 from a certain arguteness of voice and slenderness of neck1 and from his having a quibble and a laugh at himself always ready4 ,on inquiry1 however1 he was found to be a patent-medicine seller1 and having leisure in his apprenticeship1 and a forwardness of parts1 he had taken to study ,blackstone and the ,statutes at ,large4 ,on appealing to ,m-- for his opinion on this matter1 he observed pithily1 #8,i don't like so much law3 the gentlemen here seem fond of law1 but ,i have law enough at chambers4' ,one sees a great deal of the humours and tempers of men in a place of this sort1 and may almost gather their opinions from their characters4 ,there is ,e--1 a fellow that is always in the wrong--who puts might for right on all occasions--a ,tory in grain--who has no one idea but what has been instilled into him by custom and authority--an everlasting babbler on the stronger side of the question--querulous and dictatorial1 and with a peevish whine in his voice like a beaten school-boy4 ,he is a great advocate for the ,bourbons1 and for the ,national ,debt4 ,the former he affirms to be the choice of the ,french people1 and the latter he insists is necessary to the salvation of these kingdoms4 ,this last point a little inoffensive gentleman among us1 of a saturnine aspect but simple conceptions1 cannot comprehend4 #8,i will tell you1 ,sir--,i will make my proposition so clear that you will be convinced of the truth of my observation in a moment4 ,consider1 ,sir1 the number of trades that would be thrown out of employ1 if it were done away with3 what would become of the porcelain manufacture without it8' ,any stranger to overhear one of these debates would swear that the ,english as a nation are bad logicians4 ,mood and figure are unknown to them4 ,they do not argue by the book4 ,they arrive at conclusions through the force of prejudice1 and on the principles of contradiction4 ,mr4 ,e-- having thus triumphed in argument1 offers a flower to the notice of the company as a specimen of his flower-garden1 a curious exotic1 nothing like it to be found in this kingdom1 talks of his carnations1 of his countryhouse1 and old ,english hospitality1 but never invites any of his friends to come down and take their ,sunday's dinner with him4 ,he is mean and ostentatious at the same time1 insolent and servile1 does not know whether to treat those he converses with as if they were his porters or his customers3 the prentice-boy is not yet wiped out of him1 and his imagination still hovers between his mansion at --1 and the work-house4 ,opposed to him and to every one else1 is ,k--1 a radical reformer and logician1 who makes clear work of the taxes and national debt1 reconstructs the ,government from the first principles of things1 shatters the ,holy ,alliance at a blow1 grinds out the future prospects of society with a machine1 and is setting out afresh with the commencement of the ,french ,revolution five and twenty years ago1 as if on an untried experiment4 ,he minds nothing but the formal agreement of his premises and his conclusions1 and does not stick at obstacles in the way nor consequences in the end4 ,if there was but one side of a question1 he would be always in the right4 ,he casts up one column of the account to admiration1 but totally forgets and rejects the other4 ,his ideas lie like square pieces of wood in his brain1 and may be said to be piled up on a stiff architectural principle1 perpendicularly1 and at right angles4 ,there is no inflection1 no modification1 no graceful embellishment1 no ,corinthian capitals4 ,i never heard him agree to two propositions together1 or to more than half a one at a time4 ,his rigid love of truth bends to nothing but his habitual love of disputation4 ,he puts one in mind of one of those long-headed politicians and frequenters of coffee-houses mentioned in ,berkeley's ,minute ,philosopher1 who would make nothing of such old-fashioned fellows as ,plato and ,aristotle4 ,he has the new light strong upon him1 and he knocks other people down with its solid beams4 ,he denies that he has got certain views out of ,cobbett1 though he allows that there are excellent ideas occasionally to be met with in that writer4 ,it is a pity that this enthusiastic and unqualified regard to truth should be accompanied with an equal exactness of expenditure and unrelenting eye to the main-chance4 ,he brings a bunch of radishes with him for cheapness1 and gives a band of musicians at the door a penny1 observing that he likes their performance better than all the ,opera-squalling4 ,this brings the severity of his political principles into question1 if not into contempt4 ,he would abolish the ,national ,debt from motives of personal economy1 and objects to ,mr4 ,canning's pension because it perhaps takes a farthing a year out of his own pocket4 ,a great deal of radical reasoning has its source in this feeling4--,he bestows no small quantity of his tediousness upon ,m--1 on whose mind all these formulas and diagrams fall like seed on stony ground3 #8while the manna is descending1' he shakes his ears1 and in the intervals of the debate1 insinuates an objection1 and calls for another half-pint4 ,i have sometimes said to him--#8,any one to come in here without knowing you1 would take you for the most disputatious man alive1 for you are always engaged in an argument with somebody or other4' ,the truth is1 that ,m-- is a good-natured1 gentlemanly man1 who notwithstanding1 if appealed to1 will not let an absurd or unjust proposition pass without expressing his dissent2 and therefore he is a sort of mark for all those 7and we have several of that stamp7 who like to teaze other people's understandings1 as wool-combers teaze wool4 ,he is certainly the flower of the flock4 ,he is the oldest frequenter of the place1 the latest sitter-up1 well-informed1 inobtrusive1 and that sturdy old ,english character1 a lover of truth and justice4 ,i never knew ,m-- approve of any thing unfair or illiberal4 ,there is a candour and uprightness about his mind which can neither be wheedled nor browbeat into unjustifiable complaisance4 ,he looks strait-forward as he sits with his glass in his hand1 turning neither to the right nor the left1 and ,i will venture to say that he has never had a sinister object in view through life4 ,mrs4 ,battle 7it is recorded in her ,opinions on ,whist7 could not make up her mind to use the word #8,go4' ,m-- from long practice has got over this difficulty1 and uses it incessantly4 ,it is no matter what adjunct follows in the train of this despised monosyllable3--whatever liquid comes after this prefix is welcome4 ,m-- without being the most communicative is the most conversible man ,i know4 ,the social principle is inseparable from his person4 ,if he has nothing to say1 he drinks your health2 and when you cannot from the rapidity and carelessness of his utterance catch what he says1 you assent to it with equal confidence3 you know his meaning is good4 ,his favourite phrase is #8,we have all of us something of the coxcomb2' and yet he has none of it himself4 ,before ,i had exchanged half a dozen sentences with ,m--1 ,i found that he knew several of my old acquaintance 7an immediate introduction of itself1 for the discussing the characters and foibles of common friends is a great sweetener and cement of friendship7--and had been intimate with most of the wits and men about town for the last twenty years4 ,he knew ,tobin1 ,wordsworth1 ,porson1 ,wilson1 ,paley1 ,erskine1 and many others4 ,he speaks of ,paley's pleasantry and unassuming manners1 and describes ,porson's long potations and long quotations formerly at the ,cider-,cellar in a very lively way4 ,he has doubts1 however1 as to that sort of learning4 ,on my saying that ,i had never seen the ,greek ,professor but once1 at the ,library of the ,london ,institution1 when he was dressed in an old rusty black coat1 with cobwebs hanging to the skirts of it1 and with a large patch of coarse brown paper covering the whole length of his nose1 looking for all the world like a drunken carpenter1 and talking to one of the ,proprietors with an air of suavity1 approaching to condescension1 ,m-- could not help expressing some little uneasiness for the credit of classical literature4 #8,i submit1 ,sir1 whether common sense is not the principal thing8 ,what is the advantage of genius and learning if they are of no use in the conduct of life8'--,m-- is one who loves the hours that usher in the morn1 when a select few are left in twos and threes like stars before the break of day1 and when the discourse and the ale are #8aye growing better and better4' ,w--1 ,m--1 and myself were all that remained one evening4 ,we had sat together several hours without being tired of one another's company4 ,the conversation turned on the ,beauties of ,charles the ,second's ,court at ,windsor1 and from thence to ,count ,grammont1 their gallant and gay historian4 ,we took our favourite passages in turn--one preferring that of ,killigrew's country-cousin1 who having been resolutely refused by ,miss ,warminster 7one of the ,maids of ,honour7 when he found she had been unexpectedly brought to bed1 fell on his knees and thanked ,god that now she might take compassion on him--another insisting that the ,chevalier ,hamilton's assignation with ,lady ,chesterfield1 when she kept him all night shivering in an old out-house1 was better4 ,jacob ,hall's prowess was not forgotten1 nor the story of ,miss ,stuart's garters4 ,i was getting on in my way with that delicate endroit1 in which ,miss ,churchill is first introduced at court and is besieged 7as a matter of course7 by the ,duke of ,york1 who was gallant as well as bigoted on system4 ,his assiduities however soon slackened1 owing 7it is said7 to her having a pale1 thin face2 till one day1 as they were riding out hunting together1 she fell from her horse1 and was taken up almost lifeless4 ,the whole assembled court were thrown by this event into admiration that such a body should belong to such a face#eh 7so transcendant a pattern was she of the female form7 and the ,duke was fixed4 ,this ,i contended was striking1 affecting1 and grand1 the sublime of amorous biography1 and said ,i could conceive of nothing finer than the idea of a young person in her situation1 who was the object of indifference or scorn from outward appearance1 with the proud suppressed consciousness of a ,goddess-like symmetry1 locked up by #8fear and niceness1 the hand-maids of all women1' from the wonder and worship of mankind4 ,i said so then1 and ,i think so now3 my tongue grew wanton in the praise of this passage1 and ,i believe it bore the bell from its competitors4 ,w-- then spoke of ,lucius ,apuleius and his ,golden ,ass1 which contains the story of ,cupid and ,psyche1 with other matter rich and rare1 and went on to the romance of ,heliodorus1 ,theagenes and ,chariclea4 ,this1 as he affirmed1 opens with a pastoral landscape equal to ,claude1 and in it the presiding deities of ,love and ,wine appear in all their pristine strength1 youth and grace1 crowned and worshipped as of yore4 ,the night waned1 but our glasses brightened1 enriched with the pearls of ,grecian story4 ,our cup-bearer slept in a corner of the room1 like another ,endymion1 in the pale ray of an half-extinguished lamp1 and starting up at a fresh summons for a farther supply1 he swore it was too late1 and was inexorable to entreaty4 ,m-- sat with his hat on and with a hectic flush in his face while any hope remained1 but as soon as we rose to go1 he darted out of the room as quick as lightning1 determined not to be the last that went4--,i said some time after to the waiter1 that #8,mr4 ,m-- was no flincher4'--#8,oh6 ,sir1' says he1 #8you should have known him formerly1 when ,mr4 ,h-- and ,mr4 ,a-- used to be here4 ,now he is quite another man3 he seldom stays later than one or two4'--#8,why1 did they keep it up much later then8'--,oh6 yes2 and used to sing catches and all sorts4'--#8,what1 did ,mr4 ,m-- sing catches8'--#8,he joined chorus1 ,sir1 and was as merry as the best of them4 ,he was always a pleasant gentleman6'--,this ,h-- and ,a-- succumbed in the fight4 ,a-- was a dry ,scotchman1 ,h-- a good-natured1 hearty ,englishman4 ,i do not mean that the same character applies to all ,scotchmen or to all ,englishmen4 ,h-- was of the ,pipe-,office 7not unfitly appointed71 and in his cheerfuller cups would delight to speak of a widow and a bowling-green1 that ran in his head to the last4 #8,what is the good of talking of those things now8' said the man of utility4 #8,i don't know1' replied the other1 quaffing another glass of sparkling ale1 and with a lambent fire playing in his eye and round his bald forehead--7he had a head that ,sir ,joshua would have made something bland and genial of7--#8,i don't know1 but they were delightful to me at the time1 and are still pleasant to talk and think of4'--,such a one1 in ,touchstone's phrase1 is a natural philosopher2 and in nine cases out of ten that sort of philosophy is the best6 ,i could enlarge this sketch1 such as it is2 but to prose on to the end of the chapter might prove less profitable than tedious4-- ,i like very well to sit in a room where there are people talking on subjects ,i know nothing of1 if ,i am only allowed to sit silent and as a spectator4 ,but ,i do not much like to join in the conversation1 except with people and on subjects to my taste4 ,sympathy is necessary to society4 ,to look on1 a variety of faces1 humours1 and opinions is sufficient3 to mix with others1 agreement as well as variety is indispensable4 ,what makes good society8 ,i answer1 in one word1 real fellowship4 ,without a similitude of tastes1 acquirements1 and pursuits 7whatever may be the difference of tempers and characters7 there can be no intimacy or even casual intercourse1 worth the having4 ,what makes the most agreeable party8 ,a number of people with a number of ideas in common1 #8yet so as with a difference2' that is1 who can put one or more subjects which they have all studied in the greatest variety of entertaining or useful lights4 ,or in other words1 a succession of good things said with good humour1 and addressed to the understandings of those who hear them1 make the most desirable conversation4 ,ladies1 lovers1 beaux1 wits1 philosophers1 the fashionable or the vulgar1 are the fittest company for one another4 ,the discourse at ,randall's is the best for boxers3 that at ,long's for lords and loungers4 ,i prefer ,h--'s conversation almost to any other person's1 because1 with a familiar range of subjects1 he colours with a totally new and sparkling light1 reflected from his own character4 ,elia1 the grave and witty1 says things not to be surpassed in essence3 but the manner is more painful and less a relief to my own thoughts4 ,some one conceived he could not be an excellent companion1 because he was seen walking down the side of the ,thames1 passibus iniquis1 after dining at ,richmond4 ,the objection was not valid4 ,i will however admit that the said ,elia is the worst company in the world in bad company1 if it be granted me that in good company he is nearly the best that can be4 ,he is one of those of whom it may be said1 ,tell me your company1 and ,i'll tell you your manners4 ,he is the creature of sympathy1 and makes good whatever opinion you seem to entertain of him4 ,he cannot outgo the apprehensions of the circle2 and invariably acts up or down to the point of refinement or vulgarity at which they pitch him4 ,he appears to take a pleasure in exaggerating the prejudices of strangers against him2 a pride in confirming the prepossessions of friends4 ,in whatever scale of intellect he is placed1 he is as lively or as stupid as the rest can be for their lives4 ,if you think him odd and ridiculous1 he becomes more and more so every minute1 la folie1 till he is a wonder gazed by all--set him against a good wit and a ready apprehension1 and he brightens more and more-- #8,or like a gate of steel ,fronting the sun1 receives and renders back ,its figure and its heat4' ,we had a pleasant party one evening at ,b-- ,c--'s4 ,a young literary bookseller who was present went away delighted with the elegance of the repast1 and spoke in raptures of a servant in green livery and a patent-lamp4 ,i thought myself that the charm of the evening consisted in some talk about ,beaumont and ,fletcher and the old poets1 in which every one took part or interest1 and in a consciousness that we could not pay our host a better compliment than in thus alluding to studies in which he excelled1 and in praising authors whom he had imitated with feeling and sweetness6--,i should think it may be also laid down as a rule on this subject1 that to constitute good company a certain proportion of hearers and speakers is requisite4 ,coleridge makes good company for this reason4 ,he immediately establishes the principle of the division of labour in this respect1 wherever he comes4 ,he takes his cue as speaker1 and the rest of the party theirs as listeners--a #8,circean herd'--without any previous arrangement having been gone through4 ,i will just add that there can be no good society without perfect freedom from affectation and constraint4 ,if the unreserved communication of feeling or opinion leads to offensive familiarity1 it is not well4 ,but it is no better where the absence of offensive remarks arises only from formality and an assumed respectfulness of manner4 ,i do not think there is any thing deserving the name of society to be found out of ,london3 and that for the two following reasons4 ,first1 there is neighbourhood elsewhere1 accidental or unavoidable acquaintance3 people are thrown together by chance or grow together like trees2 but you can pick your society nowhere but in ,london4 ,the very persons that of all others you would wish to associate with in almost every line of life1 7or at least of intellectual pursuit17 are to be met with there4 ,it is hard if out of a million of people you cannot find half a dozen to your liking4 ,individuals may seem lost and hid in the size of the place3 but in fact from this very circumstance you are within two or three miles' reach of persons that without it you would be some hundreds apart from4 ,secondly1 ,london is the only place in which each individual in company is treated according to his value in company1 and to that only4 ,in every other part of the kingdom he carries another character about with him1 which supersedes the intellectual or social one4 ,it is known in ,manchester or ,liverpool what every man in the room is worth in land or money2 what are his connexions and prospects in life--and this gives a character of servility or arrogance1 of mercenariness or impertinence to the whole of provincial intercourse4 ,you laugh not in proportion to a man's wit1 but his wealth3 you have to consider not what1 but whom you contradict4 ,you speak by the pound1 and are heard by the rood4 ,in the metropolis there is neither time nor inclination for these remote calculations4 ,every man depends on the quantity of sense1 wit1 or good manners he brings into society for the reception he meets with in it4 ,a member of parliament soon finds his level as a commoner3 the merchant and manufacturer cannot bring his goods to market here3 the great landed proprietor shrinks from being the lord of acres into a pleasant companion or a dull fellow4 ,when a visitor enters or leaves a room1 it is not inquired whether he is rich or poor1 whether he lives in a garret or a palace1 or comes in his own or a hackney-coach1 but whether he has a good expression of countenance1 with an unaffected manner1 and whether he is a man of understanding or a blockhead4 ,these are the circumstances by which you make a favourable impression on the company1 and by which they estimate you in the abstract4 ,in the country1 they consider whether you have a vote at the next election1 or a place in your gift2 and measure the capacity of others to instruct or entertain them by the strength of their pockets and their credit with their banker4 ,personal merit is at a prodigious discount in the provinces4 ,i like the country very well1 if ,i want to enjoy my own company3 but ,london is the only place for equal society1 or where a man can say a good thing or express an honest opinion without subjecting himself to being insulted1 unless he first lays his purse on the table to back his pretensions to talent or independence of spirit4 ,i speak from experience4#ei ,,essay ,,xxi ,,on ,,the ,,aristocracy ,,of ,,letters #8,ha6 here's three of us are sophisticated3--off1 you lendings4'-- ,there is such a thing as an aristocracy or privileged order in letters1 which has sometimes excited my wonder1 and sometimes my spleen4 ,we meet with authors who have never done any thing1 but who have a vast reputation for what they could have done4 ,their names stand high1 and are in every body's mouth1 but their works are never heard of1 or had better remain undiscovered for the sake of their admirers4--,stat nominis umbra--their pretensions are lofty and unlimited1 as they have nothing to rest upon1 or because it is impossible to confront them with the proofs of their deficiency4 ,if you inquire farther1 and insist upon some act of authorship to establish the claims of these ,epicurean votaries of the ,muses1 you find that they had a great reputation at ,cambridge1 that they were senior wranglers or successful prize-essayists1 that they visit at -- ,house1 and to support that honour1 must be supposed of course to occupy the first rank in the world of letters4#fj ,it is possible1 however1 that they have some manuscript work in hand1 which is of too much importance 7and the writer has too much at stake in publishing it7 hastily to see the light3 or perhaps they once had an article in the ,edinburgh ,review1 which was much admired at the time1 and is kept by them ever since as a kind of diploma and unquestionable testimonial of merit4 ,they are not like ,grub-street authors1 who write for bread1 and are paid by the sheet4 ,like misers who hoard their wealth1 they are supposed to be masters of all the wit and sense they do not impart to the public4 #8,continents have most of what they contain1' says a considerable philosopher2 and these persons1 it must be confessed1 have a prodigious command over themselves in the expenditure of light and learning4 ,the ,oriental curse--#8,o that mine enemy had written a book'--hangs suspended over them4 ,by never committing themselves1 they neither give a handle to the malice of the world1 nor excite the jealousy of friends2 and keep all the reputation they have got1 not by discreetly blotting1 but by never writing a line4 ,some one told ,sheridan1 who was always busy about some new work and never advancing any farther in it1 that he would not write because he was afraid of the ,author of the ,school for ,scandal4 ,so these idle pretenders are afraid of undergoing a comparison with themselves in something they have never done1 but have had credit for doing4 ,they do not acquire celebrity1 they assume it2 and escape detection by never venturing out of their imposing and mysterious incognito4 ,they do not let themselves down by every-day work3 for them to appear in print is a work of supererogation as much as in lords or kings1 and like gentlemen with a large landed estate1 they live on their established character1 and do nothing 7or as little as possible7 to increase or lose it4 ,there is not a more deliberate piece of grave imposture going4 ,i know a person of this description who has been employed many years 7by implication7 on a translation of ,thucydides1 of which no one ever saw a word1 but it does not answer the purpose of bolstering up a factitious reputation the less on that account4 ,the longer it is delayed and kept sacred from the vulgar gaze1 the more it swells into imaginary consequence2 the labour and care required for a work of this kind being immense3--and then there are no faults in an unexecuted translation4 ,the only impeccable writers are those who never wrote4 ,another is an oracle on subjects of taste and classical erudition1 because 7he says at least7 he reads ,cicero once a year to keep up the purity of his ,latinity4 ,a third makes the indecency pass for the depth of his researches and for a high gusto in virt1 till from his seeing nothing in the finest remains of ancient art1 the world by the merest accident find out that there is nothing in him4 ,there is scarcely any thing that a grave face with an impenetrable manner will not accomplish1 and whoever is weak enough to impose upon himself1 will have wit enough to impose upon the public--particularly if he can make it their interest to be deceived by shallow boasting1 and contrives not to hurt their self-love by sterling acquirements4 ,do you suppose that the understood translation of ,thucydides costs its supposed author nothing8 ,a select party of friends and admirers dine with him once a week at a magnificent town-mansion1 or a more elegant and picturesque retreat in the country4 ,they broach their ,horace and their old hock1 and sometimes allude with a considerable degree of candour to the defects of works which are brought out by contemporary writers--the ephemeral offspring of haste and necessity6 ,among other things1 the learned languages are a ready passport to this sort of unmeaning1 unanalysed reputation4 ,they presently lift a man up among the celestial constellations1 the signs of the ,zodiac 7as it were7 and third heaven of inspiration1 from whence he looks down on those who are toiling on in this lower sphere1 and earning their bread by the sweat of their brain1 at leisure and in scorn4 ,if the graduates in this way condescend to express their thoughts in ,english1 it is understood to be infra dignitatem--such light and unaccustomed essays do not fit the ponderous gravity of their pen--they only draw to advantage and with full justice to themselves in the bow of the ancients4 ,their native-tongue is to them strange1 inelegant1 unapt1 and crude4 ,they #8cannot command it to any utterance of harmony4 ,they have not the skill4' ,this is true enough2 but you must not say so1 under a heavy penalty--the displeasure of pedants and blockheads4 ,it would be sacrilege against the privileged classes1 the ,aristocracy of ,letters4 ,what6 will you affirm that a profound ,latin scholar1 a perfect ,grecian1 cannot write a page of common sense or grammar8 ,is it not to be presumed1 by all the charters of the ,universities and the foundations of grammar-schools1 that he who can speak a dead language must be a fortiori conversant with his own8 ,surely1 the greater implies the less4 ,he who knows every science and every art cannot be ignorant of the most familiar forms of speech4 ,or if this plea is found not to hold water1 then our scholastic bungler is said to be above this vulgar trial of skill1 #8something must be excused to want of practice--but did you not observe the elegance of the ,latinity1 how well that period would become a classical and studied dress8' ,thus defects are #8monster'd' into excellences1 and they screen their idol1 and require you1 at your peril1 to pay prescriptive homage to false concords and inconsequential criticisms1 because the writer of them has the character of the first or second ,greek or ,latin scholar in the kingdom4 ,if you do not swear to the truth of these spurious credentials1 you are ignorant and malicious1 a quack and a scribbler--flagranti delicto6 ,thus the man who can merely read and construe some old author is of a class superior to any living one1 and1 by parity of reasoning1 to those old authors themselves3 the poet or prose-writer of true and original genius1 by the courtesy of custom1 #8ducks to the learned fool3' or as the author of ,hudibras has so well stated the same thing1 --#8,he that is but able to express ,no sense at all in several languages1 ,will pass for learneder than he that's known ,to speak the strongest reason in his own4' ,these preposterous and unfounded claims of mere scholars to precedence in the commonwealth of letters1 which they set up so formally themselves and which others so readily bow to1 are partly owing to traditional prejudice3--there was a time when learning was the only distinction from ignorance1 and when there was no such thing as popular ,english literature4 ,again1 there is something more palpable and positive in this kind of acquired knowledge1 like acquired wealth1 which the vulgar easily recognise4 ,that others know the meaning of signs which they are confessedly and altogether ignorant of1 is to them both a matter of fact and a subject of endless wonder4 ,the languages are worn like a dress by a man1 and distinguish him sooner than his natural figure2 and we are1 from motives of self-love1 inclined to give others credit for the ideas they have borrowed or have come into indirect possession of1 rather than for those that originally belong to them and are exclusively their own4 ,the merit in them and the implied inferiority in ourselves is less4 ,learning is a kind of external appendage or transferable property-- #8',twas mine1 'tis his1 and may be any man's'-- ,genius and understanding are a man's self1 an integrant part of his personal identity2 and the title to these last1 as it is the most difficult to be ascertained1 is also the most grudgingly acknowledged4 ,few persons would pretend to deny that ,porson had more ,greek than they4 ,it was a question of fact which might be put to the immediate proof1 and could not be gainsaid4 ,but the meanest frequenter of the ,cider-cellar or the ,hole in the ,wall would be inclined1 in his own conceit1 to dispute the palm of wit or sense with him2 and indemnify his self-complacency for the admiration paid to living learning by significant hints to friends and casual droppers-in1 that the greatest men1 when you came to know them1 were not without their weak sides as well as others4--,pedants1 ,i will add here1 talk to the vulgar as pedagogues talk to school-boys1 on an understood principle of condescension and superiority1 and therefore make little progress in the knowledge of men or things4 ,while they fancy they are accommodating themselves to1 or else assuming airs of importance over1 inferior capacities1 these inferior capacities are really laughing at them4 ,there can be no true superiority but what arises out of the presupposed ground of equality3 there can be no improvement but from the free communication and comparing of ideas4 ,kings and nobles1 for this reason1 receive little benefit from society--where all is submission on one side1 and condescension on the other4 ,the mind strikes out truth by collision1 as steel strikes fire from the flint6 ,there are whole families who are born classical1 and are entered in the heralds' college of reputation by the right of consanguinity4 ,literature1 like nobility1 runs in the blood4 ,there is the ,b-- family4 ,there is no end of it or its pretensions4 ,it produces wits1 scholars1 novelists1 musicians1 artists in #8numbers numberless4' ,the name is alone a passport to the ,temple of ,fame4 ,those who bear it are free of ,parnassus by birth-right4 ,the founder of it was himself an historian and a musician1 but more of a courtier and man of the world than either4 ,the secret of his success may perhaps be discovered in the following passage1 where1 in alluding to three eminent performers on different instruments1 he says1 #8,these three illustrious personages were introduced at the ,emperour's court1' c42 speaking of them as if they were foreign ambassadours or princes of the blood1 and thus magnifying himself and his profession4 ,this overshadowing manner carries nearly every thing before it1 and mystifies a great many4 ,there is nothing like putting the best face upon things1 and leaving others to find out the difference4 ,he who could call three musicians #8personages1' would himself play a personage through life1 and succeed in his leading object4 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 remarking on this passage1 said1 #8,no one had a greater respect than he had for his profession1 but that he should never think of applying to it epithets that were appropriated merely to external rank and distinction4' ,madame ,d--1 it must be owned1 had cleverness enough to stock a whole family1 and to set up her cousin-germans1 male and female1 for wits and virtuosos to the third and fourth generation4 ,the rest have done nothing1 that ,i know of1 but keep up the name4 ,the most celebrated author in modern times has written without a name1 and has been knighted for anonymous productions4 ,lord ,byron complains that ,horace ,walpole was not properly appreciated1 #8first1 because he was a gentleman1 and secondly1 because he was a nobleman4' ,his ,lordship stands in one1 at least1 of the predicaments here mentioned1 and yet he has had justice1 or somewhat more1 done him4 ,he towers above his fellows by all the height of the peerage4 ,if the poet lends a grace to the nobleman1 the nobleman pays it back to the poet with interest4 ,what a fine addition is ten thousand a year and a title to the flaunting pretensions of a modern rhapsodist6 ,his name so accompanied becomes the mouth well3 it is repeated thousands of times1 instead of hundreds1 because the reader in being familiar with the ,poet's works seems to claim acquaintance with the ,lord1 #8,let but a lord once own the happy lines3 ,how the wit brightens1 and the style refines6' ,he smiles at the high-flown praise or petty cavils of little men4 ,does he make a slip in decorum1 which ,milton declares to be the principal thing8 ,his proud crest and armorial bearings support him3--no bend-sinister slurs his poetical escutcheon6 ,is he dull1 or does he put off some trashy production on the public8 ,it is not charged to his account1 as a deficiency which he must make good at the peril of his admirers4 ,his ,lordship is not answerable for the negligence or extravagances of his ,muse4 ,he #8bears a charmed reputation1 which must not yield' like one of vulgar birth4 ,the ,noble ,bard is for this reason scarcely vulnerable to the critics4 ,the double barrier of his pretensions baffles their puny1 timid efforts4 ,strip off some of his tarnished laurels1 and the coronet appears glittering beneath3 restore them1 and it still shines through with keener lustre4 ,in fact1 his ,lordship's blaze of reputation culminates from his rank and place in society4 ,he sustains two lofty and imposing characters2 and in order to simplify the process of our admiration1 and #8leave no rubs or botches in the way1' we equalise his pretensions1 and take it for granted that he must be as superior to other men in genius as he is in birth4 ,or1 to give a more familiar solution of the enigma1 the ,poet and the ,peer agree to honour each other's acceptances on the bank of ,fame1 and sometimes cozen the town to some tune between them4--,really1 however1 and with all his privileges1 ,lord ,byron might as well not have written that strange letter about ,pope4 ,i could not afford it1 poor as ,i am4 ,why does he pronounce1 ex cathedr and robed1 that ,cowper is no poet8 ,cowper was a gentleman and of noble family like his critic4 ,he was a teacher of morality as well as a describer of nature1 which is more than his ,lordship is4 ,his ,john ,gilpin will last as long as ,beppo1 and his verses to ,mary are not less touching than the ,farewell4 ,if ,i had ventured upon such an assertion as this1 it would have been worse for me than finding out a borrowed line in the ,pleasures of ,hope4-- ,there is not a more helpless or more despised animal than a mere author1 without any extrinsic advantages of birth1 breeding1 or fortune to set him off4 ,the real ore of talents or learning must be stamped before it will pass current4 ,to be at all looked upon as an author1 a man must be something more or less than an author--a rich merchant1 a banker1 a lord1 or a ploughman4 ,he is admired for something foreign to himself1 that acts as a bribe to the servility or a set-off to the envy of the community4 #8,what should such fellows as we do1 crawling betwixt heaven and earth2'--#8coining our hearts for drachmas2' now scorched in the sun1 now shivering in the breeze1 now coming out in our newest gloss and best attire1 like swallows in the spring1 now #8sent back like hallowmas or shortest day8' ,the best wits1 like the handsomest faces upon the town1 lead a harassing1 precarious life--are taken up for the bud and promise of talent1 which they no sooner fulfil than they are thrown aside like an old fashion--are caressed without reason1 and insulted with impunity--are subject to all the caprice1 the malice1 and fulsome advances of that great keeper1 the ,public--and in the end come to no good1 like all those who lavish their favours on mankind at large and look to the gratitude of the world for their reward4 ,instead of this set of ,grub-street authors1 the mere canaille of letters1 this corporation of ,mendicity1 this ragged regiment of genius suing at the corners of streets1 in forma pauperis1 give me the gentleman and scholar1 with a good house over his head and a handsome table #8with wine of ,attic taste' to ask his friends to1 and where want and sorrow never come4 ,fill up the sparkling bowl1 heap high the dessert with roses crowned1 bring out the hot-pressed poem1 the vellum manuscripts1 the medals1 the portfolios1 the intaglios--this is the true model of the life of a man of taste and virt--the possessors1 not the inventors of these things1 are the true benefactors of mankind and ornaments of letters4 ,look in1 and there1 amidst silver services and shining chandeliers1 you will see the man of genius at his proper post1 picking his teeth and mincing an opinion1 sheltered by rank1 bowing to wealth--a poet framed1 glazed1 and hung in a striking light3 not a straggling weed1 torn and trampled on2 not a poor ,kit-run-the-street1 but a powdered beau1 a sycophant plant1 an exotic reared in a glass-case1 hermetically sealed1 #8,free from the ,sirian star and the dread thunder-stroke'-- whose mealy coat no moth can corrupt nor blight can wither4 ,the poet ,keats had not this sort of protection for his person--he lay bare to weather--the serpent stung him1 and the poison-tree dropped upon this little western flower3--when the mercenary servile crew approached him1 he had no pedigree to show them1 no rent-roll to hold out in reversion for their praise3 he was not in any great man's train1 nor the butt and puppet of a lord--he could only offer them #8the fairest flowers of the season1 carnations and streaked gilliflowers1'--#8rue for remembrance and pansies for thoughts'--they recked not of his gift1 but tore him with hideous shouts and laughter1 #8,nor could the ,muse protect her son6' ,unless an author has an establishment of his own1 or is entered on that of some other person1 he will hardly be allowed to write ,english or to spell his own name4 ,to be well-spoken of1 he must enlist under some standard2 he must belong to some coterie4 ,he must get the esprit de corps on his side3 he must have literary bail in readiness4 ,thus they prop one another's ricketty heads at ,m--'s shop1 and a spurious reputation1 like false argument1 runs in a circle4 ,cr--k--r affirms that ,g--ff--rd is sprightly1 and ,g--ff--rd that ,cr--k--r is genteel3 ,d',i-- that ,j--c--b is wise1 and ,j--c--b that ,d',i-- is good-natured4 ,a member of ,parliament must be answerable that you are not dangerous or dull before you can be of the entre4 ,you must commence toad-eater to have your observations attended to2 if you are independent1 unconnected1 you will be regarded as a poor creature4 ,your opinion is honest1 you will say3 then ten to one1 it is not profitable4 ,it is at any rate your own4 ,so much the worse2 for then it is not the world's4 ,t-- is a very tolerable barometer in this respect4 ,he knows nothing1 hears every thing1 and repeats just what he hears2 so that you may guess pretty well from this round-faced echo what is said by others6 ,almost every thing goes by presumption and appearances4 #8,did you not think ,mr4 ,b--'s language very elegant8'--,i thought he bowed very low4 #8,did you not think him remarkably well-behaved8'--,he was unexceptionably dressed4 #8,but were not ,mr4 ,c--'s manners quite insinuating8'--,he said nothing4 #8,you will at least allow his friend to be a well-informed man8'--,he talked upon all subjects alike4 ,such would be a pretty faithful interpretation of the tone of what is called good society4 ,the surface is every thing3 we do not pierce to the core4 ,the setting is more valuable than the jewel4 ,is it not so in other things as well as letters8 ,is not an ,r4,a4 by the supposition a greater man in his profession than any one who is not so blazoned8 ,compared with that unrivalled list1 ,raphael had been illegitimate1 ,claude not classical1 and ,michael ,angelo admitted by special favour4 ,what is a physician without a diploma8 ,an alderman without being knighted8 ,an actor whose name does not appear in great letters8 ,all others are counterfeits--men #8of no mark or likelihood4' ,this was what made the ,jackalls of the ,north so eager to prove that ,i had been turned out of the ,edinburgh ,review4 ,it was not the merit of the articles which excited their spleen--but their being there4 ,of the style they knew nothing2 for the thought they cared nothing3--all that they knew was that ,i wrote in that powerful journal1 and therefore they asserted that ,i did not6 ,we find a class of persons who labour under an obvious natural inaptitude for whatever they aspire to4 ,their manner of setting about it is a virtual disqualification4 ,the simple affirmation--#8,what this man has said1 ,i will do1'--is not always considered as the proper test of capacity4 ,on the contrary1 there are people whose bare pretensions are as good or better than the actual performance of others4 ,what ,i myself have done1 for instance1 ,i never find admitted as proof of what ,i shall be able to do3 whereas ,i observe others who bring as proof of their competence to any task 7and are taken at their word7 what they have never done1 and who gravely assure those who are inclined to trust them that their talents are exactly fitted for some post because they are just the reverse of what they have ever shown them to be4 ,one man has the air of an ,editor as much as another has that of a butler or porter in a gentleman's family4 ---- is the model of this character1 with a prodigious look of business1 an air of suspicion which passes for sagacity1 and an air of deliberation which passes for judgment4 ,if his own talents are no ways prominent1 it is inferred he will be more impartial and in earnest in making use of those of others4 ,there is ----1 the responsible conductor of several works of taste and erudition1 yet 7,god knows7 without an idea in his head relating to any one of them4 ,he is learned by proxy1 and successful from sheer imbecility4 ,if he were to get the smallest smattering of the departments which are under his controul1 he would betray himself from his desire to shine2 but as it is1 he leaves others to do all the drudgery for him4 ,he signs his name in the title-page or at the bottom of a vignette1 and nobody suspects any mistake4 ,this contractor for useful and ornamental literature once offered me ,two ,guineas for a ,life and ,character of ,shakespear1 with an admission to his conversationis4 ,i went once4 ,there was a collection of learned lumber1 of antiquaries1 lexicographers1 and other ,illustrious ,obscure1 and ,i had given up the day for lost1 when in dropped ,jack ,t4 of the ,sun--7,who would dare to deny that he was #8the ,sun of our table8'7--and ,i had nothing now to do but hear and laugh4 ,mr4 ,t---- knows most of the good things that have been said in the metropolis for the last thirty years1 and is in particular an excellent retailer of the humours and extravagances of his old friend1 ,peter ,pindar4 ,he had recounted a series of them1 each rising above the other in a sort of magnificent burlesque and want of literal preciseness1 to a medley of laughing and sour faces1 when on his proceeding to state a joke of a practical nature by the said ,peter1 a ,mr4 ----1 7,i forget the name7 objected to the moral of the story1 and to the whole texture of ,mr4 ,t----'s faceti--upon which our host1 who had till now supposed that all was going on swimmingly1 thought it time to interfere and give a turn to the conversation by saying--#8,why yes1 ,gentlemen1 what we have hitherto heard fall from the lips of our friend has been no doubt entertaining and highly agreeable in its way3 but perhaps we have had enough of what is altogether delightful and pleasant and light and laughable in conduct4 ,suppose1 therefore1 we were to shift the subject1 and talk of what is serious and moral and industrious and laudable in character--,let us talk of ,mr4 ,tomkins1 the ,penman6'--,this staggered the gravest of us1 broke up our dinner-party1 and we went up stairs to tea4 ,so much for the didactic vein of one of our principal guides in the embellished walks of modern taste1 and master-manufacturers of letters4 ,he had found that gravity had been a never-failing resource when taken at a pinch--for once the joke miscarried--and ,mr4 ,tomkins the ,penman figures to this day nowhere but in ,sir ,joshua's picture of him6 ,to complete the natural ,aristocracy of ,letters1 we only want a ,royal ,society of ,authors6 ,,essay ,,xxii ,,on ,,criticism ,criticism is an art that undergoes a great variety of changes1 and aims at different objects at different times4 ,at first1 it is generally satisfied to give an opinion whether a work is good or bad1 and to quote a passage or two in support of this opinion3 afterwards1 it is bound to assign the reasons of its decision and to analyse supposed beauties or defects with microscopic minuteness4 ,a critic does nothing now-a-days who does not try to torture the most obvious expression into a thousand meanings1 and enter into a circuitous explanation of all that can be urged for or against its being in the best or worst style possible4 ,his object indeed is not to do justice to his author1 whom he treats with very little ceremony1 but to do himself homage1 and to show his acquaintance with all the topics and resources of criticism4 ,if he recurs to the stipulated subject in the end1 it is not till after he has exhausted his budget of general knowledge2 and he establishes his own claims first in an elaborate inaugural dissertation de omni scibile et quibusdam aliis1 before he deigns to bring forward the pretensions of the original candidate for praise1 who is only the second figure in the piece4 ,we may sometimes see articles of this sort1 in which no allusion whatever is made to the work under sentence of death1 after the first announcement of the title-page2 and ,i apprehend it would be a clear improvement on this species of nominal criticism1 to give stated periodical accounts of works that had never appeared at all1 which would save the hapless author the mortification of writing1 and his reviewer the trouble of reading them4 ,if the real author is made of so little account by the modern critic1 he is scarcely more an object of regard to the modern reader2 and it must be confessed that after a dozen close-packed pages of subtle metaphysical distinction or solemn didactic declamation1 in which the disembodied principles of all arts and sciences float before the imagination in undefined profusion1 the eye turns with impatience and indifference to the imperfect embryo specimens of them1 and the hopeless attempts to realise this splendid jargon in one poor work by one poor author1 which is given up to summary execution with as little justice as pity4 #8,as when a well-graced actor leaves the stage1 men's eyes are idly bent on him that enters next'--so it is here4--,whether this state of the press is not a serious abuse and a violent encroachment in the republic of letters1 is more than ,i shall pretend to determine4 ,the truth is1 that in the quantity of works that issue from the press1 it is utterly impossible they should all be read by all sorts of people4 ,there must be tasters for the public1 who must have a discretionary power vested in them1 for which it is difficult to make them properly accountable4 ,authors in proportion to their numbers become not formidable1 but despicable4 ,they would not be heard of or severed from the crowd without the critic's aid1 and all complaints of ill-treatment are vain4 ,he considers them as pensioners on his bounty for any pittance of praise1 and in general sets them up as butts for his wit and spleen1 or uses them as a stalking-horse to convey his own favourite notions and opinions1 which he can do by this means without the possibility of censure or appeal4 ,he looks upon his literary proteg 7much as ,peter ,pounce looked upon ,parson ,adams7 as a kind of humble companion or unnecessary interloper in the vehicle of fame1 whom he has taken up purely to oblige him1 and whom he may treat with neglect or insult1 or set down in the common foot-path1 whenever it suits his humour or convenience4 ,he naturally grows arbitrary with the exercise of power4 ,he by degrees wants to have a clear stage to himself1 and would be thought to have purchased a monopoly of wit1 learning1 and wisdom-- #8,assumes the rod1 affects the ,god1 ,and seems to shake the spheres4' ,besides1 something of this overbearing manner goes a great way with the public4 ,they cannot exactly tell whether you are right or wrong2 and if you state your difficulties or pay much deference to the sentiments of others1 they will think you a very silly fellow or a mere pretender4 ,a sweeping1 unqualified assertion ends all controversy1 and sets opinion at rest4 ,a sharp1 sententious1 cavalier1 dogmatical tone is therefore necessary1 even in self-defence1 to the office of a reviewer4 ,if you do not deliver your oracles without hesitation1 how are the world to receive them on trust and without inquiry8 ,people read to have something to talk about1 and #8to seem to know that which they do not4' ,consequently1 there cannot be too much dialectics and debateable matter1 too much pomp and paradox in a review4 ,to elevate and surprise is the great rule for producing a dramatic or a critical effect4 ,the more you startle the reader1 the more he will be able to startle others with a succession of smart intellectual shocks4 ,the most admired of our ,reviews is saturated with this sort of electrical matter1 which is regularly played off so as to produce a good deal of astonishment and a strong sensation in the public mind4 ,the intrinsic merits of an author are a question of very subordinate consideration to the keeping up the character of the work and supplying the town with a sufficient number of grave or brilliant topics for the consumption of the next three months6 ,this decided and paramount tone in criticism is the growth of the present century1 and was not at all the fashion in that calm peaceable period when the ,monthly ,review bore #8sole sovereign sway and masterdom' over all literary productions4 ,though nothing can be said against the respectability or usefulness of that publication during its long and almost exclusive enjoyment of the public favour1 yet the style of criticism adopted in it is such as to appear slight and unsatisfactory to a modern reader4 ,the writers1 instead of #8outdoing termagant or out-,heroding ,herod1' were somewhat precise and prudish1 gentle almost to a fault1 full of candour and modesty1 #8,and of their port as meek as is a maid6'#fa ,there was none of that ,drawcansir work going on then that there is now2 no scalping of authors1 no hacking and hewing of their ,lives and ,opinions1 except that they used those of ,tristram ,shandy1 ,,gent4 rather scurvily2 which was to be expected4 ,all1 however1 had a show of courtesy and good-manners4 ,the satire was covert and artfully insinuated2 the praise was short and sweet4 ,we meet with no oracular theories2 no profound analysis of principles2 no unsparing exposure of the least discernible deviation from them4 ,it was deemed sufficient to recommend the work in general terms1 #8,this is an agreeable volume1' or #8,this is a work of great learning and research1' to set forth the title and table of contents1 and proceed without farther preface to some appropriate extracts1 for the most part concurring in opinion with the author's text1 but now and then interposing an objection to maintain appearances and assert the jurisdiction of the court4 ,this cursory manner of hinting approbation or dissent would make but a lame figure at present4 ,we must have not only an announcement that #8this is an agreeable or able work1' but we must have it explained at full length1 and so as to silence all cavillers1 in what the agreeableness or ability of the work consists3 the author must be reduced to a class1 all the living or defunct examples of which must be characteristically and pointedly differenced from one another2 the value of this class of writing must be developed and ascertained in comparison with others2 the principles of taste1 the elements of our sensations1 the structure of the human faculties1 all must undergo a strict scrutiny and revision4 ,the modern or metaphysical system of criticism1 in short1 supposes the question1 ,why8 to be repeated at the end of every decision2 and the answer gives birth to interminable arguments and discussion4 ,the former laconic mode was well adapted to guide those who merely wanted to be informed of the character and subject of a work in order to read it3 the present is more useful to those whose object is less to read the work than to dispute upon its merits1 and go into company clad in the whole defensive and offensive armour of criticism4-- ,neither are we less removed at present from the dry and meagre mode of dissecting the skeletons of works1 instead of transfusing their living principles1 which prevailed in ,dryden's ,prefaces1#fb and in the criticisms written on the model of the ,french school about a century ago4 ,a genuine criticism should1 as ,i take it1 reflect the colours1 the light and shade1 the soul and body of a work3--here we have nothing but its superficial plan and elevation1 as if a poem were a piece of formal architecture4 ,we are told something of the plot or fable1 of the moral1 and of the observance or violation of the three unities of time1 place1 and action2 and perhaps a word or two is added on the dignity of the persons or the baldness of the style3 but we no more know1 after reading one of these complacent tirades1 what the essence of the work is1 what passion has been touched1 or how skilfully1 what tone and movement the author's mind imparts to his subject or receives from it1 than if we had been reading a homily or a gazette4 ,that is1 we are left quite in the dark as to the feelings of pleasure or pain to be derived from the genius of the performance or the manner in which it appeals to the imagination3 we know to a nicety how it squares with the thread-bare rules of composition1 not in the least how it affects the principles of taste4 ,we know every thing about the work1 and nothing of it4 ,the critic takes good care not to baulk the reader's fancy by anticipating the effect which the author has aimed at producing4 ,to be sure1 the works so handled were often worthy of their commentators3 they had the form of imagination without the life or power2 and when any one had gone regularly through the number of acts into which they were divided1 the measure in which they were written1 or the story on which they were founded1 there was little else to be said about them4 ,it is curious to observe the effect which the ,paradise ,lost had on this class of critics1 like throwing a tub to a whale3 they could make nothing of it4 #8,it was out of all plumb--not one of the angles at the four corners was a right angle6' ,they did not seek for1 nor would they much relish the marrow of poetry it contained4 ,like polemics in religion1 they had discarded the essentials of fine writing for the outward form and points of controversy4 ,they were at issue with ,genius and ,nature by what route and in what garb they should enter the ,temple of the ,muses4 ,accordingly we find that ,dryden had no other way of satisfying himself of the pretensions of ,milton in the epic style but by translating his anomalous work into rhyme and dramatic dialogue4#fc--,so there are connoisseurs who give you the subject1 the grouping1 the perspective1 and all the mechanical circumstances of a picture2 but never say a word about the expression4 ,the reason is1 they see the former1 but not the latter4 ,there are persons1 however1 who cannot employ themselves better than in taking an inventory of works of art 7they want a faculty for higher studies17 as there are works of art1 so called1 which seem to have been composed expressly with an eye to such a class of connoisseurs4 ,in them are to be found no recondite nameless beauties thrown away upon the stupid vulgar gaze2 no #8graces snatched beyond the reach of art2' nothing but what the merest pretender may note down in good set terms in his common-place book1 just as it is before him4 ,place one of these half-informed1 imperfectly organised spectators before a tall canvas with groups on groups of figures1 of the size of life1 and engaged in a complicated action1 of which they know the name and all the particulars1 and there are no bounds to their burst of involuntary enthusiasm4 ,they mount on the stilts of the subject and ascend the highest ,heaven of ,invention1 from whence they see sights and hear revelations which they communicate with all the fervour of plenary explanation to those who may be disposed to attend to their raptures4 ,they float with wings expanded in lofty circles1 they stalk over the canvas at large strides1 never condescending to pause at any thing of less magnitude than a group or a colossal figure4 ,the face forms no part of their collective inquiries2 or so that it occupies only a sixth or an eighth proportion to the whole body1 all is according to the received rules of composition4 ,point to a divine portrait of ,titian1 to an angelic head of ,guido1 close by--they see and heed it not4 ,what are the #8looks commercing with the skies1' the soul speaking in the face1 to them8 ,it asks another and an inner sense to comprehend them2 but for the trigonometry of painting1 nature has constituted them indifferently well4 ,they take a stand on the distinction between portrait and history1 and there they are spell-bound4 ,tell them that there can be no fine history without portraiture1 that the painter must proceed from that ground to the one above it1 and that a hundred bad heads cannot make one good historical picture1 and they will not believe you1 though the thing is obvious to any gross capacity4 ,their ideas always fly to the circumference1 and never fix at the centre4 ,art must be on a grand scale2 according to them1 the whole is greater than a part1 and the greater necessarily implies the less4 ,the outline is in this view of the matter the same thing as the filling-up1 and #8the limbs and flourishes of a discourse' the substance4 ,again1 the same persons make an absolute distinction1 without knowing why1 between high and low subjects4 ,say that you would as soon have ,murillo's ,two ,beggar-,boys at the ,dulwich ,gallery as almost any picture in the world1 that is1 that it would be one you would chuse out of ten 7had you the choice71 and they reiterate upon you1 that surely a low subject cannot be of equal value with a high one4 ,it is in vain that you turn to the picture3 they keep to the class4 ,they have eyes1 but see not2 and upon their principles of refined taste1 would be just as good judges of the merit of the picture without seeing it as with that supposed advantage4 ,they know what the subject is from the catalogue6--,yet it is not true1 as ,lord ,byron asserts1 that execution is every thing1 and the class or subject nothing4 ,the highest subjects1 equally well-executed 7which1 however1 rarely happens7 are the best4 ,but the power of execution1 the manner of seeing nature1 is one thing1 and may be so superlative 7if you are only able to judge of it7 as to countervail every disadvantage of subject4 ,raphael's storks in the ,miraculous ,draught of ,fishes1 exulting in the event1 are finer than the head of ,christ would have been in almost any other hands4 ,the cant of criticism is on the other side of the question2 because execution depends on various degrees of power in the artist1 and a knowledge of it on various degrees of feeling and discrimination in you3 but to commence artist or connoisseur in the grand style at once1 without any distinction of qualification whatever1 it is only necessary for the first to chuse his subject1 and for the last to pin his faith on the sublimity of the performance1 for both to look down with ineffable contempt on the painters and admirers of subjects of low life4 ,i remember a young ,scotchman once trying to prove to me that ,mrs4 ,dickons was a superior singer to ,miss ,stephens1 because the former excelled in sacred music1 and the latter did not4 ,at that rate1 that is1 if it is the singing sacred music that gives the preference1 ,miss ,stephens would only have to sing sacred music to surpass herself and vie with her pretended rival2 for this theory implies that all sacred music is equally good1 and therefore better than any other4 ,i grant that ,madame ,catalani's singing of sacred music is superior to ,miss ,stephens's ballad-strains1 because her singing is better altogether1 and an ocean of sound more wonderful than a simple stream of dulcet harmonies4 ,in singing the last verse of #8,god save the ,king' not long ago1 her voice towered above the whole confused noise of the orchestra1 like an eagle piercing the clouds1 and poured #8such sweet thunder' through the ear1 as excited equal astonishment and rapture6 ,some kinds of criticism are as much too insipid as others are too pragmatical4 ,it is not easy to combine point with solidity1 spirit with moderation and candour4 ,many persons see nothing but beauties in a work1 others nothing but defects4 ,those cloy you with sweets1 and are #8the very milk of human kindness1' flowing on in a stream of luscious panegyrics2 these take delight in poisoning the sources of your satisfaction1 and putting you out of conceit with nearly every author that comes in their way4 ,the first are frequently actuated by personal friendship1 the last by all the virulence of party-spirit4 ,under the latter head would fall what may be termed political criticism4 ,the basis of this style of writing is a caput mortuum of impotent spite and dulness1 till it is varnished over with the slime of servility1 and thrown into a state of unnatural activity by the venom of the most rancorous bigotry4 ,the eminent professors in this groveling department are at first merely out of sorts with themselves1 and vent their spleen in little interjections and contortions of phrase3--cry ,pish at a lucky hit1 and ,hem at a fault1 are smart on personal defects1 and sneer at #8,beauty out of favour and on crutches'--are thrown into an ague-fit by hearing the name of a rival1 start back with horror at any approach to their morbid pretensions like ,justice ,woodcock with his gouty limbs--rifle the flowers of the ,della ,cruscan school1 and give you in their stead1 as models of a pleasing pastoral style1 ,verses upon ,anna--which you may see in the notes to the ,baviad and ,mviad4 ,all this is like the fable of the ,kitten and the ,leaves4 ,but when they get their brass collar on and shake their bells of office1 they set up their backs like the ,great ,cat ,rodilardus1 and pounce upon men and things4 ,woe to any little heedless reptile of an author that ventures across their path without a safe-conduct from the ,board of ,controul4 ,they snap him up at a mouthful1 and sit licking their lips1 stroking their whiskers1 and rattling their bells over the imaginary fragments of their devoted prey1 to the alarm and astonishment of the whole breed of literary1 philosophical1 and revolutionary vermin1 that were naturalised in this country by a ,prince of ,orange and an ,elector of ,hanover a hundred years ago4#fd ,when one of these pampered1 sleek1 #8demure-looking1 spring-nailed1 velvet-pawed1 green-eyed' critics makes his ,king and ,country parties to this sort of sport literary1 you have not much chance of escaping out of his clutches in a whole skin4 ,treachery becomes a principle with them1 and mischief a conscience1 that is1 a livelihood4 ,they not only damn the work in the lump1 but vilify and traduce the author1 and substitute lying abuse and sheer malignity for sense and satire4 ,to have written a popular work is as much as a man's character is worth1 and sometimes his life1 if he does not happen to be on the right side of the question4 ,the way in which they set about stultifying an adversary is not to accuse you of faults1 or to exaggerate those which you may really have1 but they deny that you have any merits at all1 least of all1 those that the world have given you credit for2 bless themselves from understanding a single sentence in a whole volume2 and unless you are ready to subscribe to all their articles of peace1 will not allow you to be qualified to write your own name4 ,it is not a question of literary discussion1 but of political proscription4 ,it is a mark of loyalty and patriotism to extend no quarter to those of the opposite party4 ,instead of replying to your arguments1 they call you names1 put words and opinions into your mouth which you have never uttered1 and consider it a species of misprision of treason to admit that a ,whig author knows any thing of common sense or ,english4 ,the only chance of putting a stop to this unfair mode of dealing would perhaps be to make a few reprisals by way of example4 ,the ,court-party boast some writers who have a reputation to lose1 and who would not like to have their names dragged through the kennel of dirty abuse and vulgar obloquy4 ,what silenced the masked battery of ,blackwood's ,magazine was the implication of the name of ,sir ,walter ,scott in some remarks upon it--7an honour of which it seems that extraordinary person was not ambitious7--to be #8pilloried on infamy's high stage' was a distinction and an amusement to the other gentlemen concerned in that praiseworthy publication4 ,i was complaining not long ago of this prostitution of literary criticism as peculiar to our own times1 when ,i was told that it was just as bad in the time of ,pope and ,dryden1 and indeed worse1 inasmuch as we have no ,popes or ,drydens now on the obnoxious side to be nicknamed1 metamorphosed into scarecrows1 and impaled alive by bigots and dunces4 ,i shall not pretend to say how far this remark may be true4 ,the ,english 7it must be owned7 are rather a foul-mouthed nation4 ,besides temporary or accidental biases of this kind1 there seem to be sects and parties in taste and criticism 7with a set of appropriate watch-words7 coeval with the arts of composition1 and that will last as long as the difference with which men's minds are originally constituted4 ,there are some who are all for the elegance of an author's style1 and some who are equally delighted with simplicity4 ,the last refer you to ,swift as a model of ,english prose--thinking all other writers sophisticated and naught--the former prefer the more ornamented and sparkling periods of ,junius or ,gibbon4 ,it is to no purpose to think of bringing about an understanding between these opposite factions4 ,it is a natural difference of temperament and constitution of mind4 ,the one will never relish the antithetical point and perpetual glitter of the artificial prose-style2 as the plain unperverted ,english idiom will always appear trite and insipid to the others4 ,a toleration1 not an uniformity of opinion is as much as can be expected in this case3 and both sides may acknowledge1 without imputation on their taste or consistency1 that these different writers excelled each in their way4 ,i might remark here that the epithet elegant is very sparingly used in modern criticism4 ,it has probably gone out of fashion with the appearance of the ,lake ,school1 who1 ,i apprehend1 have no such phrase in their vocabulary4 ,mr4 ,rogers was1 ,i think1 almost the last poet to whom it was applied as a characteristic compliment4 ,at present it would be considered as a sort of diminutive of the title of poet1 like the terms pretty or fanciful1 and is banished from the haut ton of letters4 ,it may perhaps come into request at some future period4--,again1 the dispute between the admirers of ,homer and ,virgil has never been settled1 and never will3 for there will always be minds to whom the excellences of ,virgil will be more congenial1 and therefore more objects of admiration and delight than those of ,homer1 and vice vers4 ,both are right in preferring what suits them best1 the delicacy and selectness of the one1 or the fulness and majestic flow of the other4 ,there is the same difference in their taste that there was in the genius of their two favourites4 ,neither can the disagreement between the ,french and ,english school of tragedy ever be reconciled1 till the ,french become ,english1 or the ,english ,french4#fe ,both are right in what they admire1 both are wrong in condemning the others for what they admire4 ,we see the defects of ,racine1 they see the faults of ,shakespear probably in an exaggerated point of view4 ,but we may be sure of this1 that when we see nothing but grossness and barbarism1 or insipidity and verbiage in a writer that is the ,god of a nation's idolatry1 it is we and not they who want true taste and feeling4 ,the controversy about ,pope and the opposite school in our own poetry comes to much the same thing4 ,pope's correctness1 smoothness1 c4 are very good things and much to be commended in him4 ,but it is not to be expected or even desired that others should have these qualities in the same paramount degree1 to the exclusion of every thing else4 ,if you like correctness and smoothness of all things in the world1 there they are for you in ,pope4 ,if you like other things better1 such as strength and sublimity1 you know where to go for them4 ,why trouble ,pope or any other author for what they have not1 and do not profess to give8 ,those who seem to imply that ,pope possessed1 besides his own peculiar1 exquisite merits1 all that is to be found in ,shakespear or ,milton1 are ,i should hardly think in good earnest4 ,but ,i do not therefore see that1 because this was not the case1 ,pope was no poet4 ,we cannot by a little verbal sophistry confound the qualities of different minds1 nor force opposite excellences into a union by all the intolerance in the world4 ,we may pull ,pope in pieces as long as we please1 for not being ,shakespear or ,milton1 as we may carp at them for not being ,pope3 but this will not make a poet equal to all three4 ,if we have a taste for some one precise style or manner1 we may keep it to ourselves and let others have theirs4 ,if we are more catholic in our notions1 and want variety of excellence and beauty1 it is spread abroad for us to profusion in the variety of books and in the several growth of men's minds1 fettered by no capricious or arbitrary rules4 ,those who would proscribe whatever falls short of a given standard of imaginary perfection1 do so not from a higher capacity of taste or range of intellect than others1 but to destroy1 to #8crib and cabin in1' all enjoyments and opinions but their own4 ,we find people of a decided and original1 and others of a more general and versatile taste4 ,i have sometimes thought that the most acute and original-minded men made bad critics4 ,they see every thing too much through a particular medium4 ,what does not fall in with their own bias and mode of composition1 strikes them as common-place and factitious4 ,what does not come into the direct line of their vision1 they regard idly1 with vacant1 #8lack-lustre eye4' ,the extreme force of their original impressions compared with the feebleness of those they receive at second hand from others1 oversets the balance and just proportion of their minds4 ,men who have fewer native resources1 and are obliged to apply oftener to the general stock1 acquire by habit a greater aptitude in appreciating what they owe to others4 ,their taste is not made a sacrifice to their egotism and vanity1 and they enrich the soil of their minds with continual accessions of borrowed strength and beauty4 ,i might take this opportunity of observing1 that the person of the most refined and least contracted taste ,i ever knew was the late ,joseph ,fawcett1 the friend of my youth4 ,he was almost the first literary acquaintance ,i ever made1 and ,i think the most candid and unsophisticated4 ,he had a masterly perception of all styles and of every kind and degree of excellence1 sublime or beautiful1 from ,milton's ,paradise ,lost to ,shenstone's ,pastoral ,ballad1 from ,butler's ,analogy down to ,humphry ,clinker4 ,if you had a favourite author1 he had read him too1 and knew all the best morsels1 the subtle traits1 the capital touches4 #8,do you like ,sterne8'--#8,yes1 to be sure1' he would say1 #8,i should deserve to be hanged1 if ,i didn't6' ,his repeating some parts of ,comus with his fine1 deep1 mellow-toned voice1 particularly the lines1 #8,i have heard my mother ,circe with the ,sirens three1' c4--and the enthusiastic comments he made afterwards were a feast to the ear and to the soul4 ,he read the poetry of ,milton with the same fervour and spirit of devotion that ,i have since heard others read their own4 #8,that is the most delicious feeling of all1' ,i have heard him exclaim1 #8to like what is excellent1 no matter whose it is4' ,in this respect he practised what he preached4 ,he was incapable of harbouring a sinister motive1 and judged only from what he felt4 ,there was no flaw or mist in the clear mirror of his mind4 ,he was as open to impressions as he was strenuous in maintaining them4 ,he did not care a rush whether a writer was old or new1 in prose or in verse--#8,what he wanted1' he said1 #8was something to make him think4' ,most men's minds are to me like musical instruments out of tune4 ,touch a particular key1 and it jars and makes harsh discord with your own4 ,they like ,gil ,blas1 but can see nothing to laugh at in ,don ,quixote3 they adore ,richardson1 but are disgusted with ,fielding4 ,fawcett had a taste accommodated to all these4 ,he was not exceptious4 ,he gave a cordial welcome to all sorts1 provided they were the best in their kind4 ,he was not fond of counterfeits or duplicates4 ,his own style was laboured and artificial to a fault1 while his character was frank and ingenuous in the extreme4 ,he was not the only individual whom ,i have known to counteract their natural disposition in coming before the public1 and by avoiding what they perhaps thought an inherent infirmity1 debar themselves of their real strength and advantages4 ,a heartier friend or honester critic ,i never coped withal4 ,he has made me feel 7by contrast7 the want of genuine sincerity and generous sentiment in some that ,i have listened to since1 and convinced me 7if practical proof were wanting7 of the truth of that text of ,scripture--#8,that had ,i all knowledge and could speak with the tongues of angels1 yet without charity ,i were nothing6' ,i would rather be a man of disinterested taste and liberal feeling1 to see and acknowledge truth and beauty wherever ,i found it1 than a man of greater and more original genius1 to hate1 envy1 and deny all excellence but my own--but that poor scanty pittance of it 7compared with the whole7 which ,i had myself produced6 ,there is another race of critics who might be designated as the ,occult ,school--ver adepti4 ,they discern no beauties but what are concealed from superficial eyes1 and overlook all that are obvious to the vulgar part of mankind4 ,their art is the transmutation of styles4 ,by happy alchemy of mind they convert dross into gold--and gold into tinsel4 ,they see farther into a millstone than most others4 ,if an author is utterly unreadable1 they can read him for ever3 his intricacies are their delight1 his mysteries are their study4 ,they prefer ,sir ,thomas ,brown to the ,rambler by ,dr4 ,johnson1 and ,burton's ,anatomy of ,melancholy to all the writers of the ,georgian ,age4 ,they judge of works of genius as misers do of hid treasure--it is of no value unless they have it all to themselves4 ,they will no more share a book than a mistress with a friend4 ,if they suspected their favourite volumes of delighting any eyes but their own1 they would immediately discard them from the list4 ,theirs are superannuated beauties that every one else has left off intriguing with1 bed-ridden hags1 a #8stud of night-mares4' ,this is not envy or affectation1 but a natural proneness to singularity1 a love of what is odd and out of the way4 ,they must come at their pleasures with difficulty1 and support admiration by an uneasy sense of ridicule and opposition4 ,they despise those qualities in a work which are cheap and obvious4 ,they like a monopoly of taste1 and are shocked at the prostitution of intellect implied in popular productions4 ,in like manner1 they would chuse a friend or recommend a mistress for gross defects2 and tolerate the sweetness of an actress's voice only for the ugliness of her face4 ,pure pleasures are in their judgment cloying and insipid-- #8,an ounce of sour is worth a pound of sweet6' ,nothing goes down with them but what is caviare to the multitude4 ,they are eaters of olives and readers of black-letter4 ,yet they smack of genius1 and would be worth any money1 were it only for the rarity of the thing6 ,the last sort ,i shall mention are verbal critics--mere word-catchers1 fellows that pick out a word in a sentence and a sentence in a volume1 and tell you it is wrong4#ff ,these erudite persons constantly find out by anticipation that you are deficient in the smallest things--that you cannot spell certain words or join the nominative case and the verb together1 because to do this is the height of their own ambition1 and of course they must set you down lower than their opinion of themselves4 ,they degrade by reducing you to their own standard of merit2 for the qualifications they deny you1 or the faults they object are so very insignificant1 that to prove yourself possessed of the one or free from the other1 is to make yourself doubly ridiculous4 ,littleness is their element1 and they give a character of meanness to whatever they touch4 ,they creep1 buzz1 and fly-blow4 ,it is much easier to crush than to catch these troublesome insects2 and when they are in your power1 your self-respect spares them4 ,the race is almost extinct3--one or two of them are sometimes seen crawling over the pages of the ,quarterly ,review6 ,,essay ,,xxiii ,,on ,,great ,,and ,,little ,,things #8,these little things are great to little man4' ,,goldsmith4 ,the great and the little have1 no doubt1 a real existence in the nature of things3 but they both find pretty much the same level in the mind of man4 ,it is a common measure1 which does not always accommodate itself to the size and importance of the objects it represents4 ,it has a certain interest to spare for certain things 7and no more7 according to its humour and capacity2 and neither likes to be stinted in its allowance1 nor to muster up an unusual share of sympathy1 just as the occasion may require4 ,perhaps if we could recollect distinctly1 we should discover that the two things that have affected us most in the course of our lives have been1 one of them of the greatest1 and the other of the smallest possible consequence4 ,to let that pass as too fine a speculation1 we know well enough that very trifling circumstances do give us great and daily annoyance1 and as often prove too much for our philosophy and forbearance1 as matters of the highest moment4 ,a lump of soot spoiling a man's dinner1 a plate of toast falling in the ashes1 the being disappointed of a ribbon to a cap or a ticket for a ball1 have led to serious and almost tragical consequences4 ,friends not unfrequently fall out and never meet again for some idle misunderstanding1 #8some trick not worth an egg1' who have stood the shock of serious differences of opinion and clashing interests in life2 and there is an excellent paper in the ,,tatler1 to prove that if a married couple do not quarrel about some point in the first instance not worth contesting1 they will seldom find an opportunity afterwards to quarrel about a question of real importance4 ,grave divines1 great statesmen1 and deep philosophers are put out of their way by very little things3 nay1 discreet1 worthy people1 without any pretensions but to good-nature and common sense1 readily surrender the happiness of their whole lives sooner than give up an opinion to which they have committed themselves1 though in all likelihood it was the mere turn of a feather which side they should take in the argument4 ,it is the being baulked or thwarted in any thing that constitutes the grievance1 the unpardonable affront1 not the value of the thing to which we had made up our minds4 ,is it that we despise little things2 that we are not prepared for them2 that they take us in our careless1 unguarded moments1 and tease us out of our ordinary patience by their petty1 incessant1 insect warfare1 buzzing about us and stinging us like gnats2 so that we can neither get rid of nor grapple with them1 whereas we collect all our fortitude and resolution to meet evils of greater magnitude8 ,or is it that there is a certain stream of irritability that is continually fretting upon the wheels of life1 which finds sufficient food to play with in straws and feathers1 while great objects are too much for it1 either choke it up1 or divert its course into serious and thoughtful interest8 ,some attempt might be made to explain this in the following manner4 ,one is always more vexed at losing a game of any sort by a single hole or ace1 than if one has never had a chance of winning it4 ,this is no doubt in part or chiefly because the prospect of success irritates the subsequent disappointment4 ,but people have been known to pine and fall sick from holding the next number to the twenty thousand pound prize in the lottery4 ,now this could only arise from their being so near winning in fancy1 from there seeming to be so thin a partition between them and success4 ,when they were within one of the right number1 why could they not have taken the next--it was so easy3 this haunts their minds and will not let them rest1 notwithstanding the absurdity of the reasoning4 ,it is that the will here has a slight imaginary obstacle to surmount to attain its end3 it should appear it had only an exceedingly trifling effort to make for this purpose1 that it was absolutely in its power 7had it known7 to seize the envied prize1 and it is continually harassing itself by making the obvious transition from one number to the other1 when it is too late4 ,that is to say1 the will acts in proportion to its fancied power1 to its superiority over immediate obstacles4 ,now in little or indifferent matters there seems no reason why it should not have its own way1 and therefore a disappointment vexes it the more4 ,it grows angry according to the insignificance of the occasion1 and frets itself to death about an object1 merely because from its very futility there can be supposed to be no real difficulty in the way of its attainment1 nor any thing more required for this purpose than a determination of the will4 ,the being baulked of this throws the mind off its balance1 or puts it into what is called a passion2 and as nothing but an act of voluntary power still seems necessary to get rid of every impediment1 we indulge our violence more and more1 and heighten our impatience by degrees into a sort of frenzy4 ,the object is the same as it was1 but we are no longer as we were4 ,the blood is heated1 the muscles are strained4 ,the feelings are wound up to a pitch of agony with the vain strife4 ,the temper is tried to the utmost it will bear4 ,the more contemptible the object or the obstructions in the way to it1 the more are we provoked at being hindered by them4 ,it looks like witchcraft4 ,we fancy there is a spell upon us1 so that we are hampered by straws and entangled in cobwebs4 ,we believe that there is a fatality about our affairs4 ,it is evidently done on purpose to plague us4 ,a demon is at our elbow to torment and defeat us in every thing1 even in the smallest things4 ,we see him sitting and mocking us1 and we rave and gnash our teeth at him in return4 ,it is particularly hard that we cannot succeed in any one point1 however trifling1 that we set our hearts on4 ,we are the sport of imbecility and mischance4 ,we make another desperate effort1 and fly out into all the extravagance of impotent rage once more4 ,our anger runs away with our reason1 because1 as there is little to give it birth1 there is nothing to check it or recal us to our senses in the prospect of consequences4 ,we take up and rend in pieces the mere toys of humour1 as the gusts of wind take up and whirl about chaff and stubble4 ,passion plays the tyrant1 in a grand tragic-comic style1 over the ,lilliputian difficulties and petty disappointments it has to encounter1 gives way to all the fretfulness of grief and all the turbulence of resentment1 makes a fuss about nothing because there is nothing to make a fuss about--when an impending calamity1 an irretrievable loss1 would instantly bring it to its recollection1 and tame it in its preposterous career4 ,a man may be in a great passion and give himself strange airs at so simple a thing as a game at ball1 for instance2 may rage like a wild beast1 and be ready to dash his head against the wall about nothing1 or about that which he will laugh at the next minute1 and think no more of ten minutes after1 at the same time that a good smart blow from the ball1 the effects of which he might feel as a serious inconvenience for a month1 would calm him directly-- #8,anon as patient as the female dove1 ,his silence will sit drooping4' ,the truth is1 we pamper little griefs into great ones1 and bear great ones as well as we can4 ,we can afford to dally and play tricks with the one1 but the others we have enough to do with1 without any of the wantonness and bombast of passion--without the swaggering of ,pistol1 or the insolence of ,king ,cambyses' vein4 ,to great evils we submit1 we resent little provocations4 ,i have before now been disappointed of a hundred pound job and lost half a crown at rackets on the same day1 and been more mortified at the latter than the former4 ,that which is lasting we share with the future1 we defer the consideration of till to-morrow3 that which belongs to the moment we drink up in all its bitterness1 before the spirit evaporates4 ,we probe minute mischiefs to the quick2 we lacerate1 tear1 and mangle our bosoms with misfortune's finest1 brittlest point1 and wreak our vengeance on ourselves and it for good and all4 ,small pains are more manageable1 more within our reach2 we can fret and worry ourselves about them1 can turn them into any shape1 can twist and torture them how we please3--a grain of sand in the eye1 a thorn in the flesh only irritates the part1 and leaves us strength enough to quarrel and get out of all patience with it3--a heavy blow stuns and takes away all power of sense as well as of resistance4 ,the great and mighty reverses of fortune1 like the revolutions of nature1 may be said to carry their own weight and reason along with them3 they seem unavoidable and remediless1 and we submit to them without murmuring as to a fatal necessity4 ,the magnitude of the events1 in which we may happen to be concerned1 fills the mind1 and carries it out of itself1 as it were1 into the page of history4 ,our thoughts are expanded with the scene on which we have to act1 and lend us strength to disregard our own personal share in it4 ,some men are indifferent to the stroke of fate1 as before and after earthquakes there is a calm in the air4 ,from the commanding situation whence they have been accustomed to view things1 they look down at themselves as only a part of the whole1 and can abstract their minds from the pressure of misfortune1 by the aid of its very violence4 ,they are projected1 in the explosion of events1 into a different sphere1 far from their former thoughts1 purposes1 and passions4 ,the greatness of the change anticipates the slow effects of time and reflection3--they at once contemplate themselves from an immense distance1 and look up with speculative wonder at the height on which they stood4 ,had the downfall been less complete1 it would have been more galling and borne with less resignation1 because there might still be a chance of remedying it by farther efforts and farther endurance--but past cure1 past hope4 ,it is chiefly this cause 7together with something of constitutional character7 which has enabled the greatest man in modern history to bear his reverses of fortune with gay magnanimity1 and to submit to the loss of the empire of the world with as little discomposure as if he had been playing a game at chess4#fg ,this does not prove by our theory that he did not use to fly into violent passions with ,talleyrand for plaguing him with bad news when things went wrong4 ,he was mad at uncertain forebodings of disaster1 but resigned to its consummation4 ,a man may dislike impertinence1 yet have no quarrel with necessity6 ,there is another consideration that may take off our wonder at the firmness with which the principals in great vicissitudes of fortune bear their fate1 which is1 that they are in the secret of its operations1 and know that what to others appears chance-medley was unavoidable4 ,the clearness of their perception of all the circumstances converts the uneasiness of doubt into certainty3 they have not the qualms of conscience which their admirers have1 who cannot tell how much of the event is to be attributed to the leaders1 and how much to unforeseen accidents3 they are aware either that the result was not to be helped1 or that they did all they could to prevent it4 --#8,si ,pergama dextra ,defendi possent1 etiam hac defensa fuissent4' ,it is the mist and obscurity through which we view objects that makes us fancy they might have been1 or might still be otherwise4 ,the precise knowledge of antecedents and consequents makes men practical as well as philosophical ,necessarians4--,it is the want of this knowledge which is the principle and soul of gambling1 and of all games of chance or partial skill4 ,the supposition is1 that the issue is uncertain1 and that there is no positive means of ascertaining it4 ,it is dependent on the turn of a die1 on the tossing up of a halfpenny3 to be fair1 it must be a lottery2 there is no knowing but by the event2 and it is this which keeps the interest alive1 and works up the passion little short of madness4 ,there is all the agitation of suspense1 all the alternation of hope and fear1 of good and bad success1 all the eagerness of desire1 without the possibility of reducing this to calculation1 that is1 of subjecting the increased action of the will to a known rule1 or restraining the excesses of passion within the bounds of reason4 ,we see no cause beforehand why the run of the cards should not be in our favour3--we will hear of none afterwards why it should not have been so4 ,as in the absence of all data to judge by1 we wantonly fill up the blank with the most extravagant expectations1 so1 when all is over1 we obstinately recur to the chance we had previously4 ,there is nothing to tame us down to the event1 nothing to reconcile us to our hard luck1 for so we think it4 ,we see no reason why we failed 7and there was none1 any more than why we should succeed7--we think that1 reason apart1 our will is the next best thing2 we still try to have it our own way1 and fret1 torment1 and harrow ourselves up with vain imaginations to effect impossibilities4#fh ,we play the game over again3 we wonder how it was possible for us to fail4 ,we turn our brain with straining at contradictions1 and striving to make things what they are not1 or in other words1 to subject the course of nature to our fantastical wishes4 #8,if it had been so--if we had done such and such a thing'--we try it in a thousand different ways1 and are just as far off the mark as ever4 ,we appealed to chance in the first instance1 and yet1 when it has decided against us1 we will not give in1 and sit down contented with our loss1 but refuse to submit to any thing but reason1 which has nothing to do with the matter4 ,in drawing two straws1 for example1 to see which is the longest1 there was no apparent necessity we should fix upon the wrong one1 it was so easy to have fixed upon the other1 nay1 at one time we were going to do it--if we had--the mind thus runs back to what was so possible and feasible at one time1 while the thing was pending1 and would fain give a bias to causes so slender and insignificant1 as the skittle-player bends his body to give a bias to the bowl he has already delivered from his hand1 not considering that what is once determined1 be the causes ever so trivial or evanescent1 is in the individual instance unalterable4 ,indeed1 to be a great philosopher1 in the practical and most important sense of the term1 little more seems necessary than to be convinced of the truth of the maxim1 which the wise man repeated to the daughter of ,king ,cophetua1 ,that if a thing is1 it is1 and there is an end of it6 ,we often make life unhappy in wishing things to have turned out otherwise than they did1 merely because that is possible to the imagination which is impossible in fact4 ,i remember when ,l--'s farce was damned 7for damned it was1 that's certain7 ,i used to dream every night for a month after 7and then ,i vowed ,i would plague myself no more about it7 that it was revived at one of the ,minor or provincial theatres with great success1 that such and such retrenchments and alterations had been made in it1 and that it was thought it might do at the other ,house4 ,i had heard indeed 7this was told in confidence to ,l--7 that ,gentleman ,lewis was present on the night of its performance1 and said1 that if he had had it1 he would have made it1 by a few judicious curtailments1 #8the most popular little thing that had been brought out for some time4' ,how often did ,i conjure up in recollection the full diapason of applause at the end of the ,prologue1 and hear my ingenious friend in the first row of the pit roar with laughter at his own wit6 ,then ,i dwelt with forced complacency on some part in which it had been doing well3 then we would consider 7in concert7 whether the long1 tedious opera of the ,travellers1 which preceded it1 had not tired people beforehand1 so that they had not spirits left for the quaint and sparkling #8wit skirmishes' of the dialogue1 and we all agreed it might have gone down after a ,tragedy1 except ,l-- himself1 who swore he had no hopes of it from the beginning1 and that he knew the name of the hero when it came to be discovered could not be got over4--,mr4 ,h--1 thou wert damned6 ,bright shone the morning on the play-bills that announced thy appearance1 and the streets were filled with the buzz of persons asking one another if they would go to see ,mr4 ,h--1 and answering that they would certainly3 but before night the gaiety1 not of the author1 but of his friends and the town was eclipsed1 for thou wert damned6 ,hadst thou been anonymous1 thou haply mightst have lived4 ,but thou didst come to an untimely end for thy tricks1 and for want of a better name to pass them off6 ,in this manner we go back to the critical minutes on which the turn of our fate1 or that of any one else in whom we are interested1 depended2 try them over again with new knowledge and sharpened sensibility2 and thus think to alter what is irrevocable1 and ease for a moment the pang of lasting regret4 ,so in a game at rackets#fi 7to compare small things with great7 ,i think if at such a point ,i had followed up my success1 if ,i had not been too secure or over-anxious in another part1 if ,i had played for such an opening1 in short1 if ,i had done any thing but what ,i did and what has proved unfortunate in the result1 the chances were all in my favour4 ,but it is merely because ,i do not know what would have happened in the other case1 that ,i interpret it so readily to my own advantage4 ,i have sometimes lain awake a whole night1 trying to serve out the last ball of an interesting game in a particular corner of the court1 which ,i had missed from a nervous feeling4 ,rackets 7,i might observe for the sake of the uninformed reader7 is1 like any other athletic game1 very much a thing of skill and practice3 but it is also a thing of opinion1 #8subject to all the skyey influences4' ,if you think you can win1 you can win4 ,faith is necessary to victory4 ,if you hesitate in striking at the ball1 it is ten to one but you miss it4 ,if you are apprehensive of committing some particular error 7such as striking the ball foul7 you will be nearly sure to do it4 ,while thinking of that which you are so earnestly bent upon avoiding1 your hand mechanically follows the strongest idea1 and obeys the imagination rather than the intention of the striker4 ,a run of luck is a forerunner of success1 and courage is as much wanted as skill4 ,no one is however free from nervous sensations at times4 ,a good player may not be able to strike a single stroke if another comes into the court that he has a particular dread of2 and it frequently so happens that a player cannot beat another even1 though he can give half the game to an equal player1 because he has some associations of jealousy or personal pique against the first which he has not towards the last4 ,sed hc hactenus4 ,chess is a game ,i do not understand1 and have not comprehension enough to play at4 ,but ,i believe1 though it is so much less a thing of chance than science or skill1 eager players pass whole nights in marching and countermarching their men and check-mating a successful adversary1 supposing that at a certain point of the game1 they had determined upon making a particular move instead of the one which they actually did make4 ,i have heard a story of two persons playing at back-gammon1 one of whom was so enraged at losing his match at a particular point of the game1 that he took the board and threw it out of the window4 ,it fell upon the head of one of the passengers in the street1 who came up to demand instant satisfaction for the affront and injury he had sustained4 ,the losing gamester only asked him if he understood back-gammon1 and finding that he did1 said1 that if upon seeing the state of the game he did not excuse the extravagance of his conduct1 he would give him any other satisfaction he wished for4 ,the tables were accordingly brought1 and the situation of the two contending parties being explained1 the gentleman put up his sword1 and went away perfectly satisfied4--,to return from this1 which to some will seem a digression1 and to others will serve as a confirmation of the doctrine ,i am insisting on4 ,it is not then the value of the object1 but the time and pains bestowed upon it1 that determines the sense and degree of our loss4 ,many men set their minds only on trifles1 and have not a compass of soul to take an interest in any thing truly great and important beyond forms and minuti4 ,such persons are really men of little minds1 or may be complimented with the title of great children1 #8,pleased with a feather1 tickled with a straw4' ,larger objects elude their grasp1 while they fasten eagerly on the light and insignificant4 ,they fidget themselves and others to death with incessant anxiety about nothing4 ,a part of their dress that is awry keeps them in a fever of restlessness and impatience2 they sit picking their teeth1 or paring their nails1 or stirring the fire1 or brushing a speck of dirt off their coats1 while the house or the world tumbling about their ears would not rouse them from their morbid insensibility4 ,they cannot sit still on their chairs for their lives1 though1 if there were any thing for them to do1 they would become immoveable4 ,their nerves are as irritable as their imaginations are callous and inert4 ,they are addicted to an inveterate habit of littleness and perversity1 which rejects every other motive to action or object of contemplation but the daily1 teazing1 contemptible1 familiar1 favourite sources of uneasiness and dissatisfaction4 ,when they are of a sanguine instead of a morbid temperament1 they become quidnuncs and virtuosos--collectors of caterpillars and odd volumes1 makers of fishing-rods and curious in watch-chains4 ,will ,wimble dabbled in this way1 to his immortal honour4 ,but many others have been less successful4 ,there are those who build their fame on epigrams or epitaphs1 and others who devote their lives to writing the ,lord's ,prayer in little4 ,some poets compose and sing their own verses4 ,which character would they have us think most highly of--the poet or the musician8 ,the ,great is ,one4 ,some there are who feel more pride in sealing a letter with a head of ,homer than ever that old blind bard did in reciting his ,iliad4 ,these raise a huge opinion of themselves out of nothing1 as there are those who shrink from their own merits into the shade of unconquerable humility4 ,i know one person at least1 who would rather be the author of an unsuccessful farce than of a successful tragedy4 ,repeated mortification has produced an inverted ambition in his mind1 and made failure the bitter test of desert4 ,he cannot lift his drooping head to gaze on the gaudy crown of popularity placed within his reach1 but casts a pensive1 rivetted look downwards to the modest flowers which the multitude trample under their feet4 ,if he had a piece likely to succeed1 coming out under all advantages1 he would damn it by some ill-timed1 wilful jest1 and lose the favour of the public1 to preserve the sense of his personal identity4 #8,misfortune1' ,shakespear says1 #8brings a man acquainted with strange bed-fellows3' and it makes our thoughts traitors to ourselves4--,it is a maxim with many--#8,take care of the pence1 and the pounds will take care of themselves4' ,those only put it in practice successfully who think more of the pence than of the pounds4 ,to such1 a large sum is less than a small one4 ,great speculations1 great returns are to them extravagant or imaginary3 a few hundreds a year are something snug and comfortable4 ,persons who have been used to a petty1 huckstering way of life cannot enlarge their apprehensions to a notion of any thing better4 ,instead of launching out into greater expense and liberality with the tide of fortune1 they draw back with a fear of consequences1 and think to succeed on a broader scale by dint of meanness and parsimony4 ,my uncle ,toby frequently caught ,trim standing up behind his chair1 when he had told him to be seated4 ,what the corporal did out of respect1 others would do out of servility4 ,the menial character does not wear out in three or four generations4 ,you cannot keep some people out of the kitchen1 merely because their grandfathers or grandmothers came out of it4 ,a poor man and his wife walking along in the neighbourhood of ,portland-place1 he said to her peevishly1 #8,what is the use of walking along these fine streets and squares8 ,let us turn down some alley6' ,he felt he should be more at home there4 ,l-- said of an old acquaintance of his1 that when he was young1 he wanted to be a tailor1 but had not spirit6 ,this is the misery of unequal matches4 ,the woman cannot easily forget1 or think that others forget1 her origin2 and with perhaps superior sense and beauty1 keeps painfully in the back-ground4 ,it is worse when she braves this conscious feeling1 and displays all the insolence of the upstart and affected fine-lady4 ,but shouldst thou ever1 my ,infelice1 grace my home with thy loved presence1 as thou hast cheered my hopes with thy smile1 thou wilt conquer all hearts with thy prevailing gentleness1 and ,i will shew the world what ,shakespear's women were6--,some gallants set their hearts on princesses2 others descend in imagination to women of quality2 others are mad after opera-singers4 ,for my part1 ,i am shy even of actresses1 and should not think of leaving my card with ,madame ,v--4 ,i am for none of these bonnes fortunes2 but for a list of humble beauties1 servant-maids and shepherd-girls1 with their red elbows1 hard hands1 black stockings and mob-caps1 ,i could furnish out a gallery equal to ,cowley's1 and paint them half as well4 ,oh6 might ,i but attempt a description of some of them in poetic prose1 ,don ,juan would forget his ,julia1 and ,mr4 ,davison might both print and publish this volume4 ,i agree so far with ,horace1 and differ with ,montaigne4 ,i admire the ,clementinas and ,clarissas at a distance3 the ,pamelas and ,fannys of ,richardson and ,fielding make my blood tingle4 ,i have written love-letters to such in my time1 d'un pathtique faire fendre les rochers1 and with about as much effect as if they had been addressed to stone4 ,the simpletons only laughed1 and said1 that #8those were not the sort of things to gain the affections4' ,i wish ,i had kept copies in my own justification4 ,what is worse1 ,i have an utter aversion to blue-stockings4 ,i do not care a fig for any woman that knows even what an author means4 ,if ,i know that she has read any thing ,i have written1 ,i cut her acquaintance immediately4 ,this sort of literary intercourse with me passes for nothing4 ,her critical and scientific acquirements are carrying coals to ,newcastle4 ,i do not want to be told that ,i have published such or such a work4 ,i knew all this before4 ,it makes no addition to my sense of power4 ,i do not wish the affair to be brought about in that way4 ,i would have her read my soul3 she should understand the language of the heart3 she should know what ,i am1 as if she were another self6 ,she should love me for myself alone4 ,i like myself without any reason3--,i would have her do so too4 ,this is not very reasonable4 ,i abstract from my temptations to admire all the circumstances of dress1 birth1 breeding1 fortune2 and ,i would not willingly put forward my own pretensions1 whatever they may be4 ,the image of some fair creature is engraven on my inmost soul2 it is on that ,i build my claim to her regard1 and expect her to see into my heart1 as ,i see her form always before me4 ,wherever she treads1 pale primroses1 like her face1 vernal hyacinths1 like her brow1 spring up beneath her feet1 and music hangs on every bough3 but all is cold1 barren1 and desolate without her4 ,thus ,i feel and thus ,i think4 ,but have ,i ever told her so8 ,no4 ,or if ,i did1 would she understand it8 ,no4 ,i #8hunt the wind1 ,i worship a statue1 cry aloud to the desert4' ,to see beauty is not to be beautiful1 to pine in love is not to be loved again4--,i always was inclined to raise and magnify the power of ,love4 ,i thought that his sweet power should only be exerted to join together the loveliest forms and fondest hearts2 that none but those in whom his ,godhead shone outwardly1 and was inly felt1 should ever partake of his triumphs2 and ,i stood and gazed at a distance1 as unworthy to mingle in so bright a throng1 and did not 7even for a moment7 wish to tarnish the glory of so fair a vision by being myself admitted into it4 ,i say this was my notion once1 but ,god knows it was one of the errors of my youth4 ,for coming nearer to look1 ,i saw the maimed1 the blind1 and the halt enter in1 the crooked and the dwarf1 the ugly1 the old and impotent1 the man of pleasure and the man of the world1 the dapper and the pert1 the vain and shallow boaster1 the fool and the pedant1 the ignorant and brutal1 and all that is farthest removed from earth's fairest-born1 and the pride of human life4 ,seeing all these enter the courts of ,love1 and thinking that ,i also might venture in under favour of the crowd1 but finding myself rejected1 ,i fancied 7,i might be wrong7 that it was not so much because ,i was below1 as above the common standard4 ,i did feel1 but ,i was ashamed to feel1 mortified at my repulse1 when ,i saw the meanest of mankind1 the very scum and refuse1 all creeping things and every obscene creature1 enter in before me4 ,i seemed a species by myself4 ,i took a pride even in my disgrace3 and concluded ,i had elsewhere my inheritance6 ,the only thing ,i ever piqued myself upon was the writing the ,essay on the ,principles of ,human ,action--a work that no woman ever read1 or would ever comprehend the meaning of4 ,but if ,i do not build my claim to regard on the pretensions ,i have1 how can ,i build it on those ,i am totally without8 ,or why do ,i complain and expect to gather grapes of thorns1 or figs of thistles8 ,thought has in me cancelled pleasure2 and this dark forehead1 bent upon truth1 is the rock on which all affection has split4 ,and thus ,i waste my life in one long sigh2 nor ever 7till too late7 beheld a gentle face turned gently upon mine6444 ,but no6 not too late1 if that face1 pure1 modest1 downcast1 tender1 with angel sweetness1 not only gladdens the prospect of the future1 but sheds its radiance on the past1 smiling in tears4 ,a purple light hovers round my head4 ,the air of love is in the room4 ,as ,i look at my long-neglected copy of the ,death of ,clorinda1 golden gleams play upon the canvas1 as they used when ,i painted it4 ,the flowers of ,hope and ,joy springing up in my mind1 recal the time when they first bloomed there4 ,the years that are fled knock at the door and enter4 ,i am in the ,louvre once more4 ,the sun of ,austerlitz has not set4 ,it still shines here--in my heart2 and he1 the son of glory1 is not dead1 nor ever shall1 to me4 ,i am as when my life began4 ,the rainbow is in the sky again4 ,i see the skirts of the departed years4 ,all that ,i have thought and felt has not been in vain4 ,i am not utterly worthless1 unregarded2 nor shall ,i die and wither of pure scorn4 ,now could ,i sit on the tomb of ,liberty1 and write a ,hymn to ,love4 ,oh6 if ,i am deceived1 let me be deceived still4 ,let me live in the ,elysium of those soft looks2 poison me with kisses1 kill me with smiles2 but still mock me with thy love6#gj ,poets chuse mistresses who have the fewest charms1 that they may make something out of nothing4 ,they succeed best in fiction1 and they apply this rule to love4 ,they make a ,goddess of any dowdy4 ,as ,don ,quixote said1 in answer to the matter of fact remonstrances of ,sancho1 that ,dulcinea del ,toboso answered the purpose of signalising his valour just as well as the #8fairest princess under sky1' so any of the fair sex will serve them to write about just as well as another4 ,they take some awkward thing and dress her up in fine words1 as children dress up a wooden doll in fine clothes4 ,perhaps1 a fine head of hair1 a taper waist1 or some other circumstance strikes them1 and they make the rest out according to their fancies4 ,they have a wonderful knack of supplying deficiencies in the subjects of their idolatry out of the store-house of their imaginations4 ,they presently translate their favourites to the skies1 where they figure with ,berenice's locks and ,ariadne's crown4 ,this predilection for the unprepossessing and insignificant1 ,i take to arise not merely from a desire in poets to have some subject to exercise their inventive talents upon1 but from their jealousy of any pretensions 7even those of beauty in the other sex7 that might interfere with the continual incense offered to their personal vanity4 ,cardinal ,mazarine never thought any thing of ,cardinal de ,retz1 after he told him that he had written for the last thirty years of his life with the same pen4 ,some ,italian poet going to present a copy of verses to the ,pope1 and finding1 as he was looking them over in the coach as he went1 a mistake of a single letter in the printing1 broke his heart of vexation and chagrin4 ,a still more remarkable case of literary disappointment occurs in the history of a countryman of his1 which ,i cannot refrain from giving here1 as ,i find it related4 #8,anthony ,codrus ,urceus1 a most learned and unfortunate ,italian1 born near ,modena1 #addf1 was a striking instance1' says his biographer1 #8of the miseries men bring upon themselves by setting their affections unreasonably on trifles4 ,this learned man lived at ,forli1 and had an apartment in the palace4 ,his room was so very dark1 that he was forced to use a candle in the day-time2 and one day1 going abroad without putting it out1 his library was set on fire1 and some papers which he had prepared for the press were burned4 ,the instant he was informed of this ill news1 he was affected even to madness4 ,he ran furiously to the palace1 and stopping at the door of his apartment1 he cried aloud1 8,christ ,jesus6 what mighty crime have ,i committed6 whom of your followers have ,i ever injured1 that you thus rage with inexpiable hatred against me80 ,then turning himself to an image of the ,virgin ,mary near at hand1 8,virgin 7says he7 hear what ,i have to say1 for ,i speak in earnest1 and with a composed spirit3 if ,i shall happen to address you in my dying moments1 ,i humbly intreat you not to hear me1 nor receive me into ,heaven1 for ,i am determined to spend all eternity in ,hell60 ,those who heard these blasphemous expressions endeavoured to comfort him2 but all to no purpose3 for1 the society of mankind being no longer supportable to him1 he left the city1 and retired1 like a savage1 to the deep solitude of a wood4 ,some say that he was murdered there by ruffians3 others1 that he died at ,bologna in #aejj1 after much contrition and penitence4' ,perhaps the censure passed at the outset of the anecdote on this unfortunate person is unfounded and severe1 when it is said that he brought his miseries on himself #8by having set his affections unreasonably on trifles4' ,to others it might appear so3 but to himself the labour of a whole life was hardly a trifle4 ,his passion was not a causeless one1 though carried to such frantic excess4 ,the story of ,sir ,isaac ,newton presents a strong contrast to the last-mentioned one1 who on going into his study and finding that his dog ,tray had thrown down a candle on the table1 and burnt some papers of great value1 contented himself with exclaiming1 #8,ah6 ,tray1 you don't know the mischief you have done6' ,many persons would not forgive the overturning of a cup of chocolate so soon4 ,i remember hearing an instance some years ago of a man of character and property1 who through unexpected losses had been condemned to a long and heart-breaking imprisonment1 which he bore with exemplary fortitude4 ,at the end of four years1 by the interest and exertions of friends1 he obtained his discharge with every prospect of beginning the world afresh1 and had made his arrangements for leaving his irksome abode1 and meeting his wife and family at a distance of two hundred miles by a certain day4 ,owing to the miscarriage of a letter1 some signature necessary to the completion of the business did not arrive in time1 and on account of the informality which had thus arisen1 he could not set out home till the return of the post1 which was four days longer4 ,his spirit could not brook the delay4 ,he had wound himself up to the last pitch of expectation2 he had1 as it were1 calculated his patience to hold out to a certain point1 and then to throw down his load for ever1 and he could not find resolution to resume it for a few hours beyond this4 ,he put an end to the intolerable conflict of hope and disappointment in a fit of excruciating anguish4 ,woes that we have time to foresee and leisure to contemplate break their force by being spread over a larger surface1 and borne at intervals2 but those that come upon us suddenly1 for however short a time1 seem to insult us by their unnecessary and uncalled-for intrusion2 and the very prospect of relief1 when held out and then withdrawn from us1 to however small a distance1 only frets impatience into agony by tantalising our hopes and wishes2 and to rend asunder the thin partition that separates us from our favourite object1 we are ready to burst even the fetters of life itself6 ,i am not aware that any one has demonstrated how it is that a stronger capacity is required for the conduct of great affairs than of small ones4 ,the organs of the mind1 like the pupil of the eye1 may be contracted or dilated to view a broader or a narrower surface1 and yet find sufficient variety to occupy its attention in each4 ,the material universe is infinitely divisible1 and so is the texture of human affairs4 ,we take things in the gross or in the detail1 according to the occasion4 ,i think ,i could as soon get up the budget of ,ways and ,means for the current year1 as be sure of making both ends meet1 and paying my rent at quarter-day in a paltry huckster's shop4 ,great objects move on by their own weight and impulse3 great power turns aside petty obstacles2 and he1 who wields it1 is often but the puppet of circumstances1 like the fly on the wheel that said1 #8,what a dust we raise6' ,it is easier to ruin a kingdom and aggrandise one's own pride and prejudices than to set up a green-grocer's stall4 ,an idiot or a madman may do this at any time1 whose word is law1 and whose nod is fate4 ,nay1 he whose look is obedience1 and who understands the silent wishes of the great1 may easily trample on the necks and tread out the liberties of a mighty nation1 deriding their strength1 and hating it the more from a consciousness of his own meanness4 ,power is not wisdom1 it is true2 but it equally ensures its own objects4 ,it does not exact1 but dispenses with talent4 ,when a man creates this power1 or new-moulds the state by sage counsels and bold enterprises1 it is a different thing from overturning it with the levers that are put into his baby hands4 ,in general1 however1 it may be argued that great transactions and complicated concerns ask more genius to conduct them than smaller ones1 for this reason1 viz4 that the mind must be able either to embrace a greater variety of details in a more extensive range of objects1 or must have a greater faculty of generalising1 or a greater depth of insight into ruling principles1 and so come at true results in that way4 ,buonaparte knew everything1 even to the names of our cadets in the ,east-,india service2 but he failed in this1 that he did not calculate the resistance which barbarism makes to refinement4 ,he thought that the ,russians could not burn ,moscow1 because the ,parisians could not burn ,paris4 ,the ,french think every thing must be ,french4 ,the ,cossacks1 alas6 do not conform to etiquette3 the rudeness of the seasons knows no rules of politeness6--,some artists think it a test of genius to paint a large picture1 and ,i