A
DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE
OF
PICTURES,

Poetical and Historical Inventions,

PAINTED BY
WILLIAM BLAKE,
IN
WATER COLOURS,
BEING THE ANCIENT METHOD OF
FRESCO PAINTING RESTORED:
AND

DRAWINGS,
FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION,
AND FOR

Sale by Private Contract,

At N28, Corner of Broad Street, Golden Square

LONDON:

Printed by D. N. SHURY, 7, Berwick-Street, Soho,
for J. BLAKE, 28, Broad-Street, Golden-Square.

1809.

IN
WATER COLOURS,

AND FOR

Sale by Private Contract,

At N28 Corner of Broad Street Golden Square

LONDON:

1809.

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This Image has been Color Corrected:
Disregard any color charts in the Image area

Yale Center for British Art, 2011

## CONDITIONS OF SALE.

I. One third of the price to be paid at the time of Purchase, and the remainder on Delivery.

II. The Pictures and Drawings to remain in the Exhibition till its close, which will be the 29th of September 1809; and the Picture of the Canterbury Pilgrims, which is to be engraved, will be Sold only on condition of its remaining in the Artist's hands twelve months, when it will be delivered to the Buyer.

# PREFACE.

THE eye that can prefer the Colouring of Titian and Rubens to that of Michael Angelo and Rafael, ought to be modest and to doubt its own powers. Connoisseurs talk as if Rafael and Michael Angelo had never seen the Colouring of Titian or Correggio: They ought to know that Correggio was born two years before Michael Angelo, and Titian but four years after. Both Rafael and Michael Angelo knew the Venetian, and contemned and rejected all he did with the utmost disdain, as that which is fabricated for the purpose to destroy art.

Mr. B. appeals to the Public, from the judgment of those narrow blinking eyes, that have too long governed art in a dark corner. The eyes of stupid cunning never will be

CONDITIONS OF SALE.

PREFACE.

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PREFACE.

pleased with the work any more than with the look of self-devoting genius. The quarrel of the Florentine with the Venetian is not because he does not understand Drawing, but because he does not understand Colouring. How should he? he who does not know how to draw a hand or a foot, know how to colour it.

Colouring does not depend on where the Colours are put, but on where the lights and darks are put, and all depends on Form or Outline. On where that is put; where that is wrong, the Colouring never can be right; and it is always wrong in Titian and Correggio, Rubens and Rembrandt. Till we get rid of Titian and Correggio, Rubens and Rembrandt, We never shall equal Rafael and Albert Durer, Michael Angelo, and Julio Romano.

INDEX

TO THE

CATALOGUE.

NUMBER.

I. The Spiritual Form of Nelson guiding Leviathan - - PAGE 1

II. The Spiritual Form of Pitt guiding Behemoth - - - 2

III. The Canterbury Pilgrims, from Chaucer - - - - 7

IV. The Bard, from Gray - - 35

V. The Ancient Britons - - 30

VI. A Subject from Shakspeare - - 51

VII. The Goats - - 52

VIII. The Spiritual Preceptor - - ib.

iv

PREFACE.

pleased with the work any more than with the
look of self-devoting genius. The quarrel of
the Florentine with the Venetian is not because
he does not understand Drawing, but because
he does not understand Colouring. How
should he ? he who does not know how to draw
a hand or a foot, know how to colour it.

INDEX

TO THE

CATALOGUE.

NUMBER.

IV. The Bard, from Gray - 35

V. The Ancient Britons - - 30

VI. A Subject from Shakspeare - 51

VII. The Goats - - 52

VIII. The Spiritual Preceptor - ib.

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INDEX.

<table><tbody><tr><td>IX. Satan calling up his Legions, from Milton</td><td>PAGE 54</td></tr><tr><td>X. The Bramins—A Drawing</td><td>59</td></tr><tr><td>XI. The Body of Abel found by Adam and Eve, Cain fleeing away—A Drawing</td><td>60</td></tr><tr><td>XII. Soldiers casting Lots for Christ's Garment—A Drawing</td><td>ib.</td></tr><tr><td>XIII. Jacob's Ladder—A Drawing</td><td>ib.</td></tr><tr><td>XIV. Angels hovering over the Body of Jesus in the Sepulchre—A Drawing</td><td>ib.</td></tr><tr><td>XV. Ruth—A Drawing</td><td>61</td></tr><tr><td>XVI. The Penance of Jane Shore—A Drawing</td><td>65</td></tr></tbody></table>

DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE,

&c. &c.

NUMBER I.

The spiritual form of Nelson guiding Leviathan,
in whose wreathings are infolded the Nations
of the Earth.

CLEARNESS and precision have been the chief
objects in painting these Pictures. Clear
colours unmudded by oil, and firm and deter-
minate lineaments unbroken by shadows,
which ought to display and not to hide form,
as is the practice of the latter Schools of
Italy and Flanders.

B

INDEX.

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>PAGE</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>IX. Satan calling up his Legions, from Milton</td><td>54</td></tr><tr><td>X. The Bramins—A Drawing</td><td>59</td></tr><tr><td>XI. The Body of Abel found by Adam and Eve, Cain fleeing away—A Drawing</td><td>60</td></tr><tr><td>XII. Soldiers casting Lots for Christ's Garment—A Drawing</td><td>ib.</td></tr><tr><td>XIII. Jacob's Ladder—A Drawing</td><td>ib.</td></tr><tr><td>XIV. Angels hovering over the Body of Jesus in the Sepulchre—A Drawing</td><td>ib.</td></tr><tr><td>XV. Ruth—A Drawing</td><td>61</td></tr><tr><td>XVI. The Penance of Jane Shore—A Drawing</td><td>65</td></tr></tbody></table>

DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE,

&c. &c.

NUMBER I.

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NUMBER II, ITS COMPANION

The spiritual form of Pitt, guiding Behemoth;
he is that Angel who, pleased to perform the
Almighty's orders, rides on the whirlwind,
directing the storms of war: He is ordering
the Reaper to reap the Vine of the Earth,
and the Plowman to plow up the Cities and
Towers.

THIS Picture also is a proof of the power of
colours unsullied with oil or with any cloggy
vehicle. Oil has falsely been supposed to give
strength to colours : but a little consideration
must shew the fallacy of this opinion. Oil
will not drink or absorb colour enough to stand
the test of very little time and of the air. It
deadens every colour it is mixed with, at its
first mixture, and in a little time becomes a
yellow mask over all that it touches. Let the
works of modern Artists since Rubens' time

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witness the villany of some one at that time,
who first brought oil Painting into general
opinion and practice : since which we have
never had a Picture painted, that could shew
itself by the side of an earlier production.
Whether Rubens or Vandyke, or both, were
guilty of this villany, is to be enquired in an-
other work on Painting, and who first forged
the silly story and known falshood, about John
of Bruges inventing oil colours: in the mean
time let it be observed, that before Van-
dyke's time, and in his time all the genuine
Pictures are on Plaster or Whiting grounds
and none since.

The two Pictures of Nelson and Pitt are
compositions of a mythological cast, similar to
those Apotheoses of Persian, Hindoo, and Egyp-
tian Antiquity, which are still preserved on
rude monuments, being copies from some stu-
pendous originals now lost or perhaps buried
till some happier age. The Artist having been

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NUMBER II, ITS COMPANION

The spiritual form of Pitt, guiding Behemoth;
he is that Angel who, pleased to perform the
Almighty's orders, rides on the whirlwind,
directing the storms of war: He is ordering
the Reaper to reap the Vine of the Earth,
and the Ploxman to plow up the Cities and
Towers.

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taken in vision into the ancient republics, monarchies, and patriarchates of Asia, has seen those wonderful originals called in the Sacred Scriptures the Cherubim, which were sculptured and painted on walls of Temples, Towers, Cities, Palaces, and erected in the highly cultivated states of Egypt, Moab, Edom, Aram, among the Rivers of Paradise, being originals from which the Greeks and Hetrurians copied Hercules, Farnese, Venus of Medicis, Apollo Belvidere, and all the grand works of ancient art. They were executed in a very superior style to those justly admired copies, being with their accompaniments terrific and grand in the highest degree. The Artist has endeavour ed to emulate the grandeur of those seen in his vision, and to apply it to modern Heroes, on a smaller scale.

