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ED; E571|
ED; E571|        XI
ED; E571|        [PUBLIC ADDRESS]   t1456
ED; E571|
 

PA-N65; E571|        PAGE 65

 
PA-N65; E571|        Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims
PA-N65; E571|        Being a Complete Index of Human Characters
PA-N65; E571|        as they appear Age after Age

 
PA-N51; E571|        [Public Address] PAGE 51

 
PA-N51; E571|        [Engravd by William Blake tho Now Surrounded by Calumny & Envy]

 
PA-N56; E571|        [Public Address] PAGE 56
PA-N56; E571|        This Day is Publishd Advertizements to Blakes Canterbury
PA-N56; E571|        Pilgrims from Chaucer.
PA-N56; E571|        Containing Anecdotes of Artists. Price 6*d

 
PA-N11; E571|        [Public Address] PAGE 11

 
PA-N11; E571|        If Men of weak Capacities [in Art] have alone the
PA-N11; E571|        Power of Execution in Art Mr B has now put to the test. If to
PA-N11; E571|        Invent & to Draw well hinders the Executive Power in Art & his
PA-N11; E571|        Strokes are still to be Condemnd because they are unlike those of
PA-N11; E571|        Artists who are Unacquainted with Drawing [the
PA-N11; E571|        accompanying] is now to be Decided by The Public[.] Mr B s
PA-N11; E571|        Inventive Powers & his Scientific Knowledge of Drawing is on all
PA-N11; E571|        hands acknowledgd it only remains to be Certified whether
PA-N11; E571|        [The Fools hand or the] Physiognomic Strength & Power is
PA-N11; E571|        to give Place to Imbecillity [and whether an unending xxxxxdx
PA-N11; E571|        xxx an unabated study & practise of forty Years[---] for I
PA-N11; E571|        devoted myself to Engraving in my Earliest Youth [---] are
PA-N11; E571|        sufficient to elevate me above the Mediocrity to which I have
PA-N11; E571|        hitherto been the victim] <In a work of Art it is not fine
PA-N11; E571|        tints that are required but Fine Forms, fine Tints without, are
PA-N11; E571|        loathsom> <Fine Tints without Fine Forms are always the
PA-N11; E571|        Subterfuge of the Blockhead>
PA-N11; E571|        I account it a Public Duty respectfully to address myself to
PA-N11; E571|        The Chalcographic Society & to Express to them my opinion the
PA-N11; E571|        result of the incessant Practise & Experience of Many Years That
PA-N11; E571|        Engraving [is in a most wretched state (of) arising from
PA-N11; E571|        an] <as an Art is Lost in

 
PA-N11; E572|        England owing to an artfully propagated> opinion that Drawing
PA-N11; E572|        spoils an Engraver [which opinion has been held out to me by
PA-N11; E572|        such men as Flaxman Romney Stothard It] I request the
PA-N11; E572|        Society to inspect my Print of which Drawing is the Foundation &
PA-N11; E572|        indeed the Superstructure it is Drawing on Copper as Painting
PA-N11; E572|        ought to be Drawing on Canvas or any other [table]
PA-N11; E572|        <surface> & nothing Else* I request likewise that the Society
PA-N11; E572|        will compare the Prints of Bartollouzzi Woolett Strange &c with
PA-N11; E572|        the old English Portraits that is <Compare the Modern Art> with
PA-N11; E572|        the Art as it Existed Previous to the Enterance of Vandyke &
PA-N11; E572|        Rubens into this Country
PA-N11; E572|        <since which English Engraving is Lost> & I am sure [of
PA-N11; E572|        the] [the] Result <of this comparison> will be that
PA-N11; E572|        the Society must be of my Opinion that Engraving by Losing
PA-N11; E572|        Drawing has Lost all Character & all Expression without which
PA-N11; E572|        <The> Art is Lost.