grant the truth of this position1 if the large picture contains more than a small one4 ,it is not the size of the canvas1 but the quantity of truth and nature put into it1 that settles the point4 ,it is a mistake1 common enough on this subject1 to suppose that a miniature is more finished than an oil-picture4 ,the miniature is inferior to the oil-picture only because it is less finished1 because it cannot follow nature into so many individual and exact particulars4 ,the proof of which is1 that the copy of a good portrait will always make a highly finished miniature 7see for example ,mr4 ,bone's enamels71 whereas the copy of a good miniature1 if enlarged to the size of life1 will make but a very sorry portrait4 ,several of our best artists1 who are fond of painting large figures1 invert this reasoning4 ,they make the whole figure gigantic1 not that they may have room for nature1 but for the motion of their brush 7as if they were painting the side of a house71 regarding the extent of canvas they have to cover as an excuse for their slovenly and hasty manner of getting over it2 and thus1 in fact1 leave their pictures nothing at last but overgrown miniatures1 but huge caricatures4 ,it is not necessary in any case 7either in a larger or a smaller compass7 to go into details1 so as to lose sight of the effect1 and decompound the face into porous and transparent molecules1 in the manner of ,denner1 who painted what he saw through a magnifying glass4 ,the painter's eye need not be a microscope1 but ,i contend that it should be a looking-glass1 bright1 clear1 lucid4 ,the little in art begins with insignificant parts1 with what does not tell in connection with other parts4 ,the true artist will paint not material points1 but moral quantities4 ,in a word1 wherever there is feeling or expression in a muscle or a vein1 there is grandeur and refinement too4--,i will conclude these remarks with an account of the manner in which the ancient sculptors combined great and little things in such matters4 #8,that the name of ,phidias1' says ,pliny1 #8is illustrious among all the nations that have heard of the fame of the ,olympian ,jupiter1 no one doubts2 but in order that those may know that he is deservedly praised who have not even seen his works1 we shall offer a few arguments1 and those of his genius only3 nor to this purpose shall we insist on the beauty of the ,olympian ,jupiter1 nor on the magnitude of the ,minerva at ,athens1 though it is twenty-six cubits in height 7about thirty-five feet71 and is made of ivory and gold3 but we shall refer to the shield1 on which the battle of the ,amazons is carved on the outer side3 on the inside of the same is the fight of the ,gods and ,giants2 and on the sandals1 that between the ,centaurs and ,lapith2 so well did every part of that work display the powers of the art4 ,again1 the sculptures on the pedestal he called the birth of ,pandora3 there are to be seen in number thirty ,gods1 the figure of ,victory being particularly admirable3 the learned also admire the figures of the serpent and the brazen sphinx1 writhing under the spear4 ,these things are mentioned1 in passing1 of an artist never enough to be commended1 that it may be seen that he shewed the same magnificence even in small things4'--,pliny's ,natural ,history1 ,book #cf4 ,,essay ,,xxiv ,,on ,,familiar ,,style ,it is not easy to write a familiar style4 ,many people mistake a familiar for a vulgar style1 and suppose that to write without affectation is to write at random4 ,on the contrary1 there is nothing that requires more precision1 and1 if ,i may so say1 purity of expression1 than the style ,i am speaking of4 ,it utterly rejects not only all unmeaning pomp1 but all low1 cant phrases1 and loose1 unconnected1 slipshod allusions4 ,it is not to take the first word that offers1 but the best word in common use2 it is not to throw words together in any combinations we please1 but to follow and avail ourselves of the true idiom of the language4 ,to write a genuine familiar or truly ,english style1 is to write as any one would speak in common conversation1 who had a thorough command and choice of words1 or who could discourse with ease1 force1 and perspicuity1 setting aside all pedantic and oratorical flourishes4 ,or to give another illustration1 to write naturally is the same thing in regard to common conversation1 as to read naturally is in regard to common speech4 ,it does not follow that it is an easy thing to give the true accent and inflection to the words you utter1 because you do not attempt to rise above the level of ordinary life and colloquial speaking4 ,you do not assume indeed the solemnity of the pulpit1 or the tone of stage-declamation3 neither are you at liberty to gabble on at a venture1 without emphasis or discretion1 or to resort to vulgar dialect or clownish pronunciation4 ,you must steer a middle course4 ,you are tied down to a given and appropriate articulation1 which is determined by the habitual associations between sense and sound1 and which you can only hit by entering into the author's meaning1 as you must find the proper words and style to express yourself by fixing your thoughts on the subject you have to write about4 ,any one may mouth out a passage with a theatrical cadence1 or get upon stilts to tell his thoughts3 but to write or speak with propriety and simplicity is a more difficult task4 ,thus it is easy to affect a pompous style1 to use a word twice as big as the thing you want to express3 it is not so easy to pitch upon the very word that exactly fits it4 ,out of eight or ten words equally common1 equally intelligible1 with nearly equal pretensions1 it is a matter of some nicety and discrimination to pick out the very one1 the preferableness of which is scarcely perceptible1 but decisive4 ,the reason why ,i object to ,dr4 ,johnson's style is1 that there is no discrimination1 no selection1 no variety in it4 ,he uses none but #8tall1 opaque words1' taken from the #8first row of the rubric3'--words with the greatest number of syllables1 or ,latin phrases with merely ,english terminations4 ,if a fine style depended on this sort of arbitrary pretension1 it would be fair to judge of an author's elegance by the measurement of his words1 and the substitution of foreign circumlocutions 7with no precise associations7 for the mother-tongue4#ga ,how simple it is to be dignified without ease1 to be pompous without meaning6 ,surely1 it is but a mechanical rule for avoiding what is low to be always pedantic and affected4 ,it is clear you cannot use a vulgar ,english word1 if you never use a common ,english word at all4 ,a fine tact is shewn in adhering to those which are perfectly common1 and yet never falling into any expressions which are debased by disgusting circumstances1 or which owe their signification and point to technical or professional allusions4 ,a truly natural or familiar style can never be quaint or vulgar1 for this reason1 that it is of universal force and applicability1 and that quaintness and vulgarity arise out of the immediate connection of certain words with coarse and disagreeable1 or with confined ideas4 ,the last form what we understand by cant or slang phrases4--,to give an example of what is not very clear in the general statement4 ,i should say that the phrase ,to cut with a knife1 or ,to cut a piece of wood1 is perfectly free from vulgarity1 because it is perfectly common3 but to cut an acquaintance is not quite unexceptionable1 because it is not perfectly common or intelligible1 and has hardly yet escaped out of the limits of slang phraseology4 ,i should hardly therefore use the word in this sense without putting it in italics as a license of expression1 to be received cum grano salis4 ,all provincial or bye-phrases come under the same mark of reprobation--all such as the writer transfers to the page from his fire-side or a particular coterie1 or that he invents for his own sole use and convenience4 ,i conceive that words are like money1 not the worse for being common1 but that it is the stamp of custom alone that gives them circulation or value4 ,i am fastidious in this respect1 and would almost as soon coin the currency of the realm as counterfeit the ,king's ,english4 ,i never invented or gave a new and unauthorised meaning to any word but one single one 7the term impersonal applied to feelings7 and that was in an abstruse metaphysical discussion to express a very difficult distinction4 ,i have been 7,i know7 loudly accused of revelling in vulgarisms and broken ,english4 ,i cannot speak to that point3 but so far ,i plead guilty to the determined use of acknowledged idioms and common elliptical expressions4 ,i am not sure that the critics in question know the one from the other1 that is1 can distinguish any medium between formal pedantry and the most barbarous solecism4 ,as an author1 ,i endeavour to employ plain words and popular modes of construction1 as were ,i a chapman and dealer1 ,i should common weights and measures4 ,the proper force of words lies not in the words themselves1 but in their application4 ,a word may be a fine-sounding word1 of an unusual length1 and very imposing from its learning and novelty1 and yet in the connection in which it is introduced1 may be quite pointless and irrelevant4 ,it is not pomp or pretension1 but the adaptation of the expression to the idea that clenches a writer's meaning3--as it is not the size or glossiness of the materials1 but their being fitted each to its place1 that gives strength to the arch2 or as the pegs and nails are as necessary to the support of the building as the larger timbers1 and more so than the mere shewy1 unsubstantial ornaments4 ,i hate any thing that occupies more space that it is worth4 ,i hate to see a load of band-boxes go along the street1 and ,i hate to see a parcel of big words without any thing in them4 ,a person who does not deliberately dispose of all his thoughts alike in cumbrous draperies and flimsy disguises1 may strike out twenty varieties of familiar every-day language1 each coming somewhat nearer to the feeling he wants to convey1 and at last not hit upon that particular and only one1 which may be said to be identical with the exact impression in his mind4 ,this would seem to shew that ,mr4 ,cobbett is hardly right in saying that the first word that occurs is always the best4 ,it may be a very good one2 and yet a better may present itself on reflection or from time to time4 ,it should be suggested naturally1 however1 and spontaneously1 from a fresh and lively conception of the subject4 ,we seldom succeed by trying at improvement1 or by merely substituting one word for another that we are not satisfied with1 as we cannot recollect the name of a place or person by merely plaguing ourselves about it4 ,we wander farther from the point by persisting in a wrong scent2 but it starts up accidentally in the memory when we least expected it1 by touching some link in the chain of previous association4 ,there are those who hoard up and make a cautious display of nothing but rich and rare phraseology2--ancient medals1 obscure coins1 and ,spanish pieces of eight4 ,they are very curious to inspect2 but ,i myself would neither offer nor take them in the course of exchange4 ,a sprinkling of archaisms is not amiss2 but a tissue of obsolete expressions is more fit for keep than wear4 ,i do not say ,i would not use any phrase that had been brought into fashion before the middle or the end of the last century2 but ,i should be shy of using any that had not been employed by any approved author during the whole of that time4 ,words1 like clothes1 get old-fashioned1 or mean and ridiculous1 when they have been for some time laid aside4 ,mr4 ,lamb is the only imitator of old ,english style ,i can read with pleasure2 and he is so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of his authors1 that the idea of imitation is almost done away4 ,there is an inward unction1 a marrowy vein both in the thought and feeling1 an intuition1 deep and lively1 of his subject1 that carries off any quaintness or awkwardness arising from an antiquated style and dress4 ,the matter is completely his own1 though the manner is assumed4 ,perhaps his ideas are altogether so marked and individual1 as to require their point and pungency to be neutralised by the affectation of a singular but traditional form of conveyance4 ,tricked out in the prevailing costume1 they would probably seem more startling and out of the way4 ,the old ,english authors1 ,burton1 ,fuller1 ,coryate1 ,sir ,thomas ,brown1 are a kind of mediators between us and the more eccentric and whimsical modern1 reconciling us to his peculiarities4 ,i do not however know how far this is the case or not1 till he condescends to write like one of us4 ,i must confess that what ,i like best of his papers under the signature of ,elia 7still ,i do not presume1 amidst such excellence1 to decide what is most excellent7 is the account of ,mrs4 ,battle's ,opinions on ,whist1 which is also the most free from obsolete allusions and turns of expression-- #8,a well of native ,english undefiled4' ,to those acquainted with his admired prototypes1 these ,essays of the ingenious and highly gifted author have the same sort of charm and relish1 that ,erasmus's ,colloquies or a fine piece of modern ,latin have to the classical scholar4 ,certainly1 ,i do not know any borrowed pencil that has more power or felicity of execution than the one of which ,i have here been speaking4 ,it is as easy to write a gaudy style without ideas1 as it is to spread a pallet of shewy colours1 or to smear in a flaunting transparency4 #8,what do you read8'--#8,words1 words1 words4'--#8,what is the matter8'--#8,nothing1' it might be answered4 ,the florid style is the reverse of the familiar4 ,the last is employed as an unvarnished medium to convey ideas2 the first is resorted to as a spangled veil to conceal the want of them4 ,when there is nothing to be set down but words1 it costs little to have them fine4 ,look through the dictionary1 and cull out a florilegium1 rival the tulippomania4 ,rouge high enough1 and never mind the natural complexion4 ,the vulgar1 who are not in the secret1 will admire the look of preternatural health and vigour2 and the fashionable1 who regard only appearances1 will be delighted with the imposition4 ,keep to your sounding generalities1 your tinkling phrases1 and all will be well4 ,swell out an unmeaning truism to a perfect tympany of style4 ,a thought1 a distinction is the rock on which all this brittle cargo of verbiage splits at once4 ,such writers have merely verbal imaginations1 that retain nothing but words4 ,or their puny thoughts have dragon-wings1 all green and gold4 ,they soar far above the vulgar failing of the ,sermo humi obrepens--their most ordinary speech is never short of an hyperbole1 splendid1 imposing1 vague1 incomprehensible1 magniloquent1 a cento of sounding common-places4 ,if some of us1 whose #8ambition is more lowly1' pry a little too narrowly into nooks and corners to pick up a number of #8unconsidered trifles1' they never once direct their eyes or lift their hands to seize on any but the most gorgeous1 tarnished1 thread-bare patch-work set of phrases1 the left-off finery of poetic extravagance1 transmitted down through successive generations of barren pretenders4 ,if they criticise actors and actresses1 a huddled phantasmagoria of feathers1 spangles1 floods of light1 and oceans of sound float before their morbid sense1 which they paint in the style of ,ancient ,pistol4 ,not a glimpse can you get of the merits or defects of the performers3 they are hidden in a profusion of barbarous epithets and wilful rhodomontade4 ,our hypercritics are not thinking of these little fantoccini beings-- #8,that strut and fret their hour upon the stage'-- but of tall phantoms of words1 abstractions1 genera and species1 sweeping clauses1 periods that unite the ,poles1 forced alliterations1 astounding antitheses-- #8,and on their pens ,fustian sits plumed4' ,if they describe kings and queens1 it is an ,eastern pageant4 ,the ,coronation at either ,house is nothing to it4 ,we get at four repeated images--a curtain1 a throne1 a sceptre1 and a foot-stool4 ,these are with them the wardrobe of a lofty imagination2 and they turn their servile strains to servile uses4 ,do we read a description of pictures8 ,it is not a reflection of tones and hues which #8nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on1' but piles of precious stones1 rubies1 pearls1 emeralds1 ,golconda's mines1 and all the blazonry of art4 ,such persons are in fact besotted with words1 and their brains are turned with the glittering1 but empty and sterile phantoms of things4 ,personifications1 capital letters1 seas of sunbeams1 visions of glory1 shining inscriptions1 the figures of a transparency1 ,britannia with her shield1 or ,hope leaning on an anchor1 make up their stock in trade4 ,they may be considered as hieroglyphical writers4 ,images stand out in their minds isolated and important merely in themselves1 without any ground-work of feeling--there is no context in their imaginations4 ,words affect them in the same way1 by the mere sound1 that is1 by their possible1 not by their actual application to the subject in hand4 ,they are fascinated by first appearances1 and have no sense of consequences4 ,nothing more is meant by them than meets the ear3 they understand or feel nothing more than meets their eye4 ,the web and texture of the universe1 and of the heart of man1 is a mystery to them3 they have no faculty that strikes a chord in unison with it4 ,they cannot get beyond the daubings of fancy1 the varnish of sentiment4 ,objects are not linked to feelings1 words to things1 but images revolve in splendid mockery1 words represent themselves in their strange rhapsodies4 ,the categories of such a mind are pride and ignorance--pride in outside show1 to which they sacrifice every thing1 and ignorance of the true worth and hidden structure both of words and things4 ,with a sovereign contempt for what is familiar and natural1 they are the slaves of vulgar affectation--of a routine of high-flown phrases4 ,scorning to imitate realities1 they are unable to invent any thing1 to strike out one original idea4 ,they are not copyists of nature1 it is true3 but they are the poorest of all plagiarists1 the plagiarists of words4 ,all is far-fetched1 dear-bought1 artificial1 oriental in subject and allusion3 all is mechanical1 conventional1 vapid1 formal1 pedantic in style and execution4 ,they startle and confound the understanding of the reader1 by the remoteness and obscurity of their illustrations3 they soothe the ear by the monotony of the same everlasting round of circuitous metaphors4 ,they are the mock-school in poetry and prose4 ,they flounder about between fustian in expression1 and bathos in sentiment4 ,they tantalise the fancy1 but never reach the head nor touch the heart4 ,their ,temple of ,fame is like a shadowy structure raised by ,dulness to ,vanity1 or like ,cowper's description of the ,empress of ,russia's palace of ice1 as #8worthless as in shew 'twas glittering'-- #8,it smiled1 and it was cold6' ,,essay ,,xxv ,,on ,,effeminacy ,,of ,,character ,effeminacy of character arises from a prevalence of the sensibility over the will3 or it consists in a want of fortitude to bear pain or to undergo fatigue1 however urgent the occasion4 ,we meet with instances of people who cannot lift up a little finger to save themselves from ruin1 nor give up the smallest indulgence for the sake of any other person4 ,they cannot put themselves out of their way on any account4 ,no one makes a greater outcry when the day of reckoning comes1 or affects greater compassion for the mischiefs they have occasioned2 but till the time comes1 they feel nothing1 they care for nothing4 ,they live in the present moment1 are the creatures of the present impulse 7whatever it may be7--and beyond that1 the universe is nothing to them4 ,the slightest toy countervails the empire of the world2 they will not forego the smallest inclination they feel1 for any object that can be proposed to them1 or any reasons that can be urged for it4 ,you might as well ask of the gossamer not to wanton in the idle summer air1 or of the moth not to play with the flame that scorches it1 as ask of these persons to put off any enjoyment for a single instant1 or to gird themselves up to any enterprise of pith or moment4 ,they have been so used to a studied succession of agreeable sensations1 that the shortest pause is a privation which they can by no means endure--it is like tearing them from their very existence--they have been so inured to ease and indolence1 that the most trifling effort is like one of the tasks of ,hercules1 a thing of impossibility1 at which they shudder4 ,they lie on beds of roses1 and spread their gauze wings to the sun and summer gale1 and cannot bear to put their tender feet to the ground1 much less to encounter the thorns and briers of the world4 ,life for them --#8rolls o'er ,elysian flowers its amber stream'-- and they have no fancy for fishing in troubled waters4 ,the ordinary state of existence they regard as something importunate and vain1 and out of nature4 ,what must they think of its trials and sharp vicissitudes8 ,instead of voluntarily embracing pain1 or labour1 or danger1 or death1 every sensation must be wound up to the highest pitch of voluptuous refinement1 every motion must be grace and elegance2 they live in a luxurious1 endless dream1 or #8,die of a rose in aromatic pain6' ,siren sounds must float around them2 smiling forms must every where meet their sight2 they must tread a soft measure on painted carpets or smooth-shaven lawns2 books1 arts1 jests1 laughter1 occupy every thought and hour--what have they to do with the drudgery1 the struggles1 the poverty1 the disease or anguish1 which are the common lot of humanity6 ,these things are intolerable to them1 even in imagination4 ,they disturb the enchantment in which they are lapt4 ,they cause a wrinkle in the clear and polished surface of their existence4 ,they exclaim with impatience and in agony1 #8,oh1 leave me to my repose6' ,how #8they shall discourse the freezing hours away1 when wind and rain beat dark ,december down1' or #8bide the pelting of the pitiless storm1' gives them no concern1 it never once enters their heads4 ,they close the shutters1 draw the curtains1 and enjoy or shut out the whistling of the approaching tempest4 #8,they take no thought for the morrow1' not they4 ,they do not anticipate evils4 ,let them come when they will come1 they will not run to meet them4 ,nay more1 they will not move one step to prevent them1 nor let any one else4 ,the mention of such things is shocking2 the very supposition is a nuisance that must not be tolerated4 ,the idea of the trouble1 the precautions1 the negotiations necessary to obviate disagreeable consequences oppresses them to death1 is an exertion too great for their enervated imaginations4 ,they are not like ,master ,barnardine in ,measure for ,measure1 who would not #8get up to be hanged'--they would not get up to avoid being hanged4 ,they are completely wrapped up in themselves2 but then all their self-love is concentrated in the present minute4 ,they have worked up their effeminate and fastidious appetite of enjoyment to such a pitch1 that the whole of their existence1 every moment of it1 must be made up of these exquisite indulgences2 or they will fling it all away1 with indifference and scorn4 ,they stake their entire welfare on the gratification of the passing instant4 ,their senses1 their vanity1 their thoughtless gaiety have been pampered till they ache at the smallest suspension of their perpetual dose of excitement1 and they will purchase the hollow happiness of the next five minutes1 by a mortgage on the independence and comfort of years4 ,they must have their will in every thing1 or they grow sullen and peevish like spoiled children4 ,whatever they set their eyes on1 or make up their minds to1 they must have that instant4 ,they may pay for it hereafter4 ,but that is no matter4 ,they snatch a joy beyond the reach of fate1 and consider the present time sacred1 inviolable1 unaccountable to that hard1 churlish1 niggard1 inexorable task-master1 the future4 ,now or never is their motto4 ,they are madly devoted to the play-thing1 the ruling passion of the moment4 ,what is to happen to them a week hence is as if it were to happen to them a thousand years hence4 ,they put off the consideration for another day1 and their heedless unconcern laughs at it as a fable4 ,their life is #8a cell of ignorance1 travelling a-bed2' their existence is ephemeral2 their thoughts are insect-winged1 their identity expires with the whim1 the folly1 the passion of the hour4 ,nothing but a miracle can rouse such people from their lethargy4 ,it is not to be expected1 nor is it even possible in the natural course of things4 ,pope's striking exclamation1 #8,oh6 blindness to the future kindly given1 ,that each may fill the circuit mark'd by ,heaven6' hardly applies here2 namely1 to evils that stare us in the face1 and that might be averted with the least prudence or resolution4 ,but nothing can be done4 ,how should it8 ,a slight evil1 a distant danger will not move them2 and a more imminent one only makes them turn away from it in greater precipitation and alarm4 ,the more desperate their affairs grow1 the more averse they are to look into them2 and the greater the effort required to retrieve them1 the more incapable they are of it4 ,at first1 they will not do any thing2 and afterwards1 it is too late4 ,the very motives that imperiously urge them to self-reflection and amendment1 combine with their natural disposition to prevent it4 ,this amounts pretty nearly to a mathematical demonstration4 ,ease1 vanity1 pleasure1 are the ruling passions in such cases4 ,how will you conquer these1 or wean their infatuated votaries from them8 ,by the dread of hardship1 disgrace1 pain8 ,they turn from them and you who point them out as the alternative1 with sickly disgust2 and instead of a stronger effort of courage or self-denial to avert the crisis1 hasten it by a wilful determination to pamper the disease in every way1 and arm themselves1 not with fortitude to bear or to repel the consequences1 but with judicial blindness to their approach4 ,will you rouse the indolent procrastinator to an irksome but necessary effort1 by shewing him how much he has to do8 ,he will only draw back the more for all your intreaties and representations4 ,if of a sanguine turn1 he will make a slight attempt at a new plan of life1 be satisfied with the first appearance of reform1 and relapse into indolence again4 ,if timid and undecided1 the hopelessness of the undertaking will put him out of heart with it1 and he will stand still in despair4 ,will you save a vain man from ruin1 by pointing out the obloquy and ridicule that await him in his present career8 ,he smiles at your forebodings as fantastical2 or the more they are realised around him1 the more he is impelled to keep out the galling conviction1 and the more fondly he clings to flattery and death4 ,he will not make a bold and resolute attempt to recover his reputation1 because that would imply that it was capable of being soiled or injured2 or he no sooner meditates some desultory project1 than he takes credit to himself for the execution1 and is delighted to wear his unearned laurels while the thing is barely talked of4 ,the chance of success relieves the uneasiness of his apprehensions2 so that he makes use of the interval only to flatter his favourite infirmity again4 ,would you wean a man from sensual excesses by the inevitable consequences to which they lead8--,what holds more antipathy to pleasure than pain8 ,the mind given up to self-indulgence1 revolts at suffering2 and throws it from it as an unaccountable anomaly1 as a piece of injustice when it comes4 ,much less will it acknowledge any affinity with or subjection to it as a mere threat4 ,if the prediction does not immediately come true1 we laugh at the prophet of ill3 if it is verified1 we hate our adviser proportionably1 hug our vices the closer1 and hold them dearer and more precious1 the more they cost us4 ,we resent wholesome counsel as an impertinence1 and consider those who warn us of impending mischief1 as if they had brought it on our heads4 ,we cry out with the poetical enthusiast-- #8,and let us nurse the fond deceit2 ,and what if we must die in sorrow8 ,who would not cherish dreams so sweet1 ,though grief and pain should come to-morrow8' ,but oh thou6 who didst lend me speech when ,i was dumb1 to whom ,i owe it that ,i have not crept on my belly all the days of my life like the serpent1 but sometimes lift my forked crest or tread the empyrean1 wake thou out of thy mid-day slumbers6 ,shake off the heavy honey-dew of thy soul1 no longer lulled with that ,circean cup1 drinking thy own thoughts with thy own ears1 but start up in thy promised likeness1 and shake the pillared rottenness of the world6 ,leave not thy sounding words in air1 write them in marble1 and teach the coming age heroic truths6 ,up1 and wake the echoes of ,time6 ,rich in deepest lore1 die not the bed-rid churl of knowledge1 leaving the survivors unblest6 ,set1 set as thou didst rise in pomp and gladness6 ,dart like the sun-flower one broad1 golden flash of light2 and ere thou ascendest thy native sky1 shew us the steps by which thou didst scale the ,heaven of philosophy1 with ,truth and ,fancy for thy equal guides1 that we may catch thy mantle1 rainbow-dipped1 and still read thy words dear to ,memory1 dearer to ,fame6 ,there is another branch of this character1 which is the trifling or dilatory character4 ,such persons are always creating difficulties1 and unable or unwilling to remove them4 ,they cannot brush aside a cobweb1 and are stopped by an insect's wing4 ,their character is imbecility1 rather than effeminacy4 ,the want of energy and resolution in the persons last described1 arises from the habitual and inveterate predominance of other feelings and motives2 in these it is a mere want of energy and resolution1 that is1 an inherent natural defect of vigour of nerve and voluntary power4 ,there is a specific levity about such persons1 so that you cannot propel them to any object1 or give them a decided momentum in any direction or pursuit4 ,they turn back1 as it were1 on the occasion that should project them forward with manly force and vehemence4 ,they shrink from intrepidity of purpose1 and are alarmed at the idea of attaining their end too soon4 ,they will not act with steadiness or spirit1 either for themselves or you4 ,if you chalk out a line of conduct for them1 or commission them to execute a certain task1 they are sure to conjure up some insignificant objection or fanciful impediment in the way1 and are withheld from striking an effectual blow by mere feebleness of character4 ,they may be officious1 good-natured1 friendly1 generous in disposition1 but they are of no use to any one4 ,they will put themselves to twice the trouble you desire1 not to carry your point1 but to defeat it2 and in obviating needless objections1 neglect the main business4 ,if they do what you want1 it is neither at the time nor in the manner that you wish4 ,this timidity amounts to treachery2 for by always anticipating some misfortune or disgrace1 they realise their unmeaning apprehensions4 ,the little bears sway in their minds over the great3 a small inconvenience outweighs a solid and indispensable advantage2 and their strongest bias is uniformly derived from the weakest motive4 ,they hesitate about the best way of beginning a thing till the opportunity for action is lost1 and are less anxious about its being done than the precise manner of doing it4 ,they will destroy a passage sooner than let an objectionable word pass2 and are much less concerned about the truth or the beauty of an image1 than about the reception it will meet with from the critics4 ,they alter what they write1 not because it is1 but because it may possibly be wrong2 and in their tremulous solicitude to avoid imaginary blunders1 run into real ones4 ,what is curious enough is1 that with all this caution and delicacy1 they are continually liable to extraordinary oversights4 ,they are in fact so full of all sorts of idle apprehensions1 that they do not know how to distinguish real from imaginary grounds of apprehension2 and they often give some unaccountable offence either from assuming a sudden boldness half in sport1 or while they are secretly pluming themselves on their dexterity in avoiding every thing exceptionable2 and the same distraction of motive and short-sightedness which gets them into scrapes1 hinders them from seeing their way out of them4 ,such persons 7often of ingenious and susceptible minds7 are constantly at cross-purposes with themselves and others2 will neither do things nor let others do them2 and whether they succeed or fail1 never feel confident or at their ease4 ,they spoil the freshness and originality of their own thoughts by asking contradictory advice2 and in befriending others while they are about it and about it1 you might have done the thing yourself a dozen times over4 ,there is nothing more to be esteemed than a manly firmness and decision of character4 ,i like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it2 who sees at once what is to be done in given circumstances and does it4 ,he does not beat about the bush for difficulties or excuses1 but goes the shortest and most effectual way to work to attain his own ends1 or to accomplish a useful object4 ,if he can serve you1 he will do so2 if he cannot1 he will say so without keeping you in needless suspense1 or laying you under pretended obligations4 ,the applying to him in any laudable undertaking is not like stirring #8a dish of skimmed milk4' ,there is stuff in him1 and it is of the right practicable sort4 ,he is not all his life at hawk and buzzard whether he shall be a ,whig or a ,tory1 a friend or a foe1 a knave or a fool2 but thinks that life is short1 and that there is no time to play fantastic tricks in it1 to tamper with principles1 or trifle with individual feelings4 ,if he gives you a character1 he does not add a damning clause to it3 he does not pick holes in you lest others should1 or anticipate objections lest he should be thought to be blinded by a childish partiality4 ,his object is to serve you2 and not to play the game into your enemies' hands4 #8,a generous friendship no cold medium knows1 ,burns with one love1 with one resentment glows4' ,i should be sorry for any one to say what he did not think of me2 but ,i should not be pleased to see him slink out of his acknowledged opinion1 lest it should not be confirmed by malice or stupidity4 ,he who is well acquainted and well inclined to you1 ought to give the tone1 not to receive it from others1 and may set it to what key he pleases in certain cases4 ,there are those of whom it has been said1 that to them an obligation is a reason for not doing any thing1 and there are others who are invariably led to do the reverse of what they should4 ,the last are perverse1 the first impracticable people4 ,opposed to the effeminate in disposition and manners are the coarse and brutal4 ,as those were all softness and smoothness1 these affect or are naturally attracted to whatever is vulgar and violent1 harsh and repulsive in tone1 in modes of speech1 in forms of address1 in gesture and behaviour4 ,thus there are some who ape the lisping of the fine lady1 the drawling of the fine gentleman1 and others who all their lives delight in and catch the uncouth dialect1 the manners and expressions of clowns and hoydens4 ,the last are governed by an instinct of the disagreeable1 by an appetite and headlong rage for violating decorum1 and hurting other people's feelings1 their own being excited and enlivened by the shock4 ,they deal in home truths1 unpleasant reflections1 and unwelcome matters of fact2 as the others are all compliment and complaisance1 insincerity and insipidity4 ,we may observe an effeminacy of style1 in some degree corresponding to effeminacy of character4 ,writers of this stamp are great interliners of what they indite1 alterers of indifferent phrases1 and the plague of printers' devils4 ,by an effeminate style ,i would be understood to mean one that is all florid1 all fine2 that cloys by its sweetness1 and tires by its sameness4 ,such are what ,dryden calls #8calm1 peaceable writers4' ,they only aim to please1 and never offend by truth or disturb by singularity4 ,every thought must be beautiful per se1 every expression equally fine4 ,they do not delight in vulgarisms1 but in common places1 and dress out unmeaning forms in all the colours of the rainbow4 ,they do not go out of their way to think--that would startle the indolence of the reader3 they cannot express a trite thought in common words--that would be a sacrifice of their own vanity4 ,they are not sparing of tinsel1 for it costs nothing4 ,their works should be printed1 as they generally are1 on hot-pressed paper1 with vignette margins4 ,the ,della ,cruscan school comes under this description1 but is now nearly exploded4 ,lord ,byron is a pampered and aristocratic writer1 but he is not effeminate1 or we should not have his works with only the printer's name to them6 ,i cannot help thinking that the fault of ,mr4 ,keats's poems was a deficiency in masculine energy of style4 ,he had beauty1 tenderness1 delicacy1 in an uncommon degree1 but there was a want of strength and substance4 ,his ,endymion is a very delightful description of the illusions of a youthful imagination1 given up to airy dreams--we have flowers1 clouds1 rainbows1 moonlight1 all sweet sounds and smells1 and ,oreads and ,dryads flitting by--but there is nothing tangible in it1 nothing marked or palpable--we have none of the hardy spirit or rigid forms of antiquity4 ,he painted his own thoughts and character2 and did not transport himself into the fabulous and heroic ages4 ,there is a want of action1 of character1 and so far1 of imagination1 but there is exquisite fancy4 ,all is soft and fleshy1 without bone or muscle4 ,we see in him the youth1 without the manhood of poetry4 ,his genius breathed #8vernal delight and joy4'--#8,like ,maia's son he stood and shook his plumes1' with fragrance filled4 ,his mind was redolent of spring4 ,he had not the fierceness of summer1 nor the richness of autumn1 and winter he seemed not to have known1 till he felt the icy hand of death6 ,,essay ,,xxvi ,,why ,,distant ,,objects ,,please ,distant objects please1 because1 in the first place1 they imply an idea of space and magnitude1 and because1 not being obtruded too close upon the eye1 we clothe them with the indistinct and airy colours of fancy4 ,in looking at the misty mountain-tops that bound the horison1 the mind is as it were conscious of all the conceivable objects and interests that lie between2 we imagine all sorts of adventures in the interim2 strain our hopes and wishes to reach the air-drawn circle1 or to #8descry new lands1 rivers1 and mountains1' stretching far beyond it3 our feelings carried out of themselves lose their grossness and their husk1 are rarefied1 expanded1 melt into softness and brighten into beauty1 turning to ethereal mould1 sky-tinctured4 ,we drink the air before us1 and borrow a more refined existence from objects that hover on the brink of nothing4 ,where the landscape fades from the dull sight1 we fill the thin1 viewless space with shapes of unknown good1 and tinge the hazy prospect with hopes and wishes and more charming fears4 #8,but thou1 oh ,hope6 with eyes so fair1 ,what was thy delighted measure8 ,still it whisper'd promised pleasure1 ,and bade the lovely scenes at distance hail6' ,whatever is placed beyond the reach of sense and knowledge1 whatever is imperfectly discerned1 the fancy pieces out at its leisure2 and all but the present moment1 but the present spot1 passion claims for its own1 and brooding over it with wings outspread1 stamps it with an image of itself4 ,passion is lord of infinite space1 and distant objects please because they border on its confines1 and are moulded by its touch4 ,when ,i was a boy1 ,i lived within sight of a range of lofty hills1 whose blue tops blending with the setting sun had often tempted my longing eyes and wandering feet4 ,at last ,i put my project in execution1 and on a nearer approach1 instead of glimmering air woven into fantastic shapes1 found them huge lumpish heaps of discoloured earth4 ,i learnt from this 7in part7 to leave #8,yarrow unvisited1' and not idly to disturb a dream of good6 ,distance of time has much the same effect as distance of place4 ,it is not surprising that fancy colours the prospect of the future as it thinks good1 when it even effaces the forms of memory4 ,time takes out the sting of pain2 our sorrows after a certain period have been so often steeped in a medium of thought and passion1 that they #8unmould their essence2' and all that remains of our original impressions is what we would wish them to have been4 ,not only the untried steep ascent before us1 but the rude1 unsightly masses of our past experience presently resume their power of deception over the eye3 the golden cloud soon rests upon their heads1 and the purple light of fancy clothes their barren sides6 ,thus we pass on1 while both ends of our existence touch upon ,heaven6--,there is 7so to speak7 #8a mighty stream of tendency' to good in the human mind1 upon which all objects float and are imperceptibly borne along3 and though in the voyage of life we meet with strong rebuffs1 with rocks and quicksands1 yet there is #8a tide in the affairs of men1' a heaving and a restless aspiration of the soul1 by means of which1 #8with sails and tackle torn1' the wreck and scattered fragments of our entire being drift into the port and haven of our desires6 ,in all that relates to the affections1 we put the will for the deed3--so that the instant the pressure of unwelcome circumstances is removed1 the mind recoils from their hold1 recovers its elasticity1 and re-unites itself to that image of good1 which is but a reflection and configuration of its own nature4 ,seen in the distance1 in the long perspective of waning years1 the meanest incidents1 enlarged and enriched by countless recollections1 become interesting2 the most painful1 broken and softened by time1 soothe4 ,how any object1 that unexpectedly brings back to us old scenes and associations1 startles the mind6 ,what a yearning it creates within us2 what a longing to leap the intermediate space6 ,how fondly we cling to1 and try to revive the impression of all that we then were6 #8,such tricks hath strong imagination6' ,in truth1 we impose upon ourselves1 and know not what we wish4 ,it is a cunning artifice1 a quaint delusion1 by which1 in pretending to be what we were at a particular moment of time1 we would fain be all that we have since been1 and have our lives to come over again4 ,it is not the little1 glimmering1 almost annihilated speck in the distance1 that rivets our attention and #8hangs upon the beatings of our hearts3' it is the interval that separates us from it1 and of which it is the trembling boundary1 that excites all this coil and mighty pudder in the breast4 ,into that great gap in our being #8come thronging soft desires' and infinite regrets4 ,it is the contrast1 the change from what we then were1 that arms the half-extinguished recollection with its giant-strength1 and lifts the fabric of the affections from its shadowy base4 ,in contemplating its utmost verge1 we overlook the map of our existence1 and re-tread1 in apprehension1 the journey of life4 ,so it is that in early youth we strain our eager sight after the pursuits of manhood2 and1 as we are sliding off the stage1 strive to gather up the toys and flowers that pleased our thoughtless childhood4 ,when ,i was quite a boy1 my father used to take me to the ,montpelier ,tea-gardens at ,walworth4 ,do ,i go there now8 ,no2 the place is deserted1 and its borders and its beds o'erturned4 ,is there1 then1 nothing that can #8,bring back the hour ,of glory in the grass1 of splendour in the flower8' ,oh6 yes4 ,i unlock the casket of memory1 and draw back the warders of the brain2 and there this scene of my infant wanderings still lives unfaded1 or with fresher dyes4 ,a new sense comes upon me1 as in a dream2 a richer perfume1 brighter colours start out2 my eyes dazzle2 my heart heaves with its new load of bliss1 and ,i am a child again4 ,my sensations are all glossy1 spruce1 voluptuous1 and fine3 they wear a candied coat1 and are in holiday trim4 ,i see the beds of larkspur with purple eyes2 tall holy-oaks1 red and yellow2 the broad sun-flowers1 caked in gold1 with bees buzzing round them2 wildernesses of pinks1 and hot-glowing pionies2 poppies run to seed2 the sugared lily1 and faint mignionette1 all ranged in order1 and as thick as they can grow2 the box-tree borders2 the gravel-walks1 the painted alcove1 the confectionary1 the clotted cream3--,i think ,i see them now with sparkling looks2 or have they vanished while ,i have been writing this description of them8 ,no matter2 they will return again when ,i least think of them4 ,all that ,i have observed since1 of flowers and plants1 and grass-plots1 and of suburb delights1 seems1 to me1 borrowed from #8that first garden of my innocence'--to be slips and scions stolen from that bed of memory4 ,in this manner the darlings of our childhood burnish out in the eye of after-years1 and derive their sweetest perfume from the first heartfelt sigh of pleasure breathed upon them1 --#8like the sweet south1 ,that breathes upon a bank of violets1 ,stealing and giving odour6' ,if ,i have pleasure in a flower-garden1 ,i have in a kitchen-garden too1 and for the same reason4 ,if ,i see a row of cabbage-plants or of peas or beans coming up1 ,i immediately think of those which ,i used so carefully to water of an evening at ,w--m1 when my day's tasks were done1 and of the pain with which ,i saw them droop and hang down their leaves in the morning's sun4 ,again1 ,i never see a child's kite in the air1 but it seems to pull at my heart4 ,it is to me a #8thing of life4' ,i feel the twinge at my elbow1 the flutter and palpitation1 with which ,i used to let go the string of my own1 as it rose in the air and towered among the clouds4 ,my little cargo of hopes and fears ascended with it2 and as it made a part of my own consciousness then1 it does so still1 and appears #8like some gay creature of the element1' my playmate when life was young1 and twin-born with my earliest recollections4 ,i could enlarge on this subject of childish amusements1 but ,mr4 ,leigh ,hunt has treated it so well1 in a paper in the ,indicator1 on the productions of the toy-shops of the metropolis1 that if ,i were to insist more on it1 ,i should only pass for an imitator of that ingenious and agreeable writer1 and for an indifferent one into the bargain4 ,sounds1 smells1 and sometimes tastes1 are remembered longer than visible objects1 and serve1 perhaps1 better for links in the chain of association4 ,the reason seems to be this3 they are in their nature intermittent1 and comparatively rare2 whereas objects of sight are always before us1 and1 by their continuous succession1 drive one another out4 ,the eye is always open2 and between any given impression and its recurrence a second time1 fifty thousand other impressions have1 in all likelihood1 been stamped upon the sense and on the brain4 ,the other senses are not so active or vigilant4 ,they are but seldom called into play4 ,the ear1 for example1 is oftener courted by silence than noise2 and the sounds that break that silence sink deeper and more durably into the mind4 ,i have a more present and lively recollection of certain scents1 tastes1 and sounds1 for this reason1 than ,i have of mere visible images1 because they are more original1 and less worn by frequent repetition4 ,where there is nothing interposed between any two impressions1 whatever the distance of time that parts them1 they naturally seem to touch2 and the renewed impression recals the former one in full force1 without distraction or competitor4 ,the taste of barberries1 which have hung out in the snow during the severity of a ,north ,american winter1 ,i have in my mouth still1 after an interval of thirty years2 for ,i have met with no other taste1 in all that time1 at all like it4 ,it remains by itself1 almost like the impression of a sixth sense4 ,but the colour is mixed up indiscriminately with the colours of many other berries1 nor should ,i be able to distinguish it among them4 ,the smell of a brick-kiln carries the evidence of its own identity with it3 neither is it to me 7from peculiar associations7 unpleasant4 ,the colour of brick-dust1 on the contrary1 is more common1 and easily confounded with other colours4 ,raphael did not keep it quite distinct from his flesh-colour4 ,i will not say that we have a more perfect recollection of the human voice than of that complex picture the human face1 but ,i think the sudden hearing of a well-known voice has something in it more affecting and striking than the sudden meeting with the face3 perhaps1 indeed1 this may be because we have a more familiar remembrance of the one than the other1 and the voice takes us more by surprise on that account4 ,i am by no means certain 7generally speaking7 that we have the ideas of the other senses so accurate and well-made out as those of visible form3 what ,i chiefly mean is1 that the feelings belonging to the sensations of our other organs1 when accidentally recalled1 are kept more separate and pure4 ,musical sounds1 probably1 owe a good deal of their interest and romantic effect to the principle here spoken of4 ,were they constant1 they would become indifferent1 as we may find with respect to disagreeable noises1 which we do not hear after a time4 ,i know no situation more pitiable than that of a blind fiddler1 who has but one sense left 7if we except the sense of snuff-taking#gb7 and who has that stunned or deafened by his own villanous noises4 ,shakespear says1 #8,how silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night6' ,it has been observed1 in explanation of this passage1 that it is because in the day-time lovers are occupied with one another's faces1 but that at night they can only distinguish the sound of each other's voices4 ,i know not how this may be3 but ,i have1 ere now1 heard a voice break so upon the silence1 #8,to angels' 'twas most like1' and charm the moonlight air with its balmy essence1 that the budding leaves trembled to its accents4 ,would ,i might have heard it once more whisper peace and hope 7as erst when it was mingled with the breath of spring71 and with its soft pulsations lift winged fancy to heaven6 ,but it has ceased1 or turned where ,i no more shall hear it6--,hence1 also1 we see what is the charm of the shepherd's pastoral reed2 and why we hear him1 as it were1 piping to his flock1 even in a picture4 ,our ears are fancy-stung6 ,i remember once strolling along the margin of a stream1 skirted with willows and plashy sedges1 in one of those low sheltered valleys on ,salisbury ,plain1 where the monks of former ages had planted chapels and built hermits' cells4 ,there was a little parish-church near1 but tall elms and quivering alders hid it from my sight1 when1 all of a sudden1 ,i was startled by the sound of the full organ pealing on the ear1 accompanied by rustic voices and the willing quire of village-maids and children4 ,it rose1 indeed1 #8like an exhalation of rich distilled perfumes4' ,the dew from a thousand pastures was gathered in its softness2 the silence of a thousand years spoke in it4 ,it came upon the heart like the calm beauty of death3 fancy caught the sound1 and faith mounted on it to the skies4 ,it filled the valley like a mist1 and still poured out its endless chant1 and still it swells upon the ear1 and wraps me in a golden trance1 drowning the noisy tumult of the world6 ,there is a curious and interesting discussion1 on the comparative distinctness of our visual and other external impressions1 in ,mr4 ,fearn's ,essay on ,consciousness1 with which ,i shall try to descend from this rhapsody to the ground of common sense and plain reasoning again4 ,after observing1 a little before1 that #8nothing is more untrue than that sensations of vision do necessarily leave more vivid and durable ideas than those of grosser senses1' he proceeds to give a number of illustrations in support of this position4 #8,notwithstanding1' he says1 #8the advantages here enumerated in favour of sight1 ,i think there is no doubt that a man will come to forget acquaintance1 and many other visible objects1 noticed in mature age1 before he will in the least forget tastes and smells1 of only moderate interest1 encountered either in his childhood1 or at any time since4 #8,in the course of voyaging to various distant regions1 it has several times happened that ,i have eaten once or twice of different things that never came in my way before nor since4 ,some of these have been pleasant1 and some scarce better than insipid2 but ,i have no reason to think ,i have forgot1 or much altered the ideas left by those single impulses of taste2 though here the memory of them certainly has not been preserved by repetition4 ,it is clear ,i must have seen1 as well as tasted those things2 and ,i am decided that ,i remember the tastes with more precision than ,i do the visual sensations4 #8,i remember having once1 and only once1 eat ,kangaroo in ,new ,holland2 and having once smelled a baker's shop1 having a peculiar odour1 in the city of ,bassorah4 ,now both these gross ideas remain with me quite as vivid as any visual ideas of those places2 and this could not be from repetition1 but really from interest in the sensation4 #8,twenty-eight years ago1 in the island of ,jamaica1 ,i partook 7perhaps twice7 of a certain fruit1 of the taste of which ,i have now a very fresh idea2 and ,i could add other instances of that period4 #8,i have had repeated proofs of having lost retention of visual objects1 at various distances of time1 though they had once been familiar4 ,i have not1 during thirty years1 forgot the delicate1 and in itself most trifling sensation1 that the palm of my hand used to convey1 when ,i was a boy1 trying the different effects of what boys call light and heavy tops2 but ,i cannot remember within several shades of the brown coat which ,i left off a week ago4 ,if any man thinks he can do better1 let him take an ideal survey of his wardrobe1 and then actually refer to it for proof4 #8,after retention of such ideas1 it certainly would be very difficult to persuade me that feeling1 taste1 and smell can scarce be said to leave ideas1 unless indistinct and obscure ones4444 #8,shew a ,londoner correct models of twenty ,london churches1 and1 at the same time1 a model of each1 which differs1 in several considerable features1 from the truth1 and ,i venture to say he shall not tell you1 in any instance1 which is the correct one1 except by mere chance4 #8,if he is an architect1 he may be much more correct than any ordinary person3 and this obviously is1 because he has felt an interest in viewing these structures1 which an ordinary person does not feel3 and here interest is the sole reason of his remembering more correctly than his neighbour4 #8,i once heard a person quaintly ask another1 ,how many trees there are in ,st4 ,paul's churchyard8 ,the question itself indicates that many cannot answer it2 and this is found to be the case with those who have passed the church an hundred times3 whilst the cause is1 that every individual in the busy stream which glides past ,st4 ,paul's is engrossed in various other interests4 #8,how often does it happen that we enter a well-known apartment1 or meet a well-known friend1 and receive some vague idea of visible difference1 but cannot possibly find out what it is2 until at length we come to perceive 7or perhaps must be told7 that some ornament or furniture is removed1 altered1 or added in the apartment2 or that our friend has cut his hair1 taken a wig1 or has made any of twenty considerable alterations in his appearance4 ,at other times1 we have no perception of alteration whatever1 though the like has taken place4 #8,it is1 however1 certain1 that sight1 apposited with interest1 can retain tolerably exact copies of sensations1 especially if not too complex2 such as of the human countenance and figure4 ,yet the voice will convince us1 when the countenance will not2 and he is reckoned an excellent painter1 and no ordinary genius1 who can make a tolerable likeness from memory4 ,nay1 more1 it is a conspicuous proof of the inaccuracy of visual ideas1 that it is an effort of consummate art1 attained by many years' practice1 to take a strict likeness of the human countenance1 even when the object is present2 and among those cases1 where the wilful cheat of flattery has been avoided1 we still find in how very few instances the best painters produce a likeness up to the life1 though practice and interest join in the attempt4 #8,i imagine an ordinary person would find it very difficult1 supposing he had some knowledge of drawing1 to afford1 from memory1 a tolerable sketch of such a familiar object as his curtain1 his carpet1 or his dressing-gown1 if the pattern of either be at all various or irregular2 yet he will instantly tell1 with precision1 either if his snuff or his wine has not the same character it had yesterday1 though both these are compounds4 #8,beyond all this ,i may observe1 that a draper1 who is in the daily habit of such comparisons1 cannot carry in his mind the particular shade of a colour during a second of time2 and has no certainty of tolerably matching two simple colours1 except by placing the patterns in contact4'--,essay on ,consciousness1 p4 #cjc ,i will conclude the subject of this ,essay with observing1 that 7as it appears to me7 a nearer and more familiar acquaintance with persons has a different and more favourable effect than that with places or things4 ,the latter improve 7as an almost universal rule7 by being removed to a distance3 the former1 generally at least1 gain by being brought nearer and more home to us4 ,report or imagination seldom raises any individual so high in our estimation as to disappoint us greatly when we are introduced to him3 prejudice and malice constantly exaggerate defects beyond the reality4 ,ignorance alone makes monsters or bugbears3 our actual acquaintances are all very common-place people4 ,the thing is1 that as a matter of hearsay or conjecture1 we make abstractions of particular vices1 and irritate ourselves against some particular quality or action of the person we dislike3--whereas1 individuals are concrete existences1 not arbitrary denominations or nicknames2 and have innumerable other qualities1 good1 bad1 and indifferent1 besides the damning feature with which we fill up the portrait or caricature1 in our previous fancies4 ,we can scarcely hate any one that we know4 ,an acute observer complained1 that if there was any one to whom he had a particular spite1 and a wish to let him see it1 the moment he came to sit down with him1 his enmity was disarmed by some unforeseen circumstance4 ,if it was a ,quarterly ,reviewer1 he was in other respects like any other man4 ,suppose1 again1 your adversary turns out a very ugly man1 or wants an eye1 you are balked in that way3--he is not what you expected1 the object of your abstract hatred and implacable disgust4 ,he may be a very disagreeable person1 but he is no longer the same4 ,if you come into a room where a man is1 you find1 in general1 that he has a nose upon his face4 #8,there's sympathy6' ,this alone is a diversion to your unqualified contempt4 ,he is stupid1 and says nothing1 but he seems to have something in him when he laughs4 ,you had conceived of him as a rank ,whig or ,tory--yet he talks upon other subjects4 ,you knew that he was a virulent party-writer2 but you find that the man himself is a tame sort of animal enough4 ,he does not bite4 ,that's something4 ,in short1 you can make nothing of it4 ,even opposite vices balance one another4 ,a man may be pert in company1 but he is also dull2 so that you cannot1 though you try1 hate him cordially1 merely for the wish to be offensive4 ,he is a knave4 ,granted4 ,you learn1 on a nearer acquaintance1 what you did not know before--that he is a fool as well2 so you forgive him4 ,on the other hand1 he may be a profligate public character1 and may make no secret of it2 but he gives you a hearty shake by the hand1 speaks kindly to servants1 and supports an aged father and mother4 ,politics apart1 he is a very honest fellow4 ,you are told that a person has carbuncles on his face2 but you have ocular proofs that he is sallow1 and pale as a ghost4 ,this does not much mend the matter2 but it blunts the edge of the ridicule1 and turns your indignation against the inventor of the lie2 but he is --1 the editor of a ,scotch magazine2 so you are just where you were4 ,i am not very fond of anonymous criticism2 ,i want to know who the author can be3 but the moment ,i learn this1 ,i am satisfied4 ,even -- would do well to come out of his disguise4 ,it is the mask only that we dread and hate3 the man may have something human about him6 ,the notions1 in short1 which we entertain of people at a distance1 or from partial representations1 or from guess-work1 are simple1 uncompounded ideas1 which answer to nothing in reality3 those which we derive from experience are mixed modes1 the only true1 and1 in general1 the most favourable ones4 ,instead of naked deformity1 or abstract perfection-- #8,those faultless monsters which the world ne'er saw1'-- #8the web of our lives is of a mingled yarn1 good and ill together3 our virtues would be proud1 if our faults whipt them not2 and our vices would despair1 if they were not encouraged by our virtues4' ,this was truly and finely said long ago1 by one who knew the strong and weak points of human nature3 but it is what sects1 and parties1 and those philosophers whose pride and boast it is to classify by nicknames1 have yet to learn the meaning of6 ,,essay ,,xxvii ,,on ,,corporate ,,bodies #8,corporate bodies have no soul4' ,corporate bodies are more corrupt and profligate than individuals1 because they have more power to do mischief1 and are less amenable to disgrace or punishment4 ,they feel neither shame1 remorse1 gratitude1 nor good-will4 ,the principle of private or natural conscience is extinguished in each individual 7we have no moral sense in the breasts of others71 and nothing is considered but how the united efforts of the whole 7released from idle scruples7 may be best directed to the obtaining of political advantages and privileges to be shared as common spoil4 ,each member reaps the benefit1 and lays the blame1 if there is any1 upon the rest4 ,the esprit de corps becomes the ruling passion of every corporate body1 compared with which the motives of delicacy or decorum towards others are looked upon as being both impertinent and improper4 ,if any person sets up a plea of this sort in opposition to the rest1 he is over-ruled1 he gets ill-blood1 and does no good3 he is regarded as an interloper1 a black sheep in the flock1 and is either sent to ,coventry1 or obliged to acquiesce in the notions and wishes of those he associates and is expected to co-operate with4 ,the refinements of private judgment are referred to and negatived in a committee of the whole body1 while the projects and interests of the ,corporation meet with a secret but powerful support in the self-love of the different members4 ,remonstrance--opposition1 is fruitless1 troublesome1 invidious3 it answers no one end3 and a conformity to the sense of the company is found to be no less necessary to a reputation for good-fellowship than to a quiet life4 #8,self-love and social' here look like the same2 and in consulting the interests of a particular class1 which are also your own1 there is even a show of public virtue4 ,he who is a captious1 impracticable1 dissatisfied member of his little club or coterie1 is immediately set down as a bad member of the community in general1 as no friend to regularity and order1 #8a pestilent fellow1' and one who is incapable of sympathy1 attachment1 or cordial co-operation in any department or undertaking4 ,thus the most refractory novice in such matters becomes weaned from his obligations to the larger society1 which only breed him inconvenience without any adequate recompense1 and wedded to a nearer and dearer one1 where he finds every kind of comfort and consolation4 ,he contracts the vague and unmeaning character of ,man into the more emphatic title of ,freeman and ,alderman4 ,the claims of an undefined humanity sit looser and looser upon him1 at the same time that he draws the bands of his new engagements closer and tighter about him4 ,he loses sight1 by degrees1 of all common sense and feeling in the petty squabbles1 intrigues1 feuds1 and airs1 of affected importance to which he has made himself an accessary4 ,he is quite an altered man4 #8,really the society were under considerable obligation to him in that last business2' that is to say1 in some paltry job or under-hand attempt to encroach upon the rights1 or dictate to the understandings of the neighbourhood4 ,in the mean time1 they eat1 drink1 and carouse together4 ,they wash down all minor animosities and unavoidable differences of opinion in pint-bumpers2 and the complaints of the multitude are lost in the clatter of plates and the roaring of loyal catches at every quarter's meeting or mayor's feast4 ,the town-hall reels with an unwieldy sense of self-importance3 #8the very stones prate' of processions3 the common pump creaks in concert with the uncorking of bottles and tapping of beer-barrels3 the market-cross looks big with authority4 ,every thing has an ambiguous1 upstart1 repulsive air4 ,circle within circle is formed1 an imperium in imperio3 and the business is to exclude from the first circle all the notions1 opinions1 ideas1 interests1 and pretensions1 of the second4 ,hence there arises not only an antipathy to common sense and decency in those things where there is a real opposition of interest or clashing of prejudice1 but it becomes a habit and a favourite amusement in those who are #8dressed in a little brief authority1' to thwart1 annoy1 insult1 and harass others on all occasions where the least opportunity or pretext for it occurs4 ,spite1 bickerings1 backbiting1 insinuations1 lies1 jealousies1 nicknames1 are the order of the day1 and nobody knows what it's all about4 ,one would think that the mayor1 aldermen1 and liverymen1 were a higher and more select species of animals than their townsmen2 though there is no difference whatever but in their gowns and staff of office6 ,this is the essence of the esprit de corps4 ,it is certainly not a very delectable source of contemplation or subject to treat of4 ,public bodies are so far worse than the individuals composing them1 because the official takes place of the moral sense4 ,the nerves that in themselves were soft and pliable enough1 and responded naturally to the touch of pity1 when fastened into a machine of that sort1 become callous and rigid1 and throw off every extraneous application that can be made to them with perfect apathy4 ,an appeal is made to the ties of individual friendship3 the body in general know nothing of them4 ,a case has occurred which strongly called forth the compassion of the person who was witness of it3 but the body 7or any special deputation of them7 were not present when it happened4 ,these little weaknesses and #8compunctious visitings of nature' are effectually guarded against1 indeed1 by the very rules and regulations of the society1 as well as by its spirit4 ,the individual is the creature of his feelings of all sorts1 the sport of his vices and his virtues--like the fool in ,shakespear1 #8motley's his proper wear3'--corporate bodies are dressed in a moral uniform2 mixed motives do not operate there1 frailty is made into a system1 #8diseases are turned into commodities4' ,only so much of any one's natural or genuine impulses can influence him in his artificial capacity as formally comes home to the aggregate conscience of those with whom he acts1 or bears upon the interests 7real or pretended71 the importance1 respectability1 and professed objects of the society4 ,beyond that point the nerve is bound up1 the conscience is seared1 and the torpedo-touch of so much inert matter operates to deaden the best feelings and harden the heart4 ,laughter and tears are said to be the characteristic signs of humanity4 ,laughter is common enough in such places as a set-off to the mock-gravity3 but who ever saw a public body in tears8 ,nothing but a job or some knavery can keep them serious for ten minutes together4#gc ,such are the qualifications and the apprenticeship necessary to make a man tolerated1 to enable him to pass as a cypher1 or be admitted as a mere numerical unit1 in any corporate body3 to be a leader and dictator1 he must be diplomatic in impertinence1 and officious in every dirty work4 ,he must not merely conform to established prejudices2 he must flatter them4 ,he must not merely be insensible to the demands of moderation and equity2 he must be loud against them4 ,he must not simply fall in with all sorts of contemptible cabals and intrigues2 he must be indefatigable in fomenting them1 and setting every body together by the ears4 ,he must not only repeat1 but invent lies4 ,he must make speeches and write hand-bills2 he must be devoted to the wishes and objects of the society1 its creature1 its jackall1 its busy-body1 its mouthpiece1 its prompter2 he must deal in law-cases1 in demurrers1 in charters1 in traditions1 in common-places1 in logic and rhetoric--in every thing but common sense and honesty4 ,he must 7in ,mr4 ,burke's phrase7 #8disembowel himself of his natural entrails1 and be stuffed with paltry1 blurred sheets of parchment about the rights' of the privileged few4 ,he must be a concentrated essence1 a varnished1 powdered1 representative of the vices1 absurdities1 hypocrisy1 jealousy1 pride1 and pragmaticalness of his party4 ,such a one by bustle and self-importance and puffing1 by flattering one to his face1 and abusing another behind his back1 by lending himself to the weaknesses of some1 and pampering the mischievous propensities of others1 will pass for a great man in a little society4 ,age does not improve the morality of public bodies4 ,they grow more and more tenacious of their idle privileges and senseless self-consequence4 ,they get weak and obstinate at the same time4 ,those1 who belong to them1 have all the upstart pride and pettifogging spirit of their present character ingrafted on the venerableness and superstitious sanctity of ancient institutions4 ,they are naturally at issue1 first with their neighbours1 and next with their contemporaries1 on all matters of common propriety and judgment4 ,they become more attached to forms1 the more obsolete they are2 and the defence of every absurd and invidious distinction is a debt which 7by implication7 they owe to the dead as well as the living4 ,what might once have been of serious practical utility they turn to farce1 by retaining the letter when the spirit is gone3 and they do this the more1 the more glaring the inconsistency and want of sound reasoning2 for they think they thus give proof of their zeal and attachment to the abstract principle on which old establishments exist1 the ground of prescription and authority4 ,the greater the #8wrong1 the greater the right1 in all such cases4 ,the esprit de corps does not take much merit to itself for upholding what is justifiable in any system1 or the proceedings of any party1 but for adhering to what is palpably injurious4 ,you may exact the first from an enemy3 the last is the province of a friend4 ,it has been made a subject of complaint1 that the champions of the ,church1 for example1 who are advanced to dignities and honours1 are hardly ever those who defend the common principles of ,christianity1 but those who volunteer to man the out-works1 and set up ingenious excuses for the questionable points1 the ticklish places in the established form of worship1 that is1 for those which are attacked from without1 and are supposed in danger of being undermined by stratagem1 or carried by assault6 ,the great resorts and seats of learning often outlive in this way the intention of the founders1 as the world outgrows them4 ,they may be said to resemble antiquated coquets of the last age1 who think every thing ridiculous and intolerable but what was in fashion when they were young1 and yet are standing proofs of the progress of taste1 and the vanity of human pretensions4 ,our universities are1 in a great measure1 become cisterns to hold1 not conduits to disperse knowledge4 ,the age has the start of them2 that is1 other sources of knowledge have been opened since their formation1 to which the world have had access1 and have drunk plentifully at those living fountains1 but from which they are debarred by the tenor of their charter1 and as a matter of dignity and privilege4 ,they have grown poor1 like the old grandees in some countries1 by subsisting on the inheritance of learning1 while the people have grown rich by trade4 ,they are too much in the nature of fixtures in intellect3 they stop the way in the road to truth2 or at any rate 7for they do not themselves advance7 they can only be of service as a check-weight on the too hasty and rapid career of innovation4 ,all that has been invented or thought in the last two hundred years they take no cognisance of1 or as little as possible2 they are above it2 they stand upon the ancient landmarks1 and will not budge2 whatever was not known when they were first endowed1 they are still in profound and lofty ignorance of4 ,yet in that period how much has been done in literature1 arts1 and science1 of which 7with the exception of mathematical knowledge1 the hardest to gainsay or subject to the trammels of prejudice and barbarous ipse dixits7 scarce any trace is to be found in the authentic modes of study1 and legitimate inquiry1 which prevail at either of our ,universities6 ,the unavoidable aim of all corporate bodies of learning is not to grow wise1 or teach others wisdom1 but to prevent any one else from being or seeming wiser than themselves2 in other words1 their infallible tendency is in the end to suppress inquiry and darken knowledge1 by setting limits to the mind of man1 and saying to his proud spirit1 ,hitherto shalt thou come1 and no farther6 ,it would not be an unedifying experiment to make a collection of the titles of works published in the course of the year by ,members of the ,universities4 ,if any attempt is to be made to patch up an idle system in policy or legislation1 or church-government1 it is by a ,member of the ,university3 if any hashed-up speculation on an old exploded argument is to be brought forward #8in spite of shame1 in erring reason's spite1' it is by a ,member of the ,university3 if a paltry project is ushered into the world for combining ancient prejudices with modern time-serving1 it is by a ,member of the ,university4 ,thus we get at a stated supply of annual ,defences of the ,sinking ,fund1 ,thoughts on the ,evils of ,education1 ,treatises on ,predestination1 and ,eulogies on ,mr4 ,malthus1 all from the same source1 and through the same vent4 ,if they came from any other quarter nobody would look at them2 but they have an ,imprimatur from dulness and authority3 we know that there is no offence in them2 and they are stuck in the shop-windows1 and read 7in the intervals of ,lord ,byron's works1 or the ,scotch novels7 in cathedral towns and close boroughs6 ,it is1 ,i understand and believe1 pretty much the same in more modern institutions for the encouragement of the ,fine ,arts4 ,the end is lost in the means3 rules take place of nature and genius2 cabal and bustle1 and struggles for rank and precedence1 supersede the study and the love of art4 ,a ,royal ,academy is a kind of hospital and infirmary for the obliquities of taste and ingenuity--a receptacle where enthusiasm and originality stop and stagnate1 and spread their influence no farther1 instead of being a school founded for genius1 or a temple built to fame4 ,the generality of those who wriggle1 or fawn1 or beg their way to a seat there1 live on their certificate of merit to a good old age1 and are seldom heard of afterwards4 ,if a man of sterling capacity gets among them1 and minds his own business1 he is nobody2 he makes no figure in council1 in voting1 in resolutions or speeches4 ,if he comes forward with plans and views for the good of the ,academy and the advancement of art1 he is immediately set upon as a visionary1 a fanatic1 with notions hostile to the interest and credit of the existing members of the society4 ,if he directs the ambition of the scholars to the study of ,history1 this strikes at once at the emoluments of the profession1 who are most of them 7by ,god's will7 portrait painters4 ,if he eulogises the ,antique1 and speaks highly of the ,old ,masters1 he is supposed to be actuated by envy to living painters and native talent4 ,if1 again1 he insists on a knowledge of anatomy as essential to correct drawing1 this would seem to imply a want of it in our most eminent designers4 ,every plan1 suggestion1 argument1 that has the general purposes and principles of art for its object1 is thwarted1 scouted1 ridiculed1 slandered1 as having a malignant aspect towards the profits and pretensions of the great mass of flourishing and respectable artists in the country4 ,this leads to irritation and ill-will on all sides4 ,the obstinacy of the constituted authorities keeps pace with the violence and extravagance opposed to it2 and they lay all the blame on the folly and mistakes they have themselves occasioned or increased4 ,it is considered as a personal quarrel1 not a public question2 by which means the dignity of the body is implicated in resenting the slips and inadvertencies of its members1 not in promoting their common and declared objects4 ,in this sort of wretched tracasserie the ,barrys and ,h--s stand no chance with the ,catons1 the ,tubbs1 and the ,f--s4 ,sir ,joshua even was obliged to hold himself aloof from them1 and ,fuseli passes as a kind of nondescript1 or one of his own grotesques4 ,the air of an academy1 in short1 is not the air of genius and immortality2 it is too close and heated1 and impregnated with the notions of the common sort4 ,a man steeped in a corrupt atmosphere of this description is no longer open to the genial impulses of nature and truth1 nor sees visions of ideal beauty1 nor dreams of antique grace and grandeur1 nor has the finest works of art continually hovering and floating through his uplifted fancy2 but the images that haunt it are rules of the academy1 charters1 inaugural speeches1 resolutions passed or rescinded1 cards of invitation to a council-meeting1 or the annual dinner1 prize-medals1 and the king's diploma1 constituting him a gentleman and esquire4 ,he #8wipes out all trivial1 fond records2' all romantic aspirations2 #8the ,raphael grace1 the ,guido air2' and the commands of the academy alone #8must live within the book and volume of his brain1 unmixed with baser matter4' ,it may be doubted whether any work of lasting reputation and universal interest can spring up in this soil1 or ever has done in that of any academy4 ,the last question is a matter of fact and history1 not of mere opinion or prejudice2 and may be ascertained as such accordingly4 ,the mighty names of former times rose before the existence of academies2 and the three greatest painters1 undoubtedly1 that this country has produced1 ,reynolds1 ,wilson1 and ,hogarth1 were not #8dandled and swaddled' into artists in any institution for the fine arts4 ,i do not apprehend that the names of ,chantry or ,wilkie1 7great as one1 and considerable as the other of them is17 can be made use of in any way to impugn the jet of this argument4 ,we may find a considerable improvement in some of our artists1 when they get out of the vortex for a time4 ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence is all the better for having been abstracted for a year or two from ,somerset-,house2 and ,mr4 ,dawe1 they say1 has been doing wonders in the ,north4 ,when will he return1 and once more #8bid ,britannia rival ,greece8' ,mr4 ,canning somewhere lays it down as a rule1 that corporate bodies are necessarily correct and pure in their conduct1 from the knowledge which the individuals composing them have of one another1 and the jealous vigilance they exercise over each other's motives and characters2 whereas1 people collected into mobs are disorderly and unprincipled from being utterly unknown and unaccountable to each other4 ,this is a curious pass of wit4 ,i differ with him in both parts of the dilemma4 ,to begin with the first1 and to handle it somewhat cavalierly1 according to the model before us3 we know1 for instance1 there is said to be honour among thieves1 but very little honesty towards others4 ,their honour consists in the division of the booty1 not in the mode of acquiring it3 they do not 7often7 betray one another1 but they will waylay a stranger1 or knock out a traveller's brains3 they may be depended on in giving the alarm when any of their posts are in danger of being surprised2 and they will stand together for their ill-gotten gains to the last drop of their blood4 ,yet they form a distinct society1 and are strictly responsible for their behaviour to one another and to their leader4 ,they are not a mob1 but a gang1 completely in one another's power and secrets4 ,their familiarity1 however1 with the proceedings of the corps1 does not lead them to expect or to exact from it a very high standard of moral honesty2 that is out of the question2 but they are sure to gain the good opinion of their fellows by committing all sorts of depredations1 fraud1 and violence against the community at large4 ,so 7not to speak it profanely7 some of ,mr4 ,c--'s friends may be very respectable people in their way--#8all honourable men'--but their respectability is confined within party-limits2 every one does not sympathise in the integrity of their views2 the understanding between them and the public is not well-defined or reciprocal4 ,or1 suppose a gang of pickpockets hustle a passenger in the street1 and the mob set upon them1 and proceed to execute summary justice upon such as they can lay hands on1 am ,i to conclude that the rogues are in the right1 because theirs is a system of well-organised knavery1 which they settled in the morning1 with their eyes one upon the other1 and which they regularly review at night1 with a due estimate of each other's motives1 character1 and conduct in the business2 and that the honest men are in the wrong1 because they are a casual collection of unprejudiced1 disinterested individuals1 taken at a venture from the mass of the people1 acting without concert or responsibility1 on the spur of the occasion1 and giving way to their instantaneous impulses and honest anger8 ,mobs1 in fact1 then1 are almost always right in their feelings1 and often in their judgments1 on this very account--that being utterly unknown to and disconnected with each other1 they have no point of union or principle of co-operation between them1 but the natural sense of justice recognised by all persons in common4 ,they appeal1 at the first meeting1 not to certain symbols and watch-words privately agreed upon1 like ,free-,masons1 but to the maxims and instincts proper to all the world4 ,they have no other clew to guide them to their object but either the dictates of the heart1 or the universally understood sentiments of society1 neither of which are likely to be in the wrong4 ,the flame1 which bursts out and blazes from popular sympathy1 is made of honest1 but homely materials4 ,it is not kindled by sparks of wit or sophistry1 nor damped by the cold calculations of self-interest4 ,the multitude may be wantonly set on by others1 as is too often the case1 or be carried too far in the impulse of rage and disappointment2 but their resentment1 when they are left to themselves1 is almost uniformly1 in the first instance1 excited by some evident abuse and wrong2 and the excesses into which they run arise from that very want of foresight and regular system1 which is a pledge of the uprightness and heartiness of their intentions4 ,in short1 the only class of persons to whom the above courtly charge of sinister and corrupt motives is not applicable1 is that body of individuals which usually goes by the name of the ,people6 ,,essay ,,xxviii ,,whether ,,actors ,,ought ,,to ,,sit ,,in ,,the ,,boxes8 ,i think not2 and that for the following reasons1 as well as ,i can give them3-- ,actors belong to the public3 their persons are not their own property4 ,they exhibit themselves on the stage3 that is enough1 without displaying themselves in the boxes of the theatre4 ,i conceive that an actor1 on account of the very circumstances of his profession1 ought to keep himself as much incognito as possible4 ,he plays a number of parts disguised1 transformed into them as much as he can #8by his so potent art1' and he should not disturb this borrowed impression by unmasking before company1 more than he can help4 ,let him go into the pit1 if he pleases1 to see--not into the first circle1 to be seen4 ,he is seen enough without that3 he is the centre of an illusion that he is bound to support1 both1 as it appears to me1 by a certain self-respect which should repel idle curiosity1 and by a certain deference to the public1 in whom he has inspired certain prejudices which he is covenanted not to break4 ,he represents the majesty of successive kings2 he takes the responsibility of heroes and lovers on himself2 the mantle of genius and nature falls on his shoulders2 we #8pile millions' of associations on him1 under which he should be #8buried quick1' and not perk out an inauspicious face upon us1 with a plain-cut coat1 to say--#8,what fools you all were6--,i am not ,hamlet the ,dane6' ,it is very well and in strict propriety for ,mr4 ,matthews1 in his ,at ,home1 after he has been imitating his inimitable ,scotchwoman1 to slip out as quick as lightning1 and appear in the side-box shaking hands with our old friend ,jack ,bannister4 ,it adds to our surprise at the versatility of his changes of place and appearance1 and he had been before us in his own person during a great part of the evening4 ,there was no harm done--no imaginary spell broken--no discontinuity of thought or sentiment4 ,mr4 ,matthews is himself 7without offence be it spoken7 both a cleverer and more respectable man than many of the characters he represents4 ,not so when #8,o'er the stage the ,ghost of ,hamlet stalks1 ,othello rages1 ,desdemona mourns1 ,and poor ,monimia pours her soul in love4' ,a different feeling then prevails3--close1 close the scene upon them1 and never break that fine phantasmagoria of the brain4 ,or if it must be done at all1 let us chuse some other time and place for it3 let no one wantonly dash the ,circean cup from our lips1 or dissolve the spirit of enchantment in the very palace of enchantment4 ,go1 ,mr4 --1 and sit somewhere else6 ,what a thing it is1 for instance1 for any part of an actor's dress to come off unexpectedly while he is playing6 ,what a cut it is upon himself and the audience6 ,what an effort he has to recover himself1 and struggle through this exposure of the naked truth6 ,it has been considered as one of the triumphs of ,garrick's tragic power1 that once1 when he was playing ,lear1 his crown of straw came off1 and nobody laughed or took the least notice1 so much had he identified himself with the character4 ,was he1 after this1 to pay so little respect to the feelings he had inspired1 as to tear off his tattered robes1 and take the old1 crazed king with him to play the fool in the boxes8 #8,no2 let him pass4 ,vex not his parting spirit1 ,nor on the rack of this rough world ,stretch him out farther6' ,some lady is said to have fallen in love with ,garrick from being present when he played the part of ,romeo1 on which he observed1 that he would undertake to cure her of her folly if she would only come and see him in ,abel ,drugger4 ,so the modern tragedian and fine gentleman1 by appearing to advantage1 and conspicuously1 in propria person1 may easily cure us of our predilection for all the principal characters he shines in4 #8,sir6 do you think ,alexander looked o' this fashion in his life-time1 or was perfumed so8 ,had ,julius ,csar such a nose8 or wore his frill as you do8 ,you have slain ,i don't know how many heroes 8with a bare bodkin10 the gold pin in your shirt1 and spoiled all the fine love speeches you will ever make by picking your teeth with that inimitable air6' ,an actor1 after having performed his part well1 instead of courting farther distinction1 should affect obscurity1 and #8steal most guilty-like away1' conscious of admiration that he can support nowhere but in his proper sphere1 and jealous of his own and others' good opinion of him1 in proportion as he is a darling in the public eye4 ,he cannot avoid attracting disproportionate attention3 why should he wish to fix it on himself in a perfectly flat and insignificant part1 viz4 his own character8 ,it was a bad custom to bring authors on the stage to crown them4 ,omne ignotum pro magnifico est4 ,even professed critics1 ,i think1 should be shy of putting themselves forward to applaud loudly3 any one in a crowd has #8a voice potential' as the press3 it is either committing their pretensions a little indiscreetly1 or confirming their own judgment by a clapping of hands4 ,if you only go and give the cue lustily1 the house seems in wonderful accord with your opinions4 ,an actor1 like a king1 should only appear on state occasions4 ,he loses popularity by too much publicity2 or1 according to the proverb1 familiarity breeds contempt4 ,both characters personate a certain abstract idea1 are seen in a fictitious costume1 and when they have #8shuffled off this more than mortal coil1' they had better keep out of the way--the acts and sentiments emanating from themselves will not carry on the illusion of our prepossessions4 ,ordinary transactions do not give scope to grace and dignity like romantic situations1 or prepared pageants1 and the little is apt to prevail over the great1 if we come to count the instances4 ,the motto of a great actor should be aut ,csar aut nihil4 ,i do not see how with his crown1 or plume of feathers1 he can get through those little box-doors without stooping and squeezing his artificial importance to tatters4 ,the entrance of the stage is arched so high #8that players may jet through1 and keep their gorgeous turbans on1 without good-morrow to the gods6' ,the top-tragedian of the day has too large and splendid a train following him to have room for them in one of the dress-boxes4 ,when he appears there1 it should be enlarged express for the occasion3 for at his heels march the figures1 in full costume1 of ,cato1 and ,brutus1 and ,cassius1 and of him with the falcon eye1 and ,othello1 and ,lear1 and crook-backed ,richard1 and ,hamlet1 ,prince of ,denmark1 and numbers more1 and demand entrance along with him1 shadows to which he alone lends bodily substance6 #8,the graves yawn and render up their dead to push us from our stools4' ,there is a mighty bustle at the door1 a gibbering and squeaking in the lobbies4 ,an actor's retinue is imperial1 it presses upon the imagination too much1 and he should therefore slide unnoticed into the pit4 ,authors1 who are in a manner his makers and masters1 sit there contented--why should not he8 #8,he is used to shew himself4' ,that then is the very reason he should conceal his person at other times4 ,a habit of ostentation should not be reduced to a principle4 ,if ,i had seen the late ,gentleman ,lewis fluttering in a prominent situation in the boxes1 ,i should have been puzzled whether to think of him as the ,copper ,captain1 or as ,bobadil1 or ,ranger1 or young ,rapid1 or ,lord ,foppington1 or fifty other whimsical characters3 then ,i should have got ,munden and ,quick1 and a parcel more of them in my head1 till #8my brain would have been like a smoke-jack3' ,i should not have known what to make of it2 but if ,i had seen him in the pit1 ,i should merely have eyed him with respectful curiosity1 and have told every one that that was ,gentleman ,lewis4 ,we should have concluded from the circumstance that he was a modest1 sensible man3 we all knew beforehand that he could show off whenever he pleased6 ,there is one class of performers that ,i think is quite exempt from the foregoing reasoning1 ,i mean retired actors4 ,come when they will and where they will1 they are welcome to their old friends4 ,they have as good a right to sit in the boxes as children at the holidays4 ,but they do not1 somehow1 come often4 ,it is but a melancholy recollection with them3-- --#8,then sweet1 ,now sad to think on6' ,mrs4 ,garrick still goes often1 and hears the applause of her husband over again in the shouts of the pit4 ,had ,mrs4 ,pritchard or ,mrs4 ,clive been living1 ,i am afraid we should have seen little of them--it would have been too home a feeling with them4 ,mrs4 ,siddons seldom if ever goes1 and yet she is almost the only thing left worth seeing there4 ,she need not stay away on account of any theory that ,i can form4 ,she is out of the pale of all theories1 and annihilates all rules4 ,wherever she sits there is grace and grandeur1 there is tragedy personified4 ,her seat is the undivided throne of the ,tragic ,muse4 ,she had no need of the robes1 the sweeping train1 the ornaments of the stage2 in herself she is as great as any being she ever represented in the ripeness and plenitude of her power6 ,i should not1 ,i confess1 have had the same paramount abstracted feeling at seeing ,john ,kemble there1 whom ,i venerate at a distance1 and should not have known whether he was playing off the great man or the great actor3-- #8,a little more than kin1 and less than kind4' ,i know it may be said in answer to all this pretext of keeping the character of the player inviolate--#8,what is there more common1 in fact1 than for the hero of a tragedy to speak the prologue1 or than for the heroine1 who has been stabbed or poisoned1 to revive1 and come forward laughing in the epilogue8' ,as to the epilogue1 it is spoken to get rid of the idea of the tragedy altogether1 and to ward off the fury of the pit1 who may be bent on its damnation4 ,the greatest incongruity you can hit upon is1 therefore1 the most proper for this purpose4 ,but ,i deny that the hero of a tragedy1 or the principal character in it1 is ever pitched upon to deliver the prologue4 ,it is always1 by prescription1 some walking-shadow1 some poor player1 who cannot even spoil a part of any consequence4 ,is there not ,mr4 ,c-- always at hand for this purpose1 whom the late king pronounced three times to be #8a bad actor8'#gd ,what is there in common between that accustomed wave of the hand1 and the cocked hat under the arm1 and any passion or person that can be brought forward on the stage8 ,it is not that we can be said to acquire a prejudice against so harmless an actor as ,mr4 ,c--2 we are born with a prejudice against a speaker of prologues4 ,it is an innate idea3 a natural instinct3 there is a particular organ in the brain provided for it4 ,do we not all hate a manager8 ,it is not because he is insolent or impertinent1 or fond of making ridiculous speeches1 or a notorious puffer1 or ignorant1 or mean1 or vain1 but it is because we see him in a coat1 waistcoat1 and breeches4 ,the stage is the world of fantasy3 it is ,queen ,mab that has invited us to her revels there1 and all that have to do with it should wear motley6 ,lastly1 there are some actors by profession1 whose faces we like to see in the boxes or any where else2 but it is because they are no actors1 but rather gentlemen and scholars1 and in their proper places in the boxes1 or wherever they are4 ,does not an actor himself1 ,i would ask1 feel conscious and awkward in the boxes1 if he thinks that he is known8 ,and does he not sit there in spite of this uneasy feeling1 and run the gauntlet of impertinent looks and whispers1 only to get a little by--admiration1 as he thinks8 ,it is hardly to be supposed that he comes to see the play1 the show4 ,he must have enough of plays and finery4 ,but he wants to see a favourite 7perhaps a rival7 actor in a striking part4 ,then the place for him to do this is the pit4 ,painters1 ,i know1 always get as close up to a picture they want to copy as they can2 and ,i should imagine actors would want to do the same1 in order to look into the texture and mechanism of their art4 ,even theatrical critics can make nothing of a part that they see from the boxes4 ,if you sit in the stage-box1 your attention is drawn off by the company and other circumstances4 ,if you get to a distance 7so as to be out of the reach of notice7 you can neither hear nor see well4 ,for myself1 ,i would as soon take a seat on the top of the ,monument to give an account of a first appearance1 as go into the second or third tier of boxes to do it4 ,i went1 but the other day1 with a boxticket1 to see ,miss ,fanny ,brunton come out in ,juliet1 and ,mr4 ,macready make a first appearance in ,romeo2 and though ,i was told 7by a tolerable judge7 that the new ,juliet was the most elegant figure on the stage1 and that ,mr4 ,macready's ,romeo was quite beautiful1 ,i vow to ,god ,i knew nothing of it4 ,so little could ,i tell of the matter1 that at one time ,i mistook ,mr4 ,horrebow for ,mr4 ,abbott4 ,i have seen ,mr4 ,kean play ,sir ,giles ,overreach one night from the front of the pit1 and a few nights after from the front boxes1 facing the stage4 ,it was another thing altogether4 ,that which had been so lately nothing but flesh and blood1 a living fibre1 #8instinct with fire' and spirit1 was no better than a little fantoccini figure1 darting backwards and forwards on the stage1 starting1 screaming1 and playing a number of fantastic tricks before the audience4 ,i could account1 in the latter instance1 for the little approbation of the performance manifested around me1 and also for the general scepticism with respect to ,mr4 ,kean's acting1 which has been said to prevail among those who cannot condescend to go into the pit1 and have not interest in the orchestra--to see him act4 ,they may then stay away altogether4 ,his face is the running comment on his acting1 which reconciles the audience to it4 ,without that index to his mind1 you are not prepared for the vehemence and suddenness of his gestures2 his pauses are long1 abrupt1 and unaccountable1 if not filled up by the expression2 it is in the working of his face that you see the writhing and coiling up of the passions before they make their serpent-spring2 the lightning of his eye precedes the hoarse burst of thunder from his voice4 ,one may go into the boxes1 indeed1 and criticise acting and actors with ,sterne's stop-watch1 but no otherwise--#88,and between the nominative case and the verb 7which1 as your lordship knows1 should agree together in number1 person etc47 there was a full pause of a second and two thirds40 8,but was the eye silent--did the look say nothing80--8,i looked only at the stop-watch1 my lord40 8,excellent critic60'--,if any other actor1 indeed1 goes to see ,mr4 ,kean act1 with a view to avoid imitation1 this may be the place1 or rather it is the way to run into it1 for you see only his extravagances and defects1 which are the most easily carried away4 ,mr4 ,matthews may translate him into an ,,at ,,home even from the slips6--,distinguished actors then ought1 ,i conceive1 to set the example of going into the pit1 were it only for their own sakes4 ,i remember a trifling circumstance1 which ,i worked up at the time into a confirmation of this theory of mine1 engrafted on old prejudice and tradition4#ge ,i had got into the middle of the pit1 at considerable risk of broken bones1 to see ,mr4 ,kean in one of his early parts1 when ,i perceived two young men seated a little behind me1 with a certain space left round them4 ,they were dressed in the height of the fashion1 in light drab-coloured great coats1 and with their shirt-sleeves drawn down over their hands1 at a time when this was not so common as it has since become4 ,i took them for younger sons of some old family at least4 ,one of them1 that was very good-looking1 ,i thought might be ,lord ,byron1 and his companion might be ,mr4 ,hobhouse4 ,they seemed to have wandered from another sphere of this our planet to witness a masterly performance to the utmost advantage4 ,this stamped the thing4 ,they were1 undoubtedly1 young men of rank and fashion2 but their taste was greater than their regard for appearances4 ,the pit was1 after all1 the true resort of thorough-bred critics and amateurs4 ,when there was any thing worth seeing1 this was the place2 and ,i began to feel a sort of reflected importance in the consciousness that ,i also was a critic4 ,nobody sat near them--it would have seemed like an intrusion4 ,not a syllable was uttered4--,they were two clerks in the ,victualling ,office6 ,what ,i would insist on1 then1 is this--that for ,mr4 ,kean1 or ,mr4 ,young1 or ,mr4 ,macready1 or any of those that are #8cried out upon in the top of the compass' to obtrude themselves voluntarily or ostentatiously upon our notice1 when they are out of character1 is a solecism in theatricals4 ,for them to thrust themselves forward before the scenes1 is to drag us behind them against our will1 than which nothing can be more fatal to a true passion for the stage1 and which is a privilege that should be kept sacred for impertinent curiosity4 ,oh6 while ,i live1 let me not be admitted 7under special favour7 to an actor's dressing-room4 ,let me not see how ,cato painted1 or how ,csar combed6 ,let me not meet the prompt-boys in the passage1 nor see the half-lighted candles stuck against the bare walls1 nor hear the creaking of machines1 or the fiddlers laughing2 nor see a ,columbine practising a pirouette in sober sadness1 nor ,mr4 ,grimaldi's face drop from mirth to sudden melancholy as he passes the side-scene1 as if a shadow crossed it1 nor witness the long-chinned generation of the pantomime sit twirling their thumbs1 nor overlook the fellow who holds the candle for the moon in the scene between ,lorenzo and ,jessica6 ,spare me this insight into secrets ,i am not bound to know4 ,the stage is not a mistress that we are sworn to undress4 ,why should we look behind the glass of fashion8 ,why should we prick the bubble that reflects the world1 and turn it to a little soap and water8 ,trust a little to first appearances--leave something to fancy4 ,i observe that the great puppets of the real stage1 who themselves play a grand part1 like to get into the boxes over the stage2 where they see nothing from the proper point of view1 but peep and pry into what is going on like a magpie looking into a marrow-bone4 ,this is just like them4 ,so they look down upon human life1 of which they are ignorant4 ,they see the exits and entrances of the players1 something that they suspect is meant to be kept from them 7for they think they are always liable to be imposed upon73 the petty pageant of an hour ends with each scene long before the catastrophe1 and the tragedy of life is turned to farce under their eyes4 ,these people laugh loud at a pantomime1 and are delighted with clowns and pantaloons4 ,they pay no attention to any thing else4 ,the stage-boxes exist in contempt of the stage and common sense4 ,the private boxes1 on the contrary1 should be reserved as the receptacle for the officers of state and great diplomatic characters1 who wish to avoid1 rather than court popular notice6 ,,essay ,,xxix ,,on ,,the ,,disadvantages ,,of ,,intellectual ,,superiority ,the chief disadvantage of knowing more and seeing farther than others1 is not to be generally understood4 ,a man is1 in consequence of this1 liable to start paradoxes1 which immediately transport him beyond the reach of the common-place reader4 ,a person speaking once in a slighting manner of a very original-minded man1 received for answer--#8,he strides on so far before you1 that he dwindles in the distance6' ,petrarch complains1 that #8,nature had made him different from other people'--singular' d'altra genti4 ,the great happiness of life is1 to be neither better nor worse than the general run of those you meet with4 ,if you are beneath them1 you are trampled upon2 if you are above them1 you soon find a mortifying level in their indifference to what you particularly pique yourself upon4 ,what is the use of being moral in a night-cellar1 or wise in ,bedlam8 #8,to be honest1 as this world goes1 is to be one man picked out of ten thousand4' ,so says ,shakespear2 and the commentators have not added that1 under these circumstances1 a man is more likely to become the butt of slander than the mark of admiration for being so4 #8,how now1 thou particular fellow#gf8' is the common answer to all such out-of-the-way pretensions4 ,by not doing as those at ,rome do1 we cut ourselves off from good-fellowship and society4 ,we speak another language1 have notions of our own1 and are treated as of a different species4 ,nothing can be more awkward than to intrude with any such far-fetched ideas among the common herd1 who will be sure to --#8,stand all astonied1 like a sort of steers1 ',mongst whom some beast of strange and foreign race ,unwares is chanced1 far straying from his peers3 ,so will their ghastly gaze betray their hidden fears4' ,ignorance of another's meaning is a sufficient cause of fear1 and fear produces hatred3 hence the suspicion and rancour entertained against all those who set up for greater refinement and wisdom than their neighbours4 ,it is in vain to think of softening down this spirit of hostility by simplicity of manners1 or by condescending to persons of low estate4 ,the more you condescend1 the more they will presume upon it2 they will fear you less1 but hate you more2 and will be the more determined to take their revenge on you for a superiority as to which they are entirely in the dark1 and of which you yourself seem to entertain considerable doubts4 ,all the humility in the world will only pass for weakness and folly4 ,they have no notion of such a thing4 ,they always put their best foot forward2 and argue that you would do the same if you had any such wonderful talents as people say4 ,you had better1 therefore1 play off the great man at once--hector1 swagger1 talk big1 and ride the high horse over them3 you may by this means extort outward respect or common civility2 but you will get nothing 7with low people7 by forbearance and good-nature but open insult or silent contempt4 ,c-- always talks to people about what they don't understand3 ,i1 for one1 endeavour to talk to them about what they do understand1 and find ,i only get the more ill-will by it4 ,they conceive ,i do not think them capable of any thing better2 that ,i do not think it worth while1 as the vulgar saying is1 to throw a word to a dog4 ,i once complained of this to ,c--1 thinking it hard ,i should be sent to ,coventry for not making a prodigious display4 ,he said1 #8,as you assume a certain character1 you ought to produce your credentials4 ,it is a tax upon people's good-nature to admit superiority of any kind1 even where there is the most evident proof of it3 but it is too hard a task for the imagination to admit it without any apparent ground at all4' ,there is not a greater error than to suppose that you avoid the envy1 malice1 and uncharitableness1 so common in the world1 by going among people without pretensions4 ,there are no people who have no pretensions2 or the fewer their pretensions1 the less they can afford to acknowledge yours without some sort of value received4 ,the more information individuals possess1 or the more they have refined upon any subject1 the more readily can they conceive and admit the same kind of superiority to themselves that they feel over others4 ,but from the low1 dull1 level sink of ignorance and vulgarity1 no idea or love of excellence can arise4 ,you think you are doing mighty well with them2 that you are laying aside the buckram of pedantry and pretence1 and getting the character of a plain1 unassuming1 good sort of fellow4 ,it will not do4 ,all the while that you are making these familiar advances1 and wanting to be at your ease1 they are trying to recover the wind of you4 ,you may forget that you are an author1 an artist1 or what not--they do not forget that they are nothing1 nor bate one jot of their desire to prove you in the same predicament4 ,they take hold of some circumstance in your dress2 your manner of entering a room is different from that of other people2 you do not eat vegetables--that's odd2 you have a particular phrase1 which they repeat1 and this becomes a sort of standing joke2 you look grave1 or ill2 you talk1 or are more silent than usual2 you are in or out of pocket3 all these petty1 inconsiderable circumstances1 in which you resemble1 or are unlike other people1 form so many counts in the indictment which is going on in their imaginations against you1 and are so many contradictions in your character4 ,in any one else they would pass unnoticed1 but in a person of whom they had heard so much1 they cannot make them out at all4 ,meanwhile1 those things in which you may really excel1 go for nothing1 because they cannot judge of them4 ,they speak highly of some book which you do not like1 and therefore you make no answer4 ,you recommend them to go and see some picture1 in which they do not find much to admire4 ,how are you to convince them that you are right8 ,can you make them perceive that the fault is in them1 and not in the picture1 unless you could give them your knowledge8 ,they hardly distinguish the difference between a ,correggio and a common daub4 ,does this bring you any nearer to an understanding8 ,the more you know of the difference1 the more deeply you feel it1 or the more earnestly you wish to convey it1 the farther do you find yourself removed to an immeasurable distance from the possibility of making them enter into views and feelings of which they have not even the first rudiments4 ,you cannot make them see with your eyes1 and they must judge for themselves4 ,intellectual is not like bodily strength4 ,you have no hold of the understanding of others but by their sympathy4 ,your knowing1 in fact1 so much more about a subject does not give you a superiority1 that is1 a power over them1 but only renders it the more impossible for you to make the least impression on them4 ,is it then an advantage to you8 ,it may be1 as it relates to your own private satisfaction1 but it places a greater gulf between you and society4 ,it throws stumbling blocks in your way at every turn4 ,all that you take most pride and pleasure in is lost upon the vulgar eye4 ,what they are pleased with is a matter of indifference or of distaste to you4 ,in seeing a number of persons turn over a portfolio of prints from different masters1 what a trial it is to the patience1 how it jars the nerves to hear them fall into raptures at some common-place flimsy thing1 and pass over some divine expression of countenance without notice1 or with a remark that it is very singular-looking8 ,how useless is it in such cases to fret or argue1 or remonstrate8 ,is it not quite as well to be without all this hypercritical1 fastidious knowledge1 and to be pleased or displeased as it happens1 or struck with the first fault or beauty that is pointed out by others8 ,i would be glad almost to change my acquaintance with pictures1 with books1 and1 certainly1 what ,i know of mankind1 for any body's ignorance of them6 ,it is recorded in the life of some worthy 7whose name ,i forget7 that he was one of those #8who loved hospitality and respect3' and ,i profess to belong to the same classification of mankind4 ,civility is with me a jewel4 ,i like a little comfortable cheer1 and careless1 indolent1 chat4 ,i hate to be always wise1 or aiming at wisdom4 ,i have enough to do with literary cabals1 questions1 critics1 actors1 essay-writing1 without taking them out with me for recreation1 and into all companies4 ,i wish at these times to pass for a good-humoured fellow2 and good-will is all ,i ask in return to make good company4 ,i do not desire to be always posing myself or others with the questions of fate1 free-will1 fore-knowledge absolute1 c4 ,i must unbend sometimes4 ,i must occasionally lie fallow4 ,the kind of conversation that ,i affect most is what sort of a day it is1 and whether it is likely to rain or hold up fine for to-morrow4 ,this ,i consider as enjoying the otium cum dignitate1 as the end and privilege of a life of study4 ,i would resign myself to this state of easy indifference1 but ,i find ,i cannot4 ,i must maintain a certain pretension1 which is far enough from my wish4 ,i must be put on my defence1 ,i must take up the gauntlet continually1 or ,i find ,i lose ground4 #8,i am nothing1 if not critical4' ,while ,i am thinking what o'clock it is1 or how ,i came to blunder in quoting a well-known passage1 as if ,i had done it on purpose1 others are thinking whether ,i am not really as dull a fellow as ,i am sometimes said to be4 ,if a drizzling shower patters against the windows1 it puts me in mind of a mild spring rain1 from which ,i retired twenty years ago1 into a little public house near ,wem in ,shropshire1 and while ,i saw the plants and shrubs before the door imbibe the dewy moisture1 quaffed a glass of sparkling ale1 and walked home in the dusk of evening1 brighter to me than noon-day suns at present are6 ,would ,i indulge this feeling8 ,in vain4 ,they ask me what news there is1 and stare if ,i say ,i don't know4 ,if a new actress has come out1 why must ,i have seen her8 ,if a new novel has appeared1 why must ,i have read it8 ,i1 at one time1 used to go and take a hand at cribbage with a friend1 and afterwards discuss a cold sirloin of beef1 and throw out a few lack-a-daisical remarks1 in a way to please myself1 but it would not do long4 ,i set up little pretension1 and therefore the little that ,i did set up was taken from me4 ,as ,i said nothing on that subject myself1 it was continually thrown in my teeth that ,i was an author4 ,from having me at this disadvantage1 my friend wanted to peg on a hole or two in the game1 and was displeased if ,i would not let him4 ,if ,i won of him1 it was hard he should be beat by an author4 ,if he won1 it would be strange if he did not understand the game better than ,i did4 ,if ,i mentioned my favourite game of rackets1 there was a general silence1 as if this was my weak point4 ,if ,i complained of being ill1 it was asked why ,i made myself so8 ,if ,i said such an actor had played a part well1 the answer was1 there was a different account in one of the newspapers4 ,if any allusion was made to men of letters1 there was a suppressed smile4 ,if ,i told a humorous story1 it was difficult to say whether the laugh was at me or at the narrative4 ,the wife hated me for my ugly face3 the servants because ,i could not always get them tickets for the play1 and because they could not tell exactly what an author meant4 ,if a paragraph appeared against any thing ,i had written1 ,i found it was ready there before me1 and ,i was to undergo a regular roasting4 ,i submitted to all this till ,i was tired1 and then ,i gave it up4 ,one of the miseries of intellectual pretensions is1 that nine-tenths of those you come in contact with do not know whether you are an impostor or not4 ,i dread that certain anonymous criticisms should get into the hands of servants where ,i go1 or that my hatter or shoemaker should happen to read them1 who cannot possibly tell whether they are well or ill founded4 ,the ignorance of the world leaves one at the mercy of its malice4 ,there are people whose good opinion or good will you want1 setting aside all literary pretensions2 and it is hard to lose by an ill report 7which you have no means of rectifying7 what you cannot gain by a good one4 ,after a diatribe in the --1 7which is taken in by a gentleman who occupies my old apartments on the first floor7 my landlord brings me up his bill 7of some standing71 and on my offering to give him so much in money1 and a note of hand for the rest1 shakes his head1 and says1 he is afraid he could make no use of it4 ,soon after1 the daughter comes in1 and on my mentioning the circumstance carelessly to her1 replies gravely1 #8that indeed her father has been almost ruined by bills4' ,this is the unkindest cut of all4 ,it is in vain for me to endeavour to explain that the publication in which ,i am abused is a mere government engine--an organ of a political faction4 ,they know nothing about that4 ,they only know such and such imputations are thrown out2 and the more ,i try to remove them1 the more they think there is some truth in them4 ,perhaps the people of the house are strong ,tories--government-agents of some sort4 ,is it for me to enlighten their ignorance8 ,if ,i say1 ,i once wrote a thing called ,prince ,maurice's ,parrot1 and an ,essay on the ,regal ,character1 in the former of which allusion is made to a noble marquis1 and in the latter to a great personage 7so at least1 ,i am told1 it has been construed71 and that ,mr4 ,croker has peremptory instructions to retaliate2 they cannot conceive what connection there can be between me and such distinguished characters4 ,i can get no farther4 ,such is the misery of pretensions beyond your situation1 and which are not backed by any external symbols of wealth or rank1 intelligible to all mankind6 ,the impertinence of admiration is scarcely more tolerable than the demonstrations of contempt4 ,i have known a person1 whom ,i had never seen before1 besiege me all dinner-time with asking1 what articles ,i had written in the ,edinburgh ,review8 ,i was at last ashamed to answer to my splendid sins in that way4 ,others will pick out something not yours1 and say1 they are sure no one else could write it4 ,by the first sentence they can always tell your style4 ,now ,i hate my style to be known2 as ,i hate all idiosyncrasy4 ,these obsequious flatterers could not pay me a worse compliment4 ,then there are those who make a point of reading every thing you write 7which is fulsome72 while others1 more provoking1 regularly lend your works to a friend as soon as they receive them4 ,they pretty well know your notions on the different subjects1 from having heard you talk about them4 ,besides1 they have a greater value for your personal character than they have for your writings4 ,you explain things better in a common way1 when you are not aiming at effect4 ,others tell you of the faults they have heard found with your last book1 and that they defend your style in general from a charge of obscurity4 ,a friend once told me of a quarrel