No man can believe that either Homer's Mythology, or Ovid's, were the production of Greece, or of Latium; neither will any one

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believe, that the Greek statues, as they are called, were the invention of Greek Artists; perhaps the Torso is the only original work remaining; all the rest are evidently copies, though fine ones, from greater works of the Asiatic Patriarchs. The Greek Muses are daughters of Mnemosyne, or Memory, and not of Inspiration or Imagination, therefore not authors of such sublime conceptions. Those wonderful originals seen in my visions, were some of them one hundred feet in height; some were painted as pictures, and some carved as basso relievos, and some as groupes of statues, all containing mythological and recon dite meaning, where more is meant than meets the eye. The Artist wishes it was now the fashion to make such monuments, and then he should not doubt of having a national com mission to execute these two Pictures on a scale that is suitable to the grandeur of the nation, who is the parent of his heroes, in high

B3

taken in vision into the ancient republics, mo-
narchies, and patriarchates of Asia, has seen those
wonderful originals called in the Sacred Scrip-
tures the Cherubim, which were sculptured and
painted on walls of Temples, Towers, Cities,
Palaces, and erected in the highly cultivated
states of Egypt, Moab, Edom, Aram, among,
the Rivers of Paradise, being originals from
which the Greeks and Hetrurians copied Her-
cules, Farnese, Venus of Medicis, Apollo Bel-
videre, and all the grand works of ancient art.
They were executed in a very superior style
to those justly admired copies, being with
their accompaniments terrific and grand in
the highest degree. The Artist has endeavour-
ed to emulate the grandeur of those seen in
his vision, and to apply it to modern Heroes,
on a smaller scale.

believe, that the Greek statues, as they are
called, were the invention of Greek Artists;
perhaps the Torso is the only original work
remaining; all the rest are evidently copies,
though fine ones, from greater works of the
Asiatic Patriarchs. The Greek Muses are
daughters of Mnemosyne, or Memory, and not
of Inspiration or Imagination, therefore not
authors of such sublime conceptions. Those
wonderful originals seen in my visions, were
some of them one hundred feet in height;
some were painted as pictures, and some carv-
ed as basso relievos, and some as groupes of sta-
tues, all containing mythological and recon-
dite meaning, where more is meant than meets
the eye. The Artist wishes it was now the
fashion to make such monuments, and then
he should not doubt of having a national com-
mission to execute these two Pictures on a
scale that is suitable to the grandeur of the
nation, who is the parent of his heroes, in high

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finished fresco, where the colours would be as
pure and as permanent as precious stones
though the figures were one hundred feet in
height.

All Frescos are as high finished as miniatures
or enamels, and they are known to be un-
changeable; but oil being a body itself, will
drink or absorb very little colour, and chang-
ing yellow, and at length brown, destroys
every colour it is mixed with, especially every
delicate colour. It turns every permanent
white to a yellow and brown putty, and has
compelled the use of that destroyer of colour,
white lead; which, when its protecting oil is
evaporated, will become lead again. This is
an awful thing to say to oil Painters; they may
call it madness, but it is true. All the genuine
old little Pictures, called Cabinet Pictures, are
in fresco and not in oil. Oil was not used ex-
cept by blundering ignorance, till after Van-
dyke's time, but the art of fresco painting

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being lost, oil became a fetter to genius, and a
dungeon to art. But one convincing proof
among many others, that these assertions are
true is, that real gold and silver cannot be
used with oil, as they are in all the old pictures
and in Mr. B.'s frescos.

NUMBER III.

*Sir Jeffery Chaucer and the nine and twenty Pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury.*

THE time chosen is early morning, before sunrise, when the jolly company are just quitting the Tabarde Inn. The Knight and Squire with the Squire's Yeoman lead the Procession, next follow the youthful Abbess, her nun and three priests; her greyhounds attend her.

> "Of small hounds had she that she fed
> "With roast flesh, milk and wastel bread."

Next follow the Friar and Monk; then the
Tapiser, the Pardoner, and the Somner and
Manciple. After these "Our Host," who oc-

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NUMBER III.

“Of small hounds had she that she fed

“With roast flesh, milk and wastel bread.”

Next follow the Friar and Monk; then the
Tapiser, the Pardoner, and the Somner and
Manciple. After these “Our Host,” who oc-

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cupies the center of the cavalcade; directs them to the Knight as the person who would be likely to commence their task of each telling a tale in their order. After the Host follow the Shipman, the Haberdasher, the Dyer, the Franklin, the Physician, the Plowman, the Lawyer, the poor Parson, the Merchant, the Wife of Bath, the Miller, the Cook, the Ox. ford Scholar, Chaucer himself, and the Reeve comes as Chaucer has described :

"And ever he rode hinderest of the rout."

These last are issuing from the gateway of the Inn; the Cook and the Wife of Bath are both taking their morning's draught of comfort. Spectators stand at the gateway of the Inn, and are composed of an old Man, a Woman and Children.

The Landscape is an eastward view of the country, from the Tabarde Inn, in Southwark, as it may be supposed to have appeared in

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Chaucer's time; interspersed with cottages and villages; the first beams of the Sun are seen above the horizon; some buildings and spires indicate the situation of the great City, the Inn is a gothic building, which Thynne in his Glossary says was the lodging of the Abbot of Hyde, by Winchester. On the Inn is inscribed its title, and a proper advantage is taken of this circumstance to describe the subject of the Picture. The words written over the gateway of the Inn, are as follow: "The Tabarde Inn, by Henry Baillie, the lodgyngehouse for Pilgrims, who journey to Saint Thomas's Shrine at Canterbury."

The characters of Chaucer's Pilgrims are the characters which compose all ages and nations: as one age falls, another rises, different to mortal sight, but to immortals only the same; for we see the same characters repeated again and again, in animals, vegetables, minerals, and in men; nothing new occurs in iden-

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cupies the center of the cavalcade; directs them to the Knight as the person who would be likely to commence their task of each telling a tale in their order. After the Host follows the Shipman, the Haberdasher, the Dyer, the Franklin, the Physician, the Plowman, the Lawyer, the poor Parson, the Merchant, the Wife of Bath, the Miller, the Cook, the Ox. ford Scholar, Chaucer himself, and the Reeve comes as Chaucer has described :

" And ever he rode hinderest of the rout."

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Chaucer's time; interspersed with cottages and villages; the first beams of the Sun are seen above the horizon; some buildings and spires indicate the situation of the great City, the Inn is a gothic building, which Thynne in his Glossary says was the lodging of the Abbot of Hyde, by Winchester. On the Inn is inscribed its title, and a proper advantage is taken of this circumstance to describe the subject of the Picture. The words written over the gateway of the Inn, are as follow: "The Tabarde Inn, by Henry Baillie, the lodgynge-house for Pilgrims, who journey to Saint Thomas's Shrine at Canterbury."

The characters of Chaucer's Pilgrims are
the characters which compose all ages and na-
tions: as one age falls, another rises, different
to mortal sight, but to immortals only the
same; for we see the same characters repeated
again and again, in animals, vegetables, mine-
rals, and in men; nothing new occurs in iden-

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tical existence; Accident ever varies, Sub-
stance can never suffer change nor decay.

Of Chaucer's characters, as described in his
Canterbury Tales, some of the names or titles
are altered by time, but the characters them-
selves for ever remain unaltered, and conse-
quently they are the physiognomies or linea-
ments of universal human life, beyond which
Nature never steps. Names alter, things
never alter. I have known multitudes of those
who would have been monks in the age of
monkery, who in this deistical age are deists.
As Newton numbered the stars, and as Linneus
numbered the plants, so Chaucer numbered
the classes of men.

The Painter has consequently varied the
heads and forms of his personages into all Na-
ture's varieties; the Horses he has also varied
to accord to their Riders, the Costume is cor-
rect according to authentic monuments.

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Yeoman lead the procession, as Chaucer has also
placed them first in his prologue. The Knight is
a true Hero, a good, great, and wise man; his
whole length portrait on horseback, as written
by Chaucer, cannot be surpassed. He has spent
his life in the field; has ever been a conqueror,
and is that species of character which in
every age stands as the guardian of man
against the oppressor. His son is like him with
the germ of perhaps greater perfection still,
as he blends literature and the arts with his
warlike studies. Their dress and their horses
are of the first rate, without ostentation, and
with all the true grandeur that unaffected sim-
plicity when in high rank always displays.
The Squire's Yeoman is also a great character,
a man perfectly knowing in his profession :

"And in his hand he bare a mighty bow."

