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THE IDLER.

THE IDLER.

NUMBER 76. Saturday, September 29, 1729.

SIR,

TO THE IDLER.

I WAS much pleased with your ridicule of those shallow critics, whose judgment, though often right as far as it goes, yet reaches only to inferior beauties; and who, unable to comprehend the whole, judge only by parts, and from thence determine the merit of extensive works. But there is another kind of critic still worse, who judges by narrow rules, and those too often false, and which though they should be true, and founded on nature, will lead him but a very little way towards the just estimation of the sublime beauties in works of genius; for whatever part of an art can be executed or criticised by rules, that part is no longer the work of genius, which implies excellence out of the reach of rules. For my own part, I profess myself an Idler, and love to give my judgment, such as it is, from my immediate perceptions, without much

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fatigue of thinking; and I am of opinion, that if a
man has not those perceptions right, it will be vain
for him to endeavour to supply their place by rules;
which
may enable him to talk more learnedly, but
not to distinguish more acutely. Another reason
which has lessened my affection for the study of
criticism is, that critics, so far as I have observed,
debar themselves from receiving any pleasure from
the polite arts, at the same time that they profess
to love and admire them: for these rules being
always uppermost, give them such a propensity to
criticise, that instead of giving up the reins of their
imagination into their author's hands, their frigid
minds are employed in examining whether the per-
formance be according to the rules of art.

To those who are resolved to be critics in spite of nature, and at the same time have no great disposition to much reading and study, I would recommend to assume the character of connoisseur, which may be purchased at a much cheaper rate than that of a critic in poetry. The remembrance of a few names of painters, with their general characters, and a few rules of the academy, which they may pick up among the painters, will go a great way towards making a very notable connoisseur.

With a gentleman of this cast, I visited last week the Cartoons at Hampton-Court: he was just returned from Italy, a connoisseur of course, and of course his mouth full of nothing but the

grace of Raffaelle, the purity of Domenichino, the learning of Poussin, the air of Guido, the greatness of taste of the Caraccis, and the sublimity and grand contorno of Michael Angelo; with all the rest of the cant of criticism, which he emitted with that volubility which generally those orators have who annex no ideas to their words.

As we were passing through the rooms, in our way to the gallery I made him observe a whole length of Charles the First, by Vandyck, as a perfect representation of the character, as well as the figure of the man: he agreed it was very fine, but it wanted spirit and contrast, and had not the flowing line, without which a figure could not possibly be graceful. When we entered the gallery, I thought I could perceive him recollecting his rules by which he was to criticise Raffaelle. I shall pass over his observation of the boat's being too little, and other criticisms of that kind, till we arrived at St. Paul preaching. "This," says he, "is esteemed the most excellent of all the Cartoons: what nobleness, what dignity there is in that figure of St. Paul! and yet what an addition to that nobleness could Raffaelle have given, had the art of contrast been known in his time; but above all, the flowing line which constitutes grace and beauty. You would not then have seen an upright figure standing equally on both legs, and both hands stretched forward in the same direction, and his drapery, to all appearance, without the least

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