CLIO: 
 
 O R, A 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 O N 
 
 TASTE. 
 
 ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY. 
 
 By I. U. 
 
 The SECOND EDITION, 
 With large ADDITIONS. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed for T. D A v i E s, in Ruflel-ftreet, 
 Covent- Garden. M DCC LXIX.
 
 A/7S" 
 ' 
 
 P R E F A C E. 
 
 FROM the time Mr. Locke prov- 
 ed that there were no innate 
 principles, or rules to direct the actions 
 of men, imprinted on the mind, 
 tafte, morality, and confcience were 
 fuppofed by many perfons of learning, 
 particularly by all the confident fol- 
 lowers of the modern philofophy, to 
 have no determined foundation in na- 
 ture, but cuftom, or elfe the apparent 
 interefts of men, difcovered by invefti- 
 gation and comparifon of effects. 
 There appeared in that philofophy but 
 one common firft motive, or fource of 
 A 2 deter-
 
 iv PREFACE. 
 
 determination and action to man and 
 brute ; and the human divine mind 
 was only confidered, as endued with 
 a greater capacity, or with a fupe- 
 riority in degree, but not in kind. Of 
 thefe confequences, fcepticifm, infide- 
 lity, and materialifm, made advan- 
 tages, which probably Mr. Locke did 
 not forefee ; or could not, confident 
 with his general hypothecs, avoid. 
 
 Although it be demonftrable, that 
 man has no innate rules of actions im- 
 printed on his memory, yet can we 
 agree, that he has no innate feeling 
 of the facred character of truth and 
 rectitude of heart, no fenfe of beauty, 
 no infelt diftinction between the bale 
 and the generous, which ought by 
 . philofophers to be fubftituted to the 
 innate principles which Mr. Locke 
 
 juftly
 
 PREFACE, v 
 
 juftly difcarded ? The uniformity of 
 thej udgments of mankind throughout 
 all ages, and the ftrong involuntary fen- 
 timents we all feel in the prefence of 
 virtue and beauty, prove that we have 
 fome ftandard of approbation in the 
 mind ; and that for want of acknowledg- 
 ing it publickly, there is an hiatus or 
 chafm left in philofophy, thro' which 
 infidelity, ever retllefs, and ever feek- 
 ing for fecurity, creeps into feeming 
 fafety and peace. 
 
 In the following lines, I attempt to 
 fhew feveral taftes that grow up with 
 the human mind, and are found in 
 every part of the fpecies that are not 
 evidently imperfect. To this general 
 proportion in the firft edition of Clio, 
 was objected, The variety of wens opinions 
 and tajles, copyed from Locke and 
 A 3 Mande-
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 Mandeville, in order to prove that 
 men have no fixed tafte or direction 
 of mind. The critic evidently had 
 not an idea of the nature of evidence 
 or proof, for even allowing his excep- 
 tions to be good, he ought only to 
 conclude that there were limits to the 
 natural taftes of men-, for indifputably 
 if the inflances I produced of tafte be 
 univerfal, then mankind have fo far 
 a fixed univerfal tafte. The method, 
 and indeed the only method of over- 
 turning my pofition is, to fhew that 
 the inftances I produce of univeral 
 tafte are not in truth common to all 
 ages and nations ; or that, although 
 they be univerfal, yet that men came 
 by fome other means to agree to them, 
 and not by mere natural fentiment. 
 
 The
 
 PREFACE. ylt 
 
 The objection I jufl mentioned, 
 obliged me in this edition to make 
 the diuinction between things that 
 pleafe us by their native beauty, and 
 thofe other objects that are naturally 
 indifferent or difgufting ; and yet that 
 come into value and reputation on ac- 
 count of an afTociation they happen 
 to be in with original beauty. I will 
 take this opportunity of adding a re- 
 flection or two, to what is faid on this 
 fubject in the body of the work. The 
 partition made by this diftinction ob- 
 vioufiy accounts for, and reconciles, 
 the remarkable ftedfaftnefs of the judg- 
 ments of men in all ages in fome mat- 
 ters, and the ftrange fluctuation in 
 theirjudgments concerning other mat- 
 ters. Objects pofleflfed of native or 
 unborrowed beauty taken feparately, 
 always pleafe us, while our organs are 
 A 4 noc
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 not indifpofed ; but the efteem men 
 fometimes have for things naturally 
 indifferent or difgufting, is only acci- 
 dental, and their judgments concern- 
 ing them muft change, as the mode or 
 fafhion of afibciation varies. The ori- 
 ginal caufe of uniting ideas that are 
 found fo clofely connected as not to be 
 eafily feparated, is often unknown ; 
 and in fuch cafe, people are aftray 
 about the principle that guides their 
 preferences. If we could trace the 
 beginnings of afibciations, we fhould 
 no doubt be able to point out the 
 means by which the feveral fantaftic 
 modes of beauty came into efteem, as 
 clearly as perfons acquainted with 
 hiftory can tell us, why a neck a little 
 awry was graceful in the camp of 
 Alexander, and why a prominent 
 hoop-petticoat was a genteel part of 
 
 drefs
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 drefs in the court of our virgin Eliza- 
 beth. 
 
 Now, if agreeable to the import of 
 this little difcourfe, man without in- 
 nate principles or rules of action im- 
 printed on the mind, be .enlightened 
 and directed by innate fentiments, or 
 intellectual taftes, then he has fome 
 fixed boundaries of judgment, fome 
 fpring-headsof reaibning; he isfingled"/ 
 out and difdnguimed from the brute 
 by fomething more than mere capa- 
 city , he is born to involuntary appro- 
 bations and duties, and the impor- 
 tant philofohy ofhuman .nature hath ; 
 a fettled firm foundation. I thought 
 proper to mention this confequence, 
 that the matter here prefented to the 
 public may be difcuficd with the at- 
 tention and accuracy it deferves : my 
 
 general
 
 x PREFACE. 
 
 general view is, that the human mind 
 after being neglected by the modern 
 philofophy, may be reftored to the 
 rank due to its importance in learning, 
 and that this rich and fruitful pro- 
 vince may once more become the ob- 
 ject of curiofity and enquiring genius. 
 
 1 added the dialogue at the end, be- 
 caufe I had a mind to make fome re- 
 flections on the influence the Chriftian 
 religion naturally has on the fine arts, 
 and dialogue admits of rambling 
 thoughts better than any other fpecies 
 of writing. I am fenfible, that in a 
 converfation between a gentleman and 
 a lady, witty things are generally ex- 
 pected ; but my reader will not find a 
 fingle bon mot in this converfation. 
 The Dean has no character, but that 
 of a man who has attentively confi- 
 
 dered
 
 PREFACE. 3*1 
 
 dered human nature, and the genius 
 of Chriftianity ; and Amelia is a lady 
 of a very common character in life 5 
 fhe is religious, an admirer of virtue, 
 and a lover of liberty. I am not pofi- 
 tive that my thoughts on fociety and 
 religion will not difguft feveral of my 
 readers , but let me obferve on my 
 own behalf, that I did not write for 
 the croud. I offer my reflections to 
 the few who are willing to beftow a 
 thought now and then on their own 
 minds, and take a fedate view of that 
 piclure, which it is the great art of 
 life to hide from ourfelves, as well as 
 from the world : if others read them, 
 and take offence, I can't help it. 
 Thofe who require their paflions to be 
 flattered, may very well throw afide 
 this trifle; they have labourers enough 
 4
 
 *ii PREFACE. 
 
 at work for them, gentle authors, 
 who politely confider the humour of 
 the public before they write, and ne- 
 ver put pen to paper before they cal- 
 culate the number of their buyers. 
 
 I have nothing to add about the ex- 
 ecution of the work, but to acknow- 
 ledge its faults and imperfections : it 
 is often obfcure, either thro' brevity or 
 an ill choice of expreflion. The parts 
 were wrote feparate and loofe, and 
 they remain fo flill ; they appear yet 
 to be only materials collected and 
 thrown rudely together ; confequently 
 they leave not on the mind the full 
 ftrong imprefiion of a fingle whole and 
 regular plan. If I be aiked why I did 
 not digeft them better? I anfwer, that 
 I am not obliged to do fo, while I 
 
 have
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 have other objects that require my 
 time and attention. However imper- 
 fect this little piece be, I think it of 
 ibme value, which is a fufficient apo- 
 logy for publifhing it. If I lay open, 
 my fields, I am not bound to im- 
 prove them, although improvements 
 would add confiderably to the plea- 
 iure of the walk, and to the variety 
 of the proiped 
 
 ON".
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 l.'T'ASTE defined 2 
 
 II. Particular inflances of tmiverfal 
 
 tcfie 5 to 14 
 
 III. The confufan of men in their judgments 
 
 of the leauty and excellence of the works 
 
 of art and nature confulered and accounted 
 
 for 14 ft 36 
 
 IV. Why the common people are not grace- 
 fnl~ although the graceful and becoming 
 are always natural 38 to 45 
 
 V. Thoughts on elegance 45 to 74 
 "VI. *" en perfonal beauty 74 to 83 
 
 VII. - on converfation 83/091 
 
 VIII. on writing 91 to 149 
 XX. - on mufec 149 to 155 
 X. on fculpture and paint- 
 
 ing 156/0 164 
 
 XL on architec~lure 164 
 
 XII. Thoughts
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XII. Thoughts on colours andlight 1 65 t o 1 67 
 
 XIII. on uniformity 167 to 170 
 
 XIV. on novelty I JO to 171 
 
 XV. on the origin of our general 
 ideas of beauty 172 to 177 
 
 XVI. Senfe, tajie y and genius dijiin- 
 guijhed 177 to 184 
 
 XVII. Thoughts on the human capa- 
 city 184 to 1 86 
 
 XVIII. To/let how depraved and loft 
 
 1 86 to 188 
 
 XIX. Some reflections on the human 
 mind 188 to 193 
 
 XX. Relation of the fine arts to the human 
 mind 1 94 to 20 1 
 
 XXI. An attempt to account for the rife of 
 the fine arts in Greece 201 to 215 
 
 XXII. The objefl of the fine arts not in this 
 life 215 to 230 
 
 XXIII. Influence of Cbrijllanity, and of in- 
 fidelity on the fine arts 230 to 246
 
 O: 
 
 O R, A 
 
 DISCOURSE on TASTE, 
 
 MADAM, 
 
 WHEN I had the honour of drink- 
 ing tea with you a few days ago, 
 and occafionally read to you Rollin's Ge- 
 neral Reflexions upon what is called 
 Good Tafte, fome obfervations you made 
 brought on a very lively and pleafing con- 
 verfation, in which you opened fo many 
 new profpecls to me upon our fubjecl:, 
 that I had thoughts of reducing my ideas 
 to writing while they continued frem in 
 my memory, and you were pleafed to ap- 
 prove of that defign. Rollin, you ob- 
 ferved, wrote for young ftudents, and his 
 principal view was to form a tafte for li- 
 B terature.
 
 2 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 terature. You very gracefully, but in a 
 manner I did not then perceive, led me to 
 that tafte and elegance which diftinguifhes 
 perfons politely educated, and particularly 
 to the graces of your own fex : the tranfi- 
 tion, indeed, from the beauties of writing 
 to the elegance and propriety difplayed in 
 polifhed life, was not great : for the fame 
 Jimple original principles of tafte are com- 
 mon to both, and are varied only accord- 
 ing to characters and their fituations. 
 It is a happy circumftance in my favour, 
 that the fubjecT: itfelf, and your approba- 
 tion of my attempt, confine my thoughts 
 to you ; I have no neceffity, madam, of 
 invoking a mufe to infpire me. 
 
 The tafte we fpoke of may be defined, 
 at large, a clear fenfe of the noble, the 
 beautiful, and the affecting, through na- 
 ture and art. It diftinguifhes and fele&s, 
 with unerring judgment, what is fine and 
 graceful, from the mean and dilgufting ; 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 3 
 
 and keeping a ftri& and attentive eye on 
 nature, never neglects her, but when na- 
 ture herfelf is in difgrace. 
 
 All our fpecies that are perfect bring the 
 firft principles of tafte with them into the 
 world. Rollin produces inftances of uni- 
 verfal tafte in mufic and painting : " A 
 concert, fays he, that has all its parts well 
 compofed and well executed, both as 
 to inftruments and voices, pleafes uni- 
 verfally : but if any difcord arifes, any ill 
 tone of voice be intermixed, it (hall dif- 
 pleafe even thofe who are abfolutely igno- 
 rant of mufic. They know not what it 
 is that offends them, but they find fome- 
 what grating in it to their ears ; and this 
 proceeds from the tafte and fenfe of har- 
 mony implanted in them by nature. In 
 like manner a fine picture charms and 
 tranfports a fpeclator who has no idea of 
 painting. Afk him what pleafes him, and 
 why it pleafes him, and he cannot eafily 
 B 2 give
 
 4 CLIOjoR, A 
 
 give an account, or fpecify the real rea- 
 fon j but natural fentiment works almoft 
 the fame effect in him, as art and ufe in 
 perfect judges." 
 
 Here you flopped me with a very fub- 
 tile and confounding objection, which 
 became much ftronger by your familiar 
 and fprightly manner of fupporting it : 
 though I did not then make a good figure 
 in oppofition to you, yet now I can ven- 
 ture upon paper to enforce the principle 
 I defended. Your objection was, That 
 whatever pleafes people forms to them a 
 true and agreeable tafte ; and that there- 
 fore there is no fuch thing as univerfal 
 tafte in the beautiful, the fublime, and 
 the affecting ; for that which pleafes one 
 perfon is often difpleafing to another : 
 who then can pretend to judge between 
 mankind, fince no fentence pronounced in 
 this cafe can alter the taftes of men, or 
 make that agreeable to a perfon which 
 
 dif-
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 5 
 
 difgufts him, or the contrary ? Though 
 this obje6lion.be certainly new from you, 
 who have yet no acquaintance with books 
 that treat on the nature of the human 
 mind ; yet it has often been made, very 
 triumphantly, by writers of the greateft 
 reputation, and feems to require a more 
 fatisfaclory folution than has hitherto ap- 
 peared. It is no fmall advantage tome, that 
 the candour of your mind is not deftroyed 
 by what is often called learning. When 
 I produce to you feveral well-known 
 inftances of univerfal invariable beauty, 
 you will without hefitation agree with me, 
 that there is fuch a thing : you will not 
 contend, that mankind want a tafte for 
 that which they all admire. 
 
 To proceed to particular inftances of 
 
 this natural fenfe : Every man, who is not 
 
 an idiot, has a tafle for truth j the moft 
 
 notorious liar on earth, when taken in a 
 
 B 3 falfhood
 
 6 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 falfliood which he hopes to evade, fhall 
 convince you of his own private unalter- 
 able fenfe by his palliations and excufes. 
 
 The fame thing may be faid of grati- 
 tude ; and though the virtue itfelf be rare, 
 yet no one ever in earnefl acknowledged 
 himfelf to be ungrateful, or would wil- 
 lingly bear that imputation ; which is fuf- 
 ficient evidence that the approbation of 
 the virtue is univerfal. 
 
 The applaufe we yield to generofity, 
 and our contempt of a very felfifh difpo- 
 iition, is not lefs general, though there 
 feem to be fome objections. Mifers have 
 been known to praife as well as pra<5tife 
 the moft fordid parfimony, and to con- 
 demn generofity j but I believe, upon con- 
 fidering this matter clofely, it will ap- 
 pear that mifers, as well as others, have 
 a fenfe of the merit of generofity ; and 
 find fault with it in others only where it 
 
 affe&s
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 7 
 
 affects nearly or remotely their own in- 
 terefls, or becomes a reproach to them : 
 they condemn liberality where it appears 
 to them to lavifh beyond proper limits. 
 The mifer admits the virtue equally with 
 the generous, but his fears and fufpicions 
 of future want make him confine it with- 
 in a fmall compafs : he parts with his far- 
 thing where a more generous perfon be- 
 ftows a (hilling or a guinea ; yet this 
 farthing extorted from him, is an indubi- 
 table proof that he has fixed a fenfe of 
 liberality, though it be reftrained by fomc 
 mean and felfifh confiderations. 
 
 Liberty is pleafing, and confinement 
 difguftful to every body. You can walk 
 and breathe freely under a low cieling, 
 what then makes you prefer a loftier 
 chamber ? What makes you, if the wea- 
 ther permit, like the open air beft, and 
 chufe to be bounded only by the horizon, 
 B 4 that
 
 8 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 that extends in profpeft as far as the eye 
 can reach ? 
 
 Novelty alfo hath its charms in a thou- 
 fand inftances, that wear away by fami- 
 liarity. 
 
 All ages and nations have agreed to ad- 
 mire true wit ; it is certain that wittifcifm, 
 pun, mimickry, and buffoonery, have very 
 often fupplied the place of it with ap- 
 plaufe ; but when we confider, that all 
 people who make ufe of falfe wit, not- 
 withftanding admire the true, and approve 
 of itj that they put off the falfe wit al- 
 ways under fome refemblance or appear- 
 ance of real wit ;- and that thofe who like 
 it are impofed upon juft as men are who 
 take counterfeit coin, becaufe it has the 
 fame impreflion with good money ; and 
 when we further obferve, that thofe very 
 people who ufe falfe wit, as they improve 
 in their tafte and fenfe defpife the falfe 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 9 
 
 and adopt the true ; and that nothing 
 fixes them in a habit of punning and buf- 
 foonery, but an incurable ftupidity, and 
 an inability to act a higher part ; we {hall 
 be obliged to confefs, that true wit hath 
 its boundaries and marks which for ever 
 diftinguifh it. 
 