Chaucer describes here a mighty man ; one
who in war is the worthy attendant on noble
heroes.

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The Priororess follows these with her female chaplain.

“ Another Nonne also with her had she,
“ That was her Chaplaine and Priests three.”

This Lady is described also as of the first rank; rich and honoured. She has certain peculiarities and little delicate affectations, not unbecoming in her, being accompanied with what is truly grand and really polite; her person and face, Chaucer has described with minuteness; it is very elegant, and was the beauty of our ancestors, till after Elizabeth's time, when voluptuousness and folly began to be accounted beautiful.

Her companion and her three priests were no doubt all perfectly delineated in those parts of Chaucer's work which are now lost; we ought to suppose them suitable attendants on rank and fashion.

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The Monk follows these with the Friar. The Painter has also grouped with these, the Pardoner and the Sompnour and the Manciple, and has here also introduced one of the rich citizens of London. Characters likely to ride in company, all being above the common rank in life or attendants on those who were so.

For the Monk is described by Chaucer, as a man of the first rank in society, noble, rich, and expensively attended: he is a leader of the age, with certain humourous accompaniments in his character, that do not degrade, but render him an object of dignified mirth, but also with other accompaniments not so respectable.

The Friar is a character also of a mixed kind.

“A friar there was, a wanton and a merry.”

Out in his office he is said to be a “full solemn man:” eloquent, amorous, witty, and satyric.

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The Priores follows these with her female chaplain.

" Another Nonne also with her had she,

" That was her Chaplaine and Priests three."

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"A friar there was, a wanton and a merry."

ut in his office he is said to be a " full solemn man:" eloquent, amorous, witty, and satyrical

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cal; young, handsome, and rich; he is a com-
plete rogue; with constitutional gaiety enough
to make him a master of all the pleasures of
the world.

"His neck was white as the flour de lis,
Thereto strong he was as a champioun."

It is necessary here to speak of Chaucer's
own character, that I may set certain mistaken
critics right in their conception of the humour
and fun that occurs on the journey. Chaucer
is himself the great poetical observer of men,
who in every age is born to record and eter-
nize its acts. This he does as a master, as a
father, and superior, who looks down on their
little follies from the Emperor to the Miller;
sometimes with severity, oftener with joke and
sport.

Accordingly Chaucer has made his Monk a
great tragedian, one who studied poetical art.

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So much so, that the generous Knight is, in the
compassionate dictates of his soul, compelled
to cry out

" Ho quoth the Knyght, good Sir, no more of this,
That ye have said, is right ynough I wis ;
And mokell more, for little heaviness,
Is right enough for much folk as I guesse.
I say for me, it is a great disease,
Whereas men have been in wealth and ease ;
To heare of their sudden fall alas,
And the contrary is joy and solas."

The Monk's definition of tragedy in the
proem to his tale is worth repeating :

"Tragedie is to tell a certain story,
As old books us maken memory ;
Of hem that stood in great prosperity.
And be fallen out of high degree,
Into miserie and ended wretchedly."

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cal; young, handsome, and rich; he is a complete rogue; with constitutional gaiety enough to make him a master of all the pleasures of the world.

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" Ho quoth the Knyght, good Sir, no more of this,
That ye have said, is right ynough I wis ;
And mokell more, for little heaviness,
Is right enough for much folk as I guesse,
I say for me, it is a great disease,
Whereas men have been in wealth and ease ;
To heare of their sudden fall alas,
And the contrary is joy and solas."

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Though a man of luxury, pride and pleasure, he is a master of art and learning, though affecting to despise it. Those who can think that the proud Huntsman, and noble Housekeeper, Chaucer's Monk, is intended for a buffer or burlesque character, know little of Chaucer.

For the Host who follows this group, and holds the center of the cavalcade, is a first rate character, and his jokes are no trifles; they are always, though uttered with audacity, and equally free with the Lord and the Peasant, they are always substantially and weightily expressive of knowledge and experience; Henry Baillie, the keeper of the greatest Inn, of the greatest City; for such was the Tabarde Inn in Southwark, near London: our Host was also a leader of the age.

By way of illustration, I instance Shakespeare's Witches in Macbeth. Those who dress

17

them for the stage, consider them as wretched old women, and not as Shakspeare intended, the Goddesses of Destiny; this shews how Chaucer has been misunderstood in his sublime work. Shakspeare's Fairies also are the rulers of the vegetable world, and so are Chaucer's; let them be so considered, and then the poet will be understood, and not else.

But I have omitted to speak of a very prominent character, the Pardoner, the Age's Knave, who always commands and domineers over the high and low vulgar. This man is sent in every age for a rod and scourge, and for a blight, for a trial of men, to divide the classes of men, he is in the most holy sanctuary, and he is suffered by Providence for wise ends, and has also his great use, and his grand leading destiny.

His companion the Sompnour, is also a Devil of the first magnitude, grand, terrific, rich and honoured in the rank of which he holds

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Though a man of luxury, pride and pleasure, he is a master of art and learning, though affecting to despise it. Those who can think that the proud Huntsman, and noble House-keeper, Chaucer's Monk, is intended for a buf- foon or burlesque character, know little of Chaucer.

For the Host who follows this group, and
holds the center of the cavalcade, is a first rate
character, and his jokes are no trifles; they
are always, though uttered with audacity, and
equally free with the Lord and the Peasant,
they are always substantially and weightily ex-
pressive of knowledge and experience; Henry
Baillie, the keeper of the greatest Inn, of the
greatest City; for such was the Tabarde Inn in
Southwark, near London: our Host was also a
leader of the age.

By way of illustration, I instance Shaks-
peare's Witches in Macbeth. Those who dress

17

them for the stage, consider them as wretched
old women, and not as Shakspeare intended,
the Goddesses of Destiny; this shews how
Chaucer has been misunderstood in his sublime
work. Shakspeare's Fairies also are the
rulers of the vegetable world, and so are Chau-
cer's; let them be so considered, and then the
poet will be understood, and not else.

But I have omitted to speak of a very promi-
nent character, the Pardoner, the Age's Knave,
who always commands and domineers over the
high and low vulgar. This man is sent in
every age for a rod and scourge, and for a
blight, for a trial of men, to divide the classes
of men, he is in the most holy sanctuary, and
he is suffered by Providence for wise ends, and
has also his great use, and his grand leading
destiny.

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the destiny. The uses to society are perhaps
equal of the Devil and of the Angel, their
sublimity who can dispute.

"In daunger had he at his own gise,
The young girls of his diocese,
And he knew well their counsel, &c."

The principal figure in the next groupe, is
the Good Parson; an Apostle, a real Messen-
ger of Heaven, sent in every age for its light
and its warmth. This man is beloved and ve-
nerated by all, and neglected by all: He
serves all, and is served by none; he is, ac-
cording to Christ's definition, the greatest of
his age. Yet he is a Poor Parson of a town.
Read Chaucer's description of the Good Par-
son, and bow the head and the knee to him,
who, in every age sends us such a burning and
a shining light. Search O ye rich and power-
ful, for these men and obey their counsel, then

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shall the golden age return: But alas! you
will not easily distinguish him from the Friar
or the Pardoner, they also are "full solemn
men," and their counsel, you will continue to
follow.

I have placed by his side, the Sergeant at
Lawe, who appears delighted to ride in his
company, and between him and his brother,
the Plowman; as I wish men of Law would
always ride with them, and take their counsel,
especially in all difficult points. Chaucer's
Lawyer is a character of great venerableness,
a Judge, and a real master of the jurispru-
dence of his age.

The Doctor of Physic is in this groupe,
and the Franklin, the voluptuous country
gentleman, contrasted with the Physician,
and on his other hand, with two Citizens of
London. Chaucer's characters live age after
age. Every age is a Canterbury Pilgrimage;
we all pass on, each sustaining one or other.

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of these characters; nor can a child be born,
who is not one of these characters of Chaucer.
The Doctor of Physic is described as the first
of his profession; perfect, learned, com-
pletely Master and Doctor in his art. Thus
the reader will observe, that Chaucer makes
every one of his characters perfect in his
kind, every one is an Antique Statue; the
image of a class, and not of an imperfect in-
dividual.

