the boundaries of the human mind, and exhibit the fairest and most general ideas of nature in the brightest forms, and most elegant and energetic language. They have reared the standard of intellectual strength, to which all succeeding writers have repaired. They have raised their fame upon a foundation too solid to be shaken by caprice, or fastidiousness of opinion; for it is supported by the general taste of the best informed part of mankind. They have pleased because they have copied nature in her most beautiful form, and represented her in the most graceful and engaging attitudes. And they are justly intitled to attention, veneration, and gratitude, for the knowledge which they have conveyed to the understanding, the images with which they have brightened the fancy, and the sentiments with which they have softened and refined the heart. It is not therefore the affectation of pedantry, or an implicit obedience to prescription, which leads us to commend them; but their own intrinsic and incomparable beauties draw forth the spontaneous sacrifice of justice, which we are eager to offer at the shrine of genius. The continuation and the stability of their fame depend, not upon fashion, but upon the warm and sincere approbation of every sensible and well informed mind. From this conviction, the classical reader may venture to predict, that as long as true taste flourishes, they will ever be studied and admired; and when once they are ridiculed and thrown aside, such neglect will be a melancholy proof of the degeneracy of mankind, and will prove a sure indication of the approach of those dark ages, in which they fall a prey to ignorance and barbarism.

The pleasures enjoyed by the man of taste delight the mind, without exhausting the spirits. In his most

improved state he is neither undistinguishing nor fastidious, neither too easy nor too difficult to be pleased. He views all objects with a disposition suitable to their nature, and is sometimes softened by the pathetic, sometimes enraptured with the beautiful, and sometimes elevated by the sublime, and feels a noble dignity of soul resulting from the consciousness and enjoyment of their attractions. For his gratification are displayed the various works of nature and artthe charms of poetry, the graces of painting, and the melodious strains of music. Correctness and elegance are the objects of his search: and he looks with peculiar pleasure upon those specimens of art, which are general without indistinctness, and accurate without tameness or servility. He remarks many minute beauties, where a common observer sees none; and his acuteness of perception prevents him from being deluded by false and specious ornaments.* Disliking equally to express himself in the language of high panegyric, or illiberal censure, be utters upon all occasions, when his sentiments are called for, the dictates of candour with the warmth of enthusiasm. He excuses many faults for the sake of the beauties,

"It is true, that other men may see as well as a painter, but not with such eyes: a man is taught to see, as well as to dance; and the beauties of nature open themselves to our sight by little and little, after a long practice in the art of seeing. A judicious well-instructed eye sees a wonderful beauty in the shapes and colours of the commonest things, and what are comparatively inconsiderable." Richardson, p. 91. Webb on Painting, p. 12. "Quam multa vident pictores in umbris, et in eminentia, quæ nos non, videmus? quam multa quæ nos fugiunt in cantu, exaudiunt in eo genere exercitati? Cicero, Acad. Quest. lib. ii.

to which they are allied; for he looks upon genius, as he does upon virtue, as exhibited in the imperfect characters of mankind; and being struck with its approaches to that perfection, which is unattainable, makes allowance for the failings of human nature.* He compares the beauties of one kind with those of another; and refers every work to that standard of excellence, which the productions of the greatest masters have enabled him to erect.

But while he aims at this refined character, he endeavours to divest himself of prejudice, and takes the most enlarged and comprehensive view of every subject. He endeavours to place himself in the exact situation of the person, whose productions he contemplates; makes due allowance for the peculiar habits of life, and prejudices of education, both of the artist and his countrymen; and at the same time imposes a due restraint on his own feelings; for he represses the envy of a rival, the petulance of a sciolist, the partiality of a friend, and the acrimony of an enemy. The man of taste is a genuine philanthropist, and a citizen of the world at large. If he is influenced by any bias, it is always in favour of genius; and the severity of his judgment is allayed by candour and good nature.

He, whose mind is thus gifted by nature, and refined by education, has one faculty of enjoyment more than the illiterate and the vulgar, and may be said to possess an additional sense. When he views the prospects

* «Si necesse est in alterutram errare partem, omnia eorum legentibus placere, quam multa displicere maluerim. Quint. lib. x, cap. 1. See Addison on the Pleasures of the Imagination.

of nature, he feels a satisfaction far more delicate and more pleasing than that which is experienced by the tasteless owner of the largest estate. He is persuaded that riches are only valuable either as ministering to the wants of the necessitous, or as bestowed upon the external decorations of life, which indeed are childish and frivolous, if they do not display elegance of mind. The cabinets, galleries, palaces, and parks of others administer to his pleasure; and he finds an agreeable companion in every picture, medal, and statue. By the pursuits of Taste, the attention is drawn off from sensual indulgence and low amusements. They promote tranquillity of temper, and thus become the allies of virtue, and the friends of the social affections. They form the middle link in the chain of pleasures, as they exceed those which are merely corporeal, and lead to such as are speculative and abstract. They give an elegant turn and cast of sentiment; they divert the attention from the turbulence of passion, and the sordidness of interest, and dispose it for tranquillity and reflection. They fill the mind with beautiful images, furnish agreeable subjects of conversation, and, as they are connected with a knowledge of mankind, and the operations of human intellect, they contribute to prepare us for the business of life, and the intercourse of society.

An intimate acquaintance with the works of genius, nature, and art, as displayed in their most sublime and beautiful forms, has an immediate tendency to expand the faculties of the mind, and to give the most engaging views of mankind and of Providence. By the cultivation of Taste upon such principles, the connexion between the feelings of natural and moral beauty is discovered, and the pleasures derived from

the eye and the ear terminate in the enlargement of the heart, and the improvement of the social affections; and thus is the cultivation of Taste carried to its most exalted height. Hence, as from being conversant with the works of the best masters, the man of taste dislikes whatever is unnatural, affected, and vulgar, and is gratified only with what is beautiful and fair; so he will be disposed, by a congeniality of sentiment, to reject whatever is depraved and vicious, and to adhere to that which is noble and honourable. The sensibility of the excellence of art and nature is favourable to the enjoyment of moral beauty; for if the mind has been duly improved by education, and is not corrupted by intercourse with the world, the heart may be softened, the manners refined, and the temper sweetened by a well directed attention to the arts of imitation. The improvement of Taste, therefore, will, if thus pursued, answer the most valuable of all purposes, and not only form a refined critic and connoisseur, but give to magnanimity, generosity, and every amiable quality, their proper ascendency above meanness, depravity, and selfishness. It will not only impart much of that refinement and elegance of thinking, which characterised an ADDISON, a SPENCE, a GRAY, and a REYNOLDS; but contribute to the love and the improvement of those virtues, which were the fairest ornaments of their minds.