 I fhall be obliged to fay fomething 
 of our fenfe of perfonal beauty here- 
 after ; I fhall here content myfelf with 
 making the following obfervation : A 
 perfect beauty always holds the fuperi- 
 ority in the efteem of every one, over re- 
 markable deformity. It is only when the 
 degrees from deformity to beauty ap- 
 proach to each other, or when beauties of 
 different kinds are \compared who hold 
 nearly the fame degree, that we are con- 
 fufed and differ in opinion. Th 
 confufion happens in our tat 1 
 and bittter ; if the fv 
 other, we cannot 
 
 but
 
 10 C L I O ; O R, A 
 
 but as beauty is compofed of various prin- 
 ciples, and is more complicated, we are 
 proportionably in greater confufion in our 
 comparifons when the variations are not 
 very remarkable. 
 
 Grandeur of thought, or grandeur of 
 objects, ftrike us irrefiftibly with furprize 
 and delight. The Grecian and Roman 
 hiflories abound with fplendid inftances 
 of greatnefs of foul j but I have no need 
 to take you from your favourite poet Ho- 
 mer on this head, whofe Iliad is a con- 
 tinued feries of elevating fentiments, and 
 of fublime images that force our admira- 
 tion. Vifible objects of grandeur have afi- 
 milar effect : a large river that throws itfelf 
 down a precipice with unceafmg violence 
 and thunder, never fails to raife a pleafing 
 aftonimment in the beholders. A fum- 
 mer s evening fky caft over with lofty and 
 irregular clouds, dipped in purple and 
 gold, the ocean in ftorms, and a broken 
 
 profpect:
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE, n 
 
 profpect of rocks and mountains irregu- 
 larly piled, affect the mind in the fame 
 
 However certain what I have been juft 
 faying may be, let us flop here, and fup- 
 pofe that I have been entirely miftaken ; 
 let us fuppofe that there are fome men 
 created without thofe original taftes, or 
 having the very oppofite j that there are 
 men who have a natural tafte and appro- 
 bation of fallhocd and ingratitude; who 
 think a mean and fordid difpofition to be 
 meritorious ; and who difefleem gran- 
 deur and generofity of foul : do you not 
 obferve, that you fuppofe them, by their 
 very natures and difpofitions, the moil 
 contemptible, and debafed animals on 
 earth ? Who, fay you, fliall judge in this 
 cafe, between fuch perfons and ourfelves, 
 fince they have their beauty and their 
 tafte, as well as we ; and the difference 
 is, that they judge things to be agreeablcj 
 
 which
 
 12 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 which we judge to be the contrary. But 
 is it not evident, madam, by the very light 
 of fentiment, that it is not upon the judg- 
 ment, or opinions, concerning them, that 
 the merit of truth, gratitude, and genero- 
 fity depend ; but that they have a real va- 
 lue and worth in themfelves, which opi- 
 nion cannot alter ; and that falfehood, in- 
 gratitude, and a fordid, mean temper, have 
 a natural bafenefs, that opinion cannot 
 ennoble. I know no reafon for our per- 
 ception of abfolute eternal beauty in the 
 virtues I have mentioned, but by fupof- 
 ing that the Father of being, who is eter- 
 nal truth and goodnefs, and the original 1 
 ftandard of grandeur and beauty, has 
 ftamped on our minds a fenfe of thofe ab- 
 folute and eternal perfections. If opinion 
 were the real ftandard of fentiment, the 
 nature of one animal could not be more 
 noble than that of any other ; yet it is 
 certain, that if there was in the world but 
 one man of integrity, generofity, gratitude, 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 13 
 
 and a great foul, and all the reft of man- 
 kind confifted of people who had no fenfe 
 of the dignity of truth, and of a noble 
 difpofition, this lingle perfon would be 
 of more worth, than the whole race of 
 man befide. 
 
 I know the inftances I have juft pro- 
 duced of fixed univerfal tafte common to 
 all the fons of Adam, who are not evi- 
 dently imperfect and void of underftand- 
 ing, are fufficient to convince you that 
 there is fuch a thing as univerfal tafte in 
 the mind of man j and they will prove 
 decifive to every one who has clear con- 
 ceptions of the nature of conviction and 
 evidence. But as I know by experience, 
 that there are abundance of plaufible and 
 even learned men who feldomer conclude 
 from reafon and evidence than they ima- 
 gine, and that learning is not a certain 
 antidote againft the power of prejudice; as 
 I am alfo aware of the favourite fyftem that 
 
 ftands
 
 14 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 flands in need of the opinion I contend 
 againft, and the great names that fupport 
 it, I am obliged to enter into a debate of 
 a few pages, that I may leave no objec- 
 tion againft me unanfwered. 
 
 The truth is, in attempting to refolve 
 your difficulty, I find myfelf caught with- 
 out poifibility of retreat, in a difpute of 
 very old {landing, wherein the combatants, 
 although the greateft philofophers of 
 their refpe&ive ages, have generally flood 
 aloof, and contented themfelves with 
 eftablifhing each his own fide of the 
 queftion with ftrong appearances of truth, 
 without venturing to attack directly the 
 adverfe proofs. The cafe (lands thus : the 
 croud of thofe who have reflected on the 
 fentiments men in all ages entertain of 
 virtue and vice, of beauty and grandeur of 
 thought, have, from the uniformity they 
 difcovered in the judgments of mankind 
 on thefe heads, concluded that there is 
 
 in
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 15 
 
 in the human mind, a determined unalter- 
 able ftandard of judgment, or a fenfe that 
 difcovers the right and juft in morality, in 
 beauty, and the fublime. On the con- 
 trary, Hobbes, Locke, Mandeville, and a 
 cloud of moderns, along with fome an- 
 tients, obferving the different eftimates of 
 fome particular moral a&ions in the 
 different communities of mankind, and 
 the unlimited variety of human fancy in 
 the agreeable works of art and nature, 
 have thence contended, that there is no 
 fixed ftandard in the mind for tafle, in 
 morality, or beauty. There is in the 
 opinions of the learned, as Shakefpeare 
 fays of the fortunes of men, a tide that 
 ebbs and flows without ceafing. At 
 prefent, Mr. Locke's opinion feems to J 
 bear down all oppofition ; yet feveral fouad 
 reafoners have ventured to call it in quef- 
 tion ; they find fomething ftill in the re- 
 markable uniformity and inflexibility of 
 mens judgments on decent or bafe actions, 
 I on
 
 X 6 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 on the beautiful and the fublime, that 
 cannot be accounted for but by recur- 1 
 ring to a fixed unalterable ftandard in the 
 mind. To fpeak in the phrafe of fome 
 free-thinkers, they perceive by the inter- 
 nal fenfe, natures and differences that 
 appear as immoveable as fate. The mo- 
 ment they caft an eye on Homer or 
 Milton, on the antient ftatues, and the 
 paintings of Raphael ; or the finer paint- 
 ings of nature, the flowers, the waving 
 corn, and meadows, a varied profpedT:, or 
 the fublime beauties of the night, they 
 find all the obje&ions againft real beauty 
 baffled, and overwhelmed by intuition. 
 And I fancy the moft pofitive philofo- 
 phers, who derive our approbations from 
 mode or cuftom, would hefitate a little, 
 if writers were to be judged by their 
 principles ; if they were told that Homer 
 and Martial, Milton and Tom Brown, 
 are on the fame footing in real excellency; 
 and thai the beauties of the heroic poets
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 17 
 
 are not the object of any certain or uni- 
 verfal tafte in the foul, but of a favour- 
 able mode of thinking that eafually ob- 
 tained in the world. 
 
 Of all thofe whom I have to contend 
 with, Mandeville, the author of the Fa- 
 ble of the Bees, makes the clofeft attack 
 upon intrinfic beauty, and feems to deny, 
 with the greateft plaufibility, that there 
 are things pofTefled of fuch real worth and 
 excellence, as to be univerfally efteemed 
 in all countries and ages. As the fucceed- 
 ing writers on his fide of the queftion do 
 little more than copy his objections on 
 this head, I will confider them exprefly, 
 and anfwer at once to the crowd. 
 C{ When we firft fet out in queft of this 
 intrinfic worth, (fays he) and find one 
 thing better than another, and a third 
 better than that, and fo on, we begin 
 to entertain great hopes of fuccefs j but 
 when we meet with federal things that 
 C are
 
 i8 C L I Q: OR, A 
 
 are all very good, or all very bad, we are 
 puzzled, and agree not always with our- 
 felves, much lefs with others. There are 
 different faults as well as beauties, that, 
 as modes and fafliions alter, and men 
 vary in their taftes and humours, will 
 be differently admired or difapproved of. 
 
 " Judges of painting will never difagree 
 in opinion, when a fine picture is com- 
 pared to the daubing of a novice j but 
 how ftrangely have they differed as to the 
 works of eminent matters ! There are 
 parties amongft connoiffeurs, and few of 
 them agree in their efteern as to ages and 
 countries ; and the beft pictures bear not 
 always the beft prices. A noted original 
 will be ever worth more than any copy 
 that can be made of it by an unknown 
 hand, though it Ihould be better. The 
 value that is fet on paintings depends not 
 only on the name of the matter, and the 
 time of his age he drew them in, but 
 
 like wife,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 19 
 
 likewife, in a greater meafure, on the 
 fcarcity of his works ; and, what is ftill 
 more unreafonable, the quality of the 
 perfons in whofe poffeffion they are, as 
 well as the length of time they have 
 been in great families ; and if the Car- 
 tons, now in Hampton-court, were done 
 by a lefs famous hand than that of Ra- 
 phael, and had a private perfon for 
 their owner, who would be forced to 
 fell them, they would never yield the 
 tenth part of the money, which, with 
 all their grofs faults, they are now fup- 
 pofed to be worth." 
 
 " In the works of nature, worth and 
 excellency are as uncertain ; and even jn 
 human creatures; what is beautiful in 
 one country, is not fo in another : how 
 whimfical is the florift in his choice ? 
 fometimes the tulip, fometimes the au- 
 ricula, and at other times the carnation, 
 fhall engrofs his efteem j and every year 
 C 2 a new
 
 20 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 a new flower, in his judgment, exceeds 
 all the old ones, though it is much infe- 
 rior to them both in colour and fhape. 
 Three hundred years ago, men were 
 fliaved as clofely as they are now ; fmce 
 that, they have worn beards, and cut them 
 in a vaft variety of forms, that were all 
 becoming when fafliionable, as now they 
 would be ridiculous. How mean and co- 
 mically a man looks, that is otherwife 
 well drefled, in a narrow-brimmed hat^ 
 when every body wears broad ones ? And 
 again, how monftrous is a great hat, 
 when the other extreme has been in fa- 
 fliion for a confiderable time ? Experience 
 has taught us, that thefe modes feldom 
 laft above ten or twelve years ; and a man 
 of threefcore muft have obferved five ot 
 fix revolutions of them at leaft : yet the 
 beginnings of thefe changes, though we 
 have feen feveral, feem always uncouth, 
 and are offenfive afrefli whenever they 
 return. What mortal can decide which 
 8 is
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 21 
 
 is the handfomeft, abftra&ed from the 
 mode in being, to wear great buttons or 
 fmall ones ? The many ways of laying 
 out a garden judicioufly are almoft innu- 
 merable ; and what is called beautiful in 
 them, varies according to the taftes of 
 nations and ages. In grafs-plats, knots, 
 and parterres, a great diverfity of forms is 
 generally agreeable ; but a round may be 
 as pleaflng to the eye as a fquare ; an 
 oval cannot be more fuitable to one 
 place, than it is poffible for a triangle 
 to be to another : and the pre-eminence 
 an octagon has over an hexagon, is no 
 greater in figures, than at hazard eight 
 has above fix amongft the chances." So 
 far Mr. Mandeville. It is eafily con- 
 ceived, that the arguments which con- 
 clude againft intrinfic worth and excel- 
 lency in the objects of tafte, are equally 
 conclufive againft a fixed determined 
 tafte ; and that, if beauty depends *on 
 mode or cuftom, then the tafte is as va- 
 C 3 riable
 
 22 C L I O J O R, A 
 
 riable and unfettled as the mode, and has 
 no fixed rules in nature. 
 
 All the confufion this ingenious and 
 fubtile author has fhewn within the 
 boundaries of beauty, may be taken 
 away, by diftinguifhing between real 
 beauty, that is for ever engaging, and 
 the adjuncts, or habitual aflbciates of 
 beauty, that pleafes us only acciden- 
 tally. If we can (hew this difference in 
 the obje&s that pleafe us, the confufion 
 he has found will clear up. An elderly lady 
 likes the drefs fhe wore in her youth, not 
 becaufe it is really more becoming than 
 the prefent fafliion, but becaufe that drefs 
 bears an intimate relation to her days 
 of joy, and brings them back to her 
 imagination in all the gay colours of 
 that happy feafon of life. In this in- 
 ftanee you will find the nature of thofe 
 mutable charms revealed, that depend 
 upon fancy and the mode. Youth is ever 
 
 beau-
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 23 
 
 beautiful, and cafts a glofly light over all 
 the images of youth, and the drefs only 
 pleafes by its aflbciation. There is, in fa&, 
 no arbitrary beauty j and what are called 
 agreeable of this kind, are only the adj undts 
 or companions that happen accidentally to 
 be joined to real beauty ; and by appear- 
 ing conftantly together, to be united to 
 it in idea, and to pleafe merely by the af- 
 fociation. The mind places in one con- 
 nected complex idea, different things that 
 happen to come to it together ; memory 
 recollects them together ; and a circum- 
 ftance that has conftantly attended on 
 pleafure or pain, will in fome degree re- 
 new thofe fenfations. The prefent fa- 
 fhion, when it becomes familiar, becomes 
 alfo pleafing; that is, it is worn by the 
 young, the gay, and beautiful : the old 
 fafhion, in fome time after it is left off, 
 becomes difagreeable ; that is, it is worn 
 by the morofe, who are out of temper 
 with the engaging part of the world ; 
 C 4 by
 
 24 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 by the pedantic, the ruftic, and the old. 
 To be convinced that the difguil does not 
 fpring from the Angularity, but from 
 a difagreeable connexion of ideas, let a 
 lovely and elegant nymph or youth fur- 
 prife you in a Chinefe or Turkifh habit, 
 or in a paftoral drefs ; and you will find, 
 that an engaging perfon is capable of giv- 
 ing charms to a new drefs, and making 
 the fimple habit of a fhepherd or fhep- 
 herdefs pleafmg. The black hue and 
 thick lips of the inhabitants of Africa, 
 coniidered apart, have no natural beauty ; 
 but they are united with the fmiles, the 
 dalliances, the kind fentiments, and ten- 
 der endearing paffions in the beauties of 
 Africa; they are united in the fame man- 
 ner on the imagination of the inhabi- 
 tants by habit, and return in one amiable 
 pi&ure to the mind. The Blacks who 
 "have long converfed with Europeans, 
 have alfo found beauty joined to a fair 
 complexion; confequehtly the colour is 
 
 only
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 25 
 
 only beautiful by beinghabitually joined to 
 real beauty. As there are no limits to the 
 adjuncts or circumftances of real beauty, 
 there is an inexhauftible variety in arbi- 
 trary beauty or fafhion. It is the admif- 
 lion of thofe cafual adj uncts, amongft which 
 are comprehended drefs, ceremonies, and 
 furniture, into the fame clafs with things 
 permanently agreeable ; and the confu- 
 fion of them, that have given foundation 
 to objections, and furnifhed examples 
 againft the abfolute nature of beauty, and 
 univerfal unchangeable tafte. When 
 thofe adjuncts are feen alone, they ap- 
 pear indifferent ; and when joined to dif. 
 agreeable ideas, they become difguftful. 
 
 When it is faid that good judges have 
 admired blemifhes in works of art, and 
 that nothing is more inconfiftent than 
 fancy, they fay right ; but thofe truths 
 will not bear the conclufions drawn from 
 them : good judges never admired the 
 
 blemifhes
 
 26 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 blemifhes feparately, but on account of 
 an aflbciation with fome fuperior beauty, 
 in which they lay fo united and blended, 
 that the imagination took all together as 
 they appeared in afum, and patted a verdict 
 upon the whole in grofs, which if divided, 
 would have been diftinguifhed. I have 
 feen a mole that has looked very pretty in a 
 fine face, becaufe it was unable to caft the 
 leaft dimnefs over the blaze that fur- 
 rounded it, or to make any manner of 
 refiftance to the united force of beauty, 
 that altogether furprifed and overpowered 
 the judgment. The admirers of Homer 
 have idolized his faults, not becaufe they 
 were deftitute of real tafte, but becaufe 
 Homer is upon the whole fo amazingly 
 fine, and his faults are incorporated with 
 fuch infinite and fuperior beauties. If 
 thofe very blemifhes were in works that 
 had no excellencies, or but a few of a 
 low ftile, then they would not impofe 
 thus on the iudgments of men. 
 
