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[[left margin]] Let's have a new crop - type gallery of distinguished faces copies- [/left margin]

chiefly consist of copies of them from the best authorities, tho not to exclude orig. portr. Am. should follow this example of her parent country.
Cunningham, speaking  of portraits, says "It is pleasant. to read the social & domestic affections of the country in these immeasurable productions ... & there can be no doubt that portr [[portrait]], which give the form & soul of poets & statesmen & warriors & all whose actions or whose thoughts lend luster to the land, are to be received as illustrations of history
[[left margin]] History pntg vs portraiture [[/left margin]] [[star]] It is true that historical pictures may in some degree interest everyone, while the portr is usually valued only by a few friends or relatives. Yet the portr of known & even unknown characters, when well executed, are highly esteemed in all the Eur. galleries. The last portr of Dr. Johnson by Sir Josh. Reynolds [[good guess]] which [[good guess]] recently sold for 150 guineas & I have seen in the gallery of Cardinal ? of Rome [[crossed out]] the [[/crossed out]] portr [[crossed out]] of [[/crossed out]] by Rembr [[Rembrandt]], a mere head of his mother, for which the cardinal had paid 30 thous. francs.
[[star]] Historical paintings are dreams which each portr enacts according to his own [[left margin]] [[star]] [[/left margin]] fancy. But portraiture lends to them the persuasion of its own reality & the sanction of its individual truth. All the rest is 

Transcription Notes:
I assume every instance of portr means portrait (I couldn't find any instances of this on other pages) Assuming Am. is short for America.