-of a traveller returning home. He had no in- 
:tention of remaining in London: he was only 
as-desirous to see the country of his ancestors, and 
his mind, in consequence, was more disengaged 
from professional feelings than at anye period 
from that in which his genius was first awakened. 
He considered his visit to England. as devoted 
to social leisure, the best kind of repose after 
mental exertion; but the good fortune which 
ahad hitherto attended him 'in so remarkable a 
manner, still followed him, and frustrated the 
intentions with which he was at that time 
actuated. 
Those who have at all attended to what was 
then the state of the arts in this country, and 
more particularly to the relative condition of 
artists in society, and who can compare them 
with the state of both at the present period, will 
not hesitate to regard the arrival of Mr. West as 
an important event. In the sequel of this work, 
-it may be necessary to allude to the moral and 
political causes which affect the progress of the 
tine arts-, and opportunities will, in consequence, 
arise to show how meanly they were considered,