 
PA-N51[b]; E572|        [Public Address] PAGE 51
PA-N51[b]; E572|        In this Plate Mr B has resumed the style with which he set
PA-N51[b]; E572|        out in life of which Heath & Stothard were the awkward imitators
PA-N51[b]; E572|        at that time it is the style of Alb Durers Histries & the old
PA-N51[b]; E572|        Engravers which cannot be imitated by any one who does not
PA-N51[b]; E572|        understand Drawing & which according to Heath & Stothard Flaxman
PA-N51[b]; E572|        & even Romney. Spoils an Engraver for Each of these Men have
PA-N51[b]; E572|        repeatedly asserted this Absurdity to me in condemnation [P 52]
PA-N51[b]; E572|        of my Work & approbation of Heaths lame imitation Stothard being
PA-N51[b]; E572|        such a fool as to suppose that his blundering blurs can be made
PA-N51[b]; E572|        out & delineated by any Engraver who knows how to cut dots &
PA-N51[b]; E572|        lozenges equally well with those little prints which I engraved
PA-N51[b]; E572|        after him five & twenty Years ago & by which he got his
PA-N51[b]; E572|        reputation as a Draughtsman
PA-N51[b]; E572|        The manner in which my Character <has been blasted these
PA-N51[b]; E572|        thirty years> both as an artist & a Man may be seen particularly
PA-N51[b]; E572|        in a Sunday Paper cald the Examiner Publishd in Beaufort
PA-N51[b]; E572|        Buildings. <(We all know that Editors of Newspapers trouble their
PA-N51[b]; E572|        heads very little about art & science & that they are always paid
PA-N51[b]; E572|        for what they put in [Descriptive Catalogue P 53] upon these ungracious Subjects>
PA-N52; E572|        [P 52] & the manner in which I have routed out the nest of villains
PA-N52; E572|        will be seen in a Poem concern[in]g my Three years <Herculean>
PA-N52; E572|        Labours at Felpham which I will soon Publish. Secret Calumny &
PA-N52; E572|        open Professions of Friendship are common enough all the world
PA-N52; E572|        over but have never been so good an occasion of Poetic Imagery[.]
PA-N52; E572|        When a Base Man means to be your Enemy he always begins with
PA-N52; E572|        being your Friend [Descriptive Catalogue P 53] Flaxman cannot deny that one of the
PA-N53[b]; E572|        very first Monuments he did I gratuitously designd for him <at
PA-N53[b]; E572|        the same time he was blasting my character as all Artist to
PA-N53[b]; E572|        Macklin my Employer as Macklin told me at the time> how much of
PA-N53[b]; E572|        his Homer & Dante he will allow to be mine I do not know as he
PA-N53[b]; E572|        went far enough off to Publish them even to Italy. but the Public
PA-N53[b]; E572|        will know & Posterity will know

 
PA-N53[b]; E573|        Many People are so foolish to think that they can wound Mr
PA-N53[b]; E573|        Fuseli over my Shoulder they will find themselves mistaken they
PA-N53[b]; E573|        could not wound even Mr Barry so
PA-N53[b]; E573|        A Certain Portrait Painter said To me in a boasting way
PA-N53[b]; E573|        Since I have Practised Painting I have lost all idea of Drawing.
PA-N53[b]; E573|        Such a Man must know that I lookd upon him with Contempt he did
PA-N53[b]; E573|        not care for this any more than West did who hesitated &
PA-N53[b]; E573|        equivocated with me upon the same subject at which time he
PA-N53[b]; E573|        asserted that Wooletts [Descriptive Catalogue P 55] Prints were superior to Basires
PA-N55; E573|        because they had more Labour & Care now this is contrary to the
PA-N55; E573|        truth[.] Woolett did not know how to put so much labour into a
PA-N55; E573|        head or a foot as Basire did he did not know
PA-N55; E573|        how to draw the Leaf of a tree all his study was clean strokes &
PA-N55; E573|        mossy tints[.] how then should he be able to make use of either
PA-N55; E573|        Labour or Care unless the Labour & Care of Imbecillity[?] The
PA-N55; E573|        Lifes Labour of Mental Weakness scarcely Equals one Hour of the
PA-N55; E573|        Labour of Ordinary Capacity like the full Gallop of the Gouty Man
PA-N55; E573|        to the ordinary walk of youth & health I allow that there is such
PA-N55; E573|        a thing as high finishd Ignorance as there may be a fool or a
PA-N55; E573|        Knave. in an Embroiderd Coat but I say that the Embroidery of the
PA-N55; E573|        Ignorant finisher is not like a Coat made by another but is an
PA-N55; E573|        Emanation from Ignorance itself & its finishing is like its
PA-N55; E573|        master The Lifes Labour of Five Hundred Idiots for he never does
PA-N55; E573|        the Work Himself
PA-N55; E573|        What is Calld the English Style of Engraving such as
PA-N55; E573|        proceeded from the Toilettes of Woolett & Strange (for theirs
PA-N55; E573|        were <Fribbles> Toilettes) can never produce Character &
PA-N55; E573|        Expression. I knew the Men intimately from their Intimacy with
PA-N55; E573|        Basire my Master & knew them both to be heavy lumps of Cunning &
PA-N55; E573|        Ignorance as their works Shew to all the Continent who Laugh at
PA-N55; E573|        the Contemptible Pretences of Englishmen to Improve Art before
PA-N55; E573|        they even know the first [lines] <Beginnings> of Art[.]
PA-N55; E573|        I hope this Print will redeem my Country from this Coxcomb
PA-N55; E573|        situation & shew that it is only some Englishmen [Descriptive Catalogue P 56] and not
PA-N56[b]; E573|        All who are thus ridiculous in their Pretences Advertizements in
PA-N56[b]; E573|        Newspapers are no proof of Popular approbation. but often the
PA-N56[b]; E573|        Contrary A Man who Pretends to Improve Fine Art Does not know
PA-N56[b]; E573|        what Fine Art is Ye English Engravers must come down from your
PA-N56[b]; E573|        high flights ye must condescend to study Marc Antonio & Albert
PA-N56[b]; E573|        Durer[.] Ye must begin before you attempt to finish or improve &
PA-N56[b]; E573|        when you have begun you will know better than to think of
PA-N56[b]; E573|        improving what cannot be improvd It is very true what you have
PA-N56[b]; E573|        said [P 57] for these thirty two Years I am Mad or Else you are
PA-N57; E573|        so both of us cannot be in our right senses Posterity will judge
PA-N57; E573|        by our Works[.] Wooletts & Stranges works are like those of
PA-N57; E573|        Titian & Correggio the Lifes Labour of Ignorant journeymen Suited
PA-N57; E573|        to the Purposes of Commerce no doubt for Commerce Cannot endure
PA-N57; E573|        Individual Merit its insatiable Maw must be
PA-N57; E573|        fed by What all can do Equally well at least it is so in England
PA-N57; E573|        as I have found to my Cost these Forty Years

