A few, indeed, there were, as we have noticed, in every place, who rose conspicuous above those popular prejudices and that ignorance which obscured Italy, and whose aim was to select from the masters of different states the chief merit of each; a method of which the Campi of Cremona more especially furnished commendable examples. Yet these artists being unequal in point of genius and learning, broken into different schools, separated by private interests, accustomed to direct their pupils only in the exact path they themselves trod, and always confined within the limits of their native province, failed to instruct Italy, or at least to propagate the method of correct and laudable imitation. This honour was reserved for Bologna, whose destiny was declared to be the art of teaching, as governing was said to be that of Rome; and it was not the work of an academy, but of a single house. Gifted with genius, intent upon attaining the secrets more than the stipends of their art, and unanimous in their resolves, the family of the Caracci discovered the true style of imitation. First, they inculcated it through the neighbouring state of Romagna, whence it was communicated to the rest of Italy; so that in a little while nearly the whole country was filled with its reputation. The result of their learning went to shew that the artist ought to divide his studies between nature and art, and that he should alternately keep each in view, selecting only, according to his natural talents and disposition, what was most enviable in both. By such means, that school, which appeared last in the series that flourished, became the first to instruct the age; and what it had acquired from each it afterwards taught to all: a school which, until that period, had assumed no form or character to distinguish it from others, but which subsequently produced almost as many new manners, as the individuals of the family and their pupils. The mind, like the pen, would gladly arrive at that fortunate epoch; aiming at the most compendious ways to reach it, and studiously avoiding whatever may impede or divert its course. Let Malvasia exclaim against Vasari as much as he pleases: let him vent his indignation upon his prints, in which Bagnacavallo appears with a goat's physiognomy, when he was entitled to that of a gentleman: let him farther vituperate his writings, in which Bolognese professors are either omitted, dismissed with faint praise, or blamed, until one Mastro Amico and one Mastro Biagio fall under his lash:--to attempt to reconcile or to aggravate such feuds will form little part of my task. Concerning this author I have sufficiently treated in other places; though I shall not scruple to correct, or to supply his information in case oaf need, on the authority of several modern writers.[1] Nor shall I fail to point out in Malvasia occasional errors in sound criticism, which seem to have escaped him in the effervescence of that bitter controversy.