Aided by black it to the front aspires,

That aid withdrawn it distantly retires;

But black unmix'd, of darkest midnight hue, Still calls each object nearer to the view.

450

* Whate'er we spy thro' colour'd light or air, A stain congenial on their surface bear, While neighb'ring forms by joint reflection give And mutual take the dyes that they receive. * But where on both alike one equal light Diffusive spreads, the blending tints unite. For breaking colours thus (the ancient phrase By Artists used) fair Venice claims our praise:

455

Cum nigro antevenit propiùs; fugit absq; remotum ; Purum autem nigrum antrorsum venit usque propinquum.

Lux fucata suo tingit miscetque colore

f

332

Corpora, sicque suo, per quem lux funditur, aër.
Corpora juncta simul, circumfusosque colores 335
Excipiunt, propriumque aliis radiosa reflectunt.
Pluribus in solidis liquidâ sub luce propinquis,
Participes, mixtosque simul decet esse colores.
Hanc normam Veneti pictores ritè sequuti,

She, cautious to transgress so sage a rule,
Confin'd to soberest tints her learned school;
For tho' she lov'd by varied mode to join 461
Tumultuous crowds in one immense design,
Yet there we ne'er condemn such hostile
hues

As cut the parts or glaringly confuse;
In tinsel trim no foppish form is drest.
Still flows in graceful unity the vest;
And o'er that vest a kindred mantle spreads,
Unvaried but by power of lights and shades,
Which mildly mixing, every social dye
Unites the whole in loveliest harmony.

465

470

34

(Quæ fuit antiquis corruptio dicta colorum,)
Cùm plures opere in magno posuêre figuras,
Nè conjuncta simul variorum inimica colorum
Congeries formam implicitam, et concisa minutis
Membra daret pannis, totam unamquamque figu-

ram

Affini, aut uno tantùm vestire colore,

345

Sunt soliti; variando tonis tunicamque, togamque, Carbaseosque sinus, vel amicum in lumine et

umbra

Contiguis circum rebus sociando colorem.

h When small the space, or pure the ambient
air,

Each form is seen in bright precision clear;
But if thick clouds that purity deface,

If far extend that intervening space,
There all confus'd the objects faintly rise,
As if prepar'd to vanish from our eyes.

475

i Give them each foremost part a touch so

bright,

That, o'er the rest, its domineering light

May much prevail; yet, relative in all,

1

Let greater parts advance before the small. 480

k

Qua minus est spatii aërei, aut quà purior aër, 349 Cuncta magis distincta patent, speciesque reservant : Quâque magis densus nebulis, aut plurimus aër

Amplum inter fuerit spatium porrectus, in auras
Confundet rerum species, et perdet inanes.

Anteriora magis semper finita, remotis
Incertis dominentur et abscedentibus, idque
More relativo, ut majora minoribus extent.

h XXXVII. Of the Interposition of Air.

i XXXVIII. The Rela

tion of Distances.

355

* XXXVII. Aër interpositus.

'XXXVIII. Distantiarum

Relatio.

"Minuter forms, when distantly we trace, Are mingled all in one compacted mass;

Such the light leaves that clothe remoter woods,

And such the waves on wide-extended floods.

Let each contiguous part be firm allied, 485 Nor labour less the separate to divide ;

Yet so divide that to th' approving eye

They both at small and pleasing distance lie.

• Forbid two hostile colours close to meet,

Ο

And win with middle tints their union

sweet;

490

Cuncta minuta procul massam densantur in unam; Ut folia arboribus sylvarum, et in æquore fluctus.

Contigua inter se coëant, sed dissita distent,
Distabuntque tamen grato, et discrimine parvo.
* Extrema extremis contraria jungere noli;
Sed medio sint usque gradu sociata coloris.

I

" XXXIX. Of Bodies which are distanced.

" XL. Of contiguous and separated Bodies.

• XLI. Colours very opposite to each other never to be joined.

3.60

XXXIX. Corpora pro

cul distantia.

XL. Contigua et Dis

sita.

XLI. Contraria extrema fugienda.

Yet varying all thy tones, let some aspire • Fiercely in front, some tenderly retire.

Vain is the hope by colouring to display The bright effulgence of the noon-tide ray, Or paint the full-orb'd Ruler of the skies 495 With pencils dipp'd in dull terrestrial dyes : But when mild Evening sheds her golden light; When morn appears array'd in Modest white; When soft suffusion of the vernal shower 499 Dims the pale sun; or, at the thund'ring hour, When, wrapt in crimson clouds, he hides his head,

Then catch the glow and on the canvas spread.

"Corporum erit tonus atque color variatus ubique; Quærat amicitiam retro; ferus emicet ante.

X

365

Supremum in tabulis lumen captare diei, Insanus labor artificum; cùm attingere tantum Non pigmenta queant: aurcam sed vespere lucem, Seu modicùm mane albentem; sive ætheris actam Post hyemen nimbis transfuso sole caducam ; Seu nebulis fultam accipient, tonitruque rubentem, 37°