 
PA-N57; E574|        <Commerce is so far from being beneficial to Arts or to
PA-N57; E574|        Empire that it is destructive of both <as all their History
PA-N57; E574|        shews> for the above Reason of Individual Merit being its Great
PA-N57; E574|        hatred. Empires flourish till they become Commercial & then they
PA-N57; E574|        are scatterd abroad to the four winds>
PA-N57; E574|        Wooletts best works were Etchd by Jack Brown Woolett Etchd
PA-N57; E574|        very bad himself. Stranges Prints were when I knew him all done
PA-N57; E574|        by Aliamet & his trench journeymen whose names I forget.
PA-N57; E574|        The Cottagers & Jocund Peasants the Views in Kew Gardens
PA-N57; E574|        Foots Cray & Diana & Acteon & in short all that are Calld
PA-N57; E574|        Wooletts were Etchd by Jack Browne & in Wooletts works the
PA-N57; E574|        Etching is All tho even in these a single leaf of a tree is never
PA-N57; E574|        correct

 
PA-N56[c]; E574|        [Public Address] PAGE 56
PA-N56[c]; E574|        Such Prints as Woolett & Strange producd will do for those
PA-N56[c]; E574|        who choose to purchase the Lifes labour of Ignorance &
PA-N56[c]; E574|        Imbecillity in Preference to the Inspired Moments of Genius &
PA-N56[c]; E574|        Animation

 
PA-N60; E574|        [Public Address] PAGE 60
PA-N60; E574|        I also knew something of Tom Cooke who Engraved after
PA-N60; E574|        Hogarth Cooke wished to Give to Hogarth what he could take from
PA-N60; E574|        Rafael that is Outline & Mass & Colour but he could not [&
PA-N60; E574|        Hogarth with all his Merit never g]

 
PA-N57[b]; E574|        [Public Address] PAGE 57
PA-N57[b]; E574|        I do not pretend to Paint better than Rafael or Mch Anglo
PA-N57[b]; E574|        <or Julio Romano or Alb Durer> but I do Pretend to Paint finer
PA-N57[b]; E574|        than Rubens or Rembt or Correggio or Titian. I do not Pretend to
PA-N57[b]; E574|        Engrave finer than Alb Durer Goltzius Sadeler or Edelinck but I
PA-N57[b]; E574|        do pretend to Engrave finer than Strange Woolett Hall or
PA-N57[b]; E574|        Bartolozzi <& All> because I understand Drawing which they
PA-N57[b]; E574|        understand not

 
PA-N58; E574|        [Public Address] PAGE 58
PA-N58; E574|        In this manner the English Public have been imposed upon for
PA-N58; E574|        many Years under the impression that Engraving & Painting are
PA-N58; E574|        somewhat Else besides Drawing[.] Painting is Drawing on Canvas &
PA-N58; E574|        Engraving is Drawing on Copper & Nothing Else & he who pretends
PA-N58; E574|        to be either Painter or Engraver without being a Master of
PA-N58; E574|        Drawing is an Impostor. We may be Clever as Pugilists but as
PA-N58; E574|        Artists we are & have long been the Contempt of the Continent
PA-N58; E574|        [Aliamet] Gravelot once said to My Master Basire
PA-N58; E574|        [you] <De> English may be very clever in [your]
PA-N58; E574|        <deir> own opinions but [you] <dey> do not draw
PA-N58; E574|        [the] <De> draw
PA-N58; E574|        Resentment for Personal Injuries has had some share in this
PA-N58; E574|        Public Address But Love to My Art & Zeal for my Country a much
PA-N58; E574|        Greater.

 
PA-N59; E574|        [Public Address] PAGE 59
PA-N59; E574|        Men think they can Copy Nature as Correctly as I copy
PA-N59; E574|        Imagination this they will find Impossible. & all the Copies or
PA-N59; E574|        Pretended Copiers

 
PA-N59; E575|        of Nature from Rembrat to Reynolds Prove that Nature becomes
PA-N59; E575|        [tame] to its Victim nothing but Blots & Blurs. Why are
PA-N59; E575|        Copiers of Nature Incorrect while Copiers of Imagination are
PA-N59; E575|        Correct this is manifest to all

 
PA-N39; E575|        [Public Address] PAGE 39
PA-N39; E575|        I do not condemn Rubens Rembrant or Titian because they did
PA-N39; E575|        not understand Drawing but because they did not Understand
PA-N39; E575|        Colouring how long shall I be forced to beat this into Mens Ears
PA-N39; E575|        I do not condemn [Bartolozzi] <Strange> or Woolett
PA-N39; E575|        because they did not understand Drawing but because they did not
PA-N39; E575|        understand Graving I do not condemn Pope or Dryden because they
PA-N39; E575|        did not understand Imagination but because they did not
PA-N39; E575|        understand Verse[.] Their Colouring Graving & Verse can never be
PA-N39; E575|        applied to Art <That is not either colouring Graving or Verse
PA-N39; E575|        which is Unappropriate to the Subject> He who makes a Design must
PA-N39; E575|        know the Effect & Colouring Proper to be put to that Design &
PA-N39; E575|        will never take that of Rubens Rembrandt or Titian to
PA-N39; E575|        [put] <turn> that which is Soul & Life into a Mill or Machine