 The
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 27 
 
 The fame train of reafoning will help 
 to end the old and great difpute, about 
 the ftability of moral virtue, and a mo- 
 ral fenfe. When it is alleged, that ac- 
 tions called immoral in fome nations 
 are approved of, and even make a part of 
 religious worfhip in another j it may be 
 anfwered, that no nation ever approved of 
 the crimes that are generally reckoned fo, 
 for their own fakes, and taken alone, but 
 on account of an aflbciation with fome- 
 thing of tranfcendent worth and excel- 
 lency. Immoralities have mixed with re- 
 ligion, and were revered on account of 
 the union. Human facrifices were of- 
 fered at Carthage, the rites of Venus ad- 
 mitted lafcivioufnefs, of Bacchus, drunk- 
 ennefs ; and idiots, however vicious, are 
 accounted Saints by Mahometans : but 
 all hiftory teftifies that murder, proftitu- 
 tion, and drunkennefs, taken alone, were 
 v-ices amongft the heathens, and are leoked 
 upon as crimes by the Turks; that they 
 
 bore
 
 28 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 bore the fame invariable chara&ers 
 amongft them as with us ; and that even 
 the fan&ion of religion did not alter the 
 landmarks of nature. If you deilre to 
 fee what kept guilty deeds in repute in 
 the heathen worfhip, you muft take into 
 view the fublime majefty and reverence of 
 religion, with which they were incorpo- 
 rated. 
 
 From what I have faid it appears, that 
 the arguments alleged do not prove 
 againft the unalterable fenfe of virtue 
 and beauty ; fince where you feparate 
 ideas that 'have been cafually aflbciated, 
 the judgments of men of beauty and vir- 
 tue, are ftedfaft and uniform throughout 
 all nations and ages. In our tafte of com- 
 pounds there is an effet like what I have 
 been treating of ; if you add a few drops 
 of honey to a large quantity of the juice 
 of wormwood, the whole fhall be bitter : 
 if, on the contrary, you mingle a few 
 
 drops
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 29 
 
 drops of the juice of wormwood in a 
 veflel full of honey, the whole fliall be 
 fweet j yet are neither the honey nor 
 the wormwood changed, and our tafte of 
 fweet and bitter is the fame. 
 
 In the quotation I made from Man- 
 deville, there are feme other objections 
 that require an anfwer. People may be 
 doubtful and aftray in the theory of 
 beauty, who have the moft exat intel- 
 ligence of it in their fenfations, by mif- 
 taking the point of beauty. A flower- 
 garden attracts our view by the fplen- 
 dor and bright confufion of its colours j 
 and we look at it with pleafure, altho' 
 we take no notice of the figure of the 
 parterre; that is, we difcover beauty, 
 without attending to the form and di- 
 vifion of the garden. Florifts then difa- 
 gree about the choice of form in the 
 flower-knots, becaufe the beauty of the 
 objeft of their admiration does not con- 
 fift in that f~m. Flowers, in every ar- 
 range-
 
 30 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 rangement of the ground, or difperfed ir- 
 regularly by the wild hand of nature, are 
 pleafmg to the eye, like a fine woman, 
 who charms, whether fhe reclines on a 
 fopha, or walks in the garden. There is 
 hardly room for preference between any 
 regular forms of the parterre, befides 
 fancy and aptitude to the place. The 
 theorift then who contends, that there is 
 no pre-determined tafte of beauty in the 
 paffion of florifts, becaufe they differ 
 in the form of flower-gardens, is de- 
 ceived, becaufe he has miftaken the 
 point of beauty, which confifts not in 
 the form of the ground, but in the 
 flowers themfelves. 
 
 There is a fuppofition that runs thro* 
 Mandeville, and feveral other writers on 
 this fubjedl:, who undoubtedly copy one 
 from the other, that beauty is of one 
 Icind, and differs only in degree ; and 
 therefore, that if there be fuch a thing 
 as real beauty in objects, we can com- 
 pare
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 31 
 
 pare it, and always difcover the moft 
 excellent j as men are able, by meafur- 
 ing, to determine the longeft cane, or 
 the higheft fteeple : thence they pro- 
 ceed to conclude, from the confufion of 
 men, and from the variety of their choice 
 and judgment, that there is no real 
 beauty ; whereas, in fair., beauty is an 
 exceeding general term, that comprehends 
 very diftant and various kinds that have 
 no common meafure, and confequently 
 cannot be compared. Pi&ures and fta- 
 tues are like the originals in fuch va- 
 rious clafTes, that their excellencies can- 
 not be meafured with each other. It is 
 as abfurd, perhaps, to compare a good 
 landfkip to a good portrait, as to com- 
 pare a fine profpecl: with a handfome 
 man. Neither can the reciprocal propor- 
 tion of beauty be determined between 
 different characters, even within the fame 
 fpecies. It is probably impoflible to af- 
 certain any rules of judgment, by which 
 
 the
 
 32 C L I O . o R, A 
 
 the fuperlority may be determined, be- 
 tween the Apollo of Belvidere and the 
 Venus of Medici : yet this is no argu- 
 ment that their beauties are not real and 
 clearly known ; it only proves, that they 
 are of different kinds. From what I 
 have faid, we may eafily conceive the 
 reafon of the difficulty of determining 
 the fuperiority between Homer and Vir- 
 gil, as poets. If their principal excel- 
 lencies lay in one ' kind j if Virgil's 
 chief merit confifted in the grandeur of 
 his thoughts, or Homer's in majefty and 
 a chafte fweetnefs, the point of prefer- 
 ence between them might be decided :. 
 but while their diftinguifhing beauties 
 vary in kind, the contention of fuperi- 
 ority is endlefs. Yet can any one thence 
 conclude, that they want real merit ? 
 or that men want a natural tafte for 
 their charms ? When pleafing objects 
 lie in different departments of beauty, 
 and cannot be compared, then pre-en- 
 gagement,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 33 
 
 gagement, the praifes of others whofe 
 judgments we value, novelty, or the 
 fcarcity of one kind, turn the fcale, and 
 form the preference. You may pre- 
 fer the mild fragrancy and glow of a 
 rofe, another may rather admire the 
 gorgeous array of a tulip, yet neither has 
 ftrayed from the province of beauty. 
 
 The fmall value put upon fome flow- 
 ers, is not a proof that they are not 
 efteemed, but that they are common. 
 The rofe and honeyfuckle are neglecT:- 
 ed and left in the hedges, not becaufe 
 they want beauty, but becaufe they 
 are every where prefented to our eyes, 
 and may be had without pains or 
 price. We value them, and pafs them 
 by without curiofity, as we do the wild 
 concert we hear in the woods and copfes. 
 It is a miftake to think men value things 
 in proportion as they pay for them. 
 Good air, fleep, daylight, or the liberty 
 D of
 
 34. CLIO: OR, A 
 
 of going where we pleafe, are known by 
 every one to be bleflings of the firft 
 rate ; yet no one buys them who is at 
 liberty to enjoy them, although peo- 
 ple pay dearly for things they do not va- 
 lue half fo much. 
 
 You readily conceive, that tafte In 
 common difcourfe, is applied to the 
 habitual prepofieffions of a nation, par- 
 ticularly of the people of fafhion, in 
 which fenfe it comprehends both the 
 univerfal attachments which are com- 
 mon to the fpecies, and the cafual likings 
 and averfions in matters naturally in- 
 different, fuch as the modes of drefs 
 and furniture, which by an accidental 
 aflbciation are become objects of prefer- 
 ence and difguft. In this vulgar fenfe, 
 tafte is no more than the image of the 
 times upon the mind, which varies in 
 nations and ages, or atnongft particular 
 
 perfons,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 35 
 
 perfons, and may be called mixed tafe. 
 When you untwine the parts of mixed 
 tafte, when you reject all that is cafual, 
 and peculiar to this or that country or 
 age as fpurious, and have taken the 
 univerfal charms that affect the favage 
 and courtier, the ruftic and philofopher, 
 the Indian and European, this laft is 
 real beauty, the object of the tafte I 
 treat of. And happy it is for the fame 
 of poets, philofophers, and patriots, that 
 there is fuch a fenfe in the human mind, 
 by which their eternal palms floufifh, and 
 muft blootn afrefh through all ages, as 
 long as mankind remain in being. 
 
 
 You are to obferve, that I do not call 
 
 tafte a fpecies of judgment, although It is 
 actually that part of judgment, whbfe 
 objects are the fublime, the beautiful, 
 and affecting ; becaufe this kind of judg- 
 ment is not the iffue of reafon and 
 aomparifon, like a mathematical infer- 
 D 2 ence,
 
 36 C L I O; OR, A 
 
 ence, but is perceived inftantaneoufly, 
 and obtruded upon the mind, like fweet 
 and bitter upon the fenfe, from which 
 analogy it has borrowed the name of 
 tajle. There have been criticks fo trifl- 
 ing, as to enquire whether the word 
 tafte^ which is plainly metaphorical, was 
 in ufe in the learned languages. A man 
 blefied with plain common fenfe would 
 undoubtedly conceive that the thing meant 
 by it was known, ever fince beauty 
 and grandeur of thought were obferved 
 in the world, and admired. We may to 
 as much purpofe enquire whether the an- 
 cients had diftiniSt names for the tender- 
 nefs of a parent, or the flavour of Chian 
 wine j and if we find nofuch words upon 
 record, conclude that the ancients did not 
 love their children, or diftinguifli their 
 wines. 
 
 Good tafte is the inward light or in- 
 j telligence of univerfal beauty. In Greece, 
 
 where
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 37 
 
 where it firft fhone, poetry, architec- 
 ture, painting, fculpture, and mufic, 
 fprung up together, the beautiful chil- 
 dren of one birth. At the fame time 
 the men were remarkable for elevated fen- 
 timents, and the women for that elegance 
 which gives the laft luftre to beauty. The 
 fame revolution happened in Rome ; and 
 now again the fciences revive in concert 
 in Europe, and elegance awakes with the 
 arts. In the ages of ignorance they all 
 languifhed, and fell together. The 
 heavy, confufed, and grofs ornaments of 
 the old Gothick buildings, placed with- 
 out elegance or proportion (fays Rollin) 
 were the images of the writings of the 
 fame age. 
 
 From the joint appearance and recefs 
 of the engaging arts, it is obvious that they 
 are related and depend upon the fame 
 principle; accordingly you find a ftriking 
 conformity in the moft diftant produc- 
 D 3 tions
 
 3$ C L I O : Q R, A 
 
 ticms of genius. Mufic infpirea us like 
 a glowing description ; the ftatue and 
 picture breathe the fire and paflion of 
 poetry ; and you will difcover the fame 
 ftile and image of grandeur in Corregio 
 that you fee in Homer. 
 
 True tafle difcovers with delight the 
 image of nature, and purfues it with a 
 faithful paffion. The graceful and the 
 becoming are never found feparated from 
 nature and propriety. When we catne 
 to this obfervation in Rollin, you made 
 an objection, that obliged me, in order 
 to anfwer it, to make fome reflections, 
 which led me nearer the origin of 
 elegance than I expected. Your objection, 
 madam, was this : " If elegance be in- 
 feparable from propriety and nature, why 
 are not the common people, who are 
 without education, juft as nature made 
 them, the moft graceful ? and why does 
 elegance refide only amongft thofe who 
 
 are
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 39 
 
 are formed by art ?" I could not pafs over 
 this ingenious queftion without an an- 
 fwer, and it led me to the following ob- 
 fervations. 
 
 It is not from men in want, whether 
 real or imaginary, we are to feek for the 
 natural biafsofthe foul. The neceflaries 
 and comforts of life are procured by vaft 
 labour and hardfhips, which fall to the 
 lot of the common herd of mankind in 
 all countries ; and labour requires harfh, 
 forced, and violent motions, which there- 
 fore become habitual to the crowd. As 
 this race of men walk not for pleafure, 
 but to perform journeys, or to re- 
 move where their occafions call them, 
 they take the advantage of bending the 
 body forward, and of aiding the motion 
 by a fling with their arms as they walk. 
 Their low ftation, their wants and em- 
 ployments, give them a fordidnefs and un- 
 generofity of difpofition, together with a 
 D 4 coarfenefs
 
 40 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 coarfenefs and nakednefs of expreffion ; 
 from whence it happens, that their mo- 
 tions and addrefs are equally rude and 
 ungraceful. And yet by confidering the 
 matter clofely you may difcovcr, that 
 this unfeemly and diflionoured irate 
 of man is accidental, and is in truth 
 the offspring of his wants, and of the 
 miferies that yoak him down a flave to 
 the glebe he tills, and deprefs together 
 his mind and body. But obferve the few 
 in a higher ftation, who by their for- 
 tunes are difengaged from wretchednefs 
 and poverty, who vegetate freely, and 
 take the bias of the unfettered human 
 genius. You fee their tafte foon dif- 
 tinguifh them from the crowd, they af- 
 fume a more elevated character, they 
 feem to be infpired by a nobler foul, a 
 more generous vein difcovers itfelf in their 
 bofoms, elegance and lofty decency make 
 their appearance in the human ftate, and 
 an illuftrious nature appears to view, 
 which was neverthelefs real while it lay 
 
 buried
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 41 
 
 buried and op prefix d under wretched- 
 
 ncfs. 
 
 Abjeft meannefs and rudenefs then 
 are the ifTue of hardfhip and want, but 
 not of the human difpofition or frame 
 of mind ; on the contrary, the moment 
 man is releaied from the violence and mi- 
 fery that opprels him, that his real na- 
 ture takes the lead, and his tafte aflumes 
 its honeft rights ; it covers him with de- 
 cent elegance ; it beflows on him a dig- 
 nity worthy of the fovereign of earth, air, 
 and water ; it wraps him in the golden ' 
 vifions of poetry and mufic, and charms / 
 him with the new ideas of beauty and j 
 grandeur. Thefe are the natural paf- 
 fions that lay hid, and now break forth 
 to view, when the preffure is taken off 
 that bent down the Have, and chained his .' 
 attentions to the earth. The appetite of 
 beauty lies always in the mind ready to \ 
 direcl us to finer profpe&s. Conceive a 
 
 youthful
 
 42 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 youthful monarch, long aftray upon a 
 barren heath, amongft miferable vil- 
 lagers, his infant years almoft forgotten, 
 and his thoughts wholly taken up by 
 his prefent unfortunate circumftances. 
 He is at length difcovered, and reftored to 
 his court, to grandeur, and pleafure, 
 which he recollects with fecret joy. Tafte 
 finds us in this manner forlorn outcafts, 
 fhe ftrips us of our rudenefs, and leads us 
 to fcenes and profpeds where all is beau- 
 tiful, and all is familiar. You may eafily 
 fee the rcafon why the inhabitants of bar- 
 ren countries and of the northern part of 
 Europe and Afia muft full into rudenefs, 
 and men who fpend their whole time in 
 hunting and procuring the necefTaries of 
 life become favages ; a fenfe of beauty is 
 not loft in them, they only want leifure 
 and quiet to attend to it. 
 
 Here then is the key to your difficulty. 
 Elevation of thought, and the fenfe of 
 .beauty, are natural to the foul ; but foon 
 
 after
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 4$ 
 
 after the infant comes into the world, long 
 before the mind is matured, or its atten- 
 tions meet its favourite objects, cold, heat, 
 hunger, ficknefs, and the various diftrefies 
 to which we are fubje&ed, prevent our 
 fentiments, and model our views into a 
 fordid mundane fcheme of intereft, of 
 riches, and power ; and teach us to fet a 
 mighty value on the conveniencies that 
 redrefs our wants. Beauty, and gran- 
 deur of fentiment, however illuftrious, 
 are not fo preffing as neceffity, they are 
 the difcoveries of a tranquil mind, and 
 muft lye behind the curtain, while 
 want and labour iffue forth upon the 
 ftage, and engage the attention. Labour 
 and want are the fame thing to the 
 human mind, that froft and a chilling air 
 are to a tender tree or flowering fhrub, 
 tranfpianted to a northern climate ; they 
 blaft it, and forbid its native flowers and 
 verdure to appear, and they prefcnt it to 
 the eye in barrenncfs and winter naked-
 
 44 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 nefs. Uncomely barbarity, and a fordid 
 difpofition, are the unworthy offspring of 
 our miferies and fufferings, every day im- 
 prefles them deeper upon the mind, in 
 which difhonoured ftate the race of 
 man muft have continued, until from art 
 and induflry, arofe plenty and eafe. Thus 
 in proportion as our fpecies emerge out 
 of want, they meet and embrace the fa- 
 miliar ideas of dignity and beauty, and 
 get ftiort interrupted views of the fources 
 of the fine arts, as men conVerfe with well- 
 known acquaintances in their fleep, whom 
 they never knew in real life; then the froft 
 begins to diflblve, the barren orange fhrub 
 is removed to a more fouthern foil, where 
 it puts forth unknown bloffoms, and bears 
 in pride its golden fruit. 
 
 However I muft obferve, that in fa- 
 vage rudenefs and barbarity, tafte lies 
 very near the reflections of men ; and, as 
 I faid, the reafon they mifs of it is, be- 
 
 caufe
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 45 
 
 caufe they are employed on obje&s of 
 greater importance j but in polite na- 
 tions, tafte is often more irretrievable, 
 becaufe, when a mixed tafte has got 
 pofleffion of the mind, the natural fenfe 
 of beauty is deceived, and feeks for no 
 other object. 
 
 Having anfwered the objections ufually 
 brought againft a permanent fenfe of 
 beauty, let us now proceed to fingle out 
 the particular fpecies or kinds of beauty ; 
 and begin with elegance of perfon, 
 that fo wonderfully elevates the human 
 character. 
 
 Elegance, the moft undoubted ofF- 
 fpring and vifible image of fine tafte, 
 the moment it appears, is univerfally ad- 
 mired : men difagree about the other 
 conftituent parts of beauty, but they all 
 unite without heutation to acknowledge 
 the power of elegance. 
 
