The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1810-07-11 00:00:00

OXFORD COMMVIORA77OY. W7l1? ARE TUC ARTS, la TUC CULTIVATION OF NUICII TUC 140DSIINS HITS 1116 EN LLss SUC CESSFUL TUAS TUS ANCISNT4 ? ♦ MIZE ESSAY, . SUITED IN TUB TISK4TitE, AT 03L/01111 9 JOLT 3. 1810. as Jeovel, alone iiirszWol,4 raziwn. Ph. A. That human society has a naturel tendency to itiiproveme.it, is a truth ohetou• u, its own nature. au! strikingly confirmed by experience. By the agency of this principle, the institutions and mao . Vsera, the bCieures and aria, of social life, vent tit be progressively impelled towards perfect on ; and. though occasionally checked by acted , ,ttal eh stret.giona, they return invariably to their original course; as the turnout of a slant, though continu ally impeded, will uniformly some tileie upright growth. when the obstacles that opposed it are re moved, if the existence of this principle of improvement should be disputed, iii those oroots where moral imeellenre is concerned, it must at least he allowed that it operates very powerfully, in those which relate to invention or discovery. For here. the facility with which each succeeding improver avails binsself of the labenrs of his predece.sniel, enefilee its. when once the foundatieme of an art ur science bare been laid, to enlarge acid embellish the super etrartmire to an extent which knows no limits; while, by memo of those contrivance-, which so wrinderfully facilitate time transmiseion of knew }edge. we edit .derive lithely as ,such advantage front the labours of uur *literalists, as from those of our centempos aliee. Aucorilingly,iu the numerous circle of arts which ere employed about the conveniences of life. our superiority to the ancient* is generally admitted. Two inventions, which were originally the produc tione of aecideot, hive coutributed to give us a de cided superiority iu the .its 'of navigation and oar ; while a new and simelior method of investieetion bas proved of incalculable advantage, in all those which depend on the various branches of natural philosophy. But when we torn nor attention to the fine art', we minuet hut observe, Hog the superiority of uto. &mantles is either wh•il:y lust, or at least consi derably lessened. % eight of wicket excel. !came seems tribe yogroeuted, while a proportionate diminution. on the opposite side, is miler's Meese able. Amidst the trepidation!' of a balance, a hich now becomes so nosily adjusted, a discerning eye may perhaps parce•ve a preponderance on the side of antiquity. But even those who are of a contrary , opinion. must at least admit. that our improve. menu in this class of pursuits have by no mess kept peer with those which hate been made in the useful The specimens shish have come down to us of their skill in sculpture and architecture, in poetry and oratory, specimens which are still ac knowledged models for modern imitation, form a strong argument of their ;boggier excelleiice, if not of their comparative superierity. in music and in painting their progress amain be ...innate(' with any degree of ; but we may fairly imagine it to have loom far from contemptible; fence throe arts were studioredy cultivated by a people who die 'played, in other points, the highest degree of taste sad genius. That the ancient, then, if not actually superior to us in the elegaiit arts, approached us at least much nearer in them than in the useful mei, and much nearer than at first sight we (meld bare ex pected, will perhaps be universally allowed. And as this disproportionate excellesce opens a heist for touch curious socculation, an investigation of the causes which produced it may prove both interest ing in itself, and useful in our subserptent inquiry into the actual state of coniparisou between the Ancients and Moderns. Without recoiling to the fanciful notions of with respect to the degeneracy of later times, or attempting to explain the iisfluence which soil and climate may pease+. over the dispositions and intellects of men, we may safely determine, that, as neture has distributed to different countries the alviiiitageit of fertilr y iii unequal proportions, so, she has poured on some stations, with greater profusion than on others, the riche, endowments of genius and imagination. The inhabitants of theeee were in this respect highly favoured. To the ex ternal adynuteges which.they prisetssed, were added an extraordinary portion of natural acuteness and delicacy of taste ; qualities which, it is said, are still to be found in their