 
PA-N46; E575|        [Public Address] PAGE 46
PA-N46; E575|        They say there is no Strait Line in Nature this Is a Lie
PA-N46; E575|        like all that they say, For there is
PA-N46; E575|        Every Line in Nature But I will tell them what is Not in Nature.
PA-N46; E575|        An Even Tint is not in Nature it produces Heaviness. Natures
PA-N46; E575|        Shadows <are> Ever varying. & a Ruled Sky that is quite Even
PA-N46; E575|        never can Produce a Natural Sky the same with every Object in a
PA-N46; E575|        Picture its Spots are its beauties[.] Now Gentlemen Critics how
PA-N46; E575|        do you like this[?] You may rage but what I say I will prove by
PA-N46; E575|        Such Practise & have already done so that you will rage to your
PA-N46; E575|        own destruction[.] Woolett I knew very intimately by his intimacy
PA-N46; E575|        with Basire & I knew him to be one of the most ignorant fellows
PA-N46; E575|        that I ever knew. A Machine is not a Man nor a Work of Art it is
PA-N46; E575|        Destructive of Humanity & of Art the Word Machination
PA-N46; E575|        [seems]
PA-N46; E575|        Woolett I know did not know how to Grind his Graver I know
PA-N46; E575|        this he has often proved his Ignorance before me at Basires by
PA-N46; E575|        laughing at Basires knife tools & [p 47] ridiculing the Forms of
PA-N47; E575|        Basires other Gravers till Basire was quite dashd & out of
PA-N47; E575|        Conceit with what he himself knew but his Impudence had a
PA-N47; E575|        Contrary Effect on me[.] Englishmen have been so used to
PA-N47; E575|        Journeymens undecided bungling that they cannot bear the firmness
PA-N47; E575|        of a Masters Touch[.] Every Line is the Line of Beauty it is only
PA-N47; E575|        fumble & Bungle which cannot draw a Line this only is Ugliness[.]
PA-N47; E575|        That is not a Line which Doubts & Hesitates in the Midst of its
PA-N47; E575|        Course

 
PA-N38; E575|        [Public Address] PAGE 38
PA-N38; E575|        There is just the same Science in Lebrun or Rubens or even
PA-N38; E575|        Vanloo that there is in Rafael or Mich Angelo but not the same
PA-N38; E575|        Genius[.] Science is soon got the other never can be acquired but
PA-N38; E575|        must be Born

 
PA-N60; E576|        [Public Address] PAGE 60
PA-N60; E576|        The Originality of this Production makes it necessary to say a few words
PA-N60; E576|        While the Works [of Translators] of Pope & Dryden
PA-N60; E576|        are lookd upon as [in the Same class of] the Same Art with those
PA-N60; E576|        of Milton & Shakespeare while the works of Strange & Woollett are
PA-N60; E576|        lookd upon as the same Art with those of Rafael & Albert Durer
PA-N60; E576|        there can be no Art in a Nation but such as is Subservient to the
PA-N60; E576|        interest of the Monopolizing Trader [whose whole]
PA-N60; E576|        [who Manufactures Art by the Hands of Ignorant Journeymen
PA-N60; E576|        till at length Christian Charity is held out as a Motive to
PA-N60; E576|        encourage a Blockhead & he is Counted the Greatest Genius who can
PA-N60; E576|        sell a Good for Nothing Commodity for a Great Price[.] Obedience
PA-N60; E576|        to the Will of the Monopolist is calld Virtue [p 61] and
PA-N61; E576|        the really <Industrious> Virtuous & Independent Barry is driven
PA-N61; E576|        out to make room for a pack of Idle Sycophants with whitlors on
PA-N61; E576|        their fingers] Englishmen rouze yourselves from the fatal
PA-N61; E576|        Slumber into which Booksellers & Trading Dealers have thrown you
PA-N61; E576|        Under the artfully propagated pretence that a Translation or a
PA-N61; E576|        Copy of any kind can be as honourable to a Nation as An Original
PA-N61; E576|        [Belying] Be-lying the English Character in that well
PA-N61; E576|        known Saying Englishmen Improve what others Invent[.] This Even
PA-N61; E576|        Hogarths Works Prove [P 62] a detestable Falshood. No Man Can
PA-N62; E576|        Improve An Original Invention. [Since Hogarths time we have
PA-N62; E576|        had very few Efforts of Originality] <Nor can an Original
PA-N62; E576|        Invention Exist without Execution Organized & minutely Delineated
PA-N62; E576|        & Articulated Either by God or Man[.] I do not mean smoothd up &
PA-N62; E576|        Niggled & Poco Piud   t1457 [but] <and all the beauties pickd
PA-N62; E576|        out [but] & blurrd & blotted but> Drawn with a firm <and
PA-N62; E576|        decided> hand at once [with all its Spots & Blemishes which
PA-N62; E576|        are beauties & not faults] like Fuseli & Michael Angelo
PA-N62; E576|        Shakespeare & Milton>