 The
 
 46 C L I O . o R, A 
 
 The general opinion is, that this moft 
 confpicuous part of beauty, that is per- 
 ceived and acknowledged by every body, 
 is yet utterly inexplicable, and retires from 
 our fearch when we would difcover what 
 it is. Where fhall I find the fecret 
 retreat of the graces, to explain to me the 
 elegance they dictate, and to paint in 
 vifible colours the fugitive and varying 
 enchantment that hovers round a graceful 
 perfon, yet leaves us for ever in agreeable 
 fufpence and confufion ? I need not feelc 
 for them, madam ; the graces are but 
 emblems of the human mind, in its love- 
 lieft apppearances ; and while I write for 
 you, it is impoflible not to feel their in- 
 fluence. 
 
 Perfonal Elegance, for that is the ob- 
 ject of our prefent enquiry, may be de- 
 fined the image and reflection of the gran- 
 deur and beauty of the invifible foul. 
 Grandeur and beauty in the foul itfelf,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 47 
 
 are not objects of fenfe ; colours cannot 
 paint them, but they are united to fenti- 
 ments that appear viable ; they beftow a 
 noble meaning and importance of atti- 
 tude, and diffufe inexpreffible lovelinefs 
 over the perfon. 
 
 When two or more paflions or fenti- 
 ments unite, they are not fo readily dif- 
 tinguifhed, as if they had appeared fepa- 
 rate ; however, it is eafy to obferve, that 
 the complacency and admiration we feel 
 in the prefence of elegant perfons, is 
 made up of refpecl: and affection ; and 
 that we are difappointed when we fee 
 fuch perfons act a bafe or indecent part. 
 Thefe fymptoms plainly fhew, that per- 
 fonal elegance appears to us to be the image 
 and reflection of an elevated and beauti- 
 ful mind. In fome characters, the gran- 
 deur of foul is predominant ; in whom 
 beauty is majeftic and awful. In this 
 ftile is Mifs F- . In other charac- 
 l ters.
 
 48 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 ters, a foft and attracting grace is more 
 confpicuous : this latter kind is more 
 pleafing, for an obvious reafon. But 
 elegance cannot exift in either alone, 
 without a mixture of the other ; for 
 majefty without the beautiful, would be 
 haughty and difgufting ; and eafy accef- 
 fible beauty would lofethe idea of elegance, 
 and become an object of contempt. 
 
 The grandeur and beauty of the foul 
 charm us univerfally, who have all of us 
 implanted in our bofoms, even in the midft 
 of mifery, paffions of high defcent, im- 
 menfe ambition, and romantick hopes. 
 You may conceive an imprifoned bird, 
 whofe wild notes, prompted by the approach 
 of fpring, give her a confufed notion of 
 joy, although {he has no diftinct idea 
 of airy flights and fummer groves ; fo 
 when man emerging from wretchednefs 
 aflumes a nobler character, and the 
 elevation of the human genius ap- 
 pears openly, we view with fecret joy, 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 49 
 
 and delightful amazement, the fure evi- 
 dence and pledge of our dignity : the 
 mind catches fire by a train that lies 
 within itfelf, and expands with confcious 
 pride and merit, like a generous youth 
 over the images of his country's heroes. 
 Of the foftened and engaging part of 
 elegance, I fhall have occafion to fpeak 
 at large hereafter. 
 
 Perfonal elegance or grace is a fu- } 
 gitive luftre, that never fettles in any 
 part of the body ; you fee it glance and 
 difappear in the features and motions of a 
 graceful perfon ; it ftrikes your view ; 
 it fhines like an exhalation : but the mo- 
 ment you follow it, the wandering flame 
 vanifhes, and immediately lights up in 
 fomething elfe : you may as well think 
 of fixing the pleafing delufion of your 
 dreams, or the colours of a diflblving 
 rainbow. 
 
 E 
 
 You
 
 50 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 You have arifen early at times, in the 
 fummer feafon, to take the advantage of 
 the cool of the morning, to ride abroad. 
 Let us fuppofe you have miftaken an hour 
 or two, and juft got out a few minutes 
 before the rifing of the fun. You fee 
 the fields and woods, that lay the night 
 before in obfcurity, attiring themfelves in 
 beauty and verdure ; you fee a profufion 
 of brilliants fhining in the dew ; you fee 
 the ftream gradually admitting the light in- 
 to its pure bofom ; and you hear the birds, 
 who are awakened by a rapture, that 
 comes upon them from the morning. If 
 the eaftern fky be clear, you fee it glow 
 with the promife of a flame that has not 
 yet appeared ; and if it be overcaft with 
 clouds, you fee thofe clouds ftained by a 
 bright red, bordered with gold or filver, 
 that by the changes appear volatile, and. 
 ready to vanifh. How various and beau- 
 tiful are thofe appearances, which are not 
 the fun, but the diftant effects of it over 
 7 dif-
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 51 
 
 different objects ! In like manner the 
 foul flings inexpreffible charms over the 
 human perfon and actions ; but then the 
 caufe is lefs known, becaufe the foul for 
 ever fhines behind a cloud, and is always 
 retired from our fenfes. 
 
 You conceive why elegance is of a fu- 
 gitive nature, and exifts chiefly in mo- 
 tion : as it is communicated by the prin- 
 ciple of action that governs the whole 
 perfon, it is found over the whole body, 
 and is fixed no-where. The curious eye 
 with eagernefs purfues the wandering 
 beauty, which it fees with furprize at 
 every turn, but is never able to overtake. 
 It is a waving flame, that, like the reflec- 
 tion of the fun from water, never fettles ; 
 it glances on you in every motion and 
 difpofition of the body ; its different 
 powers through attitude and motion feem 
 to be collected in dancing, wherein it 
 E 2 plays
 
 52 C L I Oj OR, A 
 
 plays over the arms, the legs, the breaft, 
 the neck, and in fhort the whole frame : 
 but if grace has any fixed throne, it is 
 in the face, the refidence of the foul, 
 where you think a thoufand times it is 
 juft iffuing into view. 
 
 Elegance aflumes to itfelf an empire 
 equal to that of the foul ; it rules and in- 
 fpires every part of the body, and makes 
 ufe of all the human powers ; but it par- 
 ticularly takes the paflions under its 
 charge and direction, and turns them in- 
 to a kind of artillery, with which it does 
 infinite execution. 
 
 The paflions that are favourites with 
 the graces are modefty, good-nature, par- 
 ticularly when it is heightened by a fmall 
 colouring of affection into fweetnefs^ and 
 that fine languor which feems to be formed 
 of a mixture of ftill joy and hope. Sur- 
 prize,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 53 
 
 prize, fhame, and even grief and anger, 
 have appeared pleafing under proper re- 
 ftrictions ; for it muft be obferved, that 
 all excefs is {hocking and difagreeable, 
 and that even the moft pleafing paifions 
 appear to moft advantage when the tinc- 
 ture they caft over the countenance is en- 
 feebled and gentle. The pafiions that are 
 enemies to the graces are impudence, af- 
 fectation, ftrong and harm, degrees of 
 pride, malice, and aufterity. 
 
 There is an union of the fine paffions, 
 but fo Delicate that you cannot conceive 
 any one of them feparate from the reft, 
 called fenfibility^ which is requifite in an 
 elegant deportment j it chiefly refides in 
 the eye, which is indeed the feat of the 
 paflions. 
 
 I have fpoken of the paffions only as 
 
 they are fubfervient to grace, which is 
 
 the object of our prefent attention. The 
 
 E 3 fa(?e
 
 54 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 face is the mother-country, if I may call 
 it fo, or the habitation of grace ; and it 
 vifits the other parts of the body only as 
 diftant provinces, with fome little parti- 
 ality to the neck, and the fine bafis that 
 fupports itj but the countenance is the 
 very palace in which it takes up its refi- 
 dence ; it is there it revels through its va- 
 rious apartments ; you fee it wrappedin 
 clouded majefty upon the brow ; you dif- 
 cover it about the lips hardly rifing to a 
 fmile, and vanifhing in a moment, when 
 it is rather perceived than feen j and then, 
 fry the moft engaging viciffitudes^ it en- 
 livens, flames, and diflblves in the eye. 
 
 You have, I fuppofe, all along obferv- 
 ed, that I am not treating of beauty, 
 which depends on different principles, 
 but of that elegance which is the effecl: 
 of a delicate and awakened tafte, and in 
 every kind of form is the enchantment 
 that attracts and pleafes univerfally, even 
 
 without
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 55 
 
 without the afliftance of any other 
 charm ; whereas without it no degree of 
 beauty is charming. You have un- 
 doubtedly feen women lovely without 
 much beauty, and handfome without 
 being lovely j it is gracefulnefs caufes 
 this variation, and throws a luftre over 
 difagreeable features, as the fun paints a 
 fhowery cloud with the colours of the 
 rainbow. 
 
 I before remarked, that the grace of 
 every elegant perfon is varied agreeable to 
 fhe chara&er and difpofidon of the per- 
 fon it beautifies ; I am fenfible you rea- 
 dily conceive the reafon. Elegance is the 
 natural habit and image of the foul beam- 
 ing forth in a&ion ; it muft therefore 
 be exprefled by the peculiar features, 
 air, and difpofition of the perfon ; it muft 
 arife from nature, and flow with eafe and 
 a propriety that diftinguifties it. The 
 imitation of any particular perfon, how- 
 E 4 ever
 
 56 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 ever graceful, is dangerous, left the affec- 
 tation appear; but the unftudied elegance 
 of nature is acquired by the example and 
 converfation of feveral elegant perfons of 
 different characters, which people adopt 
 to the import of their own geftures, with- 
 out knowing how. 
 
 It is alfo becaufe elegance is the re- 
 flection of the foul appearing in action, 
 that good ftatues, and pictures drawn 
 from life, are laid before the eye in mo- 
 tion. If you look at the old Gothic 
 churches built in barbarous ages, you will 
 fee the ftatues reared up dead and inani- 
 mate againft the walls. 
 
 I faid, at the beginning of this little 
 difcourfe, that the beauty of drefs refults 
 from mode or fafhion, and it certainly 
 does fo in a great meafure ; but I muft 
 limit that aflertion by the following ob- 
 fervation, that there is alfo a real beauty
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 57 
 
 in attire that does not depend on the 
 mode : thofe robes which leave the whole 
 perfon at liberty in its motions, and that 
 give to the imagination the natural pro- 
 portions and fymmetry of the body, are 
 always more becoming than fucli as re- 
 ftrain any part of the body, or in which 
 it is loft or disfigured. You may eafily 
 imagine how a pair of flays laced tightly 
 about the Minerva we admired, would 
 opprefs the fublime beauty of her com- 
 portment and figure. Since perfons of 
 rank cannot chufe their own drefs, but 
 muft run along with the prefent fafhion, 
 the fecret of drefling gracefully muft con- 
 fift in the flender variations that cannot 
 be obferved to defert the fafhion, and yet 
 approach nigher to the complexion and 
 import of the countenance, and that at 
 the fame time allows to the whole body 
 the greateft poffible freedom, eafe, and 
 imagery : by imagery I mean, that as a 
 good painter will fhew the effect of the 
 
 mufcles
 
 58 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 mufcles that do not appear to the eye, fo 
 a perfoa fkilful in drefs will difplay the 
 elegance of the form, though it be covered 
 and out of view. As the tafte of drefs ap- 
 proaches to perfection all art difappears, 
 and it feems the effedl of negligence and 
 inftin&ive inattention : for this reafon its 
 beauties arife from the manner and gene- 
 ral air rather than from the richnefs, 
 which laft, when it becomes too grofs and 
 oppreffive, deftroys the elegance. A bril- 
 liancy and parade in drefs is therefore the 
 infallible fign of a bad tafte, that in this 
 contraband manner endeavours to make 
 amends for the want of true elegance, and 
 bears a relation to the heaps of orna- 
 ment that encumbered the Gothic build- 
 ings. Apelles obfcrving an Helen paint- 
 ed by one of his fcholars, that was over- 
 charged with a rich drefs, " I find, 
 young man, faid he, not being able to 
 paint her beautiful, you have made her 
 fine." 
 
 Harfh
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 59 
 
 Harfh and violent motions are always 
 unbecoming. Milton attributes the fame 
 kind of motion to his angels that the 
 Heathens did to their deities, fcft Jllding 
 without jlep. It is impoffible to preferve 
 the attractions in a country-dance that 
 attend on a minuet ; as the ftep quick- 
 ens, the moft delicate of the graces retire. 
 The rule holds univerfally through all 
 action, whether quick or flow; it fhould 
 always partake of the fame polifhed and 
 foftened motion, particularly in the tranfi- 
 tions of the countenance, where the 
 genius of the perfon feems to hover and 
 refide. 
 
 The degrees run very high upon the 
 fcale of elegance, and probably few have 
 arrived near the higheft pitch ; but it is 
 certain, that the idea of furprifing beauty 
 that was familiar in Greece, has been 
 hardly conceived by the moderns : many 
 cf their ftatues remain the objects of our 
 
 ad-
 
 60 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 admiration, but wholly fuperior to imi- 
 tation ; their pi&ures that have funk in 
 the wreck of time, appear in the defcrip- 
 tions made of them to have equal imagi- 
 nation with the ftatues ; and their poetry 
 abounds with the fame coeleftial imagery. 
 But what puts this matter out of doubt 
 is, that their celebrated beauties were 
 the models of their artifts, and it is 
 known, that the elegancies of Thai's and 
 Phryne were copied by the famous pain- 
 ters of Greece, and configned to canvafs 
 and marble to aftonifh and charm diftant 
 ages. 
 
 Perfonal elegance, in which tafte af- 
 fumes the moft confpicuous and noble 
 appearance, confufes us in our enquiries 
 after it, by the quicknefs and variety of 
 its changes, as well as by a complica- 
 tion that is not eafily unravelled. I de- 
 fined it to be the image and reflection of 
 a great and beautiful foul j let us fepa- 
 
 rate
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 61 
 
 rate the diftin& parts of this variety ; 
 when they appear afunder, you will find 
 them perfectly familiar and intelligible. 
 
 The firfl, and moft refpe&able part, 
 that enters into the compofition of ele- 
 gance, is the lofty confcioufnefs of 
 worth or virtue, which fuftains an ha- 
 bitual decency, and becoming pride. 
 
 The fecond and moft pleafing part, 
 is a difplay of good-nature approaching 
 to affection, of gentle affability, and, in 
 general, of the pleafing paffions. It 
 feems difficult to reconcile thefe two 
 parts, and in fa& it is fo ; but when 
 they unite, then they appear like a re- 
 ferved and virgin kindnefs, that is at 
 once noble and foft, that may be won, 
 but muft be courted with delicacy. 
 
 The third part of ^elegance is the 
 appearance of a polifhed and tranquil 
 
 habit
 
 6.2 C L I O. OR, A 
 
 habit of mind, that foftens the actions 
 and emotions, and gives a covert profpe<5t 
 t>f innocence and undifturbed repofe. I 
 will treat of thefe feparate, and firft of 
 dignity of foul. 
 
 I obferved, near the beginning of this 
 Difcourfe, in anfwer to art objection you 
 made, that the mind has always a tafte for 
 truth, for gratitude, for generofity, and 
 greatnefs of foul : thefe, which are pecu- 
 liarly called fenti?nents> flamp upon the 
 human fpirit a dignity and worth not 
 to be found in any other animated be- 
 ing. However great and furprifing the 
 moft glorious objects in nature be, the 
 heaving ocean, the moon that guides it 
 and cafts a foftened luftre over the night, 
 the ftarry firmament, or the fun itfelf ; 
 yet their beauty and grandeur inftantly 
 appear of an inferior kind, beyond all 
 comparifon, to this of the foul of man. 
 Thefe fentiments are united under the 
 
 general
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 63 
 
 general name of virtue ; and fuch are the 
 embellifhmentstheydiffufe over the mind, 
 that Plato, a very polite philofopher, fays 
 finely, " If Virtue was to appear in a vi- 
 fxble fhape, all men would be enamoured 
 of her." 
 
 Virtue and truth are infeparable, and 
 take their flight together. A mind de- 
 void of truth is a frightful wreck ; it 
 is like a great city in ruins, vvhofe 
 mouldring towers juft bring to the ima- 
 gination the mirth and life that once were 
 there, and is now no more. Truth is 
 the genius of tafte, and enters into the 
 efTence of fimple beauty in wit, in writ- 
 ing, and throughout the fine arts. 
 
 Generofity covers almoft all other 
 defects, and raifes a blaze around them 
 in which they difappear and are loft : 
 like fovereign beauty, it makes a fhort 
 it wins our hearts 
 without
 
 (64 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 without refiftance or delay, and unites 
 all the world to favour and fupport its 
 defigns. 
 
 Grandeur of foul, fortitude, and a re* 
 folution that haughtily ftruggles with 
 defpair, and will neither yield to, nor 
 make terms with, misfortunes ; which 
 through every fituation, repofes a noble 
 confidence in itfelf, and has an immove- 
 able view to future glory and honour, 
 aftonifhes the world with admiration 
 and delight. We, as it were, lean for- 
 ward with furprize and trembling joy to 
 behold the human foul collecting its 
 ftrength, and aflerting a right to fupe- 
 rior fates. When you leave man out 
 of your account, and view the whole vi- 
 fible creation befide, you indeed fee fe- 
 veral traces of grandeur and unfpeakable 
 power, and the intermixture of a rich 
 fcenery of beauty ; yet ftill the whole 
 appears to be but a folemn abfurdity, 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSE o* TASTE. 65 
 
 and to have a littlenefs and infignifi- 
 cancy. But when you reftore man to 
 profpe&, and put him at the head of 
 it, endued with genius and an im- 
 mortal foul ; when you give him a paf- 
 fion for truth, boundlefs views that 
 fpread along through eternity, and a for- 
 titude that ftruggles with fate, and 
 yields not to misfortunes', then the fkies, 
 the ocean, and the earth, take the ftamp 
 of worth and dignity from the noble in- 
 habitant whofe purpofes they ferve. 
 
