solutely determined to conquer difficulties; and I will venture to promise him, that whatever may present themselves as such at first, will be overcome at last by strict attention and persevering industry. But to proceed. When he can draw a part with correctness, he may then attempt the entire subject, and by adhering to the following rules, will readily find the leading points from which he will be able to proceed with tolerable certainty. His paper, which should be of the size of the original, must be placed exactly under and close to it. He may then imagine a line drawn from the termination of some principal feature in the example down to his paper, and thence continue it faintly with his pencil towards the bottom of it. This will give the situation of that particular part, as to its distance from each side of the paper. When this is done, he must fit, with the same exactness, the end of his paper to that of the original, and continue a line from the same feature horizontally to the perpendicular

already sketched, and where these lines meet will be the true situation of the part required, which may then be marked by a dot, and so on for all the rest. From the points thus obtained the learner must proceed to draw the forms, which will by these means be made comparatively easy. This principle will be particularly useful afterwards in drawing from nature, as will be more fully explained hereafter. In copying, it may be soon omitted, as it is only intended to assist the eye at first. The style of making the outline should be clear and decided, as if done at one effort; and although this cannot be obtained without considerable practice, still the learner should aim at it in every attempt, which will finally make it easy. To render these instructions as clear as possible, I will add, that the whole should be lightly drawn at first, and when the forms and proportions appear as correct as the practitioner can make them, he should then dust off the superfluous lead, and afterwards pass a

clean line over every part, which will give all the effect of its having been done at once; at the same time he should increase the boldness of the outline as it approaches the foreground. I would advise him to avoid as much as possible what is called a sketchy or free manner, for an outline ought to convey to the spectator a clear idea of the principal masses, and of all the objects contained within them, which a sketchy or loose style can never accomplish.

Thus, my dear Sir, I have stated all that I deem necessary as far as regards mere outline. In my next I will treat of drawing from nature, which will include shade, light, shadow, &c.

I am, my dear Sir,

Most sincerely yours,

GEORGE BARRET.

MY DEAR SIR:

HAVING, in my last Letter, laid down such rules as I thought necessary to enable the pupil to copy from designs, and taking it for granted he can now handle his pencil with tolerable facility, I will in this proceed to instruct him in the way to examine real objects, which will prepare him to extend his practice to general nature. And here it will be well to remark, that he can never become an artist, who rests entirely upon what others have done; for by copying their works only, he will depend merely upon his eye and mechanical skill, and from practice may produce a copy very like the original; but until he refers to nature will never be able to perceive any of the principles that assisted the artist in the

construction of his picture: for unless he acquires a habit of thinking for himself (which the study of nature will naturally induce), he can never trace the thoughts of others upon which improvement so much depends. It will, therefore, be useful before he attempts any thing from nature, to examine carefully the tendency of lines as they recede, and the eye thus exercised will more aptly direct the hand to its purpose. This he can readily do, by standing at the end of a room and holding a ruler, or any other straight edge, at some little distance from his eye, while he keeps it exactly parallel to the wall at the opposite end, raising or depressing one end of it till it coincides with the cornice or upper line of the room. The vanishing line of the skirting-board below may be ascertained by the same method. The pupil will then discover, that the one descends and the other ascends, by the inclination of the ruler in following the lines; and it is necessary to add, that if those lines, and all that intervene, being parellel to