THE LITERARY WORKS OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, KT. LATE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY'; CONTAINING HIS DISCOURSES, PAPERS IN THE IDLER, THE JOURNAL OF A AND ALSO HIS COMMENTARY ON DU FRESNOY'S ART OF PAINTING. PRINTED FROM THE AUTHOR'S REVISED COPIES, IN THREE VOLUMES. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, Some Account of the Life of the Author, By EDMOND MALONE, Esq. ONE OF HIS EXECUTORS. THE FIFTH EDITION, CORRECTED : In which is now included, A MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, - Quasi non ea præcipiam aliis, quæ mihi ipsi desunt. - CICERO. VOLUME THE FIRST. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND, BOOKSELLERS TO THE ROYAL ACADEMY. ΤΟ THE KING. THE regular progress of cultivated life is from necessaries to accommodations, from accommodations to ornaments. By your illustrious predecessors were established Marts for manufactures, and Colleges for science: but for the arts of elegance, those arts by which manufactures are embellished, and science is refined, to found an Academy was reserved for Your Majesty. Had such patronage been without effect, there had been reason to believe that Nature had, by some insurmountable impediment, obstructed our proficiency; but the annual improvement of the Exhibitions which Your Majesty has been pleased to encourage, shows that only encouragement had been wanting. To give advice to those who are contending for royal liberality, has been for some years the duty of my station in the Academy; and these Discourses hope for Your Majesty's acceptance, as well-intended endeavours to incite that emulation which your notice has kindled, and direct those studies which your bounty has rewarded. |