amount to what is very confi derable in the Course of one's Life, and fufficient to dispatch more than will be easily imagin'd by one that never try'd, as being of an inactive Temper, and loving Procraftination; or that lavishes. away his Time in Impertinent, or Criminal Amusements.

And as I could not honeftly make any of This fort, I will not trouble my Readers with Excufes for my Inability of the Other kind I affure them I am not Infenfible of it My felf, but care not how little They Obferve it. Such as they are I have given them my Thoughts, and as Well as I could; May every one make the Best Use of the Effects of my Studies in this way, and Those have not been wanting; for as from my Infancy I have never had a tafte for the most part,

of

of what is generally call'd Pleafure, and Diverfion, whether from Constitution, or upon a Philosophical, Prudential, or Religious Confideration, but on the contrary always loved Retirement, and Business, and above all other Studies, and Employments: that of Painting; and being Competently, not to fay Abundantly, furnished with Materials for my Purpose, (would to God however I had feen, or could yet fee Italy!) I fay Thus qualified I have for fome Years past apply'd my self, all my Powers of Body and Mind, to this One thing: And (being permitted fo to do in This Cafe) have Thought freely.

I am well aware, that after all, I may peradventure be Sometimes mistaken; let thofe that think I am fo in any instance confider the Matter as I have done, before they

pro

pronounce too pofitively, for neither are They infallible: Readers are too apt at first sight to condemn as Error, what an Author may have found after a laborious, and tedious Enquiry to be Truth. But however others may judge,. or whether I am in the right, or mistaken; I stand equally acquitted in my own Mind, having taken the right Way to arrive at Truth. And as my Sentiments in these Matters be they what they will, have not been taken upon Trust, and Implicitly, and without entring my self into the Reafon of the thing; what is Error is my own, the Reft derives its Original from the Fountain of Light, and in That Sense, as every other Truth may be said to be, is Divinely inspired.

I ask the Reader's Pardon, for detaining him fo long with what chiefly

chiefly concerns my felf, I will only take leave to plead one Piece of Merit, which I pretend to have with the Publick, and that is, that I have made a new Acquifition for the Common-Wealth of Letters; I believe this is the only Book extant upon the Subject. Apelles wrote many Volumes upon Painting, perhaps among them fomething might be faid on the knowledge of Hands, and how to diftinguish Copies from Originals, but Thefe have long ago had the Fate of all things not Immortal. Father Orlandi in his Abcedario Pittorico, printed at Bologna 1704, has given a Catalogue of about 150 Books relating to Painting in feveral Languages, but none that I can find treats of this Science. M de Piles (to whom we are obliged for fome curious, and ufe

ful

ful Hints he has furnish'd us with in his feveral Works) is the only one I know of that has fo much as Entred upon this Matter, 'tis but Ten or Twelve Pages in his Abrege de la Vie des Peintres, printed at Paris Anno 1715. a fmall Octavo. If I had receiv'd any Advantage from what he has done on this Head confiderable enough to require it, I fhould not have fail'd to have acknowledg'd it. on this Occafion, And yet I believe I have profited by it as much as any Man has, or Can poffibly. Not but that M. de Piles feems well qualify'd upon feveral Accounts to have given us great Light in this matter if he had thought fit, but he has not done it, he has only ftrook out a flight Sketch of fome Common, and Obvious Thoughts, and very little more. Whether the Subject C