I have already shown the probable origin of painting, its earliest application to the service of religion, and its use as a method of recording events among some nations, before the invention of alphabetical writing. While it was confined chiefly to the latter purpose, it remained fixed, and incapable of improvement; but as soon as alphabetical writing was either invented or adopted in any country, the imitative arts became free, and improved in feeling, spirit, and expression, as well as in execution. While the Grecian states and cities were struggling for national independence and civil freedom, the arts maintained a severe and almost awful character, devoted exclusively to religion and patriotism. But those great objects once attained, society became more polished; a larger space was allotted to the exercise of the imagination. Various sects of Philosophers sprang up: a new race of Poets arose; and the arts losing part of their grandeur with their austerity, began to partake of the blandishments of those luxurious times, that succeeded to the great political struggles of the country. Painting was capable of assisting the task of the moral teachers, by her power of expressing passion. She illustrated the dreams of the poets with graceful compositions, formed no less of imaginary beings than of real personages; and, for a long period, the Virtues and the Graces equally presided over the painter’s study. But it was natural that, in the great diversity of tastes, some should seek after the mere ornament that the arts could furnish. Hence the minor walks of painting began to be cultivated apart from the greater. And something was found to gratify every spectator in the various departments of this enchanting art. It has been the custom to distribute all the various works of art into three or four classes, each comprehending a most incongruous variety[142]. The first place is always allowed to HISTORIC PAINTING, which, as now understood, means everything that is not portrait, or domestic scenery, or landscape, or flowers, or caricature, from the Last Judgment of Michael Angelo, down to a sleeping nymph, or a weeping Magdalene[143]. PORTRAIT comes next, and even those who have seen Giulio II. are not ashamed to place in the same class, the _Lord Henrys_ and _Lady Janes_, Les _Barons de T._, or Les _Comtesses de V._, that annually adorn the walls of the London and Paris exhibitions. With the FAMILIAR LIFE class, as now understood, I do not quarrel; if the Dutch and Flemings, two centuries ago, far exceeded all we do in execution, we moderns are much above them in sense and feeling; in having a story to tell and telling it well. Besides, the words _familiar life_ admit at once every variety of subject, from genteel comedy to broad farce. It appears to have been cultivated with some success by the ancients.