which they have foftened and refined the heart. It is not therefore the affectation of pedantry, nor an implicit obedience to prefcription, which lead us to commend them; but their own intrinfic and incomparable beauties draw forth the fpontaneous facrifice of juftice, which we are eager to offer at the fhrine of Genius. The continuation and the stability of their fame depend, not upon fafhion, but upon the warm and fincere approbation of every fenfible and well-informed mind. From this conviction, the claffical reader may venture to predict, that as long as true tafte flourishes, they will ever be ftudied and admired; and when once they are ridiculed and thrown afide, fuch neglect will be a melancholy proof of the degeneracy of mankind, and will prove a fure indication of the approach of thofe dark ages, in which they fall a prey to ignorance and barbarifm. The pleasures enjoyed by the man of tafte delight the mind, without exhaufting the fpirits. In his moft improved ftate, he is neither undiftinguifhing nor faftidious, neither too eafy nor too difficult to be pleafed. He views all objects with a difpofition fuitable to their nature, and is fometimes foftened by the pathetic, fometimes enraptured with the beautiful, and fometimes elevated by thé fublime, and feels a noble dignity of foul refulting from the confcioufnefs and enjoyment of their attractions. For his gratification are difplayed the various works of nature and art-the charms of poetry, the graces of painting, and the melodious ftrains of mufic. Correctness 3 Correctnefs and elegance are the objects of his fearch and he looks with peculiar pleafure upon thofe fpecimens of art, which are general without indiftinctnefs, and accurate without tameness or fervility. He remarks many minute beauties, where a common obferver fees none'; and his acuteness of perception prevents him from being deluded by falfe and fpecious ornaments. Disliking equally to exprefs himself in the language of high panegyric, or illiberal cenfure, he utters upon all occafions, when his fentiments are called for, the dictates of candour with the warmth of enthufiafin. He excufes many faults for the fake of the beauties, 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 "It is true, that other men may fee as well as a painter, but not with fuch eyes: a man is taught to fee as well as to dance; and the beauties of nature open themfelves to our fight by little and little, after a long practice in the art of seeing. A judicious well-inftructed eye fees a wonderful beauty in the fhapes and colours of the commoneft things, and what are com paratively inconfiderable." 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. Queft. lib. ii. "Si neceffe eft in alterutram errare partem, omnia eorum legentibus placere, quam multa difplicere maluerim," Quint. lib. x. cap. 1. See Addison on the Pleasures of the Imagination, kind with thofe of another; and refers every work to that standard of excellence, which the productions of the greatest masters have enabled him to erect. He, whofe 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 faid to poffefs an additional fenfe. When he views the prospects of nature, he feels a fatisfaction far more delicate and more pleafing than that which is experienced by the taftelefs owner of the best fpecimens of the fine arts. He is perfuaded, that riches are only valuable either as miniftering to the wants of the neceffitous, or as bestowing upon the external decorations of life, which indeed are childish and frivolous, if they do not difplay elegance of mind. The cabinets, galleries, palaces, and parks of others adminifter to his pleafure; and he finds an agreeable companion in every picture, statue, and medal. By the purfuits of Tafte, the attention is drawn off from fenfual indulgence and low amufements. They form the middle link in the chain of pleasures, as they exceed those which are merely corporeal, and lead to fuch as are fpeculative and abftract. They give an elegant turn and caft of fentiment; they raife the attention above fordid intereft, and dispose it for reflection and tranquillity, and they fill the mind with beautiful images, and furnifl agreeable fubjects for conver fation. An An intimate acquaintance with the works of genius, nature, and art, as difplayed in their most fublime and beautiful forms, has an immediate tendency to expand the faculties of the mind, and to give the moft engaging views of mankind and of Providence. By the cultivation of Taste upon fuch principles, the connexion between the feelings of natural and moral beauty is difcovered, and the pleafures derived from the eye and the ear terminate in the enlargement of the heart, and the improvement of the focial affections; and thus is the cultivation of Taste carried to its greatest height. Hence, as from being converfant with the works of the best masters, the man of tafte diflikes whatever is unnatural, affected, and vulgar, and is gratified only with what is beautiful and fair; fo he will be difpofed, by a congeniality of fentiment, to reject whatever is depraved and vicious, and to adhere to that which is noble and honourable. The fenfibi lity 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 intercourfe with the world, the heart may be foftened, the manners refined, and the temper fweetened by a well-directed attention to the arts of imitation. The improvement of Tafte, therefore, will, if thus purfued, anfwer the moft valuable of all purposes, and not only form a refined critic and connoiffeur, but give to magnanimity, generofity, and every amiable quality, their proper afcendency above meannefs, depravity, and felfishnets. It will not only impart much of that refinement |