what I have faid on thefe points, and tend to fhew the probability, we may say the certainty, that men are not born with a relifh for those arts in their most refine! ftate, which as they cannot understand, they cannot be impreffed with their effects. This great ftile of Michael Angelo is as far removed from the fimple reprefentation of the common objects of nature, as the most refined Italian mufic is, from the inartificial notes of nature, from whence they both profefs to originate. But, without fuch a fuppofed compact, we may be very confident that the highet ftate of refinement in either of those arts will not be relifhed without a long and induftrious attention. In pursuing this great art, it must be acknowledged that we labour under greater difficulties than those who were born in the age of its difcovery, and whofe minds from 'their infancy were habituated to this ftile, who learnt it as language, as their mother tongue. They had no mean tafte to unlearn; they needed no perfuafive difcourfe to allure them to a favourable reception of it, no abftrufe investigation of its principles to convince them of the great latent truths on which it is founded. We are constrained, in these later days, to have recourfe to a fort of grammar and dictionary, as the only means of recovering a dead language. It was by them learnt by rote, and perhaps better learnt that way than by precept. The file of Michael Angelo, which I have compared to language, and which may, poetically fpeaking, be called the language of the gods, now no longer exifts, as it did in the fifteenth century, yet with the aid of diligence, we may in a great measure fupply the deficiency which I mentioned, of not having his works fo perpetually before our eyes; by having recourfe to cats from his models and defigns in fculpture; to drawings, or even copies of thofe drawings; to prints, which, however ill executed, ftil convey fomething by which this tafte may be formed; and a relith may be fixed and established in our minds for this grand file of inven tion. Some examples of this kind we have in the academy; and I fincerely wish there were more, that the younger ftudents might, in their firft nourishment, imbibe this tafte; whilft others, though settled in the practice of the common-place file of painting, might infufe, by this means, a grandeur into their works. I fhall now make fome remarks on the courfe which I think moft proper to be purfued in fuch a ftudy. I wish you not to go fo much to the derivative ftreams, as to the fountain-head; though the copies are not to be neglected, because they may give you hints in what manner you may copy, and how the genius of one man may be made to fit the peculiar manner of another. To recover this loft taste, I would recommend young artists to ftudy the works of Michael Angelo, as he himself did the works of the ancient fculptors; he began, when a child, a copy of a mutilated fatyr's head, and finished in his mo. del what was wanting in the origi nal. In the fame manner, the first exercife that I would recommend to the young artift, when he first attempts invention, is to felect every figure, if poflible, from the inven tions tions of Michael Angelo. If fuch borrowed figures will not bend to his purpose, and he is constrained to make a change, or fupply a figure - himself, that figure will neceffarily be in the fame ftile with the reft, and his taste will by this means be naturally initiated, and nurfed in. the lap of grandeur. He will fooner perceive what conftitutes this grand ftile by one practical trial than by à thoufand fpeculations, and he will in fome fort procure to himself that advantage which in these later ages has been denied him; the advantage of having the greateft of artifts for his mafter and instructor. The next leffon fhould be, to change the purpose of the figures without changing the attitude, as Tintoret has done with the Sampfon of Michael Angelo. Inftead of the figure which Sampfon beftrides, he has placed an eagle under him, and instead of the jaw-bone, thunder and lightening in his right hand, and it becomes a Jupiter. Titian, in the fame manner, has taken the figure which reprefents God dividing the light from the darknefs, in the vault of the Capella Seftina, and has introduced it in the famous battle of Cadore, so much celebrated by Vasari; and, extraordinary as it may feem, it is here converted to a general falling from his horse. A real judge who fhould look at this picture, would immediately pronounce the attitude of that figure to be in a greater ftile than any other figure of the compofition. These two inftances may be fufficient, though many more might be given in their works, as well as in thofe of other great artists. When the student has been ha→ bituated to this grand conception of the art, when the relish for this ftile is eftablifhed; makes a part of himself, and is woven into his mind, he will, by this time, have got a power of felecting from whatever occurs in nature that is grand, and corresponds