 A mind fraught with the virtues is the 
 natural foil of elegance. Unaffected truth, 
 generofity, and grandeur of foul, for ever 
 pleafe and charm : even when they break 
 from the common forms, and appear wild* 
 and unmethodized by education, they* 
 are {till beautiful. On the contrary, 
 as foon as we difcover that outward ele- 
 gance which is formed by the mode, to 
 F want
 
 66 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 want truth, generofity, or grandeur of foul, 
 it inftantly finks in our efteem like coun- 
 terfeit coin, and we are fenfible of a re- 
 luctant difappointment like that of the 
 lover in the epigram, who became ena- 
 moured with the lady's voice and the 
 foftnefs of her hand in the dark, but was 
 cured of his paffion as foon as he had 
 light to view her. 
 
 Let us now pafs on to the moft pleafing 
 part of elegance, an habitual difplay of 
 the kind and gentle paflions, 
 
 We are naturally inclined to love 
 thofe who bear an affe&ion to us j and 
 we are charmed with the homage that is 
 paid to our -merit : by thefe weaknefles 
 politenefs attacks us. The well-bred 
 gentleman always in his behaviour in- 
 fmuates a regard to others, tempered 
 with refpecl. His attention to pleafe 
 
 confefles
 
 DISCOURSE QN TASTE. 67 
 
 confefles plainly his kindnefs to you, and 
 the high efteem he holds you in. The 
 affiduous prevention of our wifhes, and 
 that yielding fweetnefs complaifance puts 
 on for our fake, are irrefiftable ; and 
 although we know this kind of flattery 
 to be proftitute and habitual, yet it is 
 not indfferent to us ; we receive it in a 
 manner that (hews how much it gra- 
 tifies us. ' 
 
 The defire of being agreeable, finds 
 out the art of being fo without ftudy or 
 labour. Ruftics who fall in love, grow 
 unufually polite and engaging. This 
 new charm, that has altered their na- 
 tures, and fuddenly endued them with the 
 powers of pleafing, is nothing more than 
 an enlivened attention to pleafe, that has 
 taken pofleffion of their minds, and tinc- 
 tured their actions. We ought not to 
 wonder that We is thus enchanting : its 
 F 2 tender
 
 ea e r, i o 5 OR, A 
 
 tender aflxduity is but the natural a^drefs 
 of the paffion ; politenefs borrows the 
 flattering form of affe&ion, and becomes 
 agreeable by the appearance of kind- 
 jiefs. 
 
 What pleafes us generally appears 
 beautiful. Complaifance, that is fo en- 
 gaging, gives an agreeablenefs to the 
 whole perfon, and creates a beauty that 
 nature gave not to the features j it 
 fubmits, it promifes, it applauds in the 
 countenance; the heart lays itfelf in 
 Jfmiles at your feet, and a voice that is 
 indulgent and tender, is always heard 
 with pleafure. 
 
 The laft conftituent part of elegance 
 is the picture of a tranquil foul that ap- 
 pears in foftening the a&ions and emo- 
 tions, and exhibits a retired profpeft of 
 happinefs and innocence. 
 
 A calm
 
 DISCOURSE on TASTE. 69 
 
 A calm of mind that is feen in grace* 
 ful eafy action, and in the enfeeblement 
 of our paffions, gives us an idea of the 
 golden age, when human nature, adorned 
 with innocence, and the peace that at- 
 tends it, repofed in the arms of content. 
 This ferene profpe& of human nature 
 always pleafes us ; and although the con- 
 tent, whofe image^ it is, be vifionary in 
 this world, and we cannot arrive at it, 
 yet it is the point in imagination we 
 have finally in view, in all the purfuits of 
 life, and the native home for which we 
 do not ceafe to languifh. 
 
 The fentiment of tranquillity particu- 
 larly beautifies paftoral poetry. The images 
 of calm and happy quiet that appear in 
 fhaded groves, in filent vales, and flum- 
 bers by falling ftreams, invite the poet 
 to indulge his genius in rural fcenes. 
 The mufic that lulls and compofes the 
 mind, at the fame time enchants it. The 
 F 3 hue
 
 70 C t I O : o R, A 
 
 hue of this beauteous eafe, caft over the 
 human actions and emotions, forms a 
 yery delightful part of elegance, and 
 gives the other conftituent parts an ap- 
 pearance of nature and truth : for in a 
 tranquil ftate of mind, undifturbed by 
 wants or fears, the views of men are 
 generous and elevated. From the com- 
 bination of thefe fine parts, grandeur of 
 foul, complacency, and eafe, arife the 
 enchantments of elegance ; but the ap- 
 pearance of the two laft are oftener found 
 together, and then they form Politenefs. 
 
 When we take a view of the feparate 
 parts that conftitute perfonal elegance, 
 we immediately know the feeds that are 
 proper to be cherifhed in the infant mind, 
 to bring forth the beauteous production. 
 The virtues fhould be cultivated early 
 with facred care, Good-nature, modefty, 
 jrfFability, and a kind concern for others,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 71 
 
 fliould be carefully inculcated j and an 
 eafy unconftrained dominion acquired 
 by habit over the paffions. A mind 
 thus finely prepared, is capable of the 
 higheft luftre of elegance ; which is after- 
 wards attained with as little labour as 
 our firft language, by only aflbciating 
 with graceful people of different charac- 
 ters, from whom an habitual gracefulnefs 
 will be acquired, that will bear the na- 
 tural unaffected ftamp of our own minds : 
 in {hort, it will be our own character and 
 genius ftripped of its native rudenefs, and 
 enriched with beauty and attraction. 
 
 Nature, that beftows her favours with- 
 out refpecl: of perfons, often denies to 
 the great the capacity of diftinguifhed 
 elegance, and flings it away in obfcure 
 villages. You fometimes fee it at a coun- 
 try fair fpread an amiablenefs over a 
 fun-burnt girl, like the light of the moon 
 through a mift j but fuch, madam, is the 
 F 4 neceffity
 
 73 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 neceflity of habitual elegance acquired by 
 f Ration and converfe, that if even you 
 were born in that low clafs, you could 
 be no more than the faireft damfel at the 
 may-pole, and the object pf the hope 
 and jealoufy of a few ruftics. 
 
 People are rendered totally incapable of 
 elegance by the want of good-nature, and 
 the other gentle paffions j by the want 
 of modefty and fenfibility ; and by a 
 want of that noble pride which arifes 
 from a confcioufnefs of lofty and gene- 
 rous fentiments. The abfence of thefe 
 native charms is generally fupplied by 
 g brifk ftupidity, an impudence uncon- 
 fcious of defect, a caft of malice, and 
 n uncommon tendency to ridicule ; as 
 if nature had given thefe her ftep-chil" 
 tjren an inftinftive intelligence, that they 
 can rife out of contempt only by the de- 
 preflion of others. For the fame reafon 
 it is, that perfons of true and finifhed 
 
 tafte
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 73 
 
 tafte feldom affect ridicule, becaufe they 
 are confcious of their own fuperior me- 
 rit. Pride is the caufe of ridicule in the 
 one, as it is of candour in the other ; 
 but the effects differ, as the ftudied 
 parade of poverty does from the negligent 
 grandeur of riches. You will fee nothing 
 more common in the world than for peo - 
 pie, who by ftupidity and infenfibility are 
 incapable of the graces, commence wits 
 on the ftrength of the petite talents of 
 mimickry, and the brilk tartnefs that ill- 
 nature never fails to fupply. 
 
 From what I have faid it appears, that 
 a fenfe of elegance is a fenfe of dignity, 
 of virtue, and innocence united. Is it 
 not natural then to expect, that in the 
 courfe of a liberal education, men (hould 
 cultivate the generous qualities they ap- 
 prove and aflume ? But inftead of them, 
 men only aim at the appearances, which 
 require no felf-denial ; and thus, with- 
 out
 
 74 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 out acquiring the virtues, they facrifice 
 their honefty and fincerity : whence it 
 comes to pafs, that there is often the lead 
 virtue where there is the greateft appear- 
 ance of it ; and that the poliftied part of 
 mankind only arrive at the fubtile cor- 
 ruption, of uniting vice with the drefs 
 and complexion of virtue. 
 
 I have dwelt on perfonal elegance, be- 
 caufe the ideas and principles in this part 
 of good tafte are more familiar to you. 
 We may then take them for a foundation, 
 in our future obfervations, fince the fame 
 principles of eafy grace and fimple gran- 
 deur, will animate our ideas with an 
 unftudied propriety, and enlighten our 
 judgments in beauty, in literature, in 
 fculpture, painting, and the other depart- 
 ments of fine tafte. 
 
 I (hall but (lightly touch on our tafte 
 of perfonal beauty, becaufe it requires no 
 
 directions
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 75 
 
 dire&ions to be known. To afk what is 
 beauty, fays a philofopher, is the queftion 
 of a blind man. I {hall therefore only 
 make a few reflections on this head, that 
 lie out of the common tradl. But prior 
 to what I have to fay, it is necefiary to 
 make fome obfervations on phyfiognomy. 
 
 There is an obvious relation between 
 the mind and the turn of the features, fo 
 well known by inflint, that every one is 
 more or lefs expert at reading the coun- 
 tenance. We look as well as fpeak our 
 minds ; and amongft people of little ex- 
 perience, the look is generally moft fin- 
 cere. This is fo well underftood, that 
 it is become a part of education to learn 
 to difguife the countenance, which yet 
 requires a habit from early youth, and the 
 continual practice of hypocricy, to deceive 
 an intelligent eye. The natural virtues 
 and vices not only have their places in the 
 , even acquired habits that much
 
 76 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 affeft the mind fettle there ; contempla- 
 tion, in length of time, gives a caft of 
 thought to the countenance. 
 
 Now to come back to our fubje& : 
 the afTemblage called beauty, istheimags 
 of noble fentiments and amiable paflions 
 in the face j but fo blended and confufed 
 that we are not able to feparate and di- 
 ftinguifh them. The mind has a fen- 
 fibility, and clear knowledge, in many 
 inftances without reflection, or even the 
 power of reafoning upon its own percep- 
 tions. We can no more account for the 
 relation between the paflions of the mind 
 and a fet of features, than we can ac- 
 count for the relation between the founds 
 of mufick and the paflions ; the eye 
 is judge of the one without principles 
 or rules, as the ear is of the other. 
 It is impoflible you fhould not take 
 notice of the remarkable difference of 
 
 beauty
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 77 
 
 beauty in the fame face, in a good 
 and in ill humour ; and if the gentle 
 paflions in an indifferent face, do not 
 change it to perfect beauty j it is, 
 becaufe nature did not originally model 
 the features to the juft and familiar ex- 
 preflion of thofe paflions, and the ge- 
 nuine expreffions of nature can never be 
 wholly obliterated. But it is necefiary 
 to obferve, that the engaging import that 
 forms beauty, is often the fymbol of 
 paflions that, although pleafing, are dan- 
 gerous to virtue j and that a firmnefs of 
 mind, whofe caft of feature is much lefs 
 pleafing, is more favourable to virtue. 
 From the affinity between beauty and the 
 paflions it muft follow, that beauty is re- 
 lative, that is, a fenfe of human beauty is 
 confined to our fpecies ; and alfo, as far as 
 we have a power over the paflions, we are 
 able to improve the face, and tranfplant 
 charms into itj both of which obfervations 
 
 have
 
 78 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 been often made. From the various prin* 
 ciples of beauty, and the agreeable com- 
 binations, of which the face gives in- 
 telligence, fprings that variety found in 
 the ftile of beauty. 
 
 Complexion is a kind of beauty that 
 is pleafingonly by affbciation. The brown, 
 the fair, the black, are not any of 
 them original beauty ; but when the com- 
 plexion is united in one picture on the 
 imagination, with the aflemblage that 
 forms the image of the tender paflions, 
 with gentle fmiles, and kind endearments, 
 it is then infeparable from our idea of 
 beauty, and forms a part of it. From the 
 fame caufe, a national fet of features 
 appear amiable to the inhabitants, who 
 have been accuftomed to fee the amiable 
 difpofitions through them. This obfer- 
 vation refolves a difficulty, that often oc- 
 curs in the reflections of men on our pre- 
 fent fubjeft. We all fpeak of beauty as 
 
 if
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 79 
 
 if it were acknowledged and fettled by a 
 publick ftandard ; yet we find, in fact, 
 that people, in placing their affections, 
 often have little regard to the common 
 notions of beauty. The truth is, com- 
 plexion and form being the charms that 
 are vifible and confpicuous, the com- 
 mon ftandard of beauty is generally re- 
 ftrained to thofe external attractions : but 
 fince perfonal grace and the engaging 
 paflions, although they cannot be deli- 
 neated, have a more universal and uni- 
 form power, it is no wonder people, in re- 
 figning their hearts, fo often contradict 
 the common received ftandard. Accord- 
 ingly, as the engaging paflions and the 
 addrefs are difcovered in converfation, the 
 tender attachments of people are generally 
 fixed by an intercourfe of fentiment, and 
 feldom by a tranfient view, except in ro- 
 mances and novels. It is further to be 
 obferved, that when once the affections 
 are fixed, a new face with a higher degree 
 
 of
 
 go C L I O: OR, A 
 
 of beauty will not always have a higher 
 degree of power to remove them, becaufe 
 our affections arife from a fource within 
 ourfelves, as well as from external beau- 
 ty ; and when the tender paffion is at- 
 tached by a particular object, the imagi- 
 nation furrounds that object with a thou- 
 fand ideal embellifhments that exift only 
 in the mind of the lover. 
 
 The hiftory of the fhort life of beauty 
 may be collected from what I have faid. In 
 youth that borders on infancy, the paffions 
 are in a ftate of vegetation, they only ap- 
 pear in full bloom in maturity j for which 
 reafon the beauty of youth is no more than 
 the dawn and promife of future beauty. 
 The features, as we grow into years, gradu- 
 ally form along with the mind : different 
 fenfibilities gather into the countenance, 
 and become beauty there, as colours mount 
 in a tulip, and enrich it. When the 
 eloquent force and delicacy of fentiment 
 2 has
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. Si 
 
 has continued fame little time, age be- 
 gins to ftiffen the features, and deftroy 
 the engaging variety and vivacity of the 
 countenance j the eye gradually lofes its 
 fire, and is no longer the mirror of the 
 agreeable pafllons. Finally, old age fur- 
 rows the face with wrinkles, as a bar- 
 barous conqueror overturns a city from 
 the foundation, and tranfitory beauty is 
 extinguiflied. 
 
 Beauty and elegance are nearly related, 
 their difference confifts in this, that ele- 
 gance is the image of the mind difplayed 
 in motion and deportment ; beauty is an 
 image of the mind in the countenance 
 and form ; confequently beauty is of a 
 more fixed nature, and owes lefs to art 
 and habit. 
 
 When I fpcak of beauty, it is not 
 
 wholly out of my way to make a fin- 
 
 gular obfervation on the tender paffion 
 
 in our fpecies Innocent and virtuous 
 
 G love
 
 82 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 Jove cafts a beauteous hue over human 
 nature; it quickens and {Strengthens our 
 admiration of virtue, and our deteftation 
 of vice \ it opens our eyes to our imper- 
 fections, and gives us a pride in excelling ; 
 it infpires us with heroic fentiments, ge- 
 nerofity, a contempt of life, a boldnefs 
 for enterprise, chaftity, and purity of 
 fentiment. It takes a fimilitude to devo- 
 tion, and almoft deifies the object of 
 paffion. People whofe breafts are dulled 
 with vice, or ftupified by nature, call this 
 paffion romantic love j but when it was 
 the mode, it was the diagnoftic of a vir- 
 tuous age. Thefe fymptoms of heroifm, 
 fpring from an obfcure principle, that in 
 a noble mind unites itfelf with every 
 paffionate view in life j this namelefs prin- 
 ciple is diftinguifhed by endowing people 
 with extraordinary powers and enthufiafm 
 in the purfuit of their favourite wifhes, 
 and by difguft and difappointment when 
 we arrive at the point where our wifhes 
 fecm to be completed. It has made great 
 2 conquerors
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 83 
 
 conquerors defpife dangers and death in 
 their way to victory, and figh afterwards 
 when they had no more to conquer. 
 
 From external beauty we come to the 
 charms of converfation and writing. 
 Words, by reprefenting ideas, become 
 the picture of our thoughts, and commu- 
 cate them with the greateft fidelity. But 
 they are not only the figns of fenfible 
 ideas, they exhibit the very image and 
 diftinguifhing likenefs of the mind that 
 ufes them. 
 
