not

"

revival of the arts, has been in the poffeffion of Barbarians; and Artifts capable of fuch a work, have been able to fatisfy their paffion, whether it was for fame or profit, without rifking themfelves among fuch profeffed enemies to the arts as the Turks: the ignorance and jealoufy of that uncultivated people, rendering an undertaking of this fort dangerous.

Again, Among the Travellers who have vifited. thefe coun-. tries, fome, it is true, have been abundantly furnished with literature; but they have all of them been too little converfant with painting, fculpture, and architecture, to give us any tolerable ideas of what they faw, The books, therefore, in which their travels are described, are not of fuch utility, nor fuch entertainment to the public, as a perfon acquainted with the practice of these arts might have rendered them. For the best verbal defcription cannot be fuppofed to convey fo adequate an idea of the magnificence and clegance of buildings; the fine form, expreffion, or proportion of fculpture; the beauty and variety of a country, or the exact scene of any celebrated action, as they may be formed from drawings made on the spot, with diligence and fidelity, by the hand of the Artist."

These were the confiderations which first determined our Artifts to engage in a work of fo much hazard, labour, expence, and time. In regard to the laft, indeed, the delay occafioned by the great accuracy which they had prescribed themselves, and other caufes, fubjected the publication of their work to the circumftance of being anticipated, in fome measure, by another hand. Monfieur Le Roy, (an Artift of that ingenious and volatile nation, who are fo ready to catch at the hints of others, to put fomething in execution, and then to claim the merit of the whole) conceived the fame defign, fet out for Athens near four years after them, made his drawings, returned to Paris, and, for the honour of his country, published his Antiquities of Athens, long before our tardy English Artists could get theirs through the prefs.

It remains, however, to be confidered, on a fair comparison of the labours of the different Artifts, whether the precipitancy with which Mr. Le Roy executed his work, hath not, in a great measure, defeated the defign of it; which undoubtedly was, or at least ought to have been, to take exact admeasurements, and give accurate drawings, of thofe remains of ancient art, they went profefledly to copy. And here, as it is not unreasonable to expect, our English Artifts have evidently the advantage. Mr. Le Roy's work, it is true, is greatly fuperior in point of fcenery; his views are beautifully picturefque; the drawings executed with taste, and the engravings mafterly. In this re

spect,

fpect, the prefent work is most defective; the general views are ftiff, and indifferently defigned: Mr. Stuart, indeed, feems to apologize for this, by faying, that "the views were all finished on the fpot; and in thefe, preferring truth to every other confi deration, he hath taken none of thofe liberties with which Painters are apt to indulge themselves, from a defire of rendering their representations of places more agreeable to the eye.' Eafe and correctness of drawing, however, are in all cafes indifpenfible; and wherever human, or other animal, figures are introduced, they ought certainly to be as well defigned as any other part of the work; otherwise, while we admire the beauty of the landskip, or the elegance of the buildings, we are offended with the monftrous images of men or cattle, that dif grace the foreground of the piece. This is a very general and capital defect in moft of our. English views of buildings. It is not expected, indeed, that Architects should be always masters of this kind of drawing; but, for the reafon juft given, they ought either to get these figures inferted by other hands, or leave them entirely out; which, in our opinion, is frequently moft advifeable, as they only ferve to divert the eye from the principal object of attention; and, if not very well done, cannot fail of disgusting perfons of the smallest degree of tafte.

In the capital and moft effential parts of this undertaking, however, our English Artifts indifputably bear away the palm. In the prefervation of the due proportions in the architectural parts of the work, Le Roy can hardly be named in the comparifon; his fhameful negligence in taking his measures, or careleffness in laying them down, being evident on fight, to those who have any knowlege of architecture.

Mr. Stuart hath taken the pains, indeed, to point out a multiplicity of these blunders, as alfo many diftortions and mifrepresentations in his views, of which we cannot pretend to judge. The French Artift appears to have given us an inaccurate picturefque representation of what the ruins of Athenian architecture now are; our English Artists, on the other hand, feem to have been more folicitous to give us an exact and faithful representation of what they were in their ancient fplendour: doubtless, a nobler and more fatisfactory defign. Of this, the Doric Portico (fuppofed to be the remains of a temple dedicated to Rome and Auguftus) the temple of the winds, and the Choragic monument of Lyficrates, are elegant and beautiful inftances; the latter being one of the most exquifite pieces of monumental architecture that we ever faw delineated.

The Sculpture exhibited in this volume, and which served as ornaments to the several buildings described, hath also its merit;

tho'

tho' we think it greatly inferior, as well in defign as execution, to the architecture; the drawings of which are as well finifhed, and the engravings as elegant and exact, as any we remember to have feen.

On the whole, we efteem this volume as a very valuable acquifition to the Lovers of antiquities and the fine arts; and,. hoping foon to fee a completion of the work, we recommend it as a proper companion to thofe noble defcriptions of Palmyra and Balbec, by Mr. Dawkins and Mr. Wood; thofe Gentlemen having early encouraged our Artifts in the profecution of a defign fo worthy of the most diftinguished patronage,

K-n-k

ACCOUNT of FOREIGN LITERATURE. L'Art de fentir et de juger en matiere de Gout. 12mo. 2 Vols. A Paris, Piffot. Or,

A Differtation on Senfibility and Judgment, in matters of Tafte, Imported by Becket and de Hondt.

