Some Account xviii
ever satisfying the judgment. Nor does
painting in this respect differ from other
arts. A just poetical taste, and the acqui-
sition of a nice discriminative musical ear,
are equally the work of time. Even the
eye, however perfect in itself, is often
unable to distinguish between the brilli-
ancy of two diamonds; though the experi-
enced jeweller will be amazed at its blind-
ness ; not considering that there was a time
when he himself could not have been able
to pronounce which of the two was the
most perfect, and that his own power of
discrimination was acquired by slow and
imperceptible degrees *
"The man of true genius, instead of
spending all his hours, as many artists do
while they are at Rome, in measuring statues
and copying pictures, soon begins to think
for himself, and endeavours to do something
like what he sees.— I consider general copy-
ing (he adds) as a delusive kind of industry: