A Lie
But the power of discovering. . . can be acquired only by experience; . . .
A Lie
[P 58] . . . art [must] get above all singular forms, local customs, particularities, and details of
every kind.
A Folly
Singular & Particular Detail is the Foundation of the Sublime
The most beautiful forms have something about them like weakness, minuteness, or
imperfection.
Minuteness is their whole Beauty
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[P 59] This idea [acquired by habit of observing] . . . which the Artist calls the Ideal Beauty, is
the great leading principle. . . .
Knowledge of Ideal Beauty. is Not to be Acquired It is Born with us Innate Ideas. are
in Every Man Born with him. they are Himself. The Man who says that we
have No Innate Ideas must be a Fool & Knave. Having No Con-Science
Science>
[P 60] . . . an artist becomes possessed of the idea of that central form. . . from which every
deviation is deformity.
One Central Form Composed of all other Forms being Granted it does not therefore
follow that all other Forms are Deformity
. . . the ancient sculptors. . . being indefatigable in the school of nature, have left models of that
perfect form. . . .
All Forms are Perfect in the Poets Mind. but these are not Abstracted nor
Compounded from Nature
[P 61] [Even the] great Bacon treats with ridicule the idea of confining proportion to rules, or of
producing beauty by selection.
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