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Panels of Mahogany are good, but heavy- ??? of Bats wood are light & level, but being soft are liable to ??? be dented to warp, and white pine is dangerous by ??? of Knots, the Turpentine from which strikes through and damages the Picture which may be painted on it.

I have seen paintings, 2 or 3 hundred years old, painted on paper that was well posted on linen. And I have known Pictures to stand well on paper alone, several ??? being well pasted together, which continued without slackening. 

For small pictures, thick sheets of tin may be ???. The surface should be roughened by means of sand in ??? paper, by which means one coat of paint may cover it sufficiently.
It is certain that no advantage can arise from elastic canvasses, because when they stretch the paint of the picture ?? not stretch without cracking. Flexible clothe have been prepared by the admicture of Soap with the paint, which, at first, seem to answer a god purpose; but at their lecture must necessarily by soft, there is danger that paint put on them, when it becomes hard must tear with the ground - The old masters preferred painting whom the firmest grounds.
Pasteboards, as prepared for ??, ?? very thick and solid, are seldom flat, and liable to bruised at the corners. ? a superior article ahs been substituted, made of Papiermacke, manufactured at Birmingham-  but it is expensive, and is heavy- yet perhaps preferable to everything ? for small Pictures.
I have found from a variety of experiments that thin paper, prepared on light frames, is more agreable to paint on than think paper- and sometimes have had the Pictures executed on it, afterwards pasted on linen cloth to render them stronger & to preserve them. Paper pasted on linen is rarely unwrinkled at the Corners & therefore inferior to that which is pasted on Pasteboard. 
Having found an extremely strong packing paper.