[31] The designer of a print which was published in 1753, and intended to burlesque some of the figures in the _Analysis of Beauty_, seems to have believed that Hogarth intended to have published his objections to the establishment of the academy. The print is entitled "Pugg's Graces," and the artist is represented with the legs of a satyr, and painting "Moses before Pharaoh's Daughter." One of his hoofs rests on three books, the lowest of which is labelled _Analysis of Beauty_. A little lower in the print is an open volume, on one page of which is written, _Reasons against a Public Academy_, 1753; and on the other, _No Salary_. [32] Louis XIV. founded an academy for the French at Rome; but Poussin and Le Sueur, painters who have done the most credit to France, were prior to the establishment. [33] The late Sir Robert Strange seems to have entertained an opinion somewhat similar:--"Academies, under proper regulations, are no doubt the best nurseries of the fine arts. But when the establishment of the Royal Academy at London is impartially examined, it will not, I am afraid, reflect that credit we wish upon the annals of its royal founder."--Strange's _Inquiry_, p. 61. [34] "Of the estimation in which they were held, and the taste with which they were contemplated by the Romans, we may form some judgment by a general assuring a soldier, to whom he gave in charge a statue which was the work of Praxiteles, that if he broke it, he should get another as good made in its place." [35] Transmigrations of heathen deities into apostles, etc., have been too frequent to need particular enumeration. [36] Sir Godfrey Kneller knew this, and made the most of his labours. He used to say, in his own vindication, that historical painting only revived the memory of the dead, who could give no testimony of their gratitude; but when he painted the living, he gained what enabled him to live from their bounty. [37] The president Montesquieu, the Abbés Winckelmann, Du Bos, and Le Blanc, have gravely asserted, that from the coldness of our climate, and other causes equally curious, we can never succeed in anything that requires genius. [38] "Their mode of judging subjects them to continual imposition; for what is called manner is easily copied by the lowest performer: he only fails in beauty, delicacy, and spirit!" [39] One specimen of Mr. Kent's talents in painting is in page 39. Mr. Walpole's description of some of his other pictures, and the history of his patronage, amply illustrate Hogarth's opinion of the artist's abilities in that branch. [40] How far the present situation of the Royal Academy and the arts has fulfilled or contradicted this opinion, I will not presume to determine.