e sweet and graceful countenance of
lady ----, his former flame. The description of a face or figure, is
a needless thing, as it never conveys a true idea; it only gratifies
the imagination with a fantastic one, until the real one is seen.
So, my dear, if you have a mind to form a true notion of the divine
forms and features of the Venus and Antinous, come to Florence.

I WOULD be glad to oblige you and your friend Vertue, by executing
your commission with respect to the sketches of Raphael's cartoons at
Hampton-court; but I cannot do it to my satisfaction. I have,
indeed, seen, in the grand duke's collection, four pieces, in which
that wonderful artist had thrown freely from his pencil the first
thoughts and rude lines of some of these compositions; and as the
first thoughts of a great genius are precious, these pieces attracted
my curiosity in a particular manner; but when I went to examine them
closely, I found them so damaged and effaced, that they did not at
all answer my expectation. Whether this be owing to negligence or
envy, I cannot say; I mention the latter, because it is notorious,
that many of the modern painters have discovered ignoble marks of
envy at a view of the inimitable productions Of the ancients.
Instead of employing their art to preserve the master-pieces of
antiquity, they have endeavoured to destroy and efface many of them.
I have seen with my own eyes an evident proof of this at Bologna,
where the greatest part of the paintings in fresco on the walls of
the convent of St Michael in Bosco, done by the Carracci, and Guido
Rheni, have been ruined by the painters, who, after having copied
some of the finest heads, scraped them almost entirely out with
nails. Thus, you see, nothing is exempt from human malignity.

THE word malignity, and a passage in your letter, call to my mind the
wicked wasp of Twickenham; his lies affect me now no more; they will
be all as much despised as the story of the seraglio and the
handkerchief, of which I am persuaded he was the only inventor. That
man has a malignant and ungenerous heart; and he is base enough to
assume the mark of a moralist in order to decry human nature, and to
give a decent vent to his hatred to man and woman kind.--But I must
quit this contemptible subject, on which a just indignation would
render my pen so fertile, that, after having fatigued you with a long
letter, I would surfeit you with a supplement twice as long.
Besides, a violent h