ce on his
easel, but that it will be totally different in idea from all that he
has ever done before; and when I have opposed this inexhaustible
knowledge or imagination, whichever it may be, to the perpetual
repetition of some half-dozen conceptions by Claude and Poussin, I have
been met by the formidable objection, enunciated with much dignity and
self-satisfaction on the part of my antagonist--"That is not painting
general truths, that is painting particular truths." Now there must be
something wrong in that application of a principle which would make the
variety and abundance which we look for as the greatest sign of
intellect in the writer, the greatest sign of error in the painter; and
we shall accordingly see, by an application of it to other matters,
that, taken without limitation, the whole proposition is utterly false.
For instance, Mrs. Jameson somewhere mentions the exclamation of a lady
of her acquaintance, more desirous to fill a pause in conversation than
abundant in sources of observation: "What an excellent book the Bible
is!" This was a very general truth indeed, a truth predicable of the
Bible in common with many other books, but it certainly is neither
striking nor important. Had the lady exclaimed--"How evidently is the
Bible a divine revelation!" she would have expressed a particular truth,
one predicable of the Bible only; but certainly far more interesting and
important. Had she, on the contrary, informed us that the Bible was a
book, she would have been still more general, and still less
entertaining. If I ask any one who somebody else is, and receive for
answer that he is a man, I get little satisfaction for my pains; but if
I am told that he is Sir Isaac Newton, I immediately thank my neighbor
for his information. The fact is, and the above instances may serve at
once to prove it if it be not self-evident, that generality gives
importance to the _subject_, and limitation or particularity to the
_predicate_. If I say that such and such a man in China is an
opium-eater, I say nothing very interesting, because my subject (such a
man) is particular. If I say that all men in China are opium-eaters, I
say something interesting, because my subject (all men) is general. If I
say that all men in China eat, I say nothing interesting, because my
predicate (eat) is general. If I say that all men in China eat opium, I
say something interesting, because my predicate (eat opium) is
particular.

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