This groupe also would furnish substantial
matter, on which volumes might be written.
The Franklin is one who keeps open table,
who is the genius of eating and drinking, the
Bacchus; as the Doctor of Physic is the Es-
culapius, the Host is the Silenus, the Squire
is the Apollo, the Miller is the Hercules, &c.
Chaucer's characters are a description of the
eternal Principles that exist in all ages. The
Franklin is voluptuousness itself; most nobly
pourtrayed:

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"It snewed in his house of meat and drink."

The Plowman is simplicity itself, with wis-
dom and strength for its stamina. Chaucer has
divided the ancient character of Hercules be-
tween his Miller and his Plowman. Benevo-
lence is the plowman's great characteristic, he is
thin with excessive labour, and not with old
age, as some have supposed.

"He would thresh and thereto dike and delve
For Christe's sake, for every poore wight,
Withouten hire, if it lay in his might."

Visions of these eternal principles or charac-
ters of human life appear to poets, in all ages;
the Grecian gods were the ancient Cherubim of
Phœnicia; but the Greeks, and since them
the Moderns, have neglected to subdue the gods
of Priam. These Gods are visions of the eter-
nal attributes, or divine names, which, when

20

This groupe also would furnish substantial
matter, on which volumes might be written.
The Franklin is one who keeps open table,
who is the genius of eating and drinking, the
Bacchus; as the Doctor of Physic is the Es-
culapius, the Host is the Silenus, the Squire
is the Apollo, the Miller is the Hercules, &c.
Chaucer's characters are a description of the
eternal Principles that exist in all ages. The
Franklin is voluptuousness itself most nobly
pourtrayed:

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erected into gods, become destructive to hu-
manity. They ought to be the servants, and
not the masters of man, or of society. They
ought to be made to sacrifice to Man, and
not man compelled to sacrifice to them; for
when separated from man or humanity, who
is Jesus the Saviour, the vine of eternity, they
are thieves and rebels, they are destroyers.

The Plowman of Chaucer is Hercules in his
supreme eternal state, divested of his spectrous
shadow; which is the Miller, a terrible fellow,
such as exists in all times and places, for the
trial of men, to astonish every neighbourhood,
with brutal strength and courage, to get rich
and powerful to curb the pride of Man.

The Reeve and the Manciple are two cha-
racters of the most consummate worldly wis-
dom. The Shipman, or Sailor, is a similar ge-
nius of Ulyssean art; but with the highest cou-
rage superadded.

The Citizens and their Cook are each leaders

23

of a class. Chaucer has been somehow made
to number four citizens, which would make
his whole company, himself included, thirty-
one. But he says there was but nine and
twenty in his company.

"Full nine and twenty in a company."

The Webbe, or Weaver, and the Tapiser,
or Tapestry Weaver, appear to me to be the
same person; but this is only an opinion, for
full nine and twenty may signify one more or
less. But I dare say that Chaucer wrote "A
Webbe Dyer," that is a Cloth Dyer.

"A Webbe Dyer and a Tapiser,"

The Merchant cannot be one of the Three
Citizens, as his dress is different, and his cha-
racter is more marked, whereas Chaucer says of
his rich citizens:

22

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“ Full nine and twenty in a company.”

The Webbe, or Weaver, and the Tapiser,
or Tapestry Weaver, appear to me to be the
same person; but this is only an opinion, for
full nine and twenty may signify one more or
less. But I dare say that Chaucer wrote “A
Webbe Dyer,” that is a Cloth Dyer.

“A Webbe Dyer and a Tapiser,”

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"All wereyclothed in o liverie."

The characters of Women Chaucer has divided into two classes, the Lady Prioress and the Wife of Bath. Are not these leaders of the ages of men? The lady prioress, in some ages, predominates; and in some the wife of Bath, in whose character Chaucer has been equally minute and exact; because she is also a scourge and a blight. I shall say no more of her, nor expose what Chaucer has left hidden; let the young reader study what he has said of her: it is useful as a scare-crow. There are of such characters born too many for the peace of the world.

I come at length to the Clerk of Oxenford. This character varies from that of Chaucer, as the contemplative philosopher varies from the poetical genius. There are always these two classes of learned sages, the poetical and the philosophical. The painter has put them side by side, as if the youthful clerk had put him-

25

self under the tuition of the mature poet. Let the Philosopher always be the servant and scholar of inspiration and all will be happy.

Such are the characters that compose this Picture, which was painted in self-defence against the insolent and envious imputation of unfitness for finished and scientific art; and this imputation, most artfully and industriously endeavoured to be propagated among the public by ignorant hirelings. The painter courts comparison with his competitors, who, having received fourteen hundred guineas and more from the profits of his designs, in that well-known work, Designs for Blair's Grave, have left him to shift for himself, while others, more obedient to an employer's opinions and directions, are employed, at a great expence, to produce works, in succession to his, by which they acquired public patronage. This has hitherto been his lot—to get patronage for others and then to be left and neglected, and his work, which gained

D

self under the tuition of the mature poet. Let
the Philosopher always be the servant and scho-
lar of inspiration and all will be happy.

Such are the characters that compose this
Picture, which was painted in self-defence
against the insolent and envious imputation of
unfitness for finished and scientific art; and
this imputation, most artfully and industriously
endeavoured to be propagated among the pub-
lic by ignorant hirelings. The painter courts
comparison with his competitors, who, having
received fourteen hundred guineas and more
from the profits of his designs, in that well-
known work, Designs for Blair's Grave, have left
him to shift for himself, while others, more obe-
dient to an employer's opinions and directions,
are employed, at a great expence, to produce
works, in succession to his, by which they ac-
quired public patronage. This has hitherto been
his lot—to get patronage for others and then to be
left and neglected, and his work, which gained

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that patronage, cried down as eccentricity and
madness; as unfinished and neglected by the
artist's violent temper, he is sure the works now
exhibited, will give the lie to such aspersions.

Those who say that men are led by interest
are knaves. A knavish character will often
say, of what interest is it to me to do so and
so? I answer, of none at all, but the con-
trary, as you well know. It is of malice and
envy that you have done this; hence I am
aware of you, because I know that you act
not from interest but from malice, even to your
own destruction. It is therefore become a
duty which Mr. B. owes to the Public, who
have always recognized him, and patronized
him, however hidden by artifices, that he should
not suffer such things to be done or be hin-
dered from the public Exhibition of his finished
productions by any calumnies in future.

The character and expression in this picture
could never have been produced with Ruben's

27

light and shadow, or with Rembrandt's, or any
thing Venetian or Flemish. The Venetian
and Flemish practice is broken lines, broken
masses, and broken colours. Mr. B.'s practice
is unbroken lines, unbroken masses, and un-
broken colours. Their art is to lose form, his
art is to find form, and to keep it. His arts are
opposite to theirs in all things.

As there is a class of men, whose whole de-
light is in the destruction of men, so there
is a class of artists, whose whole art and science
is fabricated for the purpose of destroying art.
Who these are is soon known: "by their works
ye shall know them." All who endeavour to
raise up a style against Rafael, Mich. Angelo,
and the Antique; those who separate Painting
from Drawing; who look if a picture is well
Drawn; and, if it is, immediately cry out, that
it cannot be well Coloured—those are the men.

But to shew the stupidity of this class of

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The character and expression in this picture
could never have been produced with Rubens

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men, nothing need be done but to examine my
rival's prospectus.

The two first characters in Chaucer, the
Knight and the Squire, he has put among his
rabble; and indeed his prospectus calls the
Squire the fop of Chaucer's age. Now hear
Chaucer.

"Of his Stature, he was of even length,
And wonderly deliver, and of great strength;
And he had be sometime in Chivauchy,
In Flanders, in Artois, and in Picardy,
And borne him well as of so litele space."

Was this a fop ?

"Well could he sit a horse, and faire ride,
He could songs make, and eke well indite
Just, and eke dance, pourtray, and well write.

Was this a fop ?

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"Curteis he was, and meek, and serviceable;
And kerft before his fader at the table."

Was this a fop ?