 
PA-N44; E576|        [Public Address] PAGE 44
PA-N44; E576|        Let a Man who has made a Drawing go on & on & he will
PA-N44; E576|        produce a Picture or Painting but if he chooses to leave off
PA-N44; E576|        before he has spoild it he will Do a Better Thing

 
PA-N62[b]; E576|        [Public Address] PAGE 62
PA-N62[b]; E576|        I have heard many People say Give me the Ideas. It is no
PA-N62[b]; E576|        matter what Words you put them into & others say Give me the
PA-N62[b]; E576|        Design it is no matter for the Execution. These People know
PA-N62[b]; E576|        <Enough of Artifice but> Nothing Of Art. Ideas cannot be Given
PA-N62[b]; E576|        but in their minutely Appropriate Words nor Can a Design be made
PA-N62[b]; E576|        without its minutely Appropriate Execution[.] The unorganized
PA-N62[b]; E576|        Blots & Blurs of Rubens & Titian are not Art nor can their Method
PA-N62[b]; E576|        ever express Ideas or Imaginations any more than Popes
PA-N62[b]; E576|        Metaphysical jargon of Rhyming[.] Unappropriate Execution is the
PA-N62[b]; E576|        Most nauseous <of all> affectation & foppery He who copies does
PA-N62[b]; E576|        not Execute he only Imitates what is already Executed Execution
PA-N62[b]; E576|        is only the result of Invention

 
PA-N67; E578|        Who could not do this what man who has eyes and an ordinary
PA-N67; E578|        share of patience cannot do this neatly. Is this Art Or is it
PA-N67; E578|        glorious to a Nation to produce such contemptible Copies
PA-N67; E578|        Countrymen Countrymen do not suffer yourselves to be disgracd

 
PA-N66[b]; E578|        [Public Address] PAGE 66
PA-N66[b]; E578|        The English Artist may be assured that he is doing an injury
PA-N66[b]; E578|        & injustice to his Country while he studies & imitates the
PA-N66[b]; E578|        Effects of Nature. England will never rival Italy while we
PA-N66[b]; E578|        servilely copy. what the Wise Italians Rafael & Michael Angelo
PA-N66[b]; E578|        scorned nay abhorred as Vasari tells us

 
PA-N66[b]; E578|        Call that the Public Voice which is their Error
PA-N66[b]; E578|        Like as a Monkey peeping in a Mirror
PA-N66[b]; E578|        Admires all his colours brown & warm
PA-N66[b]; E578|        And never once percieves his ugly form

 
PA-N66[b]; E578|        What kind of Intellects must he have who sees only the Colours of
PA-N66[b]; E578|        things & not the Forms of Things

 
PA-N71; E578|        [Public Address] PAGE 71
PA-N71; E578|        A jockey that is any thing of a jockey will never buy a
PA-N71; E578|        Horse by the Colour & a Man who has got any brains will never buy
PA-N71; E578|        a Picture by the Colour
PA-N71; E578|        When I tell any Truth it is not for the sake of Convincing
PA-N71; E578|        those who do not know it but for the sake of defending those who
PA-N71; E578|        Do

 
PA-N76; E578|        [Public Address] PAGE 76
PA-N76; E578|        No Man of Sense ever supposes that Copying from Nature is
PA-N76; E578|        the Art of Painting if the Art is no more than this it is no
PA-N76; E578|        better than any other[']s Manual Labour any body may do it & the
PA-N76; E578|        fool often will do it best as it is a work of no Mind

 
PA-N78; E578|        [Public Address] PAGE 78
PA-N78; E578|        The Greatest part of what are calld in England Old Pictures
PA-N78; E578|        are Oil Colour Copies from Fresco Originals the Comparison is
PA-N78; E578|        Easily made & the Copy Detected Note I mean Fresco Easel or
PA-N78; E578|        Cabinet Pictures on Canvas & Wood & Copper &/c

 
PA-N86; E578|        [Public Address] PAGE 86
PA-N86; E578|        The Painter hopes that his Friends Anytus Melitus <& Lycon>
PA-N86; E578|        will percieve that they are not now in Ancient Greece & tho they
PA-N86; E578|        can use the Poison of Calumny the English Public will be
PA-N86; E578|        convincd that such a Picture as this Could never be Painted by a
PA-N86; E578|        Madman or by one in a State of Outrageous manners as these
PA-N86; E578|        [Villains] <Bad Men> both Print & Publish by all the
PA-N86; E578|        means in their Power. the Painter begs Public Protection & all
PA-N86; E578|        will be well

 
PA-N17; E578|        [Public Address] PAGE 17
PA-N17; E578|        I wonder who can say Speak no Ill of the Dead when it is
PA-N17; E578|        asserted in the Bible that the name of the Wicked shall Rot[.) It
PA-N17; E578|        is Deistical