he had had with a near relation1 who denied that ,i knew how to spell the commonest words4 ,these are comfortable confidential communications1 to which authors1 who have their friends and excusers1 are subject4 ,a gentleman told me1 that a lady had objected to my use of the word learneder1 as bad grammar4 ,he said1 that he thought it a pity that ,i did not take more care1 but that the lady was perhaps prejudiced1 as her husband held a government-office4 ,i looked for the word1 and found it in a motto from ,butler4 ,i was piqued1 and desired him to tell the fair critic1 that the fault was not in me1 but in one who had far more wit1 more learning1 and loyalty than ,i could pretend to4 ,then1 again1 some will pick out the flattest thing of yours they can find1 to load it with panegyrics2 and others tell you 7by way of letting you see how high they rank your capacity71 that your best passages are failures4 ,l-- has a knack of tasting 7or as he would say1 palating7 the insipid3 ,l4 ,h4 has a trick of turning away from the relishing morsels you put on his plate4 ,there is no getting the start of some people4 ,do what you will1 they can do it better2 meet with what success you may1 their own good opinion stands them in better stead1 and runs before the applause of the world4 ,i once shewed a person of this over-weening turn 7with no small triumph ,i confess7 a letter of a very flattering description ,i had received from the celebrated ,count ,stendhal1 dated ,rome4 ,he returned it with a smile of indifference1 and said1 he had had a letter from ,rome himself the day before1 from his friend ,s--6 ,i did not think this #8germane to the matter4' ,g--dw--n pretends ,i never wrote any thing worth a farthing but my answers to ,vetus1 and that ,i fail altogether when ,i attempt to write an essay1 or any thing in a short compass4 ,what can one do in such cases8 ,shall ,i confess a weakness8 ,the only set-off ,i know to these rebuffs and mortifications1 is sometimes in an accidental notice or involuntary mark of distinction from a stranger4 ,i feel the force of ,horace's digito monstrari--,i like to be pointed out in the street1 or to hear people ask in ,mr4 ,powell's court1 which is ,mr4 ,h--8 ,this is to me a pleasing extension of one's personal identity4 ,your name so repeated leaves an echo like music on the ear3 is stirs the blood like the sound of a trumpet4 ,it shews that other people are curious to see you3 that they think of you1 and feel an interest in you without your knowing it4 ,this is a bolster to lean upon2 a lining to your poor1 shivering1 thread-bare opinion of yourself4 ,you want some such cordial to exhausted spirits1 and relief to the dreariness of abstract speculation4 ,you are something2 and1 from occupying a place in the thoughts of others1 think less contemptuously of yourself4 ,you are the better able to run the gauntlet of prejudice and vulgar abuse4 ,it is pleasant in this way to have your opinion quoted against yourself1 and your own sayings repeated to you as good things4 ,i was once talking with an intelligent man in the pit1 and criticising ,mr4 ,knight's performance of ,filch4 #8,ah6' he said1 #8little ,simmons was the fellow to play that character4' ,he added1 #8,there was a most excellent remark made upon his acting it in the ,,examiner 7,i think it was7--,that he looked as if he had the gallows in one eye and a pretty girl in the other4' ,i said nothing1 but was in remarkably good humour the rest of the evening4 ,i have seldom been in a company where fives-playing has been talked of1 but some one has asked1 in the course of it1 #8,pray did any one ever see an account of one ,cavanagh1 that appeared some time back in most of the papers8 ,is it known who wrote it8' ,these are trying moments4 ,i had a triumph over a person1 whose name ,i will not mention1 on the following occasion4 ,i happened to be saying something about ,burke1 and was expressing my opinion of his talents in no measured terms1 when this gentleman interrupted me by saying1 he thought1 for his part1 that ,burke had been greatly overrated1 and then added1 in a careless way1 #8,pray did you read a character of him in the last number of the -- --8' #8,i wrote it6'--,i could not resist the antithesis1 but was afterwards ashamed of my momentary petulance4 ,yet no one1 that ,i find1 ever spares me4 ,some persons seek out and obtrude themselves on public characters1 in order1 as it might seem1 to pick out their failings1 and afterwards betray them4 ,appearances are for it1 but truth and a better knowledge of nature are against this interpretation of the matter4 ,sycophants and flatterers are undesignedly treacherous and fickle4 ,they are prone to admire inordinately at first1 and not finding a constant supply of food for this kind of sickly appetite1 take a distaste to the object of their idolatry4 ,to be even with themselves for their credulity1 they sharpen their wits to spy out faults1 and are delighted to find that this answers better than their first employment4 ,it is a course of study1 #8lively1 audible1 and full of vent4' ,they have the organ of wonder and the organ of fear in a prominent degree4 ,the first requires new objects of admiration to satisfy its uneasy cravings3 the second makes them crouch to power wherever its shifting standard appears1 and willing to curry favour with all parties1 and ready to betray any out of sheer weakness and servility4 ,i do not think they mean any harm4 ,at least1 ,i can look at this obliquity with indifference in my own particular case4 ,i have been more disposed to resent it as ,i have seen it practised upon others1 where ,i have been better able to judge of the extent of the mischief1 and the heartlessness and idiot folly it discovered4 ,i do not think great intellectual attainments are any recommendation to the women4 ,they puzzle them1 and are a diversion to the main question4 ,if scholars talk to ladies of what they understand1 their hearers are none the wiser3 if they talk of other things1 they only prove themselves fools4 ,the conversation between ,angelica and ,foresight1 in ,love for ,love1 is a receipt in full for all such overstrained nonsense3 while he is wandering among the signs of the zodiac1 she is standing a tip-toe on the earth4 ,it has been remarked that poets do not choose mistresses very wisely4 ,i believe it is not choice1 but necessity4 ,if they could throw the handkerchief like the ,grand ,turk1 ,i imagine we should see scarce mortals1 but rather goddesses1 surrounding their steps1 and each exclaiming1 with ,lord ,byron's own ,ionian maid-- #8,so shalt thou find me ever at thy side1 ,here and hereafter1 if the last may be6' ,ah6 no1 these are bespoke1 carried off by men of mortal1 not ethereal mould1 and thenceforth the poet1 from whose mind the ideas of love and beauty are inseparable as dreams from sleep1 goes on the forlorn hope of the passion1 and dresses up the first ,dulcinea that will take compassion on him1 in all the colours of fancy4 ,what boots it to complain if the delusion lasts for life1 and the rainbow still paints its form in the cloud8 ,there is one mistake ,i would wish1 if possible1 to correct4 ,men of letters1 artists1 and others1 not succeeding with women in a certain rank of life1 think the objection is to their want of fortune1 and that they shall stand a better chance by descending lower1 where only their good qualities or talents will be thought of4 ,oh6 worse and worse4 ,the objection is to themselves1 not to their fortune--to their abstraction1 to their absence of mind1 to their unintelligible and romantic notions4 ,women of education may have a glimpse of their meaning1 may get a clue to their character1 but to all others they are thick darkness4 ,if the mistress smiles at their ideal advances1 the maid will laugh outright2 she will throw water over you1 get her little sister to listen1 send her sweetheart to ask you what you mean1 will set the village or the house upon your back2 it will be a farce1 a comedy1 a standing jest for a year1 and then the murder will out4 ,scholars should be sworn at ,highgate4 ,they are no match for chamber maids1 or wenches at lodging-houses4 ,they had better try their hands on heiresses or ladies of quality4 ,these last have high notions of themselves that may fit some of your epithets6 ,they are above mortality1 so are your thoughts6 ,but with low life1 trick1 ignorance1 and cunning1 you have nothing in common4 ,whoever you are1 that think you can make a compromise or a conquest there by good nature1 or good sense1 be warned by a friendly voice1 and retreat in time from the unequal contest4 ,if1 as ,i have said above1 scholars are no match for chambermaids1 on the other hand1 gentlemen are no match for blackguards4 ,the former are on their honour1 act on the square2 the latter take all advantages1 and have no idea of any other principle4 ,it is astonishing how soon a fellow without education will learn to cheat4 ,he is impervious to any ray of liberal knowledge2 his understanding is #8,not pierceable by power of any star'-- but it is porous to all sorts of tricks1 chicanery1 stratagems1 and knavery1 by which any thing is to be got4 ,mrs4 ,peachum1 indeed1 says1 that #8to succeed at the gaming-table1 the candidate should have the education of a nobleman4' ,i do not know how far this example contradicts my theory4 ,i think it is a rule that men in business should not be taught other things4 ,any one will be almost sure to make money who has no other idea in his head4 ,a college-education1 or intense study of abstract truth1 will not enable a man to drive a bargain1 to over-reach another1 or even to guard himself from being over-reached4 ,as ,shakespear says1 that #8to have a good face is the effect of study1 but reading and writing come by nature3' so it might be argued1 that to be a knave is the gift of fortune1 but to play the fool to advantage it is necessary to be a learned man4 ,the best politicians are not those who are deeply grounded in mathematical or in ethical science4 ,rules stand in the way of expediency4 ,many a man has been hindered from pushing his fortune in the world by an early cultivation of his moral sense1 and has repented of it at leisure during the rest of his life4 ,a shrewd man said of my father1 that he would not send a son of his to school to him on any account1 for that by teaching him to speak the truth1 he would disqualify him from getting his living in the world6 ,it is hardly necessary to add any illustration to prove that the most original and profound thinkers are not always the most successful or popular writers4 ,this is not merely a temporary disadvantage2 but many great philosophers have not only been scouted while they were living1 but forgotten as soon as they were dead4 ,the name of ,hobbes is perhaps sufficient to explain this assertion4 ,but ,i do not wish to go farther into this part of the subject1 which is obvious in itself4 ,i have said1 ,i believe1 enough to take off the air of paradox which hangs over the title of this ,essay4 ,,essay ,,xxx ,,on ,,patronage ,,and ,,puffing #8,a gentle husher1 ,vanity by name4'--,,spenser4 ,a lady was complaining to a friend of mine of the credulity of people in attending to quack advertisements1 and wondering who could be taken in by them--#8for that she had never bought but one half-guinea bottle of ,dr4 ----'s ,elixir of ,life1 and it had done her no sort of good6' ,this anecdote seemed to explain pretty well what made it worth the doctor's while to advertise his wares in every newspaper in the kingdom4 ,he would no doubt be satisfied if every delicate1 sceptical invalid1 in his majesty's dominions1 gave his ,elixir one trial1 merely to show the absurdity of the thing4 ,we affect to laugh at the folly of those who put faith in nostrums1 but are willing to see ourselves whether there is any truth in them4 ,there is a strong tendency in the human mind to flatter itself with secret hopes1 with some lucky reservation in our own favour1 though reason may point out the grossness of the trick in general2 and1 besides1 there is a wonderful power in words1 formed into regular propositions1 and printed in capital letters1 to draw the assent after them1 till we have proof of their fallacy4 ,the ignorant and idle believe what they read1 as ,scotch philosophers demonstrate the existence of a material world1 and other learned propositions1 from the evidence of their senses4 ,the ocular proof is all that is wanting in either case4 ,as hypocrisy is said to be the highest compliment to virtue1 the art of lying is the strongest acknowledgment of the force of truth4 ,we can hardly believe a thing to be a lie1 though we know it to be so4 ,the #8puff direct1' even as it stands in the columns of the ,times newspaper1 branded with the title of ,advertisement before it1 claims some sort of attention and respect for the merits that it discloses1 though we think the candidate for public favour and support has hit upon 7perhaps7 an injudicious way of laying them before the world4 ,still there may be something in them2 and even the outrageous improbability and extravagance of the statement on the very face of it1 stagger us1 leave a hankering to inquire farther into it1 because we think the advertiser would hardly have the impudence to hazard such barefaced absurdities without some foundation4 ,such is the strength of the association between words and things in the mind--so much oftener must our credulity have been justified by the event than imposed upon4 ,if every second story we heard was an invention1 we should lose our mechanical disposition to trust to the meaning of sounds1 just as when we have met with a number of counterfeit pieces of coin1 we suspect good ones2 but our implicit assent to what we hear is a proof how much more sincerity and good faith there is in the sum total of our dealings with one another1 than artifice and imposture4 #8,to elevate and surprise' is the great art of quackery and puffing2 to raise a lively and exaggerated image in the mind1 and take it by surprise before it can recover breath1 as it were2 so that by having been caught in the trap1 it is unwilling to retract entirely--has a secret desire to find itself in the right1 and a determination to see whether it is or not4 ,describe a picture as lofty1 imposing1 and grand1 these words excite certain ideas in the mind like the sound of a trumpet1 which are not to be quelled1 except by seeing the picture itself1 nor even then if it is viewed by the help of a catalogue1 written expressly for the occasion by the artist himself4 ,it is not to be supposed that he would say such things of his picture1 unless they were allowed by all the world2 and he repeats them1 on this gentle understanding1 till all the world allows them4#gg ,so reputation runs in a vicious circle1 and merit limps behind it1 mortified and abashed at its own insignificance4 ,it has been said that the test of fame or popularity is to consider the number of times your name is repeated by others1 or is brought to their recollection in the course of a year4 ,at this rate1 a man has his reputation in his own hands1 and by the help of puffing and the press1 may forestall the voice of posterity1 and stun the #8groundling' ear of his contemporaries4 ,a name let off in your hearing continually1 with some bouncing epithet affixed to it1 startles you like the report of a pistol close at your ear3 you cannot help the effect upon the imagination1 though you know it is perfectly harmless--vox et prterea nihil4 ,so1 if you see the same name staring you in the face in great letters1 at the corner of every street1 you involuntarily think the owner of it must be a great man to occupy so large a space in the eye of the town4 ,the appeal is made1 in the first instance1 to the senses1 but it sinks below the surface into the mind4 ,there are some1 indeed1 who publish their own disgrace1 and make their names a common by-word and nuisance1 notoriety being all that they want4 ,a quack gets himself surreptitiously dubbed ,doctor or ,knight2 and though you may laugh in his face1 it pays expenses4 ,parolles and his drum typify many a modern adventurer1 and court-candidate1 for unearned laurels and unblushing honours4 ,of all puffs1 lottery-puffs are the most ingenious and most innocent4 ,a collection of them would make an amusing ,vade mecum4 ,they are still various and the same1 with that infinite ruse with which they lull the reader at the outset out of all suspicion1 the insinuating turn in the middle1 the home-thrust at the ruling passion at last1 by which your spare cash is conjured clean out of the pocket in spite of resolution1 by the same stale1 well-known1 thousandth-time repeated1 artifice of ,all prizes and ,no blanks--a self-evident imposition6 ,nothing1 however1 can be a stronger proof of the power of fascinating the public judgment through the eye alone4 ,i know a gentleman who amassed a considerable fortune 7so as to be able to keep his carriage7 by printing nothing but lottery placards and hand-bills of a colossal size4 ,another friend of mine 7of no mean talents7 was applied to 7as a snug thing in the way of business7 to write regular lottery-puffs for a large house in the city1 and on having a parcel of samples returned on his hands as done in too severe and terse a style1 complained quaintly enough1 #8,that modest merit never could succeed6' ,even ,lord ,byron1 as he tells us1 has been accused of writing lottery-puffs4 ,there are various ways of playing one's self off before the public1 and keeping one's name alive4 ,the newspapers1 the lamp-posts1 the walls of empty houses1 the shutters of windows1 the blank covers of magazines and reviews1 are open to every one4 ,i have heard of a man of literary celebrity sitting in his study writing letters of remonstrance to himself1 on the gross defects of a plan of education he had just published1 and which remained unsold on the bookseller's counter4 ,another feigned himself dead in order to see what would be said of him in the newspapers1 and to excite a sensation in this way4 ,a flashy pamphlet has been run to a five-and-thirtieth edition1 and thus ensured the writer a #8deathless date' among political charlatans1 by regularly striking off a new title-page to every fifty or a hundred copies that were sold4 ,this is a vile practice4 ,it is an erroneous idea got abroad 7and which ,i will contradict here7 that paragraphs are paid for in the leading ,journals4 ,it is quite out of the question4 ,a favourable notice of an author1 an actress1 c4 may be inserted through interest or to oblige a friend1 but it must invariably be done for love1 not money6 ,when ,i formerly had to do with these sort of critical verdicts1 ,i was generally sent out of the way when any debutant had a friend at court1 and was to be tenderly handled4 ,for the rest1 or those of robust constitutions1 ,i had carte blanche given me4 ,sometimes ,i ran out of the course1 to be sure4 ,poor ,perry6 what bitter complaints he used to make1 that by running-a-muck at lords and ,scotchmen ,i should not leave him a place to dine out at6 ,the expression of his face at these moments1 as if he should shortly be without a friend in the world1 was truly pitiable4 ,what squabbles we used to have about ,kean and ,miss ,stephens1 the only theatrical favourites ,i ever had6 ,mrs4 ,billington had got some notion that ,miss ,stephens would never make a singer1 and it was the torment of ,perry's life 7as he told me in confidence7 that he could not get any two people to be of the same opinion on any one point4 ,i shall not easily forget bringing him my account of her first appearance in the ,beggar's ,opera4 ,i have reason to remember that article3 it was almost the last ,i ever wrote with any pleasure to myself4 ,i had been down on a visit to my friends near ,chertsey1 and1 on my return1 had stopped at an inn at ,kingston-upon-,thames1 where ,i had got the ,beggar's ,opera1 and had read it over-night4 ,the next day ,i walked cheerfully to town4 ,it was a fine sunny morning1 in the end of autumn1 and as ,i repeated the beautiful song1 #8,life knows no return of spring1' ,i meditated my next day's criticism1 trying to do all the justice ,i could to so inviting a subject4 ,i was not a little proud of it by anticipation4 ,i had just then begun to stammer out my sentiments on paper1 and was in a kind of honey-moon of authorship4 ,but soon after1 my final hopes of happiness1 and of human liberty1 were blighted nearly at the same time2 and since then ,i have had no pleasure in any thing3-- #8,and ,love himself can flatter me no more4' ,it was not so ten years since 7ten short years since4--,ah6 how fast those years run that hurry us away from our last fond dream of bliss67 when ,i loitered along thy green retreats1 oh6 ,twickenham1 and conned over 7with enthusiastic delight7 the chequered view1 which one of thy favourites drew of human life6 ,i deposited my account of the play at the ,morning ,chronicle ,office in the afternoon1 and went to see ,miss ,stephens as ,polly4 ,those were happy times1 in which she first came out in this character1 in ,mandane1 where she sang the delicious air1 #8,if o'er the cruel tyrant1 ,love1' 7so as it can never be sung again71 in ,love in a ,village1 where the scene opened with her and ,miss ,matthews in a painted garden of roses and honeysuckles1 and #8,hope1 thou nurse of young ,desire1' thrilled from two sweet voices in turn4 ,oh6 may my ears sometimes still drink the same sweet sounds1 embalmed with the spirit of youth1 of health1 and joy1 but in the thoughts of an instant1 but in a dream of fancy1 and ,i shall hardly need to complain6 ,when ,i got back1 after the play1 ,perry called out1 with his cordial1 grating voice1 #8,well1 how did she do8' and on my speaking in high terms1 answered1 that #8he had been to dine with his friend the ,duke1 that some conversation had passed on the subject1 he was afraid it was not the thing1 it was not the true sostenuto style2 but as ,i had written the article' 7holding my peroration on the ,beggar's ,opera carelessly in his hand7 #8it might pass6' ,i could perceive that the rogue licked his lips at it1 and had already in imagination #8bought golden opinions of all sorts of people' by this very criticism1 and ,i had the satisfaction the next day to meet ,miss ,stephens coming out of the ,editor's room1 who had been to thank him for his very flattering account of her4 ,i was sent to see ,kean the first night of his performance in ,shylock1 when there were about a hundred people in the pit1 but from his masterly and spirited delivery of the first striking speech1 #8,on such a day you called me dog1' c4 ,i perceived it was a hollow thing4 ,so it was given out in the ,chronicle1 but ,perry was continually at me as other people were at him1 and was afraid it would not last4 ,it was to no purpose ,i said it would last3 yet ,i am in the right hitherto4 ,it has been said1 ridiculously1 that ,mr4 ,kean was written up in the ,chronicle4 ,i beg leave to state my opinion that no actor can be written up or down by a paper4 ,an author may be puffed into notice1 or damned by criticism1 because his book may not have been read4 ,an artist may be overrated1 or undeservedly decried1 because the public is not much accustomed to see or judge of pictures4 ,but an actor is judged by his peers1 the play-going public1 and must stand or fall by his own merits or defects4 ,the critic may give the tone or have a casting voice where popular opinion is divided2 but he can no more force that opinion either way1 or wrest it from its base in common-sense and feeling1 than he can move ,stonehenge4 ,mr4 ,kean had1 however1 physical disadvantages and strong prejudices to encounter1 and so far the liberal and independent part of the press might have been of service in helping him to his seat in the public favour4 ,may he long keep it with dignity and firmness6#gh ,it was pretended by the ,covent-garden people1 and some others at the time1 that ,mr4 ,kean's popularity was a mere effect of love of novelty1 a nine days' wonder1 like the rage after ,master ,betty's acting1 and would be as soon over4 ,the comparison did not hold4 ,master ,betty's acting was so far wonderful1 and drew crowds to see it as a mere singularity1 because he was a boy4 ,mr4 ,kean was a grown man1 and there was no rule or precedent established in the ordinary course of nature why some other man should not appear in tragedy as great as ,john ,kemble4 ,farther1 ,master ,betty's acting was a singular phenomenon1 but it was also as beautiful as it was singular4 ,i saw him in the part of ,douglas1 and he seemed almost like #8some gay creature of the element1' moving about gracefully1 with all the flexibility of youth1 and murmuring olian sounds with plaintive tenderness4 ,i shall never forget the way in which he repeated the line in which ,young ,norval says1 speaking of the fate of two brothers3 #8,and in my mind happy was he that died6' ,the tones fell and seemed to linger prophetic on my ear4 ,perhaps the wonder was made greater than it was4 ,boys at that age can often read remarkably well1 and certainly are not without natural grace and sweetness of voice4 ,the ,westminster school-boys are a better company of comedians than we find at most of our theatres4 ,as to the understanding a part like ,douglas1 at least1 ,i see no difficulty on that score4 ,i myself used to recite the speech in ,enfield's ,speaker with good emphasis and discretion when at school1 and entered1 about the same age1 into the wild sweetness of the sentiments in ,mrs4 ,radcliffe's ,romance of the ,forest1 ,i am sure1 quite as much as ,i should do now4 ,yet the same experiment has been often tried since1 and has uniformly failed4#gi ,it was soon after this that ,coleridge returned from ,italy1 and he got one day into a long tirade to explain what a ridiculous farce the whole was1 and how all the people abroad were shocked at the gullibility of the ,english nation1 who on this and every other occasion were open to the artifices of all sorts of quacks1 wondering how any persons with the smallest pretensions to common sense could for a moment suppose that a boy could act the characters of men without any of their knowledge1 their experience1 or their passions4 ,we made some faint resistance1 but in vain4 ,the discourse then took a turn1 and ,coleridge began a laboured eulogy on some promising youth1 the son of an ,english artist1 whom he had met in ,italy1 and who had wandered all over the ,campagna with him1 whose talents1 he assured us1 were the admiration of all ,rome1 and whose early designs had almost all the grace and purity of ,raphael's4 ,at last1 some one interrupted the endless theme by saying a little impatiently1 #8,why just now you would not let us believe our own eyes and ears about young ,betty1 because you have a theory against premature talents1 and now you start a boy phenomenon1 that nobody knows any thing about but yourself--a young artist that1 you tell us1 is to rival ,raphael6' ,the truth is1 we like to have something to admire ourselves1 as well as to make other people gape and stare at2 but then it must be a discovery of our own1 an idol of our own making and setting up3--if others stumble on the discovery before us1 or join in crying it up to the skies1 we then set to work to prove that this is a vulgar delusion1 and show our sagacity and freedom from prejudice by pulling it in pieces with all the coolness imaginable4 ,whether we blow the bubble or crush it in our hands1 vanity and the desire of empty distinction are equally at the bottom of our sanguine credulity or fastidious scepticism4 ,there are some who always fall in with the fashionable prejudice as others affect singularity of opinion on all such points1 according as they think they have more or less wit to judge for themselves4 ,if a little varnishing and daubing1 a little puffing and quacking1 and giving yourself a good name1 and getting a friend to speak a word for you1 is excusable in any profession1 it is1 ,i think1 in that of painting4 ,painting is an occult science1 and requires a little ostentation and mock-gravity in the professor4 ,a man may here rival ,katterfelto1 #8with his hair on end at his own wonders1 wondering for his bread2' for1 if he does not1 he may in the end go without it4 ,he may ride on a high trotting horse1 in green spectacles1 and attract notice to his person any how he can1 if he only works hard at his profession4 ,if #8it only is when he is out he is acting1' let him make the fools stare1 but give others something worth looking at4 ,good ,mr4 ,carver and ,gilder1 good ,mr4 ,printer's ,devil1 good ,mr4 ,bill-sticker1 #8do me your offices' unmolested6 ,painting is a plain ground1 and requires a great many heraldic quarterings and facings to set it off4 ,lay on1 and do not spare4 ,no man's merit can be fairly judged of1 if he is not known2 and how can he be known1 if he keeps entirely in the back ground8#hj ,a great name in art goes but a little way1 is chilled as it creeps along the surface of the world1 without something to revive and make it blaze out with fresh splendor4 ,fame is here almost obscurity4 ,it is long before your name affixed to a sterling design will be spelt out by an undiscerning1 regardless public4 ,have it proclaimed1 therefore1 as a necessary precaution1 by sound of trumpet at the corners of the street1 let it be stuck as a label in your mouth1 carry it on a placard at your back4 ,otherwise1 the world will never trouble themselves about you1 or will very soon forget you4 ,a celebrated artist of the present day1 whose name is engraved at the bottom of some of the most touching specimens of ,english art1 once had a frame-maker call on him1 who1 on entering his room1 exclaimed with some surprise1 #8,what1 are you a painter1 sir8' ,the other made answer1 a little startled in his turn1 #8,why1 didn't you know that8 ,did you never see my name at the bottom of prints8' ,he could not recollect that he had4 #8,and yet you sell picture-frames and prints8' #8,yes4' #8,what painters' names then did he recollect3 ,did he know ,west's8' #8,oh6 yes4' #8,and ,opie's8' #8,yes4' #8,and ,fuseli's8' #8,oh6 yes4' #8,but you never heard of me8' #8,i cannot say that ,i ever did6' ,it was plain1 from this conversation1 that ,mr4 ,n-- had not kept company enough with picture-dealers and newspaper critics4 ,on another occasion1 a country-gentleman1 who was sitting to him for his portrait1 asked him if he had any pictures in the ,exhibition at ,somerset-house1 and on his replying in the affirmative1 desired to know what they were4 ,he mentioned among others1 #8,the ,marriage of ,two ,children2' on which the gentleman expressed great surprise1 and said that was the very picture his wife was always teasing him to go and have another look at1 though he had never noticed the painter's name4 ,when the public are so eager to be amused1 and care so little who it is that amuses them1 it is not amiss to remind them of it now and then2 or even to have a starling taught to repeat the name1 to which they owe such misprized obligations1 in their drowsy ears4 ,on any other principle1 ,i cannot conceive how painters 7not without genius or industry7 can fling themselves at the head of the public in the manner they do1 having lives written of themselves1 busts made of themselves1 prints stuck in the shop-windows of themselves1 and their names placed in #8the first row of the rubric1' with those of ,rubens1 ,raphael1 and ,michael ,angelo1 swearing by themselves or their proxies that these glorified spirits would do well to leave the abodes of the blest in order to stand in mute wonder and with uplifted hands before some production of theirs1 which is yet hardly dry6 ,oh6 whatever you do1 leave that string untouched4 ,it will jar the rash and unhallowed hand that meddles with it4 ,profane not the mighty dead by mixing them up with the uncanonized living4 ,leave yourself a reversion in immortality1 beyond the noisy clamour of the day4 ,do not quite lose your respect for public opinion by making it in all cases a palpable cheat1 the echo of your own lungs that are hoarse with calling on the world to admire4 ,do not think to bully posterity1 or to cozen your contemporaries4 ,be not always anticipating the effect of your picture on the town--think more about deserving success than commanding it4 ,in issuing so many promissory notes upon the bank of fame1 do not forget you have to pay in sterling gold4 ,believe that there is something in the pursuit of high art1 beyond the manufacture of a paragraph or the collection of receipts at the door of an exhibition4 ,venerate art as art4 ,study the works of others1 and inquire into those of nature4 ,gaze at beauty4 ,become great by great efforts1 and not by pompous pretensions4 ,do not think the world was blind to merit before your time1 nor make the reputation of great geniuses the stalking horse to your vanity4 ,you have done enough to insure yourself attention3 you have now only to do something to deserve it1 and to make good all that you have aspired to do6 ,there is a silent and systematic assumption of superiority which is as barefaced and unprincipled an imposture as the most impudent puffing4 ,you may1 by a tacit or avowed censure on all other arts1 on all works of art1 on all other pretensions1 tastes1 talents1 but your own1 produce a complete ostracism in the world of intellect1 and leave yourself and your own performances alone standing1 a mighty monument in an universal waste and wreck of genius4 ,by cutting away the rude block and removing the rubbish from around it1 the idol may be effectually exposed to view1 placed on its pedestal of pride1 without any other assistance4 ,this method is more inexcusable than the other4 ,for there is no egotism or vanity so hateful as that which strikes at our satisfaction in every thing else1 and derives its nourishment from preying1 like the vampyre1 on the carcase of others' reputation4 ,i would rather1 in a word1 that a man should talk for ever of himself with vapid senseless assurance1 than preserve a malignant1 heartless silence1 when the merit of a rival is mentioned4 ,i have seen instances of both1 and can judge pretty well between them4 ,there is no great harm in putting forward one's own pretensions 7of whatever kind7 if this does not bear a sour1 malignant aspect towards others4 ,every one sets himself off to the best advantage he can1 and tries to steal a march upon public opinion4 ,in this sense1 too1 #8all the world's a stage1 and all the men and women merely players4' ,life itself is a piece of harmless quackery4 ,a great house over your head is of no use but to announce the great man within4 ,dress1 equipage1 title1 livery-servants1 are only so many quack advertisements and assumptions of the question of merit4 ,the star that glitters at the breast would be worth nothing but as a badge of personal distinction2 and the crown itself is but a symbol of the virtues1 which the possessor inherits from a long line of illustrious ancestors6 ,how much honour and honesty have been forfeited to be graced with a title or a ribbon2 how much genius and worth have sunk to the grave1 without an escutcheon and without an epitaph6 ,as men of rank and fortune keep lacqueys to reinforce their claims to self-respect1 so men of genius sometimes surround themselves with a coterie of admirers to increase their reputation with the public4 ,these proneurs1 or satellites1 repeat all their good things1 laugh loud at all their jokes1 and remember all their oracular decrees4 ,they are their shadows and echoes4 ,they talk of them in all companies1 and bring back word of all that has been said about them4 ,they hawk the good qualities of their patrons1 as shopmen and barkers tease you to buy goods4 ,i have no notion of this vanity at second-hand2 nor can ,i see how this servile testimony from inferiors 7#8some followers of mine own'7 can be a proof of merit4 ,it may soothe the ear2 but that it should impose on the understanding1 ,i own surprises me3 yet there are persons who cannot exist without a cortege of this kind about them1 in which they smiling read the opinion of the world1 in the midst of all sorts of rancorous abuse and hostility1 as ,otho called for his mirror in the ,illyrian field4 ,one good thing is1 that this evil1 in some degree1 cures itself2 and when a man has been nearly ruined by a herd of these sycophants1 he finds them leaving him1 like thriftless dependents for some more eligible situation1 carrying away with them all the tattle they can pick up1 and some left-off suit of finery4 ,the same proneness to adulation which made them lick the dust before one idol1 makes them bow as low to the rising ,sun2 they are as lavish of detraction as they were prurient with praise2 and the proteg and admirer of the editor of the -- figures in ,blackwood's train4 ,the man is a lacquey1 and it is of little consequence whose livery he wears6 ,i would advise those who volunteer the office of puffing1 to go the whole length of it4 ,no half-measures will do4 ,lay it on thick and three-fold1 or not at all4 ,if you are once harnessed into that vehicle1 it will be in vain for you to think of stopping4 ,you must drive to the devil at once4 ,the mighty ,tamburlaine1 to whose car you are yoked1 cries out1 #8,holloa1 you pamper'd jades of ,asia1 ,can you not drive but twenty miles a day8' ,he has you on the hip1 for you have pledged your taste and judgment to his genius4 ,never fear but he will drive this wedge4 ,if you are once screwed into such a machine1 you must extricate yourself by main force4 ,no hyperboles are too much3 any drawback1 any admiration on this side idolatry1 is high treason4 ,it is an unpardonable offence to say that the last production of your patron is not so good as the one before it2 or that a performer shines more in one character than another4 ,i remember once hearing a player declare that he never looked into any newspapers or magazines on account of the abuse that was always levelled at himself in them1 though there were not less than three persons in company1 who made it their business through these conduit pipes of fame to #8cry him up to the top of the compass4' ,this sort of expectation is a little exigeante6 ,one fashionable mode of acquiring reputation is by patronising it4 ,this may be from various motives1 real good nature1 good taste1 vanity1 or pride4 ,i shall only speak of the spurious ones in this place4 ,the quack and the would-be patron are well met4 ,the house of the latter is a sort of curiosity-shop or menagerie1 where all sort of intellectual pretenders and grotesques1 musical children1 arithmetical prodigies1 occult philosophers1 lecturers1 accoucheurs1 apes1 chemists1 fiddlers1 and buffoons are to be seen for the asking1 and are shown to the company for nothing4 ,the folding-doors are thrown open1 and display a collection that the world cannot parallel again4 ,there may be a few persons of common sense and established reputation1 rari nantes in gurgite vasto1 otherwise it is a mere scramble or lottery4 ,the professed encourager of virt and letters1 being disappointed of the great names1 sends out into the highways for the halt1 the lame1 and the blind1 for all who pretend to distinction1 defects1 and obliquities1 for all the disposable vanity or affectation floating on the town1 in hopes that1 among so many oddities1 chance may bring some jewel or treasure to his door1 which he may have the good fortune to appropriate in some way to his own use1 or the credit of displaying to others4 ,the art is to encourage rising genius--to bring forward doubtful and unnoticed merit4 ,you thus get a set of novices and raw pretenders about you1 whose actual productions do not interfere with your self-love1 and whose future efforts may reflect credit on your singular sagacity and faculty for finding out talent in the germ2 and in the next place1 by having them completely in your power1 you are at liberty to dismiss them whenever you will1 and to supply the deficiency by a new set of wondering1 unwashed faces1 in a rapid succession2 an #8aiery of children1' embryo actors1 artists1 poets1 or philosophers4 ,like unfledged birds they are hatched1 nursed1 and fed by hand2 this gives room for a vast deal of management1 meddling1 care1 and condescending solicitude1 but the instant the callow brood are fledged1 they are driven from the nest1 and forced to shift for themselves in the wide world4 ,one sterling production decides the question between them and their patrons1 and from that time they become the property of the public4 ,thus a succession of importunate1 hungry1 idle1 over-weening candidates for fame1 are encouraged by these fickle keepers1 only to be betrayed1 and left to starve or beg1 or pine in obscurity1 while the man of merit and respectability is neglected1 discountenanced1 and stigmatised1 because he will not lend himself as a tool to this system of splendid imposition1 or pamper the luxury and weaknesses of the ,vulgar ,great4 ,when a young artist is too independent to subscribe to the dogmas of his superiors1 or fulfils their predictions and prognostics of wonderful contingent talent too soon1 so as to get out of leading strings1 and lean on public opinion for partial support1 exceptions are taken to his dress1 dialect1 or manners1 and he is expelled the circle with a character for ingratitude and treachery4 ,none can procure toleration long but those who do not contradict the opinions1 or excite the jealousy of their betters4 ,one independent step is an appeal from them to the public1 their natural and hated rivals1 and annuls the contract between them1 which implies ostentatious countenance on the one part1 and servile submission on the other4 ,but enough of this4 ,the patronage of men of talent1 even when it proceeds from vanity1 is often carried on with a spirit of generosity and magnificence1 as long as these are in difficulties and a state of dependence3 but as the principle of action in this case is a love of power1 the complacency in the object of friendly regard ceases with the opportunity or necessity for the same manifest display of power2 and when the unfortunate proteg is just coming to land1 and expects a last helping hand1 he is1 to his surprise1 pushed back1 in order that he may be saved from drowning once more4 ,you are not hailed ashore1 as you had supposed1 by these kind friends1 as a mutual triumph after all your struggles and their exertions in your behalf4 ,it is a piece of presumption in you to be seen walking on terra-firma3 you are required1 at the risk of their friendship1 to be always swimming in troubled waters1 that they may have the credit of throwing out ropes1 and sending out life-boats to you1 without ever bringing you ashore4 ,your successes1 your reputation1 which you think would please them1 as justifying their good opinion1 are coldly received1 and looked at askance1 because they remove your dependence on them3 if you are under a cloud1 they do all they can to keep you there by their good-will3 they are so sensible of your gratitude that they wish your obligations never to cease1 and take care you shall owe no one else a good turn2 and provided you are compelled or contented to remain always in poverty1 obscurity1 and disgrace1 they will continue your very good friends and humble servants to command1 to the end of the chapter4 ,the tenure of these indentures is hard4 ,such persons will wilfully forfeit the gratitude created by years of friendship1 by refusing to perform the last act of kindness that is likely ever to be demanded of them3 will lend you money1 if you have no chance of repaying them2 will give you their good word1 if nobody will believe it2 and the only thing they do not forgive is an attempt or probability on your part1 of being able to repay your obligations4 ,there is something disinterested in all this3 at least1 it does not show a cowardly or mercenary disposition1 but it savours too much of arrogance and arbitrary pretension4 ,it throws a damning light on this question to consider who are mostly the subjects of the patronage of the great1 and in the habit of receiving cards of invitation to splendid dinners4 ,i confess1 for one1 ,i am not on the list2 at which ,i do not grieve much1 nor wonder at all4 ,authors1 in general1 are not in much request4 ,dr4 ,johnson was asked why he was not more frequently invited out2 and he said1 #8,because great lords and ladies do not like to have their mouths stopped4' ,garrick was not in this predicament3 he could amuse the company in the drawing-room by imitating the great moralist and lexicographer1 and make the negro boy1 in the court-yard1 die with laughing to see him take off the swelling airs and strut of the turkey-cock4 ,this was clever and amusing1 but it did not involve an opinion1 it did not lead to a difference of sentiment1 in which the owner of the house might be found in the wrong4 ,players1 singers1 dancers1 are hand and glove with the great4 ,they embellish1 and have an eclat in their names1 but do not come into collision4 ,eminent portrait-painters1 again1 are tolerated1 because they come into personal contact with the great3 and sculptors hold equality with lords when they have a certain quantity of solid marble in their workshops to answer for the solidity of their pretensions4 ,people of fashion and property must have something to show for their patronage1 something visible or tangible4 ,a sentiment is a visionary thing2 an argument may lead to dangerous consequences1 and those who are likely to broach either one or the other1 are not1 therefore1 fit for good company in general4 ,poets1 and men of genius1 who find their way there1 soon find their way out4 ,they are not of that ilk1 with some exceptions4 ,painters who come in contact with majesty get on by servility or buffoonery1 by letting themselves down in some way4 ,sir ,joshua was never a favourite at court4 ,he kept too much at a distance4 ,beechey gained a vast deal of favour by familiarity1 and lost it by taking too great freedoms4#ha ,west ingratiated himself in the same quarter by means of practices as little creditable to himself as his august employer1 namely1 by playing the hypocrite1 and professing sentiments the reverse of those he naturally felt4 ,kings 7,i know not how justly7 have been said to be lovers of low company1 and low conversation4 ,they are also said to be fond of dirty practical jokes4 ,if the fact is so1 the reason is as follows4 ,from the elevation of their rank1 aided by pride and flattery1 they look down on the rest of mankind1 and would not be thought to have all their advantages for nothing4 ,they wish to maintain the same precedence in private life that belongs to them as a matter of outward ceremony4 ,this pretension they cannot keep up by fair means2 for in wit or argument they are not superior to the common run of men4 ,they therefore answer a repartee by a practical joke1 which turns the laugh against others1 and cannot be retaliated with safety4 ,this is1 they avail themselves of the privilege of their situation to take liberties1 and degrade those about them1 as they can only keep up the idea of their own dignity by proportionably lowering their company4 ,,essay ,,xxxi ,,on ,,the ,,knowledge ,,of ,,character ,it is astonishing1 with all our opportunities and practice1 how little we know of this subject4 ,for myself1 ,i feel that the more ,i learn1 the less ,i understand it4 ,i remember1 several years ago1 a conversation in the ,diligence coming from ,paris1 in which1 on its being mentioned that a man had married his wife after thirteen years' courtship1 a fellow-countryman of mine observed1 that #8then1 at least1 he would be acquainted with her character2' when a ,monsieur ,p--1 inventor and proprietor of the ,invisible ,girl1 made answer1 #8,no1 not at all2 for that the very next day she might turn out the very reverse of the character that she had appeared in during all the preceding time4'#hb ,i could not help admiring the superior sagacity of the ,french juggler1 and it struck me then that we could never be sure when we had got at the bottom of this riddle4 ,there are various ways of getting at a knowledge of character--by looks1 words1 actions4 ,the first of these1 which seems the most superficial1 is perhaps the safest1 and least liable to deceive3 nay1 it is that which mankind1 in spite of their pretending to the contrary1 most generally go by4 ,professions pass for nothing1 and actions may be counterfeited3 but a man cannot help his looks4 #8,speech1' said a celebrated wit1 #8was given to man to conceal his thoughts4' ,yet ,i do not know that the greatest hypocrites are the least silent4 ,the mouth of ,cromwell is pursed up in the portraits of him1 as if he was afraid to trust himself with words4 ,lord ,chesterfield advises us1 if we wish to know the real sentiments of the person we are conversing with1 to look in his face1 for he can more easily command his words than his features4 ,a man's whole life may be a lie to himself and others3 and yet a picture painted of him by a great artist would probably stamp his true character on the canvas1 and betray the secret to posterity4 ,men's opinions were divided1 in their life-times1 about such prominent personages as ,charles ,v4 and ,ignatius ,loyola1 partly1 no doubt1 from passion and interest1 but partly from contradictory evidence in their ostensible conduct3 the spectator1 who has ever seen their pictures by ,titian1 judges of them at once1 and truly4 ,i had rather leave a good portrait of myself behind me than have a fine epitaph4 ,the face1 for the most part1 tells what we have thought and felt--the rest is nothing4 ,i have a higher idea of ,donne from a rude1 half-effaced outline of him prefixed to his poems than from any thing he ever wrote4 ,csar's ,commentaries would not have redeemed him in my opinion1 if the bust of him had resembled the ,duke of --4 ,my old friend1 ,fawcett1 used to say1 that if ,sir ,isaac ,newton himself had lisped1 he could not have thought any thing of him4 ,so ,i cannot persuade myself that any one is a great man1 who looks like a fool4 ,in this ,i may be wrong4 ,first impressions are often the truest1 as we find 7not unfrequently7 to our cost1 when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or actions4 ,a man's look is the work of years1 it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life1 nay1 more1 by the hand of nature1 and it is not to be got rid of easily4 ,there is1 as it has been remarked repeatedly1 something in a person's appearance at first sight which we do not like1 and that gives us an odd twinge1 but which is overlooked in a multiplicity of other circumstances1 till the mask is taken off1 and we see this lurking character verified in the plainest manner in the sequel4 ,we are struck at first1 and by chance1 with what is peculiar and characteristic2 also with permanent traits and general effect3 this afterwards goes off in a set of unmeaning1 common-place details4 ,this sort of prima facie evidence then1 shows what a man is1 better than what he says or does2 for it shows us the habit of his mind1 which is the same under all circumstances and disguises4 ,you will say1 on the other hand1 that there is no judging by appearances1 as a general rule4 ,no one1 for instance1 would take such a person for a very clever man1 without knowing who he was4 ,then1 ten to one1 he is not2 he may have got the reputation1 but it is a mistake4 ,you say1 there is ,mr4 --1 undoubtedly a person of great genius3 yet1 except when excited by something extraordinary1 he seems half dead4 ,he has wit at will1 yet wants life and spirit4 ,he is capable of the most generous acts1 yet meanness seems to cling to every motion4 ,he looks like a poor creature--and in truth he is one6 ,the first impression he gives you of him answers nearly to the feeling he has of his personal identity2 and this image of himself1 rising from his thoughts1 and shrouding his faculties1 is that which sits with him in the house1 walks out with him into the street1 and haunts his bed-side4 ,the best part of his existence is dull1 cloudy1 leaden3 the flashes of light that proceed from it1 or streak it here and there1 may dazzle others1 but do not deceive himself4 ,modesty is the lowest of the virtues1 and is a real confession of the deficiency it indicates4 ,he who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others4 ,whatever good properties he may possess are1 in fact1 neutralised by a #8cold rheum' running through his veins1 and taking away the zest of his pretensions1 the pith and marrow of his performances4 ,what is it to me that ,i can write these ,,table-,,talks8 ,it is true ,i can1 by a reluctant effort1 rake up a parcel of half-forgotten observations1 but they do not float on the surface of my mind1 nor stir it with any sense of pleasure1 nor even of pride4 ,others have more property in them than ,i have3 they may reap the benefit1 ,i have only had the pain4 ,otherwise1 they are to me as if they had never existed3 nor should ,i know that ,i had ever thought at all1 but that ,i am reminded of it by the strangeness of my appearance1 and my unfitness for every thing else4 ,look in ,c--'s face while he is talking4 ,his words are such as might #8create a soul under the ribs of death4' ,his face is a blank4 ,which are we to consider as the true index of his mind8 ,pain1 languor1 shadowy remembrances1 are the uneasy inmates there3 his lips move mechanically6 ,there are people that we do not like1 though we may have known them long1 and have no fault to find with them1 #8their appearance1 as we say1 is so much against them4' ,that is not all1 if we could find it out4 ,there is1 generally1 a reason for this prejudice2 for nature is true to itself4 ,they may be very good sort of people1 too1 in their way1 but still something is the matter4 ,there is a coldness1 a selfishness1 a levity1 an insincerity1 which we cannot fix upon any particular phrase or action1 but we see it in their whole persons and deportment4 ,one reason that we do not see it in any other way may be1 that they are all the time trying to conceal this defect by every means in their power4 ,there is1 luckily1 a sort of second sight in morals3 we discern the lurking indications of temper and habit a long while before their palpable effects appear4 ,i once used to meet with a person at an ordinary1 a very civil1 good-looking man in other respects1 but with an odd look about his eyes1 which ,i could not explain1 as if he saw you under their fringed lids1 and you could not see him again3 this man was a common sharper4 ,the greatest hypocrite ,i ever knew was a little1 demure1 pretty1 modest-looking girl1 with eyes timidly cast upon the ground1 and an air soft as enchantment2 the only circumstance that could lead to a suspicion of her true character was a cold1 sullen1 watery1 glazed look about the eyes1 which she bent on vacancy1 as if determined to avoid all explanation with yours4 ,i might have spied in their glittering1 motionless surface1 the rocks and quicksands that awaited me below6 ,we do not feel quite at ease in the company or friendship of those who have any natural obliquity or imperfection of person4 ,the reason is1 they are not on the best terms with themselves1 and are sometimes apt to play off on others the tricks that nature has played them4 ,this1 however1 is a remark that1 perhaps1 ought not to have been made4 ,i know a person to whom it has been objected as a disqualification for friendship1 that he never shakes you cordially by the hand4 ,i own this is a damper to sanguine and florid temperaments1 who abound in these practical demonstrations and #8compliments extern4' ,the same person1 who testifies the least pleasure at meeting you1 is the last to quit his seat in your company1 grapples with a subject in conversation right earnestly1 and is1 ,i take it1 backward to give up a cause or a friend4 ,cold and distant in appearance1 he piques himself on being the king of good haters1 and a no less zealous partisan4 ,the most phlegmatic constitutions often contain the most inflammable spirits--as fire is struck from the hardest flints4 ,and this is another reason that makes it difficult to judge of character4 ,extremes meet2 and qualities display themselves by the most contradictory appearances4 ,any inclination1 in consequence of being generally suppressed1 vents itself the more violently when an opportunity presents itself3 the greatest grossness sometimes accompanies the greatest refinement1 as a natural relief1 one to the other2 and we find the most reserved and indifferent tempers at the beginning of an entertainment1 or an acquaintance1 turn out the most communicative and cordial at the end of it4 ,some spirits exhaust themselves at first3 others gain strength by progression4 ,some minds have a greater facility of throwing off impressions1 are1 as it were1 more transparent or porous than others4 ,thus the ,french present a marked contrast to the ,english in this respect4 ,a ,frenchman addresses you at once with a sort of lively indifference3 an ,englishman is more on his guard1 feels his way1 and is either exceedingly reserved1 or lets you into his whole confidence1 which he cannot so well impart to an entire stranger4 ,again1 a ,frenchman is naturally humane3 an ,englishman is1 ,i should say1 only friendly by habit4 ,his virtues and his vices cost him more than they do his more gay and volatile neighbours4 ,an ,englishman is said to speak his mind more plainly than others3--yes1 if it will give you pain to hear it4 ,he does not care whom he offends by his discourse3 a foreigner generally strives to oblige in what he says4 ,the ,french are accused of promising more than they perform4 ,that may be1 and yet they may perform as many good-natured acts as the ,english1 if the latter are as averse to perform as they are to promise4 ,even the professions of the ,french may be sincere at the time1 or arise out of the impulse of the moment2 though their desire to serve you may be neither very violent nor very lasting4 ,i cannot think1 notwithstanding1 that the ,french are not a serious people2 nay1 that they are not a more reflecting people than the common run of the ,english4 ,let those who think them merely light and mercurial1 explain that enigma1 their everlasting prosing tragedy4 ,the ,english are considered as comparatively a slow1 plodding people4 ,if the ,french are quicker1 they are also more plodding4 ,see1 for example1 how highly finished and elaborate their works of art are6 ,how systematic and correct they aim at being in all their productions of a graver cast6 #8,if the ,french have a fault1' as ,yorick said1 #8it is that they are too grave4' ,with wit1 sense1 cheerfulness1 patience1 good-nature and refinement of manners1 all they want is imagination and sturdiness of moral principle6 ,such are some of the contradictions in the character of the two nations1 and so little does the character of either appear to have been understood6 ,nothing can be more ridiculous indeed than the way in which we exaggerate each other's vices and extenuate our own4 ,the whole is an affair of prejudice on one side of the question1 and of partiality on the other4 ,travellers who set out to carry back a true report of the case appear to lose not only the use of their understandings1 but of their senses1 the instant they set foot in a foreign land4 ,the commonest facts and appearances are distorted1 and discoloured4 ,they go abroad with certain preconceived notions on the subject1 and they make every thing answer1 in reason's spite1 to their favourite theory4 ,in addition to the difficulty of explaining customs and manners foreign to our own1 there are all the obstacles of wilful prepossession thrown in the way4 ,it is not1 therefore1 much to be wondered at that nations have arrived at so little knowledge of one another's characters2 and that1 where the object has been to widen the breach between them1 any slight differences that occur are easily blown into a blaze of fury by repeated misrepresentations1 and all the exaggerations that malice or folly can invent6 ,this ignorance of character is not confined to foreign nations3 we are ignorant of that of our own countrymen in a class a little below or above ourselves4 ,we shall hardly pretend to pronounce magisterially on the good or bad qualities of strangers2 and1 at the same time1 we are ignorant of those of our friends1 of our kindred1 and of our own4 ,we are in all these cases either too near or too far off the object to judge of it properly4 ,persons1 for instance1 in a higher or middle rank of life know little or nothing of the characters of those below them1 as servants1 country people1 c4 ,i would lay it down in the first place as a general rule on this subject1 that all uneducated people are hypocrites4 ,their sole business is to deceive4 ,they conceive themselves in a state of hostility with others1 and stratagems are fair in war4 ,the inmates of the kitchen and the parlour are always 7as far as respects their feeling and intentions towards each other7 in ,hobbes's #8state of nature4' ,servants and others in that line of life have nothing to exercise their spare talents for invention upon but those about them4 ,their superfluous electrical particles of wit and fancy are not carried off by those established and fashionable conductors1 novels and romances4 ,their faculties are not buried in books1 but all alive and stirring1 erect and bristling like a cat's back4 ,their coarse conversation sparkles with #8wild wit1 invention ever new4' ,their betters try all they can to set themselves up above them1 and they try all they can to pull them down to their own level4 ,they do this by getting up a little comic interlude1 a daily1 domestic1 homely drama out of the odds and ends of the family failings1 of which there is in general a pretty plentiful supply1 or make up the deficiency of materials out of their own heads4 ,they turn the qualities of their masters and mistresses inside out1 and any real kindness or condescension only sets them the more against you4 ,they are not to be taken in in that way--they will not be baulked in the spite they have to you4 ,they only set to work with redoubled alacrity1 to lessen the favour or to blacken your character4 ,they feel themselves like a degraded caste1 and cannot understand how the obligations can be all on one side1 and the advantages all on the other4 ,you cannot come to equal terms with them--they reject all such overtures as insidious and hollow--nor can you ever calculate upon their gratitude or good-will1 any more than if they were so many strolling ,gipsies or wild ,indians4 ,they have no fellow-feeling1 they keep no faith with the more privileged classes4 ,they are in your power1 and they endeavour to be even with you by trick and cunning1 by lying and chicanery4 ,in this they have nothing to restrain them4 ,their whole life is a succession of shifts1 excuses1 and expedients4 ,the love of truth is a principle with those only who have made it their study1 who have applied themselves to the pursuit of some art or science1 where the intellect is severely tasked1 and learns by habit to take a pride in1 and to set a just value on1 the correctness of its conclusions4 ,to have a disinterested regard to truth1 the mind must have contemplated it in abstract and remote questions2 whereas the ignorant and vulgar are only conversant with those things in which their own interest is concerned4 ,all their notions are local1 personal1 and consequently gross and selfish4 ,they say whatever comes uppermost--turn whatever happens to their own account--and invent any story1 or give any answer that suits their purposes4 ,instead of being bigoted to general principles1 they trump up any lie for the occasion1 and the more of a thumper it is1 the better they like it2 the more unlooked-for it is1 why1 so much the more of a ,god-send6 ,they have no conscience about the matter2 and if you find them out in any of their manuvres1 are not ashamed of themselves1 but angry with you4 ,if you remonstrate with them1 they laugh in your face4 ,the only hold you have of them is their interest--you can but dismiss them from your employment2 and service is no inheritance4 ,if they affect any thing like decent remorse1 and hope you will pass it over1 all the while they are probably trying to recover the wind of you4 ,persons of liberal knowledge or sentiments have no kind of chance in this sort of mixed intercourse with these barbarians in civilised life4 ,you cannot tell1 by any signs or principles1 what is passing in their minds4 ,there is no common point of view between you4 ,you have not the same topics to refer to1 the same language to express yourself4 ,your interests1 your feelings are quite distinct4 ,you take certain things for granted as rules of action3 they take nothing for granted but their own ends1 pick up all their knowledge out of their own occasions1 are on the watch only for what they can catch--are #8,subtle as the fox for prey3 ,like warlike as the wolf1 for what they eat4' ,they have indeed a regard to their character1 as this last may affect their livelihood or advancement1 none as it is connected with a sense of propriety2 and this sets their mother-wit and native talents at work upon a double file of expedients1 to bilk their consciences1 and salve their reputation4 ,in short1 you never know where to have them1 any more than if they were of a different species of animals2 and in trusting to them1 you are sure to be betrayed and over-reached4 ,you have other things to mind1 they are thinking only of you1 and how to turn you to advantage4 ,give and take is no maxim here4 ,you can build nothing on your own moderation or on their false delicacy4 ,after a familiar conversation with a waiter at a tavern1 you overhear him calling you by some provoking nickname4 ,if you make a present to the daughter of the house where you lodge1 the mother is sure to recollect some addition to her bill4 ,it is a running fight4 ,in fact1 there is a principle in human nature not willingly to endure the idea of a superior1 a sour jacobinical disposition to wipe out the score of obligation1 or efface the tinsel of external advantages--and where others have the opportunity of coming in contact with us1 they generally find the means to establish a sufficiently marked degree of degrading equality4 ,no man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre1 is an old maxim4 ,a new illustration of this principle occurred the other day4 ,while ,mrs4 ,siddons was giving her readings of ,shakespear to a brilliant and admiring drawing-room1 one of the servants in the hall below was saying1 #8,what1 ,i find the old lady is making as much noise as ever6' ,so little is there in common between the different classes of society1 and so impossible is it ever to unite the diversities of custom and knowledge which separate them4 ,women1 according to ,mrs4 ,peachum1 are #8bitter bad judges' of the characters of men2 and men are not much better of theirs1 if we can form any guess from their choice in marriage4 ,love is proverbially blind4 ,the whole is an affair of whim and fancy4 ,certain it is1 that the greatest favourites with the other sex are not those who are most liked or respected among their own4 ,i never knew but one clever man who was what is called a lady's man2 and he 7unfortunately for the argument7 happened to be a considerable coxcomb4 ,it was by this irresistible quality1 and not by the force of his genius1 that he vanquished4 ,women seem to doubt their own judgments in love1 and to take the opinion which a man entertains of his own prowess and accomplishments for granted4 ,the wives of poets are 7for the most part7 mere pieces of furniture in the room4 ,if you speak to them of their husbands' talents or reputation in the world1 it is as if you made mention of some office that they held4 ,it can hardly be otherwise1 when the instant any subject is started or conversation arises1 in which men are interested1 or try one another's strength1 the women leave the room1 or attend to something else4 ,the qualities then in which men are ambitious to excel1 and which ensure the applause of the world1 eloquence1 genius1 learning1 integrity1 are not those which gain the favour of the fair4 ,i must not deny1 however1 that wit and courage have this effect4 ,neither is youth or beauty the sole passport to their affections4 #8,the way of woman's will is hard to find1 ,harder to hit4' ,yet there is some clue to this mystery1 some determining cause2 for we find that the same men are universal favourites with women1 as others are uniformly disliked by them4 ,is not the loadstone that attracts so powerfully1 and in all circumstances1 a strong and undisguised bias towards them1 a marked attention1 a conscious preference of them to every other passing object or topic8 ,i am not sure1 but ,i incline to think so4 ,the successful lover is the cavalier servente of all nations4 ,the man of gallantry behaves as if he had made an assignation with every woman he addresses4 ,an argument immediately draws off my attention from the prettiest woman in the room4 ,i accordingly succeed better in argument--than in love6--,i do not think that what is called ,love at first sight is so great an absurdity as it is sometimes imagined to be4 ,we generally make up our minds beforehand to the sort of person we should like1 grave or gay1 black1 brown1 or fair2 with golden tresses or with raven locks2--and when we meet with a complete example of the qualities we admire1 the bargain is soon struck4 ,we have never seen any thing to come up to our newly discovered goddess before1 but she is what we have been all our lives looking for4 ,the idol we fall down and worship is an image familiar to our minds4 ,it has been present to our waking thoughts1 it has haunted us in our dreams1 like some fairy vision4 ,oh6 thou1 who1 the first time ,i ever beheld thee1 didst draw my soul into the circle of thy heavenly looks1 and wave enchantment round me1 do not think thy conquest less complete because it was instantaneous2 for in that gentle form 7as if another ,imogen had entered7 ,i saw all that ,i had ever loved of female grace1 modesty1 and sweetness6 ,i shall not say much of friendship as giving an insight into character1 because it is often founded on mutual infirmities and prejudices4 ,friendships are frequently taken up on some sudden sympathy1 and we see only as much as we please of one another's characters afterwards4 ,intimate friends are not fair witnesses to character1 any more than professed enemies4 ,they cool1 indeed1 in time1 part1 and retain only a rankling grudge at past errors and oversights4 ,their testimony in the latter case is not quite free from suspicion4 ,one would think that near relations1 who live constantly together1 and always have done so1 must be pretty well acquainted with one another's characters4 ,they are nearly in the dark about it4 ,familiarity confounds all traits of distinction3 interest and prejudice take away the power of judging4 ,we have no opinion on the subject1 any more than of one another's faces4 ,the ,penates1 the household-gods1 are veiled4 ,we do not see the features of those we love1 nor do we clearly distinguish their virtues or their vices4 ,we take them as they are found in the lump3--by weight1 and not by measure4 ,we know all about the individuals1 their sentiments1 history1 manners1 words1 actions1 every thing3 but we know all these too much as facts1 as inveterate1 habitual impressions1 as clothed with too many associations1 as sanctified with too many affections1 as woven too much into the web of our hearts1 to be able to pick out the different threads1 to cast up the items of the debtor and creditor account1 or to refer them to any general standard of right and wrong4 ,our impressions with respect to them are too strong1 too real1 too much sui generis1 to be capable of a comparison with any thing but themselves4 ,we hardly inquire whether those for whom we are thus interested1 and to whom we are thus knit1 are better or worse than others--the question is a kind of profanation--all we know is1 they are more to us than any one else can be4 ,our sentiments of this kind are rooted and grow in us1 and we cannot eradicate them by voluntary means4 ,besides1 our judgments are bespoke1 our interests take part with our blood4 ,if any doubt arises1 if the veil of our implicit confidence is drawn aside by any accident for a moment1 the shock is too great1 like that of a dislocated limb1 and we recoil on our habitual impressions again4 ,let not that veil ever be rent entirely asunder1 so that those images may be left bare of reverential awe1 and lose their religion3 for nothing can ever support the desolation of the heart afterwards4 ,the greatest misfortune that can happen among relations is a different way of bringing up1 so as to set one another's opinions and characters in an entirely new point of view4 ,this often lets in an unwelcome day-light on the subject1 and breeds schisms1 coldness1 and incurable heart-burnings in families4 ,i have sometimes thought whether the progress of society and march of knowledge does not do more harm in this respect1 by loosening the ties of domestic attachment1 and preventing those who are most interested in1 and anxious to think well of one another1 from feeling a cordial sympathy and approbation of each other's sentiments1 manners1 views1 c4 than it does good by any real advantage to the community at large4 ,the son1 for instance1 is brought up to the church1 and nothing can exceed the pride and pleasure the father takes in him1 while all goes on well in this favourite direction4 ,his notions change1 and he imbibes a taste for the ,fine ,arts4 ,from this moment there is an end of any thing like the same unreserved communication between them4 ,the young man may talk with enthusiasm of his #8,rembrandts1 ,correggios1 and stuff3' it is all ,hebrew to the elder2 and whatever satisfaction he may feel in hearing of his son's progress1 or good wishes for his success1 he is never reconciled to the new pursuit1 he still hankers after the first object that he had set his mind upon4 ,again1 the grandfather is a ,calvinist1 who never gets the better of his disappointment at his son's going over to the ,unitarian side of the question4 ,the matter rests here1 till the grandson1 some years after1 in the fashion of the day and #8infinite agitation of men's wit1' comes to doubt certain points in the creed in which he has been brought up1 and the affair is all abroad again4 ,here are three generations made uncomfortable and in a manner set at variance1 by a veering point of theology1 and the officious meddling biblical critics6 ,nothing1 on the other hand1 can be more wretched or common than that upstart pride and insolent good fortune which is ashamed of its origin2 nor are there many things more awkward than the situation of rich and poor relations4 ,happy1 much happier1 are those tribes and people who are confined to the same caste and way of life from sire to son1 where prejudices are transmitted like instincts1 and where the same unvarying standard of opinion and refinement blends countless generations in its improgressive1 everlasting mould6 ,not only is there a wilful and habitual blindness in near kindred to each other's defects1 but an incapacity to judge from the quantity of materials1 from the contradictoriness of the evidence4 ,the chain of particulars is too long and massy for us to lift it or put it into the most approved ethical scales4 ,the concrete result does not answer to any abstract theory1 to any logical definition4 ,there is black1 and white1 and grey1 square and round--there are too many anomalies1 too many redeeming points1 in poor human nature1 such as it actually is1 for us to arrive at a smart1 summary decision on it4 ,we know too much to come to any hasty or partial conclusion4 ,we do not pronounce upon the present act1 because a hundred others rise up to contradict it4 ,we suspend our judgments altogether1 because in effect one thing unconsciously balances another2 and perhaps this obstinate1 pertinacious indecision would be the truest philosophy in other cases1 where we dispose of the question of character easily1 because we have only the smallest part of the evidence to decide upon4 ,real character is not one thing1 but a thousand things2 actual qualities do not conform to any factitious standard in the mind1 but rest upon their own truth and nature4 ,the dull stupor under which we labour in respect of those whom we have the greatest opportunities of inspecting nearly1 we should do well to imitate1 before we give extreme and uncharitable verdicts against those whom we only see in passing1 or at a distance4 ,if we knew them better1 we should be disposed to say less about them4 ,in the truth of things1 there are none utterly worthless1 none without some drawback on their pretensions1 or some alloy of imperfection4 ,it has been observed that a familiarity with the worst characters lessens our abhorrence of them2 and a wonder is often expressed that the greatest criminals look like other men4 ,the reason is that they are like other men in many respects4 ,if a particular individual was merely the wretch we read of1 or conceive in the abstract1 that is1 if he was the mere personified idea of the criminal brought to the bar1 he would not disappoint the spectator1 but would look like what he would be--a monster6 ,but he has other qualities1 ideas1 feelings1 nay1 probably virtues1 mixed up with the most profligate habits or desperate acts4 ,this need not lessen our abhorrence of the crime1 though it does of the criminal2 for it has the latter effect only by showing him to us in different points of view1 in which he appears a common mortal1 and not the caricature of vice we took him for1 or spotted all over with infamy4 ,i do not at the same time think this a lax or dangerous1 though it is a charitable view of the subject4 ,in my opinion1 no man ever answered in his own mind 7except in the agonies of conscience or of repentance1 in which latter case he throws the imputation from himself in another way7 to the abstract idea of a murderer4 ,he may have killed a man in self-defence1 or #8in the trade of war1' or to save himself from starving1 or in revenge for an injury1 but always #8so as with a difference1' or from mixed and questionable motives4 ,the individual1 in reckoning with himself1 always takes into the account the considerations of time1 place1 and circumstance1 and never makes out a case of unmitigated1 unprovoked villany1 of #8pure defecated evil' against himself4 ,there are degrees in real crimes3 we reason and moralise only by names and in classes4 ,i should be loth1 indeed1 to say1 that #8whatever is1 is right3' but almost every actual choice inclines to it1 with some sort of imperfect1 unconscious bias4 ,this is the reason1 besides the ends of secresy1 of the invention of slang terms for different acts of profligacy committed by thieves1 pickpockets1 c4 ,the common names suggest associations of disgust in the minds of others1 which those who live by them do not willingly recognise1 and which they wish to sink in a technical phraseology4 ,so there is a story of a fellow who1 as he was writing down his confession of a murder1 stopped to ask how the word murder was spelt2 this1 if true1 was partly because his imagination was staggered by the recollection of the thing1 and partly because he shrunk from the verbal admission of it4 #8,amen stuck in his throat6' ,the defence made by ,eugene ,aram of himself against a charge of murder1 some years before1 shows that he in imagination completely flung from himself the nominal crime imputed to him3 he might1 indeed1 have staggered an old man with a blow1 and buried his body in a cave1 and lived ever since upon the money he found upon him1 but there was #8no malice in the case1 none at all1' as ,peachum says4 ,the very coolness1 subtlety1 and circumspection of his defence 7as masterly a legal document as there is upon record7 prove that he was guilty of the act1 as much as they prove that he was unconscious of the crime4#hc ,in the same spirit1 and ,i conceive with great metaphysical truth1 ,mr4 ,coleridge1 in his tragedy of ,remorse1 makes ,ordonio 7his chief character7 wave the acknowledgment of his meditated guilt to his own mind1 by putting into his mouth that striking soliloquy3 ,say1 ,i had lay'd a body in the sun6 ,well6 in a month there swarm forth from the corse ,a thousand1 nay1 ten thousand sentient beings ,in place of that one man4 ,say ,i had kill'd him6 ,yet who shall tell me1 that each one and all ,of these ten thousand lives is not as happy ,as that one life1 which being push'd aside1 ,made room for these unnumber'd4--,,act ,,ii4 ,,sc4 ,,ii4 ,i am not sure1 indeed1 that ,i have not got this whole train of speculation from him2 but ,i should not think the worse of it on that account4 ,that gentleman1 ,i recollect1 once asked me whether ,i thought that the different members of a family really liked one another so well1 or had so much attachment as was generally supposed3 and ,i said that ,i conceived the regard they had towards each other was expressed by the word interest1 rather than by any other2 which he said was the true answer4 ,i do not know that ,i could mend it now4 ,natural affection is not pleasure in one another's company1 nor admiration of one another's qualities2 but it is an intimate and deep knowledge of the things that affect those1 to whom we are bound by the nearest ties1 with pleasure or pain2 it is an anxious1 uneasy1 fellow-feeling with them1 a jealous watchfulness over their good name1 a tender and unconquerable yearning for their good4 ,the love1 in short1 we bear them1 is the nearest to that we bear ourselves4 ,home1 according to the old saying1 is home1 be it never so homely4 ,we love ourselves1 not according to our deserts1 but our cravings after good3 so we love our immediate relations in the next degree 7if not1 even sometimes a higher one7 because we know best what they have suffered and what sits nearest to their hearts4 ,we are implicated1 in fact1 in their welfare1 by habit and sympathy1 as we are in our own4 ,if our devotion to our own interests is much the same as to theirs1 we are ignorant of our own characters for the same reason4 ,we are parties too much concerned to return a fair verdict1 and are too much in the secret of our own motives or situation not to be able to give a favourable turn to our actions4 ,we exercise a liberal criticism upon ourselves1 and put off the final decision to a late day4 ,the field is large and open4 ,hamlet exclaims1 with a noble magnanimity1 #8,i count myself indifferent honest1 and yet ,i could accuse me of such things6' ,if you could prove to a man that he is a knave1 it would not make much difference in his opinion1 his self-love is stronger than his love of virtue4 ,hypocrisy is generally used as a mask to deceive the world1 not to impose on ourselves3 for once detect the delinquent in his knavery1 and he laughs in your face or glories in his iniquity4 ,this at least happens except where there is a contradiction in the character1 and our vices are involuntary1 and at variance with our convictions4 ,one great difficulty is to distinguish ostensible motives1 or such as we acknowledge to ourselves1 from tacit or secret springs of action4 ,a man changes his opinion readily1 he thinks it candour3 it is levity of mind4 ,for the most part1 we are stunned and stupid in judging of ourselves4 ,we are callous by custom to our defects or excellencies1 unless where vanity steps in to exaggerate or extenuate them4 ,i cannot conceive how it is that people are in love with their own persons1 or astonished at their own performances1 which are but a nine days' wonder to every one else4 ,in general it may be laid down that we are liable to this two-fold mistake in judging of our own talents3 we1 in the first place1 nurse the rickety bantling1 we think much of that which has cost us much pains and labour1 and comes against the grain2 and we also set little store by what we do with most ease to ourselves1 and therefore best4 ,the works of the greatest genius are produced almost unconsciously1 with an ignorance on the part of the persons themselves that they have done any thing extraordinary4 ,nature has done it for them4 ,how little ,shakespear seems to have thought of himself or of his fame6 ,yet1 if #8to know another well1 were to know one's self1' he must have been acquainted with his own pretensions and character1 #8who knew all qualities with a learned spirit4' ,his eye seems never to have been bent upon himself1 but outwards upon nature4 ,a man1 who thinks highly of himself1 may almost set it down that it is without reason4 ,milton1 notwithstanding1 appears to have had a high opinion of himself1 and to have made it good4 ,he was conscious of his powers1 and great by design4 ,perhaps his tenaciousness1 on the score of his own merit1 might arise from an early habit of polemical writing1 in which his pretensions were continually called to the bar of prejudice and party-spirit1 and he had to plead not guilty to the indictment4 ,some men have died unconscious of immortality1 as others have almost exhausted the sense of it in their life-times4 ,correggio might be mentioned as an instance of the one1 ,voltaire of the other4 ,there is nothing that helps a man in his conduct through life more than a knowledge of his own characteristic weaknesses 7which1 guarded against1 become his strength71 as there is nothing that tends more to the success of a man's talents than his knowing the limits of his faculties1 which are thus concentrated on some practicable object4 ,one man can do but one thing4 ,universal pretensions end in nothing4 ,or1 as ,butler has it1 too much wit requires #8,as much again to govern it4' ,there are those who have gone1 for want of this self-knowledge1 strangely out of their way1 and others who have never found it4 ,we find many who succeed in certain departments1 and are yet melancholy and dissatisfied1 because they failed in the one to which they first devoted themselves1 like discarded lovers1 who pine after their scornful mistress4 ,i will conclude with observing1 that authors in general overrate the extent and value of posthumous fame3 for what 7as it has been asked7 is the amount even of ,shakespear's fame8 ,that in that very country which boasts his genius and his birth1 perhaps1 scarce one person in ten has ever heard of his name1 or read a syllable of his writings6 ,,essay ,,xxxii ,,on ,,the ,,picturesque ,,and ,,ideal ,a ,,fragment ,the natural in visible objects is whatever is ordinarily presented to the senses3 the picturesque is that which stands out1 and catches the attention by some striking peculiarity3 the ideal is that which answers to the preconceived imagination and appetite in the mind for love and beauty4 ,the picturesque depends chiefly on the principle of discrimination or contrast2 the ideal on harmony and continuity of effect3 the one surprises1 the other satisfies the mind2 the one starts off from a given point1 the other reposes on itself2 the one is determined by an excess of form1 the other by a concentration of feeling4 ,the picturesque may be considered as something like an excrescence on the face of nature4 ,it runs imperceptibly into the fantastical and grotesque4 ,fairies and satyrs are picturesque2 but they are scarcely ideal4 ,they are an extreme and unique conception of a certain thing1 but not of what the mind delights in1 or broods fondly over4 ,the image created by the artist's hand is not moulded and fashioned by the love of good and yearning after grace and beauty1 but rather the contrary3 that is1 they are idea deformity1 not ideal beauty4 ,rubens was perhaps the most picturesque of painters2 but he was almost the least ideal4 ,so ,rembrandt was 7out of sight7 the most picturesque of colourists2 as ,correggio was the most ideal4 ,in other words1 his composition of light and shade is more a whole1 more in unison1 more blended into the same harmonious feeling than ,rembrandt's1 who staggers by contrast1 but does not soothe by gradation4 ,correggio's forms1 indeed1 had a picturesque air2 for they often incline 7even when most beautiful7 to the quaintness of caricature4 ,vandyke1 ,i think1 was at once the least picturesque and least ideal of all the great painters4 ,he was purely natural1 and neither selected from outward forms nor added any thing from his own mind4 ,he owes every thing to perfect truth1 clearness1 and transparency2 and though his productions certainly arrest the eye1 and strike in a room full of pictures1 it is from the contrast they present to other pictures1 and from being stripped quite naked of all artificial advantages4 ,they strike almost as a piece of white paper would1 hung up in the same situation4--,i began with saying that whatever stands out from a given line1 and as it were projects upon the eye1 is picturesque2 and this holds true 7comparatively7 in form and colour4 ,a rough terrier-dog1 with the hair bristled and matted together1 is picturesque4 ,as we say1 there is a decided character in it1 a marked determination to an extreme point4 ,a shock-dog is odd and disagreeable1 but there is nothing picturesque in its appearance3 it is a mere mass of flimsy confusion4 ,a goat with projecting horns and pendent beard is a picturesque animal3 a sheep is not4 ,a horse is only picturesque from opposition of colour2 as in ,mr4 ,northcote's study of ,gadshill1 where the white horse's head coming against the dark scowling face of the man makes as fine a contrast as can be imagined4 ,an old stump of a tree with rugged bark1 and one or two straggling branches1 a little stunted hedge-row line1 marking the boundary of the horizon1 a stubble-field1 a winding path1 a rock seen against the sky1 are picturesque1 because they have all of them prominence and a distinctive character of their own4 ,they are not objects 7to borrow ,shakespear's phrase7 #8of no mark or likelihood4' ,a country may be beautiful1 romantic1 or sublime1 without being picturesque4 ,the ,lakes in the ,north of ,england are not picturesque1 though certainly the most interesting sight in this country4 ,to be a subject for painting1 a prospect must present sharp striking points of view or singular forms1 or one object must relieve and set off another4 ,there must be distinct stages and salient points for the eye to rest upon or start from1 in its progress over the expanse before it4 ,the distance of a landscape will oftentimes look flat or heavy1 that the trunk of a tree or a ruin in the foreground would immediately throw into perspective and turn to air4 ,rembrandt's landscapes are the least picturesque in the world1 except from the strait lines and sharp angles1 the deep incision and dragging of his pencil1 like a harrow over the ground1 and the broad contrast of earth and sky4 ,earth1 in his copies1 is rough and hairy2 and ,pan has struck his hoof against it6--,a camel is a picturesque ornament in a landscape or history-piece4 ,this is not merely from its romantic and oriental character2 for an elephant has not the same effect1 and if introduced as a necessary appendage1 is also an unwieldy incumbrance4 ,a negro's head in a group is picturesque from contrast3 so are the spots on a panther's hide4 ,this was the principle that ,paul ,veronese went upon1 who said the rule for composition was black upon white1 and white upon black4 ,he was a pretty good judge4 ,his celebrated picture of the ,marriage of ,cana is in all likelihood the completest piece of workmanship extant in the art4 ,when ,i saw it1 it nearly covered one side of a large room in the ,louvre 7being itself forty feet by twenty7--and it seemed as if that side of the apartment was thrown open1 and you looked out at the open sky1 at buildings1 marble pillars1 galleries with people in them1 emperors1 female slaves1 ,turks1 negroes1 musicians1 all the famous painters of the time1 the tables loaded with viands1 goblets1 and dogs under them--a sparkling1 overwhelming confusion1 a bright1 unexpected reality--the only fault you could find was that no miracle was going on in the faces of the spectators3 the only miracle there was the picture itself6 ,a ,french gentleman1 who showed me this #8triumph of painting' 7as it has been called71 perceiving ,i was struck with it1 observed1 #8,my wife admires it exceedingly for the facility of the execution4' ,i took this proof of sympathy for a compliment4 ,it is said that when ,humboldt1 the celebrated traveller and naturalist1 was introduced to ,buonaparte1 the ,emperor addressed him in these words--#8,vous aimez1 la botanique1 ,monsieur'--and on the other's replying in the affirmative1 added--#8,et ma femme aussi6' ,this has been found fault with as a piece of brutality and insolence in the great man by bigoted critics1 who do not know what a thing it is to get a ,frenchwoman to agree with them in any point4 ,for my part1 ,i took the observation as it was meant1 and it did not put me out of conceit with myself or the picture that ,madame ,m-- liked it as well as ,monsieur l',anglois4 ,certainly1 there could be no harm in that4 ,by the side of it happened to be hung two allegorical pictures of ,rubens 7and in such matters he too was #8no baby#hd'7--;,i don't remember what the figures were1 but the texture seemed of wool or cotton4 ,the texture of the ,paul ,veronese was not wool or cotton1 but stuff1 jewels1 flesh1 marble1 air1 whatever composed the essence of the varied subjects1 in endless relief and truth of handling4 ,if the ,fleming had seen his two allegories hanging where they did1 he would1 without a question1 have wished them far enough4 ,i imagine that ,rubens's landscapes are picturesque3 ,claude's are ideal4 ,rubens is always in extremes3 ,claude in the middle4 ,rubens carries some one peculiar quality or feature of nature to the utmost verge of probability3 ,claude balances and harmonises different forms and masses with laboured delicacy1 so that nothing falls short1 no one thing overpowers another4 ,rainbows1 showers1 partial gleams of sunshine1 moonlight1 are the means with which ,rubens produces his most gorgeous and enchanting effects3 there are neither rainbows1 nor showers1 nor sudden bursts of sunshine1 nor glittering moon-beams in ,claude4 ,he is all softness and proportion2 the other is all spirit and brilliant excess4 ,the two sides 7for example7 of one of ,claude's landscapes balance one another1 as in a scale of beauty3 in ,rubens the several objects are grouped and thrown together with capricious wantonness4 ,claude has more repose3 ,rubens more gaiety and extravagance4 ,and here it might be asked1 ,is a rainbow a picturesque or an ideal object8 ,it seems to me to be both4 ,it is an accident in nature2 but it is an inmate of the fancy4 ,it startles and surprises the sense1 but it soothes and tranquillises the spirit4 ,it makes the eye glisten to behold it1 but the mind turns to it long after it has faded from its place in the sky4 ,it has both properties then of giving an extraordinary impulse to the mind by the singularity of its appearance1 and of riveting the imagination by its intense beauty4 ,i may just notice here in passing1 that ,i think the effect of moonlight is treated in an ideal manner in the well-known line in ,shakespear-- #8,see how the moonlight sleeps upon yon bank6' ,the image is heightened by the exquisiteness of the expression beyond its natural beauty1 and it seems as if there could be no end to the delight taken in it4--,a number of sheep coming to a pool of water to drink1 with shady trees in the back-ground1 the rest of the flock following them1 and the shepherd and his dog left carelessly behind1 is surely the ideal in landscape-composition1 if the ideal has its source in the interest excited by a subject1 in its power of drawing the affections after it linked in a golden chain1 and in the desire of the mind to dwell on it for ever4 ,the ideal1 in a word1 is the height of the pleasing1 that which satisfies and accords with the inmost longing of the soul3 the picturesque is merely a sharper and bolder impression of reality4 ,a morning mist drawing a slender veil over all objects is at once picturesque and ideal3 for it in the first place excites immediate surprise and admiration1 and in the next a wish for it to continue1 and a fear lest it should be too soon dissipated4 ,is the ,cupid riding on a lion in the ceiling at ,whitehall1 and urging him with a spear over a precipice1 with only clouds and sky beyond1 most picturesque or ideal8 ,it has every effect of startling contrast and situation1 and yet inspires breathless expectation and wonder for the event4 ,rembrandt's ,jacob's ,dream1 again1 is both--fearful to the eye1 but realising that loftiest vision of the soul4 ,take two faces in ,leonardo da ,vinci's ,last ,supper1 the ,judas and the ,st4 ,john2 the one is all strength1 repulsive character1 the other is all divine grace and mild sensibility4 ,the individual1 the characteristic in painting1 is that which is in a marked manner--the ideal is that which we wish any thing to be1 and to contemplate without measure and without end4 ,the first is truth1 the last is good4 ,the one appeals to the sense and understanding1 the other to the will and the affections4 ,the truly beautiful and grand attracts the mind to it by instinctive harmony1 is absorbed in it1 and nothing can ever part them afterwards4 ,look at a ,madonna of ,raphael's3 what gives the ideal character to the expression1--the insatiable purpose of the soul1 or its measureless content in the object of its contemplation8 ,a portrait of ,vandyke's is mere indifference and still-life in the comparison3 it has not in it the principle of growing and still unsatisfied desire4 ,in the ideal there is no fixed stint or limit but the limit of possibility3 it is the infinite with respect to human capacities and wishes4 ,love is for this reason an ideal passion4 ,we give to it our all of hope1 of fear1 of present enjoyment1 and stake our last chance of happiness wilfully and desperately upon it4 ,a good authority puts into the mouth of one of his heroines-- #8,my bounty is as boundless as the sea1 ,my love as deep6'-- ,how many fair catechumens will there be found in all ages to repeat as much after ,shakespear's ,juliet6 ,,essay ,,xxxiii ,,on ,,the ,,fear ,,of ,,death #8,and our little life is rounded with a sleep4' ,perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end4 ,there was a time when we were not3 this gives us no concern--why then should it trouble us that a time will come when we shall cease to be8 ,i have no wish to have been alive a hundred years ago1 or in the reign of ,queen ,anne3 why should ,i regret and lay it so much to heart that ,i shall not be alive a hundred years hence1 in the reign of ,i cannot tell whom8 ,when ,bickerstaff wrote his ,essays1 ,i knew nothing of the subjects of them3 nay1 much later1 and but the other day1 as it were1 in the beginning of the reign of ,george ,,iii4 when ,goldsmith1 ,johnson1 ,burke1 used to meet at the ,globe1 when ,garrick was in his glory1 and ,reynolds was over head and ears with his portraits1 and ,sterne brought out the volumes of ,tristram ,shandy year by year1 it was without consulting me3 ,i had not the slightest intimation of what was going on3 the debates in the ,house of ,commons on the ,american war1 or the firing at ,bunker's hill1 disturbed not me3 yet ,i thought this no evil--,i neither ate1 drank1 nor was merry1 yet ,i did not complain3 ,i had not then looked out into this breathing world1 yet ,i was well2 and the world did quite as well without me as ,i did without it6 ,why then should ,i make all this outcry about parting with it1 and being no worse off than ,i was before8 ,there is nothing in the recollection that at a certain time we were not come into the world1 that #8the gorge rises at'--why should we revolt at the idea that we must one day go out of it8 ,to die is only to be as we were before we were born2 yet no one feels any remorse1 or regret1 or repugnance1 in contemplating this last idea4 ,it is rather a relief and disburthening of the mind3 it seems to have been holiday-time with us then3 we were not called to appear upon the stage of life1 to wear robes or tatters1 to laugh or cry1 be hooted or applauded2 we had lain perdus all this while1 snug1 out of harm's way2 and had slept out our thousands of centuries without wanting to be waked up2 at peace and free from care1 in a long nonage1 in a sleep deeper and calmer than that of infancy1 wrapped in the softest and finest dust4 ,and the worst that we dread is1 after a short1 fretful1 feverish being1 after vain hopes1 and idle fears1 to sink to final repose again1 and forget the troubled dream of life6444 ,ye armed men1 knights templars1 that sleep in the stone aisles of that old ,temple church1 where all is silent above1 and where a deeper silence reigns below 7not broken by the pealing organ71 are ye not contented where ye lie8 ,or would you come out of your long homes to go to the ,holy ,war8 ,or do ye complain that pain no longer visits you1 that sickness has done its worst1 that you have paid the last debt to nature1 that you hear no more of the thickening phalanx of the foe1 or your lady's waning love2 and that while this ball of earth rolls its eternal round1 no sound shall ever pierce through to disturb your lasting repose1 fixed as the marble over your tombs1 breathless as the grave that holds you6 ,and thou1 oh6 thou1 to whom my heart turns1 and will turn while it has feeling left1 who didst love in vain1 and whose first was thy last sigh1 wilt not thou too rest in peace 7or wilt thou cry to me complaining from thy clay-cold bed7 when that sad heart is no longer sad1 and that sorrow is dead which thou wert only called into the world to feel6 ,it is certain that there is nothing in the idea of a pre-existent state that excites our longing like the prospect of a posthumous existence4 ,we are satisfied to have begun life when we did2 we have no ambition to have set out on our journey sooner2 and feel that we have had quite enough to do to battle our way through since4 ,we cannot say1 #8,the wars we well remember of ,king ,nine1 ,of old ,assaracus and ,inachus divine4' ,neither have we any wish3 we are contented to read of them in story1 and to stand and gaze at the vast sea of time that separates us from them4 ,it was early days then3 the world was not well-aired enough for us3 we have no inclination to have been up and stirring4 ,we do not consider the six thousand years of the world before we were born as so much time lost to us3 we are perfectly indifferent about the matter4 ,we do not grieve and lament that we did not happen to be in time to see the grand mask and pageant of human life going on in all that period2 though we are mortified at being obliged to quit our stand before the rest of the procession passes4 ,it may be suggested in explanation of this difference1 that we know from various records and traditions what happened in the time of ,queen ,anne1 or even in the reigns of the ,assyrian monarchs3 but that we have no means of ascertaining what is to happen hereafter but by awaiting the event1 and that our eagerness and curiosity are sharpened in proportion as we are in the dark about it4 ,this is not at all the case2 for at that rate we should be constantly wishing to make a voyage of discovery to ,greenland or to the ,moon1 neither of which we have1 in general1 the least desire to do4 ,neither1 in truth1 have we any particular solicitude to pry into the secrets of futurity1 but as a pretext for prolonging our own existence4 ,it is not so much that we care to be alive a hundred or a thousand years hence1 any more than to have been alive a hundred or a thousand years ago3 but the thing lies here1 that we would all of us wish the present moment to last for ever4 ,we would be as we are1 and would have the world remain just as it is1 to please us4 #8,the present eye catches the present object'-- to have and to hold while it may2 and abhors1 on any terms1 to have it torn from us1 and nothing left in its room4 ,it is the pang of parting1 the unloosing our grasp1 the breaking asunder some strong tie1 the leaving some cherished purpose unfulfilled1 that creates the repugnance to go1 and #8makes calamity of so long life1' as it often is4 --#8,oh6 thou strong heart6 ,there's such a covenant 'twixt the world and thee1 ,they're loth to break6' ,the love of life1 then1 is an habitual attachment1 not an abstract principle4 ,simply to be does not #8content man's natural desire3' we long to be in a certain time1 place1 and circumstance4 ,we would much rather be now1 #8on this bank and shoal of time1' than have our choice of any future period1 than take a slice of fifty or sixty years out of the ,millennium1 for instance4 ,this shows that our attachment is not confined either to being or to well-being2 but that we have an inveterate prejudice in favour of our immediate existence1 such as it is4 ,the mountaineer will not leave his rock1 nor the savage his hut2 neither are we willing to give up our present mode of life1 with all its advantages and disadvantages1 for any other that could be substituted for it4 ,no man would1 ,i think1 exchange his existence with any other man1 however fortunate4 ,we had as lief not be1 as not be ourselves4 ,there are some persons of that reach of soul that they would like to live two hundred and fifty years hence1 to see to what height of empire ,america will have grown up in that period1 or whether the ,english constitution will last so long4 ,these are points beyond me4 ,but ,i confess ,i should like to live to see the downfall of the ,bourbons4 ,that is a vital question with me2 and ,i shall like it the better1 the sooner it happens6 ,no young man ever thinks he shall die4 ,he may believe that others will1 or assent to the doctrine that #8all men are mortal' as an abstract proposition1 but he is far enough from bringing it home to himself individually4#he ,youth1 buoyant activity1 and animal spirits1 hold absolute antipathy with old age as well as with death2 nor have we1 in the hey-day of life1 any more than in the thoughtlessness of childhood1 the remotest conception how #8,this sensible warm motion can become ,a kneaded clod'-- nor how sanguine1 florid health and vigour1 shall #8turn to withered1 weak1 and grey4' ,or if in a moment of idle speculation we indulge in this notion of the close of life as a theory1 it is amazing at what a distance it seems2 what a long1 leisurely interval there is between2 what a contrast its slow and solemn approach affords to our present gay dreams of existence6 ,we eye the farthest verge of the horizon1 and think what a way we shall have to look back upon1 ere we arrive at our journey's end2 and without our in the least suspecting it1 the mists are at our feet1 and the shadows of age encompass us4 ,the two divisions of our lives have melted into each other3 the extreme points close and meet with none of that romantic interval stretching out between them1 that we had reckoned upon2 and for the rich1 melancholy1 solemn hues of age1 #8the sear1 the yellow leaf1' the deepening shadows of an autumnal evening1 we only feel a dank1 cold mist1 encircling all objects1 after the spirit of youth is fled4 ,there is no inducement to look forward2 and what is worse1 little interest in looking back to what has become so trite and common4 ,the pleasures of our existence have worn themselves out1 are #8gone into the wastes of time1' or have turned their indifferent side to us3 the pains by their repeated blows have worn us out1 and have left us neither spirit nor inclination to encounter them again in retrospect4 ,we do not want to rip up old grievances1 nor to renew our youth like the phnix1 nor to live our lives twice over4 ,once is enough4 ,as the tree falls1 so let it lie4 ,shut up the book and close the account once for all6 ,it has been thought by some that life is like the exploring of a passage that grows narrower and darker the farther we advance1 without a possibility of ever turning back1 and where we are stifled for want of breath at last4 ,for myself1 ,i do not complain of the greater thickness of the atmosphere as ,i approach the narrow house4 ,i felt it more1 formerly1#hf when the idea alone seemed to suppress a thousand rising hopes1 and weighed upon the pulses of the blood4 ,at present ,i rather feel a thinness and want of support1 ,i stretch out my hand to some object and find none1 ,i am too much in a world of abstraction2 the naked map of life is spread out before me1 and in the emptiness and desolation ,i see ,death coming to meet me4 ,in my youth ,i could not behold him for the crowd of objects and feelings1 and ,hope stood always between us1 saying--#8,never mind that old fellow6' ,if ,i had lived indeed1 ,i should not care to die4 ,but ,i do not like a contract of pleasure broken off unfulfilled1 a marriage with joy unconsummated1 a promise of happiness rescinded4 ,my public and private hopes have been left a ruin1 or remain only to mock me4 ,i would wish them to be re-edified4 ,i should like to see some prospect of good to mankind1 such as my life began with4 ,i should like to leave some sterling work behind me4 ,i should like to have some friendly hand to consign me to the grave4 ,on these conditions ,i am ready1 if not willing1 to depart4 ,i shall then write on my tomb--,,grateful ,,and ,,contented6 ,but ,i have thought and suffered too much to be willing to have thought and suffered in vain4--,in looking back1 it sometimes appears to me as if ,i had in a manner slept out my life in a dream or shadow on the side of the hill of knowledge1 where ,i have fed on books1 on thoughts1 on pictures1 and only heard in half-murmurs the trampling of busy feet1 or the noises of the throng below4 ,waked out of this dim1 twilight existence1 and startled with the passing scene1 ,i have felt a wish to descend to the world of realities1 and join in the chase4 ,but ,i fear too late1 and that ,i had better return to my bookish chimeras and indolence once more6 ,zanetto1 lascia le donne1 et studia la matematica4 ,i will think of it4 ,it is not wonderful that the contemplation and fear of death become more familiar to us as we approach nearer to it3 that life seems to ebb with the decay of blood and youthful spirits2 and that as we find every thing about us subject to chance and change1 as our strength and beauty die1 as our hopes and passions1 our friends and our affections leave us1 we begin by degrees to feel ourselves mortal6 ,i have never seen death but once1 and that was in an infant4 ,it is years ago4 ,the look was calm and placid1 and the face was fair and firm4 ,it was as if a waxen image had been laid out in the coffin1 and strewed with innocent flowers4 ,it was not like death1 but more like an image of life6 ,no breath moved the lips1 no pulse stirred1 no sight or sound would enter those eyes or ears more4 ,while ,i looked at it1 ,i saw no pain was there2 it seemed to smile at the short pang of life which was over3 but ,i could not bear the coffin-lid to be closed--it seemed to stifle me2 and still as the nettles wave in a corner of the churchyard over his little grave1 the welcome breeze helps to refresh me1 and ease the tightness at my breast6 ,an ivory or marble image1 like ,chantry's monument of the two children1 is contemplated with pure delight4 ,why do we not grieve and fret that the marble is not alive1 or fancy that it has a shortness of breath8 ,it never was alive2 and it is the difficulty of making the transition from life to death1 the struggle between the two in our imagination1 that confounds their properties painfully together1 and makes us conceive that the infant that is but just dead1 still wants to breathe1 to enjoy1 and look about it1 and is prevented by the icy hand of death1 locking up its faculties and benumbing its senses2 so that1 if it could1 it would complain of its own hard state4 ,perhaps religious considerations reconcile the mind to this change sooner than any others1 by representing the spirit as fled to another sphere1 and leaving the body behind it4 ,so in reflecting on death generally1 we mix up the idea of life with it1 and thus make it the ghastly monster it is4 ,we think how we should feel1 not how the dead feel4 #8,still from the tomb the voice of nature cries2 ,even in our ashes live their wonted fires6' ,there is an admirable passage on this subject in ,,tucker',s ,light of ,nature ,pursued1 which ,i shall transcribe1 as by much the best illustration ,i can offer of it4 #8,the melancholy appearance of a lifeless body1 the mansion provided for it to inhabit1 dark1 cold1 close and solitary1 are shocking to the imagination2 but it is to the imagination only1 not the understanding2 for whoever consults this faculty will see at first glance1 that there is nothing dismal in all these circumstances3 if the corpse were kept wrapped up in a warm bed1 with a roasting fire in the chamber1 it would feel no comfortable warmth therefrom2 were store of tapers lighted up as soon as day shuts in1 it would see no objects to divert it2 were it left at large it would have no liberty1 nor if surrounded with company would be cheered thereby2 neither are the distorted features expressions of pain1 uneasiness1 or distress4 ,this every one knows1 and will readily allow upon being suggested1 yet still cannot behold1 nor even cast a thought upon those objects without shuddering2 for knowing that a living person must suffer grievously under such appearances1 they become habitually formidable to the mind1 and strike a mechanical horror1 which is increased by the customs of the world around us4' ,there is usually one pang added voluntarily and unnecessarily to the fear of death1 by our affecting to compassionate the loss which others will have in us4 ,if that were all1 we might reasonably set our minds at rest4 ,the pathetic exhortation on country tombstones1 #8,grieve not for me1 my wife and children dear1' c4 is for the most part speedily followed to the letter4 ,we do not leave so great a void in society as we are inclined to imagine1 partly to magnify our own importance1 and partly to console ourselves by sympathy4 ,even in the same family the gap is not so great2 the wound closes up sooner than we should expect4 ,nay1 our room is not unfrequently thought better than our company4 ,people walk along the streets the day after our deaths just as they did before1 and the crowd is not diminished4 ,while we were living1 the world seemed in a manner to exist only for us1 for our delight and amusement1 because it contributed to them4 ,but our hearts cease to beat1 and it goes on as usual1 and thinks no more about us than it did in our life-time4 ,the million are devoid of sentiment1 and care as little for you or me as if we belonged to the moon4 ,we live the week over in the ,sunday's paper1 or are decently interred in some obituary at the month's end6 ,it is not surprising that we are forgotten so soon after we quit this mortal stage3 we are scarcely noticed1 while we are on it4 ,it is not merely that our names are not known in ,china--they have hardly been heard of in the next street4 ,we are hand and glove with the universe1 and think the obligation is mutual4 ,this is an evident fallacy4 ,if this1 however1 does not trouble us now1 it will not hereafter4 ,a handful of dust can have no quarrel to pick with its neighbours1 or complaint to make against ,providence1 and might well exclaim1 if it had but an understanding and a tongue1 #8,go thy ways1 old world1 swing round in blue ether1 voluble to every age1 you and ,i shall no more jostle6' ,it is amazing how soon the rich and titled1 and even some of those who have wielded great political power1 are forgotten4 #8,a little rule1 a little sway1 ,is all the great and mighty have ,betwixt the cradle and the grave'-- and1 after its short date1 they hardly leave a name behind them4 #8,a great man's memory may1 at the common rate1 survive him half a year4' ,his heirs and successors take his titles1 his power1 and his wealth--all that made him considerable or courted by others2 and he has left nothing else behind him either to delight or benefit the world4 ,posterity are not by any means so disinterested as they are supposed to be4 ,they give their gratitude and admiration only in return for benefits conferred4 ,they cherish the memory of those to whom they are indebted for instruction and delight2 and they cherish it just in proportion to the instruction and delight they are conscious they receive4 ,the sentiment of admiration springs immediately from this ground2 and cannot be otherwise than well founded4#hg ,the effeminate clinging to life as such1 as a general or abstract idea1 is the effect of a highly civilised and artificial state of society4 ,men formerly plunged into all the vicissitudes and dangers of war1 or staked their all upon a single die1 or some one passion1 which if they could not have gratified1 life became a burthen to them--now our strongest passion is to think1 our chief amusement is to read new plays1 new poems1 new novels1 and this we may do at our leisure1 in perfect security1 ad infinitum4 ,if we look into the old histories and romances1 before the belles-lettres neutralised human affairs and reduced passion to a state of mental equivocation1 we find the heroes and heroines not setting their lives #8at a pin's fee1' but rather courting opportunities of throwing them away in very wantonness of spirit4 ,they raise their fondness for some favourite pursuit to its height1 to a pitch of madness1 and think no price too dear to pay for its full gratification4 ,every thing else is dross4 ,they go to death as to a bridal bed1 and sacrifice themselves or others without remorse at the shrine of love1 of honour1 of religion1 or any other prevailing feeling4 ,romeo runs his #8sea-sick1 weary bark upon the rocks' of death1 the instant he finds himself deprived of his ,juliet2 and she clasps his neck in their last agonies1 and follows him to the same fatal shore4 ,one strong idea takes possession of the mind and overrules every other2 and even life itself1 joyless without that1 becomes an object of indifference or loathing4 ,there is at least more of imagination in such a state of things1 more vigour of feeling and promptitude to act than in our lingering1 languid1 protracted attachment to life for its own poor sake4 ,it is1 perhaps1 also better1 as well as more heroical1 to strike at some daring or darling object1 and if we fail in that1 to take the consequences manfully1 than to renew the lease of a tedious1 spiritless1 charmless existence1 merely 7as ,pierre says7 #8to lose it afterwards in some vile brawl' for some worthless object4 ,was there not a spirit of martyrdom as well as a spice of the reckless energy of barbarism in this bold