_Mr. Falconer._ There is to me one great charm in their painting, as we may judge from the specimens in Pompeii, which, though not their greatest works, indicate their school. They never crowded their canvas with figures. They presented one, two, three, four, or at most five persons, preferring one and rarely exceeding three. These persons were never lost in the profusion of scenery, dress, and decoration. They had clearly-defined outlines, and were agreeable objects from any part of the room in which they were placed. _Mr. Pallet._ They must have lost much in beauty of detail. _The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ Therein is the essential difference of ancient and modern taste. Simple beauty--of idea in poetry, of sound in music, of figure in painting--was their great characteristic. Ours is detail in all these matters, overwhelming detail. We have not grand outlines for the imagination of the spectator or hearer to fill up: his imagination has no play of its own: it is overloaded with _minutio_ and kaleidoscopical colours. _Lord Curryfin_. Detail has its own beauty. I have admired a Dutch picture of a butcher's shop, where all the charm was in detail. _The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ I cannot admire anything of the kind. I must take pleasure in the thing represented before I can derive any from the representation. _Mr. Pallet._ I am afraid, sir, as our favourite studies all lead us to extreme opinions, you think the Greek painting was the better for not having perspective, and the Greek music for not having harmony. _The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ I think they had as much perspective and as much harmony as was consistent with that simplicity which characterised their painting and music as much as their poetry. _Lord Curryfin._ What is your opinion, Mr. MacBorrowdale? _Mr. MacBorrowdale._ I think you may just buz that bottle before you. _Lord Curryfin._ I mean your opinion of Greek perspective? _Mr. MacBorrowdale._ Troth, I am of opinion that a bottle looks smaller at a distance than when it is close by, and I prefer it as a full-sized object in the foreground. _Lord Curryfin._ I have often wondered that a gentleman so well qualified as you are to discuss all subjects should so carefully avoid discussing any. _Mr. MacBorrowdale._ After dinner, my lord, after dinner. I work hard all the morning at serious things, sometimes till I get a headache, which, however, does not often trouble me. After dinner I like to crack my bottle and chirp and talk nonsense, and fit myself for the company of Jack of Dover. _Lord Curryfin._ Jack of Dover! Who was he? _Mr. MacBorrowdale._ He was a man who travelled in search of a greater fool than himself, and did not find him.{1} 1 _Jacke of Dover His Quest of Inquirie, or His Privy Search for the Veriest Foole in England._ London, 1604. Reprinted for the Percy Society, 1842.