 
PA-N17; E579|        Virtue I suppose but as I have none of this I will pour Aqua
PA-N17; E579|        fortis on the Name of the Wicked & turn it into an Ornament & an
PA-N17; E579|        Example to be Avoided by Some & Imitated by Others if they Please
PA-N17; E579|        Columbus discoverd America but Americus Vesputius finishd &
PA-N17; E579|        smoothd it over like an English Engraver or Corregio or Titian

 
PA-N18; E579|        [Public Address] PAGE 18
PA-N18; E579|        What Man of Sense will lay out his Money upon the Lifes
PA-N18; E579|        Labours of Imbecility & Imbecillitys Journeymen or think to
PA-N18; E579|        Educate [an Idiot] <a Fool> how to build a Universe with
PA-N18; E579|        Farthing Balls The Contemptible Idiots who have been calld Great
PA-N18; E579|        Men of late Years ought to rouze the Public Indignation of Men of
PA-N18; E579|        Sense in all Professions
PA-N18; E579|        There is not because there cannot be any difference of
PA-N18; E579|        Effect in the Pictures of Rubens & Rembrandt when you have seen
PA-N18; E579|        one of their Pictures you have seen All It is not so with Rafael
PA-N18; E579|        Julio Romano Alb D Mich Ang Every Picture of theirs has a
PA-N18; E579|        different & appropriate Effect
PA-N18; E579|        Yet I do not shrink from the Comparison in Either Relief or
PA-N18; E579|        Strength of Colour with either Rembrandt or Rubens on the
PA-N18; E579|        Contrary I court the Comparison & fear not the Result but not in
PA-N18; E579|        a dark Corner[.] their Effects are in Every Picture the same Mine
PA-N18; E579|        are in Every Picture different
PA-N18; E579|        I hope my Countrymen will Excuse me if I tell them a
PA-N18; E579|        Wholesom truth Most Englishmen when they look at a Picture
PA-N18; E579|        immediately set about searching for Points of Light <& clap the
PA-N18; E579|        Picture into a dark corner [this in] <This when done by>
PA-N18; E579|        Grand Works is like looking for Epigrams in Homer> A point of
PA-N18; E579|        light is a Witticism many are destructive of all Art <One is an
PA-N18; E579|        Epigram only> & no Grand Work can have them they Produce System &
PA-N18; E579|        Monotony
PA-N18; E579|        Rafael Mich Ang Alb D Jul Rom are accounted ignorant of
PA-N18; E579|        that Epigrammatic Wit in Art because they avoid it as a
PA-N18; E579|        destructive Machine as it is
PA-N18; E579|        That Vulgar Epigram in Art Rembrandts Hundred Guelders has
PA-N18; E579|        intirely put an End to all Genuine & Appropriate Effect all both
PA-N18; E579|        Morning & Night is now a dark cavern It is the Fashion   t1458 [P 19]
PA-N19; E579|        When you view a Collection of Pictures painted since Venetian Art
PA-N19; E579|        was the Fashion or Go into a Modern Exhibition with a Very few
PA-N19; E579|        Exceptions Every Picture has the same Effect. a Piece of
PA-N19; E579|        Machinery [of] <or> Points of Light to be put into a
PA-N19; E579|        dark hole

 
PA-N18[b]; E579|        [Public Address] PAGE 18
PA-N18[b]; E579|        Mr B repeats that there is not one Character or Expression
PA-N18[b]; E579|        in this Print which could be Produced with the Execution of
PA-N18[b]; E579|        Titian Rubens Coreggio Rembrandt or any of that Class[.]
PA-N18[b]; E579|        Character & Expression can only be Expressed by those who Feel
PA-N18[b]; E579|        Them Even Hogarths Execution cannot be Copied or Improved.
PA-N18[b]; E579|        Gentlemen of Fortune who give Great Prices for Pictures should
PA-N18[b]; E579|        consider the following [p 19]

 
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Rubens s Luxembourg Gallery is Confessd on all hands
PA-N19[b]; E580|        [because it bears the evidence at first view] to be the
PA-N19[b]; E580|        work of a Blockhead <it bears this Evidence in its face> how can
PA-N19[b]; E580|        its Execution be any other than the Work of a Blockhead. <Bloated
PA-N19[b]; E580|        [Awkward] Gods> Mercury Juno Venus & the rattle traps of
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Mythology & the lumber of an [old] awkward French Palace
PA-N19[b]; E580|        are [all] thrown together around <Clumsy & Ricketty>
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Princes & Princesses higgledy piggledy On the Contrary Julio
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Rom[ano's] <Palace of T at Mantua> is allowed on all hands to be
PA-N19[b]; E580|        <the Production of> a Man of the Most Profound sense & Genius &
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Yet his Execution is pronouncd by English Connoisseurs & Reynolds
PA-N19[b]; E580|        their Doll to be unfit for the Study of the Painter. Can I speak
PA-N19[b]; E580|        with too great Contempt of such Contemptible fellows. If all the
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Princes in Europe <like Louis XIV & Charles the first> were to
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Patronize such Blockheads I William Blake a Mental Prince should
PA-N19[b]; E580|        decollate & Hang their Souls as Guilty of Mental High Treason
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Who that has Eyes cannot see that Rubens & Correggio must
PA-N19[b]; E580|        have been very weak & Vulgar fellows & <we> are [we] to
PA-N19[b]; E580|        imitate their Execution. This is [as if] <like what> Sr
PA-N19[b]; E580|        Francis Bacon [should downright assert] <says> that a
PA-N19[b]; E580|        healthy Child should be taught & compelld to walk like a Cripple
PA-N19[b]; E580|        while the Cripple must be taught to walk like healthy people O
PA-N19[b]; E580|        rare wisdom

