Page images
PDF
EPUB

that of every person with whom he has any connection. Mr. Sidney never unbosoms the secrets of his heart, except to a very few particular friends; but he is polite and complaisant to all. It is not, howeever, that politeness which arises from a desire to comply with the rules of the world; it is politeness dictated by the heart, and which, therefore, sits always easy upon him. At peace with his own mind, he is pleased with every one about him; and he receive the most sensible gratification from the thought, that the little attentions which he bestows upon others, contribute to their happiness. No person ever knew better how to estimate the different pleasures of life; but none ever entered with more ease into the enjoyments of others, though not suited to his own taste. This flows from the natural benevolence of his heart; and I know he has received more delight from taking share in the pleasures of others, than in cultivating his own. In reading, no man has a nicer discernment of the faults of an author; but he always contrives to overlook them; and says, that he hardly ever read any book from which he did not receive some pleasure or instruction.

Mr. Sidney has, in the course of his life, met with disappointments and misfortunes, though few of them are known, except to his most particular friends. While the impression of those misfortunes. was strongest on his mind, his outward conduct in the world remained invariably the same; and those few friends whom he honoured by making partners of his sorrows, know that one great source of his consolation was the consciousness that, under the pressure of calamity, his behaviour remained unaltered, and that he was able to go through the duties of life with becoming dignity and ease. Instead of being peevish and discontented with the world, the disappointments he has met with have only taught him to become more detached from those enjoyments of life which

are beyond his power, and have made him value more highly those which he possesses. Mr. Sidney has, for a long time past, been engaged in business of a very difficult and laborious nature: but he conducts it with equal ease and spirit. Far from the elegance and sensibility of his mind unfitting him for the management of those transactions which require great firmness and perseverance, I believe it is his good taste and elegant refinement of mind, which enable him to support that load of business; because he knows that, when it is finished, he has pleasure in store. He is married to a very amiable and beautiful woman, by whom he has four fine children. He says that, when he thinks it is for them, all toil is easy, and all labour light.

The intimate knowledge I have of Mr. Sidney has taught me, that refinement and delicacy of mind, when kept within proper bounds, contribute to happiness; and that their natural effect, instead of producing uneasiness and chagrin, is to add to the enjoyments of life... In comparing the two characters of Fleetwood and Sidney, which nature seems to have cast in the same mould, I have been struck with the fatal consequences to Fleetwood, of indulging his spleen at those little rubs in life, which a juster sense of human imperfection would make him consider equally unavoidable, and to be regarded with the same indifference, as a rainy day, a dusty road, or any the like trifling inconvenience. There is nothing so inconsiderable which may not become of importance, when made an object of serious attention. Sidney never repines like Fleetwood; and, as he is much more respected, so he has much more real happiness than either Morley or Dacres. Fleetwood's weaknesses are amiable; and, though we pity, we must love him; but there is a complacent dignity in the character of Sindey, which excites at once our love, respect, and admiration.

A

No. XLVIII. SATURDAY, JULY 10.

THE following paper was lately received from a correspondent, who accompanied it with a promise of carrying his idea through some of the other fine arts. I have since been endeavouring to make it a little less technical, in order to fit it more for general perusal; but, finding I could not accomplish this, without hurting the illustrations of the writer, I have given it to my readers in the terms in which I received it.

THE perceptions of different men, arising from the impressions of the same object, are very often different. Of these we always suppose one to be just and true; all the others to be false. But which is the true, and which the false, we are often at a loss to determine; as the poet has said,

'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.

POPE.

With regard to our external senses, this diversity of feeling, as far as it occurs, is of little consequence ; but the truth of perception, in our internal senses, employed in morals and criticism, is more interesting and important.

In the judgments we form concerning the beauty and excellency of the several imitative arts, this difference of feeling is very conspicuous; and it is difficult to say why each man may not believe his own, or how a standard may be established, by which the truth of different judgments may be compared and tried. Whether there is, or is not, a standard of t.ste, I shall not attempt to determine; but there is a question connected with that, which, properly answered, may have some effect in the decision: whe

ther in the imitative arts, a person exercised in the practice of the art, or in the frequent contemplation of its productions, be better qualified to judge of these, than a person who only feels the direct and immediate effects of it? In the words of an ancient critic, "An docti, qui rationem operis intelligunt, an qui " voluptatem tantum percipiunt, optimè dijudicant?" or, as I may express it in English, Whether the artist or connoisseur have any advantage over other persons of common sense or common feeling?

This question shall be considered at present with regard to one art only, to wit, that of painting; but some of the principal which I shall endeavour to illustrate, will have a general tendency to establish a decision in all. In the first place, it is proper to mention the chief sources of the pleasure we receive in viewing pictures. One arises from the perception of imitation, however produced; a second from the art displayed in producing such imitation; and a third, from the beauty, grace, agreeableness, and propriety of the object imitated. These may all occur in the imitation of one single object; but a much higher pleasure arises from several objects combined together in such a manner, that, while each of them singly affords the several sources of pleasure already mentioned, they all unite in producing one effect, one particular emotion in the spectator, and an impression much stronger than could have been raised by one object alone.

These seem to be the chief sources of the pleasure we receive from pictures; and, with regard to the true and accurate perceptions of each, let us consider who is most likely to form them, the painter and connoisseur, or the unexperienced spectator.

In viewing imitation, we are more or less pleased according to the degree of exactness with which the object is expressed; and, supposing the object to be a common one, it might be imagined, that every per

son would be equally a judge of the exactness of the imitation; but, in truth, it is otherwise. Our recollection of an object does not depend upon any secret remembrance of the several parts of which it consists, of the exact position of these, or of the dimensions of the whole. A very inaccurate resemblance serves the purpose of memory, and will often pass with us for a true representation, even of the subjects that we fancy ourselves very well acquainted with.

The self-applause of Zeuxis was not well founded, when he valued himself on having painted grapes, that so far deceived the birds, as to bring them to peck at his picture. Birds are no judges of an accurate resemblance, when they often mistake a scarecrow for a man. Nor had Parrhasius much reason to boast of his deceiving even Zeuxis, who, viewing it hastily, and from a distance, mistook the picture of a linen cloth for a real one. It always requires study to perceive the exactness of imitation; and most persons may find, by daily experience, that, when they would examine the accuracy of any representation, they can hardly do it properly, but by bringing together the picture and its archetype, so that they may quickly pass from the one to the other, and thereby compare the form, size, and proportions of all the different parts. Without such study of objects as the painter employs to imitate them, or the connoisseur employs in comparing them with their imitations, there is no person can be a judge of the exactness of the representation. The painters, therefore, or the connoisseurs, are the persons who will best perceive the truth of imitation, and best judge of its merit. It is true, some persons may be acquainted with certain objects, even better than the painters themselves, as the shoemaker was with the shoe in the picture of Apelles: but most persons, like the same shoemaker, are unfit to extend their

« PreviousContinue »