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10

masters imagination. But the fact, that the defects of great masters are apt to mislead learners, is as obviously true in painting, as in everything else. And it can hardly he doubted, that if academies exercise any influence, there under the sole direction of artists will be more likely to sanction and perpetuate their error, than those which admit in their government connoisseurs, who may be, at least, more impartial judges of nature than her professed imitators. But even if this be not so, the exclusion is impolite. Artists cannot establish themselves in defiance of that portion of the public, best qualified to judge of their works; nor hold themselves entirely independent of those, who support their exhibitions, and buy their pictures. It is essential to their success, that they should inspire others with a love of their art, and diffuse as widely as possible the taste necessary to enjoy it. These associations are highly useful in this way if they are freely opened to all who are desirous of promoting their objects. But if the direction of them is by the jealousy of artists confined to their own number, others will soon be weary of their share in establishments, when taxation and representation are so little united. When a taste for the arts is already so widely different