F

EW fubjects have been more agitated, and lefs understood, than the objects and principles of Tafte. To difcover the truly beautiful in the works of nature and art, and to trace the fources of that fublime pleasure which the contemplation of it bestows, may be reckoned among thofe purfuits, which require the most comprehenfive abilities of the human mind. The man of tafte himself is frequently but ill qualified to explain either the caufe of the pleafure he feels or the beauty he contemplates, and fill lefs to fhew how they are connected. The philofopher, on the other hand, who is in other cafes familiar with the arcana of nature, is generally in this too ignorant of the effect to be able to investigate the caufe. It is impoffible alfo for him to reafon here on the experience of others, as it is impoffible for a man of tafte to convey his fenfations to one who is deftitute of thofe finer feelings. It is only, therefore, from an uncommon genius, in which are united the most exquifite and refined fenfibility, with the ftrongeft fenfe and clearness of understanding, that we are to expect a fatisfactory treatife on this fubject. 'Till fuch a phenomenon appears, we must be content with those partial and imperfect illuftrations, which are occafionally afforded by Writers of lefs general abilities.

With regard to the Author of the prefent work, he appears to be poffeffed of a much greater fhare of tafte than philofophy;

and

and is accordingly more entertaining than inftructive. He affects, indeed, fome precision of method, but is frequently wanting in precision of fentiment; appearing rather follicitous to embellish his performance with beautiful images, than to give his Readers any exact images of the Beautiful. There is, notwithstanding, a great deal of merit in this performance of which our Readers may form fome judgment from the following fketch of his plan and fpecimen of his ftyle,

Our Author, hath divided his treatife into four books, to which he hath prefixed, as an introduction, fome preliminary confidera tions, tending to prove the poffibility and practicability of giving an exact and precife idea of Tafte. In book the first, he fhews the necefity of recurring to the laws of the beautiful, in order to dif over thofe of tafter taking into confideration their several relations to each other, and deducing the confequences obvious from fuch confideration. He here examines alfo, into the ori gin, caufe, principle, and nature of taste..

In his fecond. book he treats of invention, imitation, enthufiafm, and the fublime; illuftrating his arguments by examples from the befb Writers, and corroborating them by the teftimony of ancient and modern Critics

In book the third he lays down the rules and proceeds to their application in judging of works. of taste. He goes on next to confider the merit of expreffion and compofition, and to inculcate the expediancy of criticilin, and the neceffity of infpiring princes with an ardour for the cultivation of tafte.

In his fourth and laft book, he, treats of the relation between tate and genius; of true and falfe delicacy of tafte, and of the intereffing, or pathetic, in writing.

As a fpecimen, of our Author's ftyle and manner, we shall beg leave to quote in his own words the following paffage from his chapter on enthufiafm.

After having given two examples of poetical enthufiafm, one from: the, neid of Virgil, and the other from the Athaliah of Racine, he proceeds thus.

"Voila dans l'enthoufiafine, ou plutôt dans fa naiffance, deux opérations tenibles. Un grand tableau présenté a l'imagination, un défir violent de le rendre auffi vivement qu'on le conçoit, fans fçavoir comment ou le pourra, mais un défir fi ardent, fi paf

fionné,

fionné, fi defpotique, qu'il éleve celui qu'il anime au deffus de fon être. Tout eft pénible alors; la difpofition des parties principales, l'ordre dans lequel il faut les placer, le ton, les nuances, le coloris que l'on doit leur donner: ces détails effentiels épuifent & fatiguent en abforbant. On cherche, l'on recontre; on perd, on retrouve; on préfere, on abandonne, on reprend; on produit avec complaifance, on rejette avec douleur, mais par ne ceffité, même ce qui eft Beau, parce qu'il feroit déplacé.

Mais lorsqu' après avoir flotté quelque temps entre le Beau que l'on apperçoit, & la difficulté de le rendre, l'efprit faifit le moyen de concilier la Beauté avec la difficulté, l'yvreffe dans la→ quelle la fatisfaction de cette découverte jette l'ame peut à peine s'exprimer. C'eft cette yvreffe, cet enchantement, qui fufpendant en elle tout autre fentiment la mene pour ainfi dire par la main, & lui fert de guide dans l'égarement ou elle est plongée.

"Cet efprit fupérieur occupé à créer des Beautés du premier ordre, paroît dans un fi grand délire à ceux qui le considérent, qu'on le prendroit pour un infenfé, fi l'on n'étoit pas fûr que fa raifon fait alors fes plus nobles functions. Tous les fens de fon corps, toutes les facultés de fon ame, fe réuniffent alors, fur l'objet qui l'abforbe, & ne font & ne peuvent faire de fonctions, qu'autant qu'elles ont un rapport immédiat avec l'expreffion qui l'occupe. Dans ces moments d'enfantement, les heures font des inftants, les befoins fe tailent; tout ce qui-nous environne, est auffi loin de nous, que s'il en étoit séparé par un intervalle immenfe. On ne voit plus qu'une feule chofe dans la nature, celle que l'on veut peindre. Que l'on parle à cet heureux enthoufiafte, il n'entend pas; que l'on prefente des objets devant fes yeux, il ne les voit pas. Pour lui rendre l'ufage de fes fens il faut l'agiter avec violence, & ce n'eft qu'avec un regret amer qu'il reçoit cette reftitution. Laiffez-moi, dit-il avec douleur, en empruntant les paroles du grand Scipion, dans ce songe fublime & célefte qui lui fait faire Cicéron, laiffez moi dans le délire délicieux où vous me voyez; je vous en conjure, ne me tirez pas d'un fonge fi agréable.'

From this paffage the judicious Reader will fee that, if our Author cannot accurately define what enthusiasm is, he can at leaft give us an unexceptionable specimen of it.

K-n-k