It is the same with all his characters; he has
done all by chance, or perhaps his fortune, mo-
ney, money. According to his prospectus he has
Three Monks; these he cannot find in Chau-
cer, who has only One Monk, and that no
vulgar character, as he has endeavoured to
make him. When men cannot read they should
not pretend to paint. To be sure Chaucer is
a little difficult to him who has only blundered
over novels and catchpenny trifles of book-
sellers. Yet a little pains ought to be taken
even by the ignorant and weak. He has put
The Reeve, a vulgar fellow, between his
Knight and Squire, as if he was resolved to go
contrary in every thing to Chaucer, who says
of the Reeve:

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Was this a fop ?

Was this a fop ?

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"Curteis he was, and meek, and serviceable,
And kerft before his fader at the table."

Was this a fop ?

It is the same with all his characters; he has
done all by chance, or perhaps his fortune, mo-
ney, money. According to his prospectus he has
Three Monks; these he cannot find in Chau-
cer, who has only One Monk, and that no
vulgar character, as he has endeavoured to
make him. When men cannot read they should
not pretend to paint. To be sure Chaucer is
a little difficult to him who has only blundered
over novels and catchpenny trifles of book-
sellers. Yet a little pains ought to be taken
even by the ignorant and weak. He has put
The Reeve, a vulgar fellow, between his
Knight and Squire, as if he was resolved to go
contrary in every thing to Chaucer, who says
of the Reeve :

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In this manner he has jumbled his dumb
dollies together, and is praised by his equals
for it; for both himself and his friend are
equally masters of Chaucer's language. They
both think that the Wife of Bath is a young
beautiful blooming damsel; and H— says,
that she is the Fair Wife of Bath, and that the
Spring appears in her Cheeks. Now hear what
Chaucer has made her say of herself, who is no
modest one,

"But Lord when it remembereth me
Upon my youth and on my jollity,
It tickleth me about the heart root.
Unto this day it doth my heart boot,
That I have had my world as in my time;
But age, alas, that all will envenime,
Hath me bireft, my beauty and my pith
Let go; farewell: the devil go therewith,

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The flower is gone, there is no more to tell.
The bran, as best, I can, I now mote sell;
And yet, to be right merry, will I fond,
Now forth to tell of my fourth husband."

She has had four husbands, a fit subject for
this painter; yet the painter ought to be very
much offended with his friend H—, who has
called his "a common scene," "and very or-
dinary forms;" which is the truest part of all,
for it is so, and very wretchedly so indeed.
What merit can there be in a picture of which
such words are spoken with truth.

But the prospectus says that the Painter has
represented Chaucer himself as a knave, who
thrusts himself among honest people, to make
game of and laugh at them; though I must
do justice to the painter, and say that he has
made him look more like a fool than a knave.
But it appears, in all the writings of Chaucer,
and particularly in his Canterbury Tales, that

30

In this manner he has jumbled his dumb
dollies together, and is praised by his equals
for it; for both himself and his friend are
equally masters of Chaucer's language, They
both think that the Wife of Bath is a young
beautiful blooming damsel; and H— says,
that she is the Fair Wife of Bath, and that the
Spring appears in her Cheeks. Now hear what
Chaucer has made her say of herself, who is no
modest one,

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he was very devout, and paid respect to true
enthusiastic superstition. He has laughed at
his knaves and fools as I do now. But he has
respected his True Pilgrims, who are a major-
ity of his company, and are not thrown toge-
ther in the random manner that Mr. S—— has
done. Chaucer has no where called the Plow-
man old, worn out with age and labour, as the
prospectus has represented him, and says, that
the picture has done so too. He is worn down
with labour, but not with age. How spots of
brown and yellow, smeared about at random,
can be either young or old, I cannot see. It
may be an old man; it may be a young one;
it may be any thing that a prospectus pleases.
But I know that where there are no lineaments
there can be no character. And what connois-
seurs call touch, I know by experience, must
be the destruction of all character and expres-
sion, as it is of every lineament.

The scene of Mr. S——'s Picture is by

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Dulwich Hills, which was not the way to Can-
terbury; but, perhaps the painter thought he
would give them a ride round about, because
they were a burlesque set of scare-crows, not
worth any man's respect or care.

But the painter's thoughts being always up-
on gold, he has introduced a character that
Chaucer has not; namely, a Goldsmith; for
so the prospectus tells us. Why he has intro-
duced a Goldsmith, and what is the wit of it,
the prospectus does not explain. But it takes
care to mention the reserve and modesty of
the Painter; this makes a good epigram
enough.

> "The fox, the owl, the spider, and the mole,
> By sweet reserve and modesty get fat."

But the prospectus tells us, that the painter
has introduced a Sea Captain; Chaucer has a
Ship-man, a Sailor, a Trading Master of a Ves-

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The scene of Mr. S—’s Picture is by

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"The fox, the owl, the spider, and the mele,
By sweet reserve and modesty get fat."

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sel, called by courtesy Captain, as every master
of a boat is; but this does not make him a Sea
Captain. Chaucer has purposely omitted such a
personage, as it only exists in certain periods:
it is the soldier by sea. He who would be a Sol-
dier in inland nations is a sea captain in com-
mercial nations.

All is misconceived, and its mis-execution is
equal to its misconception. I have no objec-
tion to Rubens and Rembrandt being employed,
or even to their living in a palace; but it shall
not be at the expence of Rafael and Michael
Angelo living in a cottage, and in contempt
and derision. I have been scorned long enough
by these fellows, who owe to me all that they
have; it shall be so no longer.

I found them blind, I taught them how to see;
And, now, they know me not, nor yet themselves.

35

NUMBER IV.

The Bard, from Gray.

On a rock, whose haughty brow
Frown'd o'er old Conway's foaming flood,
Robed in the sable garb of woe,
With haggard eyes the Poet stood,
Loose his beard, and hoary hair
Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air.

Weave the warp, and weave the woof,
The winding sheet of Edward's race.

Weaving the winding sheet of Edward's race
by means of sounds of spiritual music and its
accompanying expressions of articulate speech
is a bold, and daring, and most masterly con-
ception, that the public have embraced and
approved with avidity. Poetry consists in
these conceptions; and shall Painting be con-
fined to the sordid drudgery of fac-simile re-

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NUMBER IV.

The Bard, from Gray.

Weaving the winding sheet of Edward's race
by means of sounds of spiritual music and its
accompanying expressions of articulate speech
is a bold, and daring, and most masterly con-
ception, that the public have embraced and
approved with avidity. Poetry consists in
these conceptions; and shall Painting be cou-
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presentations of merely mortal and perishing substances, and not be as poetry and music are, elevated into its own proper sphere of invention and visionary conception? No, it shall not be so! Painting, as well as poetry and music, exists and exults in immortal thoughts. If Mr. B.'s Canterbury Pilgrims had been done by any other power than that of the poetic visionary, it would have been as dull as his adversary's.

The Spirits of the murdered bards assist in weaving the deadly woof.

With me in dreadful harmony they join,
And weave, with bloody hands, the tissue of thy line.

The connoisseurs and artists who have made objections to Mr. B.'s mode of representing spirits with real bodies, would do well to consider that the Venus, the Minerva, the Jupiter, the Apollo, which they admire in Greek sta

37

tues, are all of them representations of spiritual existences of God's immortal, to the mortal perishing organ of sight; and yet they are emboldied and organized in solid marble. Mr. B. requires the same latitude and all is well. The Prophets describe what they saw in Vision as real and existing men whom they saw with their imaginative and immortal organs; the Apostles the same; the clearer the organ the more distinct the object. A Spirit and a Vision are not, as the modern philosophy supposes, a cloudy vapour or a nothing: they are organized and minutely articulated beyond all that the mortal and perishing nature can produce. He who does not imagine in stronger and better lineaments, and in stronger and better light than his perishing mortal eye can see does not imagine at all. The painter of this work asserts that all his imaginations appear to him infinitely more perfect and more minutely organized than any thing seen by his mortal eye. Spi-

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tues, are all of them representations of spiritual existences of God's immortal, to the mortal perishing organ of sight; and yet they are embodied and organized in solid marble. Mr. B. requires the same latitude and all is well. The Prophets describe what they saw in Vision as real and existing men whom they saw with their imaginative and immortal organs; the Apostles the same; the clearer the organ the more distinct the object. A Spirit and a Vision are not, as the modern philosophy supposes, a cloudy vapour or a nothing: they are organized and minutely articulated beyond all that the mortal and perishing nature can produce. He who does not imagine in stronger and better lineaments, and in stronger and better light than his perishing mortal eye can see does not imagine at all. The painter of this work asserts that all his imaginations appear to him infinitely more perfect and more minutely organized than any thing seen by his mortal eye. Spi-

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rits are organized men: Moderns wish to draw
figures without lines, and with great and heavy
shadows; are not shadows more unmeaning
than lines, and more heavy? O who can
doubt this!