deseervihnite. though re premed by the iron howl of despotiein. The Ro mans were, perhaps, not im fortunate; and though they borrowed largely irons the (leech., they sere seldom aide to equal them. The facility, with which they availed themselves of the talents of a foreign nation, probably acted as a check upon domestic ingenuity. as importations are found uu faysarable to the increase of manufactures. As far. therefore, ao the gifts of nature are eon cerned, no prop!e had a fairer chance thou the Greeks, of becoming highly eminent for produc tions of genius ; and varinns circumetanc-s con cnrred to give full play to their suiberiority of talent. anal to advance the arts asbeng them to a high de gree of perfection. Of these, that which principally arrest, our et. Motion ie, the divi.inn of that cimetry into a great number of small independent states, all cejeying Itherty, and mutually engaged in perpetual rival ship. This spirit of emulation must hare been a powerful incentive to a people naturally ingenione ; and the MAY of talent roused into action by this minute disision. must have been proportionally great. In tarter store, • eonsiderahle number of highly-gifted todividoals' must be forced tutu the throng of undetilignisleel mediocrity. But these eirehtostencee, which contributed to promote the wiranceinesit of the tine arse. had not an equal tendence to eneourre;e the useful arts.— The 'limber of Milepeueleut neighbouring states nectAbittly produced continual wars, with their imenitAnt, Poverty : but te is in the midst of wealth tied of tranquillity, that commerce sail iiirt aufscturna, together with the most of the useful mats. our biutel to flourish and improve. But not Duly will the same ramie, frequently +tire different effects upon pursuits of ditiereist • the pure is them,eliws may ueeasionally he found to interfere. In those large and prosperon states, where the acquisition of wealth is pursued with the greatest earnestness, and the useful arts cultivated with the greatest attention, we shall ge. nerally find the separation of professions, end the division of labour, carried to the highest extent.-- NOW that this concentration of the powers of each individual advances each art to the highest degree of perfedion, and tends to the increase of private. as well as of national wealth, isa maxim which will he admitted without divine : but it is no less true, that both this division of labour, and the weatlh which is produced by it, have, when increased be yond a certain point, • tendency unfavourable to liberality of mind, to liveliness of genius, and to elegance of taste. As the sphere of action iu which an individual is employed becomes narrower, the greater skill will heactptire in the performance of his part ; but his mind at the ovine time becomes pro portionalq contracted, and he is at length degrad ed to the condition of a mere machine. Whereas.' in • smaller, or a less populous community, or in one which bus nude It ss progress in manufactures and in trade, the same person being obliged to per form several offices, not udwayl very closely con nected with each other, his mind becomes expanded by taking u wider lunge : ha deficiency pi that readiness. which tesults from long practice and ,concentrated attentirm, must frequently he sup plied by thoughtund contlivance: soil it is precisely 'from this variety of pursuits, and this exertion of intrllrit, that weary to expect liberality of mind. and refinement of taste. To this we may add, that a long and undivided attention to the purentit of weskit, tends of itself to. produce • sordid turn of thought, to divest the mind of all ♦elfish for works of genius, and to es tablish a habit of referring every thing to utility, •ud. of measuring utility by gain. If these remarks should be found conrnin thle to reason and experience, our ackwowleilge4 Sept riority to the Ancients in commerce and national wealth, might prepare us to expect an inferiority in the elegant arts. It is certain, th.it among' the Ancients themselves. we are far from hading these arts inseparably con nected with public pro.perity, It wail during the distresses of a protracted war against the Pe'noon. nesians, that Athens pradueed ru env of thwe works of genius which we eil inre at this day: while, on the other hand, the Carat 4ginians. a peonie cer. tainly aotde.titate of ingenuity, and in wealth and prosperity superior to ah their cooteminwaries. secra to have made littie or no progress in the polite arts. The ea: es that have hitherto kern assigned ore