colony from abroad dwindled by degrees; for they were of themselves unfortunately incapable of propagating the breed.

Music having thus lost its splendour, Painting is now become the sole object of fashionable care. The title of connoisseur in that art is at present the safest passport in every fashionable society; a well-timed shrug, and admiring attitude, and one or two exotic tones of exclamation, are sufficient qualifications for men of low circumstances to curry favour. Even some of the young nobility are themselves carly instructed in handling the pencil, while their happy parents, big with expectation, foresee the walls of every apartment covered with the manufactures of their posterity.

But many of the English are not content with giving all their time to this art at home; some young men of distinction are found to travel through Europe with no other intent than that of understanding and collecting pictures, studying seals, and describing statues. On they travel from this cabinet of curiosities to that gallery of pictures; waste the prime of life in wonder; skilful in pictures, ignorant in men; yet impossible to be reclaimed, because their follies take shelter under the names of delicacy and taste.

It is true, Painting should have due encouragement; as the painter can undoubtedly fit up our apartments in a much more elegant manner than the upholsterer; but I should think a man of fashion makes but an indifferent exchange, who lays out all that time in furnishing his house, which he should have employed in the furniture of his head. A person, who shews no other symptoms of taste than his cabinet or gallery, might as well boast to me of the furniture of his kitchen.

I know no other motive but vanity that induces the great to testify such an inordinate passion for pictures;

VOL. III.

K

pictures; after the piece is bought, and gazed at eight or ten days successively, the purchaser's pleasure must surely be over; all the satisfaction he can then have is to shew it to others; he may be considered as the guardian of a treasure of which he makes no manner of use; his gallery is furnished not for himself but the connoisseur, who is generally some humble flatterer, ready to feign a rapture he does not feel; and as necessary to the happiness of a picture-buyer, as gazers are to the magnificence of an Asiatic procession.

I have enclosed a letter from a youth of distinction, on his travels, to his father in England; in which he appears addicted to no vice, seems obedient to his governor, of a good natural disposition, and fond of improvement; but at the same time early taught to regard cabinets and galleries as the only proper schools of improvement, and to consider a skill in pictures as the properest knowledge for a man of quality.

"We have been but two days at Antwerp; "wherefore I have sat down as soon as possible to "give you some account of what we have seen since "our arrival, desirous of letting no opportunity "pass without writing to so good a father. Im"mediately upon alighting from our Rotterdam ma"chine, my governor who is immoderately fond of

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paintings, and at the same time an excellent judge, "would let no time pass till we paid our respects to "the church of the virgin-mother, which contains "treasure beyond estimation. We took an infinity "of pains in knowing it's exact dimensions, and dif"ferred half a foot in our calculation; so I leave "that to some succeeding information. I really be"lieve my governor and I could have lived and died there. There is scarce a pillar in the whole church

"that

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"that is not adorned by a Reubens, a Vander Meuy"len, a Vandyke, or a Woverman. What atti"tudes, carnations, and draperies! I am almost in"duced to pity the English who have none of those "exquisite pieces among them. As we are willing "to let slip no opportunity of doing business, we "immediately after went to wait on Mr. Hogendorp, "whom you have so frequently commended for his judicious collection. His cameas are indeed beyond price; his intaglio's not so good. He shewed "us one of an officiating flamen, which he thought "to be an antique ; but my governor, who is not to "be deceived in these particulars, soon found it to be "an arrant cinque cento. I could not, however, suf"ficiently admire the genius of Mr. Hogendorp, "who has been able to collect from all parts of the “world a thousand things which nobody knows the "use of. Except your lordship and my governor, "I do not know any body I admire so much. He "is indeed a surprizing genius. The next morning early, as we were resolved to take the whole day "before us, we sent our compliments to Mr. Van Sprokken, desiring to see his gallery, which re"quest he very politely complied with. His gallery "measures fifty feet by twenty, and is well filled; "but what surprized me most of all, was to see an "holy family just like your lordship's, which this in

genious gentleman assures me is the true original. "I own this gave me inexpressible uneasiness, and I "fear it will to your lordship, as I had flattered my"self that the only original was in your lordship's "possession; I would advise you, however, to take "yours down till it's merit can be ascertained, my "governor assuring me, that he intends to write a

long dissertation to prove it's originality. One "might study in this city for ages, and still find "something new: we went from this to view the "cardinal's statues, which are really very fine; there

!

hear the wisdom of his lips, and thank him for all the happiness to which he has introduced me.

The wretch whom fortune has made my master, has lately purchased several slaves of both sexes: among the rest I hear a christian captive talked of with admiration. The eunuch who bought her, and who is accustomed to survey beauty with indifference, speaks of her with emotion! her pride, however, astonishes her attendant slaves not less than her beauty. It is reported that she refuses the warmest solicitations of her haughty lord: he has even offered to make her one of his four wives. upon changing her religion, and conforming to his. It is probable she cannot refuse such extraordinary offers, and her delay is perhaps intended to enhance her favours.

I have just now seen her; she inadvertently approached the place without a veil, where I sat writing. She seemed to regard the heavens alone with fixed attention: there her most ardent gaze was directed. Genius of the sun! what unexpected softness! what animated grace! her beauty seemed the transparent covering of virtue. Celestial beings could not wear a look of more perfection, while sorrow humanized her form, and mixed my admiration with pity. I rose from the bank on which I sat, and she retired; happy that none observed us; for such us ; for such an interview might have been fatal.

I have regarded, till now, the opulence and the power of my tyrant, without envy; I saw him with a mind incapable of enjoying the gift of fortune, and consequently regarded him as one loaded, rather han enriched, with its favours; but at present, when that so much beauty is reserved only for him; "fer ny charms should be lavished on a wretch "thatte eling the greatness of the blessing, I nctance to which I have hitherto

But

But let not my father impute those uneasy sensations to so trifling a cause as love. No, never let it be thought that your son, and the pupil of the wise Fum Hoam, could stoop to so degrading a passion, I am only displeased at seeing so much excellence so unjustly disposed of.

The uneasiness which I feel is not for myself, but for the beautiful christian. When I reflect on the barbarity of him for whom she is designed, I pity, indeed I pity her; when I think that she must only share one heart, who deserves to command a thousand; excuse me, if I feel an emotion, which universal benevolence extorts from me. As I am convinced that you take a pleasure in those sallies of humanity, and are particularly pleased with compassion, I could not avoid discovering the sensibility with which I felt this beautiful stranger's distress. I have for a while forgot, in her's, the miseries of my own hopeless situation: the tyrant grows every day more severe; and love, which softens all other minds into tenderness, seems only to have increased his severity. Adieu.

LETTER XXXV.

TO THE SAME.

THE whole Haram is filled with a tumultuous joy; Zelis, the beautiful captive, has consented to embrace the religion of Mahomet, and become one of the wives of the fastidious Persian. It is impossible to describe the transport that sits on every face on this occasion. Music and feasting fill every apartment,