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  • The Freemasons' Magazine
  • Sept. 1, 1795
  • Page 24
  • DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS. No. IV.
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    Article DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS. No. IV. ← Page 2 of 2
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Dissertations On The Polite Arts. No. Iv.

" This work has faults : " such a judgment is in the power of most people to make . But ,- " This work has not all the beauties it is capable of , " is another , which is reserved only for judges ofthe fiist order . We may easily perceive the reason both oP"the one . and the other . To give the first judgment , it suffices to compare the performance with the ordinary ideas which are always with us when we would judge of arts ; and which offer us plansor sketches at least

, , by which , we may find out the principal faults in the execution . But for the second , we must have taken in all the possible extent of art in the subject chosen by the author ; a gift scarcely granted to the greatest geniuses . You have the idea of a perfect tragedy . You have felt the emotions increase at each scene ; the stile is noble and elevated . You are

attached to the fate of unhappy Romeo , you weep for him , you are fond of your grief , and you enjoy your grief . Remember what kind and degree of feeling you have experienced ; and it shall for the future be your rule to go by . If another author is happy enough still to add to it , your taste becomes more elevated and more exquisite : and it must be by that degree of perfection that you judge of other tragedies .

Let us try to reach this ideal beauty , which , must be our supreme law . Let us read the most excellent works of the same kind . We are ravished with the enthusiasm and ecstacy of Homer , and with ttie wisdom and neatness of Virgil . Shakspeare elevates us with his grandeur , and Olway charms us with his sweetness . Let us make a happy mixture of the single qualities of these great Men : thence we

shall form an ideal model much superior to any one that exists ; and this model shall be the sovereign and infallible rule of all our decisions . It was thus the Stoics judged of wisdom by the ideal sage they created ; and that jtivmul found the greatest poets beneath the idea he had conceived of poetry , by a sentiment which his words could not express :

Qualem ncqueo monflrsre & fentio tantum . OF PAINTING . HAVING in the forgoing Dissertationsspoken of all the Polite Arts taken together , we shall now treat of them separately . And first of Painting . Poetry and Painting have so exact a resemblance to one another

, that to treat of them both at the same time , we should have nothing to do but to put poetry , fable , and versification , in the room of painting , design , and colouring . It is the same genius that creates in one and the other : the same taste that directs the Artists in the choice , disposition , and assortment of the great and little parts : that makes the groups and contrast ; that lays oil and adapts-the colours : in a

word ; that regulates the composition , design , and colouring . We shall afterwards speak more largely of poetry : so that we shall here say only a word or two concerning the methods painting takes , in imitating and expressing nature . Supposing the ideal painting has been conceived according to rules hi tlie painter ' s imagination : his first operation to express . and pro-

