Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, Or General And Complete Library.
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , OR GENERAL AND COMPLETE LIBRARY .
FOR FEBRUARY 1795 . ACCOUNT
OF JOHN OPIE , ESQ . R . A .
WITH A PORTRAIT .
THERE is nothing more gratifying to a philosophic mind than to trace the progress of GENIUS , and to- see great talents gradually arise from a situation originally unpromising , till they finally arrive at affluence and distinction . This pleasure the patriotic heart of an E NGLISHMAN may be said most peculiarly to enjoy , for under what government in the world has GENIUS so full an opportunity for expanding itself ? where can it hope for such liberal
encouragement , where for more adequate rewards ? In this happy island , and under the mild and protecting auspices of the BRITISH CONSTI - TUTION , learning , industry , and talents , cannot toil in vain . Power cannot hurt them ; and while men of distinguished abilities conduct themselves with prudence , and a due respect for the proper institutions of societythe ARTIST may mix with the highest NOBLE and the .
, , latter feel no sense of degradation in the intercourse . These reflections naturally occur to the mind in relation to the object of our present notice , who , by the exertion of those powers which nature so bountifully bestowed upon him , has raised himself to independence and the most flattering degree of eminence in his art .
Mr . JOHN OI-IE , we understand , though of an ancient and respectable family in the county of Cornwall , comes from a branch that unluckily did not enjoy the hereditary possessions ; and which , there-L 3
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, Or General And Complete Library.
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , OR GENERAL AND COMPLETE LIBRARY .
FOR FEBRUARY 1795 . ACCOUNT
OF JOHN OPIE , ESQ . R . A .
WITH A PORTRAIT .
THERE is nothing more gratifying to a philosophic mind than to trace the progress of GENIUS , and to- see great talents gradually arise from a situation originally unpromising , till they finally arrive at affluence and distinction . This pleasure the patriotic heart of an E NGLISHMAN may be said most peculiarly to enjoy , for under what government in the world has GENIUS so full an opportunity for expanding itself ? where can it hope for such liberal
encouragement , where for more adequate rewards ? In this happy island , and under the mild and protecting auspices of the BRITISH CONSTI - TUTION , learning , industry , and talents , cannot toil in vain . Power cannot hurt them ; and while men of distinguished abilities conduct themselves with prudence , and a due respect for the proper institutions of societythe ARTIST may mix with the highest NOBLE and the .
, , latter feel no sense of degradation in the intercourse . These reflections naturally occur to the mind in relation to the object of our present notice , who , by the exertion of those powers which nature so bountifully bestowed upon him , has raised himself to independence and the most flattering degree of eminence in his art .
Mr . JOHN OI-IE , we understand , though of an ancient and respectable family in the county of Cornwall , comes from a branch that unluckily did not enjoy the hereditary possessions ; and which , there-L 3