defiance of death8 ,had not religion something to do with it2 the implicit belief in a future life1 which rendered this of less value1 and embodied something beyond it to the imagination2 so that the rough soldier1 the infatuated lover1 the valorous knight1 c4 could afford to throw away the present venture1 and take a leap into the arms of futurity1 which the modern sceptic shrinks back from1 with all his boasted reason and vain philosophy1 weaker than a woman6 ,i cannot help thinking so myself2 but ,i have endeavoured to explain this point before1 and will not enlarge farther on it here4 ,a life of action and danger moderates the dread of death4 ,it not only gives us fortitude to bear pain1 but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being4 ,sedentary and studious men are the most apprehensive on this score4 ,dr4 ,johnson was an instance in point4 ,a few years seemed to him soon over1 compared with those sweeping contemplations on time and infinity with which he had been used to pose himself4 ,in the still-life of a man of letters1 there was no obvious reason for a change4 ,he might sit in an arm-chair and pour out cups of tea to all eternity4 ,would it had been possible for him to do so6 ,the most rational cure after all for the inordinate fear of death is to set a just value on life4 ,if we merely wish to continue on the scene to indulge our headstrong humours and tormenting passions1 we had better begone at once3 and if we only cherish a fondness for existence according to the good we derive from it1 the pang we feel at parting with it will not be very severe6 ,end of ,,table-,,talk ,,mr4 ,,northcote',s ,,conversations ,,bibliographical ,,note ,the ,conversations of ,james ,northcote1 ,esq41 ,r4,a41 were published in the ,new ,monthly ,magazine in #ahbf and #ahbg1 entitled #8,boswell ,redivivus4' ,revised and added to1 they were published in volume form 7#h #e inches7 by ,henry ,colburn and ,richard ,bentley1 ,new ,burlington ,street1 ,london1 in #ahcj1 with a portrait of #8,james ,northcote1 ,esq41 ,r4,a4 in his #hbnd ,year4 ,engraved by ,t4 ,wright after a drawing by ,a4 ,wivell1' and the following motto on the title-page3-- #8,the precepts here of a divine old man ,i could recite4 ,,armstrong4' ,the volume was printed by ,c4 ,whiting1 ,beaufort ,house1 ,strand1 and its text is that of the present issue4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,first ,called on ,mr4 ,northcote2 had1 as usual1 an interesting conversation4 ,spoke of some account of ,lord ,byron in a newspaper1 which he thought must be like4 #8,the writer says1 he did not wish to be thought merely a great poet4 ,my sister asked1 8,what then did he wish to be thought80 ,why1 ,i'll tell you2 he wished to be something different from every body else4 ,as to nobility1 there were many others before him1 so that he could not rely upon that2 and then1 as to poetry1 there are so many wretched creatures that pretend to the name1 that he looked at it with disgust3 he thought himself as distinct from them as the stars in the firmament4 ,it comes to what ,sir ,joshua used to say1 that a man who is at the head of his profession is above it4 ,i remember being at ,cosway's1 where they were recommending some charitable institution for the relief of decayed artists2 and ,i said ,i would not be of it1 for it was holding out a temptation to idleness1 and bringing those into the profession who were not fit for it4 ,some one who wanted to flatter me observed1 8,i wonder you should talk in this manner1 who are under such obligations to the art60 ,i answered immediately1 8,if ,i am to take your compliment as ,i believe it is meant1 ,i might answer1 that it is the art that is under obligations to me1 not ,i to it4 ,do you suppose that ,rubens1 ,titian1 and others were under obligations to the art--they who raised it from obscurity and made it all that it is8 ,what would the art be without these80 ,the world in general1 as ,miss ,reynolds used to say1 with reference to her brother1 think no more of a painter than they do of a fiddler or a dancing-master or a piano-forte-maker4 ,and so of a poet4 ,i have always said of that dispute about burying ,lord ,byron in ,poet's ,corner1 that he would have resisted it violently if he could have known of it4 ,not but there were many very eminent names there1 with whom he would like to be associated2 but then there were others that he would look down upon4 ,if they had laid him there1 he would have got up again4 ,no2 ,i'll tell you where they should have laid him--if they had buried him with the kings in ,henry ,,vii4 ,chapel1 he would have had no objection to that6 ,one cannot alter the names of things1 or the prejudices of the world respecting them1 to suit one's convenience4 ,i once went with ,hoppner to the hustings to vote for ,horne ,tooke2 and when they asked me what ,i was1 ,i said1 a painter4 ,at this ,hoppner was very mad all the way home1 and said ,i should have called myself a portrait-painter4 ,i replied1 the world had no time to trouble their heads about such distinctions4 ,i afterwards asked ,kemble1 who agreed ,i was right1 that he always called himself a player1' c4 ,i then observed1 ,i had been to the play with ,g4 and his daughter1 from the last of whom ,i had learnt something about ,lord ,byron's conversation4 #8,what6' he said1 #8the beauty-daughter8' ,i said1 #8,do you think her a beauty1 then8'--#8,why no1 she rather thinks herself one1 and yet there is something about her that would pass for such4 ,girls generally find out where to place themselves4 ,she's clever too2 isn't she8'--#8,oh6 yes4'--#8,what did she tell you about ,lord ,byron8 because ,i am curious to know all about him4'--#8,i asked her if it was true that ,lord ,byron was so poor a creature as ,h-- represented him8 ,she at first misunderstood me1 and said1 nothing could be meaner than he was1 and gave some instances of it4 ,i said1 that was not what ,i meant2 that ,i could believe any thing of that kind of him2 that whatever he took in his head he would carry to extremes1 regardless of every thing but the feeling of the moment2 but that ,i could not conceive him to be in conversation1 or in any other way1 a flat and common-place person4#hh 8,oh6 no10 she said1 8he was not4 ,h-- was hardly a fair judge4 ,the other had not behaved well to him1 and whenever they met1 ,h-- always began some kind of argument1 and as ,lord ,byron could not argue1 they made but a bad piece of business of it1 and it ended unsatisfactorily for all parties40 ,i said1 ,h-- was too apt to put people to their trumps1 or to force them upon doing not what they could do1 but what he thought he could do4 ,he1 however1 not only gave his own opinion1 but said1 ,mr4 ,s-- could only just endure ,lord ,byron's company4 ,this seemed to me odd2 for though he might be neither orator nor philosopher1 yet any thing he might say or only stammer out in broken sentences1 must be interesting3 a glance1 a gesture would be full of meaning2 or he would make one look about one like the tree in ,virgil1 that expressed itself by groans4 ,to this she assented1 and observed--8,at least ,s-- and myself found it so2 for we generally sat with him till morning4 ,he was perhaps a little moody and reserved at first2 but by touching on certain strings1 he began to unbend1 and gave the most extraordinary accounts of his own feelings and adventures that could be imagined4 ,besides1 he was very handsome1 and it was some satisfaction to look at a head at once so beautiful and expressive60 ,i repeated what ,h-- told me1 that when he and ,lord ,byron met in ,italy1 they did not know one another2 he himself from having grown so thin1 and ,byron from having grown so fat1 like a great chubby school-boy--a circumstance which shocked his lordship so much1 that he took to drinking vinegar at a great rate1 that he might recover the figure of the stripling ,god4 ,i mentioned some things that ,h-- had reported of ,lord ,byron2 such as his saying1 8,he never cared for any thing above a day10--which might be merely in a fit of spleen1 or from the spirit of contradiction1 or to avoid an imputation of sentimentality4'--#8,oh6' said ,northcote1 #8that will never do1 to take things literally that are uttered in a moment of irritation4 ,you do not express your own opinion1 but one as opposite as possible to that of the person that has provoked you4 ,you get as far from a person you have taken a pique against as you can1 just as you turn off the pavement to get out of the way of a chimney-sweeper2 but it is not to be supposed you prefer walking in the mud1 for all that6 ,i have often been ashamed myself of speeches ,i have made in that way1 which have been repeated to me as good things1 when all ,i meant was that ,i would say any thing sooner than agree to the nonsense or affectation ,i heard4 ,you then set yourself against what you think a wrong bias in another1 and are not like a wall but a buttress--as far from the right line as your antagonist2 and the more absurd he is1 the more so do you become4 ,before you attend to what any one says1 you should ask1 ,was he talking to a fool or a wise man8 ,no2 ,h-- would make ,lord ,byron tributary to him1 or would make him out to be nothing4 ,i wonder you admire him as you do1 and compare him to the wits of ,charles ,,ii4 ,it isn't writing verses or painting a picture--that1 as ,sir ,joshua used to say1 is what every body can do3 but it is the doing something more than any body else can do that entitles the poet or the artist to distinction1 or makes the work live4 ,but these people shut themselves up in a little circle of their own1 and fancy all the world are looking at them4' ,i said1 ,h-- had been spoiled by flattery when he was young4 #8,oh6 no1' he said1 #8it was not that4 ,sir ,joshua was not spoiled by flattery1 and yet he had as much of it as any body need have2 but he was looking out to see what the world said of him1 or thinking what figure he should make by the side of ,correggio or ,vandyke1 not pluming himself on being a better painter than some one in the next street1 or being surprised that the people at his own table spoke in praise of his pictures4 ,it is a little mind that is taken up with the nearest object1 or puffed up with immediate notice3 to do any thing great1 we must look out of ourselves and see things upon a broader scale4' ,i told ,northcote ,i had promised ,h-- ,i would bring him to see him2 and then1 said ,i1 you would think as favourably of him as ,i do1 and every body else that knows him4 #8,but you didn't say any thing in my praise to induce him to come8'--#8,oh6 yes2 ,i exerted all my eloquence4'--#8,that wasn't the way4 ,you should have said ,i was a poor creature1 perhaps amusing for half an hour or so1 or curious to see like a little dried mummy in a museum3 but he would not hear of your having two idols6 ,depend upon it1 he'll not come4 ,such characters only want to be surrounded with satellites or echoes3 and that is one reason they never improve4 ,true genius1 as well as wisdom1 is ever docile1 humble1 vigilant1 and ready to acknowledge the merit it seeks to appropriate from every quarter4 ,that was ,fuseli's mistake4 ,nothing was good enough for him1 that was not a repetition of himself4 ,so once when ,i told him of a very fine ,vandyke1 he made answer--8,and what is it8 ,a little bit of colour4 ,i wouldn't go across the way to see it40 ,on my telling this to ,sir ,joshua1 he said--8,ay1 he'll repent it1 he'll repent it60 ,w-- is another of those who would narrow the universe to their own standard4 ,it is droll to see how hard you labour to prop him up too1 and seem to fancy he'll live4'--#8,i think he stands a better chance than ,lord ,byron4 ,he has added one original feature to our poetry1 which the other has not2 and this1 you know1 ,sir1 by your own rule1 gives him the best title4'--#8,yes2 but the little bit that he has added is not enough4 ,none but great objects can be seen at a distance4 ,if posterity looked at it with your eyes1 they might think his poetry curious and pretty4 ,but consider how many ,sir ,walter ,scotts1 how many ,lord ,byrons1 how many ,dr4 ,johnsons there will be in the next hundred years2 how many reputations will rise and sink in that time2 and do you imagine1 amid these conflicting and important claims1 such trifles as descriptions of daisies and idiot-boys 7however well they may be done7 will not be swept away in the tide of time1 like straws and weeds by the torrent8 ,no2 the world can only keep in view the principal and most perfect productions of human ingenuity2 such works as ,dryden's1 ,pope's1 and a few others1 that from their unity1 their completeness1 their polish have the stamp of immortality upon them1 and seem indestructible like an element of nature4 ,there are few of these3 ,i fear your friend ,w-- is not one4' ,i said1 ,i thought one circumstance against him was the want of popularity in his life-time4 ,few people made much noise after their deaths who did not do so while they were living4 ,posterity could not be supposed to rake into the records of past times for the ,illustrious ,obscure2 and only ratified or annulled the lists of great names handed down to them by the voice of common fame4 ,few people recovered from the neglect or obloquy of their contemporaries4 ,the public would hardly be at the pains to try the same cause twice over1 or did not like to reverse its own sentence1 at least when on the unfavourable side4 ,there was ,hobbes1 for instance3 he had a bad name while living1 and it was of no use to think at this time of day of doing him justice4 ,while the priests and politicians were tearing him in pieces for his atheism and arbitrary principles1 ,mr4 ,locke stole his philosophy from him2 and ,i would fain see any one restore it to the right owner4 ,quote the passages one by one1 show that every principle of the modern metaphysical system was contained in ,hobbes1 and that all that succeeding writers have done was to deduce from ,mr4 ,locke's imperfect concessions the very consequences1 #8armed all in proof1' that already existed in an entire and unmutilated state in his predecessor2 and you shall the next day hear ,mr4 ,locke spoken of as the father of ,english philosophy as currently and confidently as if not the shadow of a doubt had ever been started on the subject4 ,mr4 ,hobbes1 by the boldness and comprehensiveness of his views1 had shocked the prejudices and drawn down upon his head the enmity of his contemporaries3 ,mr4 ,locke1 by going more cautiously to work1 and only admitting as much at a time as the public mind would bear1 prepared the way for the rest of ,mr4 ,hobbes's philosophy1 and for a vast reputation for himself1 which nothing can impugn4 ,stat nominis umbra4 ,the world are too far off to distinguish names from things2 and call ,mr4 ,locke the first of ,english philosophers1 as they call a star by a particular name1 because others call it so4 ,they also dislike to have their confidence in a great name destroyed1 and fear1 that by displacing one of their favoured idols from its niche in the ,temple of ,fame1 they may endanger the whole building4 ,,northcote--#8,why1 ,i thought ,hobbes stood as high as any body4 ,i have always heard him spoken of in that light4 ,it is not his capacity that people dispute1 but they object to his character4 ,the world will not encourage vice1 for their own sakes2 and they give a casting-vote in favour of virtue4 ,mr4 ,locke was a modest1 conscientious enquirer after truth1 and the world had the sagacity to see this and to be willing to give him a hearing2 the other1 ,i conceive1 was a bully1 and a bad man into the bargain1 and they did not want to be bullied into truth or to sanction licentiousness4 ,this is unavoidable2 for the desire of knowledge is but one principle of the mind4 ,it was the same with ,tom ,paine4 ,nobody can deny that he was a very fine writer and a very sensible man2 but he flew in the face of a whole generation1 and no wonder that they were too much for him1 and that his name is become a bye-word with such multitudes1 for no other reason than that he did not care what offence he gave them by contradicting all their most inveterate prejudices4 ,if you insult a room-full of people1 you will be kicked out of it4 ,so neither will the world at large be insulted with impunity4 ,if you tell a whole country that they are fools and knaves1 they will not return the compliment by crying you up as the pink of wisdom and honesty4 ,nor will those who come after be very apt to take up your quarrel4 ,it was not so much ,paine's being a republican or an unbeliever1 as the manner in which he brought his opinions forward 7which showed self-conceit and want of feeling7 that subjected him to obloquy4 ,people did not like the temper of the man3 it falls under the article of moral virtue4 ,there are some reputations that are great1 merely because they are amiable4 ,there is ,dr4 ,watts3 look at the encomiums passed on him by ,dr4 ,johnson2 and yet to what1 according to his statement1 does his merit amount8 ,why only to this1 that he did that best which none can do well1 and employed his talents uniformly for the welfare of mankind4 ,he was a good man1 and the voice of the public has given him credit for being a great one4 ,the world may be forced to do homage to great talents1 but they only bow willingly to these when they are joined with benevolence and modesty2 nor will they put weapons into the hands of the bold and unprincipled sophist to be turned against their own interests and wishes4' ,i said1 there was a great deal in the manner of bringing truth forward to influence its reception with the reader2 for not only did we resent unwelcome novelties advanced with an insolent and dogmatical air2 but we were even ready to give up our favourite notions1 when we saw them advocated in a harsh and intolerant manner by those of our own party1 sooner than submit to the pretensions of blindfold presumption4 ,if any thing could make me a bigot1 it would be the arrogance of the free-thinker2 if any thing could make me a slave1 it would be the sordid sneering fopperies and sweeping clauses of the liberal party4 ,renegadoes are generally made so1 not by the overtures of their adversaries1 but by disgust at the want of candour and moderation in their friends4 ,northcote replied--#8,to be sure1 there was nothing more painful than to have one's own opinions disfigured or thrust down one's throat by impertinence and folly2 and that once when a pedantic coxcomb was crying up ,raphael to the skies1 he could not help saying--8,if there was nothing in ,raphael but what you see in him1 we should not now have been talking of him60' ,,conversation ,,the ,,second ,when ,i called1 ,i found ,mr4 ,northcote painting a portrait of himself4 ,another stood on an easel4 ,he asked me1 which ,i thought most like8 ,i said1 the one he was about was the best1 but not good enough4 ,it looks like a physician or a member of parliament1 but it ought to look like something more--a ,cardinal or a ,spanish ,inquisitor6 ,i do not think you ought to proceed in painting your own face as you do with some others--that is1 by trying to improve upon it3 you have only to make it like2 for the more like it is1 the better it will be as a picture4 #8,oh6 he tried to make it like4' ,i found ,i had got upon a wrong scent4 ,mr4 ,northcote1 as an artist1 was not bound to have a fine head1 but he was bound to paint one4 ,i am always a very bad courtier2 and think of what strikes me1 and not of the effect upon others4 ,so ,i once tried to compliment a very handsome brunette1 by telling her how much ,i admired dark beauties4 #8,oh6' said ,northcote1 #8you should have told her she was fair4 ,she did not like black1 though you did6' ,after all1 there is a kind of selfishness in this plain-speaking4 ,in the present case1 it set us wrong the whole morning1 and ,i had to stay longer than usual to recover the old track4 ,i was continually in danger of oversetting a stand with a small looking-glass1 which ,northcote particularly cautioned me not to touch2 and every now and then he was prying into the glass by stealth1 to see if the portrait was like4 ,he had on a green velvet-cap1 and looked very like ,titian4 ,northcote then turning round1 said1 #8,i wanted to ask you about a speech you made the other day3 you said you thought you could have made something of portrait1 but that you never could have painted history4 ,what did you mean by that8'--#8,oh6 all ,i meant was1 that sometimes when ,i see a fine ,titian or ,rembrandt1 ,i feel as if ,i could have done something of the same kind with the proper pains1 but ,i have never the same feeling with respect to ,raphael4 ,my admiration is there utterly unmixed with emulation or regret4 ,in fact1 ,i see what is before me1 but ,i have no invention4' ,,northcote--#8,you do not know till you try4 ,there is not so much difference as you imagine4 ,portrait often runs into history1 and history into portrait1 without our knowing it4 ,expression is common to both1 and that is the chief difficulty4 ,the greatest history-painters have always been able portrait-painters4 ,how should a man paint a thing in motion1 if he cannot paint it still8 ,but the great point is to catch the prevailing look and character3 if you are master of this1 you can make almost what use of it you please4 ,if a portrait has force1 it will do for history2 and if history is well painted1 it will do for portrait4 ,this is what gave dignity to ,sir ,joshua3 his portraits had always that determined air and character that you know what to think of them as if you had seen them engaged in the most decided action4 ,so ,fuseli said of ,titian's picture of ,paul ,,iii4 and his two nephews1 8,that is true history60 ,many of the groups in the ,vatican1 by ,raphael1 are only collections of fine portraits4 ,that is why ,west1 ,barry1 and others pretended to despise portrait1 because they could not do it1 and it would only expose their want of truth and nature4 ,no6 if you can give the look1 you need not fear painting history4 ,yet how difficult that is1 and on what slight causes it depends6 ,it is not enough that it is seen1 unless it is at the same time felt4 ,how odd it seems1 that often while you are looking at a face1 and though you perceive no difference in the features1 yet you find they have undergone a total alteration of expression6 ,what a fine hand then is required to trace what the eye can scarcely be said to distinguish6 ,so ,i used to contend against ,sir ,joshua that ,raphael had triumphed over this difficulty in the ,miracle of ,bolsena1 where he has given the internal blush of the unbelieving priest at seeing the wafer turned into blood--the colour to be sure assists1 but the look of stupefaction and shame is also there in the most marked degree4 ,sir ,joshua said it was my fancy1 but ,i am as convinced of it as ,i am of my existence2 and the proof is that otherwise he has done nothing4 ,there is no story without it2 but he has trusted to the expression to tell the story1 instead of leaving the expression to be made out from the story4 ,i have often observed the same thing in myself1 when ,i have blamed any one as mildly as ,i could1 not using any violence of language1 nor indeed intending to hurt2 and ,i have afterwards wondered at the effect2 my sister has said1 8,you should have seen your look10 but ,i did not know of it myself4--,i said1 #8,if you had1 it would have been less felt by others4' ,an instance of this made me laugh not long ago4 ,i was offended at a waiter for very ill behaviour at an inn at ,calais2 and while he was out of the room1 ,i was putting on as angry a look as ,i could1 but ,i found this sort of previous rehearsal to no purpose4 ,the instant he returned into the room1 ,i gave him a look that ,i felt made it unnecessary to tell him what ,i thought4'--#8,to be sure1 he would see it immediately4'--#8,and don't you think1 ,sir1' ,i said1 #8that this explains the difficulty of fine acting1 and the difference between good acting and bad--that is1 between face-making or mouthing and genuine passion8 ,to give the last1 an actor must possess the highest truth of imagination1 and must undergo an entire revolution of feeling4 ,is it wonderful that so many prefer an artificial to a natural actor1 the mask to the man1 the pompous pretension to the simple expression8 ,not at all2 the wonder rather is that people in general judge so right as they do1 when they have such doubtful grounds to go upon2 and they would not1 but they trust less to rules or reasoning than to their feelings4' ,,northcote--#8,you must come to that at last4 ,the common sense of mankind 7whether a good or a bad one7 is the best criterion you have to appeal to4 ,you necessarily impose upon yourself in judging of your own works4 ,whenever ,i am trying at an expression1 ,i hang up the picture in the room and ask people what it means1 and if they guess right1 ,i think ,i have succeeded4 ,you yourself see the thing as you wish it1 or according to what you have been endeavouring to make it4 ,when ,i was doing the figures of ,argyll in prison and of his enemy who comes and finds him asleep1 ,i had a great difficulty to encounter in conveying the expression of the last--indeed ,i did it from myself--,i wanted to give a look of mingled remorse and admiration2 and when ,i found that others saw this look in the sketch ,i had made1 ,i left off4 ,by going on1 ,i might lose it again4 ,there is a point of felicity which1 whether you fall short of or have gone beyond it1 can only be determined by the effect on the unprejudiced observer4 ,you cannot be always with your picture to explain it to others3 it must be left to speak for itself4 ,those who stand before their pictures and make fine speeches about them1 do themselves a world of harm3 a painter should cut out his tongue1 if he wishes to succeed4 ,his language addresses itself not to the ear1 but the eye4 ,he should stick to that as much as possible4 ,sometimes you hit off an effect without knowing it4 ,indeed the happiest results are frequently the most unconscious4 ,boaden was here the other day4 ,you don't remember ,henderson1 ,i suppose8'--#8,no4'--#8,he says his reading was the most perfect he ever knew4 ,he thought himself a pretty good reader and a tolerable mimic2 that he succeeded tolerably well in imitating ,kemble1 ,mrs4 ,siddons1 and others1 but that there was something in ,henderson's reading so superior to all the rest1 that he never could come any thing near it4 ,i told him1 ,you don't know that3 if you were to hear him now1 you might think him even worse than your own imitation of him4 ,we deceive ourselves as much with respect to the excellences of others as we do with respect to our own1 by dwelling on a favourite idea4 ,in order to judge1 you should ask some one else who remembered him4 ,i spoke to him about ,kemble1 whose life he has been lately writing4 ,i said1 when he sat to me for the ,richard ,,iii4 meeting the children1 he lent me no assistance whatever in the expression ,i wished to give1 but remained quite immoveable1 as if he were sitting for an ordinary portrait4 ,boaden said1 ,this was his way3 he never put himself to any exertion1 except in his professional character4 ,if any one wanted to know his idea of a part or of a particular passage1 his reply always was1 8,you must come and see me do it40' ,northcote then spoke of the boy1 as he always calls him 7,master ,betty74 ,he asked if ,i had ever seen him act1 and ,i said1 ,yes1 and was one of his admirers4 ,he answered1 #8,oh6 yes1 it was such a beautiful effusion of natural sensibility2 and then that graceful play of the limbs in youth gave such an advantage over every one about him4 ,humphreys 7the artist7 said1 8,he had never seen the little ,apollo off the pedestal before40 ,you see the same thing in the boys at ,westminster-,school4 ,but no one was equal to him4' ,mr4 ,northcote alluded with pleasure to his unaffected manners when a boy1 and mentioned as an instance of his simplicity1 his saying one day1 #8,if they admire me so much1 what would they say to ,mr4 ,harley8' 7a tragedian in the same strolling company with himself47 ,we then spoke of his acting since he was grown up4 ,northcote said1 #8,he went to see him one night with ,fuseli1 in ,alexander the ,great1 and that he observed coming out1 they could get nobody to do it better4'--#8,nor so well1' said ,fuseli4 ,a question being put1 #8,why then could he not succeed at present8'--#8,because1' said ,northcote1 #8the world will never admire twice4 ,the first surprise was excited by his being a boy2 and when that was over1 nothing could bring them back again to the same point1 not though he had turned out a second ,roscius4 ,they had taken a surfeit of their idol1 and wanted something new4 ,nothing he could do could astonish them so much the second time1 as the youthful prodigy had done the first time2 and therefore he must always appear as a foil to himself1 and seem comparatively flat and insipid4 ,garrick kept up the fever of public admiration as long as any body2 but when he returned to the stage after a short absence1 no one went to see him4 ,it was the same with ,sir ,joshua3 latterly ,romney drew all his sitters from him4 ,so they say the ,exhibition is worse every year1 though it is just the same1 there are the same subjects and the same painters4 ,admiration is a forced tribute1 and to extort it from mankind 7envious and ignorant as they are7 they must be taken unawares4' ,i remarked--#8,it was the same in books2 if an author was only equal to himself1 he was always said to fall off4 ,the blow to make the same impression must be doubled1 because we are prepared for it4 ,we give him the whole credit of his first successful production1 because it was altogether unexpected2 but if he does not rise as much above himself in the second instance1 as the first was above nothing1 we are disappointed and say he has fallen off1 for our feelings are not equally excited4'--#8,just1' said ,northcote1 #8as in painting a portrait3 people are surprised at the first sitting1 and wonder to see how you have got on3 but ,i tell them they will never see so much done again2 for at first there was nothing but a blank canvas to work upon1 but afterwards you have to improve upon your own design1 and this at every step becomes more and more difficult4 ,it puts me in mind of an observation of ,opie's1 that it was wrong to suppose that people went on improving to the last in any art or profession3 on the contrary1 they put their best ideas into their first works 7which they have been qualifying themselves to undertake all their lives before72 and what they gain afterwards in correctness and refinement1 they lose in originality and vigour4' ,i assented to this as a very striking and 7as ,i thought7 sound remark4 ,he said1 #8,i wish you had known ,opie3 he was a very original-minded man4 ,mrs4 ,siddons used to say--8,i like to meet ,mr4 ,opie2 for then ,i always hear something ,i did not know before40 ,i do not say that he was always right2 but he always put your thoughts into a new track1 that was worth following4 ,i was very fond of ,opie's conversation2 and ,i remember once when ,i was expressing my surprise at his having so little of the ,cornish dialect2 8,why10 he said1 8the reason is1 ,i never spoke at all till ,i knew you and ,wolcott40 ,he was a true genius4 ,mr4 -- is a person of great judgment2 but ,i do not learn so much from him4 ,i think this is the difference between sense and genius2--a man of genius judges for himself1 and you hear nothing but what is original from him3 but a man of sense or with a knowledge of the world1 judges as others do2 and he is on this account the safest guide to follow1 though not1 perhaps1 the most instructive companion4 ,i recollect ,miss ,reynolds making nearly the same observation4 ,she said--8,i don't know how it is2 ,i don't think ,miss ,c-- a very clever woman1 and yet1 whenever ,i am at a loss about any thing1 ,i always go to consult her1 and her advice is almost sure to be right40 ,the reason was1 that this lady1 instead of taking her own view of the subject 7as a person of superior capacity might have been tempted to do7 considered only what light others would view it in1 and pronounced her decision according to the prevailing rules and maxims of the world4 ,when old ,dr4 -- married his housemaid1 ,sterne1 on hearing of it1 exclaimed1 8,ay1 ,i always thought him a genius1 and now ,i'm sure of it60 ,the truth was 7and this was what ,sterne meant71 that ,dr4 -- saw a thousand virtues in this woman which nobody else did1 and could give a thousand reasons for his choice1 that no one about him had the wit to answer3 but nature took its usual course1 and the event turned out as he had been forewarned1 according to the former experience of the world in such matters4 ,his being in the wrong did not prove him to be less a genius1 though it might impeach his judgment or prudence4 ,he was1 in fact1 wiser1 and saw more of the matter than any one of his neighbours1 who might advise him to the contrary2 but he was not so wise as the collective experience or common sense of mankind on the subject1 which his more cautious friends merely echoed4 ,it is only the man of genius who has any right or temptation to make a fool of himself1 by setting up his own unsupported decision against that of the majority4 ,he feels himself superior to any individual in the crowd1 and therefore rashly undertakes to act in defiance of the whole mass of prejudice and opinion opposed to him4 ,it is safe and easy to travel in a stage-coach from ,london to ,salisbury3 but it would require great strength1 boldness1 and sagacity to go in a straight line across the country4' ,,conversation ,,the ,,third ,northcote began by saying1 #8,you don't much like ,sir ,joshua1 ,i know2 but ,i think that is one of your prejudices4 ,if ,i was to compare him with ,vandyke and ,titian1 ,i should say that ,vandyke's portraits are like pictures 7very perfect ones1 no doubt71 ,sir ,joshua's like the reflection in a looking-glass1 and ,titian's like the real people4 ,there is an atmosphere of light and shade about ,sir ,joshua's1 which neither of the others have in the same degree1 together with a vagueness that gives them a visionary and romantic character1 and makes them seem like dreams or vivid recollections of persons we have seen4 ,i never could mistake ,vandyke's for any thing but pictures1 and ,i go up to them to examine them as such3 when ,i see a fine ,sir ,joshua1 ,i can neither suppose it to be a mere picture nor a man2 and ,i almost involuntarily turn back to ascertain if it is not some one behind me reflected in the glass3 when ,i see a ,titian1 ,i am riveted to it1 and ,i can no more take my eye off from it1 than if it were the very individual in the room4 ,that1' he said1 #8is1 ,i think1 peculiar to ,titian1 that you feel on your good behaviour in the presence of his keen-looking heads1 as if you were before company4' ,i mentioned that ,i thought ,sir ,joshua more like ,rembrandt than like either ,titian or ,vandyke3 he enveloped objects in the same brilliant haze of a previous mental conception4--#8,yes1' he said2 #8but though ,sir ,joshua borrowed a great deal1 he drew largely from himself3 or rather1 it was a strong and peculiar feeling of nature working in him and forcing its way out in spite of all impediments1 and that made whatever he touched his own4 ,in spite of his deficiency in drawing1 and his want of academic rules and a proper education1 you see this breaking out like a devil in all his works4 ,it is this that has stamped him4 ,there is a charm in his portraits1 a mingled softness and force1 a grasping at the end with nothing harsh or unpleasant in the means1 that you will find nowhere else4 ,he may go out of fashion for a time3 but you must come back to him again1 while a thousand imitators and academic triflers are forgotten4 ,this proves him to have been a real genius4 ,the same thing1 however1 made him a very bad master4 ,he knew nothing of rules which are alone to be taught2 and he could not communicate his instinctive feeling of beauty or character to others4 ,i learnt nothing from him while ,i was with him3 and none of his scholars 7if ,i may except myself7 ever made any figure at all4 ,he only gave us his pictures to copy4 ,sir ,joshua undoubtedly got his first ideas of the art from ,gandy1 though he lost them under ,hudson2 but he easily recovered them afterwards4 ,that is a picture of ,gandy's there 7pointing to a portrait of a little girl74 ,if you look into it1 you will find the same broken surface and varying outline1 that was so marked a characteristic of ,sir ,joshua4 ,there was nothing he hated so much as a distinct outline1 as you see it in ,mengs and the ,french school4 ,indeed1 he ran into the opposite extreme2 but it is one of the great beauties of art to show it waving and retiring1 now losing and then recovering itself again1 as it always does in nature1 without any of that stiff1 edgy appearance1 which only pedants affect or admire4 ,gandy was never out of ,devonshire3 but his portraits are common there4 ,his father was patronized by the ,duke of ,ormond1 and one reason why the son never came out of his native county was1 that when the ,duke of ,ormond was implicated in the rebellion to restore the ,pretender in #agae1 he affected to be thought too deep in his ,grace's confidence and a person of too much consequence to venture up to ,london1 so that he chose to remain in a voluntary exile4' ,i asked ,northcote if he remembered the name of ,stringer at the ,academy1 when he first came up to town4 ,he said he did1 and that he drew very well1 and once put the figure for him in a better position to catch the foreshortening4 ,he inquired if ,i knew any thing about him1 and ,i said ,i had once vainly tried to copy a head of a youth by him admirably drawn and coloured1 and in which he had attempted to give the effect of double vision by a second outline accompanying the contour of the face and features4 ,though the design might not be in good taste1 it was executed in a way that made it next to impossible to imitate4 ,i called on him afterwards at his house at ,knutsford1 where ,i saw some spirited comic sketches in an unfinished state1#hi and a capital female figure by ,cignani4 ,all his skill and love of art had1 ,i found1 been sacrificed to his delight in ,cheshire ale and the company of country-squires4 ,tom ,kershaw1 of ,manchester1 used to say1 that he would rather have been ,dan ,stringer than ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds at twenty years of age4 ,kershaw1 like other ,north-country critics1 thought more of the executive power than of the sthetical faculty2 forgetting that it signifies comparatively little how well you execute a thing1 if it is not worth executing4--,in consequence of something that was said of the egotism of artists1 he observed1 #8,i am sometimes thought cold and cynical myself2 but ,i hope it is not from any such over-weening opinion of myself4 ,i remember once going with ,wilkie to ,angerstein's1 and because ,i stood looking and said nothing1 he seemed dissatisfied1 and said1 8,i suppose you are too much occupied with admiring1 to give me your opinion80 ,and ,i answered hastily1 8,no1 indeed6 ,i was saying to myself1 #8,and is this all that the art can do8'0 ,but this was not1 ,i am sure1 an expression of triumph1 but of mortification at the defects which ,i could not help observing even in the most accomplished works4 ,i knew they were the best1 but ,i could have wished them to be a hundred times better than they were4' ,northcote mentioned a conceited painter of the name of ,edwards1 who went with ,romney to ,rome2 and when they got into the ,sistine ,chapel1 turning round to him1 said1 #8',egad6 ,george1 we're bit6'--,he then spoke of his own journey to ,rome1 of the beauty of the climate1 of the manners of the people1 of the imposing effect of the ,roman ,catholic religion1 of its favourableness to the fine arts1 of the churches full of pictures1 of the manner in which he passed his time1 studying and looking into all the rooms in the ,vatican3 he had no fault to find with ,italy1 and no wish to leave it4 #8,gracious and sweet was all he saw in her6' ,as he talked1 he looked as if he saw the different objects pass before him1 and his eye glittered with familiar recollections4 ,he said1 ,raphael did not scorn to look out of himself or to be beholden to others4 ,he took whole figures from ,masaccio to enrich his designs1 because all he wanted was to advance the art and ennoble human nature4 ,after he saw ,michael ,angelo1 he improved in freedom and breadth2 and if he had lived to see ,titian1 he would have done all he could to avail himself of his colouring4 ,all his works are an effusion of the sweetness and dignity of his own character4 ,he did not know how to make a picture2 but for the conduct of the fable and the development of passion and feeling 7noble but full of tenderness7 there is nobody like him4 ,this is why ,hogarth can never come into the lists4 ,he does not lift us above ourselves3 our curiosity may be gratified by seeing what men are1 but our pride must be soothed by seeing them made better4 ,why else is ,milton preferred to ,hudibras1 but because the one aggrandises our notions of human nature1 and the other degrades it8 ,who will make any comparison between a ,madona of ,raphael and a drunken prostitute by ,hogarth8 ,do we not feel more respect for an inspired ,apostle than for a blackguard in the streets8 ,raphael points out the highest perfection of which the human form and faculties are capable1 and ,hogarth their lowest degradation or most wretched perversion4 ,look at his attempts to paint the good or beautiful1 and you see how faint the impressions of these were in his mind4 ,yet these are what every one must wish to cherish in his own bosom1 and must feel most thankful for to those who lend him the powerful assistance of their unrivalled conceptions of true grandeur and beauty4 ,sir ,joshua strove to do this in his portraits1 and this it was that raised him in public estimation2 for we all wish to get rid of defects and peculiarities as much as we can4 ,he then said of ,michael ,angelo1 he did not wonder at the fame he had acquired4 ,you are to consider the state of the art before his time1 and that he burst through the mean and little manner even of such men as ,leonardo da ,vinci and ,pietro ,perugino and through the trammels that confined them1 and gave all at once a gigantic breadth and expansion that had never been seen before1 so that the world were struck with it as with a display of almost supernatural power1 and have never ceased to admire since4 ,we are not to compare it with the examples of art that have followed since1 and that would never have existed but for him1 but with those that preceded it4 ,he found fault with the figure of the flying monk in the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr1 as fluttering and theatrical1 but agreed with me in admiring this picture and in my fondness for ,titian in general4 ,he mentioned his going with ,prince ,hoare and ,day to take leave of some fine portraits of ,titian's that hung in a dark corner of a ,gallery at ,naples2 and as ,day looked at them for the last time with tears in his eyes1 he said #8,ah6 he was a fine old mouser6'--,i said1 ,i had repeated this expression 7which ,i had heard him allude to before7 somewhere in writing1 and was surprised that people did not know what to make of it4 ,northcote said1 #8,why1 that is exactly what ,i should have thought4 ,there is the difference between writing and speaking4 ,in writing1 you address the average quantity of sense or information in the world2 in speaking1 you pick your audience1 or at least know what they are prepared for1 or else previously explain what you think necessary4 ,you understand the epithet because you have seen a great number of ,titian's pictures1 and know that cat-like1 watchful1 penetrating look he gives to all his faces1 which nothing else expresses1 perhaps1 so well as the phrase ,day made use of3 but the world in general know nothing of this2 all they know or believe is1 that ,titian is a great painter like ,raphael or any other famous person4 ,suppose any one was to tell you1 ,raphael was a fine old mouser3 would you not laugh at this as absurd8 ,and yet the other is equally nonsense or incomprehensible to them4 ,no1 there is a limit1 a conversational licence which you cannot carry into writing4 ,this is one difficulty ,i have in writing3 ,i do not know the point of familiarity at which ,i am to stop2 and yet ,i believe ,i have ideas1 and you say ,i know how to express myself in talking4' ,i inquired if he remembered much of ,johnson1 ,burke1 and that set of persons8 ,he said1 ,yes1 a good deal1 as he had often seen them4 ,burke came into ,sir ,joshua's painting-room one day1 when ,northcote1 who was then a young man1 was sitting for one of the children in ,count ,ugolino4 7,it is the one in profile with the hand to the face47 ,he was introduced as a pupil of ,sir ,joshua's1 and1 on his looking up1 ,mr4 ,burke said1 #8,then ,i see that ,mr4 ,northcote is not only an artist1 but has a head that would do for ,titian to paint4'--,goldsmith and ,burke had often violent disputes about politics2 the one being a staunch ,tory1 and the other at that time a ,whig and outrageous anti-courtier4 ,one day he came into the room1 when ,goldsmith was there1 full of ire and abuse against the late king1 and went on in such a torrent of the most unqualified invective that ,goldsmith threatened to leave the room4 ,the other1 however1 persisted2 and ,goldsmith went out1 unable to bear it any longer4 ,so much for ,mr4 ,burke's pretended consistency and uniform loyalty6 ,when ,northcote first came to ,sir ,joshua1 he wished very much to see ,goldsmith2 and one day ,sir ,joshua1 on introducing him1 asked why he had been so anxious to see him8 #8,because1' said ,northcote1 #8he is a notable#ij man4' ,this expression1 notable1 in its ordinary sense1 was so contrary to ,goldsmith's character1 that they both burst out a-laughing very heartily4 ,goldsmith was two thousand pounds in debt at the time of his death1 which was hastened by his chagrin and distressed circumstances3 and when #8,she ,stoops to ,conquer' was performed1 he was so choked all dinner-time that he could not swallow a mouthful4 ,a party went from ,sir ,joshua's to support it4 ,the present title was not fixed upon till that morning4 ,northcote went with ,ralph1 ,sir ,joshua's man1 into the gallery1 to see how it went off2 and after the second act1 there was no doubt of its success4 ,northcote says1 people had a great notion of the literary parties at ,sir ,joshua's4 ,he once asked ,lord ,b-- to dine with ,dr4 ,johnson and the rest2 but though a man of rank and also of good information1 he seemed as much alarmed at the idea as if you had tried to force him into one of the cages at ,exeter-',change4 ,northcote remarked that he thought people of talents had their full share of admiration4 ,he had seen young ladies of quality1 ,lady ,marys and ,lady ,dorothys1 peeping into a room where ,mrs4 ,siddons was sitting1 with all the same timidity and curiosity as if it were some preternatural being--he was sure more than if it had been the ,queen4 ,he then made some observations on the respect paid to rank1 and said1 #8,however ridiculous it might seem1 it was no more than the natural expression of the highest respect in other cases4 ,for instance1 as to that of bowing out of the ,king's presence backwards1 would you not do the same if you were introduced to ,dr4 ,johnson for the first time8 ,you would contrive not to turn your back upon him1 till you were out of the room4' ,he said1 #8,you violent politicians make more rout about royalty than it is worth3 it is only the highest place1 and somebody must fill it1 no matter who3 neither do the persons themselves think so much of it as you imagine4 ,they are glad to get into privacy as much as they can4 ,nor is it a sinecure4 ,the late ,king 7,i have been told7 used often to have to sign his name to papers1 and do nothing else for three hours together1 till his fingers fairly ached1 and then he would take a walk in the garden1 and come back to repeat the same drudgery for three hours more4 ,so1 when they told ,louis ,,xv4 that if he went on with his extravagance1 he would bring about a ,revolution and be sent over to ,england with a pension1 he merely asked1 8,do you think the pension would be a pretty good one80' ,he noticed the ,memoirs of ,cardinal de ,retz1 and praised them for their extreme vivacity and great insight into human nature4 ,once when the mob had besieged the palace1 and the ,cardinal was obliged to go and appease them1 a brick-bat was flung at him and knocked him down1 and one of the assailants presenting a bayonet at his throat1 he suddenly called out1 #8,oh1 you wretch6 if your father could have seen you in this barbarous action1 what would he have said8' ,the man immediately withdrew1 though1 says the ,cardinal1 #8,i knew no more of his father than the babe unborn4' ,northcote then adverted to the talent of players for drollery and sudden shifts and expedients1 and said that by living in an element of comic invention1 they imbibed a portion of it4 ,he repeated that jest of ,f4 ,reynolds1 who filled up the blank in a militia paper that was sent him with the description1 #8,old1 lame1 and a coward2' and another story told of ,matthews1 the comedian1 who being left in the room with an old gentleman and a little child1 and the former putting the question to it1 #8,well1 my dear1 which do you like best1 the dog or the cat8' by exercising his powers of ventriloquism1 made the child seem to answer1 #8,i don't care a d--mn for either1'--to the utter confusion of the old gentleman1 who immediately took the father to task for bringing up his son in such profaneness and total want of common humanity4 ,he then returned to the question of the inconsistent and unreasonable expectations of mankind as to their success in different pursuits1 and answered the common complaint1 #8,what a shame it was that ,milton only got thirteen pounds nine shillings and sixpence for 8,paradise ,lost40' ,he said1 #8,not at all2 he did not write it to get money1 he had gained what he had proposed by writing it1 not thirteen pounds nine shillings and sixpence1 but an immortal reputation4 ,when ,dr4 ,johnson was asked why he was not invited out to dine as ,garrick was1 he answered1 as if it was a triumph to him1 8,because great lords and ladies don't like to have their mouths stopped60 ,but who does like to have their mouths stopped8 ,did he1 more than others8 ,people like to be amused in general2 but they did not give him the less credit for wisdom and a capacity to instruct them by his writings4 ,in like manner1 it has been said1 that the ,king only sought one interview with ,dr4 ,johnson2 whereas1 if he had been a buffoon or a sycophant1 he would have asked for more4 ,no1 there was nothing to complain of3 it was a compliment paid by rank to letters1 and once was enough4 ,the ,king was more afraid of this interview than ,dr4 ,johnson was2 and went to it as a school-boy to his task4 ,but he did not want to have this trial repeated every day1 nor was it necessary4 ,the very jealousy of his self-love marked his respect3 and if he had thought less of ,dr4 ,johnson1 he would have been more willing to risk the encounter4 ,they had each their place to fill1 and would best preserve their self-respect1 and perhaps their respect for each other1 by remaining in their proper sphere4 ,so they make an outcry about the ,prince leaving ,sheridan to die in absolute want4 ,he had left him long before3 was he to send every day to know if he was dying8 ,these things cannot be helped1 without exacting too much of human nature4' ,i agreed to this view of the subject1 and said1--,i did not see why literary people should repine if they met with their deserts in their own way1 without expecting to get rich2 but that they often got nothing for their pains but unmerited abuse and party obloquy4--#8,oh1 it is not party-spite1' said he1 #8but the envy of human nature4 ,do you think to distinguish yourself with impunity8 ,do you imagine that your superiority will be delightful to others8 ,or that they will not strive all they can1 and to the last moment1 to pull you down8 ,i remember myself once saying to ,opie1 how hard it was upon the poor author or player to be hunted down for not succeeding in an innocent and laudable attempt1 just as if they had committed some heinous crime6 ,and he answered1 8,they have committed the greatest crime in the eyes of mankind1 that of pretending to a superiority over them60 ,do you think that party abuse1 and the running down particular authors is any thing new8 ,look at the manner in which ,pope and ,dryden were assailed by a set of reptiles4 ,do you believe the modern periodicals had not their prototypes in the party-publications of that day8 ,depend upon it1 what you take for political cabal and hostility is 7nine parts in ten7 private pique and malice oozing out through those authorized channels4' ,we now got into a dispute about nicknames2 and ,h--me coming in and sitting down at my elbow1 my old pugnacious habit seemed to return upon me4 ,northcote contended1 that they had always an appropriate meaning3 and ,i said1--#8,their whole force consisted in their having absolutely none but the most vague and general4'--#8,why1' said ,northcote1 #8did my father give me the name of 8,fat ,jack10 but because ,i was lean8' ,he gave an instance which ,i thought made against himself1 of a man at ,plymouth1 a baker by profession1 who had got the name of ,tiddydoll--he could not tell how4 #8,then1' said ,i1 #8it was a name without any sense or meaning4'--#8,be that as it may1' said ,northcote1 #8it almost drove him mad4 ,the boys called after him in the street1 besieged his shop-windows2 even the soldiers took it up1 and marched to parade1 beating time with their feet1 and repeating1 ,tiddydoll1 ,tiddydoll1 as they passed by his door4 ,he flew out upon them at the sound with inextinguishable fury1 and was knocked down and rolled in the kennel1 and got up in an agony of rage and shame1 his white clothes covered all over with mud4 ,a gentleman1 a physician in the neighbourhood1 one day called him in and remonstrated with him on the subject4 ,he advised him to take no notice of his persecutors4 8,what10 he said1 8does it signify8 ,suppose they were to call me ,tiddydoll80--8,there10 said the man1 8you called me so yourself2 you only sent for me in to insult me60 and1 after heaping every epithet of abuse upon him1 flew out of the house in a most ungovernable passion4' ,i told ,northcote this was just the thing ,i meant4 ,even if a name had confessedly no meaning1 by applying it constantly and by way of excellence to another1 it seemed as if he must be an abstraction of insignificance3 whereas1 if it pointed to any positive defect or specific charge1 it was at least limited to the one1 and you stood a chance of repelling the other4 ,the virtue of a nickname consisted in its being indefinable and baffling all proof or reply4 ,when ,h--me was gone1 ,northcote extolled his proficiency in ,hebrew1 which astonished me not a little1 as ,i had never heard of it4 ,i said1 he was a very excellent man1 and a good specimen of the character of the old ,presbyterians1 who had more of the idea of an attachment to principle1 and less of an obedience to fashion or convenience1 from their education and tenets1 than any other class of people4 ,northcote assented to this statement1 and concluded by saying1 that ,h--me was certainly a very good man1 and had no fault but that of not being fat4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,fourth ,northcote said1 he had been reading ,kelly's #8,reminiscences4' ,i asked what he thought of them8 ,he said1 they were the work of a well meaning man1 who fancied all those about him good people1 and every thing they uttered clever4 ,i said1 ,i recollected his singing formerly with ,mrs4 ,crouch1 and that he used to give great effect to some things of sentiment1 such as #8,oh6 had ,i been by fate decreed1' c4 in ,love in a ,village4 ,northcote said1 he did not much like him3 there was a jerk1 a kind of brogue in his singing2 though he had1 no doubt1 considerable advantages in being brought up with all the great singers and having performed on all the first stages in ,italy4 ,i said1 there was no echo of all that now4 #8,no1' said ,northcote1 #8nor in my time1 though ,i was there just after him4 ,he asked me once1 many years ago1 if ,i had heard of him in ,italy1 and ,i said no1 though ,i excused myself by stating that ,i had only been at ,rome1 where the stage was less an object1 the ,pope there performing the chief part himself4' ,i answered1 that ,i meant there was no echo of the fine singing at present in ,italy1 music being there dead as well as painting1 or reduced to mere screaming1 noise and rant4 #8,it is odd1' he said1 #8how their genius seems to have left them4 ,every thing of that sort appears to be at present no better than it is with us in a country-town3 or rather it wants the simplicity and rustic innocence1 and is more like the draggle-tailed finery of a lady's waiting-maid4 ,they have nothing of their own3 all is at second-hand4 ,did you see ,thorwaldsen's things while you were there8 ,a young artist brought me all his designs the other day1 as miracles that ,i was to wonder at and be delighted with4 ,but ,i could find nothing in them but repetitions of the ,antique1 over and over1 till ,i was surfeited4' #8,he would be pleased at this4' #8,why1 no6 that is not enough3 it is easy to imitate the ,antique3--if you want to last1 you must invent something4 ,the other is only pouring liquors from one vessel into another1 that become staler and staler every time4 ,we are tired of the ,antique2 yet1 at any rate1 it is better than the vapid imitation of it4 ,the world wants something new1 and will have it4 ,no matter whether it is better or worse1 if there is but an infusion of new life and spirit1 it will go down to posterity2 otherwise1 you are soon forgotten4 ,canova1 too1 is nothing for the same reason--he is only a feeble copy of the ,antique2 or a mixture of two things the most incompatible1 that and opera-dancing4 ,but there is ,bernini2 he is full of faults2 he has too much of that florid1 redundant1 fluttering style1 that was objected to ,rubens2 but then he has given an appearance of flesh that was never given before4 ,the ,antique always looks like marble1 you never for a moment can divest yourself of the idea2 but go up to a statue of ,bernini's1 and it seems as if it must yield to your touch4 ,this excellence he was the first to give1 and therefore it must always remain with him4 ,it is true1 it is also in the ,elgin marbles2 but they were not known in his time2 so that he indisputably was a genius4 ,then there is ,michael ,angelo2 how utterly different from the ,antique1 and in some things how superior6 ,for instance1 there is his statue of ,cosmo de ,medici1 leaning on his hand1 in the chapel of ,st4 ,lorenzo at ,florence2 ,i declare it has that look of reality in it1 that it almost terrifies you to be near it4 ,it has something of the same effect as the mixture of life and death that is perceivable in wax-work2 though that is a bad illustration1 as this last is disagreeable and mechanical1 and the other is produced by a powerful and masterly conception4 ,it was the same with ,handel too3 he made music speak a new language1 with a pathos and a power that had never been dreamt of till his time4 ,is it not the same with ,titian1 ,correggio1 ,raphael8 ,these painters did not imitate one another1 but were as unlike as possible1 and yet were all excellent4 ,if excellence were one thing1 they must have been all wrong4 ,still1 originality is not caprice or affectation2 it is an excellence that is always to be found in nature1 but has never had a place in art before4 ,so ,romney said of ,sir ,joshua1 that there was that in his pictures which we had not been used to see in other painters1 but we had seen it often enough in nature4 ,give this in your works1 and nothing can ever rob you of the credit of it4 #8,i was looking into ,mandeville since ,i saw you 7,i thought ,i had lost it1 but ,i found it among a parcel of old books74 ,you may judge by that of the hold that any thing like originality takes of the world3 for though there is a great deal that is questionable and liable to very strong objection1 yet they will not give it up1 because it is the very reverse of common-place2 and they must go to that source to learn what can be said on that side of the question4 ,even if you receive a shock1 you feel your faculties roused by it and set on the alert4 ,mankind do not choose to go to sleep4'--,i replied1 that ,i thought this was true1 yet at the same time the world seemed to have a wonderful propensity to admire the trite and traditional4 ,i could only account for this from a reflection of our self-love4 ,we could few of us invent1 but most of us could imitate and repeat by rote2 and as we thought we could get up and ride in the same jog-trot machine of learning1 we affected to look up to this elevation as the post of honour4 ,northcote said1 #8,you are to consider that learning is of great use to society2 and though it may not add to the stock1 is a necessary vehicle to transmit it to others4 ,learned men are the cisterns of knowledge1 not the fountain-heads4 ,they are only wrong in often claiming respect on a false ground1 and mistaking their own province4 ,they are so accustomed to ring the changes on words and received notions1 that they lose their perception of things4 ,i remember being struck with this at the time of the ,ireland controversy3--only to think of a man like ,dr4 ,parr going down on his knees and kissing the pretended ,manuscript6 ,it was not that he knew or cared any thing about ,shakspeare 7or he would not have been so imposed upon72 he merely worshipped a name1 as a ,catholic priest worships the shrine that contains some favourite relic4' ,i said1 the passages in ,ireland's play that were brought forward to prove the identity1 were the very thing that proved the contrary2 for they were obvious parodies of celebrated passages in ,shakspeare1 such as that on death in ,richard ,,ii4--#8,and there the antic sits1' c4 ,now1 ,shakspeare never parodied himself2 but these learned critics were only struck with the verbal coincidence1 and never thought of the general character or spirit of the writer4 #8,or without that1' said ,northcote1 #8who that attended to the common sense of the question would not perceive that ,shakspeare was a person who would be glad to dispose of his plays as soon as he wrote them8 ,if it had been such a man as ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 indeed1 he might have written a play at his leisure1 and locked it up in some private drawer at ,penshurst1 where it might have been found two hundred years after3 but ,shakspeare had no opportunity to leave such precious hoards behind him1 nor place to deposit them in4 ,tresham made me very mad one day at ,cosway's1 by saying they had found a lock of his hair and a picture2 and ,caleb ,whitefoord1 who ought to have known better1 asked me if ,i did not think ,sheridan a judge1 and that he believed in the authenticity of the ,ireland papers8 ,i said1 8,do you bring him as a fair witness8 ,he wants to fill his theatre1 and would write a play himself1 and swear it was ,shakspeare's4 ,he knows better than to cry stale fish40' ,i observed1 this was what made me dislike the conversation of learned or literary men4 ,i got nothing from them but what ,i already knew1 and hardly that3 they poured the same ideas and phrases and cant of knowledge out of books into my ears1 as apothecaries' apprentices made prescriptions out of the same bottles2 but there were no new drugs or simples in their materia medica4 ,go to a ,scotch professor1 and he bores you to death by an eternal rhapsody about rent and taxes1 gold and paper-currency1 population and capital1 and the ,teutonic ,races--all which you have heard a thousand times before3 go to a linen-draper in the city1 without education but with common sense and shrewdness1 and you pick up something new1 because nature is inexhaustible1 and he sees it from his own point of view1 when not cramped and hood-winked by pedantic prejudices4 ,a person of this character said to me the other day1 in speaking of the morals of foreign nations--#8,it's all a mistake to suppose there can be such a difference1 ,sir3 the world are1 and must be moral2 for when people grow up and get married1 they teach their children to be moral4 ,no man wishes to have them turn out profligate4' ,i said ,i had never heard this before1 and it seemed to me to be putting society on new rollers4 ,northcote agreed1 it was an excellent observation4 ,i added1 this self-taught shrewdness had its weak sides too4 ,this same person was arguing that mankind remained much the same1 and always would do so4 ,cows and horses did not change3 and why then should men8 ,he had forgot that cows and horses do not learn to read and write4--#8,ay1 that was very well too1' said ,northcote2 #8,i don't know but ,i agree with him rather than with you4 ,i was thinking of the same thing the other day in looking over an old ,magazine1 in which there was a long debate on an ,act of ,parliament to license gin-drinking4 ,the effect was quite droll4 ,there was one person who made a most eloquent speech to point out all the dreadful consequences of allowing this practice4 ,it would debauch the morals1 ruin the health1 and dissolve all the bonds of society1 and leave a poor1 puny1 miserable1 ,lilliputian race1 equally unfit for peace or war4 ,you would suppose that the world was going to be at an end4 ,why1 no6 the answer would have been1 the world will go on much the same as before4 ,you attribute too much power to an ,act of ,parliament4 ,providence has not taken its measure so ill as to leave it to an ,act of ,parliament to continue or discontinue the species4 ,if it depended on our wisdom and contrivances whether it should last or not1 it would be at an end before twenty years6 ,people are wrong about this2 some say the world is getting better1 others complain it is getting worse1 when1 in fact1 it is just the same1 and neither better nor worse4'--,what a lesson1 ,i said to myself1 for our pragmatical legislators and idle projectors6 ,i said1 ,i had lately been led to think of the little real progress that was made by the human mind1 and how the same errors and vices revived under a different shape at different periods1 from observing just the same humour in our ,ultra-reformers at present1 and in their predecessors in the time of ,john ,knox4 ,our modern wiseacres were for banishing all the fine arts and finer affections1 whatever was pleasurable and ornamental1 from the ,commonwealth1 on the score of utility1 exactly as the others did on the score of religion4 ,the real motive in either case was nothing but a sour1 envious1 malignant disposition1 incapable of enjoyment in itself1 and averse to every appearance or tendency to it in others4 ,our peccant humours broke out and formed into what ,milton called #8a crust of formality' on the surface2 and while we fancied we were doing ,god or man good service1 we were only indulging our spleen1 self-opinion1 and self-will1 according to the fashion of the day4 ,the existing race of free-thinkers and sophists would be mortified to find themselves the counterpart of the monks and ascetics of old2 but so it was4 ,the dislike of the ,westminster ,reviewers to polite literature was only the old exploded ,puritanic objection to human learning4 ,names and modes of opinion changed1 but human nature was much the same4--#8,i know nothing of the persons you speak of1' said ,northcote2 #8but they must be fools if they expect to get rid of the showy and superficial1 and let only the solid and useful remain4 ,the surface is a part of nature1 and will always continue so4 ,besides1 how many useful inventions owe their existence to ornamental contrivances6 ,if the ingenuity and industry of man were not tasked to produce luxuries1 we should soon be without necessaries4 ,we must go back to the savage state4 ,i myself am as little prejudiced in favour of poetry as almost any one can be2 but surely there are things in poetry that the world cannot afford to do without4 ,what is of absolute necessity is only a part2 and the next question is1 how to occupy the remainder of our time and thoughts 7not so employed7 agreeably and innocently4 ,works of fiction and poetry are of incalculable use in this respect4 ,if people did not read the ,scotch novels1 they would not read ,mr4 ,bentham's philosophy4 ,there is nothing to me more disagreeable than the abstract idea of a ,quaker1 which falls under the same article4 ,they object to colours2 and why do they object to colours8 ,do we not see that ,nature delights in them8 ,do we not see the same purpose of prodigal and ostentatious display run through all her works8 ,do we not find the most beautiful and dazzling colours bestowed on plants and flowers1 on the plumage of birds1 on fishes and shells1 even to the very bottom of the sea8 ,all this profusion of ornament1 we may be sure1 is not in vain4 ,to judge otherwise is to fly in the face of ,nature1 and substitute an exclusive and intolerant spirit in the place of philosophy1 which includes the greatest variety of man's wants and tastes1 and makes all the favourable allowances it can4 ,the ,quaker will not wear coloured clothes2 though he would not have a coat to his back if men had never studied any thing but the mortification of their appetites and desires4 ,but he takes care of his personal convenience by wearing a piece of good broad-cloth1 and gratifies his vanity1 not by finery1 but by having it of a different cut from every body else1 so that he may seem better and wiser than they4 ,yet this humour1 too1 is not without its advantages3 it serves to correct the contrary absurdity4 ,i look upon the ,quaker and the fop as two sentinels placed by ,nature at the two extremes of vanity and selfishness1 and to guard1 as it were1 all the common-sense and virtue that lie between4' ,i observed that these contemptible narrow-minded prejudices made me feel irritable and impatient4 #8,you should not suffer that1' said ,northcote2 #8for then you will run into the contrary mistake1 and lay yourself open to your antagonist4 ,the monks1 for instance1 have been too hardly dealt with--not that ,i would defend many abuses and instances of oppression in them--but is it not as well to have bodies of men shut up in cells and monasteries1 as to let them loose to make soldiers of them and to cut one another's throats8 ,and out of that lazy ignorance and leisure1 what benefits have not sprung8 ,it is to them we owe those beautiful specimens of ,gothic architecture which can never be surpassed2 many of the discoveries in medicine and in mechanics are also theirs2 and1 ,i believe1 the restoration of classical learning is owing to them4 ,not that ,i would be understood to say that all or a great deal of this could not have been done without them2 but their leisure1 their independence1 and the want of some employment to exercise their minds were the actual cause of many advantages we now enjoy2 and what ,i mean is1 that ,nature is satisfied with imperfect instruments4 ,instead of snarling at every thing that differs from us we had better take ,shakspeare's advice1 and try to find 8,tongues in the trees1 books in the running brooks1 ,sermons in stones1 and good in every thing40' ,it was at this time that ,mr4 ,northcote read to me the following letter1 addressed by him to a very young lady1 who earnestly desired him to write a letter to her3-- #8,,my ,,dear ,,miss ,k--1 #8,what in the world can make you desire a letter from me8 ,indeed1 if ,i was a fine ,dandy of one-and-twenty1 with a pair of stays properly padded and also an iron busk1 and whiskers under my nose1 with my hair standing upright on my head1 all in the present fashion1 then it might be accounted for1 as ,i might write you a fine answer in poetry about ,cupids and burning hearts1 and sighs and angels and darts1 such a letter as ,mr4 --1 the poet1 might write4 ,but it is long past the time for me to sing love-songs under your window1 with a guitar1 and catch my death in some cold night1 and so die in your service4 #8,but what has a poor gray-headed old man of eighty got to say to a blooming young lady of eighteen1 but to relate to her his illness and pains1 and tell her that past life is little better than a dream1 and that he finds that all he has been doing is only vanity4 ,indeed1 ,i may console myself with the pleasure of having gained the flattering attention of a young lady of such amiable qualities as yourself1 and have the honour to assure you1 that ,i am your grateful friend and most obliged humble servant1 #8,,james ,,northcote4' #8,argyll ,place1 #ahbf4' ,i said1 the hardest lesson seemed to be to look beyond ourselves4 #8,yes1' said ,northcote1 #8,i remember when we were young and were making remarks upon the neighbours1 an old maiden aunt of ours used to say1 8,i wish to ,god you could see yourselves60 ,and yet1 perhaps1 after all1 this was not very desirable4 ,many people pass their whole lives in a very comfortable dream1 who1 if they could see themselves in the glass1 would start back with affright4 ,i remember once being at the ,academy1 when ,sir ,joshua wished to propose a monument to ,dr4 ,johnson in ,st4 ,paul's1 and ,west got up and said1 that the ,king1 he knew1 was averse to any thing of the kind1 for he had been proposing a similar monument in ,westminster ,abbey for a man of the greatest genius and celebrity--one whose works were in all the cabinets of the curious throughout ,europe--one whose name they would all hear with the greatest respect--and then it came out1 after a long preamble1 that he meant ,woollett1 who had engraved his ,death of ,wolfe4 ,i was provoked1 and ,i could not help exclaiming--8,my ,god6 what1 do you put him upon a footing with such a man as ,dr4 ,johnson--one of the greatest philosophers and moralists that ever lived8 ,we have thousands of engravers at any time60--and there was such a burst of laughter at this--,dance1 who was a grave gentlemanly man1 laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks2 and ,farington used afterwards to say to me1 8,why don't you speak in the ,academy1 and begin with #8,my ,god6' as you do sometimes80' ,i said1 ,i had seen in a certain painter something of this humour1 who once very good-naturedly showed me a ,rubens he had1 and observed with great nonchalance1 #8,what a pity that this man wanted expression6' ,i imagined ,rubens to have looked round his gallery4 #8,yet1' he continued1 #8it is the consciousness of defect1 too1 that often stimulates the utmost exertions4 ,if ,pope had been a fine1 handsome man1 would he have left those masterpieces that he has8 ,but he knew and felt his own deformity1 and therefore was determined to leave nothing undone to extend that corner of power that he possessed4 ,he said to himself1 ,they shall have no fault to find there4 ,i have often thought when very good-looking young men have come here intending to draw1 8,what6 are you going to bury yourselves in a garret80 ,and it has generally happened that they have given up the art before long1 and married or otherwise disposed of themselves4' ,i had heard an anecdote of ,nelson1 that1 when appointed post-captain1 and on going to take possession of his ship at ,yarmouth1 the crowd on the quay almost jostled him1 and exclaimed--#8,what6 have they made that little insignificant fellow a captain8 ,he will do much1 to be sure6' ,i thought this might have urged him to dare as he did1 in order to get the better of their prejudices and his own sense of mortification4 #8,no doubt1' said ,northcote1 #8personal defects or disgrace operate in this way4 ,i knew an admiral who had got the nickname of 8,dirty ,dick0 among the sailors1 and1 on his being congratulated on obtaining some desperate victory1 all he said was1 8,i hope they'll call me ,dirty ,dick no more60--,there was a ,sir ,john ,grenville or ,greenfield formerly1 who was appointed to convoy a fleet of merchant-ships1 and had to defend them against a ,spanish man-of-war1 and did so with the utmost bravery and resolution1 so that the convoy got safe off2 but after that1 he would not yield till he was struck senseless by a ball1 and then the crew delivered up the vessel to the enemy1 who1 on coming on board and entering the cabin where he lay1 were astonished to find a mere puny shrivelled spider of a man1 instead of the ,devil they had expected to see4 ,he was taken on shore in ,spain1 and died of his wounds there2 and the ,spanish women afterwards used to frighten their children1 by telling them 8,don ,john of the ,greenfield was coming60' ,,conversation ,,the ,,fifth ,northcote mentioned the death of poor --1 who had been with him a few days before1 laughing and in great spirits2 and the next thing he heard was that he had put an end to himself4 ,i asked if there was any particular reason8 ,he said #8,no2 that he had left a note upon the table1 saying that his friends had forsaken him1 that he knew no cause1 and that he was tired of life4 ,his patron1 ,c--1 of the ,admiralty1 had1 it seems1 set him to paint a picture of ,louis the ,eighteenth receiving the ,order of the ,garter4 ,he had probably been teazed about that4 ,these insipid court-subjects were destined to be fatal to artists4 ,poor ,bird had been employed to paint a picture of ,louis the ,eighteenth landing at ,calais1 and had died of chagrin and disappointment at his failure4 ,who could make any thing of such a figure and such a subject8 ,there was nothing to be done2 and yet if the artist added any thing of his own1 he was called to order by his would-be patrons1 as falsifying what appeared to them an important event in history4 ,it was only a person like ,rubens who could succeed in such subjects by taking what licences he thought proper1 and having authority enough to dictate to his advisers4' ,a gentleman came in1 who asked if -- was likely to have succeeded in his art8 ,northcote answered1 #8,there were several things against it4 ,he was good-looking1 good-natured1 and a wit4 ,he was accordingly asked out to dine1 and caressed by those who knew him2 and a young man after receiving these flattering marks of attention and enjoying the height of luxury and splendour1 was not inclined to return to his painting-room1 to brood over a design that would cost him infinite trouble1 and the success of which was at last doubtful4 ,few young men of agreeable persons or conversation turned out great artists4 ,it was easier to look in the glass than to make a dull canvas shine like a lucid mirror2 and1 as to talking1 ,sir ,joshua used to say1 a painter should sew up his mouth4 ,it was only the love of distinction that produced eminence2 and if a man was admired for one thing1 that was enough4 ,we only work out our way to excellence by being imprisoned in defects4 ,it requires a long apprenticeship1 great pains1 and prodigious self-denial1 which no man will submit to1 except from necessity1 or as the only chance he has of escaping from obscurity4 ,i remember when ,mr4 ,locke 7of ,norbury ,park7 first came over from ,italy2 and old ,dr4 ,moore1 who had a high opinion of him1 was crying up his drawings and asked me1 if ,i did not think he would make a great painter8 ,i said1 #8,no1 never6'--#8,why not8'--#8,because he has six thousand a year4' ,no one would throw away all the advantages and indulgences this ensured him1 to shut himself up in a garret to pore over that which after all may expose him to contempt and ridicule4 ,artists1 to be sure1 have gone on painting after they have got rich1 such as ,rubens and ,titian1 and indeed ,sir ,joshua2 but then it had by this time become a habit and a source of pleasure instead of a toil to them1 and the honours and distinction they had acquired by it counter-balanced every other consideration4 ,their love of the art had become greater than their love of riches or of idleness3 but at first this is not the case1 and the repugnance to labour is only mastered by the absolute necessity for it4 ,people apply to study only when they cannot help it4 ,no one was ever known to succeed without this stimulus4' ,i ventured to say that1 generally speaking1 no one1 ,i believed1 ever succeeded in a profession without great application2 but that where there was a strong turn for any thing1 a man in this sense could not help himself1 and the application followed of course1 and was1 in fact1 comparatively easy4 ,northcote turned short round upon me1 and said1 #8,then you admit original genius8 ,i cannot agree with you there4' ,i said1 #8,waiving that1 and not inquiring how the inclination comes1 but early in life a fondness1 a passion for a certain pursuit is imbibed2 the mind is haunted by this object1 it cannot rest without it 7any more than the body without food71 it becomes the strongest feeling we have1 and then1 ,i think1 the most intense application follows naturally1 just as in the case of a love of money or any other passion--the most unremitting application without this is forced and of no use2 and where this original bias exists1 no other motive is required4'--#8,oh6 but1' said ,northcote1 #8if you had to labour on by yourself without competitors or admirers1 you would soon lay down your pencil or your pen in disgust4 ,it is the hope of shining1 or the fear of being eclipsed1 that urges you on4 ,do you think if nobody took any notice of what you did1 this would not damp your ardour8'--#8,yes2 after ,i had done anything that ,i thought worth notice1 it might considerably3 but how many minds 7almost all the great ones7 were formed in secresy and solitude1 without knowing whether they should ever make a figure or not6 ,all they knew was1 that they liked what they were about1 and gave their whole souls to it4 ,there was ,hogarth1 there was ,correggio3 what enabled these artists to arrive at the perfection in their several ways1 which afterwards gained them the attention of the world8 ,not the premature applause of the by-standers1 but the vivid tingling delight with which the one seized upon a grotesque incident or expression--8the wrapt soul sitting in the eyes10 of the other1 as he drew a saint or angel from the skies4 ,if they had been brought forward very early1 before they had served this thorough apprenticeship to their own minds 7the opinion of the world apart71 it might have damped or made coxcombs of them4 ,it was the love and perception of excellence 7or the favouring smile of the ,muse7 that in my view produced excellence and formed the man of genius4 ,some1 like ,milton1 had gone on with a great work all their lives with little encouragement but the hope of posthumous fame4'--#8,it is not that1' said ,northcote2 #8you cannot see so far4 ,it is not those who have gone before you or those who are to come after you1 but those who are by your side1 running the same race1 that make you look about you4 ,what made ,titian jealous of ,tintoret8 ,because he stood immediately in his way1 and their works were compared together4 ,if there had been a hundred ,tintorets a thousand miles off1 he would not have cared about them4 ,that is what takes off the edge and stimulus of exertion in old age3 those who were our competitors in early life1 whom we wished to excel or whose good opinion we were most anxious about1 are gone1 and have left us in a manner by ourselves1 in a sort of new world1 where we know and are as little known as on entering a strange country4 ,our ambition is cold with the ashes of those whom we feared or loved4 ,i remember old ,alderman ,boydell using an expression which explained this4 ,once when ,i was in the coach with him1 in reply to some compliment of mine on his success in life1 he said1 8,ah6 there was one who would have been pleased at it2 but her ,i have lost60 ,the fine coach and all the city-trappings were nothing to him without his wife1 who remembered what he was and the gradations and anxious cares by which he rose to his present affluence1 and was a kind of monitor to remind him of his former self and of the different vicissitudes of his fortune4' ,northcote then spoke of old ,alderman ,boydell with great regret1 and said1 #8,he was a man of sense and liberality1 and a true patron of the art4 ,his nephew1 who came after him1 had not the same capacity1 and wanted to dictate to the artists what they were to do4 ,n4 mentioned some instance of his wanting him to paint a picture on a subject for which he was totally unfit1 and figures of a size which he had never been accustomed to1 and he told him 8he must get somebody else to do it40' ,i said1 #8,booksellers and editors had the same infirmity1 and always wanted you to express their ideas1 not your own4 ,sir ,r4 ,p-- had once gone up to ,coleridge1 after hearing him talk in a large party1 and offered him 8nine guineas a sheet for his conversation60 ,he calculated that the 8nine guineas a sheet0 would be at least as strong a stimulus to his imagination as the wasting his words in a room full of company4' ,,northcote3 #8,ay1 he came to me once1 and wished me to do a work which was to contain a history of art in all countries and from the beginning of the world4 ,i said it would be an invaluable work if it could be done2 but that there was no one alive who could do it4' ,northcote afterwards1 by some transition1 spoke of the characters of women1 and asked my opinion4 ,i said1 #8,all my metaphysics leaned to the vulgar side of these questions3 ,i thought there was a difference of original genius1 a difference in the character of the sexes1 c4 ,women appeared to me to do some things better than men2 and therefore ,i concluded they must do other things worse4' ,northcote mentioned ,annibal ,caracci1 and said1 #8,how odd it was1 that in looking at any work of his1 you could swear it was done by a man6 ,ludovico ,caracci had a finer and more intellectual expression1 but not the same bold and workmanlike character4 ,there was ,michael ,angelo again--what woman would ever have thought of painting the figures in the ,sistine chapel8 ,there was ,dryden too1 what a thorough manly character there was in his style6 ,and ,pope'--,i interrupted1 #8seemed to me between a man and a woman4'--#8,it was not1' he continued1 #8that women were not often very clever 7cleverer than many men71 but there was a point of excellence which they never reached4 ,yet the greatest pains had been taken with several4 ,angelica ,kauffmann had been brought up from a child to the art1 and had been taken by her father 7in boy's clothes7 to the ,academy to learn to draw2 but there was an effeminate and feeble look in all her works1 though not without merit4 ,there was not the man's hand1 or what ,fuseli used to call a 8fist0 in them2 that is1 something coarse and clumsy enough1 perhaps1 but still with strength and muscle4 ,even in common things1 you would see a carpenter drive a nail in a way that a women never would2 or if you had a suit of clothes made by a woman1 they would hang quite loose about you and seem ready to fall off4 ,yet it is extraordinary too1 said ,northcote1 that in what has sometimes been thought the peculiar province of men1 courage and heroism1 there have been women fully upon a par with any men1 such as ,joan of ,arc and many others1 who have never been surpassed as leaders in battle4' ,i observed that of all the women ,i had ever seen or known any thing of1 ,mrs4 ,siddons struck me as the grandest4 ,he said1--#8,oh6 it is her outward form1 which stamps her so completely for tragedy1 no less than the mental part4 ,both she and her brother were cut out by ,nature for a tragedy-king and queen4 ,it is what ,mrs4 ,hannah ,more has said of her1 8,her's is the afflicted60' ,i replied1 that she seemed to me equally great in anger or in contempt or in any stately part as she was in grief1 witness her ,lady ,macbeth4 #8,yes1' he said1 #8that1 to be sure1 was a masterpiece4' ,i asked what he thought of ,mrs4 ,inchbald8 ,he said1 #8,oh6 very highly3 there was no affectation in her4 ,i once took up her ,simple ,story 7which my sister had borrowed from the circulating library7 and looking into it1 ,i said1 8,my ,god6 what have you got here80 and ,i never moved from the chair till ,i had finished it4 ,her ,nature and ,art is equally fine--the very marrow of genius4' ,she seems to me1 ,i added1 like ,venus writing books4 #8,yes1 women have certainly been successful in writing novels2 and in plays too4 ,i think ,mrs4 ,centlivre's are better than ,congreve's4 ,their letters1 too1 are admirable3 it is only when they put on the breeches and try to write like men1 that they become pedantic and tiresome4 ,in giving advice1 too1 ,i have often found that they excelled2 and when ,i have been irritated by any trifling circumstance and have laid more stress upon it than it was worth1 they have seen the thing in a right point of view and tamed down my asperities4' ,on this ,i remarked1 that ,i thought1 in general1 it might be said that the faculties of women were of a passive character4 ,they judged by the simple effect upon their feelings1 without inquiring into causes4 ,men had to act2 women had the coolness and the advantages of by-standers1 and were neither implicated in the theories nor passions of men4 ,while we were proving a thing to be wrong1 they would feel it to be ridiculous4 ,i said1 ,i thought they had more of common sense1 though less of acquired capacity than men4 ,they were freer from the absurdities of creeds and dogmas1 from the virulence of party in religion and politics 7by which we strove to show our sense and superiority71 nor were their heads so much filled with the lumber of learned folios4 ,i mentioned as an illustration1 that when old ,baxter 7the celebrated casuist and nonconformist divine7 first went to ,kidderminster to preach1 he was almost pelted by the women for maintaining from the pulpit the then fashionable and orthodox doctrine1 that #8,hell was paved with infants' skulls4' ,the theory1 which the learned divine had piled up on arguments and authorities1 is now exploded3 the common-sense feeling on the subject1 which the women of that day took up in opposition to it as a dictate of humanity1 would be now thought the philosophical one4 #8,yes1' said ,northcote1 #8but this exploded doctrine was knocked down by some man1 as it had been set up by one3 the women would let things remain as they are1 without making any progress in error or wisdom4 ,we do best together3 our strength and our weakness mutually correct each other4' ,northcote then read me from a manuscript volume lying by him1 a character drawn of his deceased wife by a ,dissenting ,minister 7a ,mr4 ,fox1 of ,plymouth7 which is so beautiful that ,i shall transcribe it here4 #8,written by ,mr4 ,john ,fox1 on the death of his wife1 who was the daughter of the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,isaac ,gelling4 #8,my dear wife died to my unspeakable grief1 ,dec4 #aith1 #agfb4 ,with the loss of my dear companion died all the pleasure of my life2 and no wonder3 ,i had lived with her forty years1 in which time nothing happened to abate the strictness of our ,friendship1 or to create a coolness or indifference so common and even unregarded by many in the world4 ,i thank ,god ,i enjoyed my full liberty1 my health1 such pleasures and diversions as ,i liked1 perfect peace and competence during the time2 which were all seasoned and heightened every day more or less by constant marks of friendship1 most inviolable affection1 and a most cheerful endeavour to make my life agreeable4 ,nothing disturbed me but her many and constant disorders2 under all which ,i could see how her faithful heart was strongly attached to me4 ,and who could stand the shock of seeing the attacks of ,death upon and then her final dissolution8 ,the consequences to me were fatal4 ,old age rushed upon me like an armed man3 my appetite failed1 my strength was gone1 every amusement became flat and dull2 my countenance fell1 and ,i have nothing to do but to drag on a heavy chain for the rest of my life2 which ,i hope a good ,god will enable me to do without murmuring1 and in conclusion1 to say with all my soul-- ,,te ,,deum ,,laudamus4 #8,this was written on a paper blotted by tears1 and stuck with wafers into the first page of the family ,bible4 #8,mr4 ,john ,fox died #bb;d of ,october1 #agfc4 ,he was born ,may #ajth1 #afic4' ,,conversation ,,the ,,sixth ,northcote alluded to a printed story of his having hung an early picture of ,h--'s out of sight1 and of ,fuseli's observing on the occasion--#8,by ,g--d1 you are sending him to heaven before his time6' ,he said there was not the least foundation for this story2 nor could there be1 he not having been hanger that year4 ,he read out of the same publication a letter from ,burke to a young artist of the name of ,barrow1 full of excellent sense1 advising him by no means to give up his profession as an engraver till he was sure he could succeed as a painter1 out of idle ambition and an unfounded contempt for the humbler and more laborious walks of life4 #8,i could not have thought it of him1' said ,northcote2 #8,i confess he never appeared to me so great a man4' ,i asked what kind of looking man he was8 ,northcote answered1 #8,you have seen the picture8 ,there was something ,i did not like2 a thinness in the features1 and an expression of hauteur1 though mixed with condescension and the manners of a gentleman4 ,i can't help thinking he had a hand in the ,discourses2 that he gave some of the fine1 graceful turns2 for ,sir ,joshua paid a greater deference to him than to any body else1 and put up with freedoms that he would only have submitted to from some peculiar obligation4 ,indeed1 ,miss ,reynolds used to complain that whenever any of ,burke's poor ,irish relations came over1 they were all poured in upon them to dinner2 but ,sir ,joshua never took any notice1 but bore it all with the greatest patience and tranquillity4 ,to be sure1 there was another reason3 he expected ,burke to write his ,life1 and for this he would have paid almost any price4 ,this was what made him submit to the intrusions of ,boswell1 to the insipidity of ,malone1 and to the magisterial dictation of ,burke3 he made sure that out of these three one would certainly write his ,life1 and ensure him immortality that way4 ,he thought no more of the person who actually did write it afterwards than he would have suspected his dog of writing it4 ,indeed1 ,i wish he could have known2 for it would have been of some advantage to me1 and he might have left me something not to dwell on his defects2 though he was as free from them as any man2 but you can make any one ridiculous with whom you live on terms of intimacy4 #8,i remember an instance of this that happened with respect to old ,mr4 ,m-- whom you must have heard me speak of1 and who was esteemed an idol by ,burke1 ,dr4 ,johnson1 and many others4 ,sir ,joshua wanted to reprint his ,sermons and prefix a ,life to them1 and asked me to get together any particulars ,i could learn of him4 ,so ,i gave him a manuscript account of ,mr4 ,m--1 written by an old school-fellow of his 7,mr4 ,fox1 a dissenting minister in the ,west of ,england72 after which ,i heard no more of the ,life4 ,mr4 ,m-- was in fact a man of extraordinary talents and great eloquence2 and by representing in a manner the ,high-,church notions both of ,dr4 ,johnson and ,sir ,joshua 7for both were inclined the same way7 they came to consider him as a sort of miracle of virtue and wisdom4 ,there was1 however1 something in ,mr4 ,fox's plain account that would strike ,sir ,joshua1 for he had an eye for nature2 and he would at once perceive it was nearer the truth than ,dr4 ,johnson's pompous character of him1 which was proper only for a tombstone--it was like one of ,kneller's portraits1--it would do for any body6 ,that1' said ,northcote1 #8is old ,mr4 ,m--'s definition of beauty1 which ,sir ,joshua has adopted in the ,discourses--that it is the medium of form4 ,for what is a handsome nose8 ,a long nose is not a handsome nose2 neither is a short nose a handsome one3 it must then be one that is neither long nor short1 but in the middle between both4 ,even ,burke bowed to his authority2 and ,sir ,joshua thought him the wisest man he ever knew4 ,once when ,sir ,joshua was expressing his impatience of some innovation1 and ,i said1 8,at that rate1 the ,christian ,religion could never have been established40 8,oh60 he said1 8,mr4 ,m-- has answered that60 which seemed to satisfy him4' ,i made some remark that ,i wondered he did not come up to ,london1 though the same feeling seemed to belong to other clever men born in ,devonshire 7as ,gandy7 whose ambition was confined to their native county1 so that there must be some charm in the place4 #8,you are to consider1' he replied1 #8it is almost a peninsula1 so that there is no thorough-fare1 and people are therefore more stationary in one spot4 ,it is for this reason they necessarily intermarry among themselves1 and you can trace the genealogies of families for centuries back2 whereas in other places1 and particularly here in ,london1 where every thing of that kind is jumbled together1 you never know who any man's grandfather was4 ,there are country-squires and plain gentry down in that part of the world1 who have occupied the same estates long before the ,conquest 7as the ,suckbitches in particular1--not a very sounding name7 and who look down upon the ,courtneys and others as upstarts4 ,certainly1 ,devonshire for its extent has produced a number of eminent men1 ,sir ,joshua1 the ,mudges1 ,dunning1 ,gay1 ,lord ,chancellor ,king1 ,raleigh1 ,drake1 and ,sir ,richard ,granville in ,queen ,elizabeth's time1 who made that gallant defence in an engagement with the ,spanish fleet1 and was the ancestor of ,pope's ,lord ,lansdowne1 8,what ,muse for ,granville will refuse to sing1 c40 ,foster1 the celebrated preacher1 was also1 ,i believe1 from the ,west of ,england4 ,he first became popular from the ,lord ,chancellor ,hardwicke stopping in the porch of his chapel in the ,old ,jewry1 out of a shower of rain2 and thinking he might as well hear what was going on1 he went in1 and was so well pleased that he sent all the great folks to hear him1 and he was run after as much as ,irving has been in our time4 ,an old fellow-student from the country1 going to wait on him at his house in ,london1 found a ,shakspeare on the window-seat2 and remarking the circumstance with some surprise as out of the usual course of clerical studies1 the other apologised by saying that he wished to know something of the world1 that his situation and habits precluded him from the common opportunities1 and that he found no way of supplying the deficiency so agreeable or effectual as looking into a volume of ,shakspeare4 ,pope has immortalised him in the well-known lines3-- #8,let modest ,foster1 if he will1 excel ,ten ,metropolitans in preaching well6' ,dr4 ,mudge1 the son of ,mr4 ,zachary ,mudge1 who was a physician1 was an intimate friend of my father's1 and ,i remember him perfectly well4 ,he was one of the most delightful persons ,i ever knew4 ,every one was enchanted with his society4 ,it was not wit that he possessed1 but such perfect cheerfulness and good-humour1 that it was like health coming into the room4 ,he was a most agreeable companion1 quite natural and unaffected4 ,his reading was the most beautiful ,i have ever heard4 ,i remember his once reading ,moore's fable of the ,female ,seducers with such feeling and sweetness that every one was delighted1 and ,dr4 ,mudge himself was so much affected that he burst into tears in the middle of it4 ,the family are still respectable1 but derive their chief lustre from the first two founders1 like clouds that reflect the sun's rays1 after he has sunk below the horizon1 but in time turn grey and are lost in obscurity6' ,i asked ,northcote if he had ever happened to meet with a letter of ,warburton's in answer to one of ,dr4 ,doddridge's1 complimenting the author of the ,divine ,legation of ,moses on the evident zeal and earnestness with which he wrote--to which the latter candidly replied1 that he wrote with great haste and unwillingness2 that he never sat down to compose till the printer's boy was waiting at the door for the manuscript1 and that he should never write at all but as a relief to a morbid lowness of spirits1 and to drive away uneasy thoughts that often assailed him4#ia #8,that indeed1' observed ,northcote1 #8gives a different turn to the statement2 ,i thought at first it was only the common coquetry both of authors and artists1 to be supposed to do what excites the admiration of others with the greatest ease and indifference1 and almost without knowing what they are about4 ,if what surprises you costs them nothing1 the wonder is so much increased4 ,when ,michael ,angelo proposed to fortify his native city1 ,florence1 and he was desired to keep to his painting and sculpture1 he answered1 that those were his recreations1 but what he really understood was architecture4 ,that is what ,sir ,joshua considers as the praise of ,rubens1 that he seemed to make a play-thing of the art4 ,in fact1 the work is never complete unless it has this appearance3 and therefore ,sir ,joshua has laid himself open to criticism1 in saying that #8a picture must not only be done well1 it must seem to have been done easily4' ,it cannot be said to be done well1 unless it has this look4 ,that is the fault of those laboured and timid productions of the modern ,french and ,italian schools2 they are the result of such a tedious1 petty1 mechanical process1 that it is as difficult for you to admire as it has been for the artist to execute them4 ,whereas1 when a work seems stamped on the canvas by a blow1 you are taken by surprise2 and your admiration is as instantaneous and electrical as the impulse of genius which has caused it4 ,i have seen a whole-length portrait by ,velasquez1 that seemed done while the colours were yet wet2 every thing was touched in1 as it were1 by a wish2 there was such a power that it thrilled through your whole frame1 and you felt as if you could take up the brush and do any thing4 ,it is this sense of power and freedom which delights and communicates its own inspiration1 just as the opposite drudgery and attention to details is painful and disheartening4 ,there was a little picture of one of the ,infants of ,spain on horseback1 also by ,velasquez1 which ,mr4 ,agar had1#ib and with which ,gainsborough was so transported1 that he said in a fit of bravado to the servant who showed it1 8,tell your master ,i will give him a thousand pounds for that picture40 ,mr4 ,agar began to consider what pictures he could purchase with the money if he parted with this1 and at last1 having made up his mind1 sent ,gainsborough word he might have the picture2 who not at all expecting this result1 was a good deal confused1 and declared1 however he might admire it1 he could not afford to give so large a sum for it4' ,,conversation ,,the ,,seventh ,northcote complained of being unwell1 though he said he could hardly expect it to be otherwise at his age4 ,he must think of making up the accounts of his life1 such as it had been1 though he added 7checking himself7 that he ought not to say that1 for he had had his share of good as well as others4 ,he had been reading in ,boccaccio1 where it was frequently observed1 that #8such a one departed this wretched life at such a time2'--so that in ,boccaccio's time they complained of the wretchedness of life as much as we do4 ,he alluded to an expression of ,coleridge's1 which he had seen quoted in a newspaper1 and which he thought very fine1 #8,that an old ,gothic cathedral always seemed to him like a petrified religion6' ,some one asked1 ,why does he not go and turn ,black ,monk8 ,because1 ,i said1 he never does anything that he should do4 #8,there are some things1' said ,n41 #8with respect to which ,i am in the same state that a blind man is as to colours4 ,homer is one of these4 ,i am utterly in the dark about it4 ,i can make nothing of his heroes or his ,gods4 ,whether this is owing to my not knowing the language or to a change of manners1 ,i cannot say4' ,he was here interrupted by the entrance of the beautiful ,mrs4 ,g--1 beautiful even in years4 ,she said she had brought him a book to look at4 ,she could not stop1 for she had a lady waiting for her below1 but she would call in some morning and have a long chat4 ,after she was gone1 ,i remarked how handsome she still was2 and he said1 #8,i don't know why she is so kind as to come1 except that ,i am the last link in the chain that connects her with all those she most esteemed when she was young1 ,johnson1 ,reynolds1 ,goldsmith--and remind her of the most delightful period of her life4' ,i said1 ,not only so1 but you remember what she was at twenty2 and you thus bring back to her the triumphs of her youth--that pride of beauty which must be the more fondly cherished as it has no external vouchers1 and lives chiefly in the bosom of its once lovely possessor4 ,in her1 however1 the ,graces had triumphed over time2 she was one of ,ninon de l',enclos' people1 of the list of the ,immortals4 ,i could almost fancy the shade of ,goldsmith in the room1 looking round with complacency4 #8,yes1' said ,northcote1 #8that is what ,sir ,joshua used to mention as the severest test of beauty--it was not then skin-deep only4 ,she had gone through all the stages1 and had lent a grace to each4 ,there are beauties that are old in a year4 ,take away the bloom and freshness of youth1 and there is no trace of what they were4 ,their beauty is not grounded in first principles4 ,good temper is one of the great preservers of the features4' ,i observed1 it was the same in the mind as in the body4 ,there were persons of premature ability who soon ran to seed1 and others who made no figure till they were advanced in life4 ,i had known several who were very clever at seventeen or eighteen1 but who had turned out nothing afterwards4 #8,that is what my father used to say1 that at that time of life the effervescence and intoxication of youth did a great deal1 but that we must wait till the gaiety and dance of the animal spirits had subsided to see what people really were4 ,it is wonderful' 7said ,northcote1 reverting to the former subject7 #8what a charm there is in those early associations1 in whatever recals that first dawn and outset of life4 ,jack-the-,giant-,killer is the first book ,i ever read1 and ,i cannot describe the pleasure it gives me even now4 ,i cannot look into it without my eyes filling with tears4 ,i do not know what it is 7whether good or bad71 but it is to me1 from early impressions1 the most heroic of performances4 ,i remember once not having money to buy it1 and ,i transcribed it all out with my own hand4 ,this is what ,i was going to say about ,homer4 ,i cannot help thinking that one cause of the high admiration in which it is held is its being the first book that is put into the hands of young people at school3 it is the first spell which opens to them the enchantments of the unreal world4 ,had ,i been bred a scholar1 ,i dare say ,homer would have been my ,jack-the-,giant-,killer6--,there is an innocence and simplicity in that early age which makes every thing relating to it delightful4 ,it seems to me that it is the absence of all affectation or even of consciousness1 that constitutes the perfection of nature or art4 ,that is what makes it so interesting to see girls and boys dancing at school--there is such natural gaiety and freedom1 such unaffected1 unpretending1 unknown grace4 ,that is the true dancing1 and not what you see at the ,opera4 ,and again1 in the most ordinary actions of children1 what an ease1 what a playfulness1 what flames of beauty do they throw out without being in the smallest degree aware of it6 ,i have sometimes thought it a pity there should be such a precious essence1 and that those who possess it should be quite ignorant of it3 yet if they knew it1 that alone would kill it6 ,the whole depends on the utter absence of all egotism1 of the remotest reflection upon self4 ,it is the same in works of art--the simplest are the best4 ,that is what makes me hate those stuffed characters that are so full of themselves that ,i think they cannot have much else in them4 ,a man who admires himself prevents me from admiring him1 just as by praising himself he stops my mouth2 though the vulgar take their cue from a man's opinion of himself1 and admire none but coxcombs and pedants4 ,this is the best excuse for impudence and quackery1 that the world will not be gained without it4 ,the true favourites of ,nature1 however1 have their eyes turned towards the ,goddess1 instead of looking at themselves in the glass4 ,there is no pretence or assumption about them4 ,it seems difficult indeed for any one who is the object of attention to others not to be thinking of himself3 but the greatest men have always been the most free from this bias1 the weakest have been the soonest puffed up by self-conceit4 ,if you had asked ,correggio why he painted as he did1 he would have answered1 8,because he could not help it40 ,look at ,dryden's verses1 which he wrote just like a school-boy who brings up his task without knowing whether he shall be rewarded or flogged for it4 ,do you suppose he wrote the description of ,cymon for any other reason than because he could not help it1 or that he had any more power to stop himself in his headlong career than the mountain-torrent8 ,or turn to ,shakspeare1 who evidently does not know the value1 the dreadful value 7as ,i may say7 of the expressions he uses4 ,genius gathers up its beauties1 like the child1 without knowing whether they are weeds or flowers3 those productions that are destined to give forth an everlasting odour1 grow up without labour or design4' ,mr4 ,p-- came in1 and complimenting ,northcote on a large picture he was about1 the latter said1 ,it was his last great work3 he was getting too old for such extensive undertakings4 ,his friend replied1 that ,titian went on painting till near a hundred4 #8,aye1' said ,northcote1 #8but he had the ,devil to help him1 and ,i have never been able to retain him in my service4 ,it is a dreadful thing to see an immense blank canvas spread out before you to commit sins upon4' ,something was said of the ,academy1 and ,p-- made answer1 #8,i know your admiration of corporate bodies4' ,n4 said1 #8,they were no worse than others2 they all began well and ended ill4 ,when the ,academy first began1 one would suppose that the ,members were so many angels sent from heaven to fill the different situations1 and that was the reason why it began3 now the difficulty was to find any body fit for them1 and the deficiency was supplied by interest1 intrigue1 and cabal4 ,not that ,i object to the individuals neither4 ,as ,swift said1 ,i like ,jack1 ,tom1 and ,harry very well by themselves2 but altogether1 they are not to be endured4 ,we see the effect of people acting in concert in animals 7for men are only a more vicious sort of animals73 a single dog will let you kick and cuff him as you please1 and will submit to any treatment2 but if you meet a pack of hounds1 they will set upon you and tear you to pieces with the greatest impudence4' ,p43 #8,the same complaint was made of the ,academy in ,barry's time1 which is now thirty or forty years ago4'#ic ,,northcote3 #8,oh6 yes1 they very soon degenerated4 ,it is the same in all human institutions4 ,the thing is1 there has been no way found yet to keep the ,devil out4 ,it will be a curious thing to see whether that experiment of the ,american ,government will last4 ,if it does1 it will be the first instance of the kind4' ,p43 #8,i should think not4 ,there is something very complicated and mysterious in the mode of their ,elections1 which ,i am given to understand are managed in an under-hand manner by the leaders of parties2 and besides1 in all governments the great desideratum is to combine activity with a freedom from selfish passions4 ,but it unfortunately happens that in human life1 the selfish passions are the strongest and most active2 and on this rock society seems to split4 ,there is a certain period in a man's life when he is at his best 7when he combines the activity of youth with the experience of manhood71 after which he declines2 and perhaps it may be the same with states4 ,things are not best in the beginning or at the end1 but in the middle1 which is but a point4' ,,northcote3 #8,nothing stands still2 it therefore either grows better or worse4 ,when a thing has reached its utmost perfection1 it then borders on excess2 and excess leads to ruin and decay4' ,lord ,g4 had bought a picture of ,northcote's3 an allusion was made to his enormous and increasing wealth4 ,northcote said he could be little the better for it4 ,after a certain point1 it became a mere nominal distinction4 ,he only thought of that which passed through his hands and fell under his immediate notice4 ,he knew no more of the rest than you or ,i did3 he was merely perplexed by it4 ,this was what often made persons in his situation tenacious of the most trifling sums1 for this was the only positive or tangible wealth they had3 the remote contingency was like a thing in the clouds1 or mountains of silver and gold seen in the distant horizon4 ,it was the same with ,nollekens3 he died worth #bjj1jjj3 but the money he had accumulated at his banker's was out of his reach and contemplation--out of sight1 out of mind--he was only muddling about with what he had in his hands1 and lived like a beggar in actual fear of want4 ,p4 said1 he was an odd little man1 but he believed clever in his profession4 ,northcote assented1 and observed #8he was an instance of what might be done by concentrating the attention on a single object4 ,if you collect the rays of the sun in a focus1 you could set any object on fire4 ,great talents were often dissipated to no purpose3 but time and patience conquered every thing4 ,without them1 you could do nothing4 ,so ,giardini1 when asked how long it would take to learn to play on the fiddle1 answered--8,twelve hours a-day for twenty years together40 ,a few great geniuses may trifle with the arts1 like ,rubens2 but in general nothing can be more fatal than to suppose one's-self a great genius4' ,p4 observed1 that in common business those who gave up their whole time and thoughts to any pursuit generally succeeded in it1 though far from bright men3 and we often found those who had acquired a name for some one excellence1 people of moderate capacity in other respects4 ,after ,mr4 ,p4 was gone1 ,northcote said he was one of the persons of the soundest judgment he had ever known1 and like ,mr4 ,p4 ,h4 the least liable to be imposed upon by appearances4 ,northcote made the remark that he thought it improper in any one to refuse lending a favourite picture for public exhibition1 as it seemed not exclusively to belong to one person4 ,a jewel of this value belongs rather to the public than to the individual4 ,consider the multitudes you deprive of an advantage they cannot receive again3 the idle of amusement1 the studious of instruction and improvement4 ,i said1 this kind of indifference to the wishes of the public was sending the world to ,coventry6 ,we then spoke of a celebrated courtier1 of whom ,i said ,i was willing to believe every thing that was amiable1 though ,i had some difficulty1 while thinking of him1 to keep the valet out of my head4 ,,northcote3 #8,he has certainly endeavoured to behave well2 but there is no altering character4 ,i myself might have been a courtier if ,i could have cringed and held my tongue2 but ,i could no more exist in that element than a fish out of water4 ,at one time ,i knew ,lord ,r4 and ,lord ,h4 ,s--1 who were intimate with the ,prince and recommended my pictures to him4 ,sir ,joshua once asked me1 8,what do you know of the ,prince of --1 that he so often speaks to me about you80 ,i remember ,i made him laugh by my answer1 for ,i said1 8,oh6 he knows nothing of me1 nor ,i of him--it's only his bragging60--8,well10 said he1 8that is spoken like a ,king60#8444 ,it was to-day ,i asked leave to write down one or two of these ,conversations3 he said #8,i might1 if ,i thought it worth while2 but ,i do assure you that you overrate them4 ,you have not lived enough in society to be a judge4 ,what is new to you1 you think will seem so to others4 ,to be sure1 there is one thing1 ,i have had the advantage of having lived in good society myself4 ,i not only passed a great deal of my younger days in the company of ,reynolds1 ,johnson1 and that circle1 but ,i was brought up among the ,mudges1 of whom ,sir ,joshua 7who was certainly used to the most brilliant society of the metropolis7 thought so highly1 that he had them at his house for weeks1 and even sometimes gave up his own bed-room to receive them4 ,yet they were not thought superior to several other persons at ,plymouth1 who were distinguished1 some for their satirical wit1 others for their delightful fancy1 others for their information or sound sense1 and with all of whom my father was familiar when ,i was a boy4 ,really after what ,i recollect of these1 some of the present people appear to me mere wretched pretenders1 muttering out their own emptiness4' ,i said1 ,we had a specimen of ,lord ,byron's ,conversations4 ,,northcote4--#8,yes2 but he was a tyrant1 and a person of that disposition never learns any thing1 because he will only associate with inferiors4 ,if1 however1 you think you can make any thing of it and can keep clear of personalities1 ,i have no objection to your trying2 only ,i think after the first attempt1 you will give it up as turning out quite differently from what you expected4' ,,conversation ,,the ,,eighth ,northcote spoke again of ,sir ,joshua1 and said1 he was in some degree ignorant of what might be called the grammatical part of the art1 or scholarship of academic skill2 but he made up for it by an eye for nature1 or rather by a feeling of harmony and beauty4 ,dance 7he that was afterwards ,sir ,nathaniel ,holland7 drew the figure well1 gave a strong likeness and a certain studied air to his portraits2 yet they were so stiff and forced that they seemed as if put into a vice4 ,sir ,joshua1 with the defect of proportion and drawing1 threw his figures into such natural and graceful attitudes1 that they might be taken for the very people sitting or standing there4 ,an arm might be too long or too short1 but from the apparent ease of the position he had chosen1 it looked like a real arm and neither too long nor too short4 ,the mechanical measurements might be wrong3 the general conception of nature and character was right2 and this1 which he felt most strongly himself1 he conveyed in a corresponding degree to the spectator4 ,nature is not one thing1 but a variety of things1 considered under different points of view2 and he who seizes forcibly and happily on any one of these1 does enough for fame4 ,he will be the most popular artist1 who gives that view with which the world in general sympathise4 ,a merely professional reputation is not very extensive1 nor will it last long4 ,w--1 who prided himself on his drawing1 had no idea of any thing but a certain rigid outline1 never considering the use of the limbs in moving1 the effects of light and shade1 c4 so that his figures1 even the best of them1 look as if cut out of wood4 ,therefore no one now goes to see them3 while ,sir ,joshua's are as much sought after as ever1 from their answering to a feeling in the mind1 though deficient as literal representations of external nature4 ,speaking of artists who were said1 in the cant of connoisseurship1 to be jealous of their outline1 he said1 #8,rembrandt was not one of these4 ,he took good care to lose it as fast as he could4' ,northcote then spoke of the breadth of ,titian1 and observed1 that though particularly in his early pictures1 he had finished highly and copied every thing from nature1 this never interfered with the general effect1 there was no confusion or littleness3 he threw such a broad light on the objects1 that every thing was seen in connection with the masses and in its place4 ,he then mentioned some pictures of his own1 some of them painted forty years ago1 that had lately sold very well at a sale at ,plymouth3 he was much gratified at this1 and said it was almost like looking out of the grave to see how one's reputation got on4 ,northcote told an anecdote of ,sir ,george ,b--1 to show the credulity of mankind4 ,when a young man1 he put an advertisement in the papers to say that a ,mynheer --1 just come over from ,germany1 had found out a method of taking a likeness much superior to any other by the person's looking into a mirror and having the glass heated so as to bake the impression4 ,he stated this wonderful artist to live at a perfumer's shop in ,bond-street1 opposite to an hotel where he lodged1 and amused himself the next day to see the numbers of people who flocked to have their likenesses taken in this surprising manner4 ,at last1 he went over himself to ask for ,monsieur --1 and was driven out of the shop by the perfumer in a rage1 who said there was no ,monsieur -- nor ,monsieur ,devil lived there4 ,at another time ,sir ,g4 was going in a coach to a tavern with a party of gay young men4 ,the waiter came to the coach-door with a light1 and as he was holding this up to the others1 those who had already got out went round1 and getting in at the opposite coach-door came out again1 so that there seemed to be no end of the procession1 and the waiter ran into the house1 frightened out of his wits4 ,the same story is told of ,swift and four clergymen dressed in canonicals4 ,speaking of titles1 ,northcote said1 #8,it was strange what blunders were often made in this way4 ,r--1 7the engraver7 had stuck ,lord ,john ,boringdon under his print after ,sir ,joshua--it should be ,john ,lord ,boringdon--and he calls the ,earl of ,carlisle ,lord ,carlisle--,lord ,carlisle denotes only a ,baron4 ,i was once dining at ,sir ,john ,leicester's1 and a gentleman who was there was expressing his wonder what connection a ,prince of ,denmark and a ,duke of ,gloucester could have with ,queen ,anne1 that prints of them should be inserted in a history that he had just purchased of her reign4 ,no other1 ,i said1 than that one of them was her son1 and the other her husband4 ,the boy died when he was eleven years old of a fever caught at a ball dancing1 or he would have succeeded to the throne4 ,he was a very promising youth1 though that indeed is what is said of all princes4 ,queen ,anne took his death greatly to heart1 and that was the reason why she never would appoint a successor4 ,she wished her brother to come in1 rather than the present family4 ,that makes me wonder1 after thrones have been overturned and kingdoms torn asunder to keep the ,catholics out1 to see the pains that are now taken to bring them in4 ,it was this that made the late ,king say it was inconsistent with his ,coronation-oath4 ,not that ,i object to tolerate any religion 7even the ,jewish71 but they are the only one that will not tolerate any other4 ,they are such devils 7what with their cunning1 their numbers1 and their zeal71 that if they once get a footing1 they will never rest till they get the whole power into their hands4 ,it was but the other day that the ,jesuits nearly overturned the empire of ,china2 and if they were obliged to make laws and take the utmost precautions against their crafty encroachments1 shall we open a door to them1 who have only just escaped out of their hands8' ,i said1 ,i had thrown a radical reformer into a violent passion lately by maintaining that the ,pope and ,cardinals of ,rome were a set of as good-looking men as so many ,protestant ,bishops or ,methodist parsons1 and that the ,italians were the only people who seemed to have any faith in their religion as an object of imagination or feeling4 ,my opponent grew almost black in the face1 while inveighing against the enormous absurdity of transubstantiation2 it was in vain ,i pleaded the beauty1 innocence1 and cheerfulness of the peasant-girls near ,rome1 who believed in this dreadful superstition1 and who thought me damned and would probably have been glad to see me burnt at a stake as a heretic4 ,at length ,i said1 that ,i thought reason and truth very excellent things in themselves2 and that when ,i saw the rest of the world grow as fond of them as they were of absurdity and superstition1 ,i should be entirely of his way of thinking2 but ,i liked an interest in something 7a wafer or a crucifix7 better than an interest in nothing4 ,what have philosophers gained by unloosing their hold of the ideal world1 but to be hooted at and pelted by the rabble1 and envied and vilified by one another for want of a common bond of union and interest between them8 ,i just now met the son of an old literary friend in the street1 who seemed disposed to cut me for some hereditary pique1 jealousy1 or mistrust4 ,suppose his father and ,i had been ,catholic priests 7saving the bar-sinister7 how different would have been my reception6 ,he is short-sighted indeed2 but had ,i been a ,cardinal1 he would have seen me fast enough3 the costume alone would have assisted him4 ,where there is no frame-work of respectability founded on the esprit de corps and on public opinion cemented into a prejudice1 the jarring pretensions of individuals fall into a chaos of elementary particles1 neutralising each other by mutual antipathy1 and soon become the sport and laughter of the multitude4 ,where the whole is referred to intrinsic1 real merit1 this creates a standard of conceit1 egotism1 and envy in every one's own mind1 lowering the class1 not raising the individual4 ,a ,catholic priest walking along the street is looked up to as a link in the chain let down from heaven3 a poet or philosopher is looked down upon as a poor creature1 deprived of certain advantages1 and with very questionable pretensions in other respects4 ,abstract intellect requires the weight of the other world to be thrown into the scale1 to make it a match for the prejudices1 vulgarity1 ignorance1 and selfishness of this6 #8,you are right1' said ,northcote4 #8,it was ,archimedes who said he could move the earth if he had a place to fix his levers on3 the priests have always found this purchase in the skies4 ,after all1 we have not much reason to complain1 if they give us so splendid a reversion to look forward to4 ,that is what ,i said to ,g-- when he had been trying to unsettle the opinions of a young artist whom ,i knew4 ,why should you wish to turn him out of one house1 till you have provided another for him8 ,besides1 what do you know of the matter more than he does8 ,his nonsense is as good as your nonsense1 when both are equally in the dark4 ,as to what your friend said of the follies of the ,catholics1 ,i do not think that the ,protestants can pretend to be quite free from them4 ,so when a chaplain of ,lord ,bath's was teazing a ,popish clergyman to know how he could make up his mind to admit that absurdity of ,transubstantiation1 the other made answer1 8,why1 ,i'll tell you3 when ,i was young1 ,i was taught to swallow ,adam's ,apple2 and since that1 ,i have found no difficulty with any thing else60 ,we may say what we will of the ,catholic religion2 but it is more easy to abuse than to overturn it4 ,i have for myself no objection to it but its insatiable ambition1 and its being such a dreadful engine of power4 ,it is its very perfection as a system of profound policy and moral influence1 that renders it so formidable4 ,indeed1 ,i have been sometimes suspected of a leaning to it myself2 and when ,godwin wrote his ,life of ,chaucer1 he was said to have turned ,papist from his making use of something ,i had said to him about confession4 ,i don't know but unfair advantages may be taken of it for state-purposes2 but ,i cannot help thinking it is of signal benefit in the regulation of private life4 ,if servants have cheated or lied or done any thing wrong1 they are obliged to tell it to the priest1 which makes them bear it in mind1 and then a certain penance is assigned which they must go through1 though they do not like it4 ,all this acts as a timely check1 which is better than letting them go on till their vices get head1 and then hanging them6 ,the ,great indeed may buy themselves off 7as where are they not privileged87 but this certainly does not apply to the community at large4 ,i remember our saying to that old man 7a ,dominican friar7 whose picture you see there1 that we wished he could be made a ,royal ,confessor2 to which he replied1 that he would not for the world be ,confessor to a ,king1 because it would prevent him from the conscientious discharge of his duty4 ,in former times1 in truth1 the traffic in indulgences was carried to great lengths2 and this it was that broke up the system and gave a handle to the ,protestants4 ,the excellence of the scheme produced the power1 and then the power led to the abuse of it4 ,infidel ,popes went the farthest in extending the privileges of the ,church2 and being held back by no scruples of faith or conscience1 nearly ruined it4 ,when some pious ecclesiastic was insisting to ,leo ,x4 on the necessity of reforming certain scandalous abuses1 he pointed to a crucifix and said1 8,behold the fate of a reformer6 ,the system1 as it is1 is good enough for us60 ,they have taken the morality of the ,gospel and engrafted upon it a system of superstition and priestcraft2 but still perhaps the former prevails over the latter4 ,even that duty of humanity to animals is beautifully provided for2 for on ,st4 ,antony's day1 the patron of animals1 the horses1 c4 pass under a certain arch1 and the priest sprinkles the ,holy ,water over them1 so that they are virtually taken under the protection of the church4 ,we think we have a right to treat them any how1 because they have no souls4 ,the ,roman ,catholic is not a barbarous religion2 and it is also much milder than it was4 ,this is a necessary consequence of the state of things4 ,when three ,englishmen were presented to ,benedict ,,xiv4 7,lambertini7 who was a man of wit and letters1 he observed to them smiling1 8,i know that you must look upon our religion as false and spurious1 but ,i suppose you will have no objection to receive the blessing of an old man60 ,when ,fuseli and ,i were there1 an ,englishman of the name of ,brown had taken the pains to convert a ,roman artist3 the ,englishman was sent from ,rome1 and the student was taken to the ,inquisition1 where he was shown the hooks in the wall and the instruments of torture used in former times1 reprimanded1 and soon after dismissed4' ,i asked ,northcote whereabouts the ,inquisition was8 ,he said1 #8,in a street behind the ,vatican4' ,he and ,mr4 ,prince ,hoare once took shelter in the portico out of a violent shower of rain1 and considered it a great piece of inhumanity to be turned out into the street4 ,he then noticed a curious mistake in ,mrs4 ,radcliffe's ,,italian1 where some one is brought from ,naples to the ,inquisition1 and made to enter ,rome through the ,porta di ,popolo1 and then the other streets on the ,english side of ,rome are described with great formality1 which is as if any one was described as coming by the coach from ,exeter1 and after entering at ,whitechapel1 proceeding through ,cheapside and the ,strand to ,charing ,cross4 ,northcote related a story told him by ,nollekens of a singular instance of the effects of passion that he saw in the ,trastevere1 the oldest and most disorderly part of ,rome4#id ,two women were quarrelling1 when having used the most opprobrious language1 one of them drew a knife from her bosom1 and tried to plunge it into her rival's breast1 but missing her blow and the other retiring to a short distance and laughing at her1 in a fit of impotent rage she struck it into her own bosom4 ,her passion had been worked up to an uncontrolable pitch1 and being disappointed of its first object1 must find vent somewhere4 ,i remarked it was what we did every day of our lives in a less degree1 according to the vulgar proverb of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face6 ,northcote then returned to the subject of the sale of his pictures4 ,he said it was a satisfaction1 though a melancholy one1 to think that one's works might fetch more after one's death than during one's life-time4 ,he had once shewn ,farington a landscape of ,wilson's1 for which a gentleman had given three hundred guineas at the first word2 and ,farington said he remembered ,wilson's painting it1 and how delighted he was when he got thirty pounds for it4 ,barrett rode in his coach1 while ,wilson nearly starved and was obliged to borrow ten pounds to go and die in ,wales3 yet he used to say that his pictures would be admired1 when the name of ,barrett was forgotten4 ,northcote said he also thought it a great hardship upon authors1 that copyright should be restricted to a few years1 instead of being continued for the benefit of the family1 as in the case of ,hudibras1 ,paradise ,lost1 and other works1 by which booksellers made fortunes every year1 though the descendants of the authors were still living in obscurity and distress4 ,i said that in ,france a successful drama brought something to the author or his heirs every time it was acted4 ,northcote seemed to approve of this1 and remarked that he always thought it very hard upon ,richardson1 just at the time he had brought out his ,pamela or ,clarissa1 to have it pirated by an ,irish bookseller through a treacherous servant whom he kept in his shop1 and thus to lose all the profits of his immortal labours4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,ninth ,northcote remarked to-day that artists were more particular than authors as to character--the latter did not seem to care whom they associated with4 ,he1 ,n--1 was disposed to attribute this to greater refinement of moral perception in his own profession4 ,i said ,i thought it was owing to authors being more upon the town than painters1 who were dependent upon particular individuals and in a manner accountable to them for the persons they might be seen in company with or might occasionally bring into contact with them4 ,for instance1 ,i said ,i thought ,h-- was wrong in asking me to his ,private ,day1 where ,i might meet with ,lord ,m--1 who was so loyal a man that he affected not to know that such a person as ,admiral ,blake had ever existed4 ,on the same principle this ,noble ,critic was blind to the merit of ,milton1 in whom he could see nothing1 though ,mr4 ,pitt had been at the pains to repeat several fine passages to him4 ,n-- said1 #8,it's extraordinary how particular the world sometimes are1 and what prejudices they take up against people1 even where there is no objection to character1 merely on the score of opinion4 ,there is ,g--1 who is a very good man2 yet when ,mr4 ,h-- and myself wished to introduce him at the house of a lady who lives in a round of society1 and has a strong tinge of the blue-stocking1 she would not hear of it4 ,the sound of the name seemed to terrify her4 ,it was his writings she was afraid of4 ,even ,cosway made a difficulty too4' ,i replied--#8,i should not have expected this of him1 who was as great a visionary and as violent a politician as any body could be4' ,,northcote--#8,it passed off in ,cosway as whim4 ,he was one of those butterfly characters that nobody minded3 so that his opinion went for nothing3 but it would not do to bring any one else there1 whose opinion might be more regarded and equally unpalatable4 ,g--'s case is particularly hard in this respect3 he is a profligate in theory1 and a bigot in conduct4 ,he does not seem at all to practise what he preaches1 though this does not appear to avail him any thing4'--#8,yes1' ,i said1 #8he writes1 against himself4 ,he has written against matrimony1 and has been twice married4 ,he has scouted all the common-place duties1 and yet is a good husband and a kind father4 ,he is a strange composition of contrary qualities4 ,he is a cold formalist1 and full of ardour and enthusiasm of mind2 dealing in magnificent projects and petty cavils2 naturally dull1 and brilliant by dint of study2 pedantic and playful2 a dry logician and a writer of romances4' #8,you describe him1' said ,n--1 #8as ,i remember ,baretti once did ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds at his own table1 saying to him1 8,you are extravagant and mean1 generous and selfish1 envious and candid1 proud and humble1 a genius and a mere ordinary mortal at the same time40 ,i may not remember his exact words1 but that was their effect4 ,the fact was1 ,sir ,joshua was a mixed character1 like the rest of mankind in that respect2 but knew his own failings1 and was on his guard to keep them back as much as possible1 though the defects would break out sometimes4' #8,g--1 on the contrary1' ,i said1 #8is aiming to let his out and to magnify them into virtues in a kind of hot-bed of speculation4 ,he is shocking on paper and tame in reality4' #8,how is that8' said ,northcote4 #8,why1 ,i think it is easy enough to be accounted for2 he is naturally a cold speculative character1 and indulges in certain metaphysical extravagances as an agreeable exercise for the imagination1 which alarm persons of a grosser temperament1 but to which he attaches no practical consequences whatever4 ,so it has been asked how some very immoral or irreligious writers1 such as ,helveticus and others1 have been remarked to be men of good moral character8 and ,i think the answer is the same4 ,persons of a studious1 phlegmatic disposition can with impunity give a license to their thoughts1 which they are under no temptation to reduce into practice4 ,the sting is taken out of evil by their constitutional indifference1 and they look on virtue and vice as little more than words without meaning or the black and white pieces of the chess-board1 in combining which the same skill and ingenuity may be shewn4 ,more depraved and combustible temperaments are warned of the danger of any latitude of opinion by their very proneness to mischief1 and are forced by a secret consciousness to impose the utmost restraint both upon themselves and others4 ,the greatest prudes are not always supposed to be the greatest enemies to pleasure4 ,besides1 authors are very much confined by habit to a life of study and speculation1 sow their wild oats in their books1 and unless where their passions are very strong indeed1 take their swing in theory and conform in practice to the ordinary rules and examples of the world4' ,northcote said1 #8,certainly people are tenacious of appearances in proportion to the depravity of manners1 as we may see in the simplicity of country-places4 ,to be sure1 a rake like ,hodge in ,love in a ,village gets amongst them now and then2 but in general they do many gross things without the least notion of impropriety1 as if vice were a thing they had no more to do with than children4' ,he then mentioned an instance of some young country-people who had to sleep on the floor in the same room and they parted the men from the women by some sacks of corn1 which served for a line of demarcation and an inviolable partition between them4 ,i told ,n-- a story of a countrywoman who coming to an inn in the ,west of ,england wanted a bed2 and being told they had none to spare1 still persisted till the landlady said in a joke1 #8,i tell you1 good woman1 ,i have none1 unless you can prevail with the ostler to give you half of his4'--#8,well1' said she1 #8if he is a sober1 prudent man1 ,i should not mind4' ,something was then said of the manners of people abroad1 who sometimes managed to unite an absence of mauvaise honte with what could hardly be construed into an ignorance of vice4 ,the ,princess ,borghese 7,buonaparte's sister7 who was no saint1 sat to ,canova for a model1 and being asked1 #8,if she did not feel a little uncomfortable1' answered1 #8,no1 there was a fire in the room4' #8,custom1' said ,n--1 #8makes a wonderful difference in taking off the sharpness of the first inflammable impression4 ,people for instance were mightily shocked when they first heard that the boys at the ,academy drew from a living model4 ,but the effect almost immediately wears off with them4 ,it is exactly like copying from a statue4 ,the stillness1 the artificial light1 the attention to what they are about1 the publicity even1 draws off any idle thoughts1 and they regard the figure and point out its defects or beauties1 precisely as if it were of clay or marble4' ,i said ,i had perceived this effect myself1 that the anxiety to copy the object before one deadened every other feeling2 but as this drew to a close1 the figure seemed almost like something coming to life again1 and that this was a very critical minute4 ,he said1 he found the students sometimes watched the women out1 though they were not of a very attractive appearance1 as none but those who were past their prime would sit in this way3 they looked upon it as an additional disgrace to what their profession imposed upon them1 and as something unnatural4 ,one in particular 7he remembered7 always came in a mask4 ,several of the young men in his time had however been lured into a course of dissipation and ruined by such connexions2 one in particular1 a young fellow of great promise but affected1 and who thought that profligacy was a part of genius4 ,i said1 ,it was the easiest part4 ,this was an advantage foreign art had over ours4 ,a battered courtesan sat for ,sir ,joshua's ,iphigene2 innocent girls sat for ,canova's ,graces1 as ,i had been informed4 ,northcote asked1 if ,i had sent my son to school8 ,i said1 ,i thought of the ,charter-,house1 if ,i could compass it4 ,i liked those old established places where learning grew for hundreds of years1 better than any new-fangled experiments or modern seminaries4 ,he inquired if ,i had ever thought of putting him to school on the ,continent2 to which ,i answered1 ,no1 for ,i wished him to have an idea of home1 before ,i took him abroad2 by beginning in the contrary method1 ,i thought ,i deprived him both of the habitual attachment to the one and of the romantic pleasure in the other4 ,n-- observed there were very fine schools at ,rome in his time1 one was an ,italian1 and another a ,spanish ,college1 at the last of which they acted plays of ,voltaire's1 such as ,zara1 ,mahomet1 c4 at some of which he had been present4 ,the hall that served for the theatre was beautifully decorated2 and just as the curtain was about to draw up1 a hatch-way was opened and showered down play-bills on their heads with the names of the actors2 such a part being by a ,spanish ,grandee of the first class1 another by a ,spanish ,grandee of the second class1 and they were covered with jewels of the highest value4 ,several ,cardinals were also present 7who did not attend the public theatres7 and it was easy to gain admittance from the attention always shewn to strangers4 ,n-- then spoke of the courtesy and decorum of the ,roman clergy in terms of warm praise1 and said he thought it in a great measure owing to the conclave being composed of dignitaries of all nations1 ,spanish1 ,german1 ,italian1 which merged individual asperities and national prejudices in a spirit of general philanthropy and mutual forbearance4 ,i said ,i had never met with a look from a ,catholic priest 7from the highest to the lowest7 that seemed to reproach me with being a tramontane4 ,this absence of all impertinence was to me the first of virtues4 ,he repeated1 ,i have no fault to find with ,italy4 ,there may be vice in ,rome1 as in all great capitals 7though ,i did not see it7--but in ,parma and the remoter towns1 they seem all like one great and exemplary family4 ,their kindness to strangers was remarkable4 ,he said he had himself travelled all the way from ,lyons to ,genoa1 and from ,genoa to ,rome without speaking a word of the language and in the power of a single person without meeting with the smallest indignity2 and everywhere1 both at the inns and on the road1 every attention was paid to his feelings1 and pains taken to alleviate the uncomfortableness of his situation4 ,set a ,frenchman down in ,england to go from ,london to ,york in the same circumstances1 and see what treatment he will be exposed to4 ,he recollected a person of the name of ,gogain who had been educated in ,france and could not speak ,english--on landing1 he held out half-a-guinea to pay the boatman who had rowed him only about twenty yards from the vessel1 which the fellow put in his pocket and left him without a single farthing4 ,abroad1 he would have been had before the magistrate for such a thing1 and probably sent to the galleys4 ,there is a qualifying property in nature that makes most things equal4 ,in ,england they cannot drag you out of your bed to a scaffold1 or take an estate from you without some reason assigned3 but as the law prevents any flagrant acts of injustice1 so it makes it more difficult to obtain redress4 #8,we pay1' continued ,northcote1 #8for every advantage we possess by the loss of some other4 ,poor ,goblet1 the other day1 after making himself a drudge to ,nollekens all his life1 with difficulty recovered eight hundred pounds compensation2 and though he was clearly entitled1 by the will1 to the models which the sculptor left behind him1 he was afraid to risk the law expenses1 and gave it up4' ,some person had been remarking1 that every one had a right to leave his property to whom he pleased4 #8,not1' said ,n--1 #8when he has promised it to another4' ,i asked if ,mr4 -- was not the same person ,i had once seen come into his painting-room1 in a rusty black coat and brown worsted stockings1 very much with the air of a man who carries a pistol in an inside pocket8 ,he said1 #8,it might be3 he was a dull man1 but a great scholar--one of those described in the epigram3-- ,oh6 ho1 quoth ,time to ,thomas ,heame1 ,whatever ,i forget1 you learn4' ,we then alluded to an attack of ,cobbett's on some spruce legacy-hunter1 quoted in the last ,sunday's ,examiner2 and ,n-- spoke in raptures of the power in ,cobbett's writings1 and asked me if ,i had ever seen him4 ,i said1 ,i had for a short time2 that he called rogue and scoundrel at every second word in the coolest way imaginable1 and went on just the same in a room as on paper4 ,i returned to what ,n-- lately said of his travels in ,italy1 and asked if there were fine ,titians at ,genoa or ,naples4 #8,oh1 yes6' he said1 #8heaps at the latter place4 ,titian had painted them for one of the ,farnese family2 and when the second son succeeded the eldest as ,king of ,spain1 the youngest1 who was ,prince of ,parma1 went to ,naples1 and took them with him4 ,there is that fine one 7which you have heard me speak of7 of ,paul ,,iii4 and his two natural sons or nephews1 as they were called4 ,my ,god6 what a look it has6 ,the old man is sitting in his chair1 and looking up to one of the sons1 with his hands grasping the arm-chair1 and his long spider fingers1 and seems to say 7as plain as words can speak71 8,you wretch6 what do you want now80--while the young fellow is advancing with an humble hypocritical air4 ,it is true history1 as ,fuseli said1 and indeed it turned out so2 for the son 7or nephew7 was afterwards thrown out of the palace-windows by the mob1 and torn to pieces by them4' ,in speaking of the different degrees of information abroad1 he remarked1 #8,one of the persons where ,i lodged at ,rome did not even know the family name of the reigning ,pope1 and only spoke of him as the ,papa2 another person1 who was also my landlady1 knew all their history1 and could tell me the names of the ,cardinals from my describing their coats of arms to her4' ,n-- related an anecdote of ,mr4 ,moore 7brother of the general71 who was on board an ,english frigate in the ,american war1 and coming in sight of another vessel which did not answer their signals1 they expected an action1 when the ,captain called his men together1 and addressed them in the following manner3--#8,you dirty1 ill-looking blackguards6 do you suppose ,i can agree to deliver up such a set of scarecrows as you as prisoners to that smart1 frippery ,frenchman8 ,i can't think of such a thing4 ,no6 by ,g--d1 you must fight till not a man of you is left1 for ,i should be ashamed of owning such a ragamuffin crew6' ,this was received with loud shouts and assurances of victory1 but the vessel turned out to be an ,english one4 ,i asked if he had seen the ,american novels1 in one of which 7the ,pilot7 there was an excellent description of an ,american privateer expecting the approach of an ,english man-of-war in a thick fog1 when some one saw what appeared to be a bright cloud rising over the fog1 but it proved to be the topsail of a seventy-four4 ,n-- thought this was striking1 but had not seen the book4 #8,was it one of ,i--'s8' ,oh6 no1 he is a mere trifler--a filigree man--an ,english littrateur at second-hand2 but the ,pilot gave a true and unvarnished picture of ,american character and manners4 ,the storm1 the fight1 the whole account of the ship's crew1 and in particular of an old boatswain1 were done to the life--every thing ,suffered a sea-change ,into something new and strange4 ,on land he did not do so well4 ,the fault of ,american literature 7when not a mere vapid imitation of ours7 was1 that it ran too much into dry1 minute1 literal description2 or if it made an effort to rise above this ground of matter-of-fact1 it was forced and exaggerated1 #8horrors accumulating on horror's head4' ,they had no natural imagination4 ,this was likely to be the case in a new country like ,america1 where there were no dim traces of the past--no venerable monuments--no romantic associations2 where all 7except the physical7 remained to be created1 and where fiction1 if they attempted it1 would take as preposterous and extravagant a shape as their local descriptions were jejune and servile4 ,cooper's novels and ,brown's romances 7something on the model of ,godwin's7 were the two extremes4 ,some remark was made on the failure of a great bookseller1 and on the supposition that now we should find out the author of the ,scotch novels4 #8,aye1' said ,n--1 #8we shall find more than one4' ,i said1 ,i thought not2 to say nothing of the beauties1 the peculiarities of style and grammar in every page proved them to be by the same hand4 ,nobody else could write so well--or so ill1 in point of mere negligence4 ,n-- said1 #8,it was a pity he should fling away a fortune twice4 ,there were some people who could not keep money when they had got it4 ,it was a kind of incontinence of the purse4 ,zoffani did the same thing4 ,he made a fortune in ,england by his pictures1 which he soon got rid of1 and another in ,india1 which went the same way4' ,we somehow got from ,sir ,walter to the ,queen's trial1 and the scenes at ,brandenburg ,house4 ,i said they were a strong illustration of that instinct of servility--that hankering after rank and power1 which appeared to me to be the base part of human nature4 ,here were all the patriots and ,jacobins of ,london and ,westminster1 who scorned and hated the ,king1 going to pay their homage to the ,queen1 and ready to worship the very rags of royalty4 ,the wives and daughters of popular caricaturists and of forgotten demagogues were ready to pull caps in the presence-chamber for precedence1 till they were parted by ,mr4 ,alderman ,wood4 ,every fool must go to kiss hands2 #8our maid's aunt of ,brentford' must sip loyalty from the ,queen's hand6 ,that was the true court to which they were admitted3 the instant there was the smallest opening1 all must rush in1 tag-rag and bobtail4 ,all the fierceness of independence and all the bristling prejudices of popular jealousy were smoothed down in a moment by the velvet touch of the ,queen's hand6 ,no matter what else she was 7whether her cause were right or wrong7--it was the mock-equality with sovereign rank1 the acting in a farce of state1 that was the secret charm4 ,that was what drove them mad4 ,the world must have something to admire2 and the more worthless and stupid their idol is1 the better1 provided it is fine3 for it equally flatters their appetite for wonder1 and hurts their self-love less4 ,this is the reason why people formerly were so fond of idols3 they fell down and worshipped them1 and made others do the same1 for theatrical effect2 while1 all the while1 they knew they were but wood and stone painted over4 ,we in modern times have got from the dead to the living idol1 and bow to hereditary imbecility4 ,the less of genius and virtue1 the greater our self-complacency4 ,we do not care how high the elevation1 so that it is wholly undeserved4 ,true greatness excites our envy2 mere rank1 our unqualified respect4 ,that is the reason of our antipathy to new-made dynasties1 and of our acquiescence in old-established despotism4 ,we think we could sit upon a throne1 if we had had the good luck to be born to one2 but we feel that we have neither talent nor courage to raise ourselves to one4 ,if any one does1 he seems to have got the start of us2 and we are glad to pull him back again4 ,i remember ,mr4 ,r--1 of ,liverpool 7a very excellent man1 and a good patriot17 saying1 many years ago1 in reference to ,buonaparte and ,george ,,iii41 that #8the superiority of rank was quite enough for him1 without the intellectual superiority4' ,that is what has made so many renegadoes and furious ,anti-,buonapartists among our poets and politicians1 because he got before them in the race of power4 ,n-- #8,and the same thing made you stick to him1 because you thought he was your fellow6 ,it is wonderful how much of our virtues1 as well as of our vices1 is referable to self4 ,did you ever read ,rochefoucault8'--,yes4 #8,and don't you think he is right8' ,in a great measure3 but ,i like ,mandeville better4 ,he goes more into his subject4 #8,oh6 he is a devil4 ,there is a description of a clergyman's hand he has given1 which ,i have always had in my eye whenever ,i have had to paint a fine gentleman's hand4 ,i thought him too metaphysical1 but it is long since ,i read him4 ,his book was burnt by the common hangman2 was it not8' ,yes2 but he did not at all like this circumstance1 and is always recurring to it4--#8,no one can like this kind of condemnation1 because every sensible man knows he is not a judge in his own cause2 and besides1 is conscious1 if the verdict were on the other side1 how ready he would be to catch at it as decisive in his favour4' ,i said1 it was amusing to see the way in which he fell upon ,steele1 ,shaftesbury1 and other amiable writers1 and the terror you were in for your favourites1 just as when a hawk is hovering over and going to pounce upon some of the more harmless feathered tribe4 ,he added1 #8,it was surprising how ,swift had escaped with so little censure2 but the ,gulliver's ,travels passed off as a story-book1 and you might say in verse what you would be pelted for in plain prose4--,the same thing you have observed in politics may be observed in religion too4 ,you see the anxiety to divide and bring nearer to our own level4 ,the ,creator of the universe is too high an object for us to approach2 the ,catholics therefore have introduced the ,virgin ,mary and a host of saints1 with whom their votaries feel more at their ease and on a par4 ,the real object of worship is kept almost out of sight4 ,dignum the singer 7who is a ,catholic7 was arguing on this subject with some one1 who wanted to convert him1 and he replied in his own defence--8,if you had a favour to ask of some great person1 would you not first apply to a common friend to intercede for you80' ,in some part of the foregoing conversation1 ,n-- remarked that #8,west used to say1 you could always tell the highest nobility at court1 from their profound humility to the ,king3 the others kept at a distance1 and did not seem to care about it4 ,the more the former raised the highest person1 the more they raised themselves who were next in point of rank4 ,they had a greater interest in the question2 and the ,king would have a greater jealousy of them than of others4 ,when ,b-- was painting the ,queen1 with whom he used to be quite familiar1 he was one day surprised1 when the ,prince-,regent came into the room1 to see the profound homage and dignified respect with which he approached her4 8,good ,god60 said he to himself1 8here is the second person in the kingdom comes into the room in this manner1 while ,i have been using the greatest freedoms60 ,to be sure6 that was the very reason3 the second person in the kingdom wished to invest the first with all possible respect1 so much of which was naturally reflected back upon himself4 ,b-- had nothing to lose or gain in this game of royal ceremony1 and was accordingly treated as a cypher4' ,,conversation ,,the ,,tenth ,northcote shewed me a printed circular from the ,academy1 with blanks to be filled up by ,academicians1 recommending young students to draw4 ,one of these related to an assurance as to the moral character of the candidate2 ,northcote said1 #8,what can ,i know about that8 ,this zeal for morality begins with inviting me to tell a lie4 ,i know whether he can draw or not1 because he brings me specimens of his drawings2 but what am ,i to know of the moral character of a person ,i have never seen before8 ,or what business have the ,academy to inquire into it8 ,i suppose they are not afraid he will steal the ,farnese ,hercules2 and as to idleness and debauchery1 he will not be cured of these by cutting him off from the pursuit of a study on which he has set his mind1 and in which he has a fair chance to succeed4 ,i told one of them1 with as grave a face as ,i could1 that1 as to his moral character1 he must go to his god-fathers and god-mothers for that4 ,he answered very simply1 that they were a great way off1 and that he had nobody to appeal to but his apothecary6 ,the ,academy is not an institution for the suppression of vice1 but for the encouragement of the ,fine ,arts4 ,why then go out of their way to meddle with what was provided for by other means--the law and the pulpit8 ,it would not have happened in ,sir ,joshua's time1' continued ,northcote1 #8nor even in ,fuseli's3 but the present men are 8dressed in a little brief authority10 and they wish to make the most of it1 without perceiving the limits4 ,no good can possibly come of this busy-body spirit4 ,the dragging morality into every thing1 in season and out of season1 is only giving a handle to hypocrisy1 and turning virtue into a bye-word for impertinence6' ,here ,northcote stopped suddenly1 to ask if there was not such a word as rivulet in the language8 ,i said it was as much a word in the language as it was a thing in itself4 ,he replied1 it was not to be found in ,johnson2 the word was riveret there4 ,i thought this must be in some of the new editions2 ,dr4 ,johnson would have knocked any body down1 who had used the word riveret4 ,it put me in mind of a story of ,y-- the actor1 who being asked how he was1 made answer that he had been indisposed for some days with a feveret4 ,the same person1 speaking of the impossibility of escaping from too great publicity1 related an anecdote of his being once in a remote part of the ,highlands1 and seeing an old gentleman fishing1 he went up to inquire some particulars as to the mode of catching the salmon at what are called #8salmon-leaps4'--,the old gentleman began his reply--#8,why1 ,mr4 ,y--1' at which the actor started back in great surprise4 #8,good ,god6' said ,northcote1 #8did he consider this as a matter of wonder1 that1 after shewing himself on a stage for a number of years1 people should know his face8 ,if an artist or an author were recognised in that manner1 it might be a proof of celebrity1 because it would shew that they had been sought for2 but an actor is so much seen in public1 that it is no wonder he is known by all the world4 ,i once went with ,opie in the stage-coach to ,exeter2 and when we parted2 he to go on to ,cornwall and ,i to ,plymouth1 there was a young gentleman in the coach who asked me1 8,who it was that ,i had been conversing with80 ,i said it was ,mr4 ,opie1 the painter2 at which he expressed the greatest surprise1 and was exceedingly concerned to think he had not known it before4 ,i did not tell him who ,i was1 to see if my name would electrify him in the same manner4 ,that brings to my mind the story ,i perhaps may have told you before1 of a ,mr4 ,a-- and ,dr4 ,pennick of the ,museum4 ,they got into some quarrel at the theatre2 and the former presenting his card1 said with great pomposity1 8,my name is ,a--1 ,sir20 to which the other answered1 8,i hear it1 ,sir1 and am not terrified60' ,i asked if this was the ,a-- who fought the duel with ,f--4 ,he said he could not tell1 but he was our ambassador to some of the petty ,german ,states4 ,a country-gentleman came in1 who complimented ,northcote on his pictures of animals and birds1 which ,i knew he would not like4 ,he muttered something when he was gone1 in allusion to the proverb of giving snuff to a cat4 ,afterwards1 a miniature-painter brought some copies he had made of a portrait of a young lady by ,northcote4 ,they were really very well1 and we learned he was to have five guineas for the larger size1 and two for the smaller ones4 ,i could now account for the humility and shabby appearance of the artist4 ,he paid his court better than his rustic predecessor2 for being asked by ,northcote if the portrait of the young lady was approved8 he said the mother had told him1 before she engaged him to copy it1 that #8it was one of the loveliest pictures 7that was her expression7 that had ever been seen6' ,this praise was better relished than that of his dogs and parrots4 ,i took notice to ,northcote that the man had a very good head2 but that he put me in mind of the state and pretensions of the art before artists wrote ,esquire after their names4 ,he said1 ,yes1 he was like ,andrew ,taffi1 or some of those in ,vasari4 ,i observed how little he was paid for what he really did so well2 to which ,northcote merely replied1 #8,in all things that are not necessary1 those in the second class must always be miserably paid4 ,copying pictures is like plain-work among women1 it is what any body can do1 and1 therefore1 nothing but a bare living is to be got by it4' ,he added1 that the young lady1 whose portrait her family was so anxious to have copied1 was dead1 and this was a kind of diversion to their grief4 ,it was a very natural mode of softening it down2 it was still recurring to the object of their regret1 and yet dwelling on it in an agreeable point of view4 #8,the wife of ,general ,h--1 7he continued7 many years ago1 came to me to do a picture of her son1 a lieutenant in the navy1 who was killed in battle1 but whom ,i had never seen4 ,there was no picture of him to go by1 but she insisted on my doing one under her direction4 ,i attempted a profile as the easiest2 and she sat behind me and sang in a soft manner to herself1 and told me what ,i was to do4 ,it was a wretched business1 as you may suppose1 being made out from description2 but she would have it to be a great likeness1 and brought all the family and even the servants to see it1 who probably did not dare to be of a different opinion4 ,i said to her1 8,what a pity it was ,sir ,joshua had not done a portrait of him in his life-time60 ,at this she expressed great contempt1 and declared she would not give two-pence for all ,sir ,joshua's pictures2 indeed1 she had one which ,i was very welcome to have if ,i chose to come for it4 ,i lost no time in going to her house1 and when ,i came there1 she led me up into an old garret which was used as a lumber-room1 and taking it carefully out of a shabby frame not worth a groat1 said 8,there1 take it1 ,i am not sorry to get it out of the house40 ,i asked what it was that made her so indifferent about this picture8 and she answered1 8,it was a likeness of a young gentleman who had been kind enough to die1 by which means the estate came to the ,general40 ,she spoke in this unfeeling manner1 though her own son had just died in the same circumstances2 and she had had a monument made for him1 and strewed flowers upon it1 and made such a fuss about his death1 that she would hardly have known what to do if he had come to life again6' ,i asked what was her reason for disliking ,reynolds's pictures8 #8,oh6 that was her ignorance1 she did not know why6' ,northcote said1 #8,g-- called here with his daughter4 ,i asked her about ,lord ,byron2 she said his temper was so bad that nobody could live with him4 ,the only way to pass the day tolerably well with him was to contradict him the first thing in the morning4 ,i have known tempers of that kind myself2 you must quarrel with them in order to be friends4 ,if you did not conquer them1 they would conquer you4' ,something was observed about ,byron and ,tom ,paine1 as to their attacks upon religion2 and ,i said that sceptics and philosophical unbelievers appeared to me to have just as little liberality or enlargement of view as the most bigoted fanatic4 ,they could not bear to make the least concession to the opposite side4 ,they denied the argument that because the ,scriptures were fine they were therefore of divine origin1 and yet they virtually admitted it2 for1 not believing their truth1 they thought themselves bound to maintain that they were good for nothing4 ,i had once1 ,i said1 given great offence to a knot of persons of this description1 by contending that ,jacob's ,dream was finer than any thing in ,shakspeare2 and that ,hamlet would bear no comparison with1 at least1 one character in the ,new ,testament4 ,a young poet had said on this occasion1 he did not like the ,bible1 because there was nothing about flowers in it2 and ,i asked him if he had forgot that passage1 #8,behold the lilies of the field1' c48 #8,yes1' said ,northcote1 #8and in the ,psalms and in the book of ,job1 there are passages of unrivalled beauty4 ,in the latter there is the description of the war-horse1 that has been so often referred to1 and of the days of ,job's prosperity2 and in the ,psalms1 ,i think there is that passage1 8,he openeth his hands1 and the earth is filled with plenteousness2 he turneth away his face1 and we are troubled2 he hideth himself1 and we are left in darkness20 or1 again1 how fine is that expression1 8,all the beasts of the forests are mine1 and so are the cattle upon a thousand hills60 ,what an expanse1 and what a grasp of the subject6 ,every thing is done upon so large a scale1 and yet with such ease1 as if seen from the highest point of view4 ,it has mightily a look of inspiration or of being dictated by a superior intelligence4 ,they say mere ,english readers cannot understand ,homer1 because it is a translation2 but why will it not bear a translation as well as the book of ,job1 if it is as fine8 ,in ,shakspeare1 undoubtedly1 there is a prodigious variety and force of human character and passion1 but he does not take us out of ourselves2 he has a wonderful1 almost a miraculous fellow-feeling with human nature in every possible way1 but that is all4 ,macbeth is full of sublimity1 but the sublimity is that of the earth1 it does not reach to heaven4 ,it is a still stronger objection that is made to ,hogarth2 he1 too1 gave the incidents and characters of human life with infinite truth and ability2 but then it was in the lowest forms of all1 and he could not rise even to common dignity or beauty4 ,there is a faculty that enlarges and beautifies objects1 even beyond nature4 ,it is for this reason that we must1 reluctantly perhaps1 give the preference to ,milton over ,shakspeare2 for his ,paradise 7to go no further7 is certainly a scene of greater beauty and happiness1 than was ever found on earth1 though so vividly described that we easily make the transition1 and transport ourselves there4 ,it is the same difference that there is between ,raphael and ,michael ,angelo1 though ,raphael1 too1 in many of his works merited the epithet of divine4'--,i mentioned some lines from ,shakspeare ,i had seen quoted in a translation of a ,french work1 and applied to those who adhered to ,buonaparte in his misfortunes3 --,he that can endure ,to follow with allegiance a fallen lord1 ,does conquer him that did his master conquer1 ,and earns a place i' the story4 ,i said ,i was struck to see how finely they came in4 #8,oh6' replied ,northcote1 #8if they were ,shakspeare's1 they were sure to be fine4 ,what a power there always is in any bit brought in from him or ,milton among other things6 ,how it shines like a jewel6 ,i think ,milton reads best in this way2 he is too fine for a continuance4 ,don't you think ,shakspeare and the writers of that day had a prodigious advantage in using phrases and combinations of style1 which could not be admitted now that the language is reduced to a more precise and uniform standard1 but which yet have a peculiar force and felicity when they can be justified by the privilege of age8' ,he said1 he had been struck with this idea lately1 in reading an old translation of ,boccacio 7about the time of ,queen ,elizabeth7 in which the language1 though quaint1 had often a beauty that could not well be conveyed in any modern translation4 ,he spoke of ,lord ,byron's notions about ,shakspeare4 ,i said ,i did not care much about his opinions4 ,northcote replied1 they were evidently capricious1 and taken up in the spirit of contradiction4 ,i said1 not only so 7as far as ,i can judge71 but without any better founded ones in his own mind4 ,they appear to me conclusions without premises or any previous process of thought or inquiry4 ,i like old opinions with new reasons1 not new opinions without any--not mere ipse dixits4 ,he was too arrogant to assign a reason to others or to need one for himself4 ,it was quite enough that he subscribed to any assertion1 to make it clear to the world1 as well as binding on his valet6 ,northcote said1 there were people who could not argue4 ,fuseli was one of these4 ,he could throw out very brilliant and striking things2 but if you at all questioned him1 he could no more give an answer than a child of three years old4 ,he had no resources1 nor any corps de reserve of argument beyond his first line of battle4 ,that was imposing and glittering enough4 ,neither was ,lord ,byron a philosopher1 with all his sententiousness and force of expression4 ,probably one ought not to expect the two things together2 for to produce a startling and immediate effect1 one must keep pretty much upon the surface2 and the search after truth is a very slow and obscure process4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,eleventh ,as soon as ,i went in to-day1 ,northcote asked me if that was my character of ,shakspeare1 which had been quoted in a newspaper the day before8 ,it was so like what he had thought a thousand times that he could almost swear he had written it himself4 ,i said no2 it was from ,kendall's ,letters on ,ireland2 though ,i believed ,i had expressed nearly the same idea in print4 ,i had seen the passage myself1 and hardly knew at first whether to be pleased or vexed at it4 ,it was provoking to have one's words taken out of one's mouth as it were by another2 and yet it seemed also an encouragement to reflect1 that if one only threw one's bread upon the waters1 one was sure to find it again after many days4 ,the world1 if they do not listen to an observation the first time1 will listen to it at second-hand from those who have a more agreeable method of insinuating it1 or who do not tell them too many truths at once4 ,n-- said1 he thought the account undoubtedly just1 to whomever it belonged4#ie ,the greatest genius 7such as that of ,shakspeare7 implied the greatest power1 and this implied the greatest ease and unconsciousness of effort1 or of any thing extraordinary effected4 ,as this writer stated--#8,he would as soon think of being vain of putting one foot before another1 as of writing ,macbeth or ,hamlet4' ,or as ,hudibras has expressed it1 poetry was to him --a thing no more difficile ,than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle4 #8,this 7said he7 is what ,i have always said of ,correggio's style1 that he could not help it3 it was his nature4 ,besides1 use familiarizes us to every thing4 ,how could ,shakspeare be expected to be astonished at what he did every day8 ,no2 he was thinking either merely of the subject before him1 or of gaining his bread4 ,it is only upstarts or pretenders1 who do not know what to make of their good fortune or undeserved reputation4 ,it comes to the same thing that ,i have heard my brother remark with respect to my father and old ,mr4 ,tolcher1 whose picture you see there4 ,he had a great friendship for my father and a great opinion of his integrity2 and whenever he came to see him1 always began with saying1 8,well1 honest ,mr4 ,samuel ,northcote1 how do you80 ,this he repeated so often1 and they were so used to it1 that my brother said they became like words of course1 and conveyed no more impression of any thing peculiar than if he had merely said1 8,well1 good ,mr4 ,northcote1 et cetera10 or used any common expression4 ,so ,shakspeare was accustomed to write his fine speeches till he ceased to wonder at them himself1 and would have been surprised to find that you did4' ,the conversation now turned on an answer in a newspaper to ,canning's assertion1 that #8,slavery was not inconsistent with the spirit of ,christianity1 inasmuch as it was the beauty of ,christianity to accommodate itself to all conditions and circumstances4' ,did ,canning mean to say1 because ,christianity accommodated itself to1 or made the best of all situations1 it did not therefore give the preference to any8 ,because it recommended mildness and fortitude under sufferings1 did it not therefore condemn the infliction of them8 ,or did it not forbid injustice and cruelty in the strongest terms8 ,this were indeed a daring calumny on its founder3 it were an insolent irony4 ,don ,quixote would not have said so4 ,it was like the ,italian banditti1 who when they have cut off the ears of their victims1 make them go down on their knees1 and return thanks to an image of the ,virgin ,mary for the favour they have done them4 ,it was because such things do exist1 that ,christ came to set his face against them1 and to establish the maxim1 #8,do unto others as you would that they should do unto you4' ,if ,mr4 ,canning will say that the masters would like to be treated as they treat their slaves1 then he may say that slavery is consistent with the spirit of ,christianity4 ,no2 the meaning of those maxims of forbearance and submission1 which the ,quakers have taken too literally1 is1 that you are not to drive out one devil by another2 it aims at discouraging a resort to violence and anger1 for if the temper it inculcates could become universal1 there would be no injuries to resent4 ,it objects against the power of the sword1 but it is to substitute a power ten thousand times stronger than the sword--that which subdues and conquers the affections1 and strikes at the very root and thought of evil4 ,all that is meant by such sayings1 as that if a person #8smites us on one cheek1 we are to turn to him the other1' is1 that we are to keep as clear as possible of a disposition to retaliate and exasperate injuries2 or there is a ,spanish proverb which explains this1 that says1 #8,it is he who gives the second blow that begins the quarrel4' ,on my referring to what had been sometimes asserted of the inefficacy of pictures in ,protestant churches1 ,northcote said he might be allowed to observe in favour of his own art1 that though they might not strike at first from a difference in our own belief1 yet they would gain upon the spectator by the force of habit4 ,the practice of image-worship was probably an after-thought of the ,papists themselves1 from seeing the effects produced on the minds of the rude and ignorant by visible representations of saints and martyrs4 ,the rulers of the church at first only thought to amuse and attract the people by pictures and statues 7as they did by music and rich dresses1 from which no inference was to be drawn72 but when these representations of sacred subjects were once placed before the senses of an uninstructed but imaginative people1 they looked at them with wonder and eagerness1 till they began to think they saw them move2 and then miracles were worked2 and as this became a source of wealth and great resort to the several shrines and churches1 every means were used to encourage the superstition and a belief in the supernatural virtues of the objects by the clergy and government4 ,so he thought that if pictures were set up in our churches1 they would by degrees inspire the mind with all the feelings of awe or interest that were necessary or proper4 ,it was less difficult to excite enthusiasm than to keep it under due restraint4 ,so in ,italy1 the higher powers did not much relish those processions of naked figures1 taken from scriptural stories 7such as ,adam and ,eve7 on particular holidays1 for they led to scandal and abuse2 but they fell in with the humour of the rabble1 and were lucrative to the lower orders of priests and friars1 and the ,pope could not expressly discountenance them4 ,he said we were in little danger 7either from our religion or temperament7 of running into those disgraceful and fanciful extremes2 but should rather do every thing in our power to avoid the opposite error of a dry and repulsive asceticism4 ,we could not give too much encouragement to the fine arts4 ,our talk of to-day concluded by his saying1 that he often blamed himself for uttering what might be thought harsh things2 and that on mentioning this once to ,kemble1 and saying it sometimes kept him from sleep after he had been out in company1 ,kemble had replied1 #8,oh6 you need not trouble yourself so much about them3 others never think of them afterwards6' ,,conversation ,,the ,,twelfth ,northcote was painting from a little girl when ,i went in4 ,b-- was there4 ,something was said of a portrait of ,dunning by ,sir ,joshua 7an unfinished head71 and ,b-- observed1 #8,ah6 my good friend1 if you and ,i had known at that time what those things would fetch1 we might have made our fortunes now4 ,by laying out a few pounds on the loose sketches and sweepings of the lumber-room1 we might have made as many hundreds4' #8,yes1' said ,northcote1 #8it was thought they would soon be forgot1 and they went for nothing on that account3 but they are more sought after than ever1 because those imperfect hints and studies seem to bring one more in contact with the artist1 and explain the process of his mind in the several stages4 ,a finished work is1 in a manner1 detached from and independent of its author1 like a child that can go alone3 in the other case1 it seems to be still in progress1 and to await his hand to finish it2 or we supply the absence of well-known excellences out of our own imagination1 so that we have a two-fold property in it4' ,northcote read something out of a newspaper about the ,suffolk-street ,exhibition1 in which his own name was mentioned1 and ,m--'s1 the landscape-painter4 ,b-- said1 his pictures were a trick--a streak of red1 and then a streak of blue4 ,but1 said ,northcote1 there is some merit in finding out a new trick4 ,i ventured to hint1 that the receipt for his was1 clouds upon mountains1 and mountains upon clouds--that there was number and quantity1 but neither form nor colour4 ,he appeared to me an instance of a total want of imagination2 he mistook the character of the feelings associated with every thing1 and ,i mentioned as an instance his ,adam and ,eve1 which had been much admired1 but which was a panoramic view of the map of ,asia1 instead of a representation of our first parents in ,paradise4 ,after ,b-- was gone1 we spoke of ,x--4 ,i regretted his want of delicacy towards the public as well as towards his private friends4 ,i did not think he had failed so much from want of capacity1 as from attempting to bully the public into a premature or overstrained admiration of him1 instead of gaining ground upon them by improving on himself2 and he now felt the ill effects of the re-action of this injudicious proceeding4 ,he had no real love of his art1 and therefore did not apply or give his whole mind sedulously to it2 and was more bent on bespeaking notoriety beforehand by puffs and announcements of his works1 than on giving them that degree of perfection which would ensure lasting reputation4 ,no one would ever attain the highest excellence1 who had so little nervous sensibility as to take credit for it 7either with himself or others7 without being at the trouble of producing it4 ,it was securing the reward in the first instance2 and afterwards1 it would be too much to expect the necessary exertion or sacrifices4 ,unlimited credit was as dangerous to success in art as in business4 #8,and yet he still finds dupes1' said ,northcote2 to which ,i replied1 it was impossible to resist him1 as long as you kept on terms with him3 any difference of opinion or reluctance on your part made no impression on him1 and unless you quarrelled with him downright1 you must do as he wished you4--#8,and how then1' said ,northcote1 #8do you think it possible for a person of this hard unyielding disposition to be a painter1 where every thing depends on seizing the nicest inflections of feeling and the most evanescent shades of beauty8 #8,no1 ,i'll tell you why he cannot be a painter4 ,he has not virtue enough4 ,no one can give out to others what he has not in himself1 and there is nothing in his mind to delight or captivate the world4 ,i will not deny the mechanical dexterity1 but he fails in the mental part4 ,there was ,sir ,peter ,lely3 he is full of defects2 but he was the fine gentleman of his age1 and you see this character stamped on every one of his works2--even his errors prove it2 and this is one of those things that the world receive with gratitude4 ,sir ,joshua again was not without his faults3 he had not grandeur1 but he was a man of a mild1 bland1 amiable character2 and this predominant feeling appears so strongly in his works1 that you cannot mistake it2 and this is what makes them so delightful to look at1 and constitutes their charm to others1 even without their being conscious of it4 ,there was such a look of nature too4 ,i remember once going through a suite of rooms where they were shewing me several fine ,vandykes2 and we came to one where there were some children1 by ,sir ,joshua1 seen through a door--it was like looking at the reality1 they were so full of life--the branches of the trees waved over their heads1 and the fresh air seemed to play on their cheeks--,i soon forgot ,vandyke6 #8,so1 in the famous ,st4 ,jerome of ,correggio1 ,garrick used to say1 that the ,saint resembled a ,satyr1 and that the child was like a monkey2 but then there is such a look of life in the last1 it dazzles you with spirit and vivacity2 you can hardly believe but it will move or fly2--indeed1 ,sir ,joshua took his ,puck from it1 only a little varied in the attitude4' ,i said ,i had seen it not long ago1 and that it had remarkably the look of a spirit or a faery or preternatural being1 though neither beautiful nor dignified4 ,i remarked to ,northcote1 that ,i had never sufficiently relished ,correggio2 that ,i had tried several times to work myself up to the proper degree of admiration1 but that ,i always fell back again into my former state of lukewarmness and scepticism2 though ,i could not help allowing1 that what he did1 he appeared to me to do with more feeling than any body else2 that ,i could conceive ,raphael or even ,titian to have represented objects from mere natural capacity 7as we see them in a looking-glass7 without being absolutely wound up in them1 but that ,i could fancy ,correggio's pencil to thrill with sensibility3 he brooded over the idea of grace or beauty in his mind till the sense grew faint with it2 and like a lover or a devotee1 he carried his enthusiasm to the brink of extravagance and affectation1 so enamoured was he of his art6 ,northcote assented to this as a just criticism1 and said1 #8,that is why his works must live3 but ,x-- is a hardened egotist1 devoted to nothing but himself6' ,northcote then asked about --1 and if she was handsome8 ,i said she might sit for the portrait of ,rebecca in ,ivanhoe6 ,he then turned the conversation to ,brambletye-,house4 ,he thought the writer had failed in ,charles ,,ii4 and ,rochester4 ,indeed1 it was a daring attempt to make bons mots for two such characters4 ,the wit must be sharp and fine indeed1 that would do to put into their mouths3 even ,sir ,walter might tremble to undertake it6 ,he had made ,milton speak too3 this was almost as dangerous an attempt as for ,milton to put words into the mouth of the ,deity4 ,the great difficulty was to know where to stop1 and not to trespass on forbidden ground4 ,cervantes was one of the boldest and most original inventors2 yet he had never ventured beyond his depth4 ,he had in the person of his hero really represented the maxims of benevolence and generosity inculcated by the ,christian religion3 that was a law to him2 and by his fine conception of the subject1 he had miraculously succeeded4 ,shakspeare alone could be said in his grotesque creations to be above all law4 ,richardson had succeeded admirably in ,clarissa1 because he had a certain rule to go by or certain things to avoid1 for a perfect woman was a negative character2 but he had failed in ,sir ,charles ,grandison1 and made him a lump of odious affectation1 because a perfect man is not a negative1 but a positive character2 and in aiming at faultlessness1 he had produced only the most vapid effeminacy4 ,after all1 ,brambletye-,house was about as good as the ,rejected ,addresses4 ,there was very little difference between a parody and an imitation4 ,the defects and peculiarities are equally seized upon in either case4 ,he did not know how ,sir ,walter would take it4 ,to have imitators seemed at first a compliment1 yet no one liked it4 ,you could not put ,fuseli in a greater passion than by calling ,maria ,cosway an imitator of his4 ,nothing made ,sir ,joshua so mad1 as ,miss ,reynolds's portraits1 which were an exact imitation of all his defects4 ,indeed1 she was obliged to keep them out of his way4 ,he said1 #8,they made every body else laugh1 and himself cry4' ,it is that which makes every one dread a mimic4 ,your self-love is alarmed1 without being so easily reassured4 ,you know there is a difference1 but it is not great enough to make you feel quite at ease4 ,the line of demarcation between the true and the spurious is not sufficiently broad and palpable4 ,the copy you see is vile or indifferent2 and the original1 you suspect 7but for your partiality to yourself7 is not perhaps much better4 ,this is what ,i have often felt in looking at the drawings of the students at the ,academy1 or when young artists have brought their first crude attempts for my opinion4 ,the glaring defects1 the abortive efforts have almost disgusted me with the profession4 ,good ,g--d6 ,i have said1 is this what the art is made up of8 ,how do ,i know that my own productions may not appear in the same light to others8 ,whereas the seeing the finest specimens of art1 instead of disheartening1 gives me courage to proceed3 one cannot be wrong in treading in the same footsteps1 and to fall short of them is no disgrace1 while the faintest reflection of their excellence is glorious4 ,it was this that made ,correggio cry out on seeing ,raphael's works1 #8,i also am a painter'3 he felt a kindred spirit in his own breast4--,i said1 ,i recollected when ,i was formerly trying to paint1 nothing gave me the horrors so much as passing the old battered portraits at the doors of brokers' shops1 with the morning-sun flaring full upon them4 ,i was generally inclined to prolong my walk1 and put off painting for that day2 but the sight of a fine picture had a contrary effect1 and ,i went back and set to work with redoubled ardour4 ,northcote happened to speak of a gentleman married to one of the --1 of whom a friend had said1 laughing1 #8,there's a man that's in love with his own wife6' ,he mentioned the beautiful ,lady ,f-- ,p--1 and said her hair1 which was in great quantities and very fine1 was remarkable for having a single lock different from all the rest1 which he supposed she cherished as a beauty4 ,i told him ,i had not long ago seen the hair of ,lucretia ,borgia1 of ,milton1 ,buonaparte1 and ,dr4 ,johnson1 all folded up in the same paper4 ,it had belonged to ,lord ,byron4 ,northcote replied1 one could not be sure of that2 it was easy to get a lock of hair1 and call it by any name one pleased4 ,in some cases1 however1 one might rely on its being the same4 ,mrs4 ,g-- had certainly a lock of ,goldsmith's hair1 for she and her sister 7,miss ,horneck7 had wished to have some remembrance of him after his death2 and though the coffin was nailed up1 it was opened again at their request 7such was the regard ,goldsmith was known to have for them671 and a lock of his hair was cut off1 which ,mrs4 ,g-- still has4 ,northcote said1 ,goldsmith's death was the severest blow ,sir ,joshua ever received--he did not paint all that day6 ,it was proposed to make a grand funeral for him1 but ,reynolds objected to this1 as it would be over in a day1 and said it would be better to lay by the money to erect a monument to him in ,westminster ,abbey2 and he went himself and chose the spot4 ,goldsmith had begun another novel1 of which he read the first chapter to the ,miss ,hornecks a little before his death4 ,northcote asked1 what ,i thought of the ,vicar of ,wakefield8 ,and ,i answered1 ,what every body else did4 ,he said there was that mixture of the ludicrous and the pathetic running through it1 which particularly delighted him3 it gave a stronger resemblance to nature4 ,he thought this justified ,shakspeare in mingling up farce and tragedy together3 life itself was a tragi-comedy4 ,instead of being pure1 every thing was chequered4 ,if you went to an execution1 you would perhaps see an apple-woman in the greatest distress1 because her stall was overturned1 at which you could not help smiling4 ,we then spoke of #8,retaliation1' and praised the character of ,burke in particular as a masterpiece4 ,nothing that he had ever said or done but what was foretold in it2 nor was he painted as the principal figure in the foreground with the partiality of a friend1 or as the great man of the day1 but with a back-ground of history1 showing both what he was and what he might have been4 ,northcote repeated some lines from the #8,traveller1' which were distinguished by a beautiful transparency1 by simplicity and originality4 ,he confirmed ,boswell's account of ,goldsmith1 as being about the middle height1 rather clumsy1 and tawdry in his dress4 ,a gentleman came in who had just shown his good taste in purchasing three pictures of ,northcote1 one a head of ,sir ,joshua by himself1 and the other two by ,northcote1 a whole-length portrait of an ,italian girl1 and a copy of ,omai1 the ,south-,sea ,chief4 ,i could hear the artist in the outer room expressing some scruples as to the consistency of his parting with one of them which he had brought from abroad1 according to the strict letter of his ,custom-,house oath--an objection which the purchaser1 a ,member of ,parliament1 over-ruled by assuring him that #8the peculiar case could not be contemplated by the spirit of the act4' ,northcote also expressed some regret at the separation from pictures that had become old friends4 ,he however comforted himself that they would now find a respectable asylum1 which was better than being knocked about in garrets and auction-rooms1 as they would inevitably be at his death4 #8,you may at least depend upon it1' said ,mr4 -- #8that they will not be sold again for many generations6' ,this view into futurity brought back to my mind the time when ,i had first known these pictures3 since then1 my life was flown1 and with it the hope of fame as an artist 7with which ,i had once regarded them71 and ,i felt a momentary pang4 ,northcote took me out into the other room1 when his friend was gone1 to look at them2 and on my expressing my admiration of the portrait of the ,italian lady1 he said she was the mother of ,madame ,bellochi1 and was still living2 that he had painted it at ,rome about the year #aghj2 that her family was originally ,greek1 and that he had known her1 her daughter1 her mother1 and grandmother4 ,she and a sister who was with her1 were at that time full of the most charming gaiety and innocence4 ,the old woman used to sit upon the ground without moving or speaking1 with her arm over her head1 and exactly like a bundle of old clothes4 ,alas6 thought ,i1 what are we but a heap of clay resting upon the earth1 and ready to crumble again into dust and ashes6 ,,conversation ,,the ,,thirteenth ,northcote spoke about the failure of some print-sellers4 ,he said1 #8,he did not wonder at it2 it was a just punishment of their presumption and ignorance4 ,they went into an ,exhibition1 looked round them1 fixed upon some contemptible performance1 and without knowing any thing about the matter or consulting any body1 ordered two or three thousand pounds' worth of prints from it1 merely out of purse-proud insolence1 and because the money burnt in their pockets4 ,such people fancied that the more money they laid out1 the more they must get2 so that extravagance became 7by the turn their vanity gave to it7 another name for thrift4' ,having spoken of a living artist's pictures as mere portraits that were interesting to no one except the people who sat for them1 he remarked1 #8,there was always something in the meanest face that a great artist could take advantage of4 ,that was the merit of ,sir ,joshua1 who contrived to throw a certain air and character even over ugliness and folly1 that disarmed criticism and made you wonder how he did it4 ,this1 at least1 is the case with his portraits2 for though he made his beggars look like heroes1 he sometimes1 in attempting history1 made his heroes look like beggars4 ,grandi1 the ,italian colour-grinder1 sat to him for ,king ,henry ,,vi4 in the ,death of ,cardinal ,beaufort1 and he looks not much better than a train-bearer or one in a low and mean station3 if he had sat to him for his portrait1 he would have made him look like a king6 ,that was what made ,fuseli observe in joke that 8,grandi never held up his head after ,sir ,joshua painted him in his ,cardinal ,beaufort60 ,but the pictures ,i speak of are poor dry fac-similes 7in a little timid manner and with an attempt at drapery7 of imbecile creatures1 whose appearance is a satire on themselves and mankind4 ,neither can ,i conceive why ,l-- should be sent over to paint ,charles ,x4 ,a ,french artist said to me on that occasion1 #8,we have very fine portrait-painters in ,paris1 ,sir6'444 ,the poor engraver would be the greatest sufferer by these expensive prints4 ,tradespeople now-a-days did not look at the thing with an eye to business1 but ruined themselves and others by setting up for would-be patrons and judges of the art4 #8,some demon whisper'd1 ,visto1 have a taste6' ,i said ,i thought ,l--'s pictures might do very well as mirrors for personal vanity to contemplate itself in 7as you looked in the glass to see how you were dressed71 but that it was a mistake to suppose they would interest any one else or were addressed to the world at large4 ,they were private1 not public property4 ,they never caught the eye in a shop window2 but were 7as it appeared to me7 a kind of lithographic painting1 or thin1 meagre outlines without the depth and richness of the art4 ,i mentioned to ,northcote the pleasure ,i had formerly taken in a little print of ,gadshill from a sketch of his own1 which ,i used at one time to pass a certain shop-window on purpose to look at4 ,he said1 #8,it was impossible to tell beforehand what would hit the public4 ,you might as well pretend to say what ticket would turn up a prize in the lottery4 ,it was not chance neither1 but some unforeseen coincidence between the subject and the prevailing taste1 that you could not possibly be a judge of4 ,i had once painted two pictures2 one of a ,fortune-teller 7a boy with a monkey71 and another called #8,the ,visit to the ,grandmother2' and ,raphael ,smith came to me and wanted to engrave them1 being willing to give a handsome sum for the first1 but only to do the last as an experiment4 ,he sold ten times as many of the last as of the first1 and told me that there were not less than five different impressions done of it in ,paris2 and once when ,i went to his house to get one to complete a set of engravings after my designs1 they asked me six guineas for a proof-impression6 ,this was too much1 but ,i was delighted that ,i could not afford to pay for my own work1 from the value that was set upon it6'--,i said1 people were much alarmed at the late failures1 and thought there would be a #8blow-up1' in the vulgar phrase4--#8,surely you can't suppose so8 ,a blow-up6 ,yes1 of adventurers and upstarts1 but not of the country1 if they mean that4 ,this is like the man who thought that gin-drinking would put an end to the world4 ,oh6 no--the country will go on just as before1 bating the distress to individuals4 ,you may form an idea on the subject if you ever go to look at the effects of a fire the day after3 you see nothing but smoke and ruins and bare walls1 and think the damage can never be repaired2 but if you pass by the same way a week after1 you will find the houses all built up just as they were before or even better than ever6 ,no1 there is the same wealth1 the same industry and ingenuity in the country as there was before2 and till you destroy that1 you cannot destroy the country4 ,these temporary distresses are only like disorders in the body1 that carry off its bad and superfluous humours4 #8,my neighbour ,mr4 ,rowe1 the bookseller1 informed me the other day that ,signora ,cecilia ,davies frequently came to his shop1 and always inquired after me4 ,did you ever hear of her8' ,no never6 #8,she must be very old now4 ,fifty years ago1 in the time of ,garrick1 she made a vast sensation4 ,all ,england rang with her name4 ,i do assure you1 that in this respect ,madame ,catalani was not more talked of4 ,afterwards she had retired to ,florence1 and was the ,prima ,donna there1 when ,storace first came out4 ,this was at the time when ,mr4 ,hoare and myself were in ,italy2 and ,i remember we went to call upon her4 ,she had then in a great measure fallen off1 but she was still very much admired4 ,what a strange thing a reputation of this kind is1 that the person herself survives1 and sees the meteors of fashion rise and fall one after another1 while she remains totally disregarded as if there had been no such person1 yet thinking all the while that she was better than any of them6 ,i have hardly heard her name mentioned in the last thirty years1 though in her time she was quite as famous as any one since4' ,i said1 an ,opera-reputation was after all but a kind of ,private ,theatricals and confined to a small circle1 compared with that of the regular stage1 which all the world were judges of and took an interest in4 ,it was but the echo of a sound1 or like the blaze of phosphorus that did not communicate to the surrounding objects4 ,it belonged to a fashionable coterie1 rather than to the public1 and might easily die away at the end of the season4 ,i then observed ,i was more affected by the fate of players than by that of any other class of people4 ,they seemed to me more to be pitied than any body--the contrast was so great between the glare1 the noise1 and intoxication of their first success1 and the mortifications and neglect of their declining years4 ,they were made drunk with popular applause2 and when this stimulus was withdrawn1 must feel the insignificance of ordinary life particularly vapid and distressing4 ,there were no sots like the sots of vanity4 ,there were no traces left of what they had been1 any more than of a forgotten dream2 and they had no consolation but in their own conceit1 which1 when it was without other vouchers1 was a very uneasy comforter4 ,i had seen some actors who had been favourites in my youth and #8cried up in the top of the compass1' treated1 from having grown old and infirm1 with the utmost indignity and almost hooted from the stage4 ,i had seen poor -- come forward under these circumstances to stammer out an apology with the tears in his eyes 7which almost brought them into mine7 to a set of apprentice-boys and box-lobby loungers1 who neither knew nor cared what a fine performer and a fine gentleman he was thought twenty years ago4 ,players were so far particularly unfortunate4 ,the theatrical public have a very short memory4 ,every four or five years there is a new audience1 who know nothing but of what they have before their eyes1 and who pronounce summarily upon this1 without any regard to past obligations or past services1 and with whom the veterans of the stage stand a bad chance indeed1 as their former triumphs are entirely forgotten1 while they appear as living vouchers against themselves4 #8,do you remember1' said ,northcote1 #8,sheridan's beautiful lines on the subject in his ,monody on ,garrick8' ,i said1 ,i did2 and that it was probably the reading them early that had impressed this feeling so strongly on my mind4 ,northcote then remarked1 #8,i think a great beauty is most to be pitied4 ,she completely outlives herself4 ,she has been used to the most bewitching homage1 to have the highest court paid and the most flattering things said to her by all those who approach her1 and to be received with looks of delight and surprise wherever she comes2 and she afterwards not only finds herself deprived of all this and reduced to a cypher1 but sees it all transferred to another1 who has become the reigning toast and beauty of the day in her stead4 ,it must be a most violent shock4 ,it is like a king who is dethroned and reduced to serve as a page in his own palace4 ,i remember once being struck with seeing the ,duchess of --1 the same that ,sir ,joshua painted1 and who was a miracle of beauty when she was young1 and followed by crowds wherever she went--,i was coming out of ,mrs4 ,w--'s2 and on the landing-place1 there was she standing by herself1 and calling over the bannister for her servant to come to her4 ,if she had been as she once was1 a thousand admirers would have flown to her assistance2 but her face was painted over like a mask1 and there was hardly any appearance of life left but the restless motion of her eyes4 ,i was really hurt4' ,i answered1 the late ,queen had much the same painful look that he described--her face highly rouged1 and her eyes rolling in her head like an automaton1 but she had not the mortification of having ever been a great beauty4 #8,there was a ,miss --1 too1' ,northcote added1 #8who was a celebrated beauty when she was a girl1 and who also sat to ,sir ,joshua4 ,i saw her not long ago and she was grown as coarse and vulgar as possible2 she was like an apple-woman or would do to keep the ,three ,tuns4 ,the change must be very mortifying4 ,to be sure1 there is one thing1 it comes on by degrees4 ,the ravages of the small-pox must formerly have been a dreadful blow6' ,he said1 literary men or men of talent in general were the best off in this respect4 ,the reputation they acquired was not only lasting1 but gradually grew stronger1 if it was deserved4 ,i agreed they were seldom spoiled by flattery1 and had no reason to complain after they were dead4 #8,nor while they are living1' said ,n--1 #8if it is not their own fault4' ,he mentioned an instance of a trial about an engraving where he1 ,west1 and others had to appear1 and of the respect that was shown them4 ,erskine after flourishing away1 made an attempt to puzzle ,stothard by drawing two angles on a piece of paper1 an acute and an obtuse one1 and asking1 #8,do you mean to say these two are alike8' #8,yes1 ,i do1' was the answer4 #8,i see1' said ,erskine1 turning round1 #8there is nothing to be got by angling here6' ,west was then called upon to give his evidence1 and there was immediately a lane made for him to come forward1 and a stillness that you could hear a pin drop4 ,the ,judge 7,lord ,kenyon7 then addressed him1 #8,sir ,benjamin1 we shall be glad to hear your opinion6' ,mr4 ,west answered1 #8,he had never received the honour of a title from his ,majesty2' and proceeded to explain the difference between the two engravings which were charged with being copies the one of the other1 with such clearness and knowledge of the art1 though in general he was a bad speaker1 that ,lord ,kenyon said when he had done1 #8,i suppose1 gentlemen1 you are perfectly satisfied--,i perceive there is much more in this than ,i had any idea of1 and am sorry ,i did not make it more my study when ,i was young6' ,i remarked that ,i believed corporations of art or letters might meet with a certain attention2 but it was the stragglers and candidates that were knocked about with very little ceremony4 ,talent or merit only wanted a frame of some sort or other to set it off to advantage4 ,those of my way of thinking were #8bitter bad judges' on this point4 ,a ,tory scribe who treated mankind as rabble and canaille1 was regarded by them in return as a fine gentleman3 a reformer like myself1 who stood up for liberty and equality1 was taken at his word by the very journeymen that set up his paragraphs1 and could not get a civil answer from the meanest shop-boy in the employ of those on his own side of the question4 ,n-- laughed and said1 ,i irritated myself too much about such things4 ,he said it was one of ,sir ,joshua's maxims that the art of life consisted in not being overset by trifles4 ,we should look at the bottom of the account1 not at each individual item in it1 and see how the balance stands at the end of the year4 ,we should be satisfied if the path of life is clear before us1 and not fret at the straws or pebbles that lie in our way4 ,what you have to look to is whether you can get what you write printed1 and whether the public will read it1 and not to busy yourself with the remarks of shop-boys or printers' devils4 ,they can do you neither harm nor good4 ,the impertinence of mankind is a thing that no one can guard against4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,fourteenth ,northcote shewed me a poem with engravings of ,dartmoor1 which were too fine by half4 ,i said ,i supposed ,dartmoor would look more gay and smiling after having been thus illustrated1 like a dull author who has been praised by a ,reviewer4 ,i had once been nearly benighted there and was delighted to get to the inn at ,ashburton4 #8,that1' said ,n--1 #8is the only good of such places that you are glad to escape from them1 and look back to them with a pleasing horror ever after4 ,commend me to the ,valdarno or ,vallambrosa1 where you are never weary of new charms1 and which you quit with a sigh of regret4 ,i have1 however1 told my young friend who sent me the poem1 that he has shown his genius in creating beauties where there were none1 and extracting enthusiasm from rocks and quagmires4 ,after that1 he may write a very interesting poem on ,kamschatka6' ,he then spoke of the ,panorama of the ,north ,pole which had been lately exhibited1 of the ice-bergs1 the seals lying asleep on the shore1 and the strange twilight as well worth seeing4 ,he said1 it would be curious to know the effect1 if they could get to the ,pole itself1 though it must be impossible3 the veins1 he should suppose1 would burst1 and the vessel itself go to pieces from the extreme cold4 ,i asked if he had ever read an account of twelve men who had been left all the winter in ,greenland1 and of the dreadful shifts to which they were reduced8 ,he said1 he had not4--,they were obliged to build two booths of wood one within the other2 and if they had to go into the outer one during the severity of the weather1 unless they used great precaution1 their hands were blistered by whatever they took hold of as if it had been red-hot iron4 ,the most interesting part was the account of their waiting for the return of light at the approach of spring1 and the delight with which they first saw the sun shining on the tops of the frozen mountains4 ,n-- said1 #8,this is the great advantage of descriptions of extraordinary situations by uninformed men3 ,nature as it were holds the pen for them2 they give you what is most striking in the circumstances1 and there is nothing to draw off the attention from the strong and actual impression1 so that it is the next thing to the reality4 ,g-- was here the other day1 and ,i showed him the note from my bookseller about the ,fables1 with which you were so much pleased1 but he saw nothing in it4 ,i then said ,g-- is not one of those who look attentively at nature or draw much from that source4 ,yet the rest is but like building castles in the air1 if it is not founded in observation and experience4 ,or it is like the enchanted money in the ,arabian ,nights1 which turned to dry leaves when you came to make use of it4 ,it is ingenious and amusing1 and so far it is well to be amused when you can2 but you learn nothing from the fine hypothesis you have been reading1 which is only a better sort of dream1 bright and vague and utterly inapplicable to the purposes of common life4 ,g-- does not appeal to nature1 but to art and execution4 ,there is another thing 7which it seems harsh and presumptuous to say1 but7 he appears to me not always to perceive the difference between right and wrong4 ,there are many others in the same predicament1 though not such splendid examples of it4 ,he is satisfied to make out a plausible case1 to give the pros and cons like a lawyer2 but he has no instinctive bias or feeling one way or other1 except as he can give a studied reason for it4 ,common sense is out of the question3 such people despise common sense1 and the quarrel between them is a mutual one4 ,caleb ,williams1 notwithstanding1 is a decidedly original work3 the rest are the sweepings of his study4 ,that is but one thing1 to be sure2 but no one does more than one thing4 ,northcote said that ,sir ,joshua used to say that no one produced more than six original things4 ,i always said it was wrong to fix upon this number--five out of the six would be found upon examination to be repetitions of the first4 ,a man can no more produce six original works than he can be six individuals at once4 ,whatever is the strong and prevailing bent of his genius1 he will stamp upon some master-work2 and what he does else1 will be only the same thing over again1 a little better or a little worse2 or if he goes out of his way in search of variety and to avoid himself1 he will merely become a common-place man or an imitator of others4 ,you see this plainly enough in ,cervantes--that he has exhausted himself in the ,don ,quixote4 ,he has put his whole strength into it3 his other works are no better than what other people could write4 ,if there is any exception1 it is ,shakspeare3 he seems to have had the faculty of dividing himself into a number of persons4 ,his writings stand out from every thing else1 and from one another4 ,othello1 ,lear1 ,macbeth1 ,falstaff are striking and original characters2 but they die a natural death at the end of the fifth act1 and no more come to life again than the people themselves would4 ,he is not reduced to repeat himself or revive former inventions under feigned names4 ,this is peculiar to him2 still it is to be considered that plays are short works and only allow room for the expression of a part4 ,but in a work of the extent of ,don ,quixote1 the writer had scope to bring in all he wanted2 and indeed there is no point of excellence which he has not touched from the highest courtly grace and most romantic enthusiasm down to the lowest ribaldry and rustic ignorance1 yet carried off with such an air that you wish nothing away1 and do not see what can be added to it4 ,every bit is perfect2 and the author has evidently given his whole mind to it4 ,that is why ,i believe that the ,scotch ,novels are the production of several hands4 ,some parts are careless1 others straggling3 it is only where there is an opening for effect that the master-hand comes in1 and in general he leaves his work for others to get on with it4 ,but in ,don ,quixote there is not a single line that you may not swear belongs to ,cervantes4'--,i inquired if he had read ,,woodstock8 ,he answered1 ,no1 he had not been able to get it4 ,i said1 ,i had been obliged to pay five shillings for the loan of it at a regular bookseller's shop 7,i could not procure it at the circulating libraries71 and that from the understood feeling about ,sir ,walter no objection was made to this proposal1 which would in ordinary cases have been construed into an affront4 ,i had well nigh repented my bargain1 but there were one or two scenes that repaid me 7though none equal to his best17 and in general it was very indifferent4 ,the plot turned chiefly on ,english ,ghost-scenes1 a very mechanical sort of phantoms who dealt in practical jokes and personal annoyances1 turning beds upside down and sousing you all over with water1 instead of supernatural and visionary horrors4 ,it was very bad indeed1 but might be intended to contrast the literal1 matter-of-fact imagination of the ,southron with the loftier impulses of ,highland superstition4 ,charles ,,ii4 was not spared1 and was brought in admirably 7when in disguise7 as a raw1 awkward ,scotch lad1 ,master ,kerneguy4 ,cromwell was made a fine1 bluff1 overbearing blackguard1 who exercised a personal superiority wherever he came1 but was put in situations which ,i thought wholly out of character1 and for which ,i apprehended there was no warrant in the history of the times4 ,they were therefore so far improper4 ,a romance-writer might take an incident and work it out according to his fancy or might build an imaginary superstructure on the ground of history1 but he had no right to transpose the facts4 ,for instance1 he had made ,cromwell act as his own tip-staff and go to ,woodstock to take ,charles ,,ii4 in person4 ,to be sure1 he had made him display considerable firmness and courage in the execution of this errand 7as ,lavender might in being the first to enter a window to secure a desperate robber7--but the plan itself1 to say nothing of the immediate danger1 was contrary to ,cromwell's dignity as well as policy4 ,instead of wishing to seize ,charles with his own hand1 he would naturally keep as far aloof from such a scene as he could1 and be desirous to have it understood that he was anxious to shed as little more blood as possible4 ,besides1 he had higher objects in view1 and would1 ,i should think1 care not much more about ,charles than about ,master ,kerneguy4 ,he would be glad to let him get away4 ,in another place1 he had made ,cromwell start back in the utmost terror at seeing a picture of ,charles ,i4 and act all the phrenzy of ,macbeth over again at the sight of ,banquo's ghost4 ,this ,i should also suppose to be quite out of character in a person of ,cromwell's prosaic1 determined habits to fear a painted devil4 #8,no1' said ,n--1 #8that is not the way he would look at it2 it is seeing only a part3 but ,cromwell was a greater philosopher than to act so4 ,the other story is more probable of his visiting the dead body of ,charles in a mask1 and exclaiming in great agitation as he left the room1 ,cruel necessity6 ,yet even this is not sufficiently authenticated4 ,no2 he knew that it was come to this1 that it was gone too far for either party to turn back1 and that it must be final with one of them4 ,the only question was whether he should give himself up as the victim1 and so render all that had been done useless1 or exact the penalty from what he thought the offending party4 ,it was like a battle which must end fatally either way1 and no one thought of lamenting1 because he was not on the losing side4 ,in a great public quarrel there was no room for these domestic and personal regards3 all you had to do was to consider well the justice of the cause1 before you appealed to the sword4 ,would ,charles ,i4 if he had been victorious1 have started at the sight of a picture of ,cromwell8 ,yet ,cromwell was as much of a man as he1 and as firm as the other was obstinate4' ,northcote said1 he wished he could remember the subject of a dispute he had with ,g-- to see if ,i did not think he had the best of it4 ,i replied1 ,i should be more curious to hear something in which ,g-- was right1 for he generally made it a rule to be in the wrong when speaking of any thing4 ,i mentioned having once had a very smart debate with him about a young lady1 of whom ,i had been speaking as very much like her aunt1 a celebrated authoress1 and as what the latter1 ,i conceived1 might have been at her time of life4 ,g-- said1 when ,miss -- did any thing like ,evelina or ,cecilia1 he should then believe she was as clever as ,madame d',arblay4 ,i asked him whether he did not think ,miss ,burney was as clever before she wrote those novels as she was after2 or whether in general an author wrote a successful work for being clever1 or was clever because he had written a successful work6 ,northcote laughed and said1 #8,that was so like ,g--4' ,i observed that it arose out of his bigoted admiration of literature1 so that he could see no merit in any thing else2 nor trust to any evidence of talent but what was printed4 ,it was much the same fallacy that had sometimes struck me in the divines1 who deduced original sin from ,adam's eating the apple1 and not his eating the apple from original sin or a previous inclination to do something1 that he should not4 ,northcote remarked1 that speaking of ,evelina put him in mind of what ,opie had once told him1 that when ,dr4 ,johnson sat to him for his picture1 on his first coming to town1 he asked him if it was true that he had sat up all night to read ,miss ,burney's new novel1 as it had been reported8 ,and he made answer1 #8,i never read it through at all1 though ,i don't wish this to be known4' ,sir ,joshua also pretended to have read it through at a sitting1 though it appeared to him 7,northcote7 affectation in them both1 who were thorough-paced men of the world1 and hackneyed in literature1 to pretend to be so delighted with the performance of a girl1 in which they could find neither instruction nor any great amusement1 except from the partiality of friendship4 ,so ,johnson cried up ,savage1 because they had slept on bulks when they were young2 and lest he should be degraded into a vagabond by the association1 had elevated the other into a genius4 ,such prevarication or tampering with his own convictions was not consistent with the strict and formal tone of morality which he assumed on other and sometimes very trifling occasions1 such as correcting ,mrs4 ,thrale for saying that a bird flew in at the door1 instead of the window4 ,i said1 ,savage1 in my mind1 was one of those writers 7like ,chatterton7 whose vices and misfortunes the world made a set-off to their genius1 because glad to connect these ideas together4 ,they were only severe upon those who attacked their prejudices or their consequence4 ,northcote replied1 #8,savage the architect was here the other day1 and asked me why ,i had abused his name-sake1 and called him an impostor4 ,i answered1 ,i had heard that character of him from a person in an obscure rank of life1 who had known him a little before his death4' ,northcote proceeded3 #8,people in that class are better judges than poets and moralists1 who explain away every thing by fine words and doubtful theories4 ,the mob are generally right in their summary judgments upon offenders4 ,a man is seldom ducked or pumped upon or roughly handled by them1 unless he has deserved it4 ,you see that in the galleries at the play-house4 ,they never let any thing pass that is immoral2 and they are even fastidious judges of wit4 ,i remember there was some gross expression in ,goldsmith's comedy the first night it came out2 and there was a great uproar in the gallery1 and it was obliged to be suppressed4 ,though rude and vulgar themselves1 they do not like vulgarity on the stage2 they come there to be taught manners4' ,i said1 they paid more attention than any body else2 and after the curtain drew up 7though somewhat noisy before7 were the best-behaved part of the audience1 unless something went wrong4 ,as the common people sought for refinement as a treat1 people in high life were fond of grossness and ribaldry as a relief to their overstrained affectation of gentility4 ,i could account in no other way for their being amused with the wretched slang in certain magazines and newspapers4 ,i asked ,northcote if he had seen the third series of --8 ,he had not4 ,i said they were like the composition of a footman1 and ,i believed greatly admired in the upper circles1 who were glad to see an author arrange a side-board for them over again with servile alacrity4 ,he said1 #8,they delight in low1 coarse buffoonery1 because it sets off their own superiority3 whereas the rabble resent it when obtruded upon them1 because they think it is meant against themselves4 ,they require the utmost elegance and propriety for their money3 as the showman says in ,goldsmith's comedy--8,my bear dances to none but the genteelest of tunes1 ,water parted from the ,sea1 or the minuet in ,ariadne60' ,northcote then alluded to a new novel he had been reading4 ,he said he never read a book so full of words2 which seemed ridiculous enough to say1 for a book was necessarily composed of words1 but here there was nothing else but words1 to a degree that was surprising4 ,yet he believed it was sought after1 and indeed he could not get it at the common library4 #8,you are to consider1 there must be books for all tastes and all ages4 ,you may despise it1 but the world do not4 ,there are books for children till the time they are six years of age1 such as ,jack-the-,giant-,killer1 the ,seven ,champions of ,christendom1 ,guy of ,warwick and others4#if ,from that to twelve they like to read the ,pilgrim's ,progress and ,robinson ,crusoe1 and then ,fielding's ,novels and ,don ,quixote3 from twenty to thirty books of poetry1 ,milton1 ,pope1 ,shakspeare3 and from thirty history and philosophy--what suits us then will serve us for the rest of our lives4 ,for boarding-school girls ,thomson's ,seasons has an immense attraction1 though ,i never could read it4 ,some people cannot get beyond a newspaper or a geographical dictionary4 ,what ,i mean to infer is that we ought not to condemn too hastily1 for a work may be approved by the public1 though it does not exactly hit our taste2 nay1 those may seem beauties to others which seem faults to us4 ,why else do we pride ourselves on the superiority of our judgment1 if we are not more advanced in this respect than the majority of readers8 ,but our very fastidiousness should teach us toleration4 ,you have said very well of this novel1 that it is a mixture of genteel and romantic affectation4 ,one objection to the excessive rhodomontade which abounds in it is that you can learn nothing from such extravagant fictions3--they are like nothing in the known world4 ,i remember once speaking to ,richardson 7,sheridan's friend7 about ,shakspeare's want of morality1 and he replied--8,what6 ,shakspeare not moral8 ,he is the most moral of all writers1 because he is the most natural60 ,and in this he was right3 for though ,shakspeare did not intend to be moral1 yet he could not be otherwise as long as he adhered to the path of nature4 ,morality only teaches us our duty by showing us the natural consequences of our actions2 and the poet does the same while he continues to give us faithful and affecting pictures of human life--rewarding the good and punishing the bad4 ,so far truth and virtue are one4 ,but that kind of poetry which has not its foundation in nature1 and is only calculated to shock and surprise1 tends to unhinge our notions of morality and of every thing else in the ordinary course of ,providence4' ,something being said of an artist who had attempted to revive the great style in our times1 and the question being put1 whether ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael1 had they lived now1 would not have accommodated themselves to the modern practice1 ,i said1 it appeared to me that 7whether this was the case or not7 they could not have done what they did without the aid of circumstances2 that for an artist to raise himself above all surrounding opinions1 customs1 and institutions by a mere effort of the will1 was affectation and folly1 like attempting to fly in the air2 and that1 though great genius might exist without the opportunities favourable to its development1 yet it must draw its nourishment from circumstances1 and suck in inspiration from its native air4 ,there was ,hogarth--he was surely a genius2 still the manners of his age were necessary to him3 teeming as his works were with life1 character1 and spirit1 they would have been poor and vapid without the night-cellars of ,st4 ,giles's1 the drawing-rooms of ,st4 ,james's6 ,would he in any circumstances have been a ,raphael or a ,phidias8 ,i think not4 ,but had he been twenty times a ,raphael or a ,phidias1 ,i am quite sure it would never have appeared in the circumstances in which he was placed4 ,two things are necessary to all great works and great excellence1 the mind of the individual and the mind of the age or country co-operating with his own genius4 ,the last brings out the first1 but the first does not imply or supersede the last4 ,pictures for ,protestant churches are a contradiction in terms1 where they are not objects of worship but of idle curiosity3--where there is not the adoration1 the enthusiasm in the spectator1 how can it exist in the artist8 ,the spark of genius is only kindled into a flame by sympathy4--,northcote spoke highly of ,vanbrugh and of the calm superiority with which he bore the attacks of ,swift1 ,pope1 and that set who made a point of decrying all who did not belong to their party4 ,he said ,burke and ,sir ,joshua thought his architecture far from contemptible2 and his comedies were certainly first-rate4 ,richards 7the scene-painter7 had told him1 the players thought the ,provoked ,husband the best acting play on the stage2 and ,godwin said the ,city-,wives' ,confederacy 7taken from an indifferent ,french play7 was the best written one4 ,i ventured to add1 that the ,trip to ,scarborough 7altered but not improved by ,sheridan7 was not inferior to either of the others4 ,i should doubt whether the direction given at ,sir ,tunbelly's castle on the arrival of ,young ,fashion--#8,let loose the grey-hound1 and lock up ,miss ,hoyden6'--would be in ,sheridan's version1 who1 like most of his countrymen1 had a prodigious ambition of elegance4 ,northcote observed1 that talking of this put him in mind of a droll speech that was made when the officers got up a play on board the vessel that went lately to find out the ,north-,west passage3--one of the sailors1 who was admiring the performance1 and saying how clever it was1 was interrupted by the boatswain1 who exclaimed--#8,clever6 did you say8 ,i call it philosophy1 by ,g--d6' ,he asked1 if he had ever mentioned to me that anecdote of ,lord ,mansfield1 who1 when an old woman was brought before him as a witch1 and was charged1 among other improbable things1 with walking through the air1 attended coolly to the evidence1 and then dismissed the complaint by saying1 #8,my opinion is that this good woman be suffered to return home1 and whether she shall do this1 walking on the ground or riding through the air1 must be left entirely to her own pleasure1 for there is nothing contrary to the laws of ,england in either6' ,i mentioned a very fine dancer at the ,opera 7,mademoiselle ,brocard7 with whom ,i was much delighted2 and ,northcote observed that where there was grace and beauty accompanying the bodily movements1 it was very hard to deny the mental refinement or the merit of this art4 ,he could not see why that which was so difficult to do1 and which gave so much pleasure to others1 was to be despised4 ,he remembered seeing some young people at ,parma 7though merely in a country-dance7 exhibit a degree of perfection in their movements that seemed to be inspired by the very genius of grace and gaiety4 ,miss ,reynolds used to say that perfection was much the same in everything--nobody could assign the limits4 ,i said authors alone were privileged to suppose that all excellence was confined to words4 ,till ,i was twenty ,i thought there was nothing in the world but books3 when ,i began to paint ,i found there were two things1 both difficult to do and worth doing2 and ,i concluded from that time there might be fifty4 ,at least ,i was willing to allow every one his own choice4 ,i recollect a certain poet saying #8he should like to ham-string those fellows at the ,opera'--,i suppose because the ,great would rather see them dance than read ,kehama4 ,whatever can be done in such a manner that you can fancy a ,god to do it1 must have something in its nature divine4 ,the ancients had assigned ,gods to dancing as well as to music and poetry1 to the different attributes and perfections both of body and mind2 and perhaps the plurality of the heathen deities was favourable to a liberality of taste and opinion4 ,,northcote3 #8,the most wretched scribbler looks down upon the greatest painter as a mere mechanic3 but who would compare ,lord ,byron with ,titian8' ,,conversation ,,the ,,fifteenth ,i went to ,northcote in the evening to consult about his ,fables4 ,he was downstairs in the parlour1 and talked much as usual3 but the difference of the accompaniments1 the sitting down1 the preparations for tea1 the carpet and furniture1 and a little fat lap-dog interfered with old associations and took something from the charm of his conversation4 ,he spoke of a ,mr4 ,laird who had been employed to see his ,life of ,sir ,joshua through the press1 and whom he went to call upon in an upper story in ,peterborough-,court1 ,fleet-street1 where he was surrounded by his books1 his implements of writing1 a hand-organ1 and his coffee-pots2 and he said he envied him this retreat more than any palace he had ever happened to enter4 ,northcote was not very well1 and repeated his complaints4 ,i said ,i thought the air 7now summer was coming on7 would do him more good than physic4 ,his apothecary had been describing the dissection of the elephant1 which had just been killed at ,exeter #8,change4 ,it appeared that instead of the oil which usually is found in the joints of animals1 the interstices were in this case filled up with a substance resembling a kind of white paint4 ,this ,northcote considered as a curious instance of the wise contrivance of nature in the adaptation of means to ends2 for even in pieces of artificial mechanism1 though they use oil to lubricate the springs and wheels of clocks and other common-sized instruments1 yet in very large and heavy ones1 such as steam-engines1 c4 they are obliged to use grease1 pitch1 and other more solid substances1 to prevent the friction4 ,if they could dissect a flea1 what a fine1 evanescent fluid would be found to lubricate its slender joints and assist its light movements6 ,northcote said the bookseller wished to keep the original copy of the ,fables to bind up as a literary curiosity4 ,i objected to this proceeding as unfair4 ,there were several slips of the pen and slovenlinesses of style 7for which ,i did not think him at all accountable1 since an artist wrote with his left hand1 and painted with his right7 and ,i did not see why these accidental inadvertences1 arising from diffidence and want of practice1 should be as it were enshrined and brought against him4 ,he said1 #8,mr4 ,p-- ,h-- tasked me the hardest in what ,i wrote in the ,artist4 ,he pointed out where ,i was wrong1 and sent it back to me to correct it4 ,after all1 what ,i did there was thought the best6' ,i said ,mr4 ,h-- was too fastidious1 and spoiled what he did from a wish to have it perfect4 ,he dreaded that a shadow of objection should be brought against any thing he advanced1 so that his opinions at last amounted to a kind of genteel truisms4 ,one must risk something in order to do any thing4 ,i observed that this was remarkable in so clever a man2 but it seemed as if there were some fatality by which the most lively and whimsical writers1 if they went out of their own eccentric path and attempted to be serious1 became exceedingly grave and even insipid4 ,his farces were certainly very spirited and original3 ,,no ,,song ,,no ,,supper was the first play ,i had ever seen1 and ,i felt grateful to him for this4 ,northcote agreed that it was very delightful2 and said there was a volume of it when he first read it to them one night at ,mrs4 ,rundle's1 and that the players cut it down a good deal and supplied a number of things4 ,there was a great piece of work to alter the songs for ,madame ,storace1 who played in it and who could not pronounce half the ,english terminations4 ,,my ,,grandmother1 too1 was a laughable idea1 very ingeniously executed2 and some of the songs in this had an equal portion of elegance and drollery1 such as that in particular-- ,for alas6 long before ,i was born1 ,my fair one had died of old age6 ,still some of his warmest admirers were hurt at their being farces--if they had been comedies1 they would have been satisfied1 for nothing could be greater than their success4 ,they were the next to ,o',keefe's1 who in that line was the ,english ,moliere4 ,northcote asked if ,i remembered the bringing out of any of ,o',keefe's8 ,i answered1 ,no4 ,he said #8,it had the oddest effect imaginable--at one moment they seemed on the point of being damned1 and the next moment you were convulsed with laughter4 ,edwin was inimitable in some of them4 ,he was one of those actors1 it is true1 who carried a great deal off the stage with him1 that he would willingly have left behind1 and so far could not help himself4 ,but his awkward1 shambling figure in ,bowkitt the dancing-master1 was enough to make one die with laughing4 ,he was also unrivalled in ,lingo1 where he was admirably supported by ,mrs4 ,wells in ,cowslip1 when she prefers 8a roast duck0 to all the birds in the ,heathen ,mythology--and in ,peeping ,tom1 where he merely puts his head out1 the faces that he made threw the audience into a roar4' ,i said1 ,i remembered no further back than ,b--1 who used to delight me excessively in ,lenitive in the ,prize1 when ,i was a boy4 ,northcote said1 he was an imitator of ,edwin1 but at a considerable distance4 ,he was a good-natured1 agreeable man2 and the audience were delighted with him1 because he was evidently delighted with them4 ,in some respects he was a caricaturist3 for instance1 in ,lenitive he stuck his pigtail on end1 which he had no right to do1 for no one had ever done it but himself4 ,i said ,liston appeared to me to have more comic humour than any one in my time1 though he was not properly an actor4 ,northcote asked if he was not low-spirited2 and told the story 7,i suspect an old one7 of his consulting a physician on the state of his health1 who recommended him to go and see ,liston4 ,i said he was grave and prosing1 but ,i did not know there was any thing the matter with him1 though ,i had seen him walking along the street the other day with his face as fixed as if had a lock-jaw1 a book in his hand1 looking neither to the right nor the left1 and very much like his own ,lord ,duberly4 ,i did not see why he and ,matthews should both of them be so hipped1 except from their having the player's melancholy1 arising from their not seeing six hundred faces on the broad grin before them at all other times as well as when they were acting4 ,he was1 however1 exceedingly unaffected1 and remarkably candid in judging of other actors4 ,he always spoke in the highest terms of ,munden1 whom ,i considered as overdoing his parts4#ig ,northcote said1 #8,munden was excellent but an artificial actor4 ,you should have seen ,weston1' he continued4 #8,it was impossible1 from looking at him1 for any one to say that he was acting4 ,you would suppose they had gone out and found the actual character they wanted1 and brought him upon the stage without his knowing it4 ,even when they interrupted him with peals of laughter and applause1 he looked about him as if he was not at all conscious of having any thing to do with it1 and then went on as before4 ,in ,scrub1 ,dr4 ,last1 and other parts of that kind1 he was perfection itself4 ,garrick would never attempt ,abel ,drugger after him4 ,there was something peculiar in his face2 for ,i knew an old school-fellow of his who told me he used to produce the same effect when a boy1 and when the master asked what was the matter1 his companions would make answer--#8,weston looked at me1 ,sir6' ,yet he came out in tragedy1 as indeed they all did6 ,northcote inquired if ,i had seen ,garrick8 ,i answered1 #8,no--,i could not very well1 as he died the same year ,i was born6' ,i mentioned having lately met with a striking instance of genealogical taste in a family1 the grandfather of which thought nothing of ,garrick1 the father thought nothing of ,mrs4 ,siddons1 and the daughter could make nothing of the ,scotch ,novels1 but admired ,mr4 ,theodore ,hook's #8,,sayings ,,and ,,doings6' ,northcote then returned to the subject of his book and said1 #8,sir ,richard ,phillips once wished me to do a very magnificent work indeed on the subject of art4 ,he was like ,curil1 who had a number of fine