 
PA-N18[c]; E580|        [Public Address] PAGE 18
PA-N18[c]; E580|        I am really sorry to see my Countrymen trouble themselves
PA-N18[c]; E580|        about Politics. If Men were Wise <the Most arbitrary> Princes
PA-N18[c]; E580|        could not hurt them If they are not Wise the Freest Government is
PA-N18[c]; E580|        compelld to be a Tyranny[.] Princes appear to me to be Fools
PA-N18[c]; E580|        Houses of Commons & Houses of Lords appear to me to be fools they
PA-N18[c]; E580|        seem to me to be something Else besides Human Life

 
PA-N20; E580|        [Public Address] PAGE 20
PA-N20; E580|        The wretched state of the Arts in this Country & in Europe
PA-N20; E580|        originating in the Wretched State of Political Science which is
PA-N20; E580|        the Science of Sciences Demands a firm & determinate conduct on
PA-N20; E580|        the part of Artists to Resist the Contemptible Counter Arts
PA-N20; E580|        [set on foot] <Established> by Such contemptible
PA-N20; E580|        Politicians as Louis XIV & [but] originally set on foot
PA-N20; E580|        by Venetian Picture traders Music traders & Rhime traders to the
PA-N20; E580|        destruction of all true art as it is this Day. To recover Art
PA-N20; E580|        has been the business of my life to the Florentine Original & if
PA-N20; E580|        possible to go beyond that Original <this> I thought the only
PA-N20; E580|        pursuit worthy of [an Englishman] <a Man>. To Imitate I
PA-N20; E580|        abhore I obstinately adhere to the true Style of Art such as
PA-N20; E580|        Michael Angelo Rafael Jul Rom Alb Durer left it [the Art
PA-N20; E580|        of Invention not of Imitation. Imagination is My World this
PA-N20; E580|        world of Dross is beneath my Notice & beneath the Notice of the
PA-N20; E580|        Public] I demand therefore of the Amateurs of [P 21] art the
PA-N21; E580|        Encouragement which is my due if they <continue to> refuse theirs
PA-N21; E580|        is the loss not mine <& theirs is the Contempt of Posterity> I
PA-N21; E580|        have Enough in the Approbation of fellow labourers this is

 
PA-N21; E581|        my glory & exceeding great reward I go on & nothing can hinder my
PA-N21; E581|        course

 
PA-N21; E581|        And in Melodious accents I
PA-N21; E581|        Will sit me down & Cry. I. I.

 
PA-N20[b]; E581|        [Public Address] PAGE 20
PA-N20[b]; E581|        An Example of these Contrary Arts is given us in the
PA-N20[b]; E581|        Characters of Milton & Dryden as they are written in a Poem
PA-N20[b]; E581|        signed with the name of Nat Lee which perhaps he never wrote &
PA-N20[b]; E581|        perhaps he wrote in a paroxysm of insanity In which it is said
PA-N20[b]; E581|        that Miltons Poem is a rough Unfinishd Piece & Dryden has finishd
PA-N20[b]; E581|        it Now let Drydens Fall & Miltons Paradise be read & I will
PA-N20[b]; E581|        assert that every Body of Understanding [& sen(se) will]
PA-N20[b]; E581|        must cry out Shame on such Niggling & Poco Piu as Dryden has
PA-N20[b]; E581|        degraded Milton with But at the same time I will allow that
PA-N20[b]; E581|        Stupidity will Prefer Dryden because it is in Rhyme [but for
PA-N20[b]; E581|        no other cause] <& Monotonous Sing Song Sing Song> from
PA-N20[b]; E581|        beginning to end Such are Bartollozzi Woolett & Strange
PA-N23; E581|        [Public Address] PAGE 23

 
PA-N23; E581|        [That Painted as well as Sculptured Monuments were
PA-N23; E581|        common among words the Ancients is evident from the words of the
PA-N23; E581|        Savants who compared the Plain [unpainted] <Those> Sepulchers
PA-N23; E581|        Painted on the outside with others [of] only of Stone. Their
PA-N23; E581|        Beauty is Confessd even by the Lips of Pasch himself.]   t1459
PA-N23; E581|        The Painters of England are unemployd in Public Works. while the
PA-N23; E581|        Sculptors have continual & superabundant employment Our Churches
PA-N23; E581|        & Abbeys are treasures of [Spiritual riches] their
PA-N23; E581|        producing for ages back While Painting is excluded Painting the
PA-N23; E581|        Principal Art has no place [in our] <among our almost>
PA-N23; E581|        only public works. [while] <Yet> it is more adapted to
PA-N23; E581|        solemn ornament than [dead] Marble can be as it is
PA-N23; E581|        capable of being Placed in any heighth & indeed would make a
PA-N23; E581|        Noble finish <Placed> above the Great Public Monuments in
PA-N23; E581|        Westminster St Pauls & other Cathedrals. To the Society for
PA-N23; E581|        Encouragement of Arts I address myself with [duty &]
PA-N23; E581|        Respectful duty requesting their Consideration of my Plan as a
PA-N23; E581|        Great Public [deed] means of advancing Fine Art in
PA-N23; E581|        Protestant Communities Monuments to the dead Painted by
PA-N23; E581|        Historical & Poetical Artists like Barry & Mortimer. I forbear
PA-N23; E581|        to name [a li] living Artists tho equally worthy I say
PA-N23; E581|        Monuments so Painted must make England What Italy is an Envied
PA-N23; E581|        Storehouse of Intellectual Riches

