Excerpt from Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Late President of the Royal Academy: Comprising Original Anecdotes, of Many Distinguished Persons, His Contemporaries; And a Brief Analysis of His Discourses; To Which Are Added, Varieties on Art The last century may be said to have formed an era in the progressive refinement of the British em pire in all matters of taste; an era from whence future historians will date our advancement in the arts, and our rivalry of the most polished nations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.