title-pages1 if any one could have written books to answer them4 ,he came here once with ,godwin to shew me a picture which they had just discovered of ,chaucer1 and which was to embellish ,godwin's ,life of him4 ,i told them it was certainly no picture of ,chaucer1 nor was any such picture painted at that time4' ,i said1 ,godwin had got a portrait about a year ago which he wished me to suppose was a likeness of ,president ,bradshaw3 ,i saw no reason for his thinking so1 but that in that case it would be worth a hundred pounds to him6 ,northcote expressed a curiosity to have seen it1 as he knew the descendants of the family at ,plymouth4 ,he remembered one of them1 an old lady of the name of ,wilcox1 who used to walk about in ,gibson's-,field near the town1 so prim and starched1 holding up her fan spread out like a peacock's tail with such an air1 on account of her supposed relationship to one of the ,regicides6 ,they paid1 however 7in the vulgar opinion7 for this distinction2 for others of them bled to death at the nose1 or died of the bursting of a blood-vessel1 which their wise neighbours did not fail to consider as a judgment upon them4 ,speaking of ,dr4 ,m--1 he said1 he had such a feeling of beauty in his heart1 that it made angels of every one around him4 ,to check a person who was running on against another1 he once said1 #8,you should not speak in that manner1 for you lead me to suppose you have the bad qualities you are so prone to dwell upon in others4'--,a transition was here made to ,lord ,byron1 who used to tell a story of a little red-haired girl1 who1 when countesses and ladies of fashion were leaving the room where he was in crowds 7to cut him after his quarrel with his wife7 stopped short near a table against which he was leaning1 gave him a familiar nod1 and said1 #8,you should have married me1 and then this would not have happened to you6' ,a question being started whether ,dr4 ,m-- was handsome1 ,northcote answered1 #8,i could see no beauty in him as to his outward person1 but there was an angelic sweetness of disposition that spread its influence over his whole conversation and manner4 ,he had not wit1 but a fine romantic enthusiasm which deceived himself and enchanted others4 ,i remember once his describing a picture by ,rosa de ,tivoli 7at ,saltram7 of ,two ,bulls fighting1 and he gave such an account of their rage and manner of tearing up the ground that ,i could not rest till we went over to see it--when we came there1 it was nothing but a coarse daub like what might be expected from the painter3 but he had made the rest out of a vivid imagination4 ,so my father told him a story of a bull-bait he had seen in which the bull had run so furiously at the dog that he broke the chain and pitched upon his head and was killed4 ,soon after1 he came and told us the same story as an incident he himself had witnessed4 ,he did not mean to deceive1 but the image had made such an impression on his fancy1 that he believed it to be one that he had himself been an eye-witness of4' ,i was much amused with this account and ,i offered to get him a copy of a whimsical production1 of which a new edition had been printed4 ,i also recommended to him the ,spanish ,rogue1 as a fine mixture of drollery and grave moralizing4 ,he spoke of ,lazarillo de ,tormes and of the ,cheats of ,scapin1 the last of which he rated rather low4 ,the work was written by ,scarron1 whose widow1 the famous ,madame de ,maintenon1 afterwards became mistress to ,louis ,,xiv4 ,,part ,,the ,,second ,,conversation ,,the ,,sixteenth ,n4--,that is your diffidence1 which ,i can't help thinking you carry too far4 ,for any one of real strength1 you are the humblest person ,i ever knew4 ,h4--,it is owing to pride4 ,n4--,you deny you have invention too4 ,but it is want of practice4 ,your ideas run on before your executive power4 ,it is a common case4 ,there was ,ramsay1 of whom ,sir ,joshua used to say that he was the most sensible among all the painters of his time2 but he has left little to show it4 ,his manner was dry and timid4 ,he stopped short in the middle of his work1 because he knew exactly how much it wanted4 ,now and then we find hints and sketches which show what he might have been1 if his hand had been equal to his conceptions4 ,i have seen a picture of his of the ,queen1 soon after she was married--a profile1 and slightly done2 but it was a paragon of elegance4 ,she had a fan in her hand3 ,lord6 how she held that fan6 ,it was weak in execution and ordinary in features--all ,i can say of it is1 that it was the farthest possible removed from everything like vulgarity4 ,a professor might despise it2 but in the mental part1 ,i have never seen any thing of ,vandyke's equal to it4 ,i could have looked at it forever4 ,i showed it to ,j--n2 and he1 ,i believe1 came into my opinion of it4 ,i don't know where it is now2 but ,i saw in it enough to convince me that ,sir ,joshua was right in what he said of ,ramsay's great superiority4 ,his own picture of the ,king1 which is at the ,academy1 is a finer composition and shows greater boldness and mastery of hand2 but ,i should find it difficult to produce any thing of ,sir ,joshua's that conveys an idea of more grace and delicacy than the one ,i have mentioned4 ,reynolds would have finished it better3 the other was afraid of spoiling what he had done1 and so left it a mere outline4 ,he was frightened before he was hurt4 ,h4--,taste and even genius is but a misfortune1 without a correspondent degree of manual dexterity or power of language to make it manifest4 ,n4--,w-- was here the other day4 ,i believe you met him going out4 ,he came1 he said1 to ask me about the famous people of the last age1 ,johnson1 ,burke1 c4 7as ,i was almost the only person left who remembered them71 and was curious to know what figure ,sir ,walter ,scott would have made among them4 ,h4--,that is so like a ,north-,briton--#8to make assurance doubly sure1' and to procure a signature to an acknowledged reputation as if it were a receipt for the delivery of a bale of goods4 ,n4--,i told him it was not for me to pronounce upon such men as ,sir ,walter ,scott3 they came before another tribunal4 ,they were of that height that they were seen by all the world1 and must stand or fall by the verdict of posterity4 ,it signified little what any individual thought in such cases1 it being equally an impertinence to set one's self against or to add one's testimony to the public voice2 but as far as ,i could judge1 ,i told him1 that ,sir ,walter would have stood his ground in any company3 neither ,burke nor ,johnson nor any of their admirers would have been disposed or able to set aside his pretensions4 ,these men were not looked upon in their day as they are at present3 ,johnson had his ,lexiphanes1 and ,goldsmith was laughed at--their merits were to the full as much called in question1 nay1 more so1 than those of the ,author of ,waverley have ever been1 who has been singularly fortunate in himself or in lighting upon a barren age3 but because their names have since become established1 and as it were sacred1 we think they were always so2 and ,w-- wanted me1 as a competent witness and as having seen both parties1 to affix the same seal to his countryman's reputation1 which it is not in the power of the whole of the present generation to do1 much less of any single person in it4 ,no1 we must wait for this6 ,time alone can give the final stamp3 no living reputation can ever be of the same value or quality as posthumous fame4 ,we must throw lofty objects to a distance in order to judge of them3 if we are standing close under the ,monument1 it looks higher than ,st4 ,paul's4 ,posterity has this advantage over us-not that they are really wiser1 but they see the proportions better from being placed further off4 ,for instance1 ,i liked ,sir ,walter1 because he had an easy1 unaffected manner1 and was ready to converse on all subjects alike4 ,he was not like your friends1 the ,l-- poets1 who talk about nothing but their own poetry4 ,if1 on the contrary1 he had been stiff and pedantic1 ,i should1 perhaps1 have been inclined to think less highly of the author from not liking the man2 so that we can never judge fairly of men's abilities till we are no longer liable to come in contact with their persons4 ,friends are as little to be trusted as enemies3 favour or prejudice makes the votes in either case more or less suspected2 though #8the vital signs that a name shall live' are in some instances so strong1 that we can hardly refuse to put faith in them1 and ,i think this is one4 ,i was much pleased with ,sir ,walter1 and ,i believe he expressed a favourable opinion of me4 ,i said to him1 #8,i admire the way in which you begin your novels4 ,you set out so abruptly1 that you quite surprise me4 ,i can't at all tell what's coming4'--#8,no6' says ,sir ,walter1 #8nor ,i neither4' ,i then told him1 that when ,i first read ,waverley1 ,i said it was no novel3 nobody could invent like that4 ,either he had heard the story related by one of the surviving parties1 or he had found the materials in a manuscript concealed in some old chest3 to which he replied1 #8,you're not so far out of the way in thinking so4' ,you don't know him1 do you8 ,he'd be a pattern to you4 ,oh6 he has a very fine manner4 ,you would learn to rub off some of your asperities4 ,but you admire him1 ,i believe4 ,h4--,yes2 on this side of idolatry and ,toryism4 ,n4--,that is your prejudice4 ,h4--,nay1 it rather shows my liberality1 if ,i am a devoted enthusiast1 notwithstanding4 ,there are two things ,i admire in ,sir ,walter1 his capacity and his simplicity2 which indeed ,i am apt to think are much the same4 ,the more ideas a man has of other things1 the less he is taken up with the idea of himself4 ,every one gives the same account of the author of ,waverley in this respect4 ,when he was in ,paris1 and went to ,galignani's1 he sat down in an outer room to look at some book he wanted to see3 none of the clerks had the least suspicion who it was3 when it was found out1 the place was in a commotion4 ,cooper1 the ,american1 was in ,paris at the same time3 his looks and manners seemed to announce a much greater man4 ,he strutted through the streets with a very consequential air2 and in company held up his head1 screwed up his features1 and placed himself on a sort of pedestal to be observed and admired1 as if he never relaxed in the assumption nor wished it to be forgotten by others1 that he was the ,american ,sir ,walter ,scott4 ,the real one never troubled himself about the matter4 ,why should he8 ,he might safely leave that question to others4 ,indeed1 by what ,i am told1 he carries his indifference too far3 it amounts to an implied contempt for the public1 and misprision of treason against the commonwealth of letters4 ,he thinks nothing of his works1 although #8all ,europe rings with them from side to side4'--,if so1 he has been severely punished for his infirmity4 ,n4--,though you do not know ,sir ,walter ,scott1 ,i think ,i have heard you say you have seen him4 ,h4--,yes1 he put me in mind of ,cobbett1 with his florid face and scarlet gown1 which were just like the other's red face and scarlet waistcoat4 ,the one is like an ,english farmer1 the other like a ,scotch laird4 ,both are large1 robust men1 with great strength and composure of features2 but ,i saw nothing of the ideal character in the romance-writer1 any more than ,i looked for it in the politician4 ,n4--,indeed6 ,but you have a vast opinion of ,cobbett too1 haven't you8 ,oh6 he's a giant6 ,he has such prodigious strength2 he tears up a subject by the roots4 ,did you ever read his ,grammar8 ,or see his attack on ,mrs4 --8 ,it was like a hawk pouncing on a wren4 ,i should be terribly afraid to get into his hands4 ,and then his homely1 familiar way of writing--it is not from necessity or vulgarity1 but to show his contempt for aristocratic pride and arrogance4 ,he only has a kitchen-garden2 he could have a flower-garden too if he chose4 ,peter ,pindar said his style was like the ,horse-,guards1 only one story above the ground1 while ,junius's had all the airy elegance of ,whitehall3 but he could raise his style just as high as he pleased2 though he does not want to sacrifice strength to elegance4 ,he knows better what he is about4 ,h4--,i don't think he'll set up for a fine gentleman in a hurry1 though he has for a ,member of ,parliament2 and ,i fancy he would make no better figure in the one than the other4 ,he appeared to me1 when ,i once saw him1 exactly what ,i expected3 in ,sir ,walter ,i looked in vain for a million of fine things6 ,i could only explain it to myself in this way1 that there was a degree of capacity in that huge double forehead of his1 that superseded all effort1 made every thing come intuitively and almost mechanically1 as if it were merely transcribing what was already written1 and by the very facility with which the highest beauty and excellence was produced1 left few traces of it in the expression of the countenance1 and hardly any sense of it in the mind of the author4 ,expression only comes into the face as we are at a loss for words1 or have a difficulty in bringing forward our ideas2 but we may repeat the finest things by rote without any change of look or manner4 ,it is only when the powers are tasked1 when the moulds of thought are full1 that the effect or the wear-and-tear of the mind appears on the surface4 ,so1 in general1 writers of the greatest imagination and range of ideas1 and who might be said to have all nature obedient to their call1 seem to have been most careless of their fame and regardless of their works4 ,they treat their productions not as children1 but as #8bastards of their art2' whereas those who are more confined in their scope of intellect and wedded to some one theory or predominant fancy1 have been found to feel a proportionable fondness for the offspring of their brain1 and have thus excited a deeper interest in it in the minds of others4 ,we set a value on things as they have cost us dear3 the very limitation of our faculties or exclusiveness of our feelings compels us to concentrate all our enthusiasm on a favourite subject2 and strange as it may sound1 in order to inspire a perfect sympathy in others or to form a school1 men must themselves be egotists6 ,milton has had fewer readers and admirers1 but ,i suspect more devoted and bigotted ones1 than ever ,shakspeare had3 ,sir ,walter ,scott has attracted more universal attention than any writer of our time1 but you may speak against him with less danger of making personal enemies than if you attack ,lord ,byron4 ,even ,wordsworth has half a dozen followers1 who set him up above everybody else from a common idiosyncrasy of feeling and the singleness of the elements of which his excellence is composed4 ,before we can take an author entirely to our bosoms1 he must be another self2 and he cannot be this1 if he is #8not one1 but all mankind's epitome4' ,it was this which gave such an effect to ,rousseau's writings1 that he stamped his own character and the image of his self-love on the public mind--there it is1 and there it will remain in spite of every thing4 ,had he possessed more comprehension of thought or feeling1 it would have only have diverted him from his object4 ,but it was the excess of his egotism and his utter blindness to every thing else1 that found a corresponding sympathy in the conscious feelings of every human breast1 and shattered to pieces the pride of rank and circumstance by the pride of internal worth or upstart pretension4 ,when ,rousseau stood behind the chair of the master of the chteau of --1 and smiled to hear the company dispute about the meaning of the motto of the arms of the family1 which he alone knew1 and stumbled as he handed the glass of wine to his young mistress1 and fancied she coloured at being waited upon by so learned a young footman--then was first kindled that spark which can never be quenched1 then was formed the germ of that strong conviction of the disparity between the badge on his shoulder and the aspirations of his soul--the determination1 in short1 that external situation and advantages are but the mask1 and that the mind is the man--armed with which1 impenetrable1 incorrigible1 he went forth conquering and to conquer1 and overthrew the monarchy of ,france and the hierarchies of the earth4 ,till then1 birth and wealth and power were all in all1 though but the frame-work or crust that envelopes the man2 and what there was in the man himself was never asked1 or was scorned and forgot4 ,and while all was dark and grovelling within1 while knowledge either did not exist or was confined to a few1 while material power and advantages were every thing1 this was naturally to be expected4 ,but with the increase and diffusion of knowledge1 this state of things must sooner or later cease2 and ,rousseau was the first who held the torch 7lighted at the never-dying fire in his own bosom7 to the hidden chambers of the mind of man--like another ,prometheus1 breathed into his nostrils the breath of a new and intellectual life1 enraging the ,gods of the earth1 and made him feel what is due to himself and his fellows4 ,before1 physical force was every thing3 henceforward1 mind1 thought1 feeling was a new element--a fourth estate in society4 ,what6 shall a man have read ,dante and ,ariosto1 and be none the better for it8 ,shall he be still judged of only by his coat1 the number of his servants in livery1 the house over his head8 ,while poverty meant ignorance1 that was necessarily the case2 but the world of books overturns the world of things1 and establishes a new balance of power and scale of estimation4 ,shall we think only rank and pedigree divine1 when we have music1 poetry1 and painting within us8 ,tut6 we have read ,old ,mortality2 and shall it be asked whether we have done so in a garret or a palace1 in a carriage or on foot8 ,or knowing them1 shall we not revere the mighty heirs of fame1 and respect ourselves for knowing and honouring them8 ,this is the true march of intellect1 and not the erection of ,mechanics' ,institutions1 or the printing of two-penny trash1 according to my notion of the matter1 though ,i have nothing to say against them neither4 ,n4--,i thought you never would have done2 however1 you have come to the ground at last4 ,after this rhapsody1 ,i must inform you that ,rousseau is a character more detestable to me than ,i have power of language to express3--an aristocrat filled with all their worst vices1 pride1 ambition1 conceit and gross affectation3 and though endowed with some ability1 yet not sufficient ever to make him know right from wrong3 witness his novel of ,eloisa4 ,his name brings to my mind all the gloomy horrors of a mob-government1 which attempted from their ignorance to banish truth and justice from the world4 ,i see you place ,sir ,walter above ,lord ,byron4 ,the question is not which keeps longest on the wing1 but which soars highest3 and ,i cannot help thinking there are essences in ,lord ,byron that are not to be surpassed4 ,he is on a par with ,dryden4 ,all the other modern poets appear to me vulgar in the comparison4 ,as a lady who comes here said1 there is such an air of nobility in what he writes4 ,then there is such a power in the style1 expressions almost like ,shakspeare--#8,and looked round on them with their wolfish eyes4' ,h4--,the expression is in ,shakspeare1 somewhere in ,lear4 ,n4--,the line ,i repeated is in ,don ,juan4 ,i do not mean to vindicate the immorality or misanthropy in that poem--perhaps his lameness was to blame for this defect--but surely no one can deny the force1 the spirit of it2 and there is such a fund of drollery mixed up with the serious part4 ,nobody understood the tragi-comedy of poetry so well4 ,people find fault with this mixture in general1 because it is not well managed2 there is a comic story and a tragic story going on at the same time1 without their having any thing to do with one another4 ,but in ,lord ,byron they are brought together1 just as they are in nature4 ,in like manner1 if you go to an execution at the very moment when the criminal is going to be turned off1 and all eyes are fixed upon him1 an old apple-woman and her stall are overturned1 and all the spectators fall a-laughing4 ,in real life the most ludicrous incidents border on the most affecting and shocking4 ,how fine that is of the cask of butter in the storm6 ,some critics have objected to it as turning the whole into burlesque2 on the contrary1 it is that which stamps the character of the scene more than any thing else4 ,what did the people in the boat care about the rainbow1 which he has described in such vivid colours2 or even about their fellow-passengers who were thrown overboard1 when they only wanted to eat them8 ,no1 it was the loss of the firkin of butter that affected them more than all the rest2 and it is the mention of this circumstance that adds a hardened levity and a sort of ghastly horror to the scene4 ,it shows the master-hand--there is such a boldness and sagacity and superiority to ordinary rules in it6 ,i agree1 however1 in your admiration of the ,waverley ,novels3 they are very fine4 ,as ,i told the author1 he and ,cervantes have raised the idea of human nature1 not as ,richardson has attempted1 by affectation and a false varnish1 but by bringing out what there is really fine in it under a cloud of disadvantages4 ,have you seen the last8 ,h4--,no4 ,n4--,there is a character of a common smith or armourer in it1 which1 in spite of a number of weaknesses and in the most ludicrous situations1 is made quite heroical by the tenderness and humanity it displays4 ,it is his best1 but ,i had not read it when ,i saw him4 ,no2 all that can be said against ,sir ,walter is1 that he has never made a whole4 ,there is an infinite number of delightful incidents and characters1 but they are disjointed and scattered4 ,this is one of ,fielding's merits3 his novels are regular compositions1 with what the ancients called a beginning1 a middle1 and an end3 every circumstance is foreseen and provided for1 and the conclusion of the story turns round as it were to meet the beginning4 ,gil ,blas is very clever1 but it is only a succession of chapters4 ,tom ,jones is a masterpiece1 as far as regards the conduct of the fable4 ,h4--,do you know the reason8 ,fielding had a hooked nose1 the long chin4 ,it is that introverted physiognomy that binds and concentrates4 ,n4--,but ,sir ,walter has not a hooked nose1 but one that denotes kindness and ingenuity4 ,mrs4 ,abington had the pug-nose1 who was the perfection of comic archness and vivacity3 a hooked nose is my aversion4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,seventeenth ,n4--,i sometimes get into scrapes that way by contradicting people before ,i have well considered the subject1 and ,i often wonder how ,i get out of them so well as ,i do4 ,i remember once meeting with ,sir -- --1 who was talking about ,milton2 and as ,i have a natural aversion to a coxcomb1 ,i differed from what he said1 without being at all prepared with any arguments in support of my opinion4 ,h4--,but you had time enough to think of them afterwards4 ,n4--,i got through with it somehow or other4 ,it is the very risk you run in such cases that puts you on the alert and gives you spirit to extricate yourself from it4 ,if you had full leisure to deliberate and to make out your defence beforehand1 you perhaps could not do it so well as on the spur of the occasion4 ,the surprise and flutter of the animal spirits gives the alarm to any little wit we possess1 and puts it into a state of immediate requisition4 ,h4--,besides1 it is always easiest to defend a paradox or an opinion you don't care seriously about4 ,i would sooner 7as a matter of choice7 take the wrong side than the right in any argument4 ,if you have a thorough conviction on any point and good grounds for it1 you have studied it long1 and the real reasons have sunk into the mind2 so that what you can recal of them at a sudden pinch1 seems unsatisfactory and disproportionate to the confidence of your belief and to the magisterial tone you are disposed to assume4 ,even truth is a matter of habit and professorship4 ,reason and knowledge1 when at their height1 return into a kind of instinct4 ,we understand the grammar of a foreign language best1 though we do not speak it so well4 ,but if you take up an opinion at a venture1 then you lay hold of whatever excuse comes within your reach1 instead of searching about for and bewildering yourself with the true reasons2 and the odds are that the arguments thus got up are as good as those opposed to them4 ,in fact1 the more sophistical and superficial an objection to a received or well-considered opinion is1 the more we are staggered and teazed by it2 and the next thing is to lose our temper1 when we become an easy prey to a cool and disingenuous adversary4 ,i would much rather 7as the safest side7 insist on ,milton's pedantry than on his sublimity1 supposing ,i were not in the company of very good judges4 ,a single stiff or obscure line would outweigh a whole book of solemn grandeur in the mere flippant encounter of the wits1 and1 in general1 the truth and justice of the cause you espouse is rather an incumbrance than an assistance2 or it is like heavy armour which few have strength to wield4 ,any thing short of complete triumph on the right side is defeat3 any hole picked or flaw detected in an argument which we are holding earnestly and conscientiously1 is sufficient to raise the laugh against us4 ,this is the greatest advantage which folly and knavery have4 ,we are not satisfied to be right1 unless we can prove others to be quite wrong2 and as all the world would be thought to have some reason on their side1 they are glad of any loop-hole or pretext to escape from the dogmatism and tyranny we would set up over them4 ,absolute submission requires absolute proofs4 ,without some such drawback1 the world might become too wise and too good1 at least according to every man's private prescription4 ,in this sense ridicule is the test of truth2 that is1 the levity and indifference on one side balances the formality and presumption on the other4 ,n4--,horne ,tooke used to play with his antagonists in the way you speak of4 ,he constantly threw ,fuseli into a rage and made him a laughing-stock1 by asking him to explain the commonest things1 and often what ,fuseli understood much better than he did4 ,but in general1 ,i think it is less an indifference to truth than the fear of finding yourself in the wrong1 that carries you through when you take up any opinion from caprice or the spirit of contradiction4 ,danger almost always produces courage and presence of mind4 ,the faculties are called forth with the occasion4 ,you see men of very ordinary characters1 placed in extraordinary circumstances1 act like men of capacity4 ,the late ,king of ,france was thought weak and imbecile1 till he was thrown into the most trying situations2 and then he shewed sense and even eloquence which no one had ever suspected4 ,events supplied the want of genius and energy2 the external impressions were so strong1 that the dullest or most indolent must have been roused by them4 ,indeed the wise man is perhaps more liable to err in such extreme cases by setting up his own preconceptions and self-will against circumstances1 than the common-place character who yields to necessity and is passive under existing exigencies4 ,it is this which makes kings and ministers equal to their situations4 ,they may be very poor creatures in themselves2 but the importance of the part they have to act and the magnitude of their responsibility inspire them with a factitious and official elevation of view4 ,few people are found totally unfit for high station1 and it is lucky that it is so4 ,perhaps men of genius and imagination are the least adapted to get into the state go-cart2 ,buonaparte1 we see1 with all his talent1 only drove to the devil4 ,when ,richard ,,ii4 was quite a youth1 and he went to suppress the rebellion of ,wat ,tyler in ,smithfield1 and the latter was killed1 his followers drew their bows and were about to take vengeance on the young king1 when he stepped forward and said that #8now as their leader was dead1 he would be their leader4' ,this instantly disarmed their rage1 and they received him with acclamations4 ,he had no other course left2 the peril he was in made him see his place of safety4 ,courage has a wonderful effect3 this makes mad people so terrible1 that they have no fear4 ,even wild beasts or a mob 7which is much the same thing7 will hardly dare to attack you if you show no fear of them4 ,i have heard ,lord ,exmouth 7,sir ,edward ,pellew7 say that once when he was out with his ship at sea and there was a mutiny on board and no chance of escape1 he learned 7from a spy he had among them7 the moment when the ring-leaders were assembled and about to execute their design of putting the captain and all the officers to death1 when taking a pistol in each hand1 he went down into the cock-pit into the midst of them2 and threatening to shoot the first man that stirred1 took them every one prisoners4 ,if he had betrayed the least fear or any of them had raised a hand1 he must have been instantly sacrificed4 ,but he was bolder than any individual in the group1 and by this circumstance had the ascendancy over the whole put together4 ,a similar act of courage is related of ,peter the ,great1 who singly entered the haunt of some conspirators1 and striking down the leader with a blow on the face1 spread consternation amongst the assassins1 who were terrified by his fearlessness4 7,a book of prints was brought in1 containing ,views of ,edinburgh47 ,n4--,it is curious to what perfection these things are brought1 and how cheap they are4 ,it is that which makes them sell and ensures the fortune of those who publish them4 ,great fortunes are made out of small profits1 which allow all the world to become purchasers4 ,that is the reason the ,colosseum will hardly answer4 ,there never was an example of an exhibition in ,england answering at a crown a-piece4 ,people look twice at their money before they will part with it1 if it be more than they are accustomed to pay4 ,it becomes a question1 and perhaps a few stragglers go2 whereas they ought to go in a stream and as a matter of course4 ,if people have to pay a little more than usual1 though a mere trifle1 they consider it in the light of an imposition1 and resent it as such2 if the price be a little under the mark1 they think they have saved so much money1 and snap at it as a bargain4 ,the publishers of the work on ,edinburgh are the same who brought out the ,views of ,london2 and it is said1 the success of that undertaking enabled them to buy up ,lackington's business4 ,e-- the architect1 ,i am told1 suggested the plan1 but declined a share that was offered him in it1 because he said nothing that he had been engaged in had ever succeeded4 ,the event would not belie the notion of his own ill-luck4 ,it is singular on what slight turns good or ill fortune depends4 ,lackington 7,i understood from the person who brought the ,edinburgh ,views here7 died worth near half a million3 nobody could tell how he had made it4 ,at thirty he was not worth a shilling4 ,the great difficulty is in the first hundred pounds4 ,h4--,it is sympathy with the mass of mankind1 and finding out from yourself what is they want and must have4 ,n4--,it seems a good deal owing to the most minute circumstances4 ,a difference of sixpence in the price will make all the difference in the sale of a book4 ,sometimes a work lies on the shelf for a time1 and then runs like wild-fire4 ,there was ,drelincourt on ,death1 which is a fortune in itself2 it hung on hand2 nobody read it1 till ,defoe put a ghost-story into it1 and it has been a stock-book ever since4 ,it is the same in prints4 ,a catching subject or name will make one thing an universal favourite1 while another of ten times the merit is never noticed4 ,i have known this happen to myself in more than one instance4 ,this is the provoking part in ,w--l and some other painters1 who1 taking advantage of the externals and accidents of their art1 have run away with nearly all the popularity of their time4 ,jack ,t-- was here the other day to say that ,w-- and his friends complained bitterly of the things ,i said about him4 ,i replied that ,i had only spoken of him as an artist1 which ,i was at liberty to do2 and that if he were offended1 ,i would recommend to him to read the story of ,charles ,,ii4 and the ,duchess of ,cleveland1 who came to the king with a complaint1 that whenever she met ,nell ,gwyn in the street1 the latter put her head out of the coach and made mouths at her4 #8,well then1'says ,charles ,,ii4 #8the next time you meet ,nelly and she repeats the offence1 do you make mouths at her again6' ,so if ,mr4 ,w--l is hurt at my saying things of him1 all he has to do is to say things of me in return4 ,h4--,i confess1 ,i never liked ,w--#a4 ,it was one of the errors of my youth that ,i did not think him equal to ,raphael and ,rubens united1 as ,payne ,knight contended3 and ,i have fought many a battle with numbers 7if not odds7 against me on that point4 ,n4--,then you must have the satisfaction of seeing a change of opinion at present4 ,h4--,pardon me1 ,i have not that satisfaction2 ,i have only a double annoyance from it4 ,it is no consolation to me that an individual was overrated by the folly of the public formerly1 and that he suffers from their injustice and fickleness at present4 ,it is no satisfaction to me that poor ,i--g is reduced to his primitive congregation1 and that the stream of coronet-coaches no longer rolls down ,holborn or ,oxford-street to his chapel4 ,they ought never to have done so1 or they ought to continue to do so4 ,the world 7whatever in their petulance and profligacy they may think7 have no right to intoxicate poor human nature with the full tide of popular applause1 and then to drive it to despair for the want of it4 ,there are no words to express the cruelty1 the weakness1 the shamelessness of such conduct1 which resembles that of the little girl who dresses up her doll in the most extravagant finery1 and then in mere wantonness strips it naked to its wool and bits of wood again--with this difference that the doll has no feeling1 whereas the world's idols are wholly sensitive4 7,of some one who preferred appearances to realities47 ,n4--,i can understand the character1 because it is exactly the reverse of what ,i should do and feel4 ,it is like dressing out of one's sphere1 or any other species of affectation and imposture4 ,i cannot bear to be taken for any thing but what ,i am4 ,it is like what the country-people call #8having a halfpenny head and a farthing tail4' ,that is what makes me mad when people sometimes come and pay their court to me by saying--#8,bless me6 how sagacious you look6 ,what a penetrating countenance6 #8,no1 ,i say1 that is but the title-page--what is there in the book8 ,your dwelling so much on the exterior seems to imply that the inside does not correspond to it4 ,don't let me look wise and be foolish1 but let me be wise though ,i am taken for a fool6 ,any thing else is quackery3 it is as if there was no real excellence in the world1 but in opinion4 ,i used to blame ,sir ,joshua for this3 he sometimes wanted to get ,collins's earth1 but did not like to have it known4 ,then there were certain oils that he made a great fuss and mystery about4 ,i have said to myself1 surely there is something deeper and nobler in the art that does not depend on all this trick and handicraft4 ,give ,titian and a common painter the same materials and tools to work with1 and then see the difference between them4 ,this is all that is worth contending for4 ,if ,sir ,joshua had had no other advantage than the using ,collins's earth and some particular sort of megilp1 we should not now have been talking about him4 ,when ,w-- was here the other day1 he asked about ,mengs and his school2 and when ,i told him what ,i thought1 he said1 #8,is that your own opinion1 or did you take it from ,sir ,joshua8' ,i answered1 that if ,i admired ,sir ,joshua1 it was because there was something congenial in our tastes1 and not because ,i was his pupil4 ,i saw his faults1 and differed with him often enough4 ,if ,i have any bias1 it is the other way1 to take fancies into my head and run into singularity and cavils4 ,in what ,i said to you about ,ramsay's picture of the ,queen1 for instance1 ,i don't know that any one ever thought so before1 or that any one else would agree with me4 ,it might be set down as mere whim and caprice2 but ,i can't help it1 if it is so4 ,all ,i know is1 that such is my feeling about it1 which ,i can no more part with than ,i can part with my own existence4 ,it is the same in other things1 as in music4 ,there was an awkward composer at the ,opera many years ago1 of the name of ,boccarelli2 what he did was stupid enough in general1 but ,i remember he sung an air one day at ,cosway's1 which they said ,shield had transferred into the ,flitch of ,bacon4 ,i cannot describe the effect it had upon me--it seemed as if it wound into my very soul--,i would give any thing to hear it sung again4 ,so ,i could have listened to ,dignum's singing the lines out of ,shakspeare--#8,come unto these yellow sands1 and then take hands'--a hundred times over4 ,but ,i am not sure that others would be affected in the same manner by it3 there may be some quaint association of ideas in the case4 ,but at least1 if ,i am wrong1 the folly is my own4 ,h4--,there is no danger of the sort1 except from affectation1 which ,i am sure is not your case4 ,all the real taste and feeling in the world is made up of what people take in their heads in this manner4 ,even if you were right only once in five times in these hazardous experiments and shrewd guesses1 that would be a fifth part of the truth2 whereas1 if you merely repeated after others by rote or waited to have all the world on your side1 there could be absolutely nothing gained at all4 ,if any one had come in and had expressed the same idea of ,ramsay's portrait of the ,queen1 this would doubtless be a confirmation of your opinion1 like two persons finding out a likeness2 but suppose ,w-- had gone away with your opinion in his pocket1 and had spread it about everywhere what a fine painter ,ramsay was1 ,i do not see how this would have strengthened your conclusion2 nay1 perhaps the people whom he got as converts would entirely mistake the meaning1 and come to you with the very reverse of what you had said as a prodigious discovery4 ,this is the way in which these unanimous verdicts are commonly obtained4 ,you might say that ,ramsay was not a fine painter1 but a man of real genius4 ,the world1 not comprehending the distinction1 would merely come to the gross conclusion1 that he was both one and the other4 ,thus even truth is vulgarly debased into common-place and nonsense4 ,so that it is not simply as ,mr4 ,locke observed--#8,that there are not so many wrong opinions in the world as is generally imagined1 for most people have no opinion at all1 but take up with those of others or with mere hearsay and echoes2' but these echoes are often false ones and no more like the original idea than the rhyming echoes in ,hudibras or than ,slender's ,mum and ,budget4 ,n4--,but don't you think the contrary extreme would be just as bad1 if every one set up to judge for himself and every question was split into an endless variety of opinions8 ,h4--,i do not see that this would follow4 ,if persons who are sincere and free to inquire differ widely on any subject1 it is because it is beyond their reach1 and there is no satisfactory evidence one way or the other4 ,supposing a thing to be doubtful1 why should it not be left so8 ,but men's passions and interests1 when brought into play1 are most tenacious on these points where their understandings afford them least light4 ,those doctrines are established which need propping up1 as men place beams against falling houses4 ,it does not require an act of parliament to persuade mathematicians to agree with ,euclid1 or painters to admire ,raphael4 ,n4--,and don't you think this the best rule for the rest of the world to go by8 ,h4--,yes2 but not if the doctors themselves differed3 then it would be necessary to clench the nail with a few smart strokes of bigotry and intolerance4 ,what admits of proof1 men agree in1 if they have no interest to the contrary2 what they differ about in spite of all that can be said1 is matter of taste or conjecture4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,eighteenth ,n4--,opie1 ,i remember1 used to argue1 that there were as many different sorts of taste as genius4 ,he said1 #8,if ,i am engaged in a picture1 and endeavour to do it according to the suggestions of my employers1 ,i do not understand exactly what they want1 nor they what ,i can do1 and ,i please no one3 but if ,i do it according to my own notions1 ,i belong to a class1 and if ,i am able to satisfy myself1 ,i please that class4' ,you did not know ,opie8 ,you would have admired him greatly4 ,i do not speak of him as an artist1 but as a man of sense and observation4 ,he paid me the compliment of saying1 #8that we should have been the best friends in the world1 if we had not been rivals4' ,i think he had more of this feeling than ,i had2 perhaps1 because ,i had most vanity4 ,we sometimes got into foolish altercations4 ,i recollect once in particular1 at a banker's in the city1 we took up the whole of dinner-time with a ridiculous controversy about ,milton and ,shakspeare2 ,i am sure we neither of us had the least notion which was right--and when ,i was heartily ashamed of it1 a foolish citizen who was present1 added to my confusion by saying--#8,lord6 ,what would ,i give to hear two such men as you talk every day6' ,this quite humbled me3 ,i was ready to sink with vexation3 ,i could have resolved never to open my mouth again4 ,but ,i can't help thinking ,w-- was wrong in supposing ,i borrow every thing from others4 ,it is not my character4 ,i never could learn my lesson at school4 ,my copy was hardly legible2 but if there was a prize to be obtained or my father was to see it1 then ,i could write a very fine hand with all the usual flourishes4 ,what ,i know of history 7and something about heraldry7 has been gathered up when ,i had to enquire into the subject for a picture3 if it had been set me as a task1 ,i should have forgotten it immediately4 ,in the same way1 when ,boydell came and proposed a subject for a picture to me1 and pointed out the capabilities1 ,i always said ,i could make nothing of it3 but as soon as he was gone and ,i was left to myself1 the whole then seemed to unfold itself naturally4 ,i never could study the rules of composition or make sketches and drawings beforehand2 in this1 probably running into the opposite error to that of the modern ,italian painters1 whom ,fuseli reproaches with spending their whole lives in preparation4 ,i must begin at once or ,i can do nothing4 ,when ,i set about the #8,wat ,tyler1' ,i was frightened at it3 it was the largest work ,i had ever undertaken3 there were to be horses and armour and buildings and several groups in it3 when ,i looked at it1 the canvas seemed ready to fall upon me4 ,but ,i had committed myself and could not escape2 disgrace was behind me--and every step ,i made in advance1 was so much positively gained4 ,if ,i had staid to make a number of designs and try different experiments1 ,i never should have had the courage to go on4 ,half the things that people do not succeed in1 are through fear of making the attempt4 ,like the recruit in ,farquhar's comedy1 you grow wondrous bold1 when you have once taken #8list-money4' ,when you must do a thing1 you feel in some measure that you can do it4 ,you have only to commit yourself beyond retreat4 ,it is like the soldier going into battle or a player first appearing on the stage--the worst is over when they arrive upon the scene of action4 ,h4--,i found nearly the same thing that you describe when ,i first began to write for the newspapers4 ,i had not till then been in the habit of writing at all1 or had been a long time about it2 but ,i perceived that with the necessity1 the fluency came4 ,something ,i did1 took2 and ,i was called upon to do a number of things all at once4 ,i was in the middle of the stream1 and must sink or swim4 ,i had1 for instance1 often a theatrical criticism to write after midnight1 which appeared the next morning4 ,there was no fault found with it--at least1 it was as good as if ,i had had to do it for a weekly paper4 ,i only did it at once1 and recollected all ,i had to say on the spot1 because ,i could not put it off for three days1 when perhaps ,i should have forgotten the best part of it4 ,besides1 when one is pressed for time1 one saves it4 ,i might set down nearly all ,i had to say in my mind1 while the play was going on4 ,i know ,i did not feel at a loss for matter--the difficulty was to compress and write it out fast enough4 ,when you are tied to time1 you can come to time4 ,i conceive in like manner more wonder is expressed at extempore speaking1 than it is entitled to4 ,not to mention that the same well-known topics continually recur1 and that the speakers may con their extempore speeches over beforehand and merely watch their opportunity to slide them in dexterously into the grand procession of the debate3 a man when once on his legs must say something1 and this is the utmost that a public speaker generally says4 ,if he has any thing good to say1 he can recollect it just as well at once as in a week's literary leisure1 as well standing up as sitting down1 except from habit4 ,we are not surprised at a man's telling us his thoughts across a table3 why should we be so at his doing the same thing1 when mounted on one8 ,but he excites more attention3 that gives him a double motive4 ,a man's getting up to make a speech in public will not give him a command of words or thoughts if he is without them2 but he may be delivered of all the brilliancy or wisdom he actually possesses1 in a longer or a shorter space1 according to the occasion4 ,the circumstance of the time is optional2 necessity1 if it be not the mother of invention1 supplies us with the memory of all we know4 ,n4--7after a pause7--,there is no end of the bigotry and prejudice in the world2 one can only shrug one's shoulders and submit to it4 ,have you seen the copies they have got down at the club-house in ,pall-mall of the groups of horses from the ,elgin marbles8 ,lord6 how inferior they are to ,rubens's6 ,so stiff1 and poor1 and dry1 compared to his magnificent spirit and bold luxuriance6 ,i should not know them to be horses2 they are as much like any thing else4 ,i was at ,somerset-house the other day4 ,they talk of the ,dutch painters2 why1 there are pictures there of interiors and other subjects of familiar life1 that throw all the boasted chef-d'uvres of the ,dutch school to an immeasurable distance4 ,i do not speak of history1 which has not been fairly tried2 but in all for which there has been encouragement1 no nation can go beyond us4 ,we have resources and a richness of capacity equal to any undertaking4 ,h4--,do you recollect any in particular that you admired at the ,exhibition8 ,n4--,no1 ,i do not remember the names2 but it was a general sense of excellence and truth of imitation of natural objects4 ,as to lofty history1 our religion scarcely allows it4 ,the ,italians had no more genius for painting nor a greater love of pictures than we2 but the church was the foster-mother of the fine arts2 being the most politic and powerful establishment in the world1 they laid their hands on all that could allure and impress the minds of the people--music1 painting1 architecture1 ceremonies2 and this produced a succession of great artists and noble works1 till the churches were filled1 and then they ceased4 ,the genius of ,italian art was nothing but the genius of ,popery4 ,god forbid we should purchase success at the same price6 ,every thing at ,rome is like a picture--is calculated for show4 ,i remember walking through one of the bye-streets near the ,vatican1 where ,i met some procession in which the ,pope was2 and all at once ,i saw a number of the most beautiful ,arabian horses curvetting and throwing out their long tails1 like a vision or a part of a romance4 ,we should here get one or two at most4 ,all our holiday pageants1 even the ,coronation1 are low ,bartlemy-fair exhibitions compared with what you see at ,rome4 ,and then to see the ,pope give the benediction at ,st4 ,peter's1 raising himself up and spreading out his hands in the form of a cross1 with an energy and dignity as if he was giving a blessing to the whole world6 ,no1 it is not enough to see ,popery in order to hate it--it must be felt too4 ,a poor man going through one of the narrow streets where a similar procession was passing1 was fiercely attacked by a soldier of the ,swiss ,guards1 and ordered to stand back4 ,the man said he could retire no further1 for he was close against the wall4 #8,get back1 you and the wall too6' was the answer of haughty servility and mild despotism4 ,it is this spirit peeping out that makes one dread the fairest outside appearances2 and with this spirit1 and the power and determination it implies to delude and lead the multitude blindfold with every lure to their imagination and their senses1 ,i will answer for the production of finer historical and scripture-pieces in this country 7let us be as far north as we will7 than we have yet seen4 ,h4--,you do not think1 then1 that we are naturally a dry1 sour1 ,protestant set8 ,is not the air of ,ireland ,popish1 and that of ,scotland ,presbyterian8 ,n4--,no3 though you may have it so if you please4 ,k-- has been wanting my two copies of --1 though ,i do not think he will bid high enough to induce me to part with them4 ,i am in this respect like ,opie1 who had an original by ,sir ,joshua that he much valued1 and he used to say1 #8,i don't know what ,i should do in that case1 but ,i hope to ,g--d nobody will offer me #ejjl4 for it6' ,it is curious1 this very picture sold for #ejjl4 the other day4 ,so it is that real merit creeps on1 and is sure to find its level4 ,the #8,holy ,family' sold among ,lord ,gwydir's pictures for #a1ijjl4 ,h4--,is that fine8 ,n4--,oh yes6 it's certainly fine4 ,it wants the air of history1 but it has a rich colour and great simplicity and innocence4 ,it is not equal to the #8,snake in the ,grass1' which ,mr4 ,peel gave #a1fjj guineas for4 ,that was his forte3 nothing is wanting there4 ,a ,stranger4--,i thought ,sir ,joshua's colours did not stand8 ,n4--,that is true of some of them3 he tried experiments1 and had no knowledge of chemistry1 and bought colours of ,jews3 but ,i speak of them as they came from the easel4 ,as he left them and intended them to be1 no pictures in the world would stand by the side of them4 ,colour seemed to exist substantively in his mind4 ,you see this still in those that have not faded--in his latter works especially1 which were also his best2 and this1 with character and a certain sweetness1 must always make his works invaluable4 ,you come to this at last--what you find in any one that you can get nowhere else4 ,if you have this about you1 you need not be afraid of time4 ,gainsborough had the saving grace of originality2 and you cannot put him down for that reason4 ,with all their faults1 and the evident want of an early study and knowledge of the art1 his pictures fetch more every time they are brought to the hammer4 ,i don't know what it was that his #8,view of the ,mall in ,st4 ,james's ,park' sold for not long ago4 ,i remember ,mr4 ,p4 ,h4 coming to me1 and saying what an exquisite picture ,gainsborough had painted of the ,park4 ,you would suppose it would be stiff and formal with the straight rows of trees and people sitting on benches--it is all in motion1 and in a flutter like a lady's fan4 ,watteau is not half so airy4 ,his picture of young lord -- was a masterpiece--there was such a look of natural gentility4 ,you must recollect his #8,girl feeding pigs3' the expression and truth of nature were never surpassed4 ,sir ,joshua was struck with it1 though he said he ought to have made her a beauty4 ,h4--,perhaps it was as well to make sure of one thing at a time4 ,i remember being once driven by a shower of rain for shelter into a picture dealer's shop in ,oxford-street1 where there stood on the floor a copy of ,gainsborough's #8,shepherd-boy' with the thunder-storm coming on4 ,what a truth and beauty was there6 ,he stands with his hands clasped1 looking up with a mixture of timidity and resignation1 eying a magpie chattering over his head1 while the wind is rustling in the branches4 ,it was like a vision breathed on the canvas4 ,i have been fond of ,gainsborough ever since4 ,n4--,oh6 that was an essence3 but it was only a copy you saw8 ,the picture was finer than his #8,woodman1' which has a little false glitter and attempt at theatrical effect2 but the other is innocence itself4 ,gainsborough was a natural gentleman2 and with all his simplicity he had wit too4 ,an eminent counsellor once attempted to puzzle him on some trial about the originality of a picture by saying1 #8,i observe you lay great stress on the phrase1 the painter's eye2 what do you mean by that8' #8,the painter's eye1' answered ,gainsborough1 #8is to him what the lawyer's tongue is to you4' ,sir ,joshua was not fond of ,wilson1 and said at one of the ,academy dinners1 #8,yes1 ,gainsborough is certainly the best landscape-painter of the day4' #8,no1' replied ,wilson1 who overheard him1 #8but he is the best portrait-painter4' ,this was a sufficient testimony in ,gainsborough's favour4 ,h4--,he did not make himself agreeable at ,buckingham-house1 any more than ,sir ,joshua1 who kept a certain distance and wished to appear as a gentleman2 they wanted a buffoon whom they might be familiar with at first1 and insult the moment he overstepped the mark1 or as soon as they grew tired of him4 ,their favourites must be like pet lap-dogs or monkeys4 ,n4--,c-- went to court the other day after a long absence4 ,he was very graciously received1 notwithstanding4 ,the ,k-- held out his hand for him to kiss2 he recollected himself in time to perceive the object4 ,he was struck with the manner in which the great people looked towards the ,king1 and the utter insignificance of every thing else2 #8and then1' said ,c--1 #8as soon as they are out of the palace1 they get into their carriages1 and ride over you with all the fierceness and insolence imaginable4' ,west used to say you could tell the highest nobility at court by their being the most abject4 ,this was policy1 for the most powerful would be most apt to excite jealousy in the sovereign2 and by showing an extreme respect1 they thought to prevent the possibility of encroachment or insult4 ,garrick complained that when he went to read before the court1 not a look or a murmur testified approbation2 there was a profound stillness--every one only watched to see what the ,king thought4 ,it was like reading to a set of wax-work figures3 he who had been accustomed to the applause of thousands1 could not bear this assembly of mutes4 ,marchant went to the late ,king about a cameo1 who was offended at his saying the face must be done in full and not as a profile2 #8then1' said the patron1 #8,i'll get somebody else to do it4' ,coming out at the door1 one of the pages asked the artist1 #8,why do you contradict the ,k--8 ,he is not used to be contradicted6' ,this is intelligible in an absolute despotism1 where the will of the sovereign is law1 and where he can cut off your head if he pleases2 but is it not strange in a free country8 ,h4--,it is placing an ordinary mortal on the top of a pyramid1 and kneeling at the bottom of it to the #8highest and mightiest4' ,it is a trick of human reason surpassing the grossness of the brute4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,nineteenth ,h4--,fashion is gentility running away from vulgarity1 and afraid of being overtaken by it4 ,it is a sign the two things are not very far asunder4 ,n4--,yes2 ,mr4 -- used to say1 that just before the women in his time left off hoops1 they looked like bats4 ,going on from one affectation to another1 they at last wore them close under their arms1 so that they resembled wings growing out from their shoulders2 and having reached the top of the absurdity1 they then threw them aside all at once4 ,if long waists are the fashion one season1 they are exploded the next2 as soon as the court adopts any particular mode1 the city follows the example1 and as soon as the city takes it up1 the court lays it down4 ,the whole is caricature and masquerade4 ,nature only is left out2 for that is either common1 or what is fine in it would not always be found on the fashionable side of the question4 ,it may be the fashion to paint or not to paint2 but if it were the fashion to have a fine complexion1 many fashionable people must go without one1 and many unfashionable ones would be at the height of it4 ,deformity is as often the fashion as beauty1 yet the world in general see no other beauty than fashion1 and their vanity or interest or complaisance bribes their understanding to disbelieve even their senses4 ,if cleanliness is the fashion1 then cleanliness is admired2 if dirt1 hair-powder1 and pomatum are the fashion1 then dirt1 hair-powder1 and pomatum are admired just as much1 if not more1 from their being disagreeable4 ,h4--,the secret is1 that fashion is imitating in certain things that are in our power and that are nearly indifferent in themselves1 those who possess certain other advantages that are not in our power1 and which the possessors are as little disposed to part with as they are eager to obtrude them upon the notice of others by every external symbol at their immediate controul4 ,we think the cut of a coat fine1 because it is worn by a man with ten thousand a-year1 with a fine house1 and a fine carriage3 as we cannot get the ten thousand a-year1 the house1 or the carriage1 we get what we can--the cut of the fine gentleman's coat1 and thus are in the fashion4 ,but as we get it1 he gets rid of it1 which shows that he cares nothing about it2 but he keeps his ten thousand a-year1 his fine house1 and his fine carriage4 ,a rich man wears gold-buckles to show that he is rich3 a coxcomb gets gilt ones to look like the rich man1 and as soon as the gold ones prove nothing1 the rich man leaves them off4 ,so it is with all the real advantages that fashionable people possess4 ,say that they have more grace1 good manners1 and refinement than the rabble2 but these do not change every moment at the nod of fashion4 ,speaking correctly is not proper to one class more than another3 if the fashionable1 to distinguish themselves from the vulgar1 affect a peculiar tone or set of phrases1 this is mere slang4 ,the difference between grace and awkwardness is the same one year after another4 ,this is the meaning of natural politeness4 ,it is a perception of and attention to the feelings of others1 which is the same thing1 whether it is neglected by the ,great or practised by the vulgar4 ,the barrier between refinement and grossness cannot be arbitrarily effaced4 ,nothing changes but what depends on the shallow affectation and assumption of superiority3 real excellence can never become vulgar4 ,so ,pope says in his elegant way-- ,virtue may choose the high or low degree1 ',tis just the same to virtue and to me2 ,dwell in a monk or light upon a king1 ,she's still the same belov'd1 contented thing4 ,vice is undone if she forgets her birth1 ,and stoops from angels to the dregs of earth4 ,pope's verse is not admired1 because it was once the fashion3 it will be admired1 let the fashion change how it will4 ,n4--,when ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds wanted to learn what real grace was1 he studied it in the attitudes of children1 not in the school of the dancing-master1 or in the empty strut or mawkish languor of fashion4 ,a young painter asked me the other day whether ,i thought that ,guido was not chargeable with affectation8 ,i told him that ,i thought not1 or in a very trifling degree4 ,i could not deny that ,guido sometimes bordered on and reminded me of it2 or that there was that which in any body else might be really so1 but that in him it seemed only an extreme natural gentility4 ,he puts his figures into attitudes that are a little too courtly and studied1 but he probably could not help it4 ,h4--,it was rather the excess of a quality or feeling in his mind1 than the aiming to supply the defect of one4 ,n4--,yes2 there is no suspicion of what he is doing4 ,the odious part of affectation is when there is an evident design to impose on you with counterfeit pretensions4 ,so in another point that might be objected to him1 the impropriety of his naked figures1 no mortal can steer clearer of it than he does4 ,they may be strictly said to be clothed with their own delicacy and beauty4 ,there is the #8,venus attired by the ,graces3' what other painter durst attempt it8 ,they are to be all beauties1 all naked2 yet he has escaped as if by miracle--none but the most vicious can find fault with it--the very beauty1 elegance1 and grace keep down instead of exciting improper ideas4 ,and then again1 the #8,andromeda chained to the rock'--both are1 ,i believe1 in the drawing-room at ,windsor3 but there is no possible offence to be taken at them1 nothing to shock the most timid or innocent1 because there was no particle of grossness in the painter's mind4 ,i have seen pictures by others muffled up to the chin1 that had twenty times as much vice in them4 ,it is wonderful how the cause is seen in the effect4 ,so we find it in ,richardson4 ,clarissa is a story in the midst of temptation2 but he comes clear and triumphant out of that ordeal1 because his own imagination is not contaminated by it4 ,if there had been the least hint of an immoral tendency1 the slightest indication of a wish to inflame the passions1 it would have been all over with him4 ,the intention always will peep out--you do not communicate a disease if you are not infected with it yourself4 ,albano's nymphs and goddesses seem waiting for admirers3 ,guido's are protected with a veil of innocence and modesty4 ,titian would have given them an air of ,venetian courtesans3 ,raphael would have made them look something more than mortal3 neither would have done what ,guido has effected1 who has conquered the difficulty by the pure force of feminine softness and delicacy4 ,h4--,i am glad to hear you speak so of ,guido4 ,i was beginning1 before ,i went abroad1 to have a #8sneaking contempt' for him as insipid and monotonous1 from seeing the same everlasting repetitions of ,cleopatras and ,madonnas3 but ,i returned a convert to his merits4 ,i saw many indifferent pictures attributed to great masters2 but wherever ,i saw a ,guido1 ,i found elegance and beauty that answered to the #8silver' sound of his name4 ,the mind lives on a round of names2 and it is a great point gained not to have one of these snatched from us by a sight of their works4 ,as to the display of the naked figure in works of art1 the case to me seems clear3 it is only when there is nothing but the naked figure that it is offensive4 ,in proportion as the beauty or perfection of the imitation rises1 the indecency vanishes4 ,you look at it then with an eye to art1 just as the anatomist examines the human figure with a view to science4 ,other ideas are introduced4 ,j4 --1 of ,edinburgh1 had a large1 sprawling ,danae hanging over the chimney-piece of his office1 where he received ,scotch parsons and their wives on law-business3 he thought it a triumph over ,presbyterian prudery and prejudice1 and a sort of chivalrous answer to the imputed barbarism of the ,north4 ,it was certainly a paradox in taste1 a breach of manners4 ,he asked me if ,i objected to it because it was naked8 #8,no1' ,i said1 #8but because it is ugly3 you can only have put it there because it is naked1 and that alone shows a felonious intent4 ,had there been either beauty or expression1 it would have conducted off the objectionable part4 ,as it is1 ,i don't see how you can answer it to the kirk-sessions4' ,n4--,i remember ,sir ,w4 ,w-- employed ,sir ,joshua and ,dance1 who was a very eminent designer1 to ornament a music-room which he had built4 ,sir ,joshua on this occasion painted his ,st4 ,cecilia1 which he made very fine at first1 but afterwards spoiled it2 and ,dance chose the subject of ,orpheus4 ,when ,i asked ,miss ,reynolds what she thought of it1 she said she had no doubt of its being clever and well done1 but that it looked #8like a naked man4' ,this answer was conclusive against it2 for if the inspiration of the character had been given1 you would have overlooked the want of clothes4 ,the nakedness only strikes and offends the eye in the barrenness of other matter4 ,it is the same in the drama4 ,mere grossness or ribaldry is intolerable2 but you often find in the old comedy that the wit and ingenuity 7as well as custom7 carry off what otherwise could not be borne4 ,the laughter prevents the blush4 ,so an expression seems gross in one person's mouth1 which in another passes off with perfect innocence4 ,the reason is1 there is something in the manner that gives a quite different construction to what is said4 ,have you seen the ,alcides1 the two foreigners who perform such prodigious feats of strength at the theatre1 but with very little clothing on8 ,they say the people hardly know what to make of it4 ,they should not be too sure that this is any proof of their taste or virtue4 ,h4--,i recollect a remark of ,coleridge's on the conclusion of the story of ,paul and ,virginia by ,bernardin ,st4 ,pierre4 ,just before the shipwreck1 and when nothing else can save the heroine from perishing1 an athletic figure comes forward stripped1 but with perfect respect1 and offers to swim with her to the shore2 but instead of accepting his proposal1 she turns away with affected alarm4 ,this1 ,coleridge said1 was a proof of the prevailing tone of ,french depravity1 and not of virgin innocence4 ,a really modest girl in such circumstances would not have thought of any scruple4 ,n4--,it is the want of imagination or of an insight into nature in ordinary writers2 they do not know how to place themselves in the situations they describe4 ,whatever feeling or passion is uppermost1 fills the mind and drives out every other4 ,if you were confined in a vault1 and thought you saw a ghost1 you would rush out1 though a lion was at the entrance4 ,on the other hand1 if you were pursued by a lion1 you would take refuge in a charnel-house1 though it was full of spirits1 and would disregard the dead bones and putrid relics about you4 ,both passions may be equally strong2 the question is1 which is roused first4 ,but it is few who can get to the fountain-head1 the secret springs of ,nature4 ,shakspeare did it always2 and ,sir ,walter ,scott frequently4 ,g-- says he always was pleased with my conversation1 before you broached that opinion2 but ,i do not see how that can be1 for he always contradicts and thwarts me4 ,when two people are constantly crossing one another on the road1 they cannot be very good company4 ,you agree to what ,i say1 and often explain or add to it1 which encourages me to go on4 ,h4--,i believe ,g-- is sincere in what he says1 for he has frequently expressed the same opinion to me4 ,n4--,that might be so1 though he took great care not to let me know it4 ,people would often more willingly speak well of you behind your back than to your face2 they are afraid either of shocking your modesty or gratifying your vanity4 ,that was the case with --4 ,if he ever was struck with any thing ,i did1 he made a point not to let me see it3 he treated it lightly1 and said it was very well4 ,h4--,i do not think ,g--'s differing with you was any proof of his opinion4 ,like most authors1 he has something of the schoolmaster about him1 and wishes to keep up an air of authority4 ,what you say may be very well for a learner2 but he is the oracle4 ,you must not set up for yourself2 and to keep you in due subordination1 he catechises and contradicts from mere habit4 ,n4--,human nature is always the same4 ,it was so with ,johnson and ,goldsmith4 ,they would allow no one to have any merit but themselves4 ,the very attempt was a piece of presumption1 and a trespass upon their privileged rights4 ,i remember a poem that came out1 and that was sent to ,sir ,joshua3 his servant1 ,ralph1 had instructions to bring it in just after dinner4 ,goldsmith presently got hold of it1 and seemed thrown into a rage before he had read a line of it4 ,he then said1 #8,what wretched stuff is here6 what c--rsed nonsense that is6' and kept all the while marking the passages with his thumb-nail1 as if he would cut them in pieces4 ,at last1 ,sir ,joshua1 who was provoked1 interfered1 and said1 #8,nay1 don't spoil my book1 however4' ,dr4 ,johnson looked down on the rest of the world as pigmies2 he smiled at the very idea that any one should set up for a fine writer but himself4 ,they never admitted ,c-- as one of the set2 ,sir ,joshua did not invite him to dinner4 ,if he had been in the room1 ,goldsmith would have flown out of it as if a dragon had been there4 ,i remember ,garrick once saying1 #8,d--n his dishclout face2 his plays would never do if it were not for my patching them up and acting in them4' ,another time1 he took a poem of ,c--'s1 and read it backwards to turn it into ridicule4 ,yet some of his pieces keep possession of the stage1 so that there must be something in them4 ,h4--,perhaps he was later than they1 and they considered him as an interloper on that account4 ,n4--,no2 there was a prejudice against him3 he did not somehow fall into the train4 ,it was the same with ,vanbrugh in ,pope's time4 ,they made a jest of him1 and endeavoured to annoy him in every possible way2 he was a black sheep for no reason in the world1 except that he was cleverer than they2 that is1 could build houses and write verses at the same time4 ,they laughed at his architecture2 yet it is certain that it is quite original1 and at least a question whether it is not beautiful as well as new4 ,he was the first who sunk the window-frames within the walls of houses--they projected before3 he did it as a beauty1 but it has been since adopted by act of parliament to prevent fire4 ,some gentleman was asking me about the imposing style of architecture with which ,vanbrugh had decorated the top of ,blenheim-house2 he had mistaken the chimneys for an order of architecture1 so that what is an eye-sore in all other buildings1 ,vanbrugh has had the art to convert into an ornament4 ,and then his wit6 ,think what a comedy is the ,provoked ,husband6 ,what a scope and comprehension in the display of manners from the highest to the lowest6 ,it was easier to write an epigram on ,brother ,van than such a play as this4 ,i once asked ,richards1 the scene-painter1 who was perfectly used to the stage1 and acquainted with all the actors1 what he considered as the best play in the language8 ,and he answered1 without hesitation1 ,the ,journey to ,london4 ,h4--,lord ,foppington is also his1 if he wanted supporters4 ,he was in the same situation as ,rousseau with respect to the wits of his time1 who traces all his misfortunes and the jealousy that pursued him through life to the success of the ,devin du ,village4 ,he said ,diderot and the rest could have forgiven his popularity as an author1 but they could not bear his writing an opera4 ,n4--,if you belong to a set1 you must either lead or follow2 you cannot maintain your independence4 ,beattie did very well with the great folks in my time1 because he looked up to them1 and he excited no uneasy sense of competition4 ,indeed1 he managed so well that ,sir ,joshua flattered him and his book in return in the most effectual manner4 ,in his allegorical portrait of the doctor1 he introduced the angel of truth chasing away the demons of falsehood and impiety1 who bore an obvious resemblance to ,hume and ,voltaire4 ,this brought out ,goldsmith's fine reproof of his friend1 who said that #8,sir ,joshua might be ashamed of debasing a genius like ,voltaire before a man like ,beattie1 whose works would be forgotten in a few years1 while ,voltaire's fame would last for ever6' ,sir ,j4 ,r4 took the design of this picture from one of a similar subject by ,tintoret1 now in the ,royal ,collection in ,kensington ,palace4 ,he said he had no intention of the sort3 ,hume was a broad-backed clumsy figure1 not very like2 but ,i know he meant ,voltaire1 for ,i saw a ,french medal of him lying about in the room4 ,mrs4 ,beattie also came up with her husband to ,london4 ,i recollect her asking for #8a little paurter' in her broad ,scotch way4 ,it is like ,cibber's seeing ,queen ,anne at ,nottingham when he was a boy1 and all he could remember about her was her asking him to give her #8a glass of wine and water4' ,she was an ordinary character1 and belonged to the class of good sort of people4 ,so the ,margravine of ,bareuth describes the ,duchess of ,kendal1 who was mistress to ,george ,i4 to be a quiet inoffensive character1 who would do neither good nor harm to any body4 ,did you ever read her ,memoirs8 ,lord6 what an account she gives of the state of manners at the old court of ,prussia1 and of the brutal despotism and cruelty of the king6 ,she was his daughter1 and he used to strike her1 and drag her by the hair of her head1 and leave her with her face bleeding1 and often senseless1 on the floor for the smallest trifles2 and he treated her brother1 afterwards ,frederic ,,ii4 7and to whom she was much attached7 no better4 ,that might in part account for the hardness of his character at a later period4 ,h4--,i suppose ,prussia was at that time a mere petty state or sort of bye-court1 so that what they did was pretty much done in a corner1 and they were not afraid of being talked of by the rest of ,europe4 ,n4--,no2 it was quite an absolute monarchy with all the pomp and pretensions of sovereignty4 ,frederick 7the father7 was going1 on some occasion when he was displeased with him1 to strike our ambassador2 but this conduct was resented and put a stop to4 ,the ,queen 7sister to ,george ,,ii4 and who was imprisoned so long on a suspicion of conjugal infidelity7 appears to have been a violent-spirited woman1 and also weak4 ,george ,i4 could never learn to speak ,english1 and his successor1 ,george ,,ii41 spoke it badly1 and neither ever felt themselves at home in this country2 and they were always going over to ,hanover1 where they found themselves lords and masters1 while here1 though they had been raised so much higher1 their dignity never sat easy upon them4 ,they did not know what to make of their new situation4 ,northcote here read me a letter ,i had heard him speak of relative to a distinguished character mentioned in a former ,conversation4 #8,a ,letter to ,mr4 ,northcote in ,london from his ,brother at ,plymouth1 giving an account of a ,shipwreck4 #8,plymouth1 ,jan4 #bh1 #agif4 #8,we have had a terrible succession of stormy weather of late4 ,tuesday1 immediately after dinner1 ,i went to the ,hoe to see the ,dutton ,east ,indiaman1 full of troops1 upon the rocks1 directly under the flag-staff of the citadel4 ,she had been out seven weeks on her passage to the ,west ,indies as a transport1 with #djj troops on board1 besides women and the ship's-crew2 and had been just driven back by distress of weather1 with a great number of sick on board4 ,you cannot conceive any thing so horrible as the appearance of things altogether1 which ,i beheld when ,i first arrived on the spot4 ,the ship was stuck on sunken rocks1 somewhat inclining to one side1 and without a mast or the bowsprit standing2 and her decks covered with the soldiers as thick as they could possibly stand by one another1 with the sea breaking in a most horrible manner all around them2 and what still added to the melancholy grandeur of the scene was the distress-guns which were fired now and then directly over our head from the ,citadel4 #8,when ,i first came to the spot1 ,i found that they had by some means got a rope with one end of it fixed to the ship1 and the other was held by the people on shore1 by which means they could yield as the ship swung4 ,upon this rope they had got a ring1 which they could by means of two smaller ropes draw forwards and backwards from the ship to the shore3 to this ring they had fixed a loop1 which each man put under his arm2 and by this means1 and holding by the ring with his hands1 he supported himself1 hanging to the ring1 while he was drawn to the shore by the people there2 and in this manner ,i saw a great many drawn on shore4 ,but this proved a tedious work2 and though ,i looked at them for a long time1 yet the numbers on the deck were not apparently diminished2 besides1 from the motion which the ship had by rolling on the rocks1 it was not possible to keep the rope equally stretched1 and from this cause1 as well as from the sudden rising of the waves1 you would at one moment see a poor wretch hanging ten or twenty feet above the water1 and the next you would lose sight of him in the foam of a wave1 though some escaped better4 #8,but this was not a scheme which the women and many of the sick could avail themselves of4 #8,i observed with some admiration the behaviour of a ,captain of a man-of-war1 who seemed interested in the highest degree for the safety of these poor wretches4 ,he exerted himself uncommonly1 and directed others what to do on shore1 and endeavoured in vain with a large speaking-trumpet to make himself heard by those on board3 but finding that nothing could be heard but the roaring of the wind and sea1 he offered any body five guineas instantly who would suffer himself to be drawn on board with instructions to them what to do4 ,and when he found that nobody would accept his offer1 he gave an instance of the highest heroism3 for he fixed the rope about himself and gave the signal to be drawn on board4 ,he had his uniform coat on and his sword hanging at his side4 ,i have not room to describe the particulars2 but there was something grand and interesting in the thing3 for as soon as they had pulled him into the wreck1 he was received with three vast shouts by the people on board2 and these were immediately echoed by those who lined the shore1 the garrison-walls and lower batteries4 ,the first thing he did was to rig out two other ropes like the first3 which ,i saw him most active in doing with his own hands4 ,this quickened the matter a good deal1 and by this time two large open row-boats were arrived from the ,dock-yard1 and a sloop had with difficulty worked out from ,plymouth-pool4 ,he then became active in getting out the women and the sick1 who were with difficulty got into the open boats1 and by them carried off to the sloop1 which kept off for fear of being stove against the ship or thrown upon the rocks4 ,he suffered but one boat to approach the ship at a time1 and stood with his drawn sword to prevent too many rushing into the boat4 ,after he had seen all the people out of the ship to about ten or fifteen1 he fixed himself to the rope as before and was drawn ashore1 where he was again received with shouts4 ,upon my enquiry who this gallant officer was1 ,i was informed that it was ,sir ,edward ,pellew1 whom ,i had heard the highest character of before1 both for bravery and mercy4 #8,the soldiers were falling into disorder when ,sir ,edward went on board4 ,many of them were drunk1 having broke into the cabin and got at the liquor4 ,i saw him beating one with the flat of his broad-sword1 in order to make him give up a bundle he had made up of plunder4 ,they had but just time to save the men1 before the ship was nearly under water4 ,i observed a poor goat and a dog amongst the crowd1 when the people were somewhat thinned away4 ,i saw the goat marching about with much unconcern2 but the dog showed evident anxiety1 for ,i saw him stretching himself out at one of the port-holes1 standing partly upon the port and partly upon a gun1 and looking earnestly towards the shore1 where ,i suppose he knew his master was4 ,all these perished soon after1 as the ship was washed all over as the sea rose--she is now in pieces4' ,,conversation ,,the ,,twentieth ,n4--,have you seen the ,life of ,sir ,joshua just published8 ,h4--,no4 ,n4--,it is all1 or nearly all1 taken from my account1 and yet the author misrepresents or contradicts every thing ,i say1 ,i suppose to show that he is under no obligation to me4 ,i cannot understand the drift of his work2 nor who it is he means to please4 ,he finds fault with ,sir ,joshua1 among a number of other things1 for not noticing ,hogarth4 ,why1 it was not his business to notice ,hogarth any more than it was to notice ,fielding4 ,both of them were great wits and describers of manners in common life1 but neither of them came under the article of painting4 ,what ,hogarth had was his own1 and nobody will ever have it again in the same degree4 ,but all that did not depend on his own genius was detestable1 both as to his subjects and his execution4 ,was ,sir ,joshua to recommend these as models to the student8 ,no1 we are to imitate only what is best1 and that in which even failure is honourable2 not that where only originality and the highest point of success can at all excuse the attempt4 ,cunningham 7the writer of the ,life71 pretends to cry up ,hogarth as a painter2 but this is not true4 ,he moulded little figures and placed them to see how the lights fell and how the drapery came in1 which gave a certain look of reality and relief2 but this was not enough to give breadth or grace1 and his figures look like puppets after all1 or like dolls dressed up4 ,who would compare any of these little1 miserable1 deformed caricatures of men and women1 to the figure of ,st4 ,paul preaching at ,athens8 ,what we justly admire and emulate is that which raises human nature1 not that which degrades and holds it up to scorn4 ,we may laugh to see a person rolled in the kennel1 but we are ashamed of ourselves for doing so4 ,we are amused with ,tom ,jones2 but we rise from the perusal of ,clarissa with higher feelings and better resolutions than we had before4 ,st4 ,giles's is not the only school of art4 ,it is nature1 to be sure2 but we must select nature4 ,ask the meanest person in the gallery at a play-house which he likes best1 the tragedy or the farce8 ,and he will tell you1 without hesitation1 the tragedy--and will prefer ,mrs4 ,siddons to the most exquisite buffoon4 ,he feels an ambition to be placed in the situations1 and to be associated with the characters1 described in tragedy1 and none to be connected with those in a farce2 because he feels a greater sense of power and dignity in contemplating the one1 and only sees his own weakness and littleness reflected and ridiculed in the other4 ,even the poetry1 the blank verse1 pleases the most illiterate1 which it would not do if it were not natural4 ,the world do not receive monsters4 ,this was what ,i used to contest with ,sir ,joshua4 ,he insisted that the blank verse in tragedy was purely artificial--a thing got up for the occasion4 ,but surely every one must feel that he delivers an important piece of information1 or asks a common question in a different tone of voice4 ,if it were not for this1 the audience would laugh at the measured speech or step of a tragic actor as burlesque1 just as they are inclined to do at an ,opera4 ,old ,mr4 ,tolcher used to say of the famous ,pulteney--#8,my ,lord ,bath always speaks in blank verse6' ,the stately march of his ideas1 no doubt1 made it natural to him4 ,mr4 ,cunningham will never persuade the world that ,hogarth is superior to ,raphael or ,reynolds4 ,common sense is against it4 ,i don't know where he picked up the notion4 ,h4--,probably from ,mr4 ,lamb1 who endeavours to set up ,hogarth as a great tragic as well as comic genius1 not inferior in either respect to ,shakspeare4 ,n4--,i can't tell where he got such an opinion2 but ,i know it is great nonsense4 ,cunningham gives a wrong account of an anecdote which he has taken from me4 ,dr4 ,tucker1 ,dean of ,gloucester1 had said at a meeting of the ,society of ,arts1 that #8a pin-maker was a more important member of society than ,raphael4' ,sir ,joshua had written some remark on this assertion in an old copy-book which fell into my hands and which nobody probably ever saw but myself4 ,cunningham states that ,sir ,joshua was present when ,dean ,tucker made the speech at the ,society1 and that he immediately rose up1 and with great irritation answered him on the spot1 which is contrary both to the fact and to ,sir ,joshua's character4 ,he would never have thought of rising to contradict any one in a public assembly for not agreeing with him on the importance of his own profession4 ,in one part of the new ,life1 it is said that ,sir ,joshua1 seeing the ill-effects that ,hogarth's honesty and bluntness had had upon his prospects as a portrait-painter1 had learnt the art to make himself agreeable to his sitters1 and to mix up the oil of flattery with his discourse as assiduously as with his colours4 ,this is far from the truth4 ,sir ,joshua's manners were indeed affable and obliging1 but he flattered nobody2 and instead of gossiping or making it his study to amuse his sitters1 minded only his own business4 ,i remember being in the next room the first time the ,duchess of ,cumberland came to sit1 and ,i can vouch that scarce a word was spoken for near two hours4 ,another thing remarkable to show how little ,sir ,joshua crouched to the ,great is1 that he never even gave them their proper titles4 ,i never heard the words #8your lordship or your ladyship1' come from his mouth2 nor did he ever say ,sir in speaking to any one but ,dr4 ,johnson3 and when he did not hear distinctly what the latter said 7which often happened7 he would then say #8,sir8' that he might repeat it4 ,he was in this respect like a ,quaker1 not from any scruples or affectation of independence1 but possibly from some awkwardness and confusion in addressing the variety of characters he met with1 or at his first entrance on his profession4 ,his biographer is also unjust to ,sir ,joshua in stating that his table was scantily supplied out of penuriousness4 ,the truth is1 ,sir ,joshua would ask a certain number and order a dinner to be provided2 and then in the course of the morning1 two or three other persons would drop in1 and he would say1 #8,i have got so and so to dinner1 will you join us8' which they being always ready to do1 there were sometimes more guests than seats1 but nobody complained of this or was unwilling to come again4 ,if ,sir ,joshua had really grudged his guests1 they would not have repeated their visits twice1 and there would have been plenty of room and of provisions the next time4 ,sir ,joshua never gave the smallest attention to such matters2 all he cared about was his painting in the morning1 and the conversation at his table1 to which last he sacrificed his interest2 for his associating with men like ,burke1 who was at that time a great oppositionist1 did him no good at court4 ,sir ,joshua was equally free from meanness or ostentation and encroachment on others2 no one knew himself better or more uniformly kept his place in society4 ,h4--,it is a pity to mar the idea of ,sir ,joshua's dinner-parties1 which are one of the pleasantest instances on record of a cordial intercourse between persons of distinguished pretensions of all sorts4 ,but some people do not care what they spoil1 so that they can tell disagreeable truth4 ,n4--,in the present case there is not even that excuse4 ,the statement answers no good end1 while it throws a very unfounded slur on ,sir ,joshua's hospitality and love of good cheer4 ,it is insinuated that he was sparing of his wine1 which is not true4 ,again1 ,i am blamed for not approving of ,dr4 ,johnson's speech to ,sir ,joshua at the ,miss ,cottrells'1 when the ,duchess of ,argyll came in1 and he thought himself neglected--#8,how much do you think you and ,i could earn in a week1 if we were to work as hard as we could8' ,this was a rude and unmerited insult4 ,the ,miss ,cottrells were the daughters of an ,admiral and people of fashion1 as well as the ,duchess of ,argyll2 and they naturally enough fell into conversation about persons and things that they knew1 though ,dr4 ,johnson had not been used to hear of them4 ,he therefore thought it affectation and insolence1 whereas the vulgarity and insolence were on his own side4 ,if ,i had any fault to find with ,sir ,joshua1 it would be that he was a very bad master in the art4 ,of all his pupils1 ,i am the only one who ever did any thing at all4 ,he was like the boy teaching the other to swim4 #8,how do you do when you want to turn8'--#8,how must you do when you turn8 ,why1 you must look that way6' ,sir ,joshua's instructions amounted to little more4 ,people talk of the instinct of animals as if a blind reason were an absurdity3 whereas whatever men can do best1 they understand and can explain least4 ,your son was looking at that picture of the lap-dog the other evening4 ,there is a curious story about that4 ,the dog was walking out with me one day1 and was set upon and bit by a strange dog1 for all dogs know and hate a favourite4 ,he was a long time in recovering from the wound2 and one day when ,mr4 ,p4 ,h4 called1 he ran up to him1 leaped up quite over-joyed1 then lay down1 began to whine1 patted the place where he had been hurt with his paws1 and went through the whole history of his misfortune4 ,it was a perfect pantomime4 ,i will not tell the story to ,g--1 for the philosopher would be jealous of the sagacity of the cur4 ,h4--,there was ,jack ,spines1 the racket-player3 he excelled in what is called the half-volley4 ,some amateurs of the game were one day disputing what this term of art meant4 ,spines was appealed to4 #8,why1 gentlemen1' says he1 #8,i really can't say exactly2 but ,i should think1 the half-volley is something between the volley and the half-volley4' ,this definition was not quite the thing4 ,the celebrated ,john ,davies1 the finest player in the world1 could give no account of his proficiency that way4 ,it is a game which no one thinks of playing without putting on a flannel jacket2 and after you have been engaged in it for ten minutes1 you are just as if you had been dipped in a mill-pond4 ,john ,davies never pulled off his coat2 and merely buttoning it that it might not be in his way1 would go down into the ,fives-court and play two of the best players of the day1 and at the end of the match you could not perceive that a hair of his head was wet4 ,powell1 the keeper of the court 7why does not ,sir ,b4 ,nash1 among so many innovations1 rebuild it87 said he never seemed to follow the ball1 but that it came to him--he did every thing with such ease4 ,n4--,then every motion of that man was perfect grace3 there was not a muscle in his body that did not contribute its share to the game4 ,so1 when they begin to learn the piano-forte1 at first they use only the fingers1 and are soon tired to death3 then the muscles of the arm come into play1 which relieves them a little2 and at last the whole frame is called into action1 so as to produce the effect with entire ease and gracefulness4 ,it is the same in every thing3 and he is indeed a poor creature who cannot do more1 from habit or natural genius1 than he can give any rational account of4 7,some remarks having been made on the foregoing conversation1 ,mr4 ,northcote1 the next time ,i saw him1 took up the subject nearly as follows47 ,n4--,the newspaper critic asks with an air of triumph as if he had found a mare's nest--#8,what6 are ,sophia ,western and ,allworthy1 ,st4 ,giles's8' ,why1 they are the very ones3 they are ,tower-stamp6 ,blifil1 and ,black ,george1 and ,square are not--they have some sense and spirit in them and are so far redeemed1 for ,fielding put his own cleverness and ingenuity into them2 but as to his refined characters1 they are an essence of vulgarity and insipidity4 ,sophia is a poor doll2 and as to ,allworthy he has not the soul of a goose3 and how does he behave to the young man that he has brought up and pampered with the expectations of a fortune and of being a fine gentleman8 ,does he not turn him out to starve or rob on the highway without the shadow of an excuse1 on a mere maudlin sermonizing pretext of morality1 and with as little generosity as principle8 ,no1 ,fielding did not know what virtue or refinement meant4 ,as ,richardson said1 he should have thought his books were written by an ostler2 or ,sir ,john ,hawkins has expressed it still better1 that the virtues of his heroes are the virtues of dogs and horses--he does not go beyond that--nor indeed so far1 for his ,tom ,jones is not so good as ,lord ,byron's ,newfoundland dog4 ,i have known ,newfoundland dogs with twenty times his understanding and good-nature4 ,that is where ,richardson has the advantage over ,fielding--the virtues of his characters are not the virtues of animals--,clarissa holds her head in the skies1 a #8bright particular star2' for whatever may be said1 we have such ideas--and thanks to those who sustain and nourish them1 and woe to those critics who would confound them with the dirt under our feet and ,grub-street jargon6 ,no1 that is what we want--to have the line made as black and as broad as possible that separates what we have in common with the animals from what we pretend 7at least7 to have above them4 ,that is where the newspaper critic is wrong in saying that the blackguard in the play is equal to ,mrs4 ,siddons4 ,no1 he is not equal to ,mrs4 ,siddons1 any more than a baited bull or an over-drove ox is equal to ,mrs4 ,siddons4 ,there is the same animal fury in ,tyke that there is in the maddened brute1 with the same want of any ideas beyond himself and his own mechanical and coarse impulses--it is the lowest stage of human capacity and feeling violently acted upon by circumstances4 ,lady ,macbeth1 if she is the demon1 is not the brute2 she has the intellectual part1 and is hurried away no less by the violence of her will than by a wide scope of imagination and a lofty ambition4 ,take away all dignity and grandeur from poetry and art1 and you make ,emery equal to ,mrs4 ,siddons1 and ,hogarth to ,raphael1 but not else4 ,emery's ,tyke1 in his extremity1 calls for brandy--,mrs4 ,siddons does not1 like ,queen ,dollalolla1 call for a glass of gin4 ,why not8 ,gin is as natural a drink as poison2 but if ,capella ,bianca1 instead of swallowing the poison herself1 when she found it was not given to her enemy1 had merely got drunk for spite1 in the manner of ,hogarth's heroines1 she would not have been recorded in history4 ,there is then a foundation for the distinction between the heroic and the natural1 which ,i am not bound to explain any more than ,i am to account why black is not white4 ,h4--,if ,emery is equal to ,mrs4 ,siddons1 ,morton is equal to ,shakspeare2 though it would be difficult to bring such persons to that conclusion4 ,n4--,i #8ll tell you why ,emery in not equal to ,mrs4 ,siddons2 there are a thousand ,emerys to one ,mrs4 ,siddons2 the stage is always full of six or seven comic actors at a time1 so that you cannot tell which is best1 ,emery1 ,fawcett1 ,munden1 ,lewis--but in my time ,i have seen but ,garrick and ,mrs4 ,siddons1 who have left a gap behind them that ,i shall not live to see filled up4 ,emery is the first blackguard or stage-coach driver you see in a row in the street2 but if you had not seen ,mrs4 ,siddons1 you could have no idea of her2 nor can you convey it to any one who has not4 ,she was like a preternatural being descended to the earth4 ,i cannot say ,sir ,joshua has done her justice4 ,i regret ,mrs4 ,abington too--she was the ,grosvenor-,square of comedy1 if you please4 ,i am glad that ,hogarth did not paint her2 it would have been a thing to spit upon4 ,if the correspondent of the newspaper wants to know where my ,grosvenor-,square of art is1 he'll find it in the ,provoked ,husband1 in ,lord and ,lady ,townly1 not in the ,history of a ,foundling1 or in the pompous1 swag-bellied peer1 with his dangling pedigree1 or his gawky son-in-law1 or his dawdling malkin of a wife from the city1 playing with the ring like an idiot1 in the ,marriage la ,mode6 ,there may be vice and folly enough in ,vanbrugh's scenes2 but it is not the vice of ,st4 ,giles's1 it does not savour of the kennel4 ,not that ,i would have my interrogator suppose that ,i think all is vice in ,st4 ,giles's4 ,on the contrary1 ,i could find at this moment instances of more virtue1 refinement1 sense1 and beauty there1 than there are in his ,sophy4 ,no1 nature is the same everywhere2 there are as many handsome children born in ,st4 ,giles's as in ,grosvener-,square2 but the same care is not taken of them2 and in general they grow up greater beauties in the one than the other4 ,a child in ,st4 ,giles's is left to run wild2 it thrusts its fingers into its mouth or pulls its nose about2 but if a child of people of fashion play any tricks of this kind1 it is told immediately1 #8,you must not do this1 unless you would have your mouth reach from ear to ear2 you must not say that2 you must not sit in such a manner1 or you'll grow double4' ,this seems like art2 but it is only giving nature fair play4 ,no one was allowed to touch the ,princess ,charlotte when a child4 ,she was taken care of like something precious4 ,the sister of the ,duke of -- had her nose broke when a child in a quarrel with her sister1 who flung a tea-basin at her2 but all the doctors were immediately called in1 and every remedy was applied1 so that when she grew up1 there was no appearance of the accident left4 ,if the same thing had happened to a poor child1 she would have carried the marks of it to her grave4 ,so you see a number of crooked people and twisted legs among the lower classes4 ,this was what made ,lord ,byron so mad--that he had mis-shapen feet4 ,don't you think so8 ,h4--,yes2 ,t4 ,m4 told a person ,i know that that was the cause of all his misanthropy--he wanted to be an ,adonis1 and could not4 ,n4--,aye1 and of his genius too2 it made him write verses in revenge4 ,there is no knowing the effect of such sort of things1 of defects we wish to balance4 ,do you suppose we owe nothing to ,pope's deformity8 ,he said to himself1 #8,if my person be crooked1 my verses shall be strait4' ,i myself have felt this in passing along the street1 when ,i have heard rude remarks made on my personal appearance4 ,i then go home and paint3 but ,i should not do this1 if ,i thought all that there is in art was contained in ,hogarth--,i should then feel neither pride nor consolation in it4 ,but if ,i thought1 instead of his doll-like figures cut in two with their insipid1 dough-baked faces1 ,i should do something like ,sir ,joshua's ,iphigene1 with all that delights the sense in richness of colour and luxuriance of form2 or instead of the women spouting the liquor in one another's faces1 in the ,rake's ,progress1 ,i could give the purity1 and grace1 and real elegance 7appearing under all the incumbrance of the fashionable dresses of the day7 of ,lady ,sarah ,bunbury or of the ,miss ,hornecks1 sacrificing to the ,graces1 or of ,lady ,essex1 with her long waist and ruffles1 but looking a pattern of the female character in all its relations1 and breathing dignity and virtue1 then ,i should think this an object worth living for2 or 7as you have expressed it very properly7 should even be proud of having failed4 ,this is the opinion the world have always entertained of the matter4 ,sir ,joshua's name is repeated with more respect than ,hogarth's4 ,it is not for his talents1 but for his taste and the direction of them4 ,in meeting ,sir ,joshua 7merely from a knowledge of his works7 you would expect to meet a gentleman--not so of ,hogarth4 ,and yet ,sir ,joshua's claims and possessions in art were not of the highest order4 ,h4--,but he was decent1 and did not profess the arts and accomplishments of a ,merry-,andrew4 ,n4--,i assure you1 it was not for want for of ability either4 ,when he was young1 he did a number of caricatures of different persons1 and could have got any price for them4 ,but he found it necessary to give up the practice4 ,leonardo da ,vinci1 a mighty man1 and who had titles manifold1 had a great turn for drawing laughable and grotesque likenesses of his acquaintances2 but he threw them all in the fire4 ,it was to him a kind of profanation of the art4 ,sir ,joshua would almost as soon have forged as he would have set his name to a caricature4 ,gilray 7whom you speak of7 was eminent in this way2 but he had other talents as well4 ,in the ,embassy to ,china1 he has drawn the ,emperor of ,china a complete ,eastern voluptuary1 fat and supine1 with all the effects of climate and situation evident upon his person1 and ,lord ,macartney is an elegant youth1 a real ,apollo2 then1 indeed1 come ,punch and the puppet-show after him1 to throw the whole into ridicule4 ,in the ,revolutionists' ,jolly-boat1 after the ,opposition were defeated1 he has placed ,fox1 and ,sheridan1 and the rest escaping from the wreck3 ,dante could not have described them as looking more sullen and gloomy4 ,he was a great man in his way4 ,why does not ,mr4 ,lamb write an essay on the ,two-penny ,whist8 ,yet it was against his conscience1 for he had been on the other side1 and was bought over4 ,the minister sent to ask him to do them half a dozen at a certain price1 which he agreed to1 and took them to the treasury2 but there being some demur about the payment1 he took them back with some saucy reply4 ,he had not been long at home1 before a messenger was sent after him with the money4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,twenty-,,first ,n4--,g4 and ,i had a dispute lately about the capacity of animals4 ,he appeared to consider them as little better than machines4 ,he made it the distinguishing mark of superiority in man that he is the only animal that can transmit his thoughts to future generations4 #8,yes1' ,i said1 #8for future generations to take no sort of notice of them4' ,i allowed that there were a few extraordinary geniuses that every one must look up to--and ,i mentioned the names of ,shakspeare and ,dryden4 ,but he would not hear of ,dryden1 and began to pull him in pieces immediately4 #8,why then1' ,i answered1 #8if you cannot agree among yourselves even with respect to four or five of the most eminent1 how can there be the vast and overwhelming superiority you pretend to8' ,i observed that instinct in animals answered very much to what we call genius4 ,i spoke of the wonderful powers of smell1 and the sagacity of dogs1 and the memory shown by horses in finding a road that they have once travelled2 but ,i made no way with ,g--2 he still went back to ,lear and ,othello4 ,h4--,i think he was so far right2 for as this is what he understands best and has to imitate1 it is fit he should admire and dwell upon it most4 ,he cannot acquire the smell of the dog or the sagacity of the horse1 and therefore it is of no use to think about them2 but he may1 by dint of study and emulation1 become a better poet or philosopher4 ,the question is not merely what is best in itself 7of that we are hardly judges7 but what sort of excellence we understand best and can make our own2 for otherwise1 in affecting to admire we know not what1 we may admire a nonentity or a deformity4 ,abraham ,tucker has remarked very well on this subject1 that a swine wallowing in the mire may1 for what he can tell1 be as happy as a philosopher in writing an essay1 but that is no reason why he 7the philosopher7 should exchange occupations or tastes with the brute1 unless he could first exchange natures4 ,we may suspend our judgments in such cases as a matter of speculation or conjecture1 but that is different from the habitual or practical feeling4 ,so ,i remember ,w-- being nettled at ,d-- 7who affected a fashionable taste7 for saying1 on coming out of the ,marquis of ,stafford's gallery1 #8,a very noble art1 very superior to poetry6' ,if it were so1 ,w-- observed1 he could know nothing about it1 who had never seen any fine pictures before4 ,it was like an ,european adventurer saying to an ,african chieftain1 #8,a very fine boy1 ,sir1 your black son--very superior to my white one6' ,this is mere affectation2 we might as well pretend to be thrown into rapture by a poem written in a language we are not acquainted with4 ,we may notwithstanding believe that it is very fine1 and have no wish to hang up the writer1 because he is not an ,englishman4 ,a spider may be a greater mechanic than ,watt or ,arkwright2 but the effects are not brought home to us in the same manner1 and we cannot help estimating the cause by the effect4 ,a friend of mine teazes me with questions1 #8,which was the greatest man1 ,sir ,isaac ,newton or a first-rate chess-player8' ,it refers itself to the head of the ,illustrious ,obscure4 ,a club of chess-players might give it in favour of the ,great ,unknown2 but all the rest of the world1 who have heard of the one and not of the other1 will give it against him4 ,we cannot set aside those prejudices which are founded on the limitation of our faculties or the constitution of society2 only that we need not lay them down as abstract or demonstrable truths4 ,it is there the bigotry and error begin4 ,the language of taste and moderation is1 ,i prefer this1 because it is best to me2 the language of dogmatism and intolerance is1 ,because ,i prefer it1 it is best in itself1 and ,i will allow no one else to be of a different opinion4 ,n4--,i find in the last conversation ,i saw1 you make me an admirer of ,fielding1 and so ,i am2 but ,i find great fault with him too4 ,i grant he is one of those writers that ,i remember2 he stamps his characters1 whether good or bad1 on the reader's mind4 ,this is more than ,i can say of every one4 ,for instance1 when ,g-- plagues me about my not having sufficient admiration of ,w--'s poetry1 the answer ,i give is1 that it is not my fault1 for ,i have utterly forgotten it2 it seemed to me like the ravelings of poetry4 ,but to say nothing of ,fielding's immorality1 and his fancying himself a fine gentleman in the midst of all his coarseness1 he has oftener described habits than character4 ,for example1 ,western is no character2 it is merely the language1 manners1 and pursuits of the country-squire of that day2 and the proof of this is1 that there is no #8,squire ,western now4 ,manners and customs wear out1 but characters last forever4 ,i remember making this remark to ,holcroft1 and he asked me1 ,what was the difference8 ,are you not surprised at that8 ,h4--,not in him4 ,if you mentioned the word character1 he stopped you short by saying1 that it was merely the difference of circumstances2 or if you hinted at the difference of natural capacity1 he said1 #8,then1 ,sir1 you must believe in innate ideas4' ,he surrendered his own feelings and better judgment to a set of cant-phrases1 called the modern philosophy4 ,n4--,i need not explain the difference to you4 ,character is the ground-work1 the natural stamina of the mind1 on which circumstances only act4 ,you see it in ,st4 ,giles's--there are characters there that in the midst of filth1 and vice1 and ignorance1 retain some traces of their original goodness1 and struggle with their situation to the last3 as in ,st4 ,james's1 you will find wretches that would disgrace a halter4 ,gil ,blas has character4 ,h4--,i thought he only gave professions and classes1 players1 footmen1 sharpers1 courtesans1 but not the individual1 as ,fielding often does1 though we should strip ,western of his scarlet hunting-dress and jockey phrases4 ,there is ,square1 ,blifil1 ,black ,george1 ,mrs4 ,fitzpatrick1 ,parson ,adams2 and a still greater cluster of them in the one that is least read1 the noble peer1 the lodging-house-keeper1 ,mrs4 ,bennet1 and ,colonel ,bath4 ,n4--,you mean ,amelia4 ,i have not read that1 but will get it4 ,i allow in part what you say2 but in the best there is something too local and belonging to the time4 ,but what ,i chiefly object to in ,fielding is his conceit1 his consciousness of what he is doing1 his everlasting recommendation and puffing of his own wit and sagacity4 ,his introductory chapters make me sick4 ,h4--,why1 perhaps1 ,fielding is to be excused as a disappointed man4 ,all his success was late in life1 for he died in #aged2 and ,joseph ,andrews 7the first work of his that was popular7 was published in #agdh4 ,all the rest of his life he had been drudging for the booksellers1 or bringing out unsuccessful comedies4 ,he probably anticipated the same result in his novels1 and wished to bespeak the favour of the reader by putting himself too much forward4 ,his prefaces are like ,ben ,jonson's prologues1 and from the same cause1 mortified vanity2 though it seems odd to say so at present1 after the run his writings have had2 but he could not foresee that1 and only lived a short time to witness it4 ,n4--,i can bear any thing but that conscious look--it is to me like the lump of soot in the broth1 that spoils the whole mess4 ,fielding was one of the swaggerers4 ,h4--,but he had much to boast of4 ,n4--,he certainly was not idle in his time4 ,idleness would have ruined a greater man4 ,h4--,then you do not agree to a maxim ,i have sometimes thought might be laid down1 that no one is idle who can do any thing4 ,n4--,no1 certainly4 ,h4--,i conceive it may be illustrated from ,wilson1 who was charged with idleness1 and who1 after painting a little1 used to say1 as soon as any friend dropped in1 #8,now let us go somewhere1'--meaning to the alehouse4 ,all that ,wilson could do1 he did1 and that finely too1 with a few well-disposed masses and strokes of the pencil2 but he could not finish1 or he would have staid within all the morning to work up his pictures to the perfection of ,claude's4 ,he thought it better to go to the alehouse than to spoil what he had already done4 ,i have in my own mind made this excuse for --1 that he could only make a first sketch1 and was obliged to lose the greatest part of his time in waiting for windfalls of heads and studies4 ,i have sat to him twice1 and each time ,i offered to come again1 and he said he would let me know1 but ,i heard no more of it4 ,the sketch went as it was--of course in a very unfinished state4 ,n4--,but he might have remedied this by diligence and practice4 ,h4--,i do not know that he could3 one might say that there is the same abruptness and crudity in his character throughout1 in his conversation1 his walk1 and look--great force and spirit1 but neither softness nor refinement4 ,n4--,if he had more humility1 he might have seen all that in the works of others1 and have strove to imitate it4 ,h4--,what ,i mean is1 that it was his not having the sense of these refinements in himself that prevented his perceiving them in others1 or taking pains to supply a defect to which he was blind4 ,n4--,i do not think that under any circumstances he would have made a ,raphael4 ,but your reasoning goes too much to what ,dr4 ,johnson ridiculed in poetry--fits of inspiration1 and a greater flow of ideas in the autumn than the spring4 ,sir ,joshua used to work at all times1 whether he was in the humour or not4 ,h4--,and so would every one else with his motives and ability to excel4 ,lawyers without fees are accused of idleness1 but this goes off when the briefs pour in4 ,n4--,did you see the newspaper accounts of the election of the new ,pope8 ,it appears that nothing could exceed his repugnance to be chosen4 ,he begged and even wept to be let off4 ,you are to consider1 he is an old man labouring under a mortal disease 7which is one circumstance that led to his elevation7--to be taken from the situation of ,cardinal 7in itself a very enviable one7 and thrust violently into a mass of business1 of questions and cabals which will distract him1 and where he can get no thanks and may incur every kind of odium4 ,it is true1 he has an opportunity of making the fortunes of his family2 and if he prefers them to himself1 it is all very well1 but not else4 ,to persons of a restless and aspiring turn of mind1 ambition and grandeur are very fine things1 but to others they are the most intolerable tax4 ,there is our own ,king--there is no conceiving the punishment that those processions and public show-days are to him--and then as to all the pomp and glitter that we so much admire1 it is to those who are accustomed to it and who see behind the curtain1 like so much cast-off rags and tinsel or ,monmouth-street finery4 ,they hold it in inconceivable scorn1 and yet they can hardly do without it1 from the slavery of habit4 ,then the time of such people is never their own--they are always performing a part 7and generally a forced and irksome one7 in what no way interests or concerns them4 ,the late ,king1 to whom rank was a real drudgery1 used to stand buried in a pile of papers1 so that you could not see those on the other side of the table1 which he had merely to sign4 ,it is no wonder kings are sometimes seen to retire to a monastery where religion leaves this asylum open to them1 or are glad to return to their shepherd's crook again4 ,no situation can boast of complete ease or freedom2 and even that would have its disadvantages4 ,and then again1 look at those labourers at the top of the house yonder1 working from morning till night1 and exposed to all weathers for a bare pittance1 without hope to sweeten their toil1 and driven on by hunger and necessity6 ,when we turn to others1 whether those above or below us1 we have little reason to be dissatisfied with our own situation in life4 ,but1 in all cases it is necessary to employ means to ends1 be the object what it may2 and where the first have not been taken1 it is both unjust and foolish to repine at the want of success4 ,the common expression1 #8,fortune's ,fools1' may seem to convey a slur on the order of ,providence2 but it rather shows the equality of its distributions4 ,are the men of capacity to have all the good things to themselves8 ,they are proud of their supposed superiority3 why are they not contented with it8 ,if a fool is not to grow rich1 the next thing would be1 that none but men of genius should have a coat to their backs1 or be thought fit to live4 ,if it were left to them to provide food or clothes1 they would have none for themselves4 ,it is urged as a striking inequality that enterprising manufacturers1 for instance1 should rise to great wealth and honours1 while thousands of their dependants are labouring hard at one or two shillings a-day3 but we are to recollect1 that if it had not been for men like these1 the working classes would have been perishing for want3 they collect the others together1 give a direction and find a vent for their industry1 and may be said to exercise a part of sovereign capacity4 ,every thing has its place and due subordination4 ,if authors had the direction of the world1 nothing would be left standing but printing-presses4 ,n4--,what do you think of that portrait8 ,h4--,it is very lady-like1 and1 ,i should imagine1 a good likeness4 ,n4--,j-- said ,i might go on painting yet--he saw no falling-off4 ,they are pleased with it4 ,i have painted almost the whole family1 and the girls would let their mother sit to nobody else4 ,but ,lord6 every thing one can do seems to fall so short of nature3 whether it is the want of skill or the imperfection of the art that cannot give the successive movements of expression and changes of countenance1 ,i am always ready to beg pardon of my sitters after ,i have done1 and to say ,i hope they'll excuse it4 ,the more one knows of the art1 and indeed the better one can do1 the less one is satisfied4 ,this made ,titian write under his pictures faciebat1 signifying that they were only in progress4 ,i remember1 ,burke came in one day when ,sir ,joshua had been painting one of the ,lennoxes2 he was quite struck with the beauty of the performance1 and said he hoped ,sir ,joshua would not touch it again3 to which the latter replied1 that if he had seen the original1 he would have thought little of the picture1 and that there was a look which it was hardly in the power of art to give4 ,no6 all we can do is to produce something that makes a distant approach to nature1 and that serves as a faint relic of the individual4 ,a portrait is only a little better memorial than the parings of the nails or a lock of the hair4 ,h4--,who is it8 ,n4--,it is a ,lady ,w--3 you have heard me speak of her before4 ,she is a person of great sense and spirit1 and combines very opposite qualities from a sort of natural strength of character4 ,she has shown the greatest feeling and firmness united3 no one can have more tenderness in her domestic connexions1 and yet she has borne the loss of some of them with exemplary fortitude4 ,perhaps1 the one is a consequence of the other2 for where the attachment or even the regret is left1 all is not lost4 ,the mind has still a link to connect it with the beloved object4 ,she has no affectation2 and therefore yields to unavoidable circumstances as they arise4 ,inconsolable grief is often mere cant1 and a trick to impose on ourselves and others4 ,people of any real strength of character are seldom affected3 those who have not the clue of their own feelings to guide them1 do not know what to do1 and study only how to produce an effect4 ,i recollect one of the ,miss ,b--s1 ,lord ,orford's favourites1 whom ,i met with at a party formerly1 using the expression--#8,that seal of mediocrity1 affectation6' ,don't you think this striking8 ,h4--,yes2 but not quite free from the vice it describes4 ,n4--,oh6 they had plenty of that3 they were regular blue-stockings1 ,i assure you2 or they would not have been so entirely to his lordship's taste1 who was a mighty coxcomb4 ,but there is none of that in the person ,i have been speaking of3 she has very delightful1 genteel1 easy manners4 ,h4--,that is the only thing ,i envy in people in that class4 ,n4--,but you are not to suppose they all have it3 it is only those who are born with it1 and who would have had it in a less degree in every situation of life4 ,vulgarity is the growth of courts as well as of the hovel4 ,we may be deceived by a certain artificial or conventional manner in persons of rank and fashion2 but they themselves see plainly enough into the natural character4 ,i remember ,lady ,w-- told me1 as an instance to this purpose1 that when she was a girl1 she and her sister were introduced at court2 and it was then the fashion to stand in a circle1 and the ,queen came round and spoke to the different persons in turn4 ,there was some high lady who came in after them1 and pushed rudely into the circle so as to get before them4 ,but the ,queen1 who saw the circumstance1 went up and spoke to them first1 and then passed on 7as a just punishment7 without taking any notice whatever of the forward intruder4 ,i forget how it arose the other day1 