such as relate principal;y to the parties concerned : there are caner; that inay hay • contributed to PTO dove the same effect. which arise met of the nature of the case itself. The advantage. which men may derive front the labours of those who have gone before, has already been mentioned, as leading us to expert a supe r ior degree of ez..ellence in later times. It is obvious that this advantage must efincipOly arise from their hying able with facility and resdiiiess to avail them selves of those diacoveries. and to apply those rules, which have necessarily cost their predecessors Mitch time and laboainusinvestigation. But in those pro ductions of iteisill4 and taste,of which we have been spealtmg, this advantage is wonite;fully lessened. Those rules, by which the subtle emanations of fanry are directed and coutrouled, are of a nature too exquisitely line to he m•trked nut with the wlllO accuracy, or transmitted to po•terity with the same certainty. as in mechanical arts, aad strict systems of science. it is far from being insinuated, that in wedge.. tions of the other description, the artist works at random, and pleases only by chance ; or that a &Ls ligcnt alisery itinn of the most 'Admired models is not highly serviceable, in ►titnnlating the genius and correcting the taste ; but it must be adulated, th it throe relisied and delicate rules cannot he adequate ly cnnveyed in writing, and consequently will not enable 01K iii these, as in other paints, s)stemattesl ly to improve upon our predecessors, or, in some cases, even to imitate them successfu;ly. Another consideration of importance to the pre sent question is, that in the fine arts we find our scope for improvement confined and determinate ; while discovery in the sciences, and contrivance ill the usefnl arts, seem to bealtoArther boundless. In the former class of pursuits, the end proposed is to give pleasure, Isy affecting certain principles in the constitution of the hurnau mind, which must be in all ages substantially the same : in each department of these, therefore, we may imagine to ourselves a perfect and nursrt•inq model, and may measure dif fereat devrees of excellence, by the istairoess of their approaches to it. On the ether side, • boundless field is opened to a• for improvement. Iliegivation itself Call fix sin 'tidos to our researcher into the se crets of nature : nor can any period he assigned to the progressive advancr-rnent of throe iuveutions of humus ingennitv, by whieh, while the labour of ran is diminished, his (simian!. are multiplied, or his wants anticipated. In these pursuits, therefore, we are Ansabl,eid, by the strict rules on which they proceed, and by their interminable nature, not only to derive the full benefit from the labours of our predeceeints, Ist tocontinue our improvements to a boundless extent : and, •ccordtngh•, it is in these that we are to seek for the superiority of later times. We have wen, then, first some of the senses which most tend most to promote the progressive improves anent rifthe u.eful arts and the sciences, do not operate equally on the elegant arts. lint, in addition to this, there are Impediments to the progrese of the latte►, to which the former are not liable. In the floe arts, the mere passion for variety tempts men to diversify the chaste models of their predecessors wiah need tete slternions end additions which soon become agreeable from the influence of association ; and, continuing to multiply, gradually corrupt the pubs lir In.te, :and cruise the productions of genius to tie generete Isom th.itoriginal simplicity. It is from the cmcrati.”. the principle that an artist, er a avit.r, of brilliant 1.41.-nts, lust incorrect taste, con.rilmies so much to mislead the pehlie jnitr, oral his , art•• t ere rao.ec►eted by litei► union with his es vel:encies. nod. from the force of insoeis. time,. .not our to hs silintrad in themselves, even when those ex. - ed.