 Converfation does not require the fame 
 merit to pleafe that writing does. The hu- 
 man foul is endued with a kind of natural 
 expreffion, which it does not acquire. 
 The expreffion I fpeak of confifts in 
 the fignificant modulations and tones of 
 voice, accompanied, in unaffected people, 
 by a propriety of gefture. This native 
 language was not intended by nature to 
 reprefent the tranfitory ideas that come 
 G 2 by
 
 84 C L I O j o Ri A 
 
 by the fenfes to the imagination, but 
 the paffions of the mind and its emo- 
 tions only j therefore modulation and 
 gefture give life and paflion to words ; 
 their mighty force in oratory is very con- 
 fpicuous : but although their effe&s be 
 milder in converfation, yet they are very 
 fenfible ; they agitate the foul by a va- 
 riety of gentle fenfations, and help to 
 form that fweet charm that makes the 
 moft trifling fubje&s engaging. This 
 fine expreflion, which is not learned, is 
 not fo much taken notice of as it de- 
 ferves, becaufe it is much fuperfeded by 
 the ufe of artificial and acquired lan- 
 guage. The modern fyftem of philofo- 
 phy has alfo concurred to fliut it out 
 from our reflections. 
 
 It is in converfation people put on 
 all their graces, and appear in the luftre 
 of good-breeding. It is certain good- 
 breeding that fets fo great a diftin&iou 
 
 between
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 85 
 
 between individuals of the fame fpecies, 
 creates nothing new (I mean a good edu- 
 cation) but only draws forth into pro- 
 fpect with fkill and addrefs the agreeable 
 difpofitions and fentiments that lay la- 
 tent in the mind. You may call good- 
 breeding artificial j but it is like the 
 art of a gardener, under whofe hand a 
 barren tree puts forth its own bloom, and 
 is enriched with its fpecific fruit. It 
 is fcarce poffible to conceive any fcene fo 
 truly agreeable as an aflembly of people 
 elaborately educated, who aflume a cha- 
 racter fuperior to ordinary life, and fup- 
 port it with eafe and familiarity. 
 
 The heart is won in converfation by 
 its own paffions. Its pride, its gran- 
 deur, its affections, lay it open to the 
 enchantment of an inflnuating addrefs 
 Flattery is a grofs charm ; but who is 
 proof againft a gentle and yielding difpo- 
 fttion, that infers your fuperiority with a 
 G 3 delicacy
 
 S6 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 delicacy fo fine, that you cannot fee the 
 lines of which it is compofed ? Genero- 
 fity, difmtereftednefs, a noble love of 
 truth that will not deceive, a feeling of 
 the diftrefles of others, and greatnefs of 
 foul, infpire us with admiration along 
 with love, and take our affections as it 
 were by ftorm ; but above all, we are fe- 
 duced by a view of the tender and affec- 
 tionate paflions ; they carry a foft infec- 
 tion, and the heart is betrayed to them 
 by its own forces. If we are to judge 
 from fymptoms, the foul that engages 
 us fo powerfully by its reflected glances, 
 is an object of infinite beauty. I ob- 
 ferved before, that the modulations of 
 the human voice that exprefs the foul, 
 move us powerfully j and indeed we are 
 affected by the natural emotions of the 
 mind expreffed in the fimpleft language : 
 in fliort, the happy art that in conver- 
 fation and the intercourfe of life, lays 
 hold upon our affections, is but a juft 
 
 addrefs.
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 87 
 
 addrefs to the engaging paffions in the 
 human breaft. But this fyren power like 
 beauty is the gift of Nature. 
 
 Soft pleafing fpeech and graceful out- 
 ward fhow, 
 
 No arts can gain them, but the gods 
 beftow. POPE'S HOM. 
 
 From the various combinations of the 
 feveral endearing paffions and lofty fen- 
 timents, arife the variety of pleafing cha- 
 racters that beautify human fociety. 
 
 There is a different fource of pleafure 
 in converfation from what I have fpoken 
 of, called wit; which diverts the world fo 
 much, that I cannot venture to omit it, 
 although delicacy and a refined tafte he- 
 fitate a little, and will not allow its va- 
 lue to be equal to its currency. Wit 
 deals largely in allufion and whimfical 
 (imilitudes ; its countenance is always 
 double, and it unites the true and the 
 G 4 fantaftic
 
 88 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 fantaftic by a nice gradation of colour- 
 ing that cannot be perceived. You ob- 
 ferve that I am only fpeaking of the ready 
 wit of converfation. 
 
 Wit is properly called in to fupport a 
 converfation, where the heart or affections 
 are not concerned ; and its proper bufi- 
 nefs is to relieve the mind from folitary 
 inattention, where there is no room to 
 move it by paffion j the mind's eye, when 
 difengaged, is diverted by being fixed up- 
 on a vapour, that dances, as it were, on 
 the furface of the imagination, and con- 
 tinually alters its afpect : the motley 
 image, whofe comic fide we had only 
 time to furvey, is too unimportant to be 
 attentively confidered, and luckily va- 
 niflies before we can view it on every 
 fide. Shallow folks expect that thofe 
 who diverted them in converfation, and 
 made happy ban mots, ought to write well; 
 and imagine that they themfelves were 
 
 made
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 89 
 
 made to laugh by the force of genius : but 
 they are generally difappointed when they 
 fee the admired character defcend upon 
 paper. The truth is, the frivolous turn 
 and habit of a comic companion, is al- 
 moft diametrically oppofite to true genius, 
 whofe natural exercife is deep and flow- 
 paced reflection. You may as well ex- 
 pect that a man {hould like Casfar form 
 confident fchemes for fubduing the 
 world, and employ the principal part of 
 his time in catching flies. I have often 
 heard people exprefs a furprife, that Swift 
 and Addifon, the two greateft matters of 
 humour of the laft age, were eafily put 
 out of countenance, as if pun, mimickry, 
 or repartee, were the offspring of genius. 
 
 Whatever fimilitude may be between 
 humour in writing, and humour in con- 
 verfation, they are generally found to 
 require different talents. Humour in 
 writing is the offspring of reflection, 
 and is by nice touches and labour brought 
 
 to
 
 90 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 to wear the negligent air of nature; 
 whereas, wit in converfation is an enemy 
 to reflexion, and glows brighteft when 
 the imagination flings off the thought 
 the moment it arifes, in its genuine new- 
 born drefs. Men a little elevated by li- 
 quor feem to have a peculiar facility at 
 ftriking out the capricious and fantaftic 
 images that raife our mirth ; in fact, 
 what we generally admire in faliies of 
 wit, is the nicety with which they 
 touch upon the verge of folly, indifcre- 
 tion, or malice, while at the fame time 
 they preferve thought, fubtilety, and 
 good-humour; and what we laugh at is 
 the motly appearance, whofe whimfical 
 condftency we cannot account for. 
 
 People are pleafed at wit for the fame 
 reafon that they arc fond of diverfion of 
 any kind, not for the worth of the thing, 
 but becaufe the mind is not able to bear 
 an intenfe train of thinking ; and yet the 
 ceafmg of thought is infulferable, or ra- 
 ther
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 91 
 
 ther impoflible. In fuch an uneafy di- 
 lemma, the unfteady excurfions of wit 
 give the mind its natural afiion, without 
 fatigue, and relieve it delightfully, by 
 employing the imagination without re- 
 quiring any reflexion. Thofe who have 
 an eternal appetite for wit, like thofe 
 who are ever in queft of diverfion, be- 
 tray a frivolous minute genius, incapable 
 of thinking. 
 
 Fine writing is but an eafy picture 
 of nature, as it arifes to view upon the 
 imagination. It is the expreffion of our 
 firft thoughts, or at leaft of what ought 
 to be fo ; and we are furprifed in the 
 moft celebrated writings, to find that they 
 are wholly familiar to us, and feem to be 
 exactly what we ourfelves think and 
 would fay ; and bad writers feem to have 
 been under fome reftraint, that put them 
 out of a path that lay directly before 
 them. Would you not then think, that 
 fine writing fhould be very common ? 
 
 But
 
 92 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 But I muft pray you to recoiled!, that ele- 
 gance, though it confifts chiefly in pro- 
 priety and eafe, yet it is attained by very 
 few. I have already intimated the reafon: 
 ; true tafte and fentiment lie deep in the 
 mind, often incorporated with prejudices; 
 and it requires vail judgment to bring 
 the beauteous ore to light, and to refine 
 it. I fhould not be impartial and candid, 
 if .1 did not own to you that learning, 
 in much the greater part of mankind, dif- 
 torts the genius a much as laced flays do 
 the body ; opprefles the natural feeds of 
 propriety and beauty in the imagination ; 
 and renders men ever incapable of writing 
 or even thinking well. When you ex- 
 cept a few men of diftinguifhed talents, 
 ladies both write and fpeak more agree- 
 ably than fcholars. If you aflc me the 
 reafon of this, I muft inform you, that 
 the eafy and natural excurfions of the 
 imagination are feldom checked in ladies ; 
 while the enflaved pupils of colleges and 
 fchools in tender youth are forced into 
 
 aukward
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 93 
 
 aukward imitations, or dreary ungrateful 
 tracts, where genius or beauty were never 
 fcen. The manner of the ancient fchools 
 was to learn by fuch familiar converfa- 
 tions as you have at times engaged in j by 
 which means, inftead of forcing a nau- 
 feous draught of learning upon youth, 
 their genius was charmed forth by cu- 
 riofity and emulation ; the latent powers 
 of the mind were gently unbound ; and 
 the generous ardor and pleafure that ran 
 originally through their enquiries, gave a 
 warmth, a genuine turn and natural 
 beauty to their ideas. Can there be a 
 ftronger proof that learning has taken a 
 wrong biafs, than that the prefent common 
 fenfe of mankind has judged learning in 
 converfation to be pedantic and ill- 
 breeding ? Whereas the foul has a thirft 
 for knowledge, which no mode can take 
 away ; and it is no more in the power of 
 fafhion to eradicate the charms and de- 
 fires of curiofity, than the fenfe of 
 
 beauty^
 
 94. C L I O : o R, A 
 
 beauty. There is a truth which I 
 would ftrongly inculcate, and which is 
 intimated throughout this little difcourfe; 
 it is, that moft people have more light, 
 judgment, and genius latent within their 
 breafts by far than they are able to draw 
 forth or employ ; that the utmoft (kill 
 and addrefs is requifite to tune thofe fine 
 ftrings of the foul, if I may call them fo, 
 and bring into execution the harmony 
 they are capable of j and that the per- 
 fection of thofe powers, whatever they 
 be, is the higheft degree of improvement 
 to which any perfon's genius can attain. 
 
 Letters of bufinefs, of compliment, 
 and friendmip, form generally the com- 
 pafs of a lady's writing ; for which, per- 
 haps, the bcft rule thai: can be given is 
 to negled all rules. The fame unaffe&ed 
 grace and propriety which animate your 
 actions and conversion, cannot fail to 
 charm univerfally upon paper: when 
 
 your
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 95 
 
 your ftyle has taken the familiar turn and 
 eafy fpirit of your words, and reje&ed 
 the air of premeditation that fteals in up- 
 on ftudy, then will it be agreeable be- 
 yond imagination j turns of wit and com- 
 pliment, that come without being fought 
 for, are very pleafing in this familiar 
 compofition that approaches fo near to 
 difcourfe ; but they ought to be fuch as 
 might pafs with grace in converfation. 
 
 Shall we attempt to diftinguifh the moft 
 remarkable excellencies of the writings of 
 the great men who have paflcd through 
 life before us, and form clear ideas of 
 thofe beauties that muft charm mankind 
 to the end of the world ? Writing is 
 but the converfation of abfent people ; 
 let us confider it in this familiar light ; 
 we have little to do with criticifm, which 
 is a perfect art ; we are only travellers 
 in a tour of pleafure, who are taking a 
 curfory view of the moft diftinguifhed 
 
 beauties
 
 96 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 beauties of writing ; we may walk with 
 great pleafure in a flower-garden, and 
 cheer the eye with the gay tindh of rofes 
 and lilies, without the minute knowledge 
 of a botanift or florift. 
 
 Writers, as I obferved, are abfent ac- 
 quaintance ; and the beauties of writing 
 are no other than the qualities that would 
 charm us in an agreeable friend, at an 
 hour when the foul is thoughtful and 
 inquifitive j for the mind in reading feems 
 to be in a middle ftate, between conver- 
 fation and reflection. It has not the le- 
 vity of converfation ; its attention to the 
 weight of thought is not diverted by gef- 
 ticulation ; nor yet is it in fo high a 
 tone, as in penfive folitude. 
 
 You require it as an abfolute condi- 
 tion, previous to any kind of familiarity, 
 that the perfons you converfe with have a 
 ftril attention to truth, to honefty, and 
 
 decency :
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 97 
 
 decency : and the fame attention is abfo- 
 lutely neceflary in writings deftined to 
 pleafe fucceeding ages. It is true, that 
 fome writers amongft the moderns have 
 had the prefumption to draw their pens 
 in defiance to truth and decency, and 
 have taken characters as writers, which 
 they themfelves would defpife in an ac- 
 quaintance. Deifts, while they have ex- 
 prefTed the higheft veneration and refpect 
 for revelation, have taken infinite pains 
 to undermine and expofe it by oblique 
 and covert means. Nothing but the ca- 
 price of mode, and an unaccountable 
 blindnefs that attends a prefent mode, 
 could hinder them from obferving the 
 unworthinefs of their conduct, and the 
 bafenefs of mind they betray j or make 
 them imagine that fame will attend on 
 prevarication, and a fly deceit in writing, 
 which is abject and infamous in life, and 
 will for ever be the mark of a con- 
 temptible character. In this tract of 
 H vile
 
 98 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 vile duplicity and proftitution of heart 
 have trod Hobbes, Shaftefbury, Boling- 
 broke, and fome authors, French and 
 Englifh, now alive, who being ftill in 
 the lifts, and capable of feeking fame 
 by generous and liberal methods, I {hall 
 not name. The ftrange manner and 
 the artifice of thefe writers at firft fur- 
 prize j but the human heart, that natu- 
 rally detefts difhonefty, refufes them fame; 
 and in half an age they are confTdered 
 only as the patrons of licentioufnefs ; and 
 to make their infamy remarkable, they 
 are only remembered and honoured by 
 the vicious. 
 
 Decency is the habit which a noble train 
 of thinking fixes upon the mind ; and 
 it is related to religion, becaufe religion 
 more than any other object ennobles our 
 ideas. Piety is eminently necefTary in a 
 writer who is a candidate for the fame 
 of ages. Inftead of quoting Quintilian 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 99 
 
 and Tully in proof of my afiertion, who 
 certainly underftood the qualifications of 
 a good writer as well as any modern gen- 
 tlemen, and were not prejudiced by chri- 
 ftianity, I will lay open the reafon of it. 
 The ideas of religion are all vaft and af- 
 fecting; and they open to the mind pro- 
 fpecls by far more grand than thofe of 
 this life. How does the mind expand 
 to grafp an idea of eternity, infini- 
 ty, or omniprefence ? What fublime 
 dignity does the intercourfe of the deity 
 beftow on the human {late ? If you 
 look into Milton's Paradife Loft, you 
 will be fenfible what grand ideas even 
 hell has furnifhed the poet with. En- 
 thufiafm is the very foul of poetry, 
 and there is fuch an indiflbluble connec- 
 tion between them, that the fame word 
 in the learned languages was indifferently 
 applied to a poet and to a prophet. Now, 
 madam, let the ideas of religion be thrown 
 out of doors, what can be fubftituted in 
 H 2 their
 
 ioo CLIO: OR, A 
 
 their ftead ? Wit, humour, and raillery are 
 pleafmg in the levities and play-hours of 
 the foul j but they muft not pretend to 
 admirarion, which attends only on eleva- 
 tion and grandeur of thought. 
 
 Enthufiafm, more or lefs, is an infe- 
 parable appendage of the mind of man. 
 The novel proje&ors in philofophy and 
 religion may ridicule it, and ferioufly ex- 
 claim againft the folly of it ; but they 
 only quarrel with nature; which, after all, 
 right or wrong, will form our pleafures 
 and pains. If they could, by their pre- 
 fcriptions, amend and alter her laws, 
 then might men take their plan into con- 
 fideration : but fmce nature is inflexible, 
 and will continue the fame notwithftand- 
 ing their fine projects of improvement, 
 they are but idle vain prattlers ; and fuch 
 is the partiality of nature on this head, 
 that the mind of man is incapable of any 
 exalted pleafure that charms the foul in 
 
 its
 
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 101 
 
 its hours of reflection, or that brings 
 beauty to the dwelling of thought, unlefs 
 it be enthufiaftic and beyond life. I do 
 not plead for the manifeft abufes of en- 
 thufiafm, no more than I do for the ex- 
 orbitancies and ungoverned fallies of any 
 other paflion or appetite j I only mean, 
 that we are as much bound down by 
 fate to receive our fublime pleafures by it, 
 as we are obliged to find beauty in the 
 human form. Now religion, particu- 
 larly revelation, or an intercourfe be- 
 tween God and man, is the very effence 
 of natural Enthufiafm. Homer, Virgil, 
 and Milton, were fo fenfible of this 
 truth, that with the faireft endowment 
 of natural genius and rapture that ever 
 enriched mankind, they would not ven- 
 ture on any thing worthy of univerfal ad- 
 miration, without introducing an actual 
 revelation, and raifing the fubjecT: by the 
 grand ideas peculiar to religion, 
 
 H 3 The
 
 102 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 The general air of truth, honefty, 
 and decency are the paflports of a writer ; 
 without which he can have no pretence 
 to the efteem of readers of worth. Let 
 us now confider the qualifications that 
 render an author an interefting and ad- 
 mired companion of our leifure hours. 
 
