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  • May 1, 1798
  • Page 9
  • WISDOM AND FOLLY.
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The Freemasons' Magazine, May 1, 1798: Page 9

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    Article WISDOM AND FOLLY. ← Page 3 of 3
Page 9

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Wisdom And Folly.

plexity ; next , in dreadful perturbation , gazing with eager but frig htened earnestness at some object which I could not see ; addressing hideous hugs sitting round a cauldron , and looking ^ at a pale image , pointing to his wounds , with a terror evidently arising from £ riiilt : a woman walking in her sleep , aud rubbing bloody spots on her hands . A third series consisted of a young man surveying a stronger pale

figure in armour , with a terror unmixt with guilt ; a lovely young lady out of her senses—the young man gazing at a grave . The same young mnn in a large company , of which one man was on an elevated seat , looking at persons who seemed to . be players—the man on the high seat starting up with the-strongest marks of terror and guilt .

In another series , a very old nun , with a countenance expressing grief , —successively grief , rage , and indignation : two women , that resembled himself in features , thrusting him out of a door : again , the same old man , with another old man , who was blind , and led by a person in a fantastic dress , but with a noble mien , near a white cliff : againwith a delightful countenance embracing a woman of

, great sweetness of aspect ; and , lastly , holding her dead in his arms , and exh . ibi-. ing the most frantic grief " . A series , representing two lovers in various situations , but at last both dead on . biers , had much of soft and tender melanchoty , though

without marking the phrenzy of passion expressed in the former . These were a few , of a wonderful variety of pathetic pictures on the right side of the chairman , which no person of common imagination could contemplate without believing to be real ; of common sensibility , without experiencing the same passions which the suffering characters in the painting exhibited . I saw many , apparently servants of the paintersemployed in placing

, the pifturesiii what appeared to them the best light . Numbers of those servants were bunglers ; but one David , who , I understood , was the confidential secretary of the chairman , shewed the greatest skill . He also exercised himself upon the works of other painters—A lady , also a great confident of the chairman's chief right hand painters , did not fall short of David .

My Guide , seeing me in the deepest distress from the exhibition , ol the pictures I had been contemplating , bade me turn to left . The first object that struck me was a very fat fellow , with a figure , face , and countenance at once so natural and humorous , that Misery itself must have laughed immoderately . The fat fellow appeared in several series ,- in one he and three or four others appeared

running away from two men . Afterwards , in a tavern , with a very big countenance he seemed to be describing some exploit to a young man of an uncommonly graceful appearance ; and pointing to a broken sword , with the ironical expression of the young man ' s face , shewed he did not believe him . £ TO BE CONTJNUEP . *! VOL , . \ % sn .

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1798-05-01, Page 9” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 16 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01051798/page/9/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
LONDON: Article 1
TO CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 2
MEMOIR OF THE COUNTESS OF DERBY, Article 3
DESCRIPTION OF THE SOURCE OF THE RHINE, Article 4
WISDOM AND FOLLY. Article 7
HAWKESWORTH'S NOTES on ROBERTSON'S HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. Article 10
LETTER II. Article 12
PROCEEDINGS OF A GREAT COUNCIL OF JEWS, Article 14
COLVILLE. Article 17
THE LIFE OF XIMENES, ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO. Article 23
A BRIEF ENQUIRY INTO THE LEARNING OF SHAKSPEARE. Article 29
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 33
THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. Article 38
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 41
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 45
POETRY. Article 47
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. Article 49
IRISH PARLIAMENT. Article 55
HOUSE OF COMMONS. Article 56
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 57
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Wisdom And Folly.

plexity ; next , in dreadful perturbation , gazing with eager but frig htened earnestness at some object which I could not see ; addressing hideous hugs sitting round a cauldron , and looking ^ at a pale image , pointing to his wounds , with a terror evidently arising from £ riiilt : a woman walking in her sleep , aud rubbing bloody spots on her hands . A third series consisted of a young man surveying a stronger pale

figure in armour , with a terror unmixt with guilt ; a lovely young lady out of her senses—the young man gazing at a grave . The same young mnn in a large company , of which one man was on an elevated seat , looking at persons who seemed to . be players—the man on the high seat starting up with the-strongest marks of terror and guilt .

In another series , a very old nun , with a countenance expressing grief , —successively grief , rage , and indignation : two women , that resembled himself in features , thrusting him out of a door : again , the same old man , with another old man , who was blind , and led by a person in a fantastic dress , but with a noble mien , near a white cliff : againwith a delightful countenance embracing a woman of

, great sweetness of aspect ; and , lastly , holding her dead in his arms , and exh . ibi-. ing the most frantic grief " . A series , representing two lovers in various situations , but at last both dead on . biers , had much of soft and tender melanchoty , though

without marking the phrenzy of passion expressed in the former . These were a few , of a wonderful variety of pathetic pictures on the right side of the chairman , which no person of common imagination could contemplate without believing to be real ; of common sensibility , without experiencing the same passions which the suffering characters in the painting exhibited . I saw many , apparently servants of the paintersemployed in placing

, the pifturesiii what appeared to them the best light . Numbers of those servants were bunglers ; but one David , who , I understood , was the confidential secretary of the chairman , shewed the greatest skill . He also exercised himself upon the works of other painters—A lady , also a great confident of the chairman's chief right hand painters , did not fall short of David .

My Guide , seeing me in the deepest distress from the exhibition , ol the pictures I had been contemplating , bade me turn to left . The first object that struck me was a very fat fellow , with a figure , face , and countenance at once so natural and humorous , that Misery itself must have laughed immoderately . The fat fellow appeared in several series ,- in one he and three or four others appeared

running away from two men . Afterwards , in a tavern , with a very big countenance he seemed to be describing some exploit to a young man of an uncommonly graceful appearance ; and pointing to a broken sword , with the ironical expression of the young man ' s face , shewed he did not believe him . £ TO BE CONTJNUEP . *! VOL , . \ % sn .

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