Some Account xvi
brought with me from England where the
art was in the lowest state it had ever
been in, (it could not indeed be lower,)
were to be totally done away, and eradi-
cated from my mind. It was necessary, as
it is expressed on a very solemn occasion,
that I should become as a little child.— Not-
withstanding my disappointment, I pro-
ceeded to copy some of those excellent
works. I viewed them again and again ; I
even affected to feel their merit, and to
admire them, more than I really did. In
a short time a new taste and new percep-
tions began to dawn upon me ; and I was
convinced that I had originally formed a
false opinion of the perfection of art, and
that this great painter was well entitled to
the high rank which he holds in the esti-
mation of the world. The truth is, that if
these works had really been what I ex-
pected, they would have contained beauties
superficial and alluring, but by no means
such as would have entitled them to the