 The firir, and r.obleft fource of delight 
 in works of genius, without competition, 
 ariies from the fublime. The fublime, 
 by an authority which the foul is utterly 
 unable to refift, takes pofleffion of our 
 attention, and of all our faculties, and ab- 
 forbs them in afronifhtnent. The paffion 
 itinfpires us with is evidently a mixture of 
 terror, curiofity, and exultation : but 
 they are ftamped with a majefty, that be- 
 ftows on them a different air and charac- 
 ter from thofe paflions on any other oc- 
 cafion. In the fublime we feel ourfelves 
 alarmed, our motions are fufpended, and 
 we remain for fome time until the emo- 
 2 tion
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 103 
 
 tion wears off, wrapped in filence and in- 
 quifitive horror. 
 
 The combination of paffions in the 
 fublime, render the idea of it obfcure. 
 No doubt the fenfation of fear is very 
 diftinft in it ; but it is equally obvious, 
 that there is fomething in the fublime 
 more than this abjecT: paffion. In all 
 other terrors the foul lofes its dignity, 
 and as it were fhrinks below its ufual 
 fize : but at the prefence of the fublime, 
 although it be always awful, the foul of 
 man feems to be raifed out of a trance ; 
 it aflumes an unknown grandeur ; it is 
 feized with a new appetite, that in a mo- 
 ment effaces its former little profpe&s and 
 defires ; it is rapt out of the fight and 
 confideration of this diminutive world, 
 into a kind of gigantic creation, where 
 it finds room to dilate itfelf to a fize 
 agreeable to its prefent nature and gran- 
 deur : it overlooks the "Appenines, and 
 H 4 the
 
 104 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 the clouds upon them, and fees nothing 
 in view around it but immenfe objects. 
 In the poets language it flies, it foars, it 
 purfues a beauty in the madnefs of rap- 
 ture, that words or defcription cannot 
 contain ; and if thefe expreffions be ex- 
 travagant and improper in the ordinary 
 commerce of life, they yet exactly de- 
 fcribe the intellectual and real ftate of the 
 mind at the prefence of the fublime. 
 
 The fublime enters into the principles 
 of tafte with fuch diftindHon, and rules 
 the human fpirit with fuch' abfolute fo- 
 vereignty, that I would fain difcover the 
 origin and nature of its power ; but 
 fate feems to have covered it over with 
 myftery, the greateft writers have either 
 flopped fhort, or failed in the attempt, 
 and I am fafe enough although I turn 
 afide, and leave it in the facred ob- 
 fcurity in which it has fo long been 
 veiled : however, I may, by an hy- 
 
 potheiis,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 105 
 
 pothefis, attempt to give you an intelli- 
 gible idea of the manner in which it 
 affe&s us j I have a licence from cuftom 
 for doing fo j for I muft inform you, that 
 modern philofophers often take the liberty 
 of forming fyftems merely for the fake of 
 illuftration, and to refolve difficulties, 
 without thinking themfelves obliged to 
 give a demonftration of the truth of their 
 fyftem. If it tends to make that con- 
 ceivable which was before inconceivable j 
 the inventors fuppofe that they have done 
 fome fervice to fcience. 
 
 The fyftem I am going to lay before 
 you, is that of a friend of mine, who 
 was a true lover of knowledge. He found 
 little fatisfa&ion in the philofophy of col- 
 leges and fchools, particularly in thofe 
 enquiries he thought of moft importance : 
 he had withdrawn himfelf from the tri- 
 fling buftle of the little world, to converfe 
 
 with
 
 io5 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 with his o\vn heart, and end a ftormy life 
 in obfcure quiet. One day after dinner, 
 \ve walked out to indulge on our favourite 
 topics. Our excurfion terminated at a 
 rock, whofe bafe is wafhed by the Weftern 
 Ocean. It was one of thofe fine days in 
 Auguft, when the cool of the evening 
 brought on a refrefhing fweetnefs. We 
 fat down to reft,' and enjoy the profpecl: 
 of the fea, that ftretched before us be- 
 yond the limits of the eye. The' fun 
 was juft fetting, and his laft foftened 
 beams flying to the fhore, feemed to 
 dip in a thoufand waves, and leave in the 
 waters the blaze they loft. We had 
 been reading Homer on our way to the 
 fea-fide. When we fat down, our con- 
 verfation turned on the ftrange power 
 the fublime. It is eafy, fays the thought- 
 ful philofopher, to defcribe the itnprefllons 
 the fublime makes on the mind, and this 
 is all the writers on this fubject have 
 
 hitherto
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 107 
 
 hitherto done with any fuccefs ; but is 
 it impofiible, from a due attention to the 
 fymptoms, to unravel its meaning, and 
 difcover the fpring of the filent and in- 
 quifitive aftonimment it infprefTes on the 
 fpirit of man? I am fenfible ajuft ex- 
 plication of the fublime muft account for 
 all its effects, as well for the noble ele- 
 vation and the charming rapture, as for 
 the terror it beftcws. If I can produce a 
 caufe that accounts fufRciently for all the 
 fymptoms, and no other can be given, 
 then mine ought by all rules of good 
 rcafoning to be admitted for the true 
 one, however novel it appears. 
 
 In order to proceed to the difcovery 
 we defire to make, let us turn our views 
 to objects remarkably fublime, and from 
 them obtain what intelligence we can. 
 Obferve this mountain that rifes fo high 
 on the left, if we had been farther re- 
 moved from it, you might fee behind it 
 
 other
 
 io8 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 other mountains rifing in ftrange confu- 
 fion, the fartheft off almoft loft in 
 the diftance, yet great in the obfcurity, 
 your imagination labours to travel over 
 them, and the inhabitants feem to refide 
 in a fuperior world. But here you have a 
 different profpect, the next mountain 
 covers all the reft from your view, 
 and by its nearer approach, prefents 
 diftindtly to your eye objects of new 
 admiration. The rocks on its fides 
 meet the clouds in vaft irregularity ; the 
 penfive eye traces the rugged precipice 
 down to the bottom, and furveys there 
 the mighty ruins that time has mouldered 
 and tumbled below. It is eafy in this 
 inftance to difcover that we are terrified 
 and filenced into awe, at the veftiges we 
 fee of immenfe power ; and the more ma- 
 nifeft are the appearances of diforder, 
 and the neglect of contrivance, the more 
 plainly we feel the boundlefs might thefe 
 rude monuments are owing to. * But be. 
 
 fides
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 109 
 
 fides this filent fear, we feel our curiofity 
 roufed from its deepeft fprings in the foul j 
 and while we tremble, we are feized with an 
 exquifite delight, that attends on fublime 
 objects only. The fame mixed fenfation 
 weighs upon us, when we fee an ocean 
 difturbed and agitated in ftorms ; or a 
 foreft roaring, and bending under the force 
 of the tempeft. We are flruck by it 
 with more calmnefs, but equal grandeur, 
 in the ftarry heavens : the filence, the 
 unmeafured diftance, and the unknown 
 power united in that profpecl, render it 
 very awful in the deepeft ferenity. Thun- 
 der, with broken burfts of lightning 
 through black clouds j the view of a 
 cataract, whofe billows fling themfelves 
 down with eternal rage ; or the uneafing 
 found of the falling waters by night ; the 
 howling of animals in the dark : all thefe 
 produce the fublime, by the aflbciation of 
 the idea of invifible immenfe power. 
 
 The
 
 no C L I O : o R, A 
 
 The foul of man naturally pays homage 
 to unfeen power. Ke feels obfcure hopes, 
 and obfcure fears, which become a re- 
 ligious pailion, and diftinguifh him more 
 than any other difference between him and 
 the other inhabitants of the earth. The re- 
 ligious paffion, attended with lefs tumult, 
 but more conftancy than the other paffions, 
 calls upon his heart in the majefty of 
 darknefs and fiience, and is the fource of 
 the fublime fenfation we are treating of. 
 I fee feveral objections crouding to your 
 mind againft my hypothefis ; but hear me 
 out, for I intend to obviate them all. 
 
 The object of the religious paffion is 
 no idea, it is unknown ; therefore the 
 paffion itfelf is obfcure, and wants a 
 name j but its effects are very remarkable, 
 for they form the peculiar character of 
 human nature. Curiofity and hope carry 
 with them the plaineft fymptoms of a 
 
 paffion
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE, in 
 
 pafiion that wanders, and is aftray for its 
 object. In their anxious fearch, they 
 unite themfelves with every great profpec~l 
 in life, whofe completion lies in the dark : 
 but when we arrive at the point we pro- 
 pofed, we are fully fenfiblc that curiofity 
 and hope have been deceived, the enjoy- 
 ment in our power whatever it be, falls 
 infinitely below our expectations, yet the 
 alacrity of the mind feels no decay by dif- 
 appointment ; we fet out immediately 
 with renewed vigour in purfuit of fome- 
 thing farther, 2nd nothing but death- 
 puts an end to the anxiety. Thefe paf- 
 fions are exceedingly alarmed, at the ap- 
 pearances of the exec/five power that gives 
 us the idea of the fublime. In the dif- 
 order and confufion of feas in ftorms, or 
 when lofty woods ftruggle with high 
 winds, we are ftruck v/ith an humiliating 
 awe, furprize, and fufpenfe : the mind 
 views the effects of boundlefs power with 
 ftill amazement : it recoils upon itfelf 
 
 in
 
 112 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 in a paflion made up of terror, joy, and 
 rapture, and feels in fentiment thefe 
 queftions : Who is the author of this ? 
 IVliat is be to me ? Is he the objefl of my 
 eternal curiojity, of my mighty fears^ and 
 hopes ? I appeal to the feelings of every 
 man, if his pafiions in thefe circumftances 
 be not exactly applicable to this confufed 
 interefled ftate of mind, whether he dif- 
 entangles or reflects on his own ideas 
 
 There is nothing more difputed than 
 the origin of the idea of divinity. All 
 nations, however barbarous, have it ; and 
 our lateft difcoveries prove that the re- 
 lations of atheift nations are all fabulous, 
 and that the favages of every quarter of 
 the globe look up to a fupernatural 
 power. From the univerfality of the idea, 
 men who did not fufficiently examine its 
 origin fufpe&ed, and actually taught, 
 that we had an innate idea of God. The 
 
 groflhefs
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 113 
 
 groflhefs and want of precifion with which 
 they advanced this doctrine, afforded Mr. 
 Locke the happieft opportunity imagin- 
 able of triumphing over them, and of 
 deducing religion and the idea of the de- 
 ity from fenfible ideas, and from the mere 
 agency of reafon, agreeable to his general 
 fyftem. It is true, we have not an in- 
 nate idea of God ; but we a thoufand 
 times feel the intruded influence of a 
 mighty unknown power, that muft, by 
 the unavoidable tranfition the mind makes 
 from the effecl: to the caufe, give rife to 
 the idea of divine power. Senfible ideas, 
 indeed, and the paffing (hew of this ex- 
 ternal world, divert the attention of the 
 mind from its religious feelings ; but as 
 fenfible ideas recede from the imagination, 
 and leave us to a folitary intellectual ftate 
 of mind, we find an awful and obfcure 
 prefence furround us, that beftows on the 
 foul an elevation and enthufiafm that 
 do not attend on external ideas. 
 
 I All
 
 ji4 C L I Q : o R, A 
 
 All mankind, whofe common fenfe 
 i not diverted by fyftem, will agree, 
 that darknefs, folitude, and filence, natu- 
 rally opprefs the mind by a tremendous 
 and fublime fenfation. It is further evi- 
 dent, that they produce not this effe& by 
 any active power of their's, but merely 
 by ftripping the imagination of its fen- 
 fible ideas, of the noife, the mirth, and 
 light that diverted its attention, and leav- 
 ing it to its naked ft ate and feelings 5. 
 confequently, that the great influence 
 that then rifes upon the foul, and dwells 
 upon it in terrors, is the effect of a power 
 that has been always prefent to it, altho' 
 it has not been always obferved, on ac- 
 count of the interpofition of the tranfitory 
 ideas of fenfe. In fhort, it appears from 
 a great variety of obfervations and re- 
 flected lights, that the human foul is 
 always opprefled by a mighty prefence, 
 whofe obfcurity and ftillnefs only keep it 
 out of our attention when the mind is 
 employed
 
 DISCOURSE ONTASTE. n^ 
 
 employed on exterior objects. To avoid 
 this awful prefence it is, that we for ever 
 feek amufement and company, and that 
 any diverfion, however infipid and trifling- 
 in itfelf, becomes to us a pleafing relief, 
 merely by taking up our attention. Rea- 
 fon fmiles at the puerility of our amufe- 
 ments. The very flaves of pleafure hold 
 them in contempt, and acknowledge they 
 will not bear examination : yet the wife 
 and the vain find folitude alike infup- 
 portable, and alike defire the company 
 and diverfion they defpife. 
 
 Becaufe the philofophers of our days 
 can affign no form, nor fize, nor colour, 
 to the object of their fublime awe, they 
 conclude it to be vain and fuperftitious : 
 they take upon them to decide pofitively, 
 that nature in the formation of the hu- 
 man mind has acted an unmeaning part ; 
 and where fhe appears remarkably folemn 
 and regular, in her nobleft production, 
 I 2 has
 
 n6 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 has been abfurd and puerile. Her vaft fa- 
 gacity, and the defign that always ap- 
 pears in her works of a lower order, ought 
 furely to procure her a degree of confi- 
 dence, and give fome fufpicions that flie 
 did not act wholly at random in the plan 
 of the human mind. The troth is, the 
 imprefiion of this obfcure prefence, how- 
 ever it be felt, is beyond the verge of the 
 philofophy of the ideas of fenfe. The dif- 
 ciples of this philofophy cannot upon their 
 principles admit that an object which nei- 
 ther the memory can treafure up, nor the 
 imagination form, has been prefent to the 
 mind. They are not able to conceive that 
 an object has been there which was not 
 reprefented by a fenfible idea, and which 
 makes itfelf felt only by its influence. 
 But let it be confidered, however the 
 confequences may clafh with this or that 
 fyftem, that awe is a relative idea, and 
 bears as neceflary a relation to fomething 
 cither ideal or intellectual that imprefles 
 
 terror,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 117 
 
 terror, as vifion does to fomething feen. 
 Let it be further attended to, that the 
 awe which furrounds us in folitude, in 
 deep filence, and in darknefs, is not ac- 
 quired by habit, by aflbciation, religious 
 tenets, or prejudices j feeing that it is 
 not confined to particular nations or ages, 
 but that it is infeparable from the human 
 race at all aeras of time, be their religion 
 what it will j and that thofe men who 
 have moft effisitually caft off the weak- 
 nefles of the human kind, have difcovered 
 the plaineft fymptoms of the awe I fpeak 
 of: but we muft carefully diftinguifli be- 
 tween common accidental fear, and this 
 noble fenfation that elevates whilft it 
 over-awes. Men often bear filence, fo- 
 litude, and night, without diftinct or ideal 
 fear, fuch as is occafioned by tales of 
 ghofts or goblins : but the ftill impor- 
 tant attention, and folemn fwellof mind, 
 that is a concomitant of obfcurity, of 
 Jonelinefs, and of deep filence, appears 
 I 3 b 7
 
 iiS C L I O: OR, A 
 
 by the writings and fentiments of the 
 greateft of mankind, to be an involun- 
 ary and univerfal imprefiion on the in- 
 tellet. It is not, as Mr. Locke fays, 
 that the tales of nurfes have made night 
 Jhe fcene of terrors, but that the folemn- 
 jty and real awfulnefs of the night, has 
 made it the natural fcene of frightful 
 talcs and apparitions in all nations. It 
 is to meet the fublime imprefiion undif- 
 turbed, the poet retires to the folitary 
 walks of the country ; that he feeks for 
 vales hid from human eye, where filence 
 feems to take up her dwelling ; and loves 
 to frequent the woods covered with dark- 
 nefs and fhade : there he feels, with all 
 the certainty of intuition, the prefence 
 of the univerfal genius, whofe immediate 
 influence tunes his voice to mufic, and 
 fires the imagination to rapture. All the 
 ideas that arrive to the mind by the or- 
 nary avenues of fenfe, are the obje&s 
 of common apprehenfion and difcourfe ;
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 119 
 
 but in the prefenceof theuniverfal genius, 
 thofe ideas grow brighter than the gilding 
 of the fun can make them, and put on a 
 Grange beauty that belong not to them. It 
 is the beauty of a being, indiftincT:, and 
 hid as it were in light, which the ima- 
 gination in vain feeks to lay hold of : 
 whence you may conceive the diftrefs, 
 that obliges the poet to fly from image 
 to image, to exprefs what he feels. No 
 idea, however grand, anfwers his pur- 
 pofe ; yet as he feels ftrongly, he ftill 
 hopes, and rufhes to fnatch into view 
 another grand profpecT:. The variety of 
 his efforts (hews the object the mind 
 labours with to be different from any 
 thing we know ; to be beyond the power 
 of utterance ; and yet the very labour 
 and confufion of images, and the defpair 
 he betrays, paint fufficiently the poet's 
 perception ; and we are fenfible of what 
 he cannot exprefs, becaufe we all feel it 
 in our own bofoms. 
 
 I 4 The
 
 120 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 The fublime influence of groves and 
 lonely vales is not fantaftic, or a work 
 of the imagination : it is a moft con- 
 ftant uniform effect in the fame circum- 
 ftances j and the change it makes in our 
 ideas, or rather the creation of new beauty 
 it beftows on them, which was never had 
 from fenfe j and the mighty powers it 
 beftows on us, are evidently fupernatu- 
 ral. To fay that the infpiration of po- 
 etry and enthufiafm, which are the moft 
 furprizing and violent effects we know 
 of, are produced by a non-entity, or by 
 the native force of the imagination, is 
 utterly unphilofophic and abfurd. Jt is 
 further manifeft, upon reflection, that 
 the fupernatural prefence is not confined 
 to wood or dale j not to thefe long 
 mountains befide us ; nor to the winding 
 fhores, and hollow feas : it always meets 
 the penfive meditating mind ; in the re- 
 moteft parts of the earth we are at no 
 diftance from it, and i.a the darknefs of 
 
 night
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 121 
 
 night it poflefles us. Say, ye ftars of 
 heaven, almoft loft in immenfe diftance, 
 does not the Father of Being fuftain and 
 cherifh worlds around you, who receive 
 life and rapture from his prefence ? 
 
