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there are honorable exceptions to this charge, I do not deny; but they are rare, and the exceptions prove the rule. But it was not merely the waste of those means, in the encouragement of imposture, that, if flowing in right channels, would encourage native talent, that i deprecated; it was to the spirit of false and illiberal criticism on modern art, which it occasions, and which is the worst evil of the two, that I also adverted. Show me a man who is smitten with this mania for picture dealing, and I will generally show you one who looks with contempt on modern art; who decries the works of the living artists, and applies to their efforts degrading epithets; who sees their faults, and is blind to their beauties; who makes no allowance for the infancy of genius, nor looks with kindness on the first tottering steps of its course; and who can produce the exploded dogmas of the schools with an air of authority to silence any who maintain for the modern schools, any rank but that of the lowest. If authority is demanded for so bold a delineation, I will refer to the history of the rise and progress of Art in England, as furnishing full materials for the likeness; and to every distinguished artist in our country for confirmation in his own experience of such efforts. 
Do not let me be misunderstood; I am not speaking of the real connoisseur who may honestly prefer a small and genuine collection of works of the old masters, to a larger collection by modern artists; but of the flippant, half-taught pretender to taste, such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, aptly desiginates as one, of whose opinions alone, of all mankind, "no use can be made," "a half learned connoisseur who has quitted nature, and not acquired art." It is a character of this description that I would expose, often united in the person of a vender of old pictures, and who turns his pedantry to account by imposing, on those whom he can make his dupes, first, his crude but plausible opinions, and then their worthy accompaniment his precious ancient merchandize. It is against such that I endeavored betimes to put the public on their guard, and not against those who would introduce into the country the real masterpieces of An