I am Affured, or have Probable Arguments to Believe is Right. It cannot be deny'd but that This is a confiderable Difcouragement to one that is defirous to be a Connoiffeur, not much Unlike That which perplexes fome Good People when they reflect upon the many Contrary Opinions pretended to be of Divine Authority. But as in That Case there are certain Fundamental, Self-Evident, or Demonftrable Principles, or fuch whofe Authority is fufficiently eftablish'd by Rational Arguments, to which Principles a Man may always have recourse, and by comparing Doctrines pretended to be from God with Thefe be able to judge for Himself of the Truth of of fuch Pretences: So here there are certain Pictures, and Drawings of feveral of the Mafters, chiefly of the most Confiderable ones, that a Beginner in the bufinefs of a Connoiffeur will find at his first setting out, and always meet with in his Way that will ferve him as Safe, and Sufficient Guides in This Affair. Such are Those whofe Genuiness is abundantly established by Hiftory, Tradition, and Univerfal Confent; As the Works of Raffaele in the Vatican, and at Hampton-Court; Those of Coreggio in the Cupolla at Parma; of Annibale Caracci in the Gallery of Farnefe at Rome; of Van-Dyck in many Families in England, and a great many more of These, and Other Masters all over Europe. The The Descriptions of Works in Vafari, Cinelli and other Writers, or the Prints extant of them prove abundance of Pictures, and Drawings to be Genuine,Suppofing them not to be Coppies; which their Excellency may be ás Certain a Proof of to a Good Judge of That, and Proportionably to one that is Lefs Advanced in That branch of Sci ence. The General Confent of Connoiffeurs is what I believe will be allow'd to be Sufficient to conftitute a Picture, or a Drawing to be a Guide in this Cafe. Many Masters have fomething fo Remarkable, and Peculiar that their Manner in General is foon known, and the Beft in Thefe Kinds fufficiently appear to be Ge Genuine fo that a Young Connoiffeur can be in no Doubt concerning Them. Now tho' fome Masters differ exceedingly from Themfelves, yet in All there is fomthing of the fame Man; As in all the Stages of our Lives there is a General Resemblance; fomthing of the fame Traits are feen in our Old Faces as we had in our Youth; When we have fix'd a few of the Works of the Mafters as Genuine, These will Direct us in the Discovery of Others, with Greater, or Leffer degrees of Probability as the Similitude betwixt Them, and Thofe already allow'd to be Genuine happens to be. An Idea of the moft Confiderable Mafters who have had a great Variety in them may be And there are Some Mafters who when you have feen two or three of their Works will be known again easily, having had but very little Variety in the Manners, or Somthing fo peculiar throughout as to discover them immediately. As for Obfcure Masters, or those whofe Works are little known 'tis impoffible to have any juft Idea of Them, and confequently to know to whom to attribute a Work of their hands when |