of Tivoli—now, tho’ there is nothing more natural than to find mills
by running water, yet a mill is not an object that can possibly agree
with the other parts of the picture. Suppose in a landscape of Ruysdale
there were introduced the ruins of a temple; tho’ a temple may be
properly placed in a wood near water, yet it does not suit the rustic
simplicity of the pictures of this artist.—Give the mill to Ruysdale
and the temple to Gaspar—all will be right. These two painters were the
most perfect in their different styles that ever existed. Both formed
themselves upon the study of nature, both were correct, both excellent;
and yet so totally different from each other, that there are scarce
any parts of the pictures of one, that will bear being introduced into
those of the other. Claude’s magnificent ideas frequently betrayed him
into _a bad association_.——Large grand masses of trees agree but ill
with sea and ships, unless they are removed to a distance.—An English
painter, who formed himself upon the study of Gaspar, took his trees,
rocks, and other circumstances from that master, but his buildings
from the Gardiner’s huts at Newington.
A story which proceeds upon a regular circumscribed plan, chiefly
consisting of dialogue and sentiment, where the scene is laid in
London, and the characters such as are natural to the place; has _a bad
association_ if the author goes to Africa in quest of adventures. On
the other hand, a novel which sets out upon the principle of variety,
and where a frequent change of place is necessary to the execution of
the design, has _a bad association_ if the author in any part of it
quits adventure for sentiment or satire. And yet, this has been done by
Fielding and Smollet, the two best novel-writers of the age.
* * * * *
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Transcriber’s Notes:
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Text enclosed by equals is in gesperrt (=gesperrt=).
- Blank pages have been removed.
- Silently corrected typographical errors.
- Spelling and hyphenation variations made consistent.
- Asterisk rows at the start or end of some letters have been
removed as I could not determine any purpose or consistency.