Elements of the philosophy of the human mind. By Dugald Stewart. Rev. and abridged, with critical and explanatory notes, for the use of colleges and schools. By Francis Bowen ...

338 IMAGINATION.
effects produced by a landscape, and abstract entirely from the
pleasure which mlay result from an accidental association of
ideas with a particular scene. The effect resulting fiom such
associations will depncnd, in a great measure, on the liveliness
with which the associated objects are conceived, and on the
a.tectinhg nature of the pictures which a creative imagination,
when once roused, will present to the mind; but the pleasures
thus -arising from the accidental exercise that a landscape may
give to the imagination, must not be confounded with- those
which it is naturally fitted to prodtuce.
(2.) Painting. - In painting, (excepting in those instances in
which it exhibits a faithful copy of a particular object,) the
oricinal idea must be formed in the imagination; and, in most
cases, the exercise of imainaztion must concutr wvith perception,
before the picture can produce that effect on the mind of the
spectator which the artist has in view. Painting, therefore, does
not belong entirely to either of the two classes of arts formerly
nentioned, but has something in common with them both.
As far as the painter aims at copyingf exactly what he sees,
he may be guided mechanically by general rules; and he requlires
no aid from that creative genius which is charalcteristical of the
poet. Thle pleasure, however, which results from painting, considered merely as an imitative art, is extremely trifling; and is
specifically different firom that which it aims to produce by
awaking the imagination. Even in portrait-painting, the servile
copyist of nature is regarded in no hi gher light than that. of a
tradesman. "Deception," as Reynolds has excellently observed,
"instead of advancing the art, is, in reality carrying it back to
its infant state. The first essays of painting were certainly
nothing' but mere imitations of individual objects; and when this
amounted to a deception, the artist had accomplished his puar
pose."
\WThen the history or the landscape painter indulges his genius
in forming new combinations of his own, he vies with the poet
in the noblest exertion of the poetical art; and he. avails himself of his professional skill, as the poet avails himself of language, only to convey the ideas in his mind. To deceive the