-se:es are emoting. Hence it is, I that there is always a fashion in weft; of genius. and .4 th it its I f•!man, Inruß f..undrl on iniartimstances en' ircly tudelnaident of %Le• fixed principle's( ewe. tends nut only to obstruct the progress of the fioe arts, but even to promote their decline. la science. on the contrary. and on the other class or arts. these causes cannot operate. The syteius which are founded on demon,tralrie truth art incapable of being shaken by caprice ; the arts which are easeuti4l to the well-being of ,ociety can never be affected by the vicissitudes of iazlneit. In these pursuits. therefore. the progress of improve ment is unimpeded. and it is in these that the Mo derns are decidedly superior to the Ancients.. In tile line 1106. we have seen on a general view of the subject, that this superiority. if it exists at all, in at limo: ninth lest conspicuous. But, to de ttrwiuethe actual state of comparatire excellence, we must have recourse to a separate examination of the arts, and consider the respective reveres of the Ancients and the Moderns to each. lu the kosecution of this design, it would be too long and tot, laborioas it book, to ruler deeply iuto the pnucipied of any art ; or to engage in any con troversy that cata only be decided by au induction of particnlors. It will be sufficient to examine the ennt:nonlyi received opinions on each subject, and briefly ko -inquire into the grounds an winch they rest. • There is. perhaps. no art in which the superiority of the Ancierts is more generally allowed. than avid pture ; art which the tine models that have come down to n., are still appealed to as the standard of excellence. in painting. on the other timid. the ad vantage is generally supposed to he on the side of the Mo.leiMs. Now it appears natural that sculp ture should its its origin have been prior to paint ing ; it war a more (4)% Mutt, sod therefore probably. an earlier attempt to elrvpe one substaure into the Inrin of 1111411 h. roimo to represent. oa a Hat-to doors 'by means (if light and shade. the appearance of a soli:1 ho;ly. Of the former art. some traces are to be found even among the moat uncultured sav ages. The inhabitants of New South Wales. 'though completely deatitute of clothing. mid fre quently of hiliiitations, :ere yet reported to have made some rode attempts at sculpture. That the art whim was of earliest origin should also be the first to attain perfection. is no more than alight reasonably be rapt eted : but there is no doubt that its pro4re.s wes much accelerated by the pe- Culiar nature of their religious - won.hip, which re quired that the objects of their edoretion aliould be exhibited iii sensible representations. Anti • Sure being. from whatever cause, preferred to paint ing for rei Twat purposes. the frequency of demand for images of their• gods and heroes. noitiug with the dignity of the subject to call Isorth afl the powers of the statuary. Won raised this art to trans. evident excellence. On the other hand, the many advantages which painting posuoses, oat malty established in time its just claim to superior utteutioa. The art whu•h re presented the form only, asthma the colours of its objects. was gradually supplanted by that which could. with equal fidelity, imitate both. Aid thus tirow artists, who possessed the niset aspiring ge nius, were led to esiltit,ste painting. whde sculp ture wus comparatively arglectert Bot v besides this cans-, th. re is no doubt that the astonishing perfection of the at elva sculptor► con tributed also in slow (twee to divert the genial of the Moderns into a different channel. For se must rentember, that while, in the useful arts, the inventions of the Ancients only open a door to the .Moderns foe still further inaprovetnents; in' the tine arts, the same cause is frequently found to have a contrary tend. 'icy; and in none of thesis has this been more fully exemplified than in sculp ture. The excellence o' th.s ancient models which have come down to us, is «rich as to preclude a modern artist front the hope of excelling, or even equalling them. That principle, therefore. which has given birth to the finest performances iii every art, the principle of imulattoo, is, by this melons, weakened or extinghished ; :tad men betake them. selves to some other purinit, in which the highest pus!' are yet waaccupitul. This cause has probably contributed mote than 'nay other to produce a &r ho.- in sculpture, arid sub sequently in painting also. The unrivalled masters . of Greece, in the former art, and those whom Italy afteiwards produced in the latter, excite iistnaish nseut, but reprterti etoulctioa. And this+ cause pro. duces the more striking effects, because it melates chiefly upon exalted genuises. For great and tie voted minds are generally the most ready to aditiiee excellence in others, and the moat authitious to attuiti to it themselves. The former, therefore, vf these proo ivies., when they have a very fierlem model beture them, makes them despair of stierno.s. nig . it ; mid the 'alter prompts thou to employ their talents in anti... oilier Poison. where the hope of pre-enuueuce may 4iimslate them to exertion.