King Edward and his Queen Elenor are
prostrated, with their horses, at the foot of a
rock on which the Bard stands; prostrated by
the terrors of his harp on the margin of the
river Conway, whose waves bear up a corse of,
a slaughtered bard at the foot of the rock.
The armies of Edward are seen winding among
the mountains.

"He wound with toilsome march his long array."

Mortimer and Gloucester lie spell bound be-
hind their king.

The execution of this picture is also in Wa-
ter Colours, or Fresco.

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NUMBER V.

The Ancient Britons.

In the last Battle of King Arthur only Three
Britons escaped, these were the Strongest Man,
the Beautifullest Man, and the Ugliest Man;
these three marched through the field unsub-
dued, as Gods, and the Sun of Britain sat, but
shall arise again with tenfold splendor when
Arthur shall awake from sleep, and resume
his dominion over earth and ocean.

The three general classes of men who are re-
presented by the most Beautiful, the most
Strong, and the most Ugly, could not be repre-
sented by any historical facts but those of our
own country, the Ancient Britons; without vio-
lating costume. The Britons (say histori ans)
were naked civilized men, learned, studious,
abstruse in thought and contemplation; naked,
simple, plain, in their acts and manners;

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King Edward and his Queen Elenor are
prostrated, with their horses, at the foot of a
rock on which the Bard stands; prostrated by
the terrors of his harp on the margin of the
river Conway, whose waves bear up a corse of
a slaughtered bard at the foot of the rock.
The armies of Edward are seen winding among
the mountains.

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NUMBER V.

The Ancient Britons.

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wiser than after-ages. They were over-
whelmed by brutal arms all but a small rem-
nant; Strength, Beauty, and Ugliness es-
caped the wreck, and remain for ever unsub-
dued, age after age.

The British Antiquities are now in the Ar-
tist's hands; all his visionary contemplations,
relating to his own country and its ancient
glory, when it was as it again shall be, the
source of learning and inspiration. Arthur
was a name for the constellation Arcturus, or
Bootes, the Keeper of the North Pole. And all
the fables of Arthur and his round table; of
the warlike naked Britons; of Merlin; of Ar-
thur's conquest of the whole world; of his
death, or sleep, and promise to return again;
of the Druid monuments, or temples; of the
pavement of Watling-street; of London stone;
of the caverns in Cornwall, Wales, Derby-
shire, and Scotland; of the Giants of Ireland
and Britain; of the elemental beings, called

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by us by the general name of Fairies; and
of these three who escaped, namely, Beauty,
Strength, and Ugliness. Mr. B. has in his
hands poems of the highest antiquity. Adam
was a Druid, and Noah; also Abraham was
called to succeed the Druidical age, which be-
gan to turn allegoric and mental signification
into corporeal command, whereby human sacri-
fice would have depopulated the earth. All these
things are written in Eden. The artist is an
inhabitant of that happy country; and if every
thin g goes on as it has begun, the worldof ve-
getation and generation may expect to be
opened again to Heaven, through Eden, as it
was in the beginning.

The Strong man represents the human sublime.
The Beautiful man represents the human pathe-
tic, which was in the wars of Eden divided into
male and female. The Ugly man represents
the human reason. They were originally one
man, who was fourfold; he was self-divided, and

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his real humanity slain on the stems of generation,
and the form of the fourth was like the Son of
God. How he became divided is a subject of
great sublimity and pathos. The Artist has
written it under inspiration, and will, if God
please, publish it; it is voluminous, and con-
tains the ancient history of Britain, and the
world of Satan and of Adam.

In the mean time he has painted this Picture,
which supposes that in the reign of that Bri-
tish Prince, who lived in the fifth century,
there were remains of those naked Heroes, in
the Welch Mountains; they are there now,
Gray saw them in the person of his bard on
Snowdon; there they dwell in naked simplici-
ty; happy is he who can see and converse
with them above the shadows of generation
and death. The giant Albion, was Patriarch
of the Atlantic, he is the Atlas of the Greeks,
one of those the Greeks called Titans. The
stories of Arthur are the acts of Albion, ap-

43

plied to a Prince of the fifth century, who
conquered Europe, and held the Empire of
the world in the dark age, which the Romans
never again recovered. In this Picture, be-
lieving with Milton, the ancient British His-
tory, Mr. B. has done, as all the ancients did,
and as all the moderns, who are worthy of
fame, given the historical fact in its poetical
vigour; so as it always happens, and not in
that dull way that some Historians pretend,
who being weakly organized themselves, can-
not see either miracle or prodigy; all is to
them a dull round of probabilities and possi-
bilities; but the history of all times and pla-
ces, is nothing else but improbabilities and im-
possibilities; what we should say, was impos-
sible if we did not see it always before our
eyes.

The antiquities of every Nation under Hea-
ven, is no less sacred than that of the Jews.
They are the same thing as Jacob Bryant,

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and all antiquaries have proved. How other
antiquities came to be neglected and disbeliev-
ed, while those of the Jews are collected and
arranged, is an enquiry, worthy of both the
Antiquarian and the Divine. All had origi-
nally one language, and one religion, this was
the religion of Jesus, the everlasting Gospel.
Antiquity preaches the Gospel of Jesus. The
reasoning historian, turner and twister of
causes and consequences, such as Hume,
Gibbon and Voltaire; cannot with all their
artifice, turn or twist one fact or disarrange
self evident action and reality. Reasons and
opinions concerning acts, are not history.
Acts themselves alone are history, and these
are neither the exclusive property of Hume,
Gibbon nor Voltaire, Echard, Rapin, Plu-
tarch, nor Herodotus. Tell me the Acts, O
historian, and leave me to reason upon them
as I please; away with your reasoning and
your rubbish. All that is not action is not

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worth reading. Tell me the What; I do not
want you to tell me the Why, and the How; I
can find that out myself, as well as you can,
and I will not be fooled by you into opinions,
that you please to impose, to disbelieve what
you think improbable or impossible. His
opinions, who does not see spiritual agency,
is not worth any man's reading; he who re-
jects a fact because it is improbable, must re-
ject all History and retain doubts only.

It has been said to the Artist, take the Apollo
for the model of your beautiful Man and the
Hercules for your strong Man, and the Danc-
ing Fawn for your Ugly Man. Now he comes
to his trial. He knows that what he does is not
inferior to the grandest Antiques. Superior
they cannot be, for human power cannot go
beyond either what he does, or what they have
done, it is the gift of God, it is inspiration
and vision. He had resolved to emulate those

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precious remains of antiquity he has done so
and the result you behold; his ideas of
strength and beauty have not been greatly
different. Poetry as it exists now on earth,
in the various remains of ancient authors,
Music as it exists in old tunes or melodies,
Painting and Sculpture as it exists in the re-
mains of Antiquity and in the works of more
modern genius, is Inspiration, and cannot be
surpassed; it is perfect and eternal. Milton,
Shakspeare, Michael Angelo, Rafael, the
finest specimens of Ancient Sculpture and
Painting, and Architecture, Gothic, Grecian,
Hindoo and Egyptian, are the extent of the
human mind. The human mind cannot go
beyond the gift of God, the Holy Ghost. To
suppose that Art can go beyond the finest spe-
cimens of Art that are now in the world, is not
knowing what Art is; it is being blind to the
gifts of the spirit.

47

It will be necessary for the Painter to say
something concerning his ideas of Beauty,
Strength and Ugliness.

The Beauty that is annexed and appended
to folly, is a lamentable accident and error of
the mortal and perishing life; it does but sel-
dom happen; but with this unnatural mixture
the sublime Artist can have nothing to do; it
is fit for the burlesque. The Beauty proper
for sublime art, is lineaments, or forms and
features that are capable of being the recepta-
cles of intellect; accordingly the Painter has
given in his beautiful man, his own idea of in-
tellectual Beauty. The face and limbs that
deviates or alters least, from infancy to old
age, is the face and limbs of greatest Beauty
and perfection.

