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point of drawing, both pictures were no doubt 
greatly inferior to many of his subsequent works ; 
but his son, long after he hadlacquired much ce- 
lebrity, saw the picture of the Death of Socrates, 
and was of opinion that it was not surpassed by 
any of them in variety of composition, and in that 
perspicuity of narrative which is the grand cha- 
racteristic of the Artist's genius.