33
traced faithfully and exactly from the originals; so that they require little comment. There is a decisive idea attached to each of them: the buildings are placed firm upon the ground; and there is a general taste in the disposition, and variety in the designs, the result of a mind gifted with just feeling, and fertile resources. His performances of this kind were so numerous, that these plates might have been multiplied to a considerable number; but the six here selected were thought sufficient for a specimen of his talent in composition.
Yet, as my panegyric on such a subject can carry with it no recommendation, I subjoin the testimony of Mr. Blake to this instance of peculiar ingenuity, who has given me his opinion of these various performances in the following terms.
"They are all firm, determinate outline, or identical form. Had the hand which executed these little ideas been that of a plagiary, who works only from the memory, we should have seen blots, called masses;
D