 
PA-N24; E581|        [Public Address] PAGE 24

 
PA-N24; E581|        It has been said of late years The English Public have no
PA-N24; E581|        Taste for Painting This is a Falshood The English are as Good
PA-N24; E581|        judges [as] <of> Painting as of Poetry & they prove it
PA-N24; E581|        in their Contempt for Great Collections of all the Rubbish of the
PA-N24; E581|        Continent brought here by Ignorant Picture dealers an Englishman
PA-N24; E581|        may well say I am no Judge of Painting when he is shewn these
PA-N24; E581|        Smears & Dawbs at an immense

 
PA-N24; E582|        price & told that such is the Art of Painting I say the English
PA-N24; E582|        Public are true Encouragers of [Great] <real> Art while
PA-N24; E582|        they discourage & look with Contempt on False Art

 
PA-N25; E582|        [Public Address] PAGE 25

 
PA-N25; E582|        In a Commercial Nation Impostors are abroad in all
PA-N25; E582|        Professions these are the greatest Enemies of Genius [Mr B
PA-N25; E582|        thinks it his duty to Caution the Public against a Certain
PA-N25; E582|        Impostor who]. In [our Art] the Art of Painting
PA-N25; E582|        these Impostors sedulously propagate an Opinion that Great
PA-N25; E582|        Inventors Cannot Execute This Opinion is as destructive of the
PA-N25; E582|        true Artist as it is false by all Experience Even Hogarth cannot
PA-N25; E582|        be either Copied or Improved <Can Anglus never Discern
PA-N25; E582|        Perfection but in the Journeymans Labour>

 
PA-N24[b]; E582|        [Public Address] PAGE 24
PA-N24[b]; E582|        I know my Execution is not like Any Body Else I do not
PA-N24[b]; E582|        intend it should be so <None but Blockheads Copy one another> My
PA-N24[b]; E582|        Conception & Invention are on all hands allowd to be Superior My
PA-N24[b]; E582|        Execution will be found so too. To what is it that Gentlemen of
PA-N24[b]; E582|        the first Rank both in Genius & Fortune have subscribed their
PA-N24[b]; E582|        Names[--] To My Inventions. the Executive part they never
PA-N24[b]; E582|        Disputed [P 25] the Lavish praise I have recieved from all
PA-N25[b]; E582|        Quarters for Invention & Drawing has Generally been accompanied
PA-N25[b]; E582|        by this he can conceive but he cannot Execute* this Absurd
PA-N25[b]; E582|        assertion has done me & may still do me the greatest mischief I
PA-N25[b]; E582|        call for Public protection against these Villains I am like
PA-N25[b]; E582|        others Just Equal in Invention & in Execution as my works shew I
PA-N25[b]; E582|        in my own defence Challenge a Competition with the finest
PA-N25[b]; E582|        Engravings & defy the most critical judge to <make> the
PA-N25[b]; E582|        Comparison Honestly [p 24] asserting in my own Defence that This
PA-N24[c]; E582|        Print is the Finest that has been done or is likely to be done in
PA-N24[c]; E582|        England where drawing <its foundation> is Contemnd and absurd
PA-N24[c]; E582|        Nonsense about dots & Lozenges & Clean Strokes made to occupy the
PA-N24[c]; E582|        attention to the Neglect of all real Art I defy any Man to Cut
PA-N24[c]; E582|        Cleaner Strokes than I do or rougher when I please & assert that
PA-N24[c]; E582|        he who thinks he can Engrave or Paint either without being a
PA-N24[c]; E582|        Master of Drawing is a Fool [& he] Painting is Drawing
PA-N24[c]; E582|        on Canvas & Engraving is Drawing on Copper & nothing Else
PA-N24[c]; E582|        <Drawing is Execution & nothing Else> & he who Draws best must be
PA-N24[c]; E582|        the best Artist [&] to this I subscribe <my name as a Public
PA-N24[c]; E582|        Duty>

 
PA-N24[c]; E582|        WILLIAM BLAKE

 
PA-N25[c]; E582|        [Public Address] PAGE 25
PA-N25[c]; E582|        *P. S. I do not believe that this Absurd opinion ever was
PA-N25[c]; E582|        set on foot till in my Outset into life it was artfully publishd
PA-N25[c]; E582|        both in whispers & in print by Certain persons whose robberies
PA-N25[c]; E582|        from me made it necessary to them that I should be
PA-N25[c]; E582|        [left] hid in a corner it never was supposed that a Copy
PA-N25[c]; E582|        Could be better than an original or near so Good till a few Years
PA-N25[c]; E582|        ago it became the interest of certain envious Knaves

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