be historically and
documentarily valuable, in the event of the destruction of the original
picture. The studies also made by great artists for their own use,
should be sought after with the greatest eagerness; they are often to be
bought cheap; and in connection with the mechanical copies, would become
very precious: tracings from frescoes and other large works are also of
great value; for though a tracing is liable to just as many mistakes as
a copy, the mistakes in a tracing are of one kind only, which may be
allowed for, but the mistakes of a common copyist are of all conceivable
kinds: finally, engravings, in so far as they convey certain facts about
the pictures, without pretending adequately to represent or give an idea
of the pictures, are often serviceable and valuable. I can't, of course,
enter into details in these matters just now; only this main piece of
advice I can safely give you--never to buy copies of pictures (for your
private possession) which pretend to give a facsimile that shall be in
any wise representative of, or equal to, the original. Whenever you do
so, you are only lowering your taste, and wasting your money. And if
you are generous and wise, you will be ready rather to subscribe as much
as you would have given for a copy of a great picture towards its
purchase, or the purchase of some other like it, by the nation. There
ought to be a great National Society instituted for the purchase of
pictures; presenting them to the various galleries in our great cities,
and watching there over their safety: but in the meantime, you can
always act safely and beneficially by merely allowing your artist
friends to buy pictures for you, when they see good ones. Never buy for
yourselves, nor go to the foreign dealers; but let any painter whom you
know be entrusted, when he finds a neglected old picture in an old
house, to try if he cannot get it for you; then, if you like it, keep
it; if not, send it to the hammer, and you will find that you do not
lose money on pictures so purchased.

92. And the third and chief practical outcome of the matter is this
general one: Wherever you go, whatever you do, act more for
_preservation_ and less for _production_. I assure you, the world is,
generally speaking, in calamitous disorder, and just because you have
managed to thrust some of the lumber aside, and get an available corner
for yourselves, you think you should do nothing but sit spinning in it
all day long--wh