11iiiThe PREFACE.
Some content themſelves with the bare
Explication of the Theory, and have left to
the Reader the Trouble of applying the ſame
to Practice; or elſe have given only ſome of
the common Operations, and entertain us
with general Reflections on Painting; which
are indeed curio{us}, but foreign to my Pur-
poſe: For I intend not to make a Man a
Painter, but to render the Uſe and Exerciſe
of Perſpective eaſy to him.
Explication of the Theory, and have left to
the Reader the Trouble of applying the ſame
to Practice; or elſe have given only ſome of
the common Operations, and entertain us
with general Reflections on Painting; which
are indeed curio{us}, but foreign to my Pur-
poſe: For I intend not to make a Man a
Painter, but to render the Uſe and Exerciſe
of Perſpective eaſy to him.
Other Authors, which (according to the
Bulk of their Works) might be thought to
have more carefully treated of the practical
Part of Perſpective, do indeed at firſt lay
down ſome general Rules, common to them
all; but are nothing the eaſier for having
paſs’d thro’ ſo many Hands; and that, in-
deed, becauſe they have not endeavour’d to
make them ſo. They thought that all Ob-
jects might be thrown into Perſpective by
theſe Rules, and therefore it would be uſe-
leſs to ſearch after others; and judg’d it
more neceſſary to ſhew Painters the Applica-
tion of them to an infinite Number of parti-
cular Examples; tho’ that Application, at
moſt, is but repeating over again the Uſe of
the Rules already preſcrib’d. But what Ad-
vantage can Painters gain from hence, if
they do not well underſtand general Opera-
tions? And if they do, I cannot conceive
Bulk of their Works) might be thought to
have more carefully treated of the practical
Part of Perſpective, do indeed at firſt lay
down ſome general Rules, common to them
all; but are nothing the eaſier for having
paſs’d thro’ ſo many Hands; and that, in-
deed, becauſe they have not endeavour’d to
make them ſo. They thought that all Ob-
jects might be thrown into Perſpective by
theſe Rules, and therefore it would be uſe-
leſs to ſearch after others; and judg’d it
more neceſſary to ſhew Painters the Applica-
tion of them to an infinite Number of parti-
cular Examples; tho’ that Application, at
moſt, is but repeating over again the Uſe of
the Rules already preſcrib’d. But what Ad-
vantage can Painters gain from hence, if
they do not well underſtand general Opera-
tions? And if they do, I cannot conceive