— For it ma to be observed, that in the hoe arts, the define of exedlence is the principal. if not the only incentive, upon whose operation we can itil;faTl7;:i • • rely; while. in the useful arts, the demand for l i their produetions being continual, necessity, and the drone of gain, will be a stifGrient stimulus, even where emulation is extinguished. The loom and the forge sill never be neglected, however inferior their productions to thoise-of another age or country. Rut the sculptor or the painter. when contemplating • model. whose beauties he cannot hope to equal, will probably relinquish his attempt in despair. The remarkable excellence of the ancien's iw architecture, nett attests out Attention ; an art in which. os well as in the foregoing, theii superiority is generally admitted. Resides thecaures which have already hero sisigated, as affecting the hue sits in general, the excellence of this, doubtless. Owe, mach to the pomp of their worship, and to their demo. crane form of goverament. It is is • republic, that each individual feels the most pride iu the splendour of puhlie edifice,: thew he considers as in a certain degree his own property ; while the jealousy of t h e ob hewer n 14 tell.lll to repress the display of private so d ca p r i c i ou s magnificence. Hem* the genius of the ancient architects. especially among the Greeks, was employed on sumptuous temples and iheistre, : at the same time, the necessity of gaining the appro bation of the multitude. subj.-cted each work to the collective judgment of all the citizens ; aid thus prevented the public usotary from hieing atiOsacletefl on buildingsof rude and tasteless, splendour. Hence too, s ri v , I N e mulation, and even ambition. was in. arireil 11140 thc ar, tot ; the most en t i tle = et , se k ete d by the coucurrent rot , a of the people ; and. how ever eatenare his design, it *as read?, snirported by the musificenci of a whole'coutrhui.dy, U, d er these circumstances, are might awn; a:i y t :le. au ingenious a people should readily hill ioto , /w an , au! and correct stele of Imildiug. Nor is it io he wondered at that this style should afteraards h ue been debased by accidental corruptions, to o hid t this art is ecru more liable than the when, p o ,. i n architecture, t h e end originally p unue d mast al. ways have beta utility ; a p rinc i p l e not tiled, lit e that of beauty, lout varying with all the siedeotat circurnatanees of climate and custom s : s o d guards, when ornament began to be an object of at. tention. mrn'a taste pursued, in a cerium degree, the same track which utility had marked out, I t is evident that this attention to a principle wholly independent of taste, must have subjected arch', tecture to the influence of many accidental einem. stances, which cannot affect those arts that see merely ornamental. But when to this any other principle, independent of taste, is superadebd, th o liability to corruption becomes proportionably hi. creased. Of this nature was that religion, pr.j.s. dice, whirls, in the middle ages, motile's! a for ge class of buildings into th e b as ele gaa t Loa o f a cross ; and, to the structure of the Eacuoi s l i n Spain, suggested a model still meta fanciful sod grotesque. - Seer rat new order. of architecture. indeed, aros e %bout tine period, acme o f whke suit he lil.o to !MSS V. 6 a high degree of merit, even by three ilia will lot eii tier them to rank with the more rorrert judgment of later tiines h.a b en , employ ed to st beet timer beentas. animist Lessem ing their defects. But, though the true principles f tie art are now ascertained, so that the int.dern technic' may 'tate the works of the middle age., without Mtn. go ., o r b e i ng ,infected with the tithe ,sue *het 4.1 C. casiomilly debases them; yet we rill ref r to ti e A ticients as our inoet correct models fur grandeur, elegance, and simplicity. On turoing our attrution to polite literature. poetry firet solicits oar regard : an art, in mice the productions of the Ancients etijoy • high shoe of public admiration, in those very cournms where they hove been the must pool Halle rivafl.d by the Moderns. For it is not from a dearth of modern genius, that the pees of Greece end of Rome are admired: on the contrary, these pr. Lieu, sern.iiii of antiquity are ever val ue d m o s t bethly by three ',g nosis which have produced the most excellent tees of their own. A etriirg pried' how ninth the Ancient* have come:hilted to kindle the ramie r,d to refine