71 
same time, it might be construed into an injudi- 
cious concealment, if it were not mentioned that 
Governor Hamilton, who, at that period presided 
with so much popularity over the affairs of the 
province, possessed a few pictures, consisting; 
however, chiefly of family portraits. Among 
them was a St. Ignatius, which was found in the 
course of the preceding war on board a Spanish 
prize, and which Mr. Pennington obtained leave 
for West to copy. The Artist had made choice 
of it himself, without being aware of its merits as 
a work of art, for it was not until several years 
after that he discovered it to be a fine piece of the 
Morillo school, and in the best style of the master. 
XI. This copy was greatly admired by all who 
saw it, and by none more than his valuable friend 
Provost Smith, to whom it suggested the notion 
that portrait-painting might be raised to some- 
thing greatly above the exhibition of a mere phy- 
sical likeness; and he in consequence endeavoured 
to impress upon the mind of his pupil, that cha- 
racteristic painting opened a new line in the art, 
only inferior in dignity to that of history, but re- 
quiring, perhaps, a nicer discriminative tact of.