extraordinary height in the arts, for, with the exception of Le Seur, and
one or two others, they have ever wanted that elevation of mind which so
eminently distinguished the Romans. Though De Caylus greatly purified
painting in his time, yet his precepts and examples had little or no weight
after his death, for the art again retrograded into its original state--a
state from which the French professors, as before observed, seem incapable
of rising.

In our own days some few French artists have distinguished themselves,
particularly Lefevre, who was the chief painter to Napoleon. A full-length
portrait of the emperor in his coronation robes, for which Lefevre received
the sum of five thousand Napoleons, and which I have lately had the
pleasure of seeing, is very correct in drawing, and extremely rich and
harmonious in colour; but it wants freedom and boldness of execution.

To conclude--the French are acknowledged to do pretty well within the
precincts of their own country, though few of their pictures will stand in
competition with those of the Italians, or with those produced in our own
school.

G.W.N.

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MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.

No. XIII.