the taste, of eucceediug ages: a vied, tiLt even if we have outelione Oleos with the lustre we have borrowed from themselves, yet we cannot beet of baring eclipsed them. The deference indeed welch we elicit for the aittlioritv of the mien; Nutt", and the appeals se rola innaly nett e not perhaps as perfect tired-1., but certainly as ad uairahle reastiples, are a sufficient acki.owiecigmeet, an our part, it-not climatal superiority, at least of extrenr.i...tory excellence. But what,. ver may be our derision as to ear rem. !ketonic success of the Aucieuts and %duns in 114 cultioatioalef pewter; there is another art, in which wrrmay, without hriitetion, pronounce 'he Ancient" deented4 enperioy an art too, elvelt tea no small tr 'tie Slyotion: for oratory, is whatever light K play be emoted with regard tit its political utility, meet iiidispritably rank high one the admirers of polite literature. The powerful influenre, , Sehich eloqatecte vessels over the molds of time multitude., give the orator so great an edraiitage in popular govern ments that intemet soon prompted men to coin. . vale the art in throe states which adopted that e• D efinition : for we do not find that it made meth progress even in Greece, while ruore,rchy and or,. garithy prevailed. The nusuitableneoi of them klaferilllarlble to the cultivation of oratory is, re marked by the author of the dialogue os the do Cline of eloquence at Rome:— " Quid tam opus eat lunris in sends sentearis, cue Se non utu ? quid multi& spud populsin bore cunt de republics, non imperil' et molts debbeiset, Sett i,rpieutiasimus, cl unseal" Lint besides the advantages wising from their form of Government, that half-civilized state of e"eiclt*, abich prevailed among the Greeks and 'toluene at the peeled under cousidefation, was 'reels hefty calculated to &tour the advancement of this att. A peel k altogether rude and barlicuour, are eery powerfully effected, indeed, by eloquence. Mot their taste in it it likely to be faulty. On the other hood. a tuition very !sights. refined, is ten liable. perhaps. to he itiOnencell by the sits of rhemeic.--lt is in the intermediate state that the encouragement is bed out to good °rotors, while those of inferior merit are rejected. The decline, therefore, of eloquence, hunch per. hap., been eirusitous'y attributed to the e.:lei diffu sion of knoaledge, woich enables a modern emitei,ce to distingskieh energy of expression from nighty of ereenteciits But the "elect nature of our herative assemblies., the iumher of which jetty is composed, and the multitude and prici.,ore If orir law., have probably had the greatest shine ;it sbr,Jging the totlueoce, which the orator (remedy gesseased. But, natwitlistateling these circumstances, the deltivation of oratory may still be attended soh mast important advantages. And though tie rhetoe viral artifices. which were formerly pmetised. may be theught unsuitable to the present cosmos of se eiry, as the style of Demosthenes was found Ly Cite., to he, in some respects, ill adapted to a Roman audience; though, in massy grime., a devi atm, from our 11110trelly in 6001 e. perhaps, a mon angel refinement, may be found neeee,sate ; s till we mule not conclude, that, became, it requires alt: re. trout this art has wholly loot its influence. Men prislioes tit be excited, impeiontions to be pleased, sod hymn to he elected: and those who twilit or the superior cooliiewi of jurig.o.nt in the f be r thathis s e ttledC iesar, on one Cc, tenon div t e e rtesi rw Into from being de fi cient clearoen f judgmeet, by Use of Cicero, woothe furthest of ea Mid tie l ,,,,, e ss of character. Hal sepposing the minds of the more enliehtened o to be sin ci ontly fortified by cultivation agemit the r e w s h o t wa s r rs i ts ui rt i s hw or i te, h, te opo g orto e 4n ol i i ci e tn ie e rl c l o stl in i m l reeit unis e v ii; a l arge wilhsh a o n fa d they will he as poweeful as ever. For on the fled din and lower milers the cheerers of thin, nee puierei an inflaer e e which i. truly impetigo, sod "Mali h 'l leetko•-oly been pers. rted to tlie,wrieet of r or . rN ' e s• W.:ether so powerful an Eng roe m g:.t 4,0 t wt. 11. I.l t VC ke tat It. tt Hy tro. we 1 14 :11. Ige r in Od tee iLd fiiy 11% 'MN ere ley 'C. t 1 C 111 , . 1 tie tilt tell Ste 4 of eel. In l c • we rot red lent ad. of in In be Lie ,is it, buth tee- the "ti- • it- Lth eh. ff. de- uts heir of end was t r,f ru4, tee. the tees of the kite " icr• I,CG I:ty Eh- - 11 • OM rly to th be Ly • It - OE a. .11 to IS 1111 tl ti ti