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1795-09-01, Page 24” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 11 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01091795/page/24/.
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Title Category Page
CONTENTS. Article 1
LONDON : Article 1
TO OUR READERS, CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 2
Untitled Article 2
PRICES OF BINDING PER VOLUME. Article 2
Untitled Article 3
MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM PERFECT, M. D. Article 4
SKETCH OF HIGH LIFE. Article 8
Untitled Article 9
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE. Article 11
THOUGHTS ON CALUMNY. Article 13
ANECDOTE OF SHENSTONE. Article 14
ESSAY ON FRIENDSHIP. Article 15
SPIRITED CONDUCT OF A MAYOR OF ARUNDEL. Article 17
ANECDOTE OF WILLIAM THE THIRD. Article 17
HISTORY OF MASONRY. Article 18
DISSERTATIONS ON THE POLITE ARTS. No. IV. Article 23
Untitled Article 25
LETTERS FROM BARON BIELFELD. Article 28
HISTORICAL ANECDOTES. Article 31
THE UNION OF LOVE TO GOD AND LOVE TO MAN: A MASONIC SERMON. Article 34
HISTORICAL ANECDOTES. Article 35
THE UNION OF LOVE TO GOD AND LOVE TO MAN:-A MASONIC SERMON. Article 38
AN ADDRESS TO THE MASON BRETHREN*. Article 42
THE STAGE. Article 46
AN IMPROPRIETY IN THE CHARACTER OF OTHELLO, MOOR OF VENICE. Article 47
ORIENTAL APOLOGUES. Article 48
RIDICULOUS CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS IN DIFFERENT NATIONS. Article 54
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE. Article 55
REMARKS ON THE DURATION OF LIFE IN MEN AND ANIMALS. Article 57
ANECDOTE OF JAMES THE FIRST. Article 59
THE MAN OF GENIUS. Article 60
DESCRIPTION OF LONDON , Article 62
ANECDOTE OF THE CELEBRATED DR. STUKELEY. Article 63
ANECDOTE OF THE LATE ALDERMAN BECKFORD. Article 63
STRICTURES ON PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 64
POETRY. Article 65
STANZAS ON MASONRY. Article 66
ON VIEWING A SKELETON, Article 67
EPITAPH Article 68
EPITAPH Article 68
EPITAPH TO THE MEMORY OF COLLINS THE POET. Article 69
THE ENGLISH JUSTICE. Article 69
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 70
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 70
HOME NEWS. Article 73
HOME NEWS. Article 77
MARRIAGES. Article 81
DEATHS. Article 81
BANKRUPTS. Article 81
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Dissertations On The Polite Arts. No. Iv.

" This work has faults : " such a judgment is in the power of most people to make . But ,- " This work has not all the beauties it is capable of , " is another , which is reserved only for judges ofthe fiist order . We may easily perceive the reason both oP"the one . and the other . To give the first judgment , it suffices to compare the performance with the ordinary ideas which are always with us when we would judge of arts ; and which offer us plansor sketches at least

, , by which , we may find out the principal faults in the execution . But for the second , we must have taken in all the possible extent of art in the subject chosen by the author ; a gift scarcely granted to the greatest geniuses . You have the idea of a perfect tragedy . You have felt the emotions increase at each scene ; the stile is noble and elevated . You are

attached to the fate of unhappy Romeo , you weep for him , you are fond of your grief , and you enjoy your grief . Remember what kind and degree of feeling you have experienced ; and it shall for the future be your rule to go by . If another author is happy enough still to add to it , your taste becomes more elevated and more exquisite : and it must be by that degree of perfection that you judge of other tragedies .

Let us try to reach this ideal beauty , which , must be our supreme law . Let us read the most excellent works of the same kind . We are ravished with the enthusiasm and ecstacy of Homer , and with ttie wisdom and neatness of Virgil . Shakspeare elevates us with his grandeur , and Olway charms us with his sweetness . Let us make a happy mixture of the single qualities of these great Men : thence we

shall form an ideal model much superior to any one that exists ; and this model shall be the sovereign and infallible rule of all our decisions . It was thus the Stoics judged of wisdom by the ideal sage they created ; and that jtivmul found the greatest poets beneath the idea he had conceived of poetry , by a sentiment which his words could not express :

Qualem ncqueo monflrsre & fentio tantum . OF PAINTING . HAVING in the forgoing Dissertationsspoken of all the Polite Arts taken together , we shall now treat of them separately . And first of Painting . Poetry and Painting have so exact a resemblance to one another

, that to treat of them both at the same time , we should have nothing to do but to put poetry , fable , and versification , in the room of painting , design , and colouring . It is the same genius that creates in one and the other : the same taste that directs the Artists in the choice , disposition , and assortment of the great and little parts : that makes the groups and contrast ; that lays oil and adapts-the colours : in a

word ; that regulates the composition , design , and colouring . We shall afterwards speak more largely of poetry : so that we shall here say only a word or two concerning the methods painting takes , in imitating and expressing nature . Supposing the ideal painting has been conceived according to rules hi tlie painter ' s imagination : his first operation to express . and pro-

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