Could you see my heart you would know my anxious feelings for your
progress in study. If I could express myself in words of fire I would
burn in lessons upon your mind, that would inflame it to ardent desire,
and thorough conviction, of attaining success.
Our talented friend, who permits you the use of his collection of models
and casts, and does you the honour to instruct you by his judgment,
assures me that your outlines evince an excellent conception of _form_.
To be able to make a true outline of a _natural_ form, is to achieve the
first great step in drawing.
You remember my dissatisfaction towards some engravings of hands and
feet that were given you by the person who would have continued to
instruct you, if I had not been dissatisfied. The hands in these prints
were beautifully finished, but their form was incorrect; the feet were
not representations of any thing in nature; and yet these deformities
were placed before you to begin with. If I had not taught you from your
infancy the value and use of sincerity, and the folly and mischief of
falsehood, you might have been at this time a liar, and become a
depraved and vicious character; instead of being, as you are, an upright
and honest youth, and becoming, as I hope you will, a virtuous and
honourable man. Had you continued the copying of engraved _lies_ of the
limbs, your drawings would have been misrepresentations of the human
figure. You will discover my meaning if you consider an old precept,
“Never begin any thing without considering the end thereof.”
Your affectionate father,
*
* * * * *
~Garrick Plays.~
No. XXVIII.
[From the “Devil’s Law Case,” a Tragi-Comedy, by John Webster, 1623.]
_Clergy-comfort._