And yet the less we attempt to do for art the better, if our
future attempts are to have no better result than such brazen troopers as
the equestrian statue of General Jackson, or even such naked
respectabilities as Greenough's Washington. There is something false and
affected in our highest taste for art; and I suppose, furthermore, we are
the only people who seek to decorate their public institutions, not by
the highest taste among them, but by the average at best.
There was also at Miss Blagden's, among other company, Mr. ------, an
artist in Florence, and a sensible man. I talked with him about Home,
the medium, whom he had many opportunities of observing when the latter
was in these parts. Mr. ------ says that Home is unquestionably a knave,
but that he himself is as much perplexed at his own preternatural
performances as any other person; he is startled and affrighted at the
phenomena which he produces. Nevertheless, when his spiritual powers
fall short, he does his best to eke them out with imposture.
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