but she asked me--#8,pray1 ,mr4 ,northcote1 is ,discretion reckoned one of the cardinal virtues8' #8,no1' ,i said1 #8it is not one of them1 for it is all6' ,if we had discretion at all times1 we should never do wrong3 but we are taken off our guard by being thrown into new and difficult situations1 and have not time to weigh the consequences or to summon resolution to our aid4 ,that is what ,opie used to say when he had been engaged in an argument over-night1 what excellent answers he could give the next day--and was vexed with himself for not having thought of them4 ,no6 if we had sufficient presence of mind to foresee the consequences of our actions on the spot1 we should very rarely have occasion to repent of them afterwards4 ,h4--,you put me in mind of ,cicero's account of the cardinal virtues1 in his ,offices1 who makes them out to be four2 and then says they are all referable to the first1 which is ,prudence4 ,n4--,ay2 do you recollect what they are8 ,h4--,prudence1 ,temperance1 ,justice1 and ,fortitude4 ,n4--,they are too much alike4 ,the most distinct is ,fortitude4 ,h4--,i never could make much of ,cicero1 except his two treatises on ,friendship and ,old ,age1 which are most amiable gossiping4 ,i see that ,canning borrowed his tautology from ,cicero1 who runs on with such expressions as #8,i will bear1 ,i will suffer1 ,i will endure any extremity4' ,this is bad enough in the original3 it is inexcusable in the copy4 ,cicero's style1 however1 answered to the elegance of his finely-turned features2 and in his long1 graceful neck you may trace his winding and involuted periods4 ,n4--,do you believe in that sort of stuff8 ,h4--,not more than ,i can help4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,twenty-,,second ,n4--,i ought to cross myself like the ,catholics1 when ,i see you4 ,you terrify me by repeating what ,i say4 ,but ,i see you have regulated yourself4 ,there is nothing personally offensive1 except what relates to ,sir ,walter4 ,you make him swear too1 which he did not do4 ,he would never use the expression ,egad4 ,these little things mark the gentleman4 ,i am afraid1 if he sees it1 he'll say ,i am a babbler4 ,that is what they dread so at court1 that the least word should transpire4 ,h4--,they may have their reasons for caution4 ,at least1 they can gain nothing1 and might possibly lose equally by truth or falsehood1 as it must be difficult to convey an adequate idea of royalty4 ,but authors are glad to be talked about4 ,if ,sir ,w4 ,scott has an objection to having his name mentioned1 he is singularly unlucky4 ,enough was said in his praise2 and ,i do not believe he is captious4 ,i fancy he takes the rough with the smooth4 ,i did not well know what to do4 ,you seemed to express a wish that the conversations should proceed1 and yet you are startled at particular phrases1 or ,i would have brought you what ,i had done to show you4 ,i thought it best to take my chance of the general impression4 ,n4--,why1 if kept to be published as a diary after my death1 they might do3 nobody could then come to ask me questions about them4 ,but ,i cannot say they appear very striking to me4 ,one reason may be1 what ,i observe myself cannot be very new to me4 ,if others are pleased1 they are the best judges4 ,it seems very odd that you who are acquainted with some of the greatest authors of the day cannot find any thing of theirs worth setting down4 ,h4--,that by no means pleases them4 ,i understand ,g-- is angry at the liberty ,i take with you4 ,he is quite safe in this respect4 ,i might answer him much in the manner of the fellow in the ,country ,girl when his friend introduces his mistress and he salutes her--#8,why1 ,i suppose if ,i were to introduce my grandmother to you'--#8,sir1' replies the other1 #8,i should treat her with the utmost respect4' ,so ,i shall never think of repeating any of ,g--'s conversations4 ,my indifference may arise in part1 as you say1 from their not being very new to me4 ,g-- might1 ,i dare say1 argue very well on the doctrine of philosophical necessity or many other questions2 but then ,i have read all this before in ,hume or other writers1 and ,i am very little edified1 because ,i have myself had access to the same sources that he has drawn from4 ,but you1 as an artist1 have been pushed into an intercourse with the world as well as an observation of nature2 and combine a sufficient knowledge of general subjects with living illustrations of them4 ,i do not like the conversation of mere men of the world or anecdote-mongers1 for there is nothing to bind it together1 and the other sort is pedantic and tiresome from repetition1 so that there is nobody but you ,i can come to4 ,n4--,you do not go enough into society1 or you would be cured of what ,i cannot help regarding as a whim4 ,you would there find many people of sense and information whose names you never heard of4 ,it is not those who have made most noise in the world who are persons of the greatest general capacity4 ,it is the making the most of a little1 or the being determined to get before others in some one thing 7perhaps for want of other recommendations7 that brings men into notice4 ,individuals gain a reputation as they make a fortune1 by application and by having set their minds upon it4 ,but you have set out 7like other people brought up among books7 with such exclusive notions of authors and literary fame1 that if you find the least glimmering of common sense out of this pale1 you think it a prodigy1 and run into the opposite extreme4 ,i do not say that you have not a perception of character1 or have not thought as far as you have observed2 but you have not had the opportunities4 ,you turn your back on the world1 and fancy that they turn their backs on you4 ,this is a very dangerous principle4 ,you become reckless of consequences4 ,it leads to an abandonment of character4 ,by setting the opinion of others at defiance1 you lose your self-respect4 ,it is of no use that you still say1 you will do what is right2 your passions usurp the place of reason1 and whisper you1 that whatever you are bent upon doing is right4 ,you cannot put this deception on the public1 however false or prejudiced their standard may be2 and the opinion of the world1 therefore1 acts as a seasonable check upon wilfulness and eccentricity4 ,h4--,what you have stated is the best excuse ,i could make for my own faults or blunders4 ,when one is found fault with for nothing1 or for doing one's best1 one is apt to give the world their revenge4 ,all the former part of my life ,i was treated as a cipher2 and since ,i have got into notice1 ,i have been set upon as a wild beast4 ,when this is the case1 and you can expect as little justice as candour1 you naturally in self-defence take refuge in a sort of misanthropy and cynical contempt for mankind4 ,one is disposed to humour them1 and to furnish them with some ground for their idle and malevolent censures4 ,n4--,but you should not4 ,if you do nothing to confirm them in their first prejudices1 they will come round in time4 ,they are slow to admit claims1 because they are not sure of their validity2 and they thwart and cross-examine you to try what temper you are made of4 ,without some such ordeal or difficulty thrown in the way1 every upstart and pretender must be swallowed whole4 ,that would never do4 ,but if you have patience to stand the test1 justice is rendered at last1 and you are stamped for as much as you are worth4 ,you certainly have not spared others3 why should you expect nothing but #8the milk of human kindness8' ,look to those men behind you 7a collection of portraits on the same frame7--there is ,pope and ,dryden--did they fare better than living authors8 ,had not ,dryden his ,shadwell1 and ,pope his ,dennis1 who fretted him to a shadow1 and galled him almost to death8 ,there was ,dr4 ,johnson1 who in his writings was a pattern of wisdom and morality--he declared that he had been hunted down as if he had been the great enemy of mankind4 ,but he had strength of mind to look down upon it4 ,not to do this1 is either infirmity of temper1 or shows a conscious want of any claims that are worth carrying up to a higher tribunal than the cabal and clamour of the moment4 ,sir ,joshua always despised malicious reports2 he knew they would blow over3 at the same time1 he as little regarded exaggerated praise4 ,nothing you could say had any effect1 if he was not satisfied with himself4 ,he had a great game to play1 and only looked to the result4 ,he had studied himself thoroughly2 and1 besides1 had great equanimity of temper1 which1 to be sure1 it is difficult to acquire1 if it is not natural4 ,you have two faults3 one is a feud or quarrel with the world1 which makes you despair1 and prevents you taking all the pains you might3 the other is a carelessness and mismanagement1 which makes you throw away the little you actually do1 and brings you into difficulties that way4 ,sir ,joshua used to say it was as wrong for a man to think too little as too much of himself3 if the one ran him into extravagance and presumption1 the other sank him in sloth and insignificance4 ,you see the same thing in horses3 if they cannot stir a load at the first effort1 they give it up as a hopeless task2 and nothing can rouse them from their sluggish obstinacy but blows and ill-treatment4 ,h4--,i confess all this1 but ,i hardly know how to remedy it2 nor do ,i feel any strong inducement4 ,taking one thing with another1 ,i have no great cause to complain4 ,if ,i had been a merchant1 a bookseller1 or the proprietor of a newspaper1 instead of what ,i am1 ,i might have had more money or possessed a town and countryhouse1 instead of lodging in a first or second floor1 as it may happen4 ,but what then8 ,i see how the man of business and fortune passes his time4 ,he is up and in the city by eight1 swallows his breakfast in haste1 attends a meeting of creditors1 must read ,lloyd's lists1 consult the price of consols1 study the markets1 look into his accounts1 pay his workmen1 and superintend his clerks3 he has hardly a minute in the day to himself1 and perhaps in the four-and-twenty hours does not do a single thing that he would do if he could help it4 ,surely1 this sacrifice of time and inclination requires some compensation1 which it meets with4 ,but how am ,i entitled to make my fortune 7which cannot be done without all this anxiety and drudgery7 who do hardly any thing at all1 and never any thing but what ,i like to do8 ,i rise when ,i please1 breakfast at length1 write what comes into my head1 and after taking a mutton-chop and a dish of strong tea1 go to the play1 and thus my time passes4 ,mr4 -- has no time to go to the play4 ,it was but the other day that ,i had to get up a little earlier than usual to go into the city about some money transaction1 which appeared to me a prodigious hardship3 if so1 it was plain that ,i must lead a tolerably easy life3 nor should ,i object to passing mine over again4 ,till ,i was twenty1 ,i had no idea of any thing but books1 and thought every thing else was worthless and mechanical4 ,the having to study painting about this time1 and finding the difficulties and beauties it unfolded1 opened a new field to me1 and ,i began to conclude that there might be a number of #8other things between heaven and earth that were never dreamt of in my philosophy4' ,ask ,g--1 or any other literary man who has never been taken out of the leading-strings of learning1 and you will perceive that they hold for a settled truth that the universe is built of words4 ,g-- has no interest but in literary fame1 of which he is a worshipper3 he cannot believe that any one is clever1 or has even common sense1 who has not written a book4 ,if you talk to him of ,italian cities1 where great poets and patriots lived1 he heaves a sigh2 and if ,i were possessed of a fortune1 he should go and visit the house where ,galileo lived or the tower where ,ugolino was imprisoned4 ,he can see with the eyes of his mind4 ,to all else he is marble4 ,it is like speaking to him of the objects of a sixth sense2 every other language seems dumb and inarticulate4 ,the end of ,,conversations ,,of ,,james ,,northcote1 ,,esq41 ,r4,a4 ,,notes ,,table ,,talk ,,page #b4 ,an ,advertisement1 etc4 ,the advertisement to the ,paris edition of ,table ,talk was as follows3-- #8,the work here offered to the public is a selection from the four volumes of ,table ,talk1 printed in ,london4 ,should it meet with success1 it will be followed by two other volumes of the same description1 which will include all that the author wishes to preserve of his writings in this kind4 ,the title may perhaps serve to explain what there is of peculiarity in the style or mode of treating the subjects4 ,i had remarked that when ,i had written or thought upon a particular topic1 and afterwards had occasion to speak of it with a friend1 the conversation generally took a much wider range1 and branched off into a number of indirect and collateral questions1 which were not strictly connected with the original view of the subject1 but which often threw a curious and striking light upon it1 or upon human life in general4 ,it therefore occurred to me as possible to combine the advantages of these two styles1 the literary and the conversational2 or after stating and enforcing some leading idea1 to follow it up by such observations and reflections as would probably suggest themselves in discussing the same question in company with others4 ,this seemed to me to promise a greater variety and richness1 and perhaps a greater sincerity1 than could be attained by a more precise and scholastic method4 ,the same consideration had an influence on the familiarity and conversational idiom of the style which ,i have used4 ,how far the plan was feasible1 or how far ,i have succeeded in the execution of it must be left to others to decide4 ,i am also afraid of having too frequently attempted to give a popular air and effect to subtle distinctions and trains of thought2 so that ,i shall be considered as too metaphysical by the careless reader1 while by the more severe and scrupulous inquirer my style will be complained of as too light and desultory4 ,to all this ,i can only answer that ,i have done not what ,i wished1 but the best ,i could do2 and ,i heartily wish it had been better4' ,,essay ,i4 ,,on ,,the ,,pleasure ,,of ,,painting ,this and the following essay are from ,the ,london ,magazine for ,december #ahbj 7,vol4 ,,ii4 pp4 #eig-fjg71 ,no4 ,v4 of a series entitled ,table ,talk4 #e4 #8,there is a pleasure1' etc4 ,cf4 vol4 ,i4 note to p4 #gf4 #8,no juggling here4' ,cf4 #8,here is such patchery1 such juggling1 and such knavery4' ,troilus and ,cressida1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #c4 #8,study with joy1' etc4 ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,,iii4 #bbg-h4 #f4 #8,more tedious1' etc4 ,king ,john1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #d4 #8,my mind to me1' etc4 ,the first line of the well-known poem attributed to ,sir ,edward ,dyer 7d4 #afjg74 #f4 ,note4 ,see ,the ,sorrows of ,young ,werther 7,novels and ,tales1 ,bohn1 p4 #bed74 #g4 #8,pure in the last recesses of the mind4' ,dryden's translation of the ,second ,satire of ,persius1 l4 #acc4 ,according to ,frances ,reynolds 7,johnsonian ,miscellanies1 ed4 ,g4 ,b4 ,hill1 ,,ii4 #bgb71 the lines were quoted by ,johnson at the end of an eloquent eulogium of ,mrs4 ,thrale4 #8,palpable to feeling1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,if 'tis not gross in sense 444 'tis probable and palpable to thinking4' ,othello1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #h4 #8,light thickened4' #8,light thickens2 and the crow ,makes wing to the rooky wood4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 ,wilson4 ,richard ,wilson 7#agad-aghb74 ,see ,conversations of ,northcote1 ante1 pp4 #chj1 #dch1 #deh4 ,it was not so ,claude1 etc4 ,claude finally settled in ,rome in #afbg and remained there till his death in #afhb4 ,the first head1 etc4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1 l4 #ajh note4 ,the picture1 which seems to have been painted near ,manchester in #ahjc1 is still in the possession of ,hazlitt's family4 #i4 ,with ,sir ,joshua4 ,cf4 the second of ,hazlitt's ,essays on ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's ,discourses1 ante1 pp4 #aca et seq4 #8,as in a glass darkly#81 etc4 ,i ,corinthians1 xiii4 #ab4 #aj4 #8,sees into the life of things4' ,wordsworth1 ,lines composed a few miles above ,tintern ,abbey4 ,jan ,steen1 or ,gerard ,dow4 ,jan ,steen 7#afbf-afgi71 and ,gerard ,dow 7#afac-afge74 #8,mist1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,v4 #dce-f4 ,richardson4 ,the ,essays of ,jonathan ,richardson 7#affe-agde71 which originally appeared in #agae and #agai1 were published in two volumes in #agbe1 and in one volume1 edited by his son1 in #aggc4 ,see pp4 #big-h of the one volume edition4 ,vasari tells this story of ,michael ,angelo and the ,pope4 #aa4 #8,that you might almost say1' etc4 #8---- so distinctly wrought ,that one might almost say1 her body thought4' ,john ,donne1 ,an ,anatomy of the ,world1 ,second ,anniversary1 #bde-f4 #ab4 ,old ,abraham ,tucker4 ,see vol4 iv4 pp4 #cga-che4 #8,the source1' c4 ,see ,northcote's ,life of ,reynolds1 ,,ii4 #bhf4 ,a picture of my father4 ,exhibited at the ,royal ,academy1 #ahjf4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1 ,i4 ,,iii4 ,gribelin's etchings4 ,in the second 7#agad7 and subsequent editions of ,shaftesbury's ,characteristics4 #8,riches fineless4' ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #8,ever in the haunch of winter sings4' ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,,ii4 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #d4 #ac4 #8,i also am a painter4' ,see ,vasari's ,lives 7ed4 ,blashfield and ,hopkins71 ,,iii4 #cb1 note #bh4 ,mr4 ,skeffington4 ,sir ,lumley ,st4 ,george ,skeffington 7#agga-ahej71 author of ,the ,sleeping ,beauty and other plays1 and a friend of the ,regent's1 succeeded his father as baronet in #ahae4 ,the battle of ,austerlitz4 ,december #b1 #ahje4 ,he himself is gone to rest4 ,hazlitt's father died on ,july #af1 #ahbj4 ,,essay ,,iii4 ,,the ,,same ,,subject ,,continued4 #ac4 #8,whate'er ,lorraine1' etc4 ,thomson1 ,the ,castle of ,indolence1 ,canto ,i4 ,stanza #ch4 ,lord ,radnor's park4 ,for a fuller account of the collections here referred to1 see the volume in the present edition containing ,hazlitt's ,fine ,art ,criticisms4 #ad4 #8,bosomed high1' etc4 ,l',allegro1 #gh4 #8,hands that the rod1' etc4 ,gray1 ,elegy1 #dg4 #8,a forked mountain1' etc4 ,antony and ,cleopatra1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #ad4 #8,signifying nothing4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #e1 #ae4 ,when ,i went to the ,louvre4 ,in #ahjb4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1 ,i4 #hd et seq4 ,titian's ,mistress4 ,the picture so called is in the ,louvre4 ,it is in fact a portrait of ,alphonso of ,ferrara and ,laura ,dianti4 ,the ,transfiguration1 etc4 ,on the fall of ,napoleon1 ,raphael's ,transfiguration1 and ,domenichino's ,communion of ,st4 ,jerome were restored to ,rome2 ,titian's ,st4 ,peter ,martyr to ,venice1 and his ,hippolito de ,medici to ,florence4 ,the ,st4 ,peter ,martyr was destroyed by fire in #ahfg4 ,hazlitt's copy of #8,a young ,nobleman with a glove' is still in the possession of ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt4 #af4 #8,if thou hast not seen1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,wast ever in court1 shepherd8--,no1 truly4--,then thou art damned4' ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,act ,,iii41 ,scene #b4 ,the ,elgin marbles4 ,see ,vol4 i4 p4 #adc and note4 #8,hard money4' ,specie opposed to paper currency4 ,cf4 #8,your mother has a hundred pounds in hard money' etc4 ,farquhar1 ,the ,recruiting ,officer1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #8,number numberless4' ,paradise ,regained1 ,,iii4 #caj numbers4 #8,casual fruition1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iv4 #gff-g4 #ag4 ,w--4 ,richard ,wilson4 #ah4 ,a friend of mine4 ,northcote1 presumably1 whose ,life of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds had been praised in ,the ,edinburgh ,review 7vol4 xxiii4 pp4 #bfc et seq47 ,a friend had bought1 etc4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt suggests that this was ,haydon4 #ai4 ,richardson1 in his ,essays4 ,a ,discourse on the ,science of a ,connoisseur 7,essays1 #aggc1 pp4 #cbg et seq47 #bj4 #8,guido ,reni1' etc4 ,richardson1 ,essays1 #aggc1 pp4 #bag-h4 #ba4 ,gandy4 ,william ,gandy 7died #agbi74 ,see ,hazlitt's ,conversations of ,james ,northcote1 ante1 p4 #cde4 ,a short ,memoir of ,gandy forms the ,appendix to ,northcote's ,life of ,reynolds4 ,poor ,dan4 ,stringer4 ,cf4 ante1 pp4 #cde-f4 #8,swallowing the tailor's news4' ,king ,john1 ,act ,,iv41 ,scene #b4 #8,bastards of his genius1' etc4 ,cf4 ,vol4 iv4 p4 #bji4 ,,essay ,,iii4 ,,on ,,the ,,past ,,and ,,future4 #bb4 ,when ,sterne in the ,sentimental ,journey4 ,a ,sentimental ,journey1 #8,character4 ,versailles4' #bc4 #8,the thoughts of which1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,yet loss of thee would never from my heart4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ix4 #iab4 #8,what though the radiance1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,ode1 ,intimations of ,immortality1 #agi et seq4 #8,retrace its footsteps1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,xi4 #cbi-ccc4 #8,and see how dark1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,lines written while sailing in a boat at evening4 #bc4 #8,in our heart's tables4' ,all's ,well that ,ends ,well1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,all the life of life was flown4' #8,in weary being now ,i pine1 ,for a' the life of life is dead1' ,burns1 ,lament for ,james1 ,earl of ,glencairn1 ,stanza #f4 ,cf4 also #8,till youth and genial years are flown1 ,and all the life of life is gone1' from ,thomson's song addressed to ,fortune and beginning-- #8,for ever1 ,fortune1 wilt thou prove1' etc4 ,norman ,court4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1 ,,ii4 #ad-ae4 and ,w4 ,hazlitt the younger's ,preface to the #ahej edition of ,winterslow4 #be4 #8,running through the story1' etc4 ,othello1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #c4 #8,beguiled them1' etc4 ,ib4 ,posthc meminisse juvabit4 ,virgil1 neid1 ,i4 #bjc4 #bf4 #8,calm contemplation1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,laodamia1 #gb4 #bg4 #8,catch glimpses1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,sonnet1 #8,the world is too much with us4' #8,i also was an ,arcadian4' ,this saying1 or its ,latin equivalent1 #8et ego in ,arcadia1' often quoted by ,hazlitt in connection with ,poussin's picture1 has been much discussed in ,notes and ,queries4 ,see #dth ,ser41 ,i4 #eji1 #efa1 etc4 ,goethe adopted it as a motto for his ,travels in ,italy4 #8,que peu de chose1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,je vous exhorte jouir1 autant que vous pourrez1 de la vie qui est peu de chose1' etc4 ,voltaire1 ,letter to ,madame du ,deffand1 ,oct4 #ac1 #agei4 ,respice finem4 ,a tag1 quoted in ,the ,comedy of ,errors1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #d4 ,see ,notes and ,queries1 #eth ,series1 ,,vi4 #cac1 where the line #8si quid agas prudenter agas1 et respice finem' is quoted from the fable #8,de accipitre et columbis' in ,fabulae ,variorum ,auctorum 7,francof4 #aefj71 p4 #ejc4 #8,the high endeavour1' etc4 ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,v4 #ija4 #8,oh ,god6 methinks1' etc4 ,henry ,,vi41 ,part ,,iii4 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #e4 #bi4 #8,the tear forgot1' etc4 ,gray1 ,on a ,distant ,prospect of ,eton ,college1 ,stanza #e4 #cj4 ,recorded by ,spence4 ,anecdotes1 ,observations1 and ,characters of ,books and ,men4 ,collected from the ,conversation of ,mr4 ,pope1 etc4 7edit4 #ahbj71 pp4 #aaf-g4 ,,essay ,,iv4 ,,on ,,genius ,,and ,,common ,,sense4 #cc4 ,mr4 ,burke1 by whom1 etc4 ,cf4 ,conversations of ,james ,northcote1 ante1 p4 #cff4 ,windham in one of his ,speeches4 ,speech on the ,conduct of the ,duke of ,york1 ,march #ad1 #ahji4 ,speeches1 ,,iii4 #bje4 #cd4 ,one of the persons1 etc4 ,no doubt ,john ,thelwall 7#agfd-ahcd71 who was acquitted in ,december1 #agid1 and retired to ,brecon in #agih4 ,hazlitt afterwards became acquainted with him4 ,among his ,poems 7#ahja7 is an epic entitled #8,edwin of ,northumbria4' #ce4 ,note4 #8,sound it1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #cf4 #8,make assurance1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 #8,shuts the gates1' etc4 ,gray1 ,elegy1 ,stanza #ag4 ,mr4 ,burke said4 ,reflections on the ,revolution in ,france 7,select ,works1 ed4 ,payne1 ,,ii4 #ajb74 #cg4 ,come home to the business1 etc4 ,bacon1 ,dedication to the ,essays4 ,ultima ratio regum4 ,see vol4 ,,iii41 note to p4 #dd4 #8,there's the rub1' etc4 #8,there's the respect that makes calamity of so long life4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #cg4 #8,a compost heap4' ,cf4 #8,a new accession to the loaded compost heap of corrupt influence4' ,burke1 ,speech on ,economical ,reform 7,works1 ,bohn1 ,,ii4 #aji74 #ci4 #8,what6 man1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 ,the passage in the same play4 ,ib41 ,act ,i4 ,scene #f4 #dj4 ,the ,judgment of ,solomon4 ,in the ,louvre ,gallery4 #8,sure trailing4' ,cf4 #8,and ,i do think1 or else this brain of mine ,hunts not the trail of policy so sure ,as it hath used to do4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #8,as if his will1' etc4 ,hazlitt quotes from one of his own notices of ,kean's ,richard 7,morning ,chronicle1 ,feb4 #ae1 #ahad74 ,painter in his fight with ,oliver4 ,edward ,painter 7#aghd-aheb7 was defeated by ,tom ,oliver 7#aghb-ahfd7 in ,may #ahad1 but defeated him in ,july #ahbj4 #da4 ,the figure of ,elymas4 ,in one of the ,cartoons4 ,,essay ,v4 ,,the ,,same ,,subject ,,continued4 #db4 #8,as one1 in suffering1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #8,knew all qualities1' etc4 ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #8,a pipe for the ,muse's finger1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,that they are not a pipe for fortune's finger to sound what stop she please4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #dc4 #8,to descry new lands1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,i4 #bij-a4 #8,fierce extremes1' etc4 ,ib4 ,,ii4 #eii4 #8,of the earth1 earthy4' ,i ,corinthians1 ,,xv4 #dg4 #8,darkness that may be felt4' ,exodus1 ,x4 #ba4 #8,palpable obscure4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ii4 #djf4 #dd4 #8,look abroad into universality4' ,bacon1 ,,advancement ,,of ,,learning1 ,book ,i4 #8,content with riches fineless4' ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #8,poor as ,winter4' ,ib4 #8,self-involved1 not dark4' ,cf4 #8,pensive1 not sad2 in thought involved1 not dark4' ,thomson1 ,the ,castle of ,indolence1 ,canto ,i4 ,stanza #eg4 #8,enjoys bright day4' ,comus1 #chb4 #8,kept the noiseless tenour of his way4' ,gray's ,elegy1 ,stanza #ai4 #8,finds tongues1' etc4 ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 #8,the meanest flow'r1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,ode1 ,intimations of ,immortality4 #de4 #8,yet ,i'll remember thee1' etc4 ,burns1 ,lament for ,james1 ,earl of ,glencairn4 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 in endeavouring1 etc4 ,cf4 the essays #8,on ,certain ,inconsistencies in ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's ,discourses1 ante1 pp4 #abb et seq4 #df4 ,the admirable ,crichton4 ,james ,crichton 7#aefj-aehe874 ,jedediah ,buxton4 ,for ,jedidiah ,buxton 7#agjg-aggb7 see ,gentleman's ,magazine1 ,june #aged4 ,note4 #8,the force of dulness1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,the force of ,nature could no further go4' ,dryden1 ,under ,mr4 ,milton's ,picture4 #di4 ,mediocribus esse1 etc4 ,horace1 ,ars ,poetica1 #cgb-c4 ,i find from ,adam ,smith4 ,wealth of ,nations1 ,book ,i4 chap4 i4 ,those nonsensical stories about ,lopez de ,vega4 ,see ,lord ,holland's ,some ,account of the life and writings of ,lope ,felix de ,vega ,carpio 7#ahjf71 pp4 #ge-hb4 #ej4 ,why does ,mr4 ,kean1 etc4 ,see the volume containing ,hazlitt's theatrical criticisms4 ,,essay ,,vi4 ,,character ,,of ,,cobbett #eh4 ,this essay was afterwards republished in the second edition of ,the ,spirit of the ,age4 ,see vol4 ,,iv4 pp4 #ccd-cdc1 and notes thereto4 ,,essay ,,vii4 ,,on ,,people ,,with ,,one ,,idea #ei4 ,major ,c--4 ,john ,cartwright 7#agdj-ahbd71 major in the ,nottinghamshire ,militia1 and author of a large number of tracts1 chiefly on parliamentary reform4 #fj4 ,like the story of the ,cosmogony4 ,the ,vicar of ,wakefield1 chap4 xiv4 ,nihil humani1 etc4 ,terence1 ,heautontimorumenos1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,a fee-grief' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #fa4 ,as ,cicero says of study4 #8,haec studia adolescentiam alunt1 senectutem oblectant1' etc4 ,cicero1 ,pro ,archia1 ,,vii4 #af4 ,as ,sancho1 etc4 ,don ,quixote1 ,second ,part1 ,book ,,ii4 chap4 xxxi4 ,dulce ridentem1 etc4 ,horace1 ,odes1 ,i4 xxii41 #bc-d4 #8,rings the world1' etc4 ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,,iii4 #abi-acj4 #fb4 ,abernethy4 ,john ,abernethy 7#agfd-ahca71 whose chief work1 ,an ,essay on the ,constitutional ,origin of ,local ,diseases1 appeared in #ahjf4 #fc4 ,alderman ,wood4 ,sir ,matthew ,wood 7#agfh-ahdc71 lord mayor #ahae-af1 and member for the city from #ahag till his death1 had recently 7#ahbj7 made himself notorious as a champion of ,queen ,caroline4 ,a conceited fellow about town1 etc4 ,hazlitt probably refers to ,wirgmann1 the goldsmith1 of whom ,crabb ,robinson gives an amusing account in his ,diary 7#ahgb ed47 ,vol4 ,i4 pp4 #caj-caa4 ,a friend of mine4 ,john ,fearn 7#agfh-ahcg71 of whom ,hazlitt gives some account in the following page4 ,the essay referred to was ,an ,essay on ,consciousness 7#bnd ed4 #dto1 #ahab74 ,hazlitt quotes a long passage from the ,essay in ,why ,distant ,objects ,please4 ,see ante1 pp4 #bfj-b4 #fd4 #8,poor1 unfledged1' etc4 ,cymbeline1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #fe4 ,as ,goldsmith said4 ,see ,boswell's ,life of ,johnson 7ed4 ,g4 ,b4 ,hill71 ,,iii4 #beb4 ,yet his ,treatise on ,human ,nature1 etc4 #8,never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my ,treatise of ,human ,nature4 ,it fell dead-born from the press1' etc4 ,the ,life of ,david ,hume1 ,esq4 ,written by ,himself4 ,a celebrated lyrical writer4 ,wordsworth4 ,the motto in the title-page4 #8,for why8 ,because the good old rule ,sufficeth them3 the simple plan1 ,that they should take1 who have the power1 ,and they should keep who can4' ,wordsworth1 ,rob ,roy's ,grave4 ,note #a4 ,the ,excursion was published in a #dto volume in #ahad4 ,note #b4 ,talk we of one ,master ,launcelot4 ,merchant of ,venice1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #ff4 ,mr4 ,owen4 ,see ,political ,essays1 vol4 ,,iii4 pp4 #aba et seq4 #8,nor ,alps1' etc4 ,john ,dennis1 ,ode on the ,battle of ,aghrim1 ,st4 #c4 ,see ,the ,art of ,sinking in ,poetry 7,pope's ,works1 ed4 ,elwin and ,courthope1 ,x4 #chb74 #8,apennines' should be #8,pyrenaus4' #fg4 ,letter to ,mr4 ,william ,smith4 ,see ,political ,essays1 vol4 ,,iii4 #baj-bcb4 #8,that he puts his hand1' etc4 ,see ,the ,fudge ,family in ,paris1 ,letter ,,ii4 note #b4 #8,i love to talk1' etc4 ,coleridge1 ,the ,rime of the ,ancient ,mariner1 #eag-h4 #8,a collusion1' etc4 #8',tis true indeed3 the collusion holds in the exchange4' ,love's ,labour's ,lost1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #b4 #fh4 ,why must a man1 etc4 ,hazlitt is referring to ,wordsworth4 ,cf4 ,the ,spirit of the ,age1 vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #bgf and note4 #8,virtue extant4' ,henry ,,iv4 ,part ,i41 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #d4 #8,men were brutes without them4' ,cf4 #8,o woman6 lovely woman6 ,nature made thee ,to temper man3 we had been brutes without you4' ,otway1 ,venice ,preserved1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 ,moody in the ,country ,girl4 ,garrick's ,country ,girl1 altered from ,wycherley's ,country ,wife1 was produced in #agff4 ,m--4 ,lamb's friend1 ,thomas ,manning 7#aggb-ahdj74 ,l4 ,h4 ,leigh ,hunt4 #fi4 #8,stand accountant1' etc4 ,othello1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 #8,its palaces1' etc4 ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,i4 #fdc-d4 #8,with them conversing1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iv4 #fci-dj4 ,,essay ,,viii4 ,,on ,,the ,,ignorance ,,of ,,the ,,learned ,first published in the ,scots' ,magazine 7,new ,series71 ,july #ahah1 vol4 ,,iii4 pp4 #ee et seq4 ,hazlitt refers to this essay in ,a ,letter to ,william ,gifford 7vol4 ,i41 p4 #chb74 #gj4 #8,for the more languages1' etc4 ,satire upon the ,abuse of ,human ,learning1 #eg-fh4 #8,spectacles4' ,dryden says of ,shakespeare1 #8he needed not the spectacles of books to read ,nature4' ,essay of ,dramatic ,poesy 7,essays1 ed4 ,ker1 ,i4 #hj74 #ga4 #8,leave me to my repose4' #8,leave me1 leave me to repose1' the refrain of the ,prophetess in ,gray's ,the ,vegtam's ,kivitha4 ,the line is quoted by ,burke in ,a ,letter to a ,noble ,lord 7,works1 ,bohn1 ,v4 #aab74 #8,take up his bed and walk4' ,st4 ,matthew1 ix4 #f4 #8,enfeebles all internal strength of thought4' ,goldsmith1 ,the ,traveller1 #bgj4 #8,sweats in the eye of ,phbus4' ,henry ,v41 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 #gb4 #8,th' enthusiast ,fancy1' etc4 #8,the truant fancy was a wanderer ever4' ,lamb1 ,fancy ,employed on ,divine ,subjects1 ,i4 #a4 ,the least respectable character4 ,hazlitt is probably referring to ,canning4 #gc4 ,a person of this class4 ,charles ,burney1 ,d4,d4 7#ageg-ahag71 whose ,remarks on the ,greek ,verses of ,milton appeared in #agij4 ,dr4 --4 ,hazlitt refers to ,charles ,burney 7see last note7 and ,dr4 ,parr4 ,cf4 a similar passage in ,the ,examiner1 vol4 ,i4 p4 #dbe4 #gd4 #8,the mighty world of eye and ear4' ,wordsworth1 ,lines composed a few miles above ,tintern ,abbey1 #aje-f4 #8,knowledge quite shut out4' #8,and wisdom at one entrance quite shut out4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iii4 #ej4 #8,of the colouring of ,titian1' etc4 ,tristram ,shandy1 ,,iii4 #ab4 ,the ,elgin marbles4 ,see ,the ,round ,table1 vol4 ,i4 p4 #adc and note4 #8,knows no touch of it4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #8,the art and practique1' etc4 ,henry ,v41 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,has no skill in surgery4' ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,i41 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #gf4 ,baxter4 ,cf4 the essay #8,on ,people of ,sense' in the ,plain ,speaker1 vol4 ,,vii4 p4 #bdc4 #8,wink and shut1' etc4 ,prologue to ,marston's ,antonio's ,revenge 7,history of ,antonio and ,mellida1 ,part ,,ii474 ,laud1 etc4 ,william ,laud 7#aegc-afde71 and ,john ,whitgift 7#aecj8-afjd71 ,archbishops of ,canterbury2 ,george ,bull 7#afcd-agaj71 ,bishop of ,st4 ,david's1 author of ,defensio ,fidei ,nicenae 7#afhe7 and other theological works2 ,daniel ,waterland 7#afhc-agdj71 whose works were edited in eleven vols4 in #ahbc-ahbh1 was not a bishop2 ,humphrey ,prideaux 7#afdh-agbd71 whose ,old and ,new ,testament connected 444 to the ,time of ,christ first appeared in two folio volumes #agaf-agah2 ,isaac de ,beausobre 7#afei-agch71 the ,huguenot writer2 ,augustine ,calmet 7#afgb-ageg72 ,samuel1 ,baron von ,puffendorf 7#afcb-afid7 and ,emric de ,vattel 7#agad-agfg71 the jurists2 ,joseph ,justus ,scaliger 7#aedj-afji72 ,jerome ,cardan 7#aeja-aegf71 and ,kaspar ,schoppe 7#aegf-afdi74 #gf4 #8,gone to the vault of all the ,capulets4' ,see vol4 ,i4 note to p4 #aej4 ,,essay ,,ix4 ,,the ,,indian ,,jugglers #gi4 ,note4 ,it was at ,truro that ,opie1 who had already acquired some practice as a portrait painter1 met with ,john ,wolcot 7#agch-ahai74 #hj4 ,i was at that time employed1 etc4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1 ,i4 xvi4 #8,in argument1' etc4 ,the ,deserted ,village1 #baa-b4 #ha4 #8,to allow for the wind4' ,ivanhoe1 chap4 xiii4 #8,human face divine4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iii4 #dd4 #hb4 ,h--s and ,h--s4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt in his edition of ,table ,talk prints #8,haydons and ,h--s4' #8,in tones and gestures hit4' #8,in tones and numbers hit4' ,paradise ,regained1 ,,iv4 #bee4 ,to snatch this grace1 etc4 ,an unacknowledged quotation from ,pope1 ,essay on ,criticism1 #aec4 #8,commercing with the skies4' ,il ,penseroso1 #ci4 #hc4 #8,thrills in each nerve1' etc4 ,cf4 #8a sudden horror chill ,ran through each nerve1 and thrilled in ev'ry vein4' ,addison1 ,milton's ,style ,imitated1 #abc-d4 #8,half flying1 half on foot4' #8,half on foot1 half flying4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ii4 #ida-b4 ,i know an individual4 ,leigh ,hunt1 no doubt4 ,hazlitt's son dedicated the third edition of ,table ,talk #8to ,leigh ,hunt1 whom the author alike admired and esteemed2 the 8,rochester without the vice1 the modern ,surrey10 whom he celebrates in one of these ,essays4' #hd4 ,nug canor4 ,horace1 ,ars ,poetica1 #cbb4 ,themistocles said4 ,see ,north's ,plutarch 7ed4 ,rouse1 ,temple ,classics1 ,,ii4 #c74 ,hazlitt probably read the story in ,bacon1 ,advancement of ,learning1 ,book ,i4 #he4 ,napier's bones4 ,hazlitt refers1 apparently1 to ,john ,napier 7#aeej-afag71 the inventor of logarithms4 #8,he dies1' etc4 #8,lady1 you are the cruell'st she alive1 ,if you will lead these graces to the grave ,and leave the world no copy4' ,twelfth ,night1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 ,john ,hunter4 ,john ,hunter 7#agbh-agic74 ,sir ,humphry ,davy4 ,sir ,humphry ,davy 7#aggh-ahbi74 #hf4 #8,great scholar's memory1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #hg4 #8,care mounted1' etc4 #8,post equitem sedet atra cura4' ,horace1 ,odes1 ,,iii4 l4 #dj4 #8,in the instant4' #8,and ,i feel now ,the future in the instant4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #hg4 #8,domestic treason1' etc4 ,ib4 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #hh4 ,rosemary ,branch4 ,a much frequented tavern at ,peckham4 ,copenhagen-house4 ,a tavern and tea-garden #8in the fields north of the metropolis1 between ,maiden-lane1 the old road to ,highgate on the west1 and the very ancient north road1 or bridle-way1 called ,hogbush-lane1 on the east4' ,see ,hone's ,every ,day ,book 7,i4 #heh et seq471 where an interesting account of the house is given1 and the greater part of ,hazlitt's account of ,cavanagh is reproduced4 #hi4 ,the ,fleet or ,king's ,bench4 ,the ,fleet ,prison in ,farringdon ,street and the ,king's ,bench ,prison in ,southwark1 where there were open ground racket courts4 #8,who enters here4' ,hazlitt may have been recalling the lines in ,the ,dunciad1 7,,iv4 #eah-i73 #8,which whoso tastes1 forgets his former friends1 ,sire1 ,ancestors1 ,himself1' etc4 ,sutton4 ,charles ,manners ,sutton1 first ,viscount ,canterbury 7#aghj-ahde71 was elected ,speaker on ,june #b1 #ahag4 #8,let no rude hand1' etc4 #8,may no rude hand deface it1 ,and its forlorn hic jacet4' ,wordsworth1 ,ellen ,irwin1 #ee-f4 ,,essay ,x4 ,,on ,,living ,,to ,,one',s-,,self #ij4 #8,remote1 unfriended1' etc4 ,goldsmith1 ,the ,traveller1 l4 #a4 ,winterslow4 ,hazlitt's wife inherited some cottages at ,winterslow1 a small village six or seven miles from ,salisbury on the ,andover road1 and in one of these cottages a part of their early married life was spent4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1 ,i4 #afh et seq41 where an account is given of a visit paid to ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,hazlitt by ,charles and ,mary ,lamb4 ,after #ahai 7see ,memoirs ,,ii4 #af7 ,hazlitt began to frequent ,winterslow ,hut or the ,pheasant ,inn1 where many of his essays 7collected under the title of #8,winterslow'7 were written4 #8,while ,heavn's chancel-vault1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,when the chill rain begins at shut of eve ,in dull ,november1 and their chancel vault1 ,the ,heaven itself1 is blinded throughout night4' ,keats1 ,hyperion1 ,,ii4 #cf-h4 #ia4 ,he hears the tumult1 etc4 #8,i behold ,the tumult and am still4' ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,,iv4 #ii-ajj4 #8,the man whose eye1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,lines left upon a ,seat in a ,yew-tree1 etc4 7#8,poems written in youth'7 ll4 #ee-i4 #ib4 #8,to see the children1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,ode1 ,intimations of ,immortality1 #agj-a4 ,nicholson4 ,william ,nicholson 7#agec-ahae74 #8,never ending1 still beginning4' ,dryden1 ,alexander's ,feast1 l4 #ajb4 #8,the witchery of the soft blue sky4' ,wordsworth1 ,peter ,bell1 l4 #bfe4 #ic4 ,goldsmith1 etc4 ,hazlitt had probably read the story in ,northcote's ,life of ,reynolds1 where the scene is laid at ,antwerp4 ,the incident really occurred at ,lisle1 while ,goldsmith was on his way to ,paris with the ,hornecks4 ,we have ,miss ,horneck's authority for believing that the story1 as told by ,northcote1 and here repeated by ,hazlitt1 is much exaggerated4 ,see ,prior's ,life of ,goldsmith1 ,,ii4 #bij-a2 ,forster's ,life and ,times of ,oliver ,goldsmith1 ,,ii4 #bag2 and ,boswell's ,life of ,johnson 7ed4 ,g4 ,b4 ,hill71 ,i4 #dad and note4 #ic4 #8,whose top to climb1' etc4 ,cymbeline1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 ,exclaimed ,cromwell4 ,speech ,,xviii41 ,feb4 #d1 #afeh4 ,see ,carlyle1 ,oliver ,cromwell's ,letters and ,speeches4 #id4 #8,the insolence of office1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #8,after the heart-aches1' etc4 ,ibid4 #8,a mouse1' etc4 ,webster's ,the ,duchess of ,malfi1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 ,says ,rousseau4 ,la ,nouvelle ,hlose1 ,v4 ,lettre ,,iii4 7dit4 ,firmin-,didot1 p4 #ebi note74 #8,some demon1' etc4 ,pope1 ,moral ,essays1 ,,iv4 #af4 #ie4 ,canaletti4 ,antonio ,canal 7#afig-agfh71 the ,venetian painter1 or ,bernardo ,bellotto 7#agbd8-aghj71 his nephew4 #8,virgined it e'er since4' ,coriolanus1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #c4 ,the ,clandestine ,marriage4 ,by ,george ,colman the elder1 and ,garrick2 first produced in #agff4 #if4 #8,the baby of a girl4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #d4 #8,with what a waving air1' etc4 ,b4 ,w4 ,procter's 7,barry ,cornwall's7 ,mirandola1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #c4 ,hazlitt quoted the lines in ,liber ,amoris 7see vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #ccd71 and it is clear that here as in many other parts of ,table ,talk he is referring to the story recorded in that book4 #8,the fly that sips treacle1' etc4 ,the ,beggar's ,opera1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #8,for either1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,x4 #hih-ijh4 #ig4 ,the madman in ,don ,quixote4 #8,he loved and was abhorred2 he adored1 and was scorned2 he courted a savage2 he solicited a statue2 he pursued the wind2 he called aloud to the desert1' etc4 ,don ,quixote 7trans4 ,jarvis71 ,part ,i4 ,book ,,ii4 chap4 xiii4 #8,i have not loved the world1' etc4 ,byron1 ,childe ,harold1 ,canto ,,iii1 ,stanzas #aac and #aad4 ,note4 ,gray says the same thing about ,shenstone in a letter to ,norton ,nicholls1 ,june #bd1 #agfi 7,works1 ed4 ,gosse1 ,,iii4 #cdd-e7 quoted by ,johnson in his ,life of ,shenstone4 ,as to ,gray's dislike to having his portrait prefixed to his works1 see his letter to ,horace ,walpole1 ,january #agec 7,works1 ed4 ,gosse1 ,,ii4 #bcc et seq471 where he says3 #8,this ,i know1 if you suffer my head to be printed1 you will infallibly put me out of mine'2 and again--#8,i do assure you1 if ,i had received such a book1 with such a frontispiece1 without any warning1 ,i believe it would have given me a palsy4' #ih4 ,the man in the ,hartz mountains4 ,hazlitt refers to the well-known mirage of the ,brocken4 #8,listening its fears4' #8,listening their fear1 ,i could not say 8,amen40' ,macbeth1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #8,still1 small voice4' #a ,kings1 xix4 #ab4 ,after the ,quarterly ,review came out4 ,the review of ,characters of ,shakespear's ,plays appeared in the ,quarterly for ,jan4 #ahah 7vol4 ,,xviii4 p4 #deh74 ,taylor and ,hessey were the publishers of the ,characters4 ,the ,cockney ,school4 ,the phrase seems to have been first used in an article by ,lockhart entitled #8,on the ,cockney ,school of ,poetry1' which appeared in the first number 7,oct4 #ahag7 of the new series of ,blackwood's ,magazine4 ,that article dealt almost exclusively with ,leigh ,hunt1 but the expression became popular1 and was afterwards applied1 not only by ,blackwood's ,magazine1 but by ,the ,quarterly ,review1 to ,keats1 ,lamb1 ,shelley1 and ,hazlitt among others4 ,see ,lang's ,life of ,lockhart1 ,i4 #adf et seq41 and ,mrs4 ,oliphant's ,william ,blackwood and his ,sons1 ,i4 #acb et seq4 and #afd-g1 where a letter from ,lockhart and ,wilson to ,john ,murray is printed1 in which the writers refer to #8that happy name which you and all the reviews are now borrowing4' ,the attacks on ,keats referred to by ,hazlitt appeared in ,blackwood's ,magazine for ,aug4 #ahah 7the #dth of the #8,cockney ,school' ,series71 and in ,the ,quarterly ,review for ,april #ahah1 published in ,september4 ,it is not known who wrote the ,blackwood article2 the review in the ,quarterly was by ,croker4 ,much has been written as to the effect of these attacks on ,keats's health and happiness1 but it is obviously impossible to come to any definite conclusion4 ,keats died in ,rome on the #bcrd ,feb4 #ahba4 #ih4 #8,a bud bit1' etc4 ,romeo and ,juliet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,a huge-sized monster1' etc4 #8,a great-sized monster of ingratitudes4' ,troilus and ,cressida1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #ajj4 ,the celebrated ,bub ,doddington4 ,the ,diary of ,george ,bubb ,dodington 7#afia-agfb71 created ,lord ,melcombe in #agfa1 was posthumously published in #aghd4 ,my soul1 turn from them4 ,hazlitt quotes elsewhere the line 7#afe7 from ,goldsmith's ,the ,traveller4 #8,my soul1 turn from them1 turn we to survey4' #8,far from the madding strife4' #8,far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife4' ,gray's ,elegy1 l4 #gc4 ,bolingbroke's ,reflections on ,exile4 ,written in #agaf1 published in #ageb4 #aja4 ,note4 ,see ,plutarch1 ,morals 7of ,banishment71 and ,virgil1 ,georgics1 ,i4 #f4 ,,essay ,,xi4 ,,on ,,thought ,,and ,,action ,abraham ,tucker4 ,for ,tucker1 see vol4 ,,iv4 pp4 #cga-che and notes4 #ajb4 ,louvet4 ,the ,girondin1 ,jean-,baptiste ,louvet de ,couvray 7#agfj-agig71 author of ,les ,amours du ,chevalier de ,faublas4 ,note4 ,cf4 ,hazlitt's ,life of ,napoleon 7ed4 #ahid71 ,,iii4 #bih4 ,tull's ,husbandry4 ,an edition of ,jethro ,tull's 7#afgd-agda7 ,horse-hoing ,husbandry 7#agcc7 was brought out by ,cobbett in #ahbb4 #8,tut6 will you baulk a man1' etc4 #8,shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour8' ,much ,ado ,about ,nothing1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #c4 #8,no figures1' etc4 ,julius ,csar1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 #ajd4 ,chapter of ,accidents4 ,apparently ,lord ,chesterfield 7,letter1 ,feb4 #af1 #agec7 was the first person who is known to have used this phrase4 ,southey in ,the ,doctor 7chap4 cxviii47 attributes to ,john ,wilkes the saying1 similar to ,hazlitt's1 that #8the chapter of accidents is the longest chapter in the book4' ,and -- -- for love6 ,possibly ,hazlitt refers to himself4 #aje4 #8,measure with a two-foot rule1' etc4 ,burke1 ,regicide ,peace 7ed4 ,payne71 p4 #aje4 ,quicquid agit1 etc4 ,see note to vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #cca4 #8,curtailing him1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,i1 that am curtail'd of this fair proportion1 ,cheated of feature by dissembling nature1' etc4 ,richard ,,iii41 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #ajg4 ,arbela4 ,the city which gives its name to the battle in which ,alexander finally defeated ,darius 7,b4,c4 #cca74 #aji4 #8,to be wise1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,let it be virtuous to be obstinate4' ,coriolanus1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #c4 ,any more than ,st4 ,augustine was1 etc4 ,the allusion is to an incident which took place at the house of ,boileau1 when ,la ,fontaine1 ,racine1 and ,boileau's brother were present4 ,the latter had been holding forth on the merits of ,st4 ,augustine1 when ,la ,fontaine1 who had been listening half asleep1 said3 #8,was he as witty as ,rabelais8' ,boileau's brother replied1 #8,be careful1 ,m4 la ,fontaine1 one of your stockings is wrong side out4' #8,all tranquillity and smiles4' ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,,iv4 #di4 #aaj4 ,abraham ,cowley has left1 etc4 #8,a ,vision1 concerning his late pretended ,highness1 ,cromwell the ,wicked1' etc4 7#affa74 #8,sharp and sweet4' #8,and be as sharp as sweet4' ,all's ,well that ,ends ,well1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #d4 #aaa4 ,william ,mudford 7#aghb-ahdh71 at this time editor of ,the ,courier1 afterwards a well-known contributor to ,blackwood's ,magazine1 published in #ahag1 ,an ,historical ,account of the ,campaign in the ,netherlands in #ahae1 under the ,duke of ,wellington and ,prince ,blucher1 in which he was assisted by the ,duke4 ,nor does ,horace seem to give1 etc4 ,see ,odes1 ,,ii4 #g1 where he tells us that he left his shield ingloriously behind him at ,philippi1 and ,epod4 ,i4 where he describes himself as #8imbellis ac firmus parum4' #8,from every work1' etc4 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,i4 ,canto iv4 ,stanza #bj4 #8,better be lord1' etc4 #8,and to be lord of those that riches have ,than them to have my selfe1 and be their servile sclave4' ,ib4 ,book ,,ii4 ,canto vii4 ,stanza #cc4 #aab4 ,sir ,william --4 ,sir ,william ,curtis 7#ageb-ahbi71 a staunch ,tory and friend of ,george ,,iv41 ,lord ,mayor 7#agie-agif7 and ,member for the ,city 7#agij-ahag and #ahbj-ahbf74 ,alderman --4 ,robert ,waithman 7#agfd-ahcc71 perhaps1 ,curtis's radical opponent for the representation of the ,city4 ,note4 #8,dish of skimmed milk4' #8,o1 ,i could divide myself1 and go to buffets1 for moving such a dish of skim milk with so honourable an action4' ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,i4 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #c4 #aac4 ,the cave of ,mammon4 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,,ii4 ,canto vii4 ,the founder of ,guy's ,hospital4 ,thomas ,guy 7#afde-agbd71 bookseller in ,cornhill1 is said to have begun by importing ,english ,bibles printed in ,holland4 ,the bulk of his fortune was made by successful dealings in ,south ,sea stock4 ,the residue of his estate1 devoted to the founding of the hospital1 amounted to #bjj1jjj4 ,,essay ,,xii4 ,,on ,,will-,,making #aaf4 ,a will of one of the ,thellussons4 ,the famous will of ,peter ,thellusson 7#agcg-agig71 who directed the income of his property to be accumulated during the lives of all his children1 grandchildren1 and great grandchildren1 living at the time of his death4 ,the will was upheld1 but an ,act1 commonly called the ,thellusson ,act 7#ci and #dj ,george ,,iii4 c4 #ih7 was passed to prevent the repetition of such accumulations4 #aag4 ,i have heard of a singular instance1 etc4 ,in ,notes and ,queries 7#ast ,series1 ,x4 #eca7 a correspondent1 signing himself #8,w4 ,m4 ,t4'1 states that in a volume of ,hazlitt's ,works in his possession the ,essay #8,on ,will-making' has a marginal note in the handwriting of ,wordsworth4 ,the note is as follows3--#8,this story must have come from me4 ,it is exaggerated here4 ,the person was a school-fellow of mine1 and ,i had the particulars of his will from a brother of one his executors4 ,he did not bequeath large estates1 etc41 but very considerable sums of money to different relatives and friends2 without being possessed of a sixpence1 or having reason to believe that he was4 ,w4 ,wordsworth4' #aah4 ,diamond cut ,diamond4 ,as old at any rate as ,ford4 ,see ,the ,lover's ,melancholy1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #c4 ,ben ,jonson's ,volpone4 ,first acted in #afje4 ,the will of ,nicholas ,gimcrack4 ,the ,tatler1 ,no4 #baf 7,by ,addison74 #abj4 #8,even from the tomb1' etc4 ,gray's ,elegy1 #ia-b4 ,memoirs of an ,heiress4 ,frances ,burney's ,cecilia1 or ,the ,memoirs of an ,heiress 7#aghb74 ,dyot-,street4 ,this name was restored in #ahgg4 ,the street was named after ,richard ,dyot4 ,wheatley and ,cunningham's ,london ,past and ,present1 ,i4 #edd4 #8,the foxes1' etc4 ,st4 ,matthew1 viii4 #bj4 ,lord ,camelford4 ,thomas ,pitt1 second ,lord ,camelford 7#agge-ahjd71 killed in a duel4 ,the war rendered it impossible for his body to be taken to ,switzerland4 ,sir ,francis ,bourgeois4 ,sir ,peter ,francis ,bourgeois 7#agef-ahaa71 the painter1 bequeathed a large number of pictures to ,dulwich ,college4 ,note4 ,kellerman4 ,franois ,christophe1 ,duke of ,valmy 7#agce-ahbj74 ,note4 ,as the basil-tree grew1 etc4 ,boccaccio1 ,the ,decameron1 ,fourth ,day1 ,novel #e4 ,,essay ,,xiii4 ,,on ,,certain ,,inconsistencies ,,in ,,sir ,,joshua ,,reynolds',s ,,discourses ,cf4 six papers which ,hazlitt contributed to ,the ,champion 7,oct4 #cj1 ,nov4 #f1 ,nov4 #bg1 ,dec4 #d1 ,dec4 #be1 #ahad1 and ,jan4 #h1 #ahae7 on ,reynolds as a painter and a critic4 #abc4 #8,you take my house1' etc4 ,merchant of ,venice1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 #abd4 #8,ascending the brightest heaven of invention4' ,henry ,v41 ,prologue4 ,carlo ,maratti4 #afbe-agac4 #abh4 #8,it loses some colour4' ,othello1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #acj4 #8,not once perceive1' etc4 ,comus1 #gd-e4 ,note4 ,boucher4 ,franois ,boucher 7#agjc-aggj74 ,,essay ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,same ,,subject ,,continued #aca4 ,two papers in the ,idler4 ,nos4 #gf and #hb4 #acc4 ,denner's style4 ,balthasar ,denner 7#afhe-agdi71 the ,german painter1 whose too minute detail is often referred to by ,hazlitt4 #acd4 #8,of late reformed1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #8,what word1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ix4 #aadd4 #acf4 ,what was said of ,virgil4 ,addison1 in his ,essay on ,virgil's ,georgics1 says3--#8,he breaks the clods and tosses the dung about with an air of gracefulness4' ,cf4 also #8,hence mighty ,virgil's said1 of old1 ,from dung to have extracted gold1' etc4 ,butler1 ,satire upon ,plagiaries1 #hg et seq4 #ade4 ,dr4 ,johnson's ,irene4 ,produced at ,drury ,lane in #agdi4 ,,essay ,,xv4 ,,on ,,paradox ,,and ,,common-,,place #adf4 #8,putting in one scale1' etc4 ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,,iv4 #dhd-f4 #adg4 #8,apprehensive1 forgetive4' ,henry ,,iv4 ,part ,,ii4 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #adh4 #8,the powers that be4' ,romans1 ,,xiii4 #a4 ,holy ,oil4 ,the coronation of ,george ,,iv4 7,july #ai1 #ahba7 was imminent4 #8,all trivial1 fond records4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #8,he never is1' etc4 ,a variation of ,pope's well-known line1 ,essay on ,man1 ,i4 #if4 ,the author of the ,prometheus ,unbound1 etc4 ,the passage which follows on ,shelley led to a quarrel between ,hazlitt and ,leigh ,hunt4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt 7,,ii4 #cje et seq471 where two letters from ,hunt to ,hazlitt and one from ,hunt to ,shelley are published2 and ,four ,generations of a ,literary ,family 7,i4 #acj-ace71 where a long letter from ,hazlitt to ,hunt is published for the first time4 ,the quarrel was made up1 but ,hazlitt never cared for ,shelley's poetry4 ,see his article in ,the ,edinburgh ,review 7,july #ahbd7 on ,shelley's ,posthumous ,poems4 #8,and in its liquid texture1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,vi4 #cdh-i4 #adi4 #8,seas of pearl1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,lutes1 laurels1 seas of milk1 and ships of amber4' ,otway1 ,venice ,preserved1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #b4 ,coleridge more than once quoted the line as an example of fanciful delirium4 ,see ,biographia ,literaria 7chap4 iv47 and ,crabb ,robinson's ,diary 7,nov4 #ae1 #ahaj74 ,play round the head1 etc4 #8,plays round the head1 but comes not to the heart4' ,pope1 ,essay on ,man1 ,,iv4 #bed4 #aej4 #8,at the horizon4' #8,their humanity is at their horizon4' ,burke1 ,a ,letter to a ,noble ,lord 7,works1 ,bohn1 ,v4 #adb74 #8,while you are talking of marrying1' etc4 ,the ,beggar's ,opera1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #aea4 ,the present poet-laureate4 ,southey4 #8,poets 7as it has been said7' etc4 ,hazlitt quotes from his own review of ,coleridge's ,literary ,life in ,the ,edinburgh ,review for ,august1 #ahag 7,vol4 ,,xxviii4 pp4 #ead-e74 #8,such seething brains4' ,cf4 #8,lovers and madmen have such seething brains1' etc4 ,a ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #aeb4 ,note4 ,twice have the dastard1 vaunting1 venal crew1 etc4 ,the reference is of course to ,southey and ,wordsworth4 ,see many passages in ,political ,essays4 ,note4 ,like ,cacus's oxen4 neid1 ,,viii4 #bji et seq4 ,note4 #8,rout on rout1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ii4 #iie-f4 ,note4 #8,deliverance for mankind4' ,southey's ,carmen ,triumphale4 ,note4 #8,the ,camomil1' etc4 #8,the camomile1 the more it is trodden on the faster it grows4' ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,i4 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #d4 #aec4 ,note4 ,troja fuit4 #8,et ,thebae steterunt1 altaque ,troja fuit4' ,propertius1 ,elegies1 ,,ii4 #h4 #aed4 ,like ,mr4 ,cobbett's #8,gold against ,paper4' ,the first of ,cobbett's articles on #8,paper against ,gold' appeared in the ,political ,register on ,sept4 #a1 #ahaj4 ,the articles were afterwards collected and published in separate form4 ,lord ,bacon's axiom4 ,advancement of ,learning1 ,book ,i4 ,v4 #a4 #8,but of this be sure1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,i4 #aeh-i4 #aee4 #8,ambling and lisping1' etc4 #8,you jig1 you amble1 and you lisp1 and nickname ,god's creatures4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #aef4 ,edgar's exaggerations to ,gloster4 ,king ,lear1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #f4 ,mr4 ,montgomery4 ,james ,montgomery 7#agga-ahed71 while editor of ,the ,sheffield ,iris1 suffered two terms of imprisonment 7#agie-agif71 but not in connection with the ,duke of ,richmond's ,letter on ,reform1 which was originally published in #aghc4 ,spain1 as ,ferdinand1 etc4 ,in ,march #ahbj1 in consequence of a revolution in ,spain1 ,ferdinand ,,vii4 was forced to accept the constitution of #ahab1 and the suppression of the ,inquisition1 but in ,october of the same year1 as the result of ,french intervention1 absolutism was restored4 ,this essay would appear to have been written between these two dates4 ,,essay ,,xvi4 ,,on ,,vulgarity ,,and ,,affectation #8,thin partitions1' etc4 ,dryden1 ,absalom and ,achitophel1 ,part ,i4 #afd4 #aeg4 #8,a feather will turn1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,the weight of a hair will turn the scales between their avoirdupois' 7,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,,ii4 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #d71 and #8,go to1 sir2 you weigh equally2 a feather will turn the scale' 7,measure for ,measure1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #b74 #8,great ,vulgar and the ,small4' ,cowley1 ,horace1 ,odes1 ,,iii4 #a4 #aei4 #8,have eyes and see them4' #8,eyes have they1 but they see not4' ,psalms1 ,,cxv4 #e4 #8,lovers of low company4' #8,kings are naturally lovers of low company4' ,burke1 ,speech on ,economical ,reform 7,works1 ,bohn1 ,,ii4 #ajf74 #afj4 #8,i like it1' etc4 ,the reference seems to be to ,evelina1 ,letter ,,xxi4 ,janus ,weathercock1 ,esq4 ,one of the pseudonyms of the notorious poisoner ,thomas ,griffiths ,wainewright 7#agid-aheb74 ,he and ,hazlitt were in #ahbj fellow-contributors to ,the ,london ,magazine4 ,for the matters referred to in this paragraph of the text1 see ,hazlitt's ,dramatic ,essays1 especially the essay reprinted from ,the ,london ,magazine for ,july #ahbj4 ,for an account of ,wainewright see the introduction to ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt's selection of ,wainewright's ,essays and ,criticisms 7#ahhj74 ,the article to which ,hazlitt replies had appeared in ,the ,london ,magazine for ,june #ahbj 7vol4 ,i4 p4 #fcj7 under the title of #8,janus's ,jumble4' ,note4 #8,dip it in the ocean1' etc4 ,the ,sentimental ,journey1 ,the ,wig1 ,paris4 #afa4 ,milaine #8with the foot of fire4' ,see ,hazlitt's ,dramatic ,essays4 #8,swallows total grist1' etc4 ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,,vi4 #ajh4 ,emery's ,yorkshireman4 ,the character of ,tyke in ,morton's ,the ,school for ,reform4 ,cf4 ,hazlitt's ,dramatic ,essays4 #afb4 #8,a stamp1' etc4 #8,a stamp exclusive and professional4' ,leigh ,hunt1 ,the ,story of ,rimini1 ,,iii4 #cb4 #8,gabble most brutishly4' #8,but wouldst gabble like ,a thing most brutish4' ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #afb4 #8,his speech bewrayeth him4' ,st4 ,matthew1 xxvi4 #gc4 ,servum pecus imitatorum4 #8,o imitatores1 servum pecus4' ,horace1 ,epistles1 ,i4 xix4 #ai4 #8,an author1' etc4 ,young1 ,epistles to ,mr4 ,pope1 ,,ii4 #ae-af4 #afc4 ,odi profanum vulgus1 etc4 ,horace1 ,odes1 ,,iii4 #a4 ,vice by losing1 etc4 ,burke1 ,reflections on the ,revolution in ,france 7,select ,works1 ed4 ,payne71 ,,ii4 #hi4 #afd4 #8,making mops and mows4' ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 #8,go thou1' etc4 ,st4 ,luke1 x4 #cg4 ,eastward ,hoe4 ,published in #afje4 ,the authors were sent to prison for this comedy4 #afe4 ,millamant4 ,in ,congreve's ,the ,way of the ,world 7#agjj74 #8,worn in their newest gloss4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #g4 #8,and all was conscience1' etc4 ,chaucer1 ,canterbury ,tales1 ,prologue1 #aej4 #aff4 ,note4 ,new ,way to pay ,old ,debts4 ,massinger's famous ,comedy1 published in #afcc4 #afg4 ,hogarth's ,merveilleuses in ,bedlam4 ,hazlitt refers to the eighth plate of ,the ,rake's ,progress4 ,cf4 his ,essay #8,on the ,works of ,hogarth1' vol4 viii4 p4 #adc4 ,cuckold's ,point4 ,not on the coast of ,essex1 but near ,deptford in ,kent4 ,it was the meeting-place for the riotous mobs who afterwards marched to the ,horn-,fair at ,charlton on ,oct4 #ah4 ,see ,brand's ,popular ,antiquities1 ,,ii4 #aid4 #afh4 ,the proverbs about the mistress's eye4 #8,the mistress's eye feeds the capon4' #8,the master's eye makes the horse fat4' ,see ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt's ,english ,proverbs and ,proverbial ,phrases 7#ahhb74 ,,essay ,,xvii4 ,,on ,a ,,landscape ,,of ,,nicolas ,,poussin #8,table ,talk1 ,no4 ,,xi41' from ,the ,london ,magazine1 ,august #ahba 7vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #agf74 #8,and blind ,orion1' etc4 ,keats1 ,endymion1 ,,ii4 #aih4 #8,a hunter of shadows1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,the huge ,orion1 of portentous size1 ,swift through the gloom a giant-hunter flies4' ,pope1 ,homer's ,odyssey1 ,,xi4 #gjc-d4 ,and having lost an eye1 etc4 ,for offering violence to ,merope1 ,orion was blinded by her father ,oenopion with the assistance of ,dionysus4 #8,grey dawn1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,vii4 #cgc-d4 #afi4 #8,shadowy sets off4' #8,full-orbed the moon1 and1 with more pleasing light1 ,shadowy sets off the face of things4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,v4 #db-c4 #8,denote a foregone conclusion4' ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #8,take up the isles1' etc4 ,isaiah1 xl4 #ae4 #8,so potent art4' ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #agj4 #8,more than natural4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #8,gives to airy nothing1' etc4 ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 ,note4 ,his ,life lately published4 ,mrs4 ,graham's 7,lady ,callcott's7 ,memoirs of the ,life of ,nicholas ,poussin 7#ahbj74 ,see pp4 #ce-f4 ,note4 ,mr4 ,west4 ,benjamin ,west 7#agch-ahbj7 succeeded ,reynolds as president of the ,royal ,academy in #agib4 #aga4 ,his ,plague of ,athens4 ,the ,plague at ,ashdod1 in the ,louvre4 ,a repetition of this picture1 formerly in the ,colonna ,palace at ,rome1 was presented to the ,national ,gallery in #ahch4 ,his picture of the ,deluge4 ,in the ,louvre4 #8,o'er-informed4' #8,and o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay4' ,dryden1 ,absalom and ,achitophel1 ,part ,i4 #aeh4 #8,the very stones1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 ,a picture of ,aurora4 #8,cephalus and ,aurora' now in the ,national ,gallery4 #agb4 #8,leaping like wanton kids1' etc4 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,i4 ,canto vi4 ,stanza #ad4 ,his picture of the shepherds4 ,in the ,louvre1 a picture often referred to by ,hazlitt4 #8,the valleys low1' etc4 #8,ye valleys low1 where the mild whispers use4' ,lycidas1 #acf4 #8,within the book and volume1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #8,the sober certainty1' etc4 ,comus1 #bfc4 #8,he who knows of these delights1' etc4 #8,he who of those delights can judge1 and spare ,to interpose them oft1 is not unwise4' ,milton1 ,sonnet 7,no4 ,,xx47 ,to ,mr4 ,lawrence4 #agc4 #8,old ,genius1' etc4 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,,iii4 ,canto vi4 ,stanzas #ca and #cb4 #agd4 ,pictures are scattered1 etc4 #8,thus pleasure is spread through the earth ,in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find4' ,wordsworth1 ,stray ,pleasures4 ,the collections at ,blenheim1 etc4 ,see the volume containing ,hazlitt's art criticisms4 ,since the ,louvre is stripped1 etc4 ,the art treasures which ,napoleon had pillaged from the various countries of ,europe1 especially from ,italy1 were restored in #ahae4 ,the hunter of greatness1 etc4 ,cf4 ante1 p4 #afh4 ,napoleon died on ,may #e1 #ahba4 ,,essay ,,xviii4 ,,on ,,milton',s ,,sonnets ,published in ,the ,new ,monthly ,magazine 7#ahbb71 vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #bch1 under the title of #8,table ,talk1 ,no4 ,,iii4' #8,some fee-grief1' etc4 #8,or is it a fee-grief ,due to some single breast8' ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #8,to the height1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 l4 #bd4 #8,most musical1' etc4 ,il ,penseroso1 #fb4 #age4 #8,very tolerable1' etc4 #8,to babble and to talk is most tolerable and not to be endured4' ,much ,ado ,about ,nothing1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #8,the divine1' etc4 ,pope1 ,imitations of ,horace1 ,book ,,ii4 ,ep4 i4 #fi4 #8,from you have ,i been absent1' etc4 ,shakespeare1 ,sonnet ,,xcviii4 ,warton's ,sonnets4 ,the poems of ,thomas ,warton 7#agbh-agij7 were first collected in #aggg1 and more fully in #agia4 #agf4 ,said to be sacred to ,liberty4 ,the sonnets of which ,hazlitt speaks formed part of the #8,poems dedicated to ,national ,independence and ,liberty1' published in the ,poems of #ahjg4 #agf4 #8,oh ,virtue1' etc4 ,quoted by ,wordsworth in ,the ,excursion1 ,book ,,iii4 #gge-g4 #8,the poet blind and bold4' #8,when ,i beheld the ,poet1 blind1 yet bold4' ,andrew ,marvell1 ,on ,paradise ,lost1 ,i4 #8,such recantation1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,the ,excursion1 ,book ,,iii4 #ggh4 #8,no longer to ,kings1' etc4 ,southey1 ,vision of ,judgment1 ,,ix4 #agg4 #8,on evil days1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,vii4 #bf4 #8,cyriac1 this three years' day1' etc4 ,sonnet ,no4 ,,xxii4 ,those to ,cromwell1 to ,fairfax and to the younger ,vane4 ,nos4 ,,xv41 ,,xvi41 and ,,xvii4 ,on the late ,massacre in ,piedmont4 ,no4 ,,xviii4 #agi4 ,those to ,mr4 ,henry ,lawes1 etc4 ,nos4 ,,xiii4 and ,,xx4 ,on his deceased ,wife4 ,no4 ,,xxiii4 #ahj4 ,to suppose that ,milton only shone1 etc4 ,dr4 ,johnson in his famous ,life of ,milton says3 #8,milton never learnt the art of doing little things with grace1' etc42 and to ,hannah ,more he said 7,boswell1 ed4 ,g4 ,b4 ,hill1 ,,iv4 #cje73 #8,milton1 ,madam1 was a genius that could cut a colossus from a rock2 but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones4' ,his ,letters to ,donatus4 ,hazlitt perhaps refers to ,milton's letters to ,charles ,diodati4 #8,severe in youthful virtue unreproved4' #8and his grave rebuke ,severe in youthful beauty1 added grace ,invincible4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iv1 #hdd-f4 ,,essay ,,xix4 ,,on ,,going ,a ,,journey ,published in ,the ,new ,monthly ,magazine 7#ahbb1 vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #gc7 under the heading #8,table ,talk1 ,no4 #a4' ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt in his edition of ,table ,talk gives some variations between the printed text of this essay and the original ,,ms4 #aha4 #8,the fields his study1' etc4 ,bloomfield1 ,the ,farmer's ,boy1 ,spring1 #ca4 #8,a friend in my retreat1' etc4 ,cowper1 ,retirement1 #gda-b4 #8,may plume her feathers1' etc4 ,comus1 #cgh-hj4 #ahb4 #8,sunken wrack1' etc4 #8,with sunken wreck and sumless treasuries1' ,henry ,v41 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #8,leave1 oh1 leave me1' etc4 ,see ante1 note to p4 #ga4 #8,the very stuff of conscience4' ,othello1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #8,out upon such half-faced fellowship4' ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,i4 ,act ,i4 ,scene #c4 #ahc4 #8,give it an understanding1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 ,my old friend ,c--4 ,coleridge4 ,cf4 the essay on #8,my ,first ,acquaintance with ,poets4' #8,he talked far above singing4' #8,i did hear you talk far above singing4' ,beaumont and ,fletcher1 ,philaster1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #e4 #8,that fine madness1' etc4 #8,for that fine madness still he did retain1 ,which rightly should possess a ,poet's brain4' ,drayton1 ,censure of ,poets4 #8,here be woods as green1' etc4 ,john ,fletcher's ,the ,faithful ,shepherdess1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #c4 #ahd4 ,l--4 ,lamb4 #ahd4 #8,take one's ease at one's inn4' #8,shall ,i not take mine ease in mine inn8' ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,i4 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #8,the cups that cheer1' etc4 ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,,iv4 #ci-dj4 #ahe4 ,procul1 etc4 ,aeneid1 ,,vi4 #beh4 #8,unhoused free condition1' etc4 ,othello1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #8,lord of one's-self1' etc4 #8,lord of yourself1 uncumber'd with a wife4' ,dryden1 ,epistle to ,john ,driden1 #ah4 ,gribelin's engravings1 etc4 ,simon ,gribelin's 7#affa-agcc7 engravings of the cartoons were published in #agjg4 #ahf4 ,paul and ,virginia4 ,bernardin de ,st4 ,pierre's famous romance 7#aghh74 ,at ,bridgewater4 ,in the course of his visit to ,coleridge who lived at ,nether ,stowey4 ,see #8,my ,first ,acquaintance with ,poets4' ,madame ,d',arblay's ,camilla4 ,published in #agif4 ,the letter ,i chose1 etc4 ,la ,nouvelle ,hlose1 ,part ,,iv4 ,letter ,,xvii4 #8,green upland swells1' etc4 ,coleridge1 ,ode on the ,departing ,year1 ,,vii4 #e-f4 #8,glittered green1' etc4 ,ib4 ,,vii4 #d4 #ahg4 #8,beyond ,hyde ,park1' etc4 ,in ,sir ,george ,etherege's ,the ,man of ,mode 7,act ,v4 ,scene #b7 ,harriet says to ,dorimant3 #8,i know all beyond ,hyde ,park is a desert to you1 and that no gallantry can draw you farther4' #ahh4 #8,the mind in its own place4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,i4 #bed4 ,i once took a party1 etc4 ,hazlitt went with ,charles and ,mary ,lamb to ,oxford in ,august1 #ahaj4 ,cf4 ,hazlitt's essay #8,on the ,conversation of ,authors' in ,the ,plain ,speaker1 and ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1 l4 #agb4 #8,with glistering spires1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iii4 #eej4 ,at ,blenheim4 ,lamb refers to this visit to ,blenheim in a letter to ,hazlitt1 ,august #i1 #ahaj4 ,letters1 ed4 ,ainger1 ,i4 #bea4 #ahi4 ,dr4 ,johnson remarked4 ,see ,boswell's ,life1 ed4 ,g4 ,b4 ,hill1 ,,iii4 #ceb4 ,,essay ,,xx4 ,,on ,,coffee-,,house ,,politicians ,some variations from the ,,ms4 are given in ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt's edition of ,table ,talk4 #aij4 #8,they live and move1' etc4 ,acts1 xvii4 #bh4 ,the ,queen1 etc4 ,queen ,caroline returned to ,england in ,june #ahbj1 and died on ,august #g1 #ahba4 ,during that time her case was of course the chief topic of conversation in ,london4 ,george ,,iv4 was crowned on ,july #ai1 #ahba4 #8,that of an hour's age1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 ,the ,two-penny ,post-,bag4 ,moore's1 published in #ahac4 ,the ,westminster ,election4 ,two memorable elections took place in ,westminster in #ahai and #ahbj4 ,in the first ,hobhouse was defeated by ,george ,lamb2 in the second he was successful4 ,have nothing farther to say4 ,in the ,,ms4 this sentence is followed by #8,they are like an oyster at the ebb of the tide1 gaping for fresh tidings4' ,the ,bridge ,street ,association4 ,the ,constitutional ,association or1 as it was called by its opponents1 #8,the ,bridge ,street ,gang1' founded in #ahba #8to support the laws for suppressing seditious publications1 and for defending the country from the fatal influence of disloyalty and sedition4' ,the ,association was an ill-conducted party organisation and created so much opposition by its imprudent prosecutions that it very soon disappeared4 ,see an article in ,the ,edinburgh ,review for ,june1 #ahbb4 7,vol4 ,,xxxvii4 p4 #aaj74 ,mr4 ,cobbett's ,letter4 ,cobbett's ,letter #8,to ,mr4 ,james ,cropper1 a ,quaker ,merchant of ,liverpool1 on his letter to ,mr4 ,wilberforce relating to ,east ,india and ,west ,india ,sugar1' appeared in the ,weekly ,register on ,july #ba1 #ahba 7,vol4 ,,xl4 p4 #a47 #aia4 #8,any six of these men in buckram4' ,see ,henry ,,iv4 ,part ,i41 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #d4 ,note4 ,this note is not in the ,,ms41 but the words #8,draper' and #8,radical ,tobacco' are jotted down in the text4 ,as ,trim blew up the army1 etc4 ,tristram ,shandy1 ,,iii4 #bj4 ,note4 #8,dream on1 blest pair1' etc4 #8,sleep on1 ,blest pair6 and ,o6 yet happiest1 if ye seek ,no happier state1 and know to know no more4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iv4 #ggc-e4 #aib4 ,beaumont in his verses to ,ben ,jonson4 ,first published in #afdg4 ,the ,s--4 ,the ,southampton ,coffee ,house in ,southampton ,buildings1 at the corner of ,chancery ,lane4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt ,i4 #bia-cjj4 ,m--4 ,george ,mounsey1 of ,mounsey and ,gray1 ,solicitors in ,staple ,inn4 ,signor ,friscobaldo4 ,in ,dekker's ,the ,honest ,whore4 ,cf4 ,lectures on the ,dramatic ,literature of the ,age of ,elizabeth 7vol4 ,v4 pp4 #cce et seq474 ,the clerk of ,st4 ,andrews4 ,webster is said to have been clerk of the parish of ,st4 ,andrews1 ,holborn4 #8,within the red-leaved tables of the heart4' ,heywood's ,a ,woman ,killed with ,kindness1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #c4 #8,writ in water4' ,a phrase used by ,shakespeare 7#8their virtues we write in water1' ,henry ,,viii41 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #b7 and other ,elizabethan dramatists1 and now chiefly remembered in connection with ,keats's epitaph on himself3 #8,here lies one whose name was writ in water4' #aic4 #8,wit-skirmishes4' #8,they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them4' ,much ,ado ,about ,nothing1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,brave sublunary things4' translunary4 ,drayton1 ,elegy to ,henry ,reynolds1 ,esq4 #8,nothing but vanity1 chaotic vanity4' ,cf4 #8,o heavy lightness6 serious vanity6 ,mis-shapen chaos6' ,romeo and ,juliet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 ,the ,globe4 ,in ,fleet ,street1 formerly frequented by ,goldsmith4 ,the ,rainbow4 ,no4 #ae ,fleet ,street4 ,the tavern still exists4 ,the ,mitre4 ,johnson's ,mitre1 usually supposed to be the one in ,mitre ,court1 ,fleet ,street4 ,the older ,mitre ,tavern of ,elizabethan days was further west on the site of ,messrs4 ,hoares' ,bank4 #aid4 ,g--4 ,george ,kirkpatrick4 ,note4 ,a complete ,master ,stephen4 ,in ,ben ,jonson's ,every ,man in his ,humour4 #aie4 ,misconceiving what they say4 ,in the top-margin of the ,,ms4 the following words are jotted down3 #8,bostock1 unruffled1 ,paine1 ,knight1 ,hope4' ,it would seem that ,hazlitt had in his mind ,richard ,payne ,knight 7see ,the ,round ,table1 vol4 ,i4 p4 #adc71 and possibly the physician ,john ,bostock the younger and ,thomas ,hope the author of ,anastasius4 #8,so shall their anticipation1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 ,the ,mourning ,bride4 ,congreve's tragedy which contains 7,act ,,ii4 ,scene #c7 the famous description of a temple which ,johnson thought #8the finest poetical passage he had ever read' 7,boswell's ,life1 ed4 ,g4 ,b4 ,hill1 ,,ii4 #he74 ,no ,michael ,cassio4 #8a great arithmetician1 ,one ,michael ,cassio1 a ,florentine4' ,othello1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #aie4 ,r--4 ,roger ,kirkpatrick4 ,old ,s--4 ,sarratt1 the chess-player4 ,see p4 #aif note4 ,m--4 ,mounsey4 ,h-- and ,a--4 ,hume and ,ayrton4 ,joseph ,hume of the ,pipe ,office1 not the ,radical ,m4,p4 7,see #8,lamb's ,letters1' ed4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt1 ,i4 #cfa1 note #a71 and ,william ,ayrton1 twice ,director of the ,music at the ,king's ,theatre 7where he produced ,don ,giovanni71 better known as a regular attendant at ,lamb's ,wednesday ,evenings4 ,instead of this sentence the ms4 reads3--#8,h-- and ,a-- taking their friendly stroll in the ,park of a morning like a couple of old post-horses put out to grass4 ,him of ,cockayne who went to ,margate by water to save charges1 and another of that ilk who went by land for the better display of his person4' ,lamb describes his voyage to ,margate in #8,the ,old ,margate ,hoy4' #aif4 ,m-- ,b--4 ,lamb's friend ,martin ,burney1 the son of ,admiral ,burney4 ,m--df--rd4 ,william ,mudford1 editor of ,the ,courier 7see ante1 p4 #aaa71 wrote ,the ,contemplatist1 or ,series of ,essays upon ,morals and ,literature4 7#ahaa74 #8,as is the ribbed sea-sand4' ,coleridge says that for the lines in ,the ,ancient ,mariner 7,part ,,iv4 ,stanza #a7 #8,and thou art long1 and lank1 and brown1 ,as is the ribbed sea-sand1' he was indebted to ,wordsworth4 #8,for ,kais is fled1' etc4 ,hazlitt seems to be recalling an opera entitled #8,kais2 or ,love in the ,deserts' 7#ahjh ,drury ,lane7 by ,isaac ,brandon1 founded on ,isaac ,disraeli's romance1 #8,mejnoun and ,leila4' ,the death of ,buonaparte4 ,may #e1 #ahba4 ,dr4 ,l--4 ,dr4 ,whittle4 #aih4 ,mr4 ,canning's pension4 ,cf4 ,political ,essays1 ,vol4 ,,iii4 note to p4 #cja4 #aii4 ,m--4 ,mounsey4 ,mrs4 ,battle4 ,essays of ,elia1 ed4 ,ainger1 p4 #di4 ,the essay had recently 7,feb4 #ahba7 appeared in ,the ,london ,magazine4 ,tobin4 ,john ,tobin 7#aggj-ahjd71 author of ,the ,honey-,moon 7see ,vol ,v4 p4 #cde74 ,the ,cider-,cellar4 ,no4 #bj ,maiden ,lane1 ,covent ,garden4 ,the ,london ,institution4 ,now in ,finsbury ,circus1 established in #ahjf in ,old ,jewry4 ,porson was the first librarian and died there in #ahjh4 #bjj4 ,w--4 ,charles ,jeremiah ,wells 7#agii8-ahgi7 a solicitor1 shortly after the date of this essay produced ,stories after ,nature 7#ahbb7 and the dramatic poem ,joseph and his ,brethren 7#ahbd74 ,this last was long afterwards warmly praised by ,d4 ,g4 ,rossetti and ,mr4 ,swinburne 7,fortnightly ,review1 ,feb4 #ahge71 and was republished in #ahgf by ,mr4 ,buxton ,forman4 ,wells in #ahcj placed a memorial to ,hazlitt in ,st4 ,anne's1 ,soho4 ,see ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt's ,four ,generations of a ,literary ,family1 l4 #aei-afb4 ,that of ,killigrew's country-cousin4 ,memoirs of ,count ,grammont1 chap4 #i4 ,the ,chevalier ,hamilton's assignation4 ,ib4 chap4 #i4 ,jacob ,hall's prowess4 ,ib4 chap4 #f4 ,miss ,stuart's garters4 ,ib4 chap4 #h4 ,miss ,churchill is first introduced4 ,ib4 chap4 #aj4 #8,fear and niceness1' etc4 ,cymbeline1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #d4 #bja4 ,mr4 ,h-- and ,mr4 ,a--4 ,hume and ,ayrton4 ,such a one1 etc4 ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #bjb4 ,variety is indispensable4 ,in the ,,ms4 opposite this sentence is written #8,jacky ,taylor4--,mr4 ,tomkins the penman4' #8,yet so as with a difference4' ,cf4 #8,you must wear your rue with a difference1' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #e4 ,randall's4 #8,the ,hole in the ,wall' in ,chancery ,lane1 kept by ,jack ,randall1 the pugilist4 ,see ,hazlitt's essay #8,the ,fight1' and #8,on ,londoners and ,country ,people' in ,the ,plain ,speaker 7vol4 ,,vii4 p4 #ff74 ,long's4 ,no4 #af ,new ,bond ,street1 rebuilt and enlarged in #ahhh4 ,h--'s conversation4 ,leigh ,hunt's4 ,cf4 a passage in ,the ,round ,table1 vol4 ,i4 p4 #dc4 ,he is nearly the best4 #8,nearly' was added in proof4 #8,or like a gate of steel1' etc4 ,troilus and ,cressida1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #bjc4 ,b-- ,c--'s4 ,barry ,cornwall's4 ,a young literary bookseller4 ,john ,martin1 perhaps1 of the firm of ,rodwell and ,martin1 ,holles ,street1 ,cavendish ,square4 ,see ,keats's ,complete ,works1 ed4 ,h4 ,buxton ,forman 7#aija71 ,vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #cd note4 ,a #8,circean herd4' ,cf4 ,comus1 #aeb-c and ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ix4 #ebb4 ,,essay ,,xxi4 ,,on ,,the ,,aristocracy ,,of ,,letters #bje4 #8,ha6 here's three of us1' etc4 ,king ,lear1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #d4 ,stat nominis umbra4 #8,stat magni nominis umbra4' ,lucan1 ,pharsalia1 ,i4 #ace4 -- ,house4 ,holland ,house4 ,cf4 ,political ,essays 7vol4 ,,iii4 p4 #dd74 #8,continents have most1' etc4 ,hobbes1 ,human ,nature 7,works1 ed4 ,molesworth71 ,,iv4 #ej4 #8,o that mine enemy1' etc4 ,job1 xxxi4 #ce4 ,note4 ,lord ,h--4 ,the third ,lord ,holland4 ,note4 ,sir ,j-- ,m--4 ,sir ,james ,mackintosh4 ,note4 #8,the first row of the rubric4' ,cf4 #8,the first row of the pious chanson will show you more4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #bjf4 ,a third makes the indecency pass1 etc4 ,the reference is clearly to ,richard ,payne ,knight whose first publication 7#aghf7 was ,an ,account of the ,remains of the ,worship of ,priapus lately existing in ,isernia1 etc41 and who in #ahaf gave evidence before a select committee of the ,house of ,commons against the national acquisition of the ,elgin ,marbles4 #bjg4 #8,cannot command it1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #8,monster'd4' #8,to hear my nothings monster'd4' ,coriolanus1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #8,ducks to the learned fool4' ,timon of ,athens1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #8,he that is but able1' etc4 ,satire upon the ,abuse of ,human ,learning1 #fg-gj4 #bjh4 #8',twas mine1' etc4 ,cf4 #8',twas mine1 'tis his1 and has been slave to thousands4' ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 ,the ,cider-cellar4 ,see ante1 p4 #aii4 ,the ,hole in the ,wall4 ,in ,chancery ,lane4 ,see ante1 note to p4 #bjb4 #bji4 ,the ,b-- family4 ,the ,burneys4 #8,in numbers numberless4' ,paradise ,regained1 ,,iii4 #caj4 ,the founder of it4 ,dr4 ,charles ,burney 7#agbf-ahad71 the friend of ,johnson and author of ,a ,history of ,music 7#d vols4 #aggf-aghi74 ,madame ,d--4 ,frances ,burney 7#ageb-ahdj71 ,madame ,d',arblay1 ,dr4 ,burney's daughter1 author of ,evelina and ,cecilia4 ,the rest have done nothing1 etc4 #8,the rest' include ,dr4 ,burney's two sons1 ,charles ,burney the younger 7#ageg-ahag71 the ,greek scholar1 referred to by ,hazlitt more than once1 especially in connection with his ,remarks on the ,greek ,verses of ,milton 7#agij71 and ,james ,burney 7#agej-ahba71 familiar to readers of ,lamb's ,letters as ,captain and ,admiral ,burney1 author of ,a ,chronological ,history of the ,discoveries in the ,south ,sea or ,pacific ,ocean 7#e vols4 #ahjc-ahag71 part of which is famous as ,the ,buccaneers of ,america2 ,sarah ,harriet ,burney 7#aggj-ahdd71 ,dr4 ,burney's youngest daughter1 author of ,clarentine 7#agif7 and other novels and tales2 and ,martin ,charles ,burney1 ,lamb's friend1 the son of ,admiral ,burney4 #bji4 ,the most celebrated author1 etc4 ,sir ,walter ,scott1 created a baronet by ,george ,,iv4 in #ahbj4 ,lord ,byron complains4 ,see the ,preface to ,marino ,faliero 7#ahbj74 #8,let but a lord1' etc4 ,pope1 ,an ,essay on ,criticism1 #dbj-a4 #baj4 ,decorum1 which ,milton declares1 etc4 ,on ,education1 ,works1 #agch1 ,i4 #adj4 #8,bears a charmed reputation1' etc4 #8,i bear a charmed life1 which must not yield ,to one of woman born4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #h4 #8,leave no rubs1' etc4 #8,to leave no rubs nor botches in the work4' ,ib4 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 ,that strange letter about ,pope4 ,byron wrote two ,letters to 99 99 99 99--99 99 99 99 99 99 ,john ,murray1 on the ,rev4 ,wm4 ,l4 ,bowles's ,strictures on the ,life and ,writings of ,pope1 the first of which 7referred to by ,hazlitt7 was published in #ahba4 ,the second did not appear till #ahce4 ,both letters and a full account of the whole controversy are given in ,byron's ,letters and ,journals 7ed4 ,prothero71 ,v4 ,appendix iii4 ,why did he pronounce1 etc4 #8,these two writers ,pope and ,cowper1 for ,cowper is no poet1 come into comparison in one great work1 the translation of ,homer4' ,byron's ,letters and ,journals 7ed4 ,prothero71 ,v4 #eeg4 #8,finding out a borrowed line1' etc4 ,see ,the ,spirit of the ,age1 vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #cdf and note4 ,a rich merchant1 etc4 ,hazlitt perhaps refers to #8,anastasius' ,hope1 ,rogers1 ,byron1 and ,burns4 #8,what should such fellows1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #8,coining our hearts1' etc4 #8,by heaven1 ,i had rather coin my heart1 ,and drop my blood for drachmas1' etc4 ,julius ,caesar1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #8,sent back like hallowmas1' etc4 #8,sent back like ,hallowmas or short'st of day4' ,richard ,,ii41 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #baa4 #8,with wine of ,attic taste1' #8,what neat repast shall feast us1 light and choice1 ,of ,attic taste1 with wine1' etc4 ,milton1 ,sonnet ,,xx4 7to ,mr4 ,lawrence74 ,poor ,keats4 ,see ante1 p4 #ii4 #8,the fairest flowers1' etc4 #8the fairest flowers o' the season ,are our carnations and streak'd gillyvors4' ,winter's ,tale1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #d4 #8,rue for remembrance1' etc4 #8,there's rosemary1 that's for remembrance3 pray you1 love1 remember3 and there's pansies1 that's for thoughts4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #e4 #baa4 #8,nor could the ,muse1' etc4 #8nor could the ,muse defend ,her son4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,vii4 #cg4 ,m--'s shop4 ,the shop of ,john ,murray1 publisher of ,the ,quarterly ,review4 ,t--4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,hazlitt1 the younger1 in his edition of ,table ,talk1 filled up this blank with the name of ,tom ,hill 7#agfj-ahdj71 a well-known figure in the literary society of the time4 ,the ,bibliotheca ,anglo-,poetica 7#ahae7 was chiefly based on his collection of poets4 #bac4 --1 the responsible conductor1 etc4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,hazlitt1 the younger1 filled this blank with the name of ,john ,britton 7#agga-aheg71 the antiquary and topographer1 author or part author of many topographical works1 of which ,the ,beauties of ,england and ,wales 7#ahja-ahaf7 and ,architectural ,antiquities of ,great ,britain 7#ahje-ahad7 are the best known4 ,learned lumber4 #8,with loads of learned lumber in his head4' ,pope1 ,essay on ,criticism1 #fac4 ,jack ,t4 of the ,sun4 ,john ,taylor 7#ageg-ahcb71 proprietor of the ,sun1 author of ,monsieur ,tonson4 ,in #ahcb he published ,records of my ,life 7#b vols474 #8,the ,sun of our table4' #8,this bottle's the sun of our table4' ,sheridan1 ,the ,duenna1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #e4 ,peter ,pindar4 ,dr4 ,john ,wolcot 7#agch-ahai71 the ,satirist4 ,mr4 ,tomkins the penman4 ,thomas ,tomkins 7#agdc-ahaf71 caligrapher4 ,sir ,joshua's picture of him4 ,bequeathed by ,tomkins to the ,city of ,london4 ,,essay ,,xxii4 ,,on ,,criticism #bad4 ,de omni scibile1 etc4 ,the origin of this saying seems obscure4 ,see ,notes and ,queries1 #gth ,ser4 ,,ix4 #ejj and ,larousse1 ,fleurs ,latines1 #id4 ,we may sometimes see articles of this sort4 ,hazlitt had himself suffered from this form of reviewing4 ,see notes to ,reply to ,malthus1 vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #cii4 #bae4 #8,as when a well-graced actor1' etc4 ,richard ,,ii41 ,act ,v4 ,scene #b4 ,much as ,peter ,pounce1 etc4 ,joseph ,andrews1 ,book ,,iii4 ,chap4 #ac4 #8,assumes the rod1' etc4 #8,assumes the god1 ,affects to nod1 ,and seems to shake the spheres4' ,dryden1 ,alexander's ,feast1 #ci-da4 #baf4 ,the most admired of our ,reviews4 ,the ,edinburgh ,review4 ,the ,monthly ,review4 ,founded by ,ralph ,griffiths in #agdi4 ,the ,review ran through three series and came to an end in #ahde4 #8,sole sovereign sway1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #8,outdoing termagant1' etc4 #8,i would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing ,termagant2 it out-herods ,herod4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #8,and of their port1' etc4 #8,and of his port as meke as is a mayde4' ,chaucer1 ,canterbury ,tales1 ,prologue1 #fi4 #baf4 ,drawcansir work4 ,see the ,duke of ,buckingham's ,the ,rehearsal1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a41 where ,drawcansir says3 #8,others may boast a single man to kill3 ,but ,i the blood of thousands daily kill1' etc4 ,tristram ,shandy4 ,tristram ,shandy was violently attacked by ,griffiths in ,the ,monthly ,review4 ,note4 ,rev4 ,dr4 ,kippis4 ,andrew ,kippis 7#agbd-agie71 ,nonconformist divine and editor of the #bnd edition of ,biographia ,britannica 7#e vols4 #aggh-agic74 ,the ,monthly ,review for ,feb4 #agea 7,vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #cji71 in its #8,monthly ,catalogue' contained the following notice3 #8,an ,elegy wrote in a country churchyard4 #dto4 ,dodsley1 #f;d4 ,seven pages4 ,the excellence of this little piece amply compensates for its want of quantity4' ,a full review followed in ,june1 #agec 7,vol4 ,,viii4 p4 #dgg74 #bag4 ,dryden's ,prefaces4 ,dryden's principal essays on literary subjects have recently been edited by ,prof4 ,ker 7#b vols4 #aijj74 ,see also ,prof4 ,saintsbury's ,history of ,criticism1 vol4 ,,ii4 pp4 #cga-cia4 ,note4 ,for ,dryden's comparison between ,ovid and ,virgil1 see his ,dedication of the ,aeneid 7#afig--;,essays1 ed4 ,ker1 ,,ii4 #aed et seq471 and for his character of ,shakespeare ,an ,essay on ,dramatic ,poesy 7#affh--;ib4 ,i4 #gi-hj74 ,cf4 ,lectures on the ,english ,poets1 vol4 ,v4 p4 #hb1 note4 #bah4 ,dryden had no other way1 etc4 ,dryden's ,opera ,the ,state of ,innocence1 founded upon ,paradise ,lost1 was published in #afgd4 #8,graces snatched1' etc4 ,pope1 ,essay on ,criticism1 #aee4 #bai4 #8,looks commercing with the skies4' ,il ,penseroso1 #ci4 #8,the limbs and flourishes1' etc4 #8,therefore1 since brevity is the soul of wit ,and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 ,as ,lord ,byron asserts1 etc4 ,in his ,letter to ,john ,murray1 referred to above 7p4 #baj1 note71 ,byron says3 #8,the poet is always ranked according to his execution1 and not according to his branch of art4' 7,letters and ,journals1 ed4 ,prothero1 ,v4 #eec74 #bbj4 ,mrs4 ,dickons4 ,maria ,dickons 7#aggj8-ahcc7 made her first appearance in ,london in #agic4 ,she sang at the ,drury ,lane oratorios in #ahac and #ahae1 and retired in #ahbj4 ,like ,miss ,stephens 7see ,a ,view of the ,english ,stage7 she played ,polly in ,the ,beggar's ,opera4 ,madame ,catalani4 ,angelica ,catalani 7#aggi-ahdi71 the most famous prima donna of her time4 ,she was in ,england in #ahba and sang #8,god ,save the ,king' on the #afth of ,july1 shortly before the ,king's coronation4 #8,such sweet thunder4' ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 #8,the very milk of human kindness4' #8,it is too full o' the milk of human kindness4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #8,beauty out of favour1' etc4 ,hazlitt refers to ,gifford's lines on ,mrs4 ,robinson4 ,see ,a ,letter to ,william ,gifford1 vol4 ,i4 p4 #cgh and note4 #bba4 ,like ,justice ,woodcock4 ,in ,bickerstaffe's ,love in a ,village 7#agfb74 ,rifle the flowers1 etc4 ,see ,a ,letter to ,william ,gifford1 vol4 ,i4 ,the ,great ,cat ,rodilardus4 ,in ,rabelais1 ,pantagruel1 ,,iv4 #fg4 #8,demure-looking1' etc4 #8,the grave1 demure1 insidious1 spring-nailed1 velvet-pawed1 green-eyed philosophers4' ,burke1 ,letter to a ,noble ,lord 7,works1 ,bohn1 ,v4 #adb47 #bba4 ,note4 ,tom ,jones1 ,book ,,vi4 chap4 #ad4 #bbb4 ,what silenced the masked battery1 etc4 ,it is now well known that ,sir ,walter ,scott strongly disapproved of ,lockhart's connection with ,blackwood's ,magazine long before the attacks of ,john ,scott in ,the ,london ,magazine for #ahbj and #ahba4 ,see ,mr4 ,lang's ,life of ,lockhart 7vol4 ,i4 chap1 ix471 for an account of the whole matter4 #8,pilloried on infamy's high stage4' ,cowper1 ,hope1 #eef4 #bbc4 ,the controversy about ,pope4 ,the controversy on the question as to whether or not ,pope was a poet began with the publication of ,bowles's edition of ,pope's ,works 7#aj vols4 #ahjf7 and had recently reached an acute stage in consequence of ,byron's letter to ,john ,murray4 ,see ,byron's ,letters and ,journals1 ed4 ,prothero1 ,v4 #ebb-eib1 where a full account is given of the whole controversy4 ,hazlitt had contributed to ,the ,edinburgh ,magazine 7,feb4 #ahah7 an essay #8,on the question whether ,pope was a poet' reproduced with a few alterations in his lecture on ,dryden and ,pope 7see vol4 ,v4 pp4 #fi et seq471 and to ,the ,london ,magazine 7,june1 #ahba7 a long essay 7republished for the first time in the present edition7 entitled #8,pope1 ,lord ,byron1 and ,mr4 ,bowles4' #bbd4 #8,crib and cabin in1' #8,now ,i am cabin'd1 cribb'd1 confined4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #d4 #8,lack-lustre eye4' ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #g4 ,the late ,joseph ,fawcett4 ,hazlitt frequently refers to this early friend4 ,see ,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1 ,i4 #ge-gi4 ,fawcett was well known as a ,sunday evening lecturer at the old ,jewry1 and published some volumes of ,sermons and ,poems4 ,he died in #ahjd1 and it was at one time reported that ,hazlitt intended to write his life4 #8,i have heard my mother ,circe1' etc4 ,comus1 ll4 #beb et seq4 #8,heard others read their own4' ,hazlitt no doubt refers to ,wordsworth and ,coleridge4 #bbe4 ,he was not exceptious4 ,hazlitt elsewhere complains of ,lamb for being what he here describes as #8exceptious4' ,see ,the ,plain ,speaker1 #8,on the ,conversation of ,authors4' #8,that had ,i all knowledge1' etc4 ,see ,i ,corinthians1 xiii4 #a and #b4 ,the ,occult ,school4 ,hazlitt clearly refers to ,coleridge4 ,see ,the ,plain ,speaker1 7#8,on the ,conversation of ,authors'71 where he says3 #8,c-- ,coleridge withholds his tribute of applause from every person in whom any mortal but himself can descry the least glimpse of understanding1' etc4 #bbf4 #8,an ounce of sour1' etc4 #8,a dram of sweete is worth a pound of sowre1' ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,i4 ,canto ,,iii4 ,stanza #cj4 ,caviare to the multitude4 #8',twas caviare to the general4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 ,verbal critics1 etc4 ,such as ,gifford4 ,cf4 ,a ,letter to ,william ,gifford1 vol4 ,i4 p4 #cfh4 ,note4 ,see ,ib4 note to p4 #cfh4 ,,essay ,,xxii4 ,,on ,,great ,,and ,,little ,,things ,published in ,the ,new ,monthly ,magazine 7#ahbb71 vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #abg1 under the title of #8,table ,talk ,no4 ,,ii4' #8,these little things1' etc4 ,goldsmith1 ,the ,traveller1 l4 #db4 #bbg4 #8,some trick not worth an egg4' ,coriolanus1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #d4 ,paper in the ,tatler4 ,no4 #gi 7by ,steele74 #bbi4 #8,anon as patient1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 ,the swaggering of ,pistol4 ,see especially the ,second ,part of ,henry ,,iv4 ,king ,cambyses' vein4 ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,i4 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #d4 #bcj4 ,si ,pergama dextra1 etc4 ,aeneid1 ,,ii4 #bia-b4 #bcj4 ,note4 ,that is1 shortly before ,napoleon's death on ,may #e1 #ahba4 #bcb4 ,the maxim1 which the wise man1 etc4 #8,for1 as the old hermit of ,prague1 that never saw pen and ink1 very wittily said to a niece of ,king ,gorboduc1 8,that that is is10' etc4 ,twelfth ,night1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #b4 ,when ,l--'s farce1 etc4 ,lamb's farce ,mr4 ,h-- was performed at ,drury ,lane on ,december #aj1 #ahjf4 ,gentleman ,lewis4 ,william ,thomas ,lewis 7#agdh8-ahaa71 #8,gentleman ,lewis1' belonged to #8the other ,house1' ,covent ,garden4 ,the ,prologue4 ,spoken by ,elliston who would have tried the farce again4 ,the ,travellers4 ,by ,andrew ,cherry 7#agfb-ahab71 first produced at ,drury ,lane on ,january #bb1 #ahjf4 #8,wit-skirmishes4' ,see ante1 note to p4 #aic4 #bcc4 #8,subject to all the skyey influences4' #8,servile to all the skyey influences4' ,measure for ,measure1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a1 #bcd4 #8,pleased with a feather1' etc4 #8,pleased with a rattle1 tickled with a straw4' ,pope's ,essay on ,man1 ,,ii4 #bgf4 ,will ,wimble4 ,see ,the ,spectator1 ,no4 #ajh 7by ,addison74 ,some poets compose and sing their own verses4 ,moore1 for example4 #bce4 #8,misfortune1' etc4 #8,misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows4' ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #8,take care of the pence1' etc4 ,quoted by ,lord ,chesterfield 7,letters to his ,son1 ,nov4 #f1 #agdg1 and ,feb4 #e1 #agej7 as the saying of #8a very covetous sordid fellow1' ,william ,lowndes1 ,secretary of the ,treasury #afie-agbd4 ,but shouldst thou ever1 my ,infelice1 etc4 ,an invocation to ,sarah ,walker4 ,see ,liber ,amoris1 vol4 ,,ii4 #bcf4 ,madame ,v--4 ,madame ,vestris 7#agig-ahef71 the famous actress1 afterwards the wife of the younger ,mathews4 ,a gallery equal to ,cowley's4 ,see ,cowley's ,the ,chronicle1 ,a ,ballad4 ,mr4 ,davison4 ,thomas ,davison1 of ,whitefriars1 printer of the first edition of ,table ,talk4 #bcf4 ,d'un pathtique1 etc4 #8,nous nous crivions d'un pathtique faire fendre les rochers4' ,rousseau1 ,confessions1 ,liv4 ,i4 #8,hunt the wind1' etc4 ,see ante1 note to p4 #ig4 #bcg4 ,the ,death of ,clorinda4 ,from a picture of ,lodovic ,lana4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt 7,table ,talk1 p4 #cca7 says that the copy was made in #ahjb4 ,it is still in his possession4 #bch4 ,they succeed best in fiction4 ,cf4 ,vol4 ,,iii41 note to p4 #di4 ,berenice's locks and ,ariadne's crown4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt quotes3 #8,we put on ,berenice's hair1 ,and sit in ,cassiopeia's chair4' ,dixon's ,canidia1 or ,the ,witches4 #8,ariadne's crowne and ,cassiopeia's chayre4' ,randolph's ,poems1 #afdj1 p4 #ad4 ,cf4 also3 #8,not ,berenice's locks first rose so bright4' ,pope1 ,rape of the ,lock1 v4 #abi4 #8,anthony ,codrus ,urceus1' etc4 ,this paragraph is taken from a paper in the ,round ,table ,series 7,no4 #i1 ,the ,examiner1 ,feb4 #bf1 #ahae7 which was republished in ,winterslow 7#ahci7 under the title of #8,mind and ,motive4' #bci4 ,the ,story of ,sir ,isaac ,newton4 ,the story is familiar1 but the dog's name was #8,diamond4' #bdj4 #8,like the fly on the wheel4' sop's ,fables 7,no4 #bgj74 #bda4 ,mr4 ,bone's enamels4 ,henry ,bone 7#agee-ahcd71 the celebrated painter on enamel1 elected ,r4,a4 in #ahaa4 ,he executed eighty-five #8,portraits of ,illustrious ,englishmen' copied from pictures in the royal and other collections4 ,denner4 ,see ante1 p4 #acc4 #bdc4 #8,first row of the rubric4' ,see ante1 note to p4 #bje note4 ,,essay ,,xxiv4 ,,on ,,familiar ,,style ,a few variations of the text from the ,,ms4 are given in ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt's edition of ,table ,talk4 #bde4 ,his papers under the signature of ,elia4 ,in ,the ,london ,magazine4 ,the first1 #8,recollections of the ,south ,sea ,house1' appeared in ,august #ahbj4 ,mrs4 ,battle's ,opinions on ,whist4 ,the ,london ,magazine1 ,feb4 #ahba4 #8,a well of native ,english undefiled4' #8,dan ,chaucer1 well of ,english undefyled1 ,on ,fame's eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled4' ,spenser1 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,,iv4 ,canto ii4 ,stanza #cb4 ,erasmus's ,colloquies4 ,the ,colloquia1 which appeared in #aeai4 #bdf4 #8,what do you read8' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 ,sermo humi obrepens4 ,cf4 #8,nec sermones ego mallem ,repentes per humum quam res componere gestas4' ,horace1 ,epistles1 ,,ii4 i4 #bej-a4 #8,ambition is more lowly4' ,cf4 #8,my affections ,are then most humble2 ,i have no ambition ,to see a goodlier man4' ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #8,unconsidered trifles4' ,a ,winter's ,tale1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #8,that strut1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #e4 #8#8,and on their pens1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,and on his crest ,sat ,horror plumed4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iv4 #ihh-i4 #bdg4 #8,nature's own sweet1' etc4 ,twelfth ,night1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #bdh4 ,cowper's description4 #8',twas transient in its nature1 as in show ',twas durable3 as worthless as it seemed ,intrinsically precious2 to the foot ,treacherous and false2 it smiled1 and it was cold4' ,the ,task1 ,v4 #agc-f4 ,,essay ,,xxv4 ,,on ,,effeminacy ,,of ,,character #bdh4 #8,the gossamer1' etc4 #8the gossamer ,that idles in the wanton summer air4' ,romeo and ,juliet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #f4 #8,rolls o'er ,elysian flowers1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iii4 #cei4 #bdi4 #8,die of a rose1' etc4 ,pope1 ,essay on ,man1 ,i4 #bjj4 #8,oh1 leave me to my repose4' ,see ante1 note to p4 #ga4 #8,they shall discourse1' etc4 ,cymbeline1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #8,bide the pelting1' etc4 ,king ,lear1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #d4 #8,they take no thought1' etc4 ,st4 ,matthew1 vi4 #cd4 #8,get up to be hanged4' ,measure for ,measure1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #bej4 #8,a cell of ignorance4' ,cymbeline1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #8,oh6 blindness1' etc4 ,pope1 ,essay on ,man1 ,i4 #he-f4 #bea4 #8,and let us muse1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,lines written while sailing in a boat at evening 7published in the ,lyrical ,ballads1 #agih71 ll4 #ac-af4 ,but oh thou6 ,hazlitt apostrophises ,coleridge4 ,see the essay1 #8,my first acquaintance with ,poets4' #bec4 #8,a dish of skimmed milk4' ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,i4 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #c4 #8,a generous friendship1' etc4 ,pope1 ,homer's ,iliad1 ,,ix4 #gbe-f4 #bed4 #8,calm1 peaceable writers4' ,dryden4 ,an ,essay of ,dramatic ,poesy4 7,essays1 ed4 ,ker1 ,i4 #ca47 #bee4 #8#8,vernal delight and joy4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,iv4 #aee4 #8#8,like ,maia's son1' etc4 ,ib41 ,v4 #bhe-f4 ,,essay ,,xxvi4 ,,why ,,distant ,,objects ,,please #8,descry new lands1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,i4 #bij-a4 ,ethereal mould1 sky-tinctured4 ,phrases borrowed without acknowledgment from ,milton 7,paradise ,lost1 ,,ii4 #aci1 and ,v4 #bhe74 #8,but thou1 oh ,hope1' etc4 ,collins1 ,the ,passions1 #bi-cb4 #bef4 ,i lived within sight1 etc4 ,at ,wem1 in ,shropshire1 within sight of the ,welsh hills4 ,cf4 a passage in the first paragraph of #8,my ,first ,acquaintance with ,poets4' #8,yarrow unvisited4' ,wordsworth's three poems1 ,yarrow ,unvisited1 ,yarrow ,visited1 and ,yarrow ,revisited1 were published in #ahjg1 #ahad1 and #ahce respectively4 #8,unmould their essence4' ,cf4 #8,unmoulding reason's mintage4' ,comus1 #ebi4 #8,a mighty stream of tendency4' ,wordsworth1 ,the ,excursion1 ,,ix4 #hg4 #8,a tide in the affairs of men4' ,julius ,caesar1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 #8,with sails and tackle torn4' #8,though shrouds and tackle torn4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ii4 #ajdd4 #8,such tricks hath1' etc4 ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #beg4 #8,hangs upon the beatings1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,lines composed a few miles above ,tintern ,abbey1 #ed4 #8,come thronging soft desires4' #8,come thronging soft and delicate desires4' ,much ,ado ,about ,nothing1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,bring back the hour1' etc4 ,wordsworth1 ,intimations of ,immortality4 #8,that first garden of my innocence4' #8,in that first garden of our simplenesse4' ,daniel1 ,hymen's ,triumph4 #beh4 #8,like the sweet south4' ,twelfth ,night1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 ,w--m4 ,wem4 #beh4 #8,thing of life4' #8,she walks the waters like a thing of life1' ,byron1 ,the ,corsair1 ,canto ,i4 ,scene #c4 #8,like some gay creature1' etc4 ,comus1 #bii4 ,mr4 ,leigh ,hunt has treated it1 etc4 ,in an essay entitled #8,a nearer view of some of the shops1' ,the ,indicator 7#ahej edition71 ,part ,i4 p4 #ha4 ,the ,indicator ran from ,oct4 #ac1 #ahai1 to ,march #ba1 #ahba4 #bei4 ,after an interval of thirty years4 ,see ,introduction1 vol4 ,i4 p4 #i4 #8,how silver-sweet1' etc4 ,romeo and ,juliet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 ,note4 ,wilkie's ,blind ,fiddler4 ,in the ,national ,gallery4 #bfj4 #8,like an exhalation1' etc4 #8,rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes1' ,comus1 #eef4 ,mr4 ,fearn's ,essay4 ,see ante1 pp4 #fc-fe4 #bfc4 #8,there's sympathy4' ,the ,merry ,wives of ,windsor1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 --1 the editor of a ,scotch magazine4 ,the reference here and three lines below seems to be to ,lockhart1 who was accused of being editor of ,blackwood's ,magazine4 ,see ,mr4 ,lang's ,life of ,lockhart1 vol4 ,i4 chap4 ix4 #8,those faultless monsters1' etc4 ,john ,sheffield1 ,duke of ,buckingham1 ,essay on ,poetry4 #8,the web of our lives1' etc4 ,all's ,well that ,ends ,well1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #c4 ,,essay ,,xxvii4 ,,on ,,corporate ,,bodies ,many instances of variation between the ,,ms4 and the text of this essay are given by ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt in his edition of ,table ,talk4 #8,the ,,ms4 and the printed copy' 7he says1 p4 #chj7 #8scarcely correspond in two consecutive words4' #bfd4 #8,corporate bodies have no soul4' #8,they corporations cannot commit treason1 nor be outlawed nor excommunicate1 for they have no souls4' ,sir ,edward ,coke1 ,case of ,sutton's ,hospital1 #aj ,rep4 #cb4 #8,self-love and social4' ,pope1 ,essay on ,man1 ,,iv4 #cif4 #8,a pestilent fellow4' ,cf4 #8,what a pestilent slave is this same6' ,romeo and ,juliet1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #e4 #bfe4 ,the town-hall reels1 etc4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt says that #8it appears from a rough memorandum on the back of one of the leaves of the ,,ms4 that the ,mayor's ,feast at ,basingstoke was in the writer's mind when he wrote this1' #8,the very stones prate4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 #8,dressed in a little brief authority4' ,measure for ,measure1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #bff4 #8,compunctious visitings1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #8,motley's his proper wear4' #8,motley's the only wear4' ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #g4 #8,diseases are turned1' etc4 ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,,ii4 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 ,note4 #8,sacred pity1' etc4 ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #g4 #bfg4 #8,disembowel himself1' etc4 ,burke1 ,reflections on the ,revolution in ,france 7,select ,works1 ed4 ,payne1 ,,ii4 #aja74 #bfh4 ,hitherto1 etc4 ,job1 xxxviii4 #aa4 #8,in spite of1' etc4 #8,and1 spite of pride1 in erring reason's spite4' ,pope1 ,essay on ,man1 ,i4 #bic4 #bgj4 ,the ,barrys1 etc4 ,james ,barry 7#agda-ahjf7 quarrelled with his brother ,academicians and was expelled in #agii2 ,benjamin ,robert ,haydon 7#aghf-ahdf71 to whom ,hazlitt probably refers as #8,h--1' also quarrelled with the ,royal ,academy1 and was never made a member2 ,charles ,cotton 7#agbh-agih71 coach-painter to ,george ,,iii41 was by him nominated one of the foundation members of the ,academy4 #bgj4 #8,wipes out1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #8,the ,raphael grace1' etc4 ,cf4 ,tristram ,shandy1 ,,iii4 #ab4 #8,must live within1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 #8,dandled1' etc4 #8,i was not1 like his ,grace of ,bedford1 swaddled1 and rocked1 and dandled into a legislator4' ,burke1 ,a ,letter to a ,noble ,lord 7,works1 ,bohn1 ,v4 #abd74 ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence1 etc4 ,lawrence had been commissioned to paint the members of the ,congress at ,aix-la-,chapelle1 and had afterwards visited ,rome4 ,he returned to ,england in #ahbj4 ,mr4 ,dawe4 ,george ,dawe 7#agha-ahbi7 who went to ,russia in #ahai and painted for the ,emperor a great number of portraits4 ,lamb contributed an account of him to ,the ,englishman's ,magazine 7,sept4 #ahca7 entitled ,recollections of ,a ,late ,royal ,academician4 ,mr4 ,canning somewhere1 etc4 ,see his ,speeches on the occasion of his reelection at ,liverpool1 ,march1 #ahbj4 #bga4 #8,all honourable men4' ,julius ,caesar1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 ,,essay ,,xxviii4 ,,whether ,,actors ,,ought ,,to ,,sit ,,in ,,the ,,boxes #8,by his so potent art4' ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #bgb4 #8,pile millions1' etc4 #8,be buried quick with her1 and so will ,i3 ,and1 if thou prate of mountains1 let them throw ,millions of acres on us1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #bgc4 ,mr4 ,matthews1 in his #8,at ,home4' ,probably ,hazlitt refers to #8,the ,trip to ,paris1' by ,james ,smith and ,john ,poole1 ,mathews's second ,at ,home1 produced in #ahai4 #8,o'er the stage1' etc4 #8,dread o'er the scene1 the ghost of ,hamlet stalks2 ,othello rages2 poor ,monimia mourns2 ,and ,belvidera pours her soul in love4' ,thomson1 ,the ,seasons1 ,winter1 #fdf-h4 #8,no2 let him pass1' etc4 #8,vex not his ghost3 ,o1 let him pass6 he hates him ,that would upon the rack of this tough world ,stretch him out longer4' ,king ,lear1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #c4 ,abel ,drugger4 ,in ,ben ,jonson's ,the ,alchemist1 one of ,garrick's great parts4 #bgd4 #8,sir1 do you think1' etc4 #8,dost thou think ,alexander looked o' this fashion i' the earth8' ,hamlet1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #8,with a bare bodkin4' ,ib41 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #8,steal most guilty-like away4' ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 ,omne ignotum1 etc4 ,tacitus1 ,agricola1 ,,xxx4 #8,a voice potential4' ,othello1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #8,shuffled off1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 ,aut ,caesar1 etc4 ,the motto of ,caesar ,borgia4 #8,that players may jet through4' ,adapted from ,cymbeline1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 ,the top-tragedian4 ,john ,philip ,kemble4 #bgd4 ,him with the falcon eye4 ,coriolanus1 perhaps1 one of ,kemble's most famous parts4 #bge4 #8,the graves yawn1' etc4 ,a composite quotation from ,much ,ado ,about ,nothing 7,act ,v4 ,scene #c7 and ,macbeth 7,act ,,iii4 ,scene #d74 ,the ,copper ,captain1 etc4 ,in ,fletcher's ,rule a ,wife and have a ,wife2 ,bobadil1 in ,ben ,jonson's ,every ,man in ,his ,humour2 ,ranger1 in ,hoadly's ,the ,suspicious ,husband2 ,young ,rapid1 in ,morton's ,a ,cure for the ,heart-,ache2 ,lord ,foppington1 in ,vanbrugh's ,the ,relapse4 #8,my brain would have been1' etc4 #8,i declare1 quoth my uncle ,toby1 mine are more like a smoke-jack6' ,tristram ,shandy1 vol4 ,,iii4 chap4 #ah4 #8,then sweet1' etc4 #8,then sweet1 now sad to mention4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ii4 #hbj4 ,mrs4 ,garrick4 ,mrs4 ,garrick died in #ahbb at the age of #ih4 #bgf4 #8,a little more than kin1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #bgg4 #8,instinct with fire4' ,paradise ,lost1 ,,ii4 #icg4 #bgh4 ,sterne's stop-watch4 ,tristram ,shandy1 vol4 ,,iii4 chap4 #ab4 #8,cried out upon1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,an eyrie of children1 little eyases1 that cry out on the top of question4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 ,note4 ,see ,the ,spectator1 ,no4 #bce4 ,mr4 ,smirke1 afterwards ,sir ,robert ,smirke 7#agha-ahfg7 rebuilt ,covent ,garden ,theatre 7#ahji71 and ,benjamin ,dean ,wyatt 7#agge-ahej87 rebuilt ,drury ,lane ,theatre 7#ahaa74 ,hazlitt implies that at both theatres the galleries commanded an imperfect view of the stage4 ,at ,covent ,garden this was one of the grievances which led to the ,o4 ,p4 riots of #ahji4 #bgi4 ,grimaldi4 ,joseph ,grimaldi 7#aggi-ahcg74 ,,essay ,,xxix4 ,,on ,,the ,,disadvantages ,,of ,,intellectual ,,superiority #bhj4 ,petrarch complains1 etc4 ,in the sonnet lamenting the death of ,laura1 beginning #8,gli occhi di ch' io parlai si caldamente4' #8,to be honest1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #8,how now1' etc4 ,henry ,,vi4 ,part ,,ii41 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #b4 #8,stand all astonied1' etc4 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book vii4 ,canto ,,vi4 ,stanza #bh4 #bha4 ,c--4 ,coleridge4 #bhc4 ,otium cum dignitate4 ,cicero1 ,pro ,publio ,sextio1 ,,xlv4 #8,i am nothing1' etc4 ,othello1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 #bhd4 ,in the --4 ,the ,quarterly ,review4 #8,this is the unkindest1' etc4 #8,this was the most unkindest cut of all6' ,julius ,csar1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 ,prince ,maurice's ,parrot1 etc4 ,these two papers were published in ,political ,essays1 vol4 ,,iii4 pp4 #aja and #cje4 #bhe4 ,a motto from ,butler4 #8,yet he that is but able to express ,no sense at all in several languages1 ,will pass for learneder than he that's known1 etc4 ,butler1 ,satire upon the ,abuse of ,human ,learning1 ll4 #fe-g4 ,l--4 ,lamb4 ,l4 ,h4 ,leigh ,hunt4 ,a person of this over-weening turn4 ,probably ,leigh ,hunt1 his friend ,s-- being ,shelley4 #bhe4 ,count ,stendhal4 ,marie-,henri ,beyle 7#aghc-ahdb74 #8,germane to the matter4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #b4 ,my answers to ,vetus4 ,contributed to ,the ,morning ,chronicle in #ahac and republished in ,political ,essays4 ,see vol4 ,,iii4 #bhf4 ,digito monstrari4 ,horace1 ,odes1 ,,iv4 iii4 #bb4 ,mr4 ,powell's court4 ,in ,st4 ,martin's ,street4 ,cf4 ante1 p4 #hh4 ,mr4 ,knight's performance of ,filch4 ,for reference to ,edward ,knight 7#8,little ,knight'7 and for ,hazlitt's remark on ,simmons's ,filch1 see the volume containing dramatic criticisms4 ,the article in ,the ,examiner appeared on ,nov4 #f1 #ahae4 ,one ,cavanagh4 ,see ante1 pp4 #hf-hi4 ,a character of him4 ,see ,political ,essays1 vol4 ,,iii4 p1 #cbe4 #bhg4 #8,lively1 audible1' etc4 #8,it's spritely1 waking1 audible1 and full of vent4' ,coriolanus1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #e4 ,the conversation between ,angelica and ,foresight4 ,love for ,love1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #c4 #8,so shalt thou find me1' etc4 ,sardanapalus1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 #bhh4 ,scholars should be sworn at ,highgate4 ,see ,brand's ,popular ,antiquities1 ,,ii4 #aie4 ,part of the oath taken by the person sworn was #8never to kiss the maid when he could kiss the mistress4' #8,not pierceable1' etc4 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,i4 ,canto ,i4 ,stanza #g4 #8,to succeed at the gaming-table1' etc4 ,the sentiment is ,peachum's4 ,see ,the ,beggar's ,opera1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,to have a good face1' etc4 #8,to be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune2 but to write and read comes by nature4' ,much ,ado ,about ,nothing1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 ,,essay ,,xxx4 ,,on ,,patronage ,,and ,,puffing #bhi4 #8,a gentle husher1' etc4 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,i4 ,canto iv4 ,stanza #ac4 #8,puff direct4' ,sheridan1 ,the ,critic1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #bij4 ,groundling4 #8,to split the ears of the groundlings4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #bia4 ,parolles and his drum4 ,all's ,well that ,ends ,well4 ,another friend of mine4 ,lamb4 ,even ,lord ,byron1 etc4 ,byron was said to have written puffs of ,warren's ,blacking4 ,see ,w4 ,f4 ,deacon's volume of parodies1 ,warreniana 7#ahbd74 #8,deathless date4' ,cf4 #8,short is my date1 but deathless my renown4' ,pope1 ,homer's ,iliad1 ,,ix4 #ece4 #bib4 ,when ,i formerly1 etc4 ,for the matters referred to in this and the two succeeding paragraphs1 cf4 the volume containing ,hazlitt's dramatic criticisms4 ,poor ,perry4 ,james ,perry 7#agef-ahba71 editor and proprietor of ,the ,morning ,chronicle4 ,see ,hazlitt's ,a ,view of the ,english ,stage for his article on ,miss ,stephens as ,polly4 ,mrs4 ,billington4 ,elizabeth ,billington 7#agfh-ahah71 the great singer4 #8,life knows no return of spring4' ,the song 7,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a7 begins #8,let us drink and sport to-day4' #8,my final hopes1' etc4 ,a characteristic reference to the fall of ,napoleon4 #bic4 #8,hope1 thou nurse1' etc4 ,bickerstaffe's ,love in a ,village1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,bought golden opinions1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #g4 #8,on such a day1' etc4 ,merchant of ,venice1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #c4 ,note4 ,mr4 ,m--4 ,william ,mudford4 ,see ante1 p4 #aaa4 ,note4 #8,liked you lean1' etc4 ,cf4 #8,yond ,cassius has a lean and hungry look4' ,julius ,caesar1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #bid4 ,master ,betty's acting4 ,see ,the ,spirit of the ,age1 vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #bcc4 #8,some gay creature1' etc4 ,comus1 #bii4 #8,and in my mind1' etc4 ,home's ,douglas1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 ,enfield's ,speaker4 ,william ,enfield's ,the ,speaker1 or ,miscellaneous ,pieces selected from the best ,english ,writers1 originally published in #aggd and frequently reprinted4 ,mrs4 ,radcliffe's ,romance of the ,forest4 ,see ,english ,comic ,writers1 vol4 ,,viii4 p4 #abe4 ,coleridge returned from ,italy4 ,in ,august1 #ahjf4 #bie4 ,katterfelto4 #8,and ,katterfelto1 with his hair on end ,at his own wonders1 wondering for his bread4' ,cowper1 ,the ,task1 ,,iv4 #hf-hg4 #bif4 #8,it only is when1' etc4 #8',twas only that1 when he was off1 he was acting4' ,goldsmith1 ,retaliation1 #ajb4 #8,do me your offices4' ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,,ii41 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 ,mr4 ,n--4 ,northcote4 #big4 #8,the first row of the rubric4' ,see ante1 note to p4 #bje note4 #bih4 #8,all the world's a stage1' etc4 ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #g4 #8,some followers of mine own4' ,richard ,,iii41 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #g4 #bii4 #8,holloa1 you pampered jades1' etc4 ,marlowe's ,tamburlaine the ,great1 ,part ,,ii41 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #d4 #8,cry him up1' etc4 ,cf4 ante1 p4 #bgh4 ,rari nantes1 etc4 ,aeneid1 ,i4 #aah4 #cjj4 #8,aiery of children1' etc4 ,cf4 ante1 note to p4 #bgh4 #cja4 ,dr4 ,johnson was asked1 etc4 ,boswell's ,life of ,johnson 7ed4 ,g4 ,b4 ,hill71 ,,iv4 #aaf4 #cjb4 ,beechey4 ,sir ,william ,beechey 7#agec-ahci71 portrait painter to ,queen ,charlotte4 ,note4 ,sharp4 ,michael ,william ,sharp 7d4 #ahdj7 a pupil of ,beechey4 ,,essay ,,xxxi4 ,,on ,,the ,,knowledge ,,of ,,character #cjc4 #8,speech1' said a celebrated wit1 etc4 ,hazlitt probably refers to ,voltaire 7,le ,chapon et la ,poularde71 but the saying is older4 ,lord ,chesterfield advises us1 etc4 ,see note to vol4 ,i4 p4 #db4 ,note4 ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #d4 #cjd4 ,a rude half-effaced outline1 etc4 ,the portrait of ,donne by ,w4 ,marshall1 taken from a painting in #aeia1 when ,donne was #ah4 ,the ,duke of ,w--4 ,the ,duke of ,wellington4 #cje4 ,c--'s face4 ,coleridge4 #8,create a soul1' etc4 ,comus1 #efb4 ,a little1 demure1 etc4 ,sarah ,walker1 the heroine of ,liber ,amoris4 #cjf4 ,i know a person4 ,hazlitt himself4 #8,compliments extern4' ,othello1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #cjg4 #8,if the ,french have a fault1' etc4 ,a ,sentimental ,journey1 ,character1 ,versailles4 #cji4 ,service is no inheritance4 #8,service is no heritage4' ,all's ,well that ,ends ,well1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #c4 #8,subtle as the fox1' etc4 ,cymbeline1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #caj4 #8,bitter bad judges4' ,the ,beggar's ,opera1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 ,i never knew but one clever man1 etc4 ,leigh ,hunt8 #caj4 #8,the way of woman's will1 etc4' ,cf4 ,samson ,agonistes1 #ajaa-ac4 #caa4 ,oh6 thou1 etc4 ,sarah ,walker4 #cab4 ,the son1 for instance1 etc4 ,hazlitt is clearly speaking of his own experience4 #8,rembrandts1' etc4 #8,raphaels1 ,correggios1 and stuff4' ,goldsmith1 ,retaliation1 #ade4 #8,infinite agitation1' etc4 ,bacon1 ,advancement of ,learning1 ,book ,i41 ,,iv4 #e4 #cad4 #8,in the trade of war4' ,othello1 ,i41 #b4 #8,so as with a difference4' ,cf4 ante1 note to p4 #bjb4 #8,pure defecated evil4' ,burke1 ,letter to a ,noble ,lord 7,works1 ,bohn1 ,v4 #ada74 #8,whatever is1 is right4' ,pope1 ,essay on ,man1 ,i41 #bid4 #8,amen stuck in his throat4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #8,no malice in the case1' etc4 ,the ,beggar's ,opera1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 ,remorse4 ,see ,osorio1 of which ,remorse was a recast4 ,works1 7ed4 ,j4 ,d4 ,campbell71 p4 #dif4 #cae4 #8,i count myself1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #caf4 #8,who knew all qualities1' etc4 ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 ,,essay ,,xxxii4 ,,on ,,the ,,picturesque ,,and ,,ideal #cah4 ,mr4 ,northcote's study of ,gadshill4 ,cf4 ,conversations of ,northcote1 ante1 p4 #djc4 #8,of no mark1' etc4 ,henry ,,iv41 ,part ,i4 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #cai4 ,the ,marriage of ,cana4 ,the ,marriage at ,cana in the ,louvre4 ,madame ,m--4 ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt fills this blank with the name of ,mrime4 ,when ,hazlitt went to ,paris in #ahjb he took with him a letter of introduction from ,holcroft to ,mrime the painter1 whose son ,prosper was born in the following year1 #ahjc4 #cbj4 #8,see how the moonlight1' etc4 ,merchant of ,venice1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #cba4 #8,my bounty1' etc4 ,romeo and ,juliet1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 ,,essay ,,xxxiii4 ,,on ,,the ,,fear ,,of ,,death #8,and our little life1' etc4 ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 #cbb4 ,when ,bickerstaff wrote his essays4 ,in ,the ,tatler1 #agji-aa4 ,the firing at ,bunker's hill4 ,june #ag1 #agge4 #8,the gorge rises at4' ,hamlet1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #cbc4 #8,the wars1' etc4 ,the ,faerie ,queene1 ,book ,,ii4 ,canto ,,ix4 ,stanza #ef4 #8,the present eye1' etc4 #8,the present eye praises the present object4' ,troilus and ,cressida1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #cbd4 #8,makes calamity1' etc4 ,,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #8,oh6 thou strong heart1' etc4 ,webster's ,the ,white ,devil2 or ,vittoria ,corombona1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #a4 #8,content man's natural desire4' #8,to be1 contents his natural desire4' ,pope1 ,essay on ,man1 ,i4 #aji4 #8,on this bank1' etc4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 #8,this sensible1' etc4 ,measure for ,measure1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #a4 #8,turns to withered1' etc4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,,xi4 #edj4 ,note4 ,young's ,night ,thoughts1 ,i4 #dbd4 #cbe4 #8,the sear1 the yellow leaf4' ,macbeth1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #c4 ,gone into the wastes of time4 #8,that thou among the wastes of time must go4' ,shakespeare1 ,sonnet ,no4 ,,xii4 #cbf4 ,zanetto1 etc4 ,rousseau's ,confessions1 ,part ,,ii4 liv4 #g4 #cbf4 ,i have never seen death but once4 ,see ,,memoirs ,,of ,,william ,,hazlitt1 ,i4 #agj4 ,at my breast4 ,a paragraph in the ,,ms4 of this essay is here omitted3 #8,i did not see my father after he was dead1 but ,i saw death shake him by the palsied hand1 and stare him in the face4 ,he made as good an end as ,falstaff2 though different as became him4 ,after repeating the name of his ,r7edeemer7 often1 he took my mother's hand1 and1 looking up1 put it in my sister's1 and so expired4 ,there was something graceful and gracious in his nature1 which showed itself in his last act4' ,chantry's monument1 etc4 ,chantrey's #8,sleeping ,children' in ,lichfield ,cathedral4 #cbg4 #8,still from the tomb1' etc4 ,gray's ,elegy1 #ia-b4 #cbh4 #8,a little rule1' etc4 ,dyer's ,grongar ,hill1 #hi-ib4 #8,a great man's memory1' etc4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #b4 #cbi4 #8,at a pin's fee4' ,ib41 ,act ,i4 ,scene #d4 #8,sea-sick1 weary bark1' etc4 ,romeo and ,juliet1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #c4 #8,to lose it afterwards1' etc4 #8,to lose it1 may be1 at last in a lewd quarrel ,for some new friend4' ,otway1 ,venice ,preserved1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #b4 ,,mr4 ,,northcote',s ,,conversations ,james ,northcote 7#agdf-ahca71 was the son of ,samuel ,northcote1 a ,plymouth watchmaker4 ,he was brought to the notice of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds by the ,mudges of ,plymouth 7see note to p4 #cff74 ,sir ,joshua befriended him and he sat as one of the figures in ,ugolino4 ,after study in ,london and abroad he began to acquire reputation as a portrait-painter4 ,he exhibited at the ,royal ,academy first in #agha1 and of that body he was elected an ,associate in #aghf1 and an ,academician on ,feb4 #ac1 #aghg4 ,he painted many historical and sacred subjects1 but his reputation will rest upon his portraits1 many of which may be seen in the ,national ,portrait ,gallery4 ,he wrote the ,memoirs of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds 7#ahac-ae7 wherein several of the anecdotes which occur in the conversations first appear1 and was helped in two other pieces of literary work by ,hazlitt1 viz41 ,the ,life of ,titian1 with ,anecdotes of the ,distinguished ,persons of his ,time 7#ahcj71 and ,one ,hundred ,fables1 ,original and ,selected 7#ahbh71 the wood-cuts to which1 by ,william ,harvey1 from ,northcote's designs1 are of value with respect to the art of ,english wood-engraving4 ,a ,second ,series was issued in #ahcc1 after his death4 ,he spoke ,devonshire all his life and never married4 ,see ,memorials of an ,eighteenth ,century ,painter 7,james ,northcote73 by ,stephen ,gwynn1 #ahih2 ,conversations of ,james ,northcote1 ,r4,a41 with ,james ,ward on ,art and ,artists3 edited by ,ernest ,fletcher1 #aija2 ,p4 ,g4 ,patmore's ,my ,friends and ,acquaintances2 ,hazlitt's essay #8,on the ,old ,age of ,artists' in ,the ,plain ,speaker2 ,ruskin's ,prterita2 and ,the ,examiner1 ,may #dth1 #ahcc4 ,the circumstances under which the #8,conversations' were reported and printed will be found set forth in the #8,memoirs of ,william ,hazlitt1' vol4 ,,ii4 pp4 #aih-bac4 ,after six issues had appeared in ,the ,new ,monthly ,magazine a ,mr4 ,rosdew protested on behalf of the ,mudges against some remarks that appeared therein4 ,the passages1 which are given below in the ,notes for the first time since they appeared in the ,magazine 7they were omitted when ,hazlitt collected the papers for a volume71 may explain this protest4 ,the publication of further issues seems to have been stopped by the ,editor1 ,thomas ,campbell4 ,four ,conversations 7see note to p4 #cid71 were contributed to ,richardson's ,london ,weekly ,review1 and their existence there does not seem to have been noted until the present edition4 ,their publication was transferred to ,the ,atlas 7see note to p4 #dbj71 and finished therein4 ,unfortunately1 the ,british ,museum file of ,the ,atlas is defective1 and it has not so far been possible to check every #8,conversation' with its first appearance in magazine form4 ,where possible1 however1 this has been done1 and a few passages are given below which were not reprinted by ,hazlitt4 #ccc4 ,conversations ,i4-,,vi4 first appeared in ,the ,new ,monthly ,magazine and ,literary ,journal4 ,they begin in vol4 #ag1 #ahbf1 ,part ,,ii4 #8,original ,papers1' under the title of #8,boswell ,redivivus' and may be found as follows3-- ,no4 ,i4 ,august vol4 #ag ,no4 #fh ,,ii4 ,september #fi ,,iii4 ,october #gj ,,iv4 ,november #ga ,v4 ,february #ai #gd 7#ahbg1 #8,original ,papers1' ,part ,i47 ,,vi4 ,march #ge ,the motto 7#8,the precepts here1' etc47 appears at the head of ,no4 ,i4 ,the following explanatory footnote was not reproduced when the ,conversations were published in volume form3-- #8,i differ from my great original and predecessor 7,james ,boswell1 ,esq41 of ,auchinleck71 in this1 that whereas he is supposed to have invented nothing1 ,i have feigned whatever ,i pleased4 ,i have forgotten1 mistaken1 mis-stated1 altered1 transposed a number of things4 ,all that can be relied upon for certain is a striking anecdote or a sterling remark or two in each page4 ,these belong as a matter of right to my principal speaker3 the rest ,i have made for him by interpolating or paraphrasing what he said4 ,my object was to catch the tone and manner1 rather than to repeat the exact expressions1 or even opinions2 just as it is possible to recognise the voice of an acquaintance without distinguishing the particular words he uses4 ,sometimes ,i have allowed an acute or a severe remark to stand without the accompanying softenings or explanations1 for the sake of effect2 and at other times added whole passages without any foundation1 to fill up space4 ,for instance1 there is a dissertation on pp4 #ge-f1 the particulars and the ,tory turn of which are entirely my own4 ,my friend ,mr4 ,n-- is a determined ,whig4 ,i have1 however1 generally taken him as my lay-figure or model1 and worked upon it1 selon mon gr1 by fancying how he would express himself on any occasion1 and making up a conversation according to this preconception in my mind4 ,i have also introduced little incidental details that never happened2 thus1 by lying1 giving a greater air of truth to the scene--an art understood by most historians6 ,in a word1 ,mr4 ,n-- is only answerable for the wit1 sense1 and spirit1 there may be in these papers3 ,i take all the dullness1 impertinence1 and malice upon myself4 ,he has furnished the text--,i fear ,i have often spoiled it by the commentary4 ,or 7to give it a more favourable turn7 ,i have expanded him into a book1 as another friend#ih has continued the history of the ,honeycombs down to the present period4 ,my ,dialogues are done much upon the same principle as the ,family ,journal3 ,i shall be more than satisfied if they are thought to possess but half the spirit and verisimilitude1' #8,j4 ,b4 ,r4' #ccc4 ,cosway4 ,richard ,cosway1 ,r4,a4 7#agdj-ahba71 painter in water-colour1 oil and miniature4 ,miss ,reynolds4 ,frances ,reynolds 7#agbi-ahjg71 youngest sister of ,sir ,joshua4 ,she also was an artist and wrote an #8,essay on ,taste' of which ,dr4 ,johnson thought highly4 ,burying ,lord ,byron in ,poet's ,corner4 ,the application of ,lord ,byron's relatives that he should be buried in ,westminster ,abbey was refused1 and he lies in the church of ,hucknall-,torkard1 near ,newstead4 ,the ,abbey would not receive even his statue by ,thorwaldsen1 which is now in the ,library of ,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge4 #ccd4 ,hoppner4 ,john ,hoppner1 ,r4,a4 7#ageh-ahaj74 ,he and ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence took the places of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds and ,romney as fashionable portrait painters4 ,g--4 ,william ,godwin 7#agef-ahcf74 #8,his daughter' would probably be ,mary ,wollstonecraft ,shelley1 who returned to ,england after ,shelley's death4 ,as the initial occurs constantly throughout the ,conversations it will save some repetition in the notes if for ,g-- ,godwin is always understood1 except where otherwise stated4 ,h--4 ,leigh ,hunt4 ,his ,recollections of ,lord ,byron and ,some of ,his ,contemporaries appeared in #ahbh1 but this ,conversation appeared in the ,new ,monthly ,magazine in #ahbf4 ,in the ,magazine the initial is ,f-- not ,h--4 ,mr4 ,s--4 ,shelley4 ,like the tree in ,virgil4 ,aeneid1 ,,iii4 #cg-dj4 ,mr4 ,moore has just written a book4 ,moore's ,life of ,byron was published in #ahcj4 ,this note was added when the ,conversations were collected into a volume4 #ccf4 ,h--4 ,for ,benjamin ,robert ,haydon1 historical painter 7#aghf-ahdf7 see the volume containing ,hazlitt's art criticism4 ,fuseli4 ,heinrich ,fuessly1 or ,henry ,fuseli1 portrait painter and art critic 7#agda-ahbe74 ,w--4 ,wordsworth4 ,the name is given in full in the ,magazine4 #ccg4 ,armed all in proof4 ,richard ,,iii41 ,act ,v4 ,scene #c4 ,stat nominis umbra4 #8,stat magni nominis umbra4' ,lucan1 ,pharsalia1 ,i4 #ace4 ,tom ,paine4 ,the opposition to ,paine's ,rights of ,man 7#agia-agib7 was so great that it involved those circulating it in imprisonment4 ,paine's escape to ,paris saved him4 #cch4 ,dr4 ,watts 444 the encomiums passed on him by ,dr4 ,johnson4 ,see ,dr4 ,johnson's ,letter to ,mr4 ,edward ,dilly1 ,july #g1 #aggg3 #8his name has long been held by me in veneration4444 ,i wish to distinguish ,watts1 a man who never wrote but for a good purpose4' #cci4 ,mr4 ,northcote 444 a portrait of himself4 ,a portrait of ,northcote1 painted by himself in #ahba1 is in the ,national ,portrait ,gallery4 ,there are two or three others in existence4 #cdj4 ,west1 ,barry4 ,benjamin ,west 7#agch-ahbj71 historical painter1 and ,james ,barry 7#agda-ahjf71 whom ,allan ,cunningham described as #8the greatest enthusiast in art which this country ever produced4' #cda4 ,boaden4 7,b4 in the ,magazine47 ,james ,boaden 7#agfb-ahci71 dramatic critic and author of lives of ,kemble and ,mrs4 ,siddons4 #cda4 ,henderson4 ,john ,henderson 7#agdg-aghe71 the #8,bath ,roscius4' #cdb4 ,master ,betty4 ,william ,henry ,west ,betty or the ,young ,roscius 7#agia-ahgd7 who began to act at the age of eleven4 ,pitt adjourned the ,house of ,commons to enable the members to see his impersonation of ,hamlet4 ,see ,vol4 ,,iv4 ,the ,spirit of the ,age1 p4 #bcc and note4 ,northcote painted his portrait4 ,humphreys 7the artist74 ,the remark was probably made by ,ozias ,humphry 7#agdb-ahaj72 #8,master ,betty' acted as a boy eight years before ,humphry's death1 and the conversation is concerned with ,betty's acting when a boy4 ,see also ,conversations of ,james ,northcote1 ,r4,a41 with ,james ,ward1 page #hf3 #8,can you tell me1' said ,ward1 #8if ,betty the boy-actor--the young ,roscius--was as extraordinary as some people have represented1 for ,i myself never had an opportunity of seeing him act8' #8,his gracefulness1' replied ,northcote1 #8was exquisite2 ,i never saw anything like it before4 ,when ,humphry saw him1 he cried out1 8,oh1 'tis the young ,apollo come down from his pedestal60' ,the only doubt lies in the fact that ,humphry's eyesight seems to have failed in #agig4 ,mr4 ,harley4 ,george ,davies ,harley 7,davies was his real name71 author and actor1 who never rose above useful work1 and who died in #ahaa4 ,he wrote #8,an ,authentic ,biographical ,sketch of the ,life1 ,education1 and ,personal ,character of ,william ,henry ,west ,betty1 the ,celebrated ,young ,roscius' 7#ahjb74 ,alexander the ,great4 ,the sub-title of ,nat4 ,lee's tragedy 7#afee-afib7 ,the ,rival ,queens 7#afgg74 ,romney4 ,george ,romney 7#agcd-ahjb71 portrait painter4 ,lord ,thurlow said that the town was divided into two factions--,romney and ,reynolds4 #cdc4 ,opie4 ,john ,opie 7#agfa-ahjg71 portrait and historical painter1 of ,cornish birth4 ,he was discovered by ,dr4 ,wolcot 7,peter ,pindar71 himself a west-countryman4 ,miss ,c--4 ,possibly ,miss ,cotterell4 ,see note to p4 #dej4 #cde4 ,gandy4 ,william ,gandy 7born second half seventeenth century1 d4 #agbi71 portrait painter4 ,he was the son of ,james ,gandy1 also a portrait painter 7#afai-afhi74 ,see ante1 p4 #ba and note4 ,hudson4 ,thomas ,hudson1 portrait painter 7#agja-aggi71 the master of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,mengs4 ,anton ,rafael ,mengs1 of ,bohemian birth 7#agbh-aggi71 portrait and fresco painter4 ,the ,duke of ,ormond4 ,james ,butler1 second ,duke of ,ormonde 7#affe-agdf74 ,stringer4 ,daniel ,stringer1 portrait painter1 a student of the ,royal ,academy about #aggj4 #cdf4 ,cignani4 ,conte ,carlo ,cignani1 a painter of the ,lombard ,school 7#afbh-agai74 ,going with ,wilkie to ,angerstein's4 ,sir ,david ,wilkie 7#aghe-ahda74 ,john ,julius ,angerstein 7#agce-ahbc71 who acquired an immense fortune #8in the city1' and made the collection of pictures in his house in ,pall-,mall which developed into the ,national ,gallery by the purchase of them by the government after his death for some #fj1jjj4 ,edwards4 ,edward ,edwards1 historical painter 7#agch-ahjf74 ,masaccio4 ,tommaso ,guidi1 or ,masaccio 7 ,slovenly ,tommy1 from his careless manners7 7#adja-adbh71 ,florentine painter1 noted especially for his works on the walls of the ,carmine church4 ,note4 #8,the blacksmith swallowing the tailor's news4' ,king ,john1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #b4 #cdg4 ,prince ,hoare4 ,portrait and historical painter and dramatist 7#agee-ahcd71 son of ,william ,hoare1 ,r4,a4 ,haydon said of his timid expression of face1 that #8when he laughed heartily he seemed to be crying4' #cdg4 ,day4 ,alexander ,day1 miniature painter and picture-dealer 7#aggb-ahda74 ,he brought from ,italy several old masters which are now in the ,national ,gallery4 #cdi4 ,lord ,b-- to dine with ,dr4 ,johnson4 ,in the ,magazine the name is given in full as that of ,lord ,boringdon4 ,john ,parker 7#agce-aghh71 first ,baron ,boringdon1 father of the first ,earl of ,morley4 ,one of the cages at ,exeter-',change4 ,see vol4 ,,iv4 ,the ,spirit of the ,age1 note to p4 #bbc4 ,the ,memoirs of ,cardinal de ,retz4 ,these ,mmoires appeared in #agag1 and ,english translations were published soon after4 ,they throw much light on the time of the ,wars of the ,fronde1 and are excellent in character-drawing4 #cej4 ,f4 ,reynolds4 ,dramatist 7#agfd-ahda74 ,matthews1 the comedian4 ,charles ,mathews 7#aggf-ahce71 actor and1 above all1 mimic4 ,the ,prince leaving ,sheridan to die in absolute want4 ,although ,sheridan was the #8official mouthpiece' of the ,prince ,regent1 he was allowed to die in extreme poverty and with the bailiffs in his house4 #cea4 ,do you believe the modern periodicals4 ,these are specified in the ,magazine as #8,john ,bull' and #8,blackwood1' the former the ,tory paper started in #ahbj by ,theodore ,hook4 ,see vol4 ,,iv4 ,the ,spirit of the ,age1 note to p4 #bag4 ,h--me4 ,probably ,joseph ,hume of the ,pipe ,office4 ,see ante1 note to p4 #aie4 #ceb4 ,kelly's #8,reminiscences4' ,michael ,kelly's #8,reminiscences1 including a period of nearly half a ,century2 with ,original ,anecdotes of many ,distinguished ,personages1' appeared in #ahbj4 ,a second edition was published in #ahbf4 ,it is a valuable store-house for the historian of the ,english theatre4 ,mrs4 ,crouch4 ,anna ,maria ,crouch 7#agfc-ahje71 the beautiful vocalist1 whose #8appearance was that of a meteor1 it dazzled1 from excess of brilliancy1 every spectator4' ,love in a ,village4 ,isaac ,bickerstaffe's operatic farce1 with music by ,arne 7#agfb74 #cec4 ,canova4 ,antonio ,canova1 a sculptor and painter after the manner of the ,venetian ,school 7#ageg-ahbb74 ,bernini4 ,giovanni ,lorenzo ,bernini1 sculptor and architect 7#aeih-afhj74 ,mandeville4 ,bernard de ,mandeville1 satirist 7#afgj-agcc71 author of #8,the ,fable of the ,bees2 or1 ,private ,vices as ,public ,benefits' 7#agje-agbc71 an ironical attack upon ,shaftesbury's theories of virtue1 the fallacy of which1 according to ,dr4 ,johnson1 consisted in that ,mandeville defined neither vices nor benefits4 ,he it was who described ,addison as #8a parson in a tye-wig4' #ced4 ,the ,ireland controversy 444 ,dr4 ,parr4 ,dr4 ,samuel ,parr 7#agdg-ahbe71 clergyman and schoolmaster1 and possessed of an inexplicable reputation for scholarship1 was one of the believers in the ,shakespeare forgeries of ,samuel ,william ,henry ,ireland 7#aggg-ahce74 ,northcote uses the same phrase about ,dr4 ,parr in a conversation with ,james ,ward4 ,see his ,conversations with ,james ,ward1 p4 #hh4 ,tresham4 ,henry ,tresham1 painter and amateur picture dealer 7#agdi-ahad74 ,caleb ,whitefoord 7#agcd-ahaj71 wit and diplomatist4 ,see the epitaph ,goldsmith left among his papers for #8,retaliation4' #ceg4 ,tongues in the trees1 etc4 ,as ,you ,like ,it1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #a4 #ceh4 ,mr4 -- the poet4 ,probably ,tom ,moore4 #ceh4 ,start back with affright4 ,after this sentence the following passage occurs in the ,magazine3--#8,this has often struck me in ,west1 how happy it was for him that he lived and died in the belief that he was the greatest painter that had ever appeared on the face of the earth4 ,nothing could shake him in this opinion1 nor did he ever lose sight of it4 ,it was always 8,my ,wolfe1 my ,wolfe03--,i do assure you literally1 you could not be with him for five minutes at any time1 without his alluding to this subject3 whatever else was mentioned1 he always brought it round to that4 ,he thought ,wolfe owed all his fame to the picture3 it was he who had immortalized ,wolfe1 not ,wolfe who had immortalized him4' ,woollett4 ,william ,woollett 7#agce-aghe71 a great engraver4 ,he is said to have begun his career by a careful study of a ,turk's ,head on a pewter-pot in his father's public-house2 he was also credited with the habit of firing a cannon from the roof of his house when he had finished a great plate4 ,on his mean tombstone in ,old ,st4 ,pancras churchyard some one wrote3-- #8,here ,woollett rests1 expecting to be saved2 ,he graved well1 but is not well engraved4' ,there is now a memorial to him in ,westminster ,abbey4 #cei4 ,dance4 ,sir ,nathaniel ,dance ,holland1 ,bart4 7#agcd-ahaa71 portrait and landscape painter1 son of ,george ,dance1 builder of the ,mansion ,house4 ,since ,angelica ,kauffmann would not marry him1 he married a rich widow1 took the name of ,holland1 became a baronet1 entered ,parliament and gave up art4 ,farington4 ,joseph ,farington1 landscape painter 7#agdg-ahba74 #8,as you do sometimes8' ,after this sentence the following passage occurs in the ,magazine3--#8,but the thing that provoked me was1 ,i knew ,west was only thinking of the engraving of ,wolfe1 who had already a monument erected to him in the most select part of ,westminster ,abbey1 and ,west thought1 if he could get a monument to ,woollett there also1 he should come in between them4' ,round his gallery4 ,add the following from the ,magazine3-- #8,and yet1' said ,n4--1'he thought in his pictures he had accumulated an invaluable property1 and that they would be caught up at his death like so many ,correggios4 ,it was this that kept him alive4 ,if he could have seen how much he wanted1 he would1 perhaps1 have done nothing4' #cfj4 ,the death of poor --4 ,the ,magazine gives the initial ,f1 which indicates1 in all probability1 ,thomas ,foster1 ,irish portrait-painter 7#agih-ahbf71 who committed suicide4 ,c--4 ,john ,wilson ,croker 7#aghj-aheg71 who was appointed ,secretary of the ,admiralty in #ahji1 for his services to the ,duke of ,york4 ,poor ,bird4 ,edward ,bird 7#agfb or #gb-ahai71 genre painter1 who began life as an ornamenter of tea-trays4 ,if -- was likely to have succeeded4 ,the ,magazine gives the initial ,f4 ,see first note to this page4 ,mr4 ,locke 7of ,norbury ,park74 ,william ,locke 7#agcb-ahaj71 a wealthy art amateur1 on whose estate at ,norbury1 near ,mickleham1 ,surrey1 ,fanny ,burney built #8,camilla ,cottage4' ,his son1 ,william ,locke 7#agfg-ahdg71 was an amateur artist1 and his grandson also1 ,william ,locke the third 7#ahjd-ahcb74 ,old ,dr4 ,moore4 ,dr4 ,john ,moore 7#agbi-ahjb71 physician1 and author of the novel1 ,zeluco3 ,various ,views of ,human ,nature1 taken from ,life and ,manners1 ,foreign and ,domestic 7#aghf71 which suggested to ,byron the idea of ,childe ,harold 7see ,preface to this latter74 #cfa4 ,the wrapt soul sitting in the eyes4 ,il ,penseroso1 #dj rapt4 #cfb4 ,old ,alderman ,boydell4 ,john ,boydell 7#agai-ahjd71 engraver4 ,his book of plates of views in ,england and ,wales was the first book1 so he said1 that ever made a ,lord ,mayor of ,london4 ,he was a good friend to young artists1 and greatly furthered the art of engraving in ,england4 ,sir ,r4 ,p--4 ,sir ,richard ,phillips 7#agfg-ahdj71 author1 bookseller and publisher4 ,he established ,the ,monthly ,magazine in #agif4 #cfc4 ,annibal ,caracci4 ,annibal ,caracci 7#aefj-afji71 the decorator of the ,farnese ,palace1 ,rome1 and painter of the celebrated picture of #8,christ being taken down from the ,cross4' ,ludovico ,caracci4 ,ludovico ,caracci 7#aeee-afai71 uncle of the above4 ,angelica ,kauffmann4 ,maria ,anna ,angelica ,catharina ,kauffmann 7#agda-ahjg71 portrait painter and etcher4 #cfd4 ,simple ,story 444 ,nature and ,art4 ,elizabeth ,inchbald's 7#agec-ahba7 books were published in #agia and #agif respectively4 ,mrs4 ,centlivre4 ,susannah ,centlivre 7c4 #affg-agbc71 the authoress of nineteen vivacious plays4 ,see ,the ,dunciad1 ,book ,,ii4 #daa and note3 #8wife to ,mr4 ,centlivre1 ,yeoman of the ,mouth to ,his ,majesty4 ,she writ many ,plays1 and a ,song 7says ,mr4 ,jacob7 before she was seven years old4 ,she also writ a ,ballad against ,mr4 ,pope's ,homer before he began it4 ,p4' #cfd4 ,old ,baxter4 ,richard ,baxter1 the ,nonconformist ,divine 7#afae-afia74 ,the same illustration is used in ,the ,plain ,speaker1 p4 #bdc4 ,a ,dissenting ,minister 7a ,mr4 ,fox of ,plymouth74 ,john ,fox 7#afic-agfc74 ,he was given in charge of his father's first cousin1 ,isaac ,gilling1 minister at ,newton ,abbot1 to see if ,gilling could remove his objections to the ministry4 ,after many shifts he got his license on ,oct4 #ag1 #agag1 and he began to preach1 but apparently he was never ordained4 ,he gave up the ministry after his father's death1 married ,isaac ,gilling's daughter and turned biographer4 #cfe4 ,an early picture of ,h--'s4 ,haydon's4 ,the ,magazine gives this in full4 #cff4 ,malone4 ,edmond ,malone 7#agda-ahab71 the editor of ,shakespeare4 ,old ,mr4 ,m--4 ,given in the ,magazine as ,mudge4 ,the ,mudges of ,plymouth were the family by whose means ,northcote was introduced to ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,zachariah ,mudge 7#afid-agfi71 divine1 ,sir ,joshua described as the wisest man he had met in his life1 and he painted his portrait three times4 ,his #8character' was written by ,dr4 ,johnson in the ,london ,chronicle1 ,june #b1 #agfi4 ,he taught at a school kept by ,john ,reynolds 7grandfather of the painter71 at ,exeter1 hence the acquaintance between the two families4 ,he was a friend of ,smeaton's1 the builder of the ,eddystone lighthouse1 and it was he who joined ,smeaton in the lantern1 upon its completion1 in chanting the ,old ,hundredth4 ,the first ,mrs4 ,mudge was the lady who remonstrated with ,dr4 ,johnson when he proceeded to his eighteenth cup of tea4 #8,what1 another6' she said2 and the ,doctor replied3 #8,madam1 you are rude1' and proceeded to his twenty-fifth4 ,john ,mudge 7#agba-agic71 physician1 was the fourth and youngest son of the above4 ,i heard no more of the ,life4 ,add the following from the ,magazine1 p4 #he3--#8;for it contained stories of ,mudge having run away from the ,academy where he was brought up1 because ,moll ,faux1 the housemaid1 would not have him2 of his sleeping in a sugar-cask all night at ,wapping1 finding a halfpenny in the street1 with which he bought a loaf to prevent himself from starving1 and returning home in the greatest distress1 where he soon after left the dissenters to go over to the church1 because the former would not give him some situation that he wanted4' ,n-- said1 #8,sir ,joshua took no further notice1 and ,i believe he burned my ,,ms41 for it was not to be found among his papers at his death1 though ,malone at my request had made every search for it4 ,the truth is1 they were mortified to find one whom they had been in the habit of crying up not only as a person of the highest capacity 7which he was7 but as a saint and the model of a ,christian pastor1 turn out little better than a vagabond and mountebank4 ,it was besides an imputation on their own sagacity4' #cff4 ,kneller4 ,sir ,godfrey ,kneller1 ,bart4 7or ,kniller71 #afdf-agbc4 ,he painted portraits of nearly every person of importance in his day4 ,it would do for anybody4 ,add the following from the ,magazine3-- #8,n-- then showed me a print of him after ,sir ,joshua1 which appeared to me a complete high-priest1 bullying and insincere4 ,his wife 7the same ,moll ,faux1 whom he afterwards married1 and who continued a violent ,dissenter to the last7 used to say--8,there he gets up into the pulpit1 and prates away as if he knew all the secrets of heaven and earth1 and all the time does not believe one word of it40 ,my father who knew him1 said there was always to him a look of insincerity in his very high-flown orthodoxy1 for once when ,smeaton1 the great engineer1 was making a remark on some circumstance in the ,old ,testament1 he cut him short by saying1 8,oh6 if you give up any part1 the whole must follow60 ,he used also to say1 in speaking of the arguments on natural religion1 that in an infinity of chances everything was possible4 ,if he had been at ,rome1 he would have got to be a ,cardinal as sure as ,i am standing here4 ,he had ambition and abilities enough for any thing4 ,yet it was like pride in a corner too4 ,his wife would always put a brick behind the fire to keep it low1 and would come in and boil the saucepan by his study-fire1 just as when they had been in poverty and mean circumstances1 and yet he never objected4 ,he grew indolent at last1 and spent his time in playing at cards with old ladies who were rich and pious4 ,he hated writing sermons 7though it was what he was chiefly admired for71 and preached the same set over and over again1 till the congregation nearly had them by heart4 ,i said it was what he did not feel1 and he therefore set about it reluctantly4' #cfg4 ,dunning1 ,gay1 ,lord ,chancellor ,king4 ,john ,dunning1 first ,baron ,ashburton 7#agca-aghc71 ,solicitor-,general in #agfh1 and one of the most powerful orators of his day4 ,john ,gay 7#afhe-agcb71 of ,barnstaple1 the poet4 ,peter ,king 7first ,lord ,king1 ,baron of ,ockham in ,surrey7 #affi-agcd1 lord chancellor #agbe4 ,pope's ,lord ,lansdowne1 #8,what ,muse for ,granville1' etc4 ,george ,granville or ,grenville 7#affg-agce71 follower of ,waller in ,english verse4 ,he was created ,lord ,lansdowne in #agaa4 ,he was a descendant of ,charles ,i's general1 ,sir ,richard ,granville 7#afjj-afeh74 ,see ,pope's ,windsor ,forest4 ,foster1 the celebrated preacher4 ,james ,foster 7#afig-agec7 who was appointed in #agbh ,sunday ,evening ,lecturer at the ,old ,jewry4 ,lord ,chancellor ,hardwicke4 ,philip ,yorke 7#afij-agfd71 first ,earl of ,hardwicke4 ,let modest ,foster4 ,pope's ,epilogue to the ,satires1 ,dialogue1 lines #aca-b4 ,after the couplet the following passage may be inserted from the ,magazine3--#8,i had made1' said ,n--1 #8a pretty picture of the worthies of the ,devon1 till -- spoiled it by making me stick his ugly boy in it1 and would not have it after all4' #8,i asked if the family of the ,mudges still continued2 and he said they did1 but were not equal to the two that he had mentioned1 old ,zachary ,mudge1 and ,dr4 ,mudge his son1 who was a physician4 ,the last had been his father's most intimate friend1 and he remembered him perfectly well4' #cfh4 ,warburton 444 ,dr4 ,doddridge 444 the ,divine ,legation of ,moses4 ,william ,warburton 7#afih-aggi74 ,the ,divine ,legation of ,moses 7#agch-dj7 was described by ,gibbon as #8a monument1 already crumbling in the dust1 of the vigour and weakness of the human mind4' ,philip ,doddridge 7#agjb-agea71 eminent nonconformist divine and twentieth child of an oilman4 ,female ,seducers4 ,one of the ,fables for the ,female ,sex 7#agdd7 published by ,edward ,moore 7#agab-ageg71 the fabulist4 ,this particular ,fable was the work of ,henry ,brooke1 author of ,the ,fool of ,quality4 #cfi4 ,mr4 ,agar4 ,welbore ,ellis ,agar1 referred to by ,boswell 7ed4 ,g4 ,b4 ,hill1 ,,iii4 #aah note71 in a note to a letter to ,johnson 7,july #i1 #aggg74 ,in the ,magazine the name is given as ,ellis only4 ,an expression of ,coleridge's4 ,the remark seems to have been made in a lecture delivered by ,coleridge on ,jan4 #bg1 #ahah1 on the #8,general ,character of the ,gothic ,mind in the ,middle ,ages4' ,see #8,mr4 ,green's note taken at the delivery' in ,coleridge's ,literary ,remains vol4 ,i41 p4 #fi1 #ahcf4 #cgj4 ,the beautiful ,mrs4 ,g--4 ,mary ,horneck1 the #8,jessamy ,bride' of ,goldsmith1 married to ,colonel ,gwyn4 ,her elder sister ,goldsmith nicknamed #8,little ,comedy4' ,ninon de l',enclos 7#afaf-agjf74 ,a famous ,french beauty1 who lives in her letters to ,st4 ,evremond4 ,she had many lovers and read ,montaigne at the age of ten4 #cga4 ,the description of ,cymon4 #8,cymon and ,iphigenia1 from ,boccace4' ,mr4 ,p--4 ,peter ,george ,patmore 7#aghf-ahee71 journalist1 author and father of ,coventry ,patmore4 ,see his ,my ,friends and ,acquaintances 7#ahed74 #cgb4 ,as ,swift said4 #8,but principally ,i hate and detest that animal called man1 although ,i heartily love ,john1 ,peter1 ,thomas1 and so forth4' ,letter to ,pope1 ,sept4 #bi1 #agbe4 ,the same complaint was made of the ,academy in ,barry's time4 ,james ,barry was not able to agree with his brother ,academicians and he was expelled in #agii4 #cgc4 ,lord ,g4-- 8 ,robert ,grosvenor1 second ,earl ,grosvenor and first ,marquis of ,westminster 7#agfg-ahde74 ,he shocked the ,house of ,commons in his first speech by quoting ,greek and he added the ,agar collection of pictures to the ,gallery at ,grosvenor ,house4 ,nollekens4 ,joseph ,nollekens 7#agcg-ahbc71 who modelled busts of nearly all the #8persons of importance' in his day4 ,giardini4 ,felice ,giardini1 a ,piedmontese musician1 who flourished in ,england in the latter half of the eighteenth century4 ,northcote seems to have been much impressed with ,giardini's statement4 ,he repeated it to ,james ,ward4 ,see ,conversations of ,james ,northcote1 ,r4,a41 with ,james ,ward on ,art and ,artists 7#aija7 p4 #bai4 ,mr4 ,p4 ,h4 ,here and elsewhere1 ,mr4 ,prince ,hoare4 #cgd4 ,dance4 ,see ante1 note to p4 #cei1 #cge4 ,w--4 ,probably ,west4 #cgf4 ,r--1 the engraver4 ,samuel ,william ,reynolds1 mezzotint engraver 7#aggc-ahce74 ,lord ,john ,boringdon4 ,see ante1 note to p4 #cdi4 ,lord ,boringdon added many valuable pictures to the collection at his family seat1 ,saltram1 near ,plymouth4 ,sir ,john ,leicester's4 ,sir ,john ,fleming ,leicester1 ,first ,lord de ,tabley 7#agfb-ahbg71 art patron4 ,he often allowed the public to see his fine collection of ,british pictures1 in his house in ,hill ,street1 ,berkeley ,square4 #cgh4 ,life of ,chaucer4 ,published #ahjc4 #cgi4 ,mrs4 ,radcliffe's ,italian4 #8,the ,italian' 7#agig7 by ,ann ,radcliffe 7#agfd-ahbc74 ,wilson4 ,richard ,wilson1 landscape painter 7#agad-aghb74 ,he inherited a small estate in ,wales from his brother and died there4 #chj4 ,barrett4 ,george ,barret 7#agbh_/cb-aghd7 landscape painter and decorator of the great room at ,norbury ,park4 ,his son ,george #8the younger' 7#aggd-ahdb7 was one of the first members of the ,water ,colour ,society4 ,pirated by an ,irish bookseller4 ,the copyright act was not extended to ,ireland until the ,union4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,ninth appeared in the ,london ,weekly ,review 7,richardson's71 under the heading #8,,real ,,conversations1' ,march #ad1 #ahbi1 from the beginning of the ,conversation to #8to obtain redress' on p4 #chd4 ,the names are disguised1 ,northcote as ,a2 ,g as ,f4 ,h--4 ,haydon4 ,admiral ,blake4 ,robert ,blake 7#aeii-afeg7 one of the greatest of ,english ,admirals and a supporter of the ,commonwealth1 hence the reference4 ,g--4 ,godwin and on the next page also4 #cha4 ,baretti4 ,giuseppe ,marc ,antonio ,baretti1 7#agai-aghi7 ,italian lexicographer and friend of ,dr4 ,johnson4 #chc4 ,zara1 ,mahomet4 ,voltaire's tragedy ,zare 7#agcc7 was ,englished by ,hill in #agce and his ,mahomet 7#agch7 by ,miller in #agdj4 #chd4 #8,we pay1' continued ,northcote4 ,this forms the beginning of #8,,real ,,conversations' in the ,london ,weekly ,review1 ,april #aa1 #ahbi4 ,the names are disguised as before1 ,northcote under ,a4 ,i--'s1 on p4 #che is given in full1 ,irving's4 ,the failure of a great bookseller is1 briefly1 #8,constable's failure4' ,poor ,goblet4 ,alexander ,goblet1 ,nollekens' carver4 ,oh6 ho1 quoth ,time to ,thomas ,hearne4 ,thomas ,hearne 7#afgh-agce71 a dull but learned antiquarian1 of whom ,gibbon wrote3 #8,his minute and obscure diligence1 his voracious and undistinguishing appetite1 and the coarse vulgarity of his taste and style1 have exposed him to the ridicule of idle wits4' ,see ,the ,dunciad1 ,,iii4 #ahe4 #che4 ,mr4 ,moore 7brother of the general74 ,sir ,graham ,moore1 admiral 7#agfd-ahdc74 ,the ,pilot4 ,james ,fenimore ,cooper's 7#aghi-ahea7 novel was published in #ahbc4 ,i--4 ,washington ,irving 7#aghc-ahei74 ,his ,history of ,new ,york1 ,sketch ,book1 ,bracebridge ,hall and ,tales of a ,traveller1 had appeared when this criticism was uttered4 ,see also vol4 ,,iv4 ,the ,spirit of the ,age1 p4 #cfg4 #chf4 ,mr4 ,alderman ,wood4 ,sir ,matthew ,wood 7#agfh-ahdc71 ,m4,p4 for the ,city from #ahag till his death--notorious as the champion of ,queen ,caroline4 ,suffered a sea-change1 etc4 ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 rich and strange4 ,he did not do so well4 ,add from the ,london ,weekly ,review--#8,but the whole was so thoroughly ,yankee in grain 7even the hardness and dryness71 that ,i was surprised to find the writer was the son of the celebrated ,cooper of ,manchester4 ,the father was himself1 however1 of a very stern republican genius4'#ii #chf4 ,horrors accumulating on horror's head4 ,othello1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 ,brown's ,romances4 ,charles ,brockden ,brown 7#agga-ahaj71 said to be the first ,american who adopted literature as a profession4 ,his novels 7,wieland1 ,ormund1 ,arthur ,mervyn1 ,edgar ,huntly1 ,clara ,howard and ,janet ,talbot7 are full of imagination4 ,zoffani4 ,johann ,zauffely or ,zoffany 7#agcc-ahaj71 portrait painter1 especially of actors in character4 ,the ,queen's trial1 and the scenes at ,brandenburg ,house4 ,lord ,liverpool's bill of pains and penalties against the ,queen was abandoned in #ahbj much to the people's delight4 ,brandenburg ,house1 which was formerly on the banks of the ,thames1 where the ,middlesex entrance to ,hammersmith ,bridge now is1 was occupied by ,queen ,caroline1 who died there in #ahba4 #chg4 ,our maid's aunt of ,brentford4 ,merry ,wives of ,windsor1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #b4 ,mr4 ,r--1 of ,liverpool4 ,the name is given in full in the ,london ,weekly ,review as ,roscoe1 but ,mr4 ,w4 ,c4 ,hazlitt says it should be ,railton4 ,his book was burnt by the common hangman4 ,the grand jury of ,middlesex #8presented the book as a nuisance1' ,july #agbc4 #chh4 ,dignum the singer4 ,charles ,dignum 7#agfe8-ahgb74 ,he was connected with ,drury ,lane nearly all his life4 ,b--4 ,sir ,william ,beechey 7#agec-ahci71 portrait painter4 #chi4 ,dressed in a little brief authority4 ,measure for ,measure1 ,act ,,ii4 ,scene #b4 #cij4 ,andrew ,taffi4 ,andrea ,tafi1 a fourteenth century ,florentine painter4 #cic4 ,he that can endure4 ,antony and ,cleopatra1 ,act ,,iii4 ,scene #c4 #cid4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,eleventh4 ,this is the first of the #8,,real ,,conversations' which appeared in the ,london ,weekly ,review1 ,march #g1 #ahbi4 ,after the title occurs the following explanatory note3--#8,the ,conversations here presented to the reader are real not #8,imaginary4' ,how we became possessed of them1 it is not necessary to disclose4 ,suffice it that they are set down almost exactly as they passed from the lips of the speakers2 and that those speakers are living persons1 sufficiently distinguished from the crowd by their name1 talents1 and acquirements1 to render whatever they may have to say worthy attention1 on whatever topic their talk may turn4 ,we will only add1 that the ,conversations here reported were entirely unpremeditated1 and consequently spoken without the remotest view to anything but their immediate effect on the person addressed4--,,ed4' ,northcote is disguised as usual under ,a4 ,kendall's ,letters on ,ireland4 #8,letters to a friend on the ,state of ,ireland1' #ahbf4 ,by ,edward ,augustus ,kendall 78 #aggf-ahdb71 founder in #ahai of ,the ,literary ,chronicle1 which was afterwards incorporated with the ,athenum4 ,a thing no more difficile4 ,butler's ,hudibras1 ,part #a4 ,canto ,i4 ll4 #ec and #ed4 #cie4 ,old ,mr4 ,tolcher4 ,henry ,tolcher1 alderman of ,plymouth and friend of ,northcote's father4 ,northcote left an unfinished portrait of him4 ,canning's assertion4 ,in a debate in the ,house of ,commons1 on ,march #ast1 #ahbf1 on a ,petition for the ,abolition of ,slavery in the ,colonies 7,hansard's ,parl4 ,deb4 ,,xiv4 #igc1 et seq474 #cif4 ,smites us on one cheek4 ,s4 ,luke1 vi4 #bi4 #cig4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,twelfth4 ,no4 ,,iv4 of #8,,real ,,conversations' in the ,london ,weekly ,review1 ,april #ah1 #ahbi4 ,northcote as usual is ,a4 #cig4 ,b----4 ,beechey4 ,m----'s1 the landscape painter4 ,given as #8,martin's' in the ,london ,weekly ,review4 ,john ,martin1 landscape and historical painter 7#aghi-ahed71 whom ,lytton characterised as more original than ,raphael and ,michael ,angelo4 ,he had a lifelong struggle with the ,british ,academy and was one of the founders of the ,society of ,british ,artists1 at whose gallery he exhibited for many years4 #cih4 ,x----4 ,almost certainly ,haydon1 who married in ,october1 #ahba1 a beautiful widow1 ,mary ,hymans 7,see p4 #cii74 ,sir ,peter ,lely4 #afag-afhj1 painter of the beauties of the ,court of ,charles ,,ii4 #cii4 ,brambletye-,house4 ,by ,horace ,smith 7#aggi-ahdi73 it was published in #ahbf4 #djj4 ,maria ,cosway4 ,maria ,hadfield1 wife of ,richard ,cosway ,r4,a4 ,she also was an artist4 #dja4 ,mrs4 ,g----4 ,gwyn1 see note to p4 #cgj4 #8,retaliation4' ,goldsmith's poem 7#aggd7 wherein1 amongst other #8characters' are the famous lines on ,burke3-- #8,who1 born for the universe1 narrowed his mind1 ,and to party gave up what was meant for mankind4' #djc4 ,grandi1 the ,italian colour-grinder4 ,sebastiano ,grandi1 who was imported from ,italy to be ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's colour-grinder4 ,he is #8,warwick' in the #8,death of ,cardinal ,beaufort4' ,l----4 ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence1 7#agfi-ahcj7 portrait painter and ,president of the ,royal ,academy4 ,some demon whisper'd4 ,pope's #8,epistle ,,iv4 to ,richard ,boyle1 ,earl of ,burlington1' l4 #af4 #djd4 ,raphael ,smith4 ,john ,raphael ,smith 7#ageb-ahab71 painter and mezzotint engraver4 ,his ,life and ,works by ,julia ,frankau have recently been published in two vols4 by ,messrs4 ,macmillan4 ,signora ,cecilia ,davies 7#agej8-ahcf74 ,after a brilliant career1 especially abroad 7she was the first ,englishwoman to appear on the ,italian stage71 she died ignored1 deserted and forgotten4 ,madame ,catalani4 ,angelica ,catalani 7#aggi-ahdi7 retired from the stage in #ahbg4 ,storace4 ,anne ,selina ,storace or ,storache 7#agff-ahag71 a favourite singer and actress4 ,her brother ,stephano ,storace 7#agfc-agif7 was composer to ,drury ,lane ,theatre4 #dje4 ,cried up in the top of the compass4 ,cf4 ,hamlet1 ,,iii4 #b4 #8,you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass4' ,sheridan's beautiful lines4 #8,verses to the ,memory of ,garrick1 spoken as a ,monody1 at the ,theatre ,royal in ,drury ,lane4' ,dated ,march #be1 #aggi4 #djf4 ,the ,duchess of ----4 ,possibly ,elizabeth ,chudleigh1 afterwards ,countess of ,bristol and soi-disant ,duchess of ,kingston4 ,reynolds told ,northcote he had never seen so delicate a beauty4 ,the ,three ,tuns4 ,a famous tavern in ,guildhall ,yard4 ,see ,webster's ,a ,cure for a ,cuckold1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 ,the ,judge 7,lord ,kenyon74 ,lloyd ,kenyon1 ,first ,lord ,kenyon 7#agcb-ahjb7 ,master of the ,rolls4 ,it is said that no judge who presided so long in the ,king's bench has been as seldom over-ruled4 #djg4 ,bitter bad judges4 ,gay's ,beggar's ,opera1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 ,a poem with engravings of ,dartmoor4 ,possibly ,noel and ,thomas ,carrington's #8,dartmoor1 a ,descriptive ,poem' with notes by the late ,w4 ,burt1 ,esq41 and twelve prints1 #ahbf4 ,w4 ,c4 ,h44 #djg4 ,the ,panorama of the ,north ,pole4 ,possibly at ,burford's #8,panorama1' now the ,catholic ,church in ,leicester ,square4 ,it was erected in #agic and was originally ,robert ,barker's 7d4 #ahjf74 ,views of famous places were printed on the inner surface of a hollow cylinder1 the spectators occupying a central platform4 #djh4 ,the ,fables4 ,northcote's 7and ,hazlitt's7 ,fables were published in #ahbh4 ,see the beginning of these notes1 p4 #ejd4 ,like the enchanted money in the ,arabian ,nights4 #8,the ,story of the ,barber's ,fourth ,brother4' ,caleb ,williams4 ,william ,godwin's novel 7#agid74 #daj4 ,lavender4 ,a ,bow ,street runner4 ,see vol4 ,,vii4 ,the ,plain ,speaker1 p4 #hc4 #daa4 ,so ,johnson cried up ,savage4 ,see his ,life of ,richard ,savage 7#agdd74 #dab4 ,savage the architect4 ,james ,savage 7#aggi-aheb7 architect of ,st4 ,luke's ,church1 ,chelsea 7where he is buried7 and many other churches4 ,as the showman says in ,goldsmith's comedy4 ,she ,stoops to ,conquer1 ,act ,i4 #dac4 ,the ,seven ,champions of ,christendom1 ,guy of ,warwick4 #8,the ,seven ,champions' by ,richard ,johnson 7#aegc-afei87 published #aeif-g2 ,guy of ,warwick1 the hero of many romantic adventures3 see ,drayton's ,polyolbion4 ,richardson 7,sheridan's friend74 ,william ,richardson 7#agdc-ahad7 author of #8,essays on ,some of ,shakespeare's ,dramatic ,characters' 7#aggd-ahab74 ,see vol4 ,i4 ,characters of ,shakespear's ,plays1 p4 #aga4 ,note1 a paper 444 in the ,tatler4 ,no #ie1 ,november #ag1 #agji4 #dad4 ,vanbrugh4 ,sir ,john ,vanbrugh 7c4 #afff-agbf7 dramatist and architect4 ,his comedy ,the ,provoked ,husband was left unfinished4 ,he built ,castle ,howard in ,yorkshire4 ,richards 7the scene painter74 ,john ,inigo ,richards 7born first half of eighteenth century1 d4 #ahaj74 ,he was one of the original members of ,the ,royal ,academy4 ,his reputation was greatest as scene painter at ,covent ,garden and especially in one of the scenes for ,the ,maid of the ,mill which ,woollett engraved4 #8,the ,city-,wives ,confederacy4' ,the ,confederacy was first played at the ,haymarket in #agje4 #8,the ,trip to ,scarborough4' ,sheridan's adaptation 7acted #aggg1 printed #aghf7 of ,vanbrugh's ,relapse4 ,let loose the grey-hound4 ,the ,relapse1 ,act ,,iii41 ,scenes #c and #d4 ,lord ,mansfield4 ,william ,murray ,earl of ,mansfield1 7#agjd-agic7 ,lord ,chief-,justice4 #dae4 ,mademoiselle ,brocard4 ,suzanne ,brocard 7#agih-ahee7 a popular ,french actress at the ,odon and at the ,comdie ,franaise4 ,a certain poet4 ,robert ,southey1 whose ,curse of ,kehama was published in #ahaj4 #8,the ,artist4' ,a weekly periodical edited by ,prince ,hoare4 #8,no ,song no ,supper4' ,a farce of ,prince ,hoare's with music by ,storace4 ,first acted at ,drury ,lane1 ,april #af1 #agij4 ,madame ,storace4 ,see ante1 p4 #djd and note4 #8,my grandmother4' ,a musical farce by ,prince ,hoare and ,storace produced at the ,haymarket1 ,dec4 #af1 #agic4 #dag4 ,o',keefe4 ,john ,o',keeffe 7#agdg-ahcc74 ,bowkitt the dancing-master4 ,in ,o',keeffe's ,son-in-,law 7#aggi74 ,see under ,edwin in ,the ,dictionary of ,national ,biography for a tale of his acting in the part4 ,edwin4 ,john ,edwin the elder 7#agdi-agij74 ,lingo4 ,in ,o',keeffe's comedy ,agreeable ,surprise4 #dag4 ,mrs4 ,wells4 ,mrs4 ,mary ,wells1 afterwards ,mrs4 ,sumbel 7fl4 #agha-ahab74 ,she was the first actress of #8,cowslip' in ,o',keeffe's ,agreeable ,surprise1 ,sept4 #c1 #agha4 #8,peeping ,tom of ,coventry4' ,a ,comic ,opera by ,john ,o',keeffe1 a success at the ,haymarket1 #aghd4 ,b--4 ,john ,bannister4 #8,lenitive in the ,prize4' ,a musical farce by ,prince ,hoare1 produced at the ,haymarket1 ,march #aa1 #agic4 ,liston4 ,john ,liston 7#aggf-ahdf74 #dah4 ,munden4 ,joseph ,shepherd ,munden 7#ageh-ahcf74 ,see ,lamb's ,elia1 ed4 ,ainger1 p4 #bja1 #8,on the ,acting of ,munden4' ,weston4 ,thomas ,weston 7#agcg-aggf74 ,scrub4 ,in ,the ,beaux ,stratagem 7#agjg7 by ,george ,farquhar 7#afgh-agjg74 ,dr4 ,l4 ,foote and ,bickerstaffe's farce1 ,dr4 ,last in his chariot 7#agfi74 ,abel ,drugger4 ,in ,ben ,jonson's ,the ,alchemist 7#afaj74 ,mr4 ,theodore ,hook's #8,sayings and ,doings4' ,theodore ,hook's 7#aghh-ahda7 #8,sayings and ,doings' fill nine volumes 7#ahbd-h74 ,curll4 ,edmund ,curll 7#afge-agdg71 the bookseller of whose biographies ,arbuthnot said #8,they add a new terror to death4' ,he was best known as a publisher of #8curious' literature and has his place in the ,dunciad4 ,president ,bradshaw4 ,john ,bradshaw 7#afjb-afei71 who presided over the #8trial' of ,charles ,i4 ,that post led to his being made ,president of the ,council of ,state4 #dai4 ,dr4 ,m--4 ,mudge4 ,rosa de ,tivoli4 ,philipp ,peter ,roos 7#afeg-agje71 called ,rosa da ,tivoli from his having established himself at ,tivoli1 #8where he kept a kind of menagerie1 for the purpose of drawing animals with the greater correctness4' 7,bryan47 ,a whimsical production4 ,possibly ,amory's ,john ,buncle2 ,see vol4 ,i4 ,the ,round ,table1 p4 #ea et seq41 and notes thereto4 #8,lazarillo de ,tormes4' ,the authorship of this romance 78#aeec7 is generally attributed to ,don ,diego ,hurtado de ,mendoza 7#aejc-aege71 the representative of ,charles ,v4 at the ,council of ,trent4 ,an ,english edition appeared in #aegf4 ,cheats of ,scapin4 ,otway's version 7#afgg7 of ,molire's farce 7#afga74 ,scarron4 ,paul ,scarron 7#afaj-affj71 author of ,le ,roman ,comique 7#afea-g71 the #8only begetter' of the novels of ,le ,sage1 ,defoe and their successors1 one of the brightest1 bravest cripples who ever lived4 ,his works were translated by ,t4 ,brown1 ,savage and others in #agjj4 ,the sentence reads as though ,molire's comedy were attributed to ,scarron4 #dbj4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,sixteenth4 ,this ,conversation to #8his infirmity' on p4 #dbb1 was published in ,the ,atlas1 ,april #ai1 #ahbi1 as ,no4 #a of #8,conversations as good as ,real' 7following the #8,real ,conversations' in ,richardson's ,london ,weekly ,review1 ,no4 ,,iv4 of which had appeared the day before74 ,see note to p4 #cig4 ,n is ,j and ,h is ,t throughout4 ,the rest of the #8,conversation' appeared as ,no4 #aa in the issue for ,april #bf1 #ahbi4 ,ramsay4 ,allan ,ramsay 7#agac-aghd71 portrait painter1 son of the poet4 ,j--n4 ,john ,jackson1 portrait painter1 7#aggh-ahca74 ,w--4 8 ,wilkie4 #dba4 ,to make assurance doubly sure4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,,iv4 ,scene #a4 #dba4 ,johnson had his ,lexiphanes4 ,a parody of his style1 published #agfg3 #8its author was one ,campbell1 a ,scotch purser in the ,navy4' ,the ,l-- poets4 ,the ,lake poets4 #dbb4 ,you're not so far out4 ,add1 from ,the ,atlas1 after this line3--#8,k-- wanted him to sit on the ,sunday as he was hurried for time1 and ,i proposed it to him with some hesitation--he answered1 8,oh6 yes2 you #8re not to suppose that ,i am such a ,presbyterian as to refuse to sit for my picture on the sabbath-day1 ,i'll sit with the greatest pleasure--after divine service40 ,and so he came4' ,a devoted enthusiast notwithstanding4 ,add1 from ,the ,atlas3--#8,it is not his ,toryism neither1 that ,i object to1 but his manner of defending it4 ,neither party has a right to use poisoned weapons1 or to resort to under-hand means4 ,if the ,whigs or reformers were to deal in wholesale calumny and squalid abuse against their opponents1 they would be scouted as blackguards2 but the ,court party think themselves screened from this imputation 7,sir ,,walter1 ,i am afraid1 among the rest71 and that they have a right to say and to do what they please1 cum privilegio regis4 ,j4 ,i can't agree with you on that subject4 ,whenever politics are concerned1 your passions run away with your understanding4 ,i don't believe ,sir ,,walter had ever any thing to do with the ,blackwood set4 ,t4 ,nor with the ,sentinel8#ajj ,j4 ,i never heard of that4 ,t4 ,never mind1 then4 ,there are two things1' etc4 ,all ,europe rings with them from side to side4 ,milton's ,sonnet to ,cyriac ,skinner1 ,,ii4 7i4e4 #8,to the same4'7 #dbc4 ,his ,grammar8 ,william ,cobbett's 7#agfb-ahce71 ,a ,grammar of the ,english ,language in a ,series of ,letters was published in #ahah4 ,peter ,pindar4 ,john ,wolcot 7#agch-ahai71 physician1 satirist and poet4 ,bastards of their art4 ,cf4 #8,thought characters and words merely but art ,and bastards of his foul adulterate heart4' ,shakespeare1 #8,a ,lover's ,complaint1' ll4 #agd-e4 #dbd4 ,not one1 but all mankind's epitome4 ,dryden's ,absalom and ,achitophel1 ,part ,i4 l4 #edf4 ,when ,rousseau stood4 ,les ,confessions1 ,partie ,i4 ,livre iii4 7ed4 ,garnier1 pp4 #ha-b74 #dbe4 ,and looked round on them with their wolfish eyes4 #8,the longings of the cannibal arise 7,although they spoke not7 in their wolfish eyes4' ,don ,juan1 ,canto ,,ii4 #gb4 #dbf4 ,the last4 ,the ,fair ,maid of ,perth published as ,chronicles of the ,canongate 7#bnd ,series7 in #ahbh4 ,the cask of butter in the storm4 ,don ,juan1 ,canto ,,ii4 #df4 ,mrs4 ,abington4 ,frances ,abington 7#agcg-ahae71 flower-seller1 street singer1 cookmaid and comedy-queen4 #dbi4 ,lord ,exmouth 7,sir ,edward ,pellew74 ,edward ,pellew1 ,viscount ,exmouth 7#ageg-ahcc71 whose bombardment of ,algiers in #ahaf procured him his title4 ,the ,colosseum4 ,the ,colosseum in ,regent's ,park was erected in #ahbd-f1 for a panorama of ,london from the top of ,st4 ,paul's1 which occupied #df1jjj square feet of canvas4 ,it was demolished in #ahge4 ,rogers said the building was #8finer than anything among the remains of architectural art in ,italy4' #dbi4 ,lackington4 ,james ,lackington 7#agdf-ahae71 whose #8,memoirs of the ,forty-,five ,first 7sic7 ,years' of his life as a bookseller was published in #agia1 #8with a ,triple ,dedication2 #a4 ,to the ,public2 #b4 ,to respectable2 #c4 ,to sordid1 ,booksellers4' ,his premises in ,moorfields1 #8,the ,temple of the ,muses1' were #8so capacious that a mail-coach and four was easily driven round the counters when it was opened4' ,adam ,black1 the ,edinburgh publisher1 gained his early experience in the house of ,lackington1 ,allen and ,co4 ,e-- the architect4 8 ,james ,elmes 7#aghb-ahfb71 architect1 and contributor to art and antiquarian periodicals4 ,he was a friend of ,haydon's4 #dcj4 ,drelincourt on ,death 444 till ,defoe put a ghost-story into it4 ,charles ,drelincourt's ,the ,christian's ,defence against the ,fears of ,death1 #afge1 a popular work by a ,calvinist minister4 ,defoe's ,a ,true ,relation of the ,apparition of one ,mrs4 ,veal4444' is often bound up with it1 but as to its influence on the sale see ,g4 ,a4 ,aitken's ,introduction to ,defoe's #8,due ,preparations for the ,plague1' etc41 #ahie4 ,w--l4 ,westall1 and on the next page also4 ,jack ,t--4 ,john ,taylor 7#ageg-ahcb71 proprietor of ,the ,sun1 a ,tory paper1 from #ahac to #ahbe4 ,the editor 7,william ,jerdan71 he bought out in #ahag4 ,payne ,knight4 ,richard ,payne ,knight 7#agej-ahbd71 numismatist1 miscellaneous writer1 and art connoisseur4 ,his collection of bronzes1 now in the ,british ,museum1 to which he bequeathed it1 obtained for him from ,walpole the name of #8,knight of the ,brazen ,milk-pot4' #dca4 ,i--g4 ,irving4 #dcb4 ,as ,mr4 ,locke observed4 ,an ,essay concerning ,human ,understanding1 ,book ,,iv4 chap4 ,,xx4 ,ramsay's picture of the ,queen1 i4e4 ,queen ,charlotte4 ,the picture is in the ,national ,portrait ,gallery4 ,shield 444 ,flitch of ,bacon4 ,composed 7#aggh7 by ,henry ,bate1 afterwards the ,rev4 ,sir ,henry ,bate ,dudley 7#agde-ahbd71 with music by ,william ,shield 7#agdh-ahbi74 ,its success brought the latter the post of composer to ,covent ,garden ,theatre4 ,dignum4 ,see ante1 note to p4 #chh4 ,come unto these yellow sands4 ,the ,tempest1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #b4 #dcc4 ,the rhyming echoes in ,hudibras4 ,part ,i4 ,canto ,,iii4 #aii-bbj4 ,slender's ,mum and ,budget4 ,merry ,wives of ,windsor1 ,act ,v4 ,scene #b4 #dcd4 ,boydell4 ,see ante1 p4 #cfb and note4 ,farquhar's comedy4 ,the ,recruiting ,officer1 #agjf4 #dce4 7,after a pause47 ,from this paragraph to the end of the #8,conversation' appeared in ,the ,atlas1 ,june #bh1 #ahbi1 as #8,a ,discursive ,dialogue on ,arts and ,artists4' ,somerset-,house4 ,the rooms of the ,royal ,academy of ,arts were here from #aghj-ahch1 under the vestibule on the right as you enter4 ,the last of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's ,discourses was delivered here in the great room of the ,academy4 #dcf4 ,low ,bartlemy-fair4 ,bartholomew ,fair was held at ,west ,smithfield1 #aacc-ahee2 it was a famous place for theatrical shows4 #dcg4 ,lord ,gwydir4 ,peter ,burrell 7d4 #ahbj71 created ,lord ,gwydyr in #agif4 ,he married 7#aggi7 ,lady ,priscilla ,barbara ,elizabeth ,bertie1 daughter of the ,duke of ,ancaster4 ,wraxall 7,historical and ,posthumous ,memoirs1 ed4 ,wheatley1 ,,iii4 #ceb-d7 refers to the #8prosperous chain of events' which happened to the ,burrell family4 ,gwydyr ,house in ,whitehall1 the habitation of the ,charity ,commissioners1 was named after him4 ,see ,wheatley and ,cunningham's ,london1 ,past and ,present4 #dcg4 ,mr4 ,peel4 ,the great ,sir ,robert ,peel 7#aghh-ahej7 the best part of whose fine collection of pictures 7including ,the ,snake in the ,grass7 is now in the ,national ,gallery4 ,gainsborough4 ,thomas ,gainsborough 7#agbg-aghh71 one of the greatest of ,english landscape and portrait painters4 ,watteau4 ,antoine ,watteau 7#afhd-agba71 painter of idyllic landscapes4 #dch4 ,an eminent counsellor4 ,this appears in ,the ,atlas as #8,loughborough1' ,alexander ,wedderburn1 #ast ,baron ,loughborough 7#agcc-ahje71 ,lord ,chancellor #agic-ahja4 ,c--4 ,sir ,augustus ,wall ,callcott1 ,r4,a41 fashionable landscape and marine painter 7#aggi-ahdd74 ,marchant4 ,nathaniel ,marchant 7#agci-ahaf71 gem engraver and medallist4 ,he was engraver of gems to the ,prince ,regent4 #ddj4 ,virtue may choose4 ,pope1 ,epilogue to ,satires1 ,dialogue ,i4 ,when ,sir ,joshua4 ,from these words to #8,sir ,walter ,scott frequently1' on p4 #ddc1 appeared in ,the ,atlas for ,august #af1 #ahbi1 as ,no4 ,x4 of #8,conversations as good as ,real3 ,the ,immodest in ,works of ,art4' ,guido4 ,guido ,reni1 of the school of ,bologna 7#aege-afdb74 ,the #8silvery' nature of his colouring was a characteristic of the third period of his art4 #dda4 ,albano4 ,francesco ,albani1 also of the school of ,bologna 7#aegh-affj74 ,he was a fellow student of ,guido ,reni's1 and the faces of his twelve children1 who were gifted with great beauty1 may be seen in his subjects4 ,j--1 of ,edinburgh4 8 ,jeffrey4 #ddb4 ,sir ,w4 ,w4 ,given in ,the ,atlas as ,lord ,c--4 ,but in all probability ,sir ,watkin ,williams ,wynn 7#agdi-aghi71 #dth baronet1 is meant1 for whom ,reynolds painted ,st4 ,cecilia and ,dance ,orpheus4 ,see ,leslie and ,taylor's ,life of ,reynolds1 ,,ii4 #gd4 ,a remark of ,coleridge's4 ,hazlitt sat up all night at ,tewkesbury1 reading ,paul and ,virginia1 when he was on his way to visit ,coleridge4 ,see #8,my ,first ,acquaintance with ,poets1' where ,coleridge's remark is again quoted4 ,no doubt he made it during ,hazlitt's visit4 #ddc4 ,c--4 ,george ,colman #8the ,elder' 7#agcb-agid74 #ddd4 ,brother ,van4 ,see ,swift's verses on ,vanbrugh's house3-- #8,now1 poets from all the quarters ran ,to see the house of brother ,van4' ,richards1 the scene painter4 ,see ante1 p4 #dad1 and note4 #8,the ,journey to ,london4' ,the name by which ,vanbrugh's unfinished comedy1 ,the ,provoked ,husband 7#agbf71 was first known4 ,it was finished by ,colley ,cibber4 #8,lord ,foppington4' ,in ,vanbrugh's ,the ,relapse 7#afif74 #8,devin du ,village4' ,rousseau's successful opera 7#agec71 which contains the air now known as #8,rousseau's ,dream4' ,beattie4 ,james ,beattie1 poet and essayist 7#agce-ahjc74 ,his ,essay on ,truth 7#aggj71 which was enormously popular1 was an attack on ,hume4 #dde4 ,cibber4 ,colley ,cibber 7#afga-ageg71 actor1 dramatist and ,poet ,laureate 7from #agcj74 ,the ,margravine of ,bareuth4 ,an ,english translation of the amusing #8,memoires de ,frederique ,sophie ,wilhelmine de ,prusse1 ,margrave de ,bareith ,soeur de ,frdric-le-,grand1 crits de sa ,main' appeared in #ahab4 ,the ,duchess of ,kendal is attributed to ,george ,,ii4 in ,the ,atlas4 #8,conversations as good as ,real1' ,no4 ,,ix41 begins with this sentence in ,the ,atlas for ,august #i1 #ahbi4 ,and the following passage after #8new situation' may be added3--#8,a great person is said to mimic ,george ,,ii41 and make sport of his bad ,english 7though it can only be from hearsay72 he used to call out when he was provoked at any thing--8,god d--mn what ,i am1 ,god d--mn what you be40 ,he laid great stress on the minutest trifles1 and insisted on wearing his shirts in the order in which they were numbered1 and flew into a violent passion if they brought him the wrong number4 8,why am ,i to wear ,no4 #af1 when ,i have not had ,no4 #ae8 ,why am ,i to do nothing that ,i like8 ,am ,i king of ,england1 or am ,i not8 ,that is what ,i want to know40 ,and then he would fall to kicking his hat about the room to vent his anger1 and rating any of the ministers that came in in his outlandish jargon4 ,once he was going to kick the ,duke of ,,argyll1 who laid his hand upon his sword1 and withdrew in high dudgeon4 ,meeting ,sir ,,robert ,,walpole on the staircase1 he complained of what had happened1 to which the other replied1 8,oh6 that's nothing1 he has treated me so a hundred times40 8,yes1 but0 7said the ,scotch peer7 8there is some difference between ,,john1 ,duke of ,,argyll1 and ,,robert ,,walpole40' #ddg4 ,sir ,edward ,pellew4 ,see ante1 p4 #dbi1 and note4 #ddh4 ,the ,life of ,sir ,joshua4 ,allan ,cunningham's #8,lives of the most ,eminent ,british ,painters1 ,sculptors1 and ,architects' appeared in #ahbi-ahcc in six vols4 ,this is ,no4 ,,xii4 of ,the ,atlas #8,conversations' 7,august #bj1 #ahbi7 #ddi4 ,old ,mr4 ,tolcher4 ,see ante1 note to p4 #cie4 ,the famous ,pulteney4 ,william ,pulteney1 later ,earl of ,bath 7#afhb-agfd71 ,walpole's bitterest antagonist in the ,house of ,commons4 ,mr4 ,lamb 444 ,hogarth4 ,see the essay #8,on the ,genius and ,character of ,hogarth' in ,the ,reflector1 ,no4 #c1 #ahaa4 ,dr4 ,tucker1 ,dean of ,gloucester4 ,josiah ,tucker 7#agab-agii71 the recipient of ,butler's remark that nations1 as well as individuals1 may go mad4 ,he was a writer on ,economics4 #dej4 ,sparing of his wine4 ,add1 #8,but ,sir ,,joshua was fond of the bottle himself2 and no one that is so ever stints others4' ,dr4 ,johnson's speech 444 the ,miss ,cottrells4 ,see ,boswell's ,johnson #ageb4 #deb4 ,the newspaper critic4 ,conversation ,no4 ,,xii4 in ,the ,atlas had ended with #8rational account of1' four lines above1 and ,no4 ,,xiii4 began here1 entitled #8,the ,st4 ,giles' in ,art1' in the number for ,sept4 #ac1 #ahbi4 ,sir ,john ,hawkins 7#agai-aghi71 writer on music and predecessor of ,boswell in a life of ,johnson4 ,bright particular star4 ,all's ,well that ,ends ,well1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #a4 ,tyke4 ,john ,emery's 7#aggg-ahbb7 greatest part1 a character in ,morton's comedy1 ,the ,school of ,reform1 or ,how to ,rule a ,husband 7#ahje74 ,see ,hazlitt's ,dramatic ,essays4 #dec4 ,dollalolla4 ,queen ,dollalolla1 wife of ,king ,arthur1 in ,fielding's ,comic ,opera1 ,tom ,thumb4 ,capella ,bianca4 ,bianca ,cappello1 ,grand-duchess of ,tuscany1 d4 #aehg2 mistress and then wife of ,francesco de ,medici1 both of whom are supposed to have been poisoned by his brother ,ferdinand4 ,morton4 ,thomas ,morton 7#agfd8-ahch74 #dec4 ,such persons4 ,or1 more specifically1 #8,mr4 ,lamb1' as in ,the ,atlas4 ,fawcett4 ,joseph ,fawcett 7#agfh-ahcg74 ,lewis4 ,william ,thomas ,lewis 7#agdh8-ahaa71 the #8gentleman' comedian4 ,lord and ,lady ,townly4 ,in ,colley ,cibber's version of ,vanbrugh's ,the ,provoked ,husband4 ,the ,history of a ,foundling4 ,the sub-title of ,tom ,jones4 #ded4 ,t4 ,m4 ,tom ,moore4 ,of defects we wish to balance4 ,add3--#8,i have known a man turn ,tory to prove he was not a bastard4 ,lord ,,nelson probably performed such prodigies because1 as he passed along the quay to take command of his ship1 the mob sneered at him1 and said1 8,is that poor wisen-faced thing going to fight the ,french80 ,do you suppose1' etc4 #ded4 ,lady ,sarah ,bunbury4 ,lady ,sarah ,lennox 7#agde-ahbf71 daughter of the second ,duke of ,richmond1 married1 #agfb1 ,thomas ,charles 7afterwards ,sir ,thomas ,charles7 ,bunbury1 from whom she was divorced in #aggf4 ,in #aghb she married ,george ,napier 7son of the fifth ,lord ,napier71 by whom she became mother of ,sir ,charles ,james and ,sir ,william ,napier4 ,george ,,iii4 was in love with her in #agfa4 ,her ,correspondence has recently been published in two vols4 by ,mr4 ,murray4 ,gilray4 ,james ,gillray 7#ageg-ahae74 ,lord ,macartney4 ,george1 ,earl ,macartney 7#agcg-ahjf74 ,he was the head of the first ,embassy from ,england to ,china 7#agib-d74 ,,conversation ,,the ,,twenty-,,first4 ,this1 to #8briefs pour in' on p4 #dei1 is #8,conversation ,,xvii4' in ,the ,atlas for ,november #h1 #ahbi4 #def4 ,abraham ,tucker 7#agje-aggd74 ,his ,light of ,nature ,pursued ,hazlitt abridged and prefaced4 ,see vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #cgj et seq4 ,marquis of ,stafford's gallery4 ,stafford ,house1 in ,st4 ,james's ,park1 and its private collection of paintings4 ,which was the greatest man4 ,the alternative to ,sir ,isaac ,newton in ,the ,atlas is #8,jack ,davies1 the racquet-player4' #deg4 ,w--'s poetry4 ,wordsworth's4 ,holcroft4 ,thomas ,holcroft 7#agde-ahji71 whose #8,memoirs' ,hazlitt completed4 ,see vol4 ,,ii4 of the present ,edition4 #deh4 ,joseph ,andrews4 ,fielding's novel was published in #agdb1 not #agdh4 --4 ,possibly ,bewick4 #dei4 ,the election of the new ,pope4 ,pius ,,viii4 was elected in #ahbi4 ,monmouth-,street finery4 ,monmouth ,street1 ,st4 ,giles's1 was noted in the eighteenth century for its second-hand clothes' shops4 #8,on ,lord ,kelly1 a remarkable1 red-faced1 drunken lord1 coming into a room in a coat much embroidered but somewhat tarnished1 ,foote said he was an exact representation of ,monmouth ,street in flames4' ,prior's ,life of ,malone4 #dfj4 ,what do you think of that portrait4 ,this begins #8,conversation ,,xiii4' in ,the ,atlas for ,oct4 #be1 #ahbi4 #dfa4 ,the mind has still a link 444 the beloved object4 ,for this sentence substitute from ,the ,atlas3--#8,it was she who sat and sang to me as ,i painted the portrait of her son that died4' 7,see p4 #cia74 ,the ,miss ,b--s4 ,mary ,berry 7#agfc-aheb7 and her sister ,agnes1 who lived together for nearly eighty-eight years4 ,horace ,walpole described ,mary as #8an angel both inside and out' and both as his #8twin wives4' ,their names are given in full in ,the ,atlas4 #dfb4 ,,conversation ,,the ,,twenty-,,second4 #8,the last' in ,the ,atlas for #aeth ,november #ahbi1 entitled #8,mutual ,confessions and ,explanations4' ,the ,country ,girl4 ,garrick's comedy1 based on ,wycherley's ,country ,wife1 itself an adaptation of ,molire's ,l'cole des ,maris1 and ,l'cole des ,femmes4 #dfd4 ,the milk of human kindness4 ,macbeth1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 ,shadwell4 ,thomas ,shadwell 7#afdb8-afib71 dramatist and poet-laureate4 ,dennis4 ,john ,dennis 7#afeg-agcd71 ,pope's antagonistic critic4 ,see his ,the ,advancement and ,reformation of ,modern ,poetry 7#agja7 and ,the ,ground of ,criticism in ,poetry 7#agjd74 #dfe4 ,other things between heaven and earth4 ,hamlet1 ,act ,i4 ,scene #e4 ,ugolino4 ,the story of ,ugolino1 leader of the ,guelfs in ,pisa1 and of his imprisonment in the #8,tower of ,famine' will be found in ,chaucer's ,monk's ,tale4 ,see also ,dante's ,inferno1 ,,xxxiii4 ----- ,footnote #a3 ,there is a passage in ,werter which contains a very pleasing illustration of this doctrine1 and is as follows4 #8,about a league from the town is a place called ,walheim4 ,it is very agreeably situated on the side of a hill3 from one of the paths which leads out of the village1 you have a view of the whole country2 and there is a good old woman who sells wine1 coffee1 and tea there3 but better than all this are two lime-trees before the church1 which spread their branches over a little green1 surrounded by barns and cottages4 ,i have seen few places more retired and peaceful4 ,i send for a chair and table from the old woman's1 and there ,i drink my coffee and read ,homer4 ,it was by accident that ,i discovered this place one fine afternoon3 all was perfect stillness2 every body was in the fields1 except a little boy about four years old1 who was sitting on the ground1 and holding between his knees a child of about six months2 he pressed it to his bosom with his little arms1 which made a sort of great chair for it1 and notwithstanding the vivacity which sparkled in his eyes1 he sat perfectly still4 ,quite delighted with the scene1 ,i sat down on a plough opposite1 and had great pleasure in drawing this little picture of brotherly tenderness4 ,i added a bit of the hedge1 the barn-door1 and some broken cart-wheels1 without any order1 just as they happened to lie2 and in about an hour ,i found ,i had made a drawing of great expression and very correct design1 without having put in any thing of my own4 ,this confirmed me in the resolution ,i had made before1 only to copy nature for the future4 ,nature is inexhaustible1 and alone forms the greatest masters4 ,say what you will of rules1 they alter the true features1 and the natural expression4' ,page #ae4 ,footnote #b3 ,it is at present covered with a thick slough of oil and varnish 7the perishable vehicle of the ,english school7 like an envelope of gold-beaters' skin1 so as to be hardly visible4 ,footnote #c3 ,men in business1 who are answerable with their fortunes for the consequences of their opinions1 and are therefore accustomed to ascertain pretty accurately the grounds on which they act1 before they commit themselves on the event1 are often men of remarkably quick and sound judgments4 ,artists in like manner must know tolerably well what they are about1 before they can bring the result of their observations to the test of ocular demonstration4 ,footnote #d3 ,the famous ,schiller used to say1 that he found the great happiness of life1 after all1 to consist in the discharge of some mechanical duty4 ,footnote #e3 ,the rich impasting of ,titian and ,giorgione combines something of the advantages of both these styles1 the felicity of the one with the carefulness of the other1 and is perhaps to be preferred to either4 ,footnote #f3 ,leonardo da ,vinci4 ,footnote #g3 ,titian4 ,footnote #h3 ,michael ,angelo4 ,footnote #i3 ,correggio4 ,footnote #aj3 ,annibal ,caracci4 ,footnote #aa3 ,rubens4 ,footnote #ab3 ,rafaelle4 ,footnote #ac3 ,if we take away from the present the moment that is just gone by and the moment that is next to come1 how much of it will be left for this plain1 practical theory to rest upon8 ,their solid basis of sense and reality will reduce itself to a pin's point1 a hair-line1 on which our moral balance-masters will have some difficulty to maintain their footing without falling over on either side4 ,footnote #ad3 ,a treatise on the ,millennium is dull2 but who was ever weary of reading the fables of the ,golden ,age8 ,on my once observing ,i should like to have been ,claude1 a person said1 #8they should not1 for that then by this time it would have been all over with them4' ,as if it could possibly signify when we live 7save and excepting the present minute71 or as if the value of human life decreased or increased with successive centuries4 ,at that rate1 we had better have our life still to come at some future period1 and so postpone our existence century after century ad infinitum4 ,footnote #ae3 ,in like manner1 though we know that an event must have taken place at a distance1 long before we can hear the result1 yet as long as we remain in ignorance of it1 we irritate ourselves about it1 and suffer all the agonies of suspense1 as if it was still to come2 but as soon as our uncertainty is removed1 our fretful impatience vanishes1 we resign ourselves to fate1 and make up our minds to what has happened as well as we can4 ,footnote #af3 ,sentiment has the same source as that here pointed out4 ,thus the ,ranz des ,vaches1 which has such an effect on the minds of the ,swiss peasantry1 when its well-known sound is heard1 does not merely recal to them the idea of their country1 but has associated with it a thousand nameless ideas1 numberless touches of private affection1 of early hope1 romantic adventure1 and national pride1 all which rush in 7with mingled currents7 to swell the tide of fond remembrance1 and make them languish or die for home4 ,what a fine instrument the human heart is6 ,who shall touch it8 ,who shall fathom it8 ,who shall #8sound it from its lowest note to the top of its compass8' ,who shall put his hand among the strings1 and explain their wayward music8 ,the heart alone1 when touched by sympathy1 trembles and responds to their hidden meaning6 ,footnote #ag3 ,i do not here speak of the figurative or fanciful exercise of the imagination1 which consists in finding out some striking object or image to illustrate another4 ,footnote #ah3 ,mr4 ,wordsworth himself should not say this1 and yet ,i am not sure he would not4 ,footnote #ai3 ,the only good thing ,i ever heard come of this man's singular faculty of memory was the following4 ,a gentleman was mentioning his having been sent up to ,london from the place where he lived to see ,garrick act4 ,when he went back into the country1 he was asked what he thought of the player and the play4 #8,oh6' he said1 #8he did not know3 he had only seen a little man strut about the stage1 and repeat #gief words4' ,we all laughed at this1 but a person in one corner of the room1 holding one hand to his forehead1 and seeming mightily delighted1 called out1 #8,ay1 indeed6 ,and pray1 was he found to be correct8' ,this was the supererogation of literal matter-of-fact curiosity4 ,jedediah ,buxton's counting the number of words was idle enough2 but here was a fellow who wanted some one to count them over again to see if he was correct4 #8,the force of dulness could no farther go6' ,footnote #bj3 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds being asked how long it had taken him to do a certain picture1 made answer1 #8,all his life4' ,footnote #ba3 ,the late ,lord ,thurlow used to say that ,cobbett was the only writer that deserved the name of a political reasoner4 ,footnote #bb3 ,mr4 ,cobbett speaks almost as well as he writes4 ,the only time ,i ever saw him he seemed to me a very pleasant man--easy of access1 affable1 clearheaded1 simple and mild in his manner1 deliberate and unruffled in his speech1 though some of his expressions were not very qualified4 ,his figure is tall and portly4 ,he has a good sensible face--rather full1 with little grey eyes1 a hard1 square forehead1 a ruddy complexion1 with hair grey or powdered2 and had on a scarlet broad-cloth waistcoat with the flaps of the pockets hanging down1 as was the custom for gentlemen-farmers in the last century1 or as we see it in the pictures of ,members of ,parliament in the reign of ,george ,i4 ,i certainly did not think less favourably of him for seeing him4 ,footnote #bc3 ,quarto poetry1 as well as quarto metaphysics1 does not always sell4 ,going one day into a shop in ,paternoster-row to see for some lines in ,mr4 ,wordsworth's ,excursion to interlard some prose with1 ,i applied to the constituted authorities1 and asked if ,i could look at a copy of the ,excursion8 ,the answer was--#8,into which county1 ,sir8' ,footnote #bd3 ,these fantastic poets are like a foolish ringer at ,plymouth that ,northcote tells the story of4 ,he was proud of his ringing1 and the boys who made a jest of his foible used to get him in the belfry1 and ask him1 #8,well now1 ,john1 how many good ringers are there in ,plymouth8' #8,two1' he would say1 without any hesitation4 #8,ay1 indeed6 and who are they8'--#8,why1 first1 there's myself1 that's one3 and--and'--#8,well1 and who's the other8'--#8,why there's1 there's--,ecod1 ,i can't think of any other but myself4' ,talk we of one ,master ,launcelot4 ,the story is of ringers3 it will do for any vain1 shallow1 self-satisfied egotist of them all4 ,footnote #be3 ,the celebrated ,peter ,pindar 7,dr4 ,wolcot7 first discovered and brought out the talents of the late ,mr4 ,opie1 the painter4 ,he was a poor ,cornish boy1 and was out at work in the fields1 when the poet went in search of him4 #8,well1 my lad1 can you go and bring me your very best picture8' ,the other flew like lightning1 and soon came back with what he considered as his masterpiece4 ,the stranger looked at it1 and the young artist1 after waiting for some time without his giving any opinion1 at length exclaimed eagerly1 #8,well1 what do you think of it8'--#8,think of it8' said ,wolcot1 #8why ,i think you ought to be ashamed of it--that you who might do so well1 do no better6' ,the same answer would have applied to this artist's latest performances1 that had been suggested by one of his earliest efforts4 ,footnote #bf3 ,if two persons play against each other at any game1 one of them necessarily fails4 ,footnote #bg3 ,written at ,winterslow ,hut1 ,january #ahth-#aith1 #ahba4 ,footnote #bh3 ,webster's ,duchess of ,malfi4 ,footnote #bi3 ,shenstone and ,gray were two men1 one of whom pretended to live to himself1 and the other really did so4 ,gray shrunk from the public gaze 7he did not even like his portrait to be prefixed to his works7 into his own thoughts and indolent musings2 ,shenstone affected privacy1 that he might be sought out by the world2 the one courted retirement in order to enjoy leisure and repose1 as the other coquetted with it1 merely to be interrupted with the importunity of visitors and the flatteries of absent friends4 ,footnote #cj3 #8,plut4 of ,banishment4 ,he compares those who cannot live out of their own country1 to the simple people who fancied the moon of ,athens was a finer moon than that of ,corinth4 --,labentem clo qu ducitis annum4 ,,virg4 ,,georg4' ,footnote #ca3 ,when ,buonaparte left the ,chamber of ,deputies to go and fight his last fatal battle1 he advised them not to be debating the forms of ,constitutions when the enemy was at their gates4 ,benjamin ,constant thought otherwise4 ,he wanted to play a game at cat's-cradle between the ,republicans and ,royalists1 and lost his match4 ,he did not care1 so that he hampered a more efficient man than himself4 ,footnote #cb3 ,a thorough fitness for any end implies the means4 ,where there is a will1 there is a way4 ,a real passion1 an entire devotion to any object1 always succeeds4 ,the strong sympathy with what we wish and imagine1 realises it1 dissipates all obstacles1 and removes all scruples4 ,the disappointed lover may complain as much as he pleases4 ,he was himself to blame4 ,he was a half witted1 wishy-washy fellow4 ,his love might be as great as he makes it out3 but it was not his ruling-passion4 ,his fear1 his pride1 his vanity was greater4 ,let any one's whole soul be steeped in this passion1 let him think and care for nothing else1 let nothing divert1 cool1 or intimidate him1 let the ideal feeling become an actual one and take possession of his whole faculties1 looks1 and manner1 let the same voluptuous hopes and wishes govern his actions in the presence of his mistress that haunt his fancy in her absence1 and ,i will answer for his success4 ,but ,i will not answer for the success of a #8dish of skimmed milk' in such a case4 ,i could always get to see a fine collection of pictures myself4 ,the fact is1 ,i was set upon it4 ,neither the surliness of porters1 nor the impertinence of footmen could keep me back4 ,i had a portrait of ,titian in my eye1 and nothing could put me out in my determination4 ,if that had not 7as it were7 been looking on me all the time ,i was battling my way1 ,i should have been irritated or disconcerted1 and gone away4 ,but my liking to the end conquered my scruples or aversion to the means4 ,i never understood the ,scotch character but on these occasions4 ,i would not take #8,no' for an answer4 ,if ,i had wanted a place under government1 or a writership to ,india1 ,i could have got it from the same importunity1 and on the same terms4 ,footnote #cc3 ,a poor woman at ,plymouth who did not like the formality1 or could not afford the expence1 of a will1 thought to leave what little property she had in wearing-apparel and household moveables to her friends and relations1 viv voce1 and before ,death stopped her breath4 ,she gave and willed away 7of her proper authority7 her chair and table to one1 her bed to another1 an old cloak to a third1 a night-cap and petticoat to a fourth1 and so on4 ,the old crones sat weeping round1 and soon after carried off all they could lay their hands upon1 and left their benefactress to her fate4 ,they were no sooner gone than she unexpectedly recovered1 and sent to have her things back again2 but not one of them could she get1 and she was left without a rag to her back1 or a friend to condole with her4 ,footnote #cd3 ,the law of primogeniture has its origin in the principle here stated--the desire of perpetuating some one palpable and prominent proof of wealth and power4 ,footnote #ce3 ,it is as follows3 #8,the ,will of a ,virtuoso1 #8,i ,nicholas ,gimcrack1 being in sound ,health of ,mind1 but in great ,weakness of ,body1 do by this my ,last ,will and ,testament bequeath my worldly ,goods and ,chattels in ,manner following3-- ,imprimis1 ,to my dear ,wife1 ,one ,box of ,butterflies1 ,one ,drawer of ,shells1 ,a ,female ,skeleton1 ,a dried ,cockatrice4 ,item1 ,to my ,daughter ,elizabeth1 ,my ,receipt for preserving dead ,caterpillars4 ,as also my preparations of ,winter ,may-,dew1 and ,embrio ,pickle4 ,item1 ,to my little ,daughter ,fanny1 ,three ,crocodiles' ,eggs4 ,and upon the ,birth of her first ,child1 if she marries with her ,mother's ,consent1 ,the ,nest of a ,humming-,bird4 ,item1 ,to my eldest ,brother1 as an ,acknowledgment for the ,lands he has vested in my ,son ,charles1 ,i bequeath ,my last ,year's ,collection of ,grasshoppers4 ,item1 ,to his ,daughter ,susanna1 being his only ,child1 ,i bequeath my ,english ,weeds pasted on ,royal ,paper1 ,with my large ,folio of ,indian ,cabbage4 99 99 99 99 99 ,having fully provided for my ,nephew ,isaac1 by making over to him some years since ,a ,horned ,scarabus1 ,the ,skin of a ,rattle-,snake1 and ,the ,mummy of an ,egyptian ,king1 ,i make no further ,provision for him in this my ,will4 ,my eldest ,son ,john having spoken disrespectfully of his little ,sister1 whom ,i keep by me in ,spirits of ,wine1 and in many other ,instances behaved himself undutifully towards me1 ,i do disinherit1 and wholly cut off from any ,part of this my ,personal ,estate1 by giving him a single ,cockle-,shell4 ,to my ,second ,son ,charles1 ,i give and bequeath all my ,flowers1 ,plants1 ,minerals1 ,mosses1 ,shells1 ,pebbles1 ,fossils1 ,beetles1 ,butterflies1 ,caterpillars1 ,grasshoppers1 and ,vermin1 not above specified3 ,as also all my ,monsters1 both wet and dry1 making the said ,charles whole and sole ,executor of this my ,last ,will and ,testament1 he paying or causing to be paid the aforesaid ,legacies within the space of ,six ,months after my ,decease4 ,and ,i do hereby revoke all other ,wills whatsoever by me formerly made4'--,,tatler1 ,vol4 ,,iv4 ,no4 #baf4 ,footnote #cf3 ,kellerman lately left his heart to be buried in the field of ,valmy where the first great battle was fought in the year #agib1 in which the ,allies were repulsed4 ,footnote #cg3 ,how careful is ,sir ,joshua1 even in a parenthesis1 to insinuate the obligations of this great genius to others1 as if he would have been nothing without them4 ,footnote #ch3 ,if ,sir ,joshua had had an offer to exchange a ,luca ,giordano in his collection for a ,claude ,lorraine1 he would not have hesitated long about the preference4 ,footnote #ci3 ,written in #aghh4 ,footnote #dj3 ,gainsborough4 ,footnote #da3 ,sir ,joshua himself wanted academic skill and patience in the details of his profession4 ,from these defects he seems to have been alternately repelled by each theory and style of art1 the simply natural and elaborately scientific1 as it came before him2 and in his impatience of each1 to have been betrayed into a tissue of inconsistencies somewhat difficult to unravel4 ,footnote #db3 ,he had been before speaking of ,boucher1 ,director of the ,french ,academy1 who told him that #8when he was young1 studying his art1 he found it necessary to use models1 but that he had left them off for many years4' ,footnote #dc3 ,these are ,sir ,joshua's words4 ,footnote #dd3 ,i do not know that3 but ,i do not think the two passions could be expressed by expressing neither or something between both4 ,footnote #de3 #8,as for politics1 ,i think poets are tories by nature1 supposing them to be by nature poets4 ,the love of an individual person or family that has worn a crown for many successions1 is an inclination greatly adapted to the fanciful tribe4 ,on the other hand1 mathematicians1 abstract reasoners1 of no manner of attachment to persons1 at least to the visible part of them1 but prodigiously devoted to the ideas of virtue1 liberty1 and so forth1 are generally whigs4 ,it happens agreeably enough to this maxim1 that the whigs are friends to that wise1 plodding1 unpoetical people1 the ,dutch4'--,shenstone's ,letters1 #agdf1 p4 #aje4 ,footnote #df3 ,to give the modern reader un petit aperu of the tone of literary conversation about five or six and twenty years ago1 ,i remember being present in a large party composed of men1 women1 and children1 in which two persons of remarkable candour and ingenuity were labouring 7as hard as if they had been paid for it7 to prove that all prayer was a mode of dictating to the ,almighty1 and an arrogant assumption of superiority4 ,a gentleman present said1 with great simplicity and navet1 that there was one prayer which did not strike him as coming exactly under this description1 and being asked what that was1 made answer1 #8,the ,samaritan's--8,lord1 be merciful to me a sinner60' ,this appeal by no means settled the sceptical dogmatism of the two disputants1 and soon after the proposer of the objection went away2 on which one of them observed with great marks of satisfaction and triumph4--#8,i am afraid we have shocked that gentleman's prejudices4' ,this did not appear to me at that time quite the thing1 and this happened in the year #agid4 ,twice has the iron entered my soul4 ,twice have the dastard1 vaunting1 venal crew gone over it2 once as they went forth1 conquering and to conquer1 with reason by their side1 glittering like a faulchion1 trampling on prejudices and marching fearlessly on in the work of regeneration2 once again1 when they returned with retrograde steps1 like ,cacus's oxen dragged backward by the heels1 to the den of ,legitimacy1 #8rout on rout1 confusion worse confounded1' with places and pensions and the ,quarterly ,review dangling from their pockets1 and shouting #8,deliverance for mankind1' for #8the worst1 the second fall of man4' ,yet ,i have endured all this marching and countermarching of poets1 philosophers1 and politicians over my head as well as ,i could1 like #8the camomoil that thrives1 the more 'tis trod upon4' ,by ,heavens1 ,i think1 ,i'll endure it no longer6 ,footnote #dg3 ,troja fuit4 ,footnote #dh3 #8,if an ,european1 when he has cut off his beard and put false hair on his head1 or bound up his own natural hair in regular hard knots1 as unlike nature as he can possibly make it2 and after having rendered them immoveable by the help of the fat of hogs1 has covered the whole with flour1 laid on by a machine with the utmost regularity2 if when thus attired he issues forth1 and meets a ,cherokee ,indian1 who has bestowed as much time at his toilet1 and laid on with equal care and attention his yellow and red oker on particular parts of his forehead or cheeks1 as he judges most becoming2 whoever of these two despises the other for this attention to the fashion of his country1 whichever first feels himself provoked to laugh1 is the barbarian4'--,sir ,joshua ,reynolds's ,discourses1 ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #bca-b4 ,footnote #di3 ,this name was originally spelt ,braughton in the manuscript1 and was altered to ,branghton by a mistake of the printer4 ,branghton1 however1 was thought a good name for the occasion1 and was suffered to stand4 #8,dip it in the ocean1' as ,sterne's barber says of the buckle1 #8and it will stand6' ,footnote #ej3 ,a lady of quality1 in allusion to the gallantries of a reigning ,prince1 being told1 #8,i suppose it will be your turn next6' said1 #8,no3 ,i hope not2 for you know it is impossible to refuse6' ,footnote #ea3 #8,girtred4 ,for the passion of patience1 look if ,sir ,petronel approach4 ,that sweet1 that fine1 that delicate1 that -- for love's sake1 tell me if he come4 ,oh1 sister ,mill1 though my father be a low-capt tradesman1 yet ,i must be a lady1 and ,i praise ,god my mother must call me madam4 ,does he come8 ,off with this gown for shame's sake1 off with this gown6 ,let not my knight take me in the city cut1 in any hand6 ,tear't6 ,pox on't 7does he come87 tear't off6 ,thus while she sleeps1 ,i sorrow for her sake4 7,sings47 ,mildred4 ,lord1 sister1 with what an immodest impatiency and disgraceful scorn do you put off your city-tire6 ,i am sorry to think you imagine to right yourself in wronging that which hath made both you and us4 ,gir4 ,i tell you1 ,i cannot endure it3 ,i must be a lady3 do you wear your quoiff with a ,london licket6 your stamel petticoat with two guards6 the buffin gown with the tuftafitty cap and the velvet lace6 ,i must be a lady1 and ,i will be a lady4 ,i like some humours of the city dames well3 to eat cherries only at an angel a pound2 good3 to dye rich scarlet black2 pretty3 to line a grogram gown clean through with velvet2 tolerable3 their pure linen1 their smocks of three pound a smock1 are to be borne withal2 but your mincing niceries1 taffity pipkins1 durance petticoats1 and silver bodkins--,god's my life6 as ,i shall be a lady1 ,i cannot endure it4 ,mil4 ,well1 sister1 those that scorn their nest1 oft fly with a sick wing4 ,gir4 ,bow-bell6 ,alas1 poor ,mill1 when ,i am a lady1 ,i'll pray for thee yet i'faith2 nay1 and ,i'll vouchsafe to call thee sister ,mill still2 for though thou art not likely to be a lady as ,i am1 yet surely thou art a creature of ,god's making1 and may'st peradventure be saved as soon as ,i 7does he come87 ,and ever and anon she doubled in her song4 ,mil4 ,now 7lady's my comfort7 what a profane ape's here6 ,enter ,sir ,,petronel ,,flash1 ,mr4 ,,touchstone1 and ,mrs4 ,,touchstone4 ,gir4 ,is my knight come8 ,o the lord1 my band6 ,sister do my cheeks look well8 ,give me a little box o' the ear that ,i may seem to blush4 ,now1 now6 so1 there1 there6 here he is6 ,o my dearest delight6 ,lord1 ,lord6 and how does my knight8 ,touchstone4 ,fie1 with more modesty4 ,gir4 ,modesty6 why1 ,i am no citizen now4 ,modesty6 am ,i not to be married8 ,you're best to keep me modest1 now ,i am to be a lady4 ,sir ,petronel4 ,boldness is a good fashion1 and court-like4 ,gir4 ,aye1 in a country lady ,i hope it is1 as ,i shall be4 ,and how chance ye came no sooner1 knight8 ,sir ,pet4 ,faith1 ,i was so entertained in the progress with one ,count ,epernoun1 a ,welsh knight3 we had a match at baloon too with my ,lord ,whackum for four crowns4 ,gir4 ,and when shall's be married1 my knight8 ,sir ,pet4 ,i am come now to consummate3 and your father may call a poor knight son-in-law4 ,mrs4 ,touchstone4 ,yes1 that he is a knight3 ,i know where he had money to pay the gentlemen usher and heralds their fees4 ,aye1 that he is a knight3 and so might you have been too1 if you had been aught else but an ass1 as well as some of your neighbours4 ,an ,i thought you would not ha' been knighted1 as ,i am an honest woman1 ,i would ha' dubbed you myself4 ,i praise ,god1 ,i have wherewithal4 ,but as for you1 daughter-- ,gir4 ,aye1 mother1 ,i must be a lady to-morrow2 and by your leave1 mother 7,i speak it not without my duty1 but only in the right of my husband7 ,i must take place of you1 mother4 ,mrs4 ,touch4 ,that you shall1 lady-daughter2 and have a coach as well as ,i4 ,gir4 ,yes1 mother2 but my coach-horses must take the wall of your coach-horses4 ,touch4 ,come1 come1 the day grows low2 'tis supper-time3 and1 sir1 respect my daughter2 she has refused for you wealthy and honest matches1 known good men4 ,gir4 ,body o' truth1 citizens1 citizens6 ,sweet knight1 as soon as ever we are married1 take me to thy mercy1 out of this miserable city4 ,presently3 carry me out of the scent of ,newcastle coal and the hearing of ,bow-bell1 ,i beseech thee2 down with me for ,god's sake4' ,act i4 ,scene i4 ,this dotage on sound and show seemed characteristic of that age 7see ,new ,way to ,pay ,old ,debts1 c47--as if in the grossness of sense1 and the absence of all intellectual and abstract topics of thought and discourse 7the thin1 circulating medium of the present day7 the mind was attracted without the power of resistance to the tinkling sound of its own name with a title added to it1 and the image of its own person tricked out in old-fashioned finery4 ,the effect1 no doubt1 was also more marked and striking from the contrast between the ordinary penury and poverty of the age and the first and more extravagant demonstrations of luxury and artificial refinement4 ,footnote #eb3 #8,girtred4 ,good lord1 that there are no fairies now-a-days1 ,syn4 ,syndefy4 ,why1 madam8 ,gir4 ,to do miracles1 and bring ladies money4 ,sure1 if we lay in a cleanly house1 they would haunt it1 ,synne8 ,i'll try4 ,i'll sweep the chamber soon at night1 and set a dish of water o' the hearth4 ,a fairy may come and bring a pearl or a diamond4 ,we do not know1 ,synne3 or there may be a pot of gold hid in the yard1 if we had tools to dig for #8t4 ,why may not we two rise early i' the morning1 ,synne1 afore any body is up1 and find a jewel i' the streets worth a hundred pounds8 ,may not some great court-lady1 as she comes from revels at midnight1 look out of her coach1 as 'tis running1 and lose such a jewel1 and we find it8 ha6 ,syn4 ,they are pretty waking dreams1 these4 ,gir4 ,or may not some old usurer be drunk over-night with a bag of money1 and leave it behind him on a stall8 ,for ,god's sake1 ,syn1 lets rise to-morrow by break of day1 and see4 ,i protest1 la1 if ,i had as much money as an alderman1 ,i would scatter some on #8t i' the streets1 for poor ladies to find when their knights were laid up4 ,and now ,i remember my song of the ,golden ,shower1 why may not ,i have such a fortune8 ,i'll sing it1 and try what luck ,i shall have after it4' ,act v4 ,scene i4 ,footnote #ec3 ,every thing tends to show the manner in which a great artist is formed4 ,if any person could claim an exemption from the careful imitation of individual objects1 it was ,nicolas ,poussin4 ,he studied the antique1 but he also studied nature4 #8,i have often admired1' says ,vignuel de ,marville1 who knew him at a late period of his life1 #8the love he had for his art4 ,old as he was1 ,i frequently saw him among the ruins of ancient ,rome1 out in the ,campagna1 or along the banks of the ,tyber1 sketching a scene that had pleased him2 and ,i often met him with his handkerchief full of stones1 moss1 or flowers1 which he carried home1 that he might copy them exactly from nature4 ,one day ,i asked him how he had attained to such a degree of perfection1 as to have gained so high a rank among the great painters of ,italy8 ,he answered1 ,i ,,have ,,neglected ,,nothing4'--,see his ,life lately published4 ,it appears from this account that he had not fallen into a recent error1 that ,nature puts the man of genius out4 ,as a contrast to the foregoing description1 ,i might mention1 that ,i remember an old gentleman once asking ,mr4 ,west in the ,british ,gallery1 if he had ever been at ,athens8 ,to which the ,president made answer1 ,no2 nor did he feel any great desire to go2 for that he thought he had as good an idea of the place from the ,catalogue1 as he could get by living there for any number of years4 ,what would he have said1 if any one had told him1 he could get as good an idea of the subject of one of his great works from reading the ,catalogue of it1 as from seeing the picture itself6 ,yet the answer was characteristic of the genius of the painter4 ,footnote #ed3 ,poussin has repeated this subject more than once1 and appears to have revelled in its witcheries4 ,i have before alluded to it1 and may again4 ,it is hard that we should not be allowed to dwell as often as we please on what delights us1 when things that are disagreeable recur so often against our will4 ,footnote #ee3 ,it is not very long ago that ,i saw two ,dissenting ,ministers 7the ,ultima ,thule of the sanguine1 visionary temperament in politics7 stuffing their pipes with dried currant-leaves1 calling it ,radical tobacco1 lighting it with a lens in the rays of the sun1 and at every puff fancying that they undermined the ,boroughmongers1 as ,trim blew up the army opposed to the ,allies6 ,they had deceived the ,senate4 ,methinks ,i see them now1 smiling as in scorn of ,corruption4 --#8,dream on1 blest pair3 ,yet happier if you knew your happiness1 ,and knew to know no more6' ,the world of ,reform that you dote on1 like ,berkeley's material world1 lives only in your own brain1 and long may it live there6 ,those same ,dissenting ,ministers throughout the country 7,i mean the descendants of the old ,puritans7 are to this hour a sort of ,fifth-monarchy men3 very turbulent fellows1 in my opinion altogether incorrigible1 and according to the suggestions of others1 should be hanged out of the way without judge or jury for the safety of church and state4 ,marry1 hang them6 they may be left to die a natural death3 the race is nearly extinct of itself1 and can do little more good or harm6 ,footnote #ef3 ,william1 our waiter1 is dressed neatly in black1 takes in the ,,tickler1 7which many of the gentlemen like to look into7 wears1 ,i am told1 a diamond-pin in his shirt-collar1 has a music-master to teach him to play on the flageolet two hours before the maids are up1 complains of confinement and a delicate constitution1 and is a complete ,master ,stephen in his way4 ,footnote #eg3 ,his account of ,dr4 ,l-- was prodigious--of his occult sagacity1 of his eyes prominent and wild like a hare's1 fugacious of followers1 of the arts by which he had left the ,city to lure the patients that he wanted after him to the ,west-,end1 of the ounce of tea that he purchased by stratagem as an unusual treat to his guest1 and of the narrow winding staircase1 from the height of which he contemplated in security the imaginary approach of duns4 ,he was a large1 plain1 fair-faced ,moravian preacher1 turned physician4 ,he was an honest man1 but vain of he knew not what4 ,he was once sitting where ,sarratt was playing a game at chess without seeing the board2 and after remaining for some time absorbed in silent wonder1 he turned suddenly to me and said1 #8,do you know1 ,mr4 ,h--1 that ,i think there is something ,i could do8' #8,well1 what is that8' #8,why perhaps you would not guess1 but ,i think ,i could dance1 ,i'm sure ,i could2 ay1 ,i could dance like ,vestris6'--,sarratt1 who was a man of various accomplishments1 7among others one of the ,fancy17 afterwards bared his arm to convince us of his muscular strength1 and ,mrs4 ,l-- going out of the room with another lady said1 #8,do you know1 ,madam1 the ,doctor is a great jumper6' ,moliere could not outdo this4 ,never shall ,i forget his pulling off his coat to eat beef-steaks on equal terms with ,martin ,b--4 ,life is short1 but full of mirth and pastime1 did we not so soon forget what we have laughed at1 perhaps that we may not remember what we have cried at6--,sarratt1 the chess-player1 was an extraordinary man4 ,he had the same tenacious1 epileptic faculty in other things that he had at chess1 and could no more get any other ideas out of his mind than he could those of the figures on the board4 ,he was a great reader1 but had not the least taste4 ,indeed the violence of his memory tyrannised over and destroyed all power of selection4 ,he could repeat ,ossian by heart1 without knowing the best passage from the worst2 and did not perceive he was tiring you to death by giving an account of the breed1 education1 and manners of fighting-dogs for hours together4 ,the sense of reality quite superseded the distinction between the pleasurable and the painful4 ,he was altogether a mechanical philosopher4 ,footnote #eh3 #8,ils ne pouvoient croire qu'un corps de cette beaut ft de quelque chose au visage de ,mademoiselle ,churchill4'--,,memoires ,,de ,,grammont1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #bed4 ,footnote #ei3 ,when ,i was young1 ,i spent a good deal of my time at ,manchester and ,liverpool2 and ,i confess ,i give the preference to the former4 ,there you were oppressed only by the aristocracy of wealth2 in the latter by the aristocracy of wealth and letters by turns4 ,you could not help feeling that some of their great men were authors among merchants and merchants among authors4 ,their bread was buttered on both sides1 and they had you at a disadvantage either way4 ,the ,manchester cotton-spinners1 on the contrary1 set up no pretensions beyond their looms1 were hearty good fellows1 and took any information or display of ingenuity on other subjects in good part4 ,i remember well being introduced to a distinguished patron of art and rising merit at a little distance from ,liverpool1 and was received with every mark of attention and politeness1 till the conversation turning on ,italian literature1 our host remarked that there was nothing in the ,english language corresponding to the severity of the ,italian ode--except perhaps ,dryden's ,alexander's ,feast1 and ,pope's ,st4 ,cecilia6 ,i could no longer contain my desire to display my smattering in criticism1 and began to maintain that ,pope's ,ode was1 as it appeared to me1 far from an example of severity in writing4 ,i soon perceived what ,i had done1 but here am ,i writing ,table-talks in consequence4 ,alas6 ,i knew as little of the world then as ,i do now4 ,i never could understand any thing beyond an abstract definition4 ,footnote #fj3 ,lord ,h-- had made a diary 7in the manner of ,boswell7 of the conversation held at his house1 and read it at the end of a week pro bono publico4 ,sir ,j-- ,m-- made a considerable figure in it1 and a celebrated poet none at all1 merely answering ,yes and ,no4 ,with this result he was by no means satisfied1 and talked incessantly from that day forward4 ,at the end of the week he asked1 with some anxiety and triumph1 if his ,lordship had continued his diary1 expecting himself to shine in #8the first row of the rubric4' ,to which his ,noble ,patron answered in the negative1 with an intimation that it had not appeared to him worth while4 ,our poet was thus thrown again into the back ground1 and ,sir ,james remained master of the field6 ,footnote #fa3 ,a ,mr4 ,rose and the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,kippis were for many years its principal support4 ,mrs4 ,rose 7,i have heard my father say7 contributed the ,monthly ,catalogue4 ,there is sometimes a certain tartness and the woman's tongue in it4 ,it is said of ,gray's ,elegy--#8,this little poem1 however humble its pretensions1 is not without elegance or merit4' ,the characters of prophet and critic are not always united4 ,footnote #fb3 ,there are some splendid exceptions to this censure4 ,his comparison between ,ovid and ,virgil1 and his character of ,shakespear1 are masterpieces of their kind4 ,footnote #fc3 ,we have critics in the present day who cannot tell what to make of the tragic writers of ,queen ,elizabeth's age 7except ,shakespear1 who passes by prescriptive right17 and are extremely puzzled to reduce the efforts of their #8great and irregular' power to the standard of their own slight and shewy common-places4 ,the truth is1 they had better give up the attempt to reconcile such contradictions as an artificial taste and natural genius2 and repose on the admiration of verses which derive their odour from the scent of rose-leaves inserted between the pages1 and their polish from the smoothness of the paper on which they are printed4 ,they1 and such writers as ,deckar and ,webster1 ,beaumont and ,fletcher1 ,ford and ,marlowe1 move in different orbits of the human intellect1 and need never jostle4 ,footnote #fd3 ,the intelligent reader will be pleased to understand1 that there is here a tacit allusion to ,squire ,western's significant phrase of ,hanover ,rats4 ,footnote #fe3 ,of the two the latter alternative is more likely to happen4 ,we abuse and imitate them4 ,they laugh at but do not imitate us4 ,footnote #ff3 ,the title of ,ultra-,crepidarian critics has been given to a variety of this species4 ,footnote #fg3 ,this ,essay was written in ,january1 #ahba4 ,footnote #fh3 ,losing gamesters thus become desperate1 because the continued and violent irritation of the will against a run of ill luck drives it to extremity1 and makes it bid defiance to common sense and every consideration of prudence or self-interest4 ,footnote #fi3 ,some of the poets in the beginning of the last century would often set out on a simile by observing--#8,so in ,arabia have ,i seen a ,phnix6' ,i confess my illustrations are of a more homely and humble nature4 ,footnote #gj3 ,i beg the reader to consider this passage merely as a specimen of the mock-heroic style1 and as having nothing to do with any real facts or feelings4 ,footnote #ga3 ,i have heard of such a thing as an author1 who makes it a rule never to admit a monosyllable into his vapid verse4 ,yet the charm and sweetness of ,marlow's lines depended often on their being made up almost entirely of monosyllables4 ,footnote #gb3 ,see ,wilkie's ,blind ,fiddler4 ,footnote #gc3 ,we sometimes see a whole play-house in tears4 ,but the audience at a theatre1 though a public assembly1 are not a public body4 ,they are not incorporated into a frame-work of exclusive1 narrow-minded interests of their own4 ,each individual looks out of his own insignificance at a scene1 ideal perhaps1 and foreign to himself1 but true to nature2 friends1 strangers1 meet on the common ground of humanity1 and the tears that spring from their breasts are those which #8sacred pity has engendered4' ,they are a mixed multitude melted into sympathy by remote1 imaginary events1 not a combination cemented by petty views1 and sordid1 selfish prejudices4 ,footnote #gd3 ,mr4 ,munden and ,mr4 ,c-- went one ,sunday to ,windsor1 to see the ,king4 ,they passed with other spectators once or twice3 at last1 his late majesty distinguished ,munden in the crowd1 and called him to him4 ,after treating him with much cordial familiarity1 the king said1 #8,and1 pray1 who is that with you8' ,munden1 with many conges1 and contortions of face1 replied1 #8,an please your majesty1 it's ,mr4 ,c--1 of the ,theatre ,royal1 ,drury ,lane4' #8,oh6 yes1' said the king1 #8,i know him well--a bad actor1 a bad actor1 a bad actor6' ,why kings should repeat what they say three times1 is odd3 their saying it once is quite enough4 ,i have always liked ,mr4 ,c--'s face since ,i heard this anecdote1 and perhaps the telling it may have the same effect on other people4 ,footnote #ge3 ,the trunk-maker1 ,i grant1 in the ,spectator's time1 sat in the two-shilling gallery4 ,but that was in the ,spectator's time1 and not in the days of ,mr4 ,smirke and ,mr4 ,wyatt4 ,footnote #gf3 ,jack ,cade's salutation to one who tries to recommend himself by saying he can write and read4--,see ,,henry ,,vi4 ,part ,second4 ,footnote #gg3 ,it is calculated that ,west cleared some hundred pounds by the catalogues that sold of his great picture of ,death riding on the pale ,horse4 ,footnote #gh3 ,i cannot say how in this respect it might have fared if a ,mr4 ,m--1 a fat gentleman1 who might not have #8liked yon lean and hungry ,roscius1' had continued in the theatrical department of ,mr4 ,perry's paper at the time of this actor's first appearance2 but ,i had been put upon this duty just before1 and afterwards ,mr4 ,m--'s spare talents were not in much request4 ,this1 ,i believe1 is the reason why he takes pains every now and then to inform the readers of the ,courier that it is impossible for any one to understand a word that ,i write4 ,footnote #gi3 ,i 7not very long ago7 had the pleasure of spending an evening with ,mr4 ,betty1 when we had some #8good talk' about the good old times of acting4 ,i wanted to insinuate that ,i had been a sneaking admirer1 but could not bring it in4 ,as1 however1 we were putting on our great coats down stairs1 ,i ventured to break the ice by saying1 #8,there is one actor of that period of whom we have not made honourable mention1 ,i mean ,master ,betty4' #8,oh6' he said1 #8,i have forgot all that4' ,i replied1 that he might1 but that ,i could not forget the pleasure ,i had had in seeing him4 ,on which he turned off1 and shaking his sides heartily1 and with no measured demand upon his lungs1 called out1 #8,oh1 memory6 memory6' in a way that showed he felt the full force of the allusion4 ,i found afterwards that the subject did not offend1 and we were to have drunk some ,burton-ale together the following evening1 but were prevented4 ,i hope he will consider that the engagement still stands good4 ,footnote #hj3 ,sir ,joshua1 who was not a vain man1 purchased a tawdry sheriff's carriage1 soon after he took his house in ,leicester-fields1 and desired his sister to ride about in it1 in order that people might ask1 #8,whose it was8' and the answer would be1 #8,it belongs to the great painter6' ,footnote #ha3 ,sharp became a great favourite of the king on the following occasion4 ,it was the custom1 when the king went through the lobbies of the palace1 for those who preceded him to cry out1 #8,sharp1 sharp1 look sharp1' in order to clear the way4 ,mr4 ,sharp1 who was waiting in a room just by 7preparing some colours71 hearing his name repeated so urgently1 ran out in great haste1 and came up with all his force against the king1 who was passing the door at the time4 ,the young artist was knocked down in the encounter1 and the attendants were in the greatest consternation2 but the king laughed heartily at the adventure1 and took great notice of the unfortunate subject of it from that time forward4 ,footnote #hb3 #8,it is not a year or two shows us a man4'--,,milia1 in ,,othello4 ,footnote #hc3 ,the bones of the murdered man were dug up in an old hermitage4 ,on this1 as one instance of the acuteness which he displayed all through the occasion1 ,aram remarks1 #8,where would you expect to find the bones of a man sooner than in a hermit's cell1 except you were to look for them in a cemetery8' ,see ,,newgate ,,calendar for the year #ageh or #i4 ,footnote #hd3 #8,and surely ,mandricardo was no baby4'--,,harrington',s ,,ariosto4 ,footnote #he3 #8,all men think all men mortal but themselves4'--,,young4 ,footnote #hf3 ,i remember once1 in particular1 having this feeling in reading ,schiller's ,don ,carlos1 where there is a description of death1 in a degree that almost stifled me4 ,footnote #hg3 ,it has been usual to raise a very unjust clamour against the enormous salaries of public singers1 actors1 and so on4 ,this matter seems reducible to a moral equation4 ,they are paid out of money raised by voluntary contributions in the strictest sense2 and if they did not bring certain sums into the treasury1 the ,managers would not engage them4 ,these sums are exactly in proportion to the number of individuals to whom their performance gives an extraordinary degree of pleasure4 ,the talents of a singer1 actor1 c4 are therefore worth just as much as they will fetch4 ,footnote #hh3 ,mr4 ,moore has just written a book to prove the truth of the contrary opinion4 ,footnote #hi3 ,one of #8the blacksmith swallowing the tailor's news1' from ,shakspeare4 ,footnote #ij3 ,that is1 a remarkable man4 ,footnote #ia3 ,this very interesting letter will be found in the ,elegant ,epistles4 ,footnote #ib3 ,now at the ,dulwich ,gallery4 ,footnote #ic3 ,barry's ,letter to the ,dilettanti ,society1 enumerating his grievances1 was published in #agih4 ,footnote #id3 ,these people are said to be the real descendants of the ancient ,romans4 ,footnote #ie3 #8,shakspeare's verses are not exactly 8wood-notes wild40 ,he was indebted to a most extensive reading at the same time as to a most transcendant genius4 ,he did not pique himself upon originality1 but sat down to write his plays for the simple purpose of the moment1 and without a glimpse or an ambition of the immortality which they were to acquire4 ,he made use of whatever he recollected and thought desirable1 with the contrivance of an ordinary play-writer1 and only grew original and vast and exquisite1 in spite of himself4 ,if it be true that 8he wrote not for an age1 but for all time10 still there was no one who knew less of that fact than he6 ,he imagined himself writing only for the day before him2 and it is to this very circumstance that we owe the ease1 the flashes1 and the soarings of his spirit4 ,he was never over-powered by the intended loftiness of the occasion4 ,he made no efforts that were laborious1 because his mind was always superior to his object1 and never bowed down to it4 ,he possessed1 too1 that affluence of genius1 which rendered him not only prodigal in its use1 but almost unacquainted with its existence4 ,he never stood upon its dignity2 he was never fearful of its loss nor of its denial4 ,the swan of ,avon1 like the swans from which poets derive their title1 was all strength and grace and beauty1 without a consciousness of either4 ,and this character of his genius accords with that character of facility1 of gentleness1 and of unostentation1 which his biographer ascribes to the man4 ,he knew of nothing within himself1 of which he felt it worth while to be vain4 ,he would as soon have been vain of his power to put one foot before another1 as of his power to write the ,tempest or ,macbeth4 ,it belongs1 in the midst of abundance1 to ,,genius as ,,beauty1 to be thoughtless of itself4 ,it is only for the dull and the ugly--or at least for those in whom the claims to beauty or to genius are equivocal--to be forever contemplating either in themselves1 or for ever demanding the acknowledgments of others4 ,with the plenary possessors1 the luxury is too common1 too much of every-day wear1 to fix their attention4 ,the restlessness of the remainder is the restlessness of poverty1 and contrasts itself with the carelessness of riches4'--,kendall's ,letters on ,ireland4 ,footnote #if3 ,see a paper on this subject in the ,,tatler4 ,footnote #ig3 ,the same praise may be extended to ,matthews4 ,those who have seen this ingenious and lively actor only on the stage1 do not know half his merits4 ,footnote #ih3 ,see ,the ,family ,journal2 a series of papers in ,the ,new ,monthly ,magazine1 #ahbe1 signed ,harry ,honeycomb 7,leigh ,hunt74 ,footnote #ii3 ,the ,chinese call the ,americans second-chop ,english ,hazlitt's ,note4 ,footnote #ajj3 ,for ,sir ,walter ,scott's share in ,the ,beacon and its successor ,the ,sentinel1 see chapter liv4 of ,lockhart's ,life4 ,edinburgh3 ,printed by ,t4 and ,a4 ,,constable ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,transcriber',s ,,notes #a4 ,p4 #bea1 changed 8uneasi-0 to 8uneasiness04 #b4 ,p4 #dfi1 changed 8upon particular0 to 8upon a particular04 #c4 ,silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling4 #d4 ,archaic1 non-standard1 and uncertain spellings retained as printed4 #e4 ,footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter4 #f4 ,enclosed italics font in underscores4 #g4 ,superscripts are denoted by a caret before a single superscript character1 e4g4 ,mr4