DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.683#0006
VI
"A few artists and soi-disant connoisseurs,"
it has, perhaps, been said, " may think it ne-
cessary to extol these things, because the voice
of former ages, a sort of prescriptive title, will
be with them, and because they might trem-
ble for their authority and fame if placed in
opposition to those of Phidias;—but what
care the people at large for a parcel of old
broken stones? They judge only of what
they see, and do not go back to fusty records
for the sake of discovering any imaginary
value in fragments which are not fit to or-
nament a room. Much that they do see is
almost shapeless; and there is not a statue
in the whole assemblage so like life as num-
bers that are to be viewed in Westminster
Abbey or St. Paul's."
Thus have we talked at home; and our
neighbours on the Continent, who will not
give us credit for more taste than we profess,
do not, certainly, entertain a very elevated
idea of our judgment and abilities in the
"A few artists and soi-disant connoisseurs,"
it has, perhaps, been said, " may think it ne-
cessary to extol these things, because the voice
of former ages, a sort of prescriptive title, will
be with them, and because they might trem-
ble for their authority and fame if placed in
opposition to those of Phidias;—but what
care the people at large for a parcel of old
broken stones? They judge only of what
they see, and do not go back to fusty records
for the sake of discovering any imaginary
value in fragments which are not fit to or-
nament a room. Much that they do see is
almost shapeless; and there is not a statue
in the whole assemblage so like life as num-
bers that are to be viewed in Westminster
Abbey or St. Paul's."
Thus have we talked at home; and our
neighbours on the Continent, who will not
give us credit for more taste than we profess,
do not, certainly, entertain a very elevated
idea of our judgment and abilities in the