A Brief Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century: Part First; in Two Volumes: Containing a Sketch of the Revolutions and Improvements in Science, Arts, and Literature During that Period, Volume 1

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T. and J. Swords, 1803 - Art, Modern - 510 pages

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Page ix - And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night ; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days,
Page 392 - Sir Joshua Reynolds was, on very many accounts, one of the most memorable men of his time. He was the first Englishman who added the praise of the elegant arts to the other glories of his country.
Page 98 - And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
Page 406 - The advantages of this instrument are, that its tones are incomparably sweet beyond those of any other ; that they may be swelled and softened at pleasure by stronger or weaker pressures of the finger, and continued to any length ; and that the instrument, being once well tuned, never again wants tuning.
Page 337 - But now the Great Map of Mankind is unrolled at once; and there is no state or Gradation of barbarism, and no mode of refinement which we have not at the same instant under our View.
Page xii - The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new ? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
Page 392 - Englishman who added the praise of the elegant arts to the other glories of his country. In taste — in grace — in facility — in happy invention — and in the richness and harmony of colouring, he was equal to the greatest masters of the renowned ages. In portrait he went beyond them ; for he communicated to that description of the art, in which English artists are most engaged, a variety...
Page 249 - The remote causes are certain sedative powers applied to the nervous system, which, diminishing the energy of the brain, thereby produce a debility in the whole of the functions, and particularly in the action of the extreme vessels.
Page 474 - For if an equal portion of each of these rays, one after another, be made to illuminate a minute object, a printed page for instance, it will not be seen distinctly at the same distance when illuminated by each. We must stand nearest the object when it is illuminated by the violet: we see distinctly at a somewhat greater distance when the object is illuminated by the indigo ray ; at a greater when vOL.
Page 392 - ... masters of the renowned ages. In portrait he went beyond them; for he communicated to that description of the art, in which English artists are the most engaged, a variety, a fancy, and a dignity derived from the higher branches, which even those who professed them in a superior manner did not always preserve when they delineated individual nature. His portraits remind the spectator of the invention of history, and the amenity of landscape. In painting portraits he appeared not to be raised upon...

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