DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18732#0326
MISCELLANIES.
WE have fo firmly fettled in our minds, the prin-
ciple, that to inveftigate merit in the Arts,
it is neceffary to forbid the ideas of place and precedence,
that we are perhaps too much difpofed to fcrutinize
feverely thofe works, to which place and precedence
contribute an importance : or elfe, we are apt to expect:
in fact, what the poet meant in jeft,
'Tis from high life high characters are drawn,
A faint in crape, is twice a faint in lawn;
A judge is juft, a chancellor jufter Mil;
A gownfman learn'd, a bifnop what you will :
Wife, if a minifter, but if a king,
More wife, more learn'd, more juft, more every thing.
On which degree of rank fhall we place the prefidentlhip
of the Royal Academy r 4 learned and wife,' yet not
' more every thing.'
We mean, by thefe remarks, to requefl our readers
to judge for themfelves, notwithstanding the very re-
fpeclable name of Sir Joshua Reynolds, while we
introduce a few obfervations on his ' Difcourfe delivered
4 to the Students of the Royal Academy, on the Diftri-
' bution of the Prizes, December 10, 1784. By the
4 Prefident.'
The utility of fuch difcourfes, and the merit of the
former by this mailer, are univerfally acknowledged.
Far be it from us, to depreciate their excellence ? on
the contrary, we have fo great refpect for their Author
S and
WE have fo firmly fettled in our minds, the prin-
ciple, that to inveftigate merit in the Arts,
it is neceffary to forbid the ideas of place and precedence,
that we are perhaps too much difpofed to fcrutinize
feverely thofe works, to which place and precedence
contribute an importance : or elfe, we are apt to expect:
in fact, what the poet meant in jeft,
'Tis from high life high characters are drawn,
A faint in crape, is twice a faint in lawn;
A judge is juft, a chancellor jufter Mil;
A gownfman learn'd, a bifnop what you will :
Wife, if a minifter, but if a king,
More wife, more learn'd, more juft, more every thing.
On which degree of rank fhall we place the prefidentlhip
of the Royal Academy r 4 learned and wife,' yet not
' more every thing.'
We mean, by thefe remarks, to requefl our readers
to judge for themfelves, notwithstanding the very re-
fpeclable name of Sir Joshua Reynolds, while we
introduce a few obfervations on his ' Difcourfe delivered
4 to the Students of the Royal Academy, on the Diftri-
' bution of the Prizes, December 10, 1784. By the
4 Prefident.'
The utility of fuch difcourfes, and the merit of the
former by this mailer, are univerfally acknowledged.
Far be it from us, to depreciate their excellence ? on
the contrary, we have fo great refpect for their Author
S and