with that taste which he has now acquired, and will pafs over whatever is common-place and infipid. He may then bring to the mart fuch works of his own proper invention as may enrich and encrease the general stock of invention in our art. I am confident of the truth and propriety of the advice which I have recommended; at the fame time I am aware how much, by this advice, I have laid myself open to the sarcasms of those critics who imagine our art to be a matter of infpiration. But I should be forry it fhould appear even to myfelf that I wanted that courage which I have recommended to the ftudents in another way: equal courage perhaps is required in the adviser and the advifed; they both must equally dare, and bid defiance to narrow criticism and vulgar opinion. That the art has been in a gradual ftate of decline, from the age of Michael Angelo to the prefent, must be acknowledged; and we may reasonably impute this declenfion to the fame caufe to which the ancient critics and philofophers have imputed the corruption of eloquence. Indeed the lame causes are likely at all times and in all ages to produce the fame effects : indolence-not taking the fame pains defiring to find a fhorter way -I 2 way-is the general imputed caufe. The words of Petronius are very remarkable. After oppofing the natural chafte beauty of the eloquence of former ages to the trained inflated ftile then in fashion, "Neither," fays he, has the art "of Painting had a better fate, "after the boldness of the Egyp"tians had found out a compen"dious way to execute fo great an "art." By compendious, I underftand him to mean a mode of painting, fuch as has infected the ftile of the later painters of Italy and France; common-place without thought, and with as little trouble, working as by a receipt, in contradiftinction from that tile for which even a relish cannot be acquired without care and long attention, and most certainly the power of executing, not without the most laborious application. I have endeavoured to ftimulate the ambition of artists to tread in this great path of glory, and, as well as I can, have pointed out the track which leads to it, and have at the fame time told them the price at which it may be obtained. It is an ancient faying, that labour is the price which the gods have fet upon every thing valuable. The great artist who has been fo much the fubject of the prefent difcourfe, was diftinguished even from his infancy for his indefatigable diligence; and this was continued through his whole life, till prevented by extreme old age. The pooreft of men, as he obferved himself, did not labour from neceffity, more than he did from choice. Indeed, from all the circumftances related of his life, he appears not to have had the leaft conception that his art was to be acquired by any other means than by great labour; and yet he, of all men that ever lived, might make the greatest pretensions to the efficacy of native genius and infpiration. I can have no doubt that he would have thought it no difgrace to have it faid of him, as he himself faid of Raphael,+ that he did not poffefs his art from nature, but by long ftudy. He was confcious that the great excellence to which he arrived was gained by dint of labour; and was unwilling to have it thought that any tranfcendant skill, however natural its effects might feem, could be purchafed at a cheaper price than he had paid for it. This feems to have been the true drift of his obfervation. We cannot fuppofe it made with any intention of depreciating the genius of Raphael, of whom he always fpoke, as Condivi fays, with the greatest refpe&t: though they were rivals, no fuch illiberality existed between them; and Raphael on his part entertained the greateft veneration for Michael Angelo, as appears from the fpeech which is recorded of him, that he congratulated himself, and thanked God that he was born in the fame age. If the high efteem and veneration in which Michael Angelo has beɩn held by all nations and in all ages, fhould be put to the account of prejudice, it must still be granted that thote prejudices could not have * Pictura quoque non alium exitum fecit poftquam Ægyptiorum audacia tam magna artis compendiariam invenit. "Che Raffaello non ebbe queft arte da natura ma per lungo fiudio.” been n entertained without a caufe: ground of our prejudice then. omes the fource of our admira1. But from whatever it prods, or whatever it is called, it 1 not, I hope, be thought preiptuous in me to appear in the in, I cannot fay of his imitators, : of his admirers. I have taken other course, one more fuited to abilities, and to the tafte of the es in which I live. Yet hower unequal I feel myfelf to that empt, were I now to begin the rld again, I would tread in the ps of that great mafter: to kifs e hem of his garment; to catch flightest of his perfections, ould be glory and diftinction ough for an ambitious man. I feel a felf-congratulation in owing myfelf capable of fuch nfations as he intended to excite. reflect not