The Ugly likewise, when accompanied and
annexed to imbecility and disease, is a subject
for burlesque and not for historical grandeur;
the Artist has imagined his Ugly man; one

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approaching to the beast in features and form,
his forehead small, without frontals; his jaws
large; his nose high on the ridge, and nar-
row; his chest and the stamina of his make,
comparatively little, and his joints and his ex-
tremities large; his eyes with scarce any
whites, narrow and cunning, and every thing
tending toward what is truly Ugly; the inca-
pability of intellect.

The Artist has considered his strong Man
as a receptacle of Wisdom, a sublime energi-
zer; his features and limbs do not spindle out
into length, without strength, nor are they
too large and unwieldy for his brain and bo-
som. Strength consists in accumulation of
power to the principal seat, and from thence
a regular gradation and subordination; strength
is compactness, not extent nor bulk.

The strong Man acts from conscious supe-
riority, and marches on in fearless dependance
on the divine decrees, raging with the inspira-

49

tions of a prophetic mind. The Beautiful
Man acts from duty, and anxious solicitude for
the fates of those for whom he combats. The
Ugly Man acts from love of carnage, and de-
light in the savage barbarities of war, rush-
ing with sportive precipitation into the very
teeth of the affrighted enemy.

The Roman Soldiers rolled together in a
heap before them: “ Like the rolling thing
before the whirlwind;” each shew a different
character, and a different expression of fear,
or revenge, or envy, or blank horror, or
amazement, or devout wonder and unresisting
awe.

The dead and the dying, Britons naked,
mingled with armed Romans, strew the field
beneath. Among these, the last of the Bards
who were capable of attending warlike deeds,
is seen falling, outstretched among the dead
and the dying; singing to his harp in the
pains of death.

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Distant among the mountains, are Druid Temples, similar to Stone Henge. The Sun sets behind the mountains, bloody with the day of battle.

The flush of health in flesh, exposed to the open air, nourished by the spirits of forests and floods, in that ancient happy period, which history has recorded, cannot be like the sickly daubs of Titian or Rubens. Where will the copier of nature, as it now is, find a civilized man, who has been accustomed to go naked. Imagination only, can furnish us with colouring appropriate, such as is found in the Frescos of Rafael and Michael Angelo: the disposition of forms always directs colouring in works of true art. As to a modern Man stripped from his load of cloathing, he is like a dead corpse. Hence Rubens, Titian, Correggio, and all of that class, are like leather and chalk; their men are like leather, and their women like chalk, for the disposition of their

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forms will not admit of grand colouring; in Mr. B.'s Britons, the blood is seen to circulate in their limbs; he defies competition in colouring.

NUMBER VI.

> *A Spirit vaulting from a cloud to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus—Shakspeare. The Horse of Intellect is leaping from the cliffs of Memory and Reasoning; it is a barren Rock: it is also called the Barren Waste of Locke and Newton.*

THIS Picture was done many years ago, and was one of the first Mr. B. ever did in Fresco; fortunately or rather providentially he left it unblotted and unblurred, although molested continually by blotting and blurring demons; but he was also compelled to leave it unfinished for reasons that will be shewn in the following.

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The flush of health in flesh, exposed to the
open air, nourished by the spirits of forests
and floods, in that ancient happy period, which
history has recorded, cannot be like the sick-
ly daubs of Titian or Rubens. Where will
the copier of nature, as it now is, find a
civilized man, who has been accustomed to go
naked. Imagination only, can furnish us with
colouring appropriate, such as is found in the
Frescos of Rafael and Michael Angelo: the
disposition of forms always directs colouring
in works of true art. As to a modern Man
stripped from his load of cloathing, he is like a
dead corpse. Hence Rubens, Titian, Correg-
gio, and all of that class, are like leather and
chalk; their men are like leather, and their
women like chalk, for the disposition of their

51

forms will not admit of grand colouring; in
Mr. B.'s Britons, the blood is seen to circulate
in their limbs; he defies competition in colour-
ing.

NUMBER VI.

THIS Picture was done many years ago, and
was one of the first Mr. B. ever did in Fresco;
fortunately or rather providentially he left it
unblotted and unblurred, although molested
continually by blotting and blurring demons;
but he was also compelled to leave it unfinish-
ed for reasons that will be shewn in the follow-
ing.

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## NUMBER VII.

### *The Goats, an experiment Picture.*

THE subject is taken from the Missionary Voyage and varied from the literal fact, for the sake of picturesque scenery. The savage girls had dressed themselves with vine leaves, and some goats on board the missionary ship stripped them off presently. This Picture was painted at intervals, for experiment, with the colours, and is laboured to a superabundant blackness; it has however that about it, which may be worthy the attention of the Artist and Connoisseur for reasons that follow.

## NUMBER VIII.

### *The spiritual Preceptor, an experiment Picture.*

THIS subject is taken from the visions of Emanuel Swedenborg. Universal Theology,

53

No. 623. The Learned, who strive to ascend into Heaven by means of learning, appear to Children like dead horses, when repelled by the celestial spheres. The works of this visionary are well worthy the attention of Painters and Poets; they are foundations for grand things; the reason they have not been more attended to, is, because corporeal demons have gained a predominance; who the leaders of these are, will be shewn below. Unworthy Men who gain fame among Men, continue to govern mankind after death, and in their spiritual bodies, oppose the spirits of those, who worthily are famous; and as Swedenborg observes, by entering into disease and excrement, drunkenness and concupiscence, they possess themselves of the bodies of mortal men, and shut the doors of mind and of thought, by placing Learning above Inspiration. O Artist! you may disbelieve all this, but it shall be at your own peril.

F 3

NUMBER VII.

THE subject is taken from the Missionary
Voyage and varied from the literal fact, for the
sake of picturesque scenery. The savage
girls had dressed themselves with vine leaves,
and some goats on board the missionary ship
stripped them off presently. This Picture was
painted at intervals, for experiment, with the
colours, and is lahoured to a superabundant
blackness; it has however that about it, which
may be worthy the attention of the Artist and
Connoisseur for reasons that follow.

NUMBER VIII.

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NUMBER IX.

Satan calling up his Legions, from Milton's
Paradise Lost; a composition for a more per-
fect Picture, afterward executed for a Lady
of high rank. An experiment Picture.

THIS Picture was likewise painted at intervals,
for experiment on colours, without any oily
vehicle; it may be worthy of attention, not
only on account of its composition, but of the
great labour which has been bestowed on it,
that is, three or four times as much as would
have finished a more perfect Picture; the la-
bour has destroyed the lineaments, it was
with difficulty brought back again to a cer-
tain effect, which it had at first, when all the
lineaments were perfect.

These Pictures, among numerous others
painted for experiment, were the result of

55

temptations and perturbations, labouring to destroy Imaginative power, by means of that infernal machine, called Chiaro Oscuro, in the hands of Venetian and Flemish Demons; whose enmity to the Painter himself, and to all Artists who study in the Florentine and Roman Schools, may be removed by an exhibition and exposure of their vile tricks. They cause that every thing in art shall become a Machine. They cause that the execution shall be all blocked up with brown shadows. They put the original Artist in fear and doubt of his own original conception. The spirit of Titian was particularly active, in raising doubts concerning the possibility of executing without a model, and when once he had raised the doubt, it became easy for him to snatch away the vision time after time, for when the Artist took his pencil, to execute his ideas, his power of imagination weakened so much, and darkened, that memory of nature and of Pictures

NUMBER IX.

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of the various Schools possessed his mind, in-
stead of appropriate execution, resulting from
the inventions; like walking in another man's
style, or speaking or looking in another man's
style and manner, unappropriate and repug-
nant to your own individual character; tor-
menting the true Artist, till he leaves the Flo-
rentine, and adopts the Venetian practice, or
does as Mr. B. has done, has the courage to
suffer poverty and disgrace, till he ultimately
conquers.

Rubens is a most outrageous demon, and by
infusing the remembrances of his Pictures,
and style of execution, hinders all power of
individual thought: so that the man who is
possessed by this demon, loses all admiration of
any other Artist, but Rubens, and those who
were his imitators and journeymen, he causes
to the Florentine and Roman Artist fear to
execute; and though the original conception
was all fire and animation, he loads it with

57

hellish brownness, and blocks up all its gates
of light, except one, and that one he closes
with iron bars, till the victim is obliged to
give up the Florentine and Roman practice,
and adopt the Venetian and Flemish.

