Buchanan, William: Memoirs of painting: with a chronological history of the importation of pictures by the great masters into England since the French Revolution (Band 1) (London: Ackermann, 1824)

viii INTRODUCTION.
man nature. Inquiry succeeds at some
future period when it is probably too late,
and such is at best followed up with a
greater or less degree of certainty, as
governed by casual circumstances.
The history which we possess of Art
among the Egyptians, and our information
respecting the extent and duration of
their power and greatness, are very limited
and uncertain. The flourishing and in-
teresting periods of the Grecian republic,
and the age of Philip and Alexander,
which saw the Arts of Sculpture and of
Architecture arrive at their highest per-
fection, are somewhat better known to
us, not only from documents which have
escaped the ravages of time, but from the
durable nature of many of those monuments
themselves: still, the mass of valuable matter
in literature and in art of which no trace
exists, leaves the extent of the loss which