without yanity, that efe Difcourfes bear teftimony of y admiration of that truly divine an; and I fhould defire that the ft words which I should pronounce this academy, and from this place, ight be the name of MICHAEL ""Tis not the hafty product of a day, "But the well-ripen'd fruit of wife "delay." It is the refult of the thoughts of many minds, in many ages. It is no fimple, no fuperficial thing, nor to be estimated by fuperficial underftandings. An ignorant man, who is not fool enough to meddle with his clock, is however fufficiently confident to think he can fafely take to pieces, and put toge.. ther at his pleasure, a moral machine of another guife importance and complexity, compofed of far other wheels, and fprings, and balances, and counteracting and cooperating powers. Men little think how immorally they act in rafhly meddling with what they do not understand. Their delufive good intention is no fort of excufe for their prefumption. They who truly mean well must be fearful of acting ill. The British conftitution may have its advantages pointed out to wife and reflecting minds; but it is of too high an order of excellence to be adapted to thofe which are common. It takes in too many views, it makes too many combinations, to be fo much as comprehended by fhallow and fuperficial understandings. Profound thinkers will know it in its reafon and fpirit, The lefs enquiring will recognize it in their feelings and their experience. They will thank God they have a ftandard, which, in the moit effential point of this great concern, will put them on a par with the most wife and knowing. If we do not take to our aid the foregone ftudies of men reputed intelligent and learned, we fhall be always beginners. But in effect, men must learn fomewhere; and the new teachers mean no more than what they effect, that is, to deprive men of the benefit of the collected wisdom of mankind, and to make them blind difciples of their own particular prefumption. Talk to thefe deluded creatures, (all the difciples and most of the matters) who are taught to think themselves fo newly fitted up and furnished, and you will find nothing in their houfes but the refuse of Knaves Acre; nothing but the rotten ftuff, worn out in the fervice of delufion and fedition in all ages, and which being newly furbished up, patched, and varnished, serves well enough for those who being unacquainted with the conflict which has always been maintained between the fenfe and the nonsense of mankind, know nothing of the former exiftence and the antient refutation of the fame follies. It is near two thousand years fince it has been observed, that these devices of ambition, avarice, and turbulence, were antiquated. They are, indeed, the most antient of all common places; common places, fometimes of good and neceffary caufes; more frequently of the worst, but which decide upon neither. Eadem femper caufa, libido et avaritia, et mutandarum rerum amor.— Ceterum libertas et fpeciofa nomina pretexuntur; nec quifquam alienum fervitium, et dominationem fibi concupivit, ut non eadem ifta vocabula ufurparet. Rational and experienced men, tolerably well know, and have always known, how to diftinguish between true and falfe liberty; and between the genuine adherence and the falfe pretence to what is true, But none, except thofe who are profoundly studied, can comprehend the elaborate contrivance of a fa bric fitted to unite private and public liberty with public force, with order, with peace, with juftice, and, above all, with the contrivances formed for bestowing permanence and ftability through ages, upon this invaluable whole. Place, for instance, before your eyes, fuch a man as Montesquieu. Think of a genius not born in every country, or every time; a man gifted by nature with a penetrating aquiline eye; with a judgment prepared with the most extenfive erudition; with an herculean robuftnefs of mind, and nerves not to be broken with labour; a man who could fpend twenty years in one purfuit. Think of a man, like the univerfal patriarch in Milton (who had drawn up before him in his prophetic vifion the whole feries of the generations which were to iffue from his loins) a man capable of placing in review, after having brought together, from the east, the weft, the north, and the south, from the coarseness of the rudeft barbarifm to the most refined and fubtle civilization, all the fchemes of government which had ever prevailed amongst mankind, weighing, meafuring, collating, and comparing them all, joining fact with theory, and calling into council, upon all this infinite affemblage of things, all the fpeculations which have fatigued the understandings of profound reafoners in all times!-Let us then confider, that all these were but fo many preparatory steps to qualify a man, and such a man, tinctured with no national prejudice, with no domestic affection, to admire, and to hold out to the admiration of mankind, the conftitution of England! And fhall we Englishmen revoke to fuch a fuit? Shall |