Correggio is a soft and effeminate and con-
sequently a most cruel demon, whose whole
delight is to cause endless labour to whoever
suffers him to enter his mind. The story that
is told in all Lives of the Painters about Cor-
reggio being poor and but badly paid for his
Pictures, is altogether false; he was a petty
Prince, in Italy, and employed numerous
Journeymen in manufacturing (as Rubens and
Titian did) the Pictures that go under his
name. The manual labour in these Pictures
of Correggio is immense, and was paid for
originally at the immense prices that those
who keep manufactories of art always charge
to their employers, while they themselves pay
their journeymen little enough. But though

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Correggio was not poor, he will make any
true artist so, who permits him to enter his
mind, and take possession of his affections;
he infuses a love of soft and even tints with-
out boundaries, and of endless reflected lights,
that confuse one another, and hinder all cor-
rect drawing from appearing to be correct;
for if one of Rafael or Michael Angelo's
figures was to be traced, and Correggio's re-
flections and refractions to be added to it, there
would soon be an end of proportion and
strength, and it would be weak, and pappy,
and lumbering, and thick headed, like his own
works; but then it would have softness and
evenness, by a twelvemonth's labour, where
a month would with judgment have finished
it better and higher; and the poor wretch who
executed it, would be the Correggio that the
life writers have written of: a drudge and a
miserable man, compelled to softness by po-
verty. I say again, O Artist, you may disbe-

59

Note. These experiment Pictures have
been bruized and knocked about, without
mercy, to try all experiments.

NUMBER X.

The Bramins.—A Drawing.

The subject is, Mr. Wilkin, translating the
Geeta; an ideal design, suggested by the
first publication of that part of the Hindoo
Scriptures, translated by Mr. Wilkin. I un-
derstand that my Costume is incorrect, but
in this I plead the authority of the ancients,
who often deviated from the Habits, to pre-
serve the Manners, as in the instance of
Laocoon, who, though a priest, is represented
naked.

NUMBER X.

The Bramins.—A Drawing.

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NUMBER XI.

*The body of Abel found by Adam and Eve;
Cain, who was about to bury it, fleeing from
the face of his Parents.—A Drawing.*

NUMBER XII.

*The Soldiers casting lots for Christ's Garment.
—A Drawing.*

NUMBER XIII.

*Jacob's Ladder.—A Drawing.*

NUMBER XIV.

*The Angels hovering over the Body of Jesus
in the Sepulchre.—A Drawing.*

The above four drawings the Artist wishes
were in Fresco, on an enlarged scale to orna-

61

ment the altars of churches, and to make
England like Italy, respected by respectable
men of other countries on account of Art.
It is not the want of genius, that can hereafter
be laid to our charge, the Artist who has done
these Pictures and Drawings will take care of
that; let those who govern the Nation, take
care of the other. The times require that
every one should speak out boldly; England
expects that every man should do his duty, in
Arts, as well as in Arms, or in the Senate.

NUMBER XV.

*Ruth.—A Drawing.*

THIS Design is taken from that most pathetic
passage in the Book of Ruth, where Naomi
having taken leave of her daughters in law,
with intent to return to her own country;
Ruth cannot leave her, but says, “Whither

G

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NUMBER XI.

NUMBER XII.

NUMBER XIII.

Jacob's Ladder.—A Drawing.

NUMBER XIV.

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NUMBER XV.

Ruth.—A Drawing.

This Design is taken from that most pathetic
passage in the Book of Ruth, where Naomi
having taken leave of her daughters in law,
with intent to return to her own country;
Ruth cannot leave her, but says, "Whither

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thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest
I will lodge, thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God: where thou diest I will
die, and there will I be buried; God do so to
me and more also, if ought but death part thee
and me."

The distinction that is made in modern
times between a Painting and a Drawing pro-
ceeds from ignorance of art. The merit of a
Picture is the same as the merit of a Drawing.
The dawber dawbs his Drawings; he who
draws his Drawings draws his Pictures. There
is no difference between Rafael's Cartoons and
his Frescos, or Pictures, except that the Fres-
cos, or Pictures, are more finished. When
Mr. B. formerly painted in oil colours his Pic-
tures were shewn to certain painters and con-
noisseurs, who said that they were very admi-
rable Drawings on canvass; but not Pictures:
but they said the same of Rafael's Pictures.

63

Mr. B. thought this the greatest of compliments,
though it was meant otherwise. If losing and
obliterating the outline constitutes a Picture,
Mr. B. will never be so foolish as to do one.
Such art of losing the outlines is the art of
Venice and Flanders; it loses all character,
and leaves what some people call, expression :
but this is a false notion of expression; ex-
pression cannot exist without character as its
stamina; and neither character nor expression
can exist without firm and determinate out-
line. Fresco Painting is susceptible of higher
finishing than Drawing on Paper, or than any
other method of Painting. But he must have
a strange organization of sight who does not
prefer a Drawing on Paper to a Dawbing in
Oil by the same master, supposing both to be
done with equal care.

The great and golden rule of art, as well as
of life, is this: That the more distinct, sharp,

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and wirey the bounding line, the more perfect
the work of art; and the less keen and sharp,
the greater is the evidence of weak imitation,
plagiarism, and bungling. Great inventors,
in all ages, knew this: Protogenes and Apelles
knew each other by this line. Rafael and Mi-
chael Angelo, and Albert Durer, are known by
this and this alone. The want of this determi-
nate and bounding form evidences the idea of
want in the artist's mind, and the pretence of the
plagiary in all its branches. How do we distin-
guish the oak from the beech, the horse from the
ox, but by the bounding outline? How do we
distinguish one face or countenance from an-
other, but by the bounding line and its infinite
inflexions and movements? What is it that
builds a house and plants a garden, but the
definite and determinate? What is it that dis-
tinguishes honesty from knavery, but the
hard and wirey line of rectitude and certainty

65

in the actions and intentions. Leave out this
In e. and you leave out life itself; all is chaos
again, and the line of the almighty must be
drawn out upon it before man or beast can ex-
ist. Talk no more then of Correggio, or
Rembrandt, or any any other of those plagia-
ries of Venice or Flanders. They were but
the lame imitators of lines drawn by their pre-
decessors, and their works prove themselves
contemptible dis-arranged imitations and blun-
dering misapplied copies.

NUMBER XVI.

*The Penance of Jane Shore in Saint Paul's Church.—A Drawing.*

THIS Drawing was done above Thirty Years
ago, and proves to the Author, and he thinks
will prove to any discerning eye, that the pro-
ductions of our youth and of our maturer age

64

and wirey the bounding line, the more perfect
the work of art; and the less keen and sharp,
the greater is the evidence of weak imitation,
plagiarism, and bungling. Great inventors,
in all ages, knew this: Protogenes and Apelles
knew each other by this line. Rafael and Mi-
chael Angelo, and Albert Durer, are known by
this and this alone. The want of this determi-
nate and bounding form evidences the idea of
what in the artist's mind, and the pretence of the
plagiary in all its branches. How do we distin-
guish the oak from the beech, the horse from the
ox, but by the bounding outline? How do we
distinguish one face or countenance from an-
other, but by the bounding line and its infinite
inflexions and movements? What is it that
builds a house and plants a garden, but the
definite and determinate? What is it that dis-
tinguishes honesty from knavery, but the
hard and wirey line of rectitude and certainty

65

in the actions and intentions. Leave out this
Ine and you leave out life itself; all is chaos
again, and the line of the almighty must be
drawn out upon it before man or beast can ex-
ist. Talk no more then of Correggio, or
Rembrandt, or any any other of those plagia-
ries of Venice or Flanders. They were but
the lame imitators of lines drawn by their pre-
decessors, and their works prove themselves
contemptible dis-arranged imitations and blun-
dering misapplied copies.

NUMBER XVI.

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are equal in all essential points. If a man is
master of his profession, he cannot be ignorant
that he is so; and if he is not employed by
those who pretend to encourage art, he will
employ himself, and laugh in secret at the
pretences of the ignorant, while he has every
night dropped into his shoe, as soon as he puts
it off, and puts out the candle, and gets into
bed, a reward for the labours of the day, such
as the world cannot give, and patience and
time await to give him all that the world can
give.

FINIS.

D. N. SHURY, PRINTER, BERWICK-STREET,
SOHO, LONDON.

FINIS.

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