transaction of life, where we cannot oppose ourselves to it with effect, it is by no means our duty or our interest to make ourselves uneasy, or multiply enemies on account of it. In particular, you may be assured that the traffic in antiquity, and all the enthusiasm, folly, or fraud, which may be in it, never did, nor ever can, hurt the merit of living artists: quite the contrary, in my opinion; for I have ever observed that whatever it be that turns the minds of men to any thing relative to the arts, brings artists more and more into credit and repute; and though now and then the mere broker and dealer in such things runs away with a great deal of the profit, yet in the end ingenious men will find themselves gainers by the dispositions which are nourished and diffused in the world by such pursuits. I praise exceedingly your resolution of going on well with those whose practices you cannot altogether approve-there is no living in this world upon any other terms."

If Barry ever formed the resolution of living on terms of peace with these men of virtù, his intractable temper soon broke it. He was now, by his own account, become so fastidious in his taste that even Titian could no longer please him --he looked with scorn upon all works below his own air-drawn standard of excellence, and regarded, and addressed, with sarcastic displeasure all" whose gods were not his gods. It was his misfortune that he uniformly fancied himself the conqueror in these uncivil debates: hence a growing belief that the time must come when there would be a reaction of popular feeling in favour of one who had braved martyrdom in the cause

of honesty in picture dealing. He acknowledged, meantime, the influence of his enemies in that sensitive part, the pocket, and said they had made his profession unprofitable-which he lamented, not on his own account, but for the sake of his benevolent friend, Burke. "It has been a real grief to me," he writes to his patron, "that I could not contribute to lighten the expenses your goodnature and generosity have led you into for me. I have nothing to say on my own behalf, but that I shall carry myself so, both as a man and an artist, as never to bring a blush on your face on my account. He imagines, however, that the uncivility of his opponents had done him some service, by confirming him in the resolution of playing a high game in art, and he even attributes to their malice the great progress he is making in his studies. "I saw from the beginning that I was hatedand hated for the very dispositions I relied upon to recommend me. I saw every avenue shut up from me by their power and industry, except the glorious one of my profession, so I went seriously to work and left to them the cavaliers and the wasting away of their time, in dressing up phantoms and distorted macaronies in my name.

It must be confessed that Barry looked upon life with strange eyes. "Out of the nettle danger he loved to pluck the flower safety." By living at dagger's drawing with his brethren, he avoided the expense, he said, of treats and taverns; and to their satiric comments upon his colouring, he owed, he declared, his knowledge of the merits of Titian! Having unconsciously done him these favours, his enemies commenced an attack upon him person

ally. This," he says, with a smile, " was more in their power, for though the body and the soul of a picture will discover themselves on the slightest glance, yet you know it could not be the same with such a pock-pitted hard-featured little fellow as I am.. so that I shall be surprised if you have not been frightened with the terrible accounts given of me." The answer of Mr. Burke to all this is marked by his uncommon qualities of head and heart-it shows intimate knowledge of the world and its ways, and a perfect appreciation of the failings and excellencies of the singular person to whom it is addressed. The date is London, 16th September, 1769.

"As to reports, my dear Barry, concerning your conduct and behaviour, you may be very sure they would have no kind of influence here; for none of us are of such a make as to trust to any one's report for the character of a person whom we ourselves know. Until very lately I have never heard any thing of your proceedings from others; and when I did, it was much less than I had known from myself — that you had been upon ill terms with the artists and virtuosi of Rome, without much mention of cause or consequence. If you have improved these unfortunate quarrels to your advancement in your art, you have turned a very disagreeable circumstance to a very capital advantage. However you may have succeeded in this uncommon attempt, permit me to suggest to you, with that friendly liberty which you have always had the goodness to bear from me, that you cannot possibly always have the same success, either with regard to your for

tune or your reputation. Depend upon it that you will find the same competitions, the same jealousies, the same arts and cabals, the emulations of interest and of fame, and the same agitations and passions here that you have experienced in Italy; and if they have the same effect on your temper, they will have just the same effects on your interest; and be your merit what it will, you will never be allowed to paint a picture. It will be the same at London as at Rome, and the same in Paris as in London: for the world is pretty nearly alike in all its parts: nay, though perhaps it would be a little inconvenient to me, I had a thousand times rather you should fix your residence in Rome than here, as I should not then have the mortification of seeing with my own eyes, a genius of the first rank, lost to the world, himself and his friends, as I certainly must, if you do not assume a manner of acting and thinking here totally different from what your letters from Rome have described to me. That you had just subjects of indignation always, and of anger often, I do noways doubt; who can live in the world without some trial of his patience? But believe me, my dear Barry, that the arms with which the ill-dispositions of the world are to be combated, and the qualities by which it is to be reconciled to us, and we reconciled to it, are moderation, gentleness, a little indulgence to others, and a great deal of distrust of ourselves; which are not qualities of a mean spirit, as some may possibly think them, but virtues of a great and noble kind, and such as dignify our nature as much as they contribute to our repose and fortune; for nothing can be so unworthy of a

VOL. II.

G

well-composed soul as to pass away life in bickerings and litigations; in snarling and scuffling with every one about us. Again and again, my dear Barry, we must be at peace with our species, if not for their sakes, yet very much for our own.

The conclusion of this memorable letter seems dictated by a species of inspiration, which, looking mournfully and prophetically forward, expressed in a few, clear, and eloquent words, the disastrous career of the object of all this solicitude.

"Think what my feelings must be, from my unfeigned regard for you, and from my wishes that your talents might be of use, when I see what the inevitable consequences must be of your persevering in what has hitherto been your course ever since I knew you, and which you will permit me to trace out to you beforehand. You will come here: you will observe what the artists are doing and you will sometimes speak disapprobation in plain words, and sometimes in no less expressive silence: by degrees you will produce some of your own works. They will be variously criticised: you will defend them: you will abuse those who have attacked you: expostulations, discussions, letters, possibly challenges, will go forward-you will shun your brethren-they will shun you. In the mean time gentlemen will avoid your friendship, for fear of being engaged in your quarrels: you will fall into distress, which will only aggravate your disposition for further quarrels: you will be obliged, for maintenance, to do any thing for any body: your very talents will depart for want of hope and encouragement,