a certain Character, and Peculiarity that runs thro' all their Works in some Measure, and which a Good Connoiffeur knows, tho' he cannot defcribe it to Another.

This way of Comparison too helps us to a higher Degree of Perfuafion than Otherwife we fhould have had with relation to the Works of Mafters of whom we have but a small Number; As for Example of Dominichino; We know his general Character, That is eftablifh'd by thofe few of his Works that are in Rome, Naples, and elsewhere, and by the Writers; as we alfo know the Character of Annibale Caracci by the fame means, but in a greater Degree. If then we cannot confront a Work thought to be of the Former, with Another already judg'd to be of Him, it may be of confiderable use to compare it with one of Annibale, and to fee what Degree, and Kind of Goodness it S

has

has in that Comparison, and whether that Answers to the Character of Dominichino as compar'd with the Other; If it does 'tis an Additional Evidence over and above what we had before.

From these we defcend to more Doubtful Cafes, which 'tis troublefome, and of no great use to enumerate; Only in General this is certain, that These Cases are fuch as are of the Leaft Confequence, as being for the most part with relation to fome of the Worft Works of the Better Masters, Or thofe of Inconfiderable ones. If 'tis Doubtful whether a Picture, or a Drawing is a Copy, or an Original, 'tis of little Confequence which it is; and More, or Lefs in proportion as 'tis Doubtful: If the Cafe be exceeding Difficult, or Impoffible to be Determin'd 'tis no matter whether 'tis Determin❜d or no; the Picture fuppofing it to be a Copy must be in

a man

a manner as Good as the Original, and fuppofing That to be one of the Best of the Mafter 'tis the Greater Curiofity that he could be fo well Imitated; If the Queftion be whether 'tis a Copy, or an Original, one of the most Indifferent ones of the Mafter; Such an Original is of no great Confequence to be known, 'tis no matter whether 'tis fo, or a Copy.

After all it must be acknowledg'd that as in Other Sciences there are certain Branches of them wherein One Man excels, and Another in Others, but knows little of the reft; So in Connoiffance, No One Man can be acquainted with the Hands of All, even of the most confiderable Masters; nor with all the Manners perhaps of any One of those who have had great Variety of them; Nor to be very Expert in more than a few of Thefe: He must be contented with a Moderate

Skill in many, and to be Utterly Ignorant in Some of them: Such is the Narrowness of our Faculties, the Extent of the Science, or the want of Helps, and Materials for the Study.

However let it be remember'd too That Every Connoiffeur may judge concerning the Goodness of a Pi&ture, or Drawing as to all the Parts of it except the Invention, and Expreffion in History, and the Refemblance in Portraits; and these no One Man can judge Accurately of in All Cafes, because no One Man can be acquainted with all the Stories, or Fables, or other Subjects of the Picture; as no One Man can know Every Body.

Thus (I think) I have given the true State of the Cafe with relation to Our Knowledge in General, and That which is to be had in the Science I am treating of; by which it will appear that in This respect we

are

are upon an Equality (at least) with Moft Other Sciences, if we have not the Advantage of them.

The Variety of Opinions of Connoiffeurs, or Such as Pretend to be fo, will be made an Objection to what I have advanced. And it may seem to be a very Confiderable One. I will therefore befides what has been already difcourfed in general of the Impoffibility of Men's agreeing in their Sentiments from the Nature of things, the Appearance of Evidence being neceffarily fo various to Every one of us, and we as Neceffarily Judging according to That, whatever it be. I fay befides This I will give a Particular Answer to this Objection, and therein fhew how it comes to pass that Men have thefe Different Views, and confequently Different Opinions; And that This does not Always happen from the Obscurity of the Science, but frequently from Some Defect in

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the