 If the univerfal fpirit had not always 
 dwelt in the foul, enthufiafm would not 
 be infe&ious, nor could fanatic preachers 
 communicate it at all times to their au- 
 dience. The enthufiaftic orator ex- 
 prefles his own feelings, and his difcourfe 
 is infectious ; not by th production of 
 any new and foreign paflion, but by fix- 
 ing the attention to the great fenfations 
 of the foul. If they were not there be- 
 fore, the preacher could no more raife 
 them, than he could give a man born 
 blind the idea of colours. Perfons of a 
 religious and folitary caft of thought of- 
 ten experience thefe infpirations, when 
 prayer or meditation have led the foul in- 
 to retirement, and taken external ideas 
 
 out
 
 122 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 out of its attention : and the religious fa- 
 natic experiences the fame divine favour 
 that the poet does in his gloomy foreft, 
 or befide his confecrated ftream. The 
 fagacious antients were fo fenfible of the 
 identity of the fpirit that infpired both, 
 that they gave the fame appellation to the 
 prophet and poet, as I faid before. 
 
 When we have carried our views thus 
 far, it is eafy to difcover the fprings of 
 polytheifm. The imagination found the 
 divine idea rifmg before it in a variety 
 of circumftances, and worfhiped it under 
 the feveral diftindtions in which it ap- 
 peared. The Greeks, the fathers of 
 thought and fublime knowledge, always 
 nicely obferved the difference between 
 the native powers of the mind over its 
 frock of fenfible ideas, and the fublime 
 influence to which it was paffive. They 
 traced the latter through its various ap- 
 .pcarances, and never failed to attribute 
 
 it
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 123 
 
 it to divine power ; fometimes to the 
 Mufes, fometimes to Apollo, to the Fu- 
 ries, to Pan, to the Sylvan deities, and 
 to the genius of the place ; they never 
 miftook the fupernatural prefence, but 
 only divided it out, according as the 
 imagination happened to be ftruck, and 
 to the concomitant external ideas. 
 
 It was not fear made the gods, but 
 God made his prefence known by an 
 awe that does not attend on fenfible ob- 
 jefls. If man falls down to worfhip in 
 the groves, it is becaufe the facred im- 
 prefiion he feels in folitude and obfcu- 
 rity makes him fenfible of the prefence 
 of invifible power. From what I have 
 juft faid, it is eafy to conceive the rea- 
 fon why men educated in the country, 
 and thofe efpecially whofe employments 
 are in the fields, are in general more re- 
 ligious than the inhabitants of towns and 
 cities. 
 
 Terror
 
 124 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 Terror is the firft impreflion that meets 
 us in the folitary prefence j and the bulk 
 of mankind have only feeling enough 
 when they are alone to create uneafmefs, 
 and a confufed gloom that drives them to 
 feek for company and amufement ; but 
 men of more delicate fenfations find ad- 
 miration and extafy along with fear. 
 Delight and fear are paflions of almoft 
 oppofite natures ; yet they are united in 
 this unknown object, in an immeafureable 
 degree. By all the known rules of reafon- 
 ing from mechanic principles, the fear of 
 unknown power ought to be much more 
 faint and dull than the fear of known 
 power; and in men educated in doubt 
 or difbelief of a future {rate, this fear 
 of unknown power fhould be hardly per- 
 ceptible, or active ; and thus it would 
 certainly be, if it were the ifTue of fen- 
 fible ideas, or of reafon : but in facl, all 
 tnsn who have leifure to obferve their 
 own internal fenfations, find the ter- 
 ror
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 12$ 
 
 ror of unknown power far beyond all 
 limits, and beyond all degrees of 
 known evil. When we fee the limits of 
 evil, we immediately fee that it lofes 
 a great deal in our imagination. Men 
 eafily bear imprifonment, poverty, fick- 
 nefs, and even great degrees of pain ; 
 but the obfcure defpair, whofe object we 
 know not, is blacker than the grave, and 
 more terrible than death, and to plunge 
 from it men commit fuicide. Every ca- 
 lamity of this life is fupportable, and 
 we fuffer them by choice rather than 
 death, until they bring us to a penfive 
 folitary ftate of mind, in which we feel 
 the preffure of unknown power ; and 
 then men often make the cruel choice, 
 and feek death as a welcome releafe from 
 the gloomy terrors that fink them. Fa- 
 natic preachers make admirable ufe of 
 this ftate of mind ; for experience fhews, 
 that when melancholy has continued fome 
 time, and the foul feems to itfelf ut- 
 terly
 
 126 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 terly loft, fecret fits of joy and tranf- 
 port beam in upon it through the gloom. 
 Dealers in the fpirit therefore take fpe- 
 cial care to raife enthufiaftic terrors firft 
 in their followers, and to bring defpair 
 and reprobation full in the foul's view ; 
 under which fome of them actually kill 
 themfelves ; but as the mind cannot 
 long remain in this ftate, and the intenfe 
 pofleffion of religious melancholy natu- 
 rally turns to extafy and rapture, enthu- 
 fiafts, from a ftate of defpair, pafs fud- 
 denly to a ftate of joy and tranfport, 
 which is eafily miftaken for election and 
 the kind voice of the Divinity. It is 
 lucky for fanatic preachers of all ages, 
 that the bulk of mankind are ignorant, 
 and incapable of obferving, that the di- 
 vine prefence they boaft of has been com- 
 mon to every religion ; that religion 
 only unites an univerfal pafllon to this or 
 that fet of doctrines and ideas j and that 
 there is a fyftsmatic method of acquir- 
 7 in S
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 1:7 
 
 ing the predeftination and divine im- 
 pulfe they feel with great certainty. 
 
 The rapture of enthufiafm is as contra- 
 dictory to all rules of reafoning from the 
 received principles, as its fears. If it were 
 the ilTue of our fenfible ideas, and reflec- 
 tions made on them, it would never rife 
 to the force of fenfible beauty ; and all 
 the warmeft imagination could do, is to 
 make approaches to the charms of co- 
 lours, and of form, and to the beau- 
 ties of rmell and tafte. But the obfcure 
 unknown good that mortals feek with 
 fuch anxiety is more than every joy and 
 every good befides. It is the love-fick wifhv 
 that brightens hope, the fearch of which 
 makes us pafs refolutely through all the 
 evils of life. Shall I call it fupreme 
 beauty ? This is but a figurative name, 
 of that beauty of which we have no con- 
 ception. But does not the want of con- 
 ception make it indifferent to us ? No ;
 
 128 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 an intelligence clearer than fenfe, and 
 ftronger than reafon, charadterifes it 
 with rapture, and with inexpreflible joy ; 
 and let us conceive of it as we will in 
 theory, it is the load-ftone to which the 
 foul for ever tends with anxiety, in every 
 unknown good and obfcure profpeft. 
 
 I obferved before, that the remarkable 
 curiofity and hope of our kind, are the 
 fymptoms of a wandering paflion for a 
 fugitive object neceflary to our happi- 
 nefs that is for ever near us, and for 
 ever hides from us ; hence proceed 
 the perpetual difcontent and care that 
 harbour in the human breaft : for it is 
 evident, that be our pofleflions what they 
 will, we cannot be content while we 
 defire or hope for any thing more than 
 we poflefs 5 and that while this object of 
 defire is unknown, the fymptoms muft 
 be exactly what they are, and man's pur- 
 fuits muft be wild, inconfiftent, and un- 
 
 fatisfied.
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 129 
 
 fatisfied. This fond unknown objedt., on 
 account of the vaftnefs of the paflion 
 with which it is fought for, was by 
 the antients called the fummiim bonum, 
 or chief felicity. Whether there be fuch 
 an enjoyment in reality or no, the phan- 
 tom, or vifionary expectation of it, is 
 perfued by mortals with endlefs and un- 
 wearied care. It was a noble effort of 
 human reafon, bewildered in ignorance, 
 to enquire for the object of its fublime 
 hopes. One who has a clear idea of the 
 meaning of the antients in this great 
 enquiry, can hardly refrain from fmiling 
 at Mr. Locke's ludicrous explication of 
 it. If the queftion had been what is 
 the moft delicious fare ; or whether the 
 beft relifh were to be found in apples, 
 plumbs, or nutsj the preference un- 
 doubtedly ought to be given by every one 
 to that which pleafes him beft j fof 
 there is no difputing taftes : but the 
 queftion here is, what is the vaft object 
 K of
 
 130 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 of content and blifs, for which all man- 
 kind have one common paflion, and 
 which every one who is not employed 
 to procure the neceflaries of life, fets 
 out in fearch of with crouded fails. The 
 orphan mind, in its fond expectations, 
 imagines it fees a confufed view of it in 
 the firft ideas of every thing that is 
 beautiful, until pofleflion convinces us 
 of our miftake ; but no difappointments 
 cure the paflion itfelfj we are actuated by a 
 fenfe more prefent to us than demonft ration, 
 that the object of it is always near us. 
 
 Man is ennobled and diftinguifhed 
 from the other inhabitants of this earth 
 by the univerfal paflion I fpeak of. If he 
 were bereft of it, he would fall to the con- 
 dition of a fagacious brute. He would, in 
 fuch cafe, as foon as he had eaten and 
 drank to fatisfy nature, lie down on the 
 next funny bank, and repofe in thoughtlefs 
 content. We fhould have no heroes,, no 
 2 mifers,
 
 DISCOURSE ONTASTE. 131 
 
 mifers, and no mighty projects. Human 
 love, that now refines and ennobles the 
 foul, would never rife beyond the bru- 
 tal appetite. Happinefs would be cheaply 
 attained, and we fhould never be uneafy, 
 but when in a&ual diftrefs. But then our 
 happinefs would be poor and taftelefs j 
 and indeed the mere glimmering hope 
 of the obfcure enthufiaftic delight which 
 we never enjoy, with all its endlefs cares 
 and difappointments, is infinitely more 
 noble and raviming, than the unbroken 
 fupine content of fenfible enjoyment. 
 What makes content found fo fine in the 
 human ear, is the fatiation of the mighty 
 unknown want, which we are obliged 
 to unite in our idea of content, becaufe 
 without it we can never enjoy undifturbed 
 unwifhing tranquillity. But this heart- 
 eafing, this gilded content, is not the 
 content of brutes ; for as they have no 
 defires but to allay the prefent appetite, 
 their eafe is ftupid indifference. The an- 
 K 2 nihilation
 
 i^2 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 nihilation of that bright-beaming human 
 hope, that travels on before us during life, 
 would be attended with a want of curio- 
 fity j nothing would be new to us, nor 
 nothing old : we fhould run into few 
 errors, and few cares ; we fhould be wife, 
 content, and worthlefs. Thus are our 
 mifery, our folly, and our grandeur, 
 connected and infeparable. 
 
 I have given you, madam, this enthu- 
 fiaftic gentleman's rhapfody on the fu- 
 blime, which I leave to your reflection, 
 with this caution only, that before you 
 judge, you confult the feelings of your 
 own mind, in the fame retired and calm 
 ftate he did. I now proceed to a fepa- 
 rate fource of the fublime, which wedif- 
 cover in our own breads, and obferve 
 with particular pleafure, becaufe it is an 
 undoubted evidence of the grandeur of 
 human nature. I took fome notice of it 
 before, when I fpoke of elegance.
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 133 
 
 We find in ourfeives a fenfe of the bafe 
 and of the noble j to the one are annexed 
 by nature {hame and blufhes 3 to the 
 other, pride and exultation. We may in- 
 deed be cheated by appearances ; bafe ac- 
 tions may be difguifed, or wholly co- 
 vered from view, and loft in the conco- 
 mitant circumftances ; but the fenfe it- 
 felf is conftantly true to appearances ; 
 we are for ever prejudiced againft the 
 mean and bafe, and we alway exult in a 
 noble and difmterefted part. That this 
 direction of the fentiment was not formed 
 by the precepts of philofophers, or by 
 the management of politicians, as fenfual 
 writers pretend, is evident from hence, 
 that it is not in the power of art or ma- 
 nagement to alter or warp it. We can 
 no more be brought to approve what ap- 
 pears to us bafe, or to condemn noble 
 and benevolent actions, while they appear 
 fo, than we can be managed to like the 
 K 3 fcreaming
 
 134 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 fcreaming of the owl, or the jarring of 
 iron bars. 
 
 It is this fentimental light without re- 
 flection which difcovers to us, that it is 
 great and exalted to contemn fenfual plea- 
 fures, riches, and mundane interefts ; and 
 makes fevere, felf-denying, fuffering vir- 
 tue appear an object: of admiration. Ge- 
 nerofity, even when ill-placed, is ftill 
 noble, becaufe it demonftrates a con- 
 tempt for riches ; and the love of truth 
 is fo, becaufe it fhews a fettled firm ha- 
 bit of virtue j for falfehood is the dif- 
 guife which fhame beftows on vice. 
 
 The foul, actuated and determined by 
 its own haughty and elevated fentiments 
 of virtue and dignity, aflerts fates and 
 profpe&s fuperior to the low interefts of 
 this world. We are therefore charmed 
 in the nobility of fentiment, by this clear 
 and manifeft majefty of the foul, juft as 
 
 beauty
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 135 
 
 beauty is delighted With the flattering 
 view of itfelf in a mirror. The ele- 
 vation every man feels in himfelf at a no- 
 ble fentiment, is a plain intuition of the 
 fublimity of his own fpirit, and on that 
 account it ftrikes him with rapture and 
 exultation. If all ages have acknow- 
 ledged the grandeur of Alexander's an- 
 fwer to Parmenio, it is becaufe men in 
 general feel in themfelves a loftier paffion 
 than that which can be fatisfied with 
 kingdoms and fceptres. If we fhould 
 imagine that it was a mere paffion for 
 empire ftimulated that great conqueror to 
 his enterprizes, he himfelf informs us, 
 with difcontent, when he had no more 
 to conquer, that he was not fatisfied with 
 empires and kingdoms. A paffion to en- 
 joy the fovereignty of the whole world had 
 nothing admirable in it; but the noble 
 diflatisfaclion he exprefled at the limits he 
 found to his ambition, furniflied an idea 
 K 4 to
 
 136 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 to poets, to painters, and ftatuaries, to 
 form a grand pi&ure of the hero. 
 
 Next to the fublime, the paflions form 
 the moft fruitful fource of beauty in works 
 of genius. The foul in paflion difplayS 
 refources that furprife by their novelty 
 and greatnefs. It employs an ingenuity 
 "and light that is not within the reach of 
 reafon, and endues us with powers of ex- 
 ecution far above our ordinary ftrength. 
 From this fudden profpect of the extent 
 and grandeur of the human fpirit proceeds 
 our attention to the workings of paflion ; 
 we are eager to fee it come forward in the 
 tumult, and become vifible on the coun- 
 tenance j and we find the difcovery of its 
 new powers of great importance to us. 
 The paflions are alfo ftrangely infectious; 
 they lay hold on our affections by vio- 
 lence ; they bear us away from a ftate of 
 indifference, and plunge us into con- 
 cern and emotion. The mind that be- 
 fore
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 13 
 
 fore refted upon itfelf felfifli and alone, at 
 the appearance of paflion, in a moment 
 feels its relation to mankind : it extends 
 its feelings beyond ourfelves, and finds 
 itfelf irrefiftably engaged by the interefts 
 of others. The fenfe of this relation, 
 and particularly of its compaffion, which 
 is an undoubted evidence of the grandeur 
 and generofity of its own nature, delights 
 it exceedingly, even in the midft of its 
 diftrefles for the forrows of others. The 
 mixture of pity, of this fublime exult- 
 ation, and the curioflty that naturally im- 
 pels us to defcry the workings and ma- 
 noeuvres of the foul in diftrefs, form the 
 noble penfive pleafure we feel at a tra- 
 gedy, and the charm that engages us in a 
 melancholy relation. The paffions of 
 brutes have little elevating or important 
 in them ; but it is not fo always in de- 
 fcription, beeaufe in the defcription it is 
 not the brute that is fo much in view, 
 
 as
 
 138 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 as the human mind and the human paf* 
 fions. 
 
 Another remarkable divifion of the 
 beauties of fine writing confifts in the 
 imagery. Darknefs, that ftrips the ima- 
 gination of vifible objects, becomes irk- 
 fome and melancholy. Light, that re- 
 ftores the picture of nature, diflipates 
 the gloom, and brings back joy along 
 with it. The mind naturally abhors a 
 folitary ftate, and finds relief and enjoy- 
 ment in a variety and fucceflion of ob- 
 jects, which accounts for the diftin- 
 guiflied beauty of imagery in writing. 
 The objects of defcription take life upon 
 the imagination j a new creation arifes in 
 profpect, and we are charmed at the en- 
 chantment of words. Great writers al- 
 ways paint ftrongly their thoughts, and 
 make them objects of view. You fee Ho- 
 mer's heroes in action before you : when you 
 begin to read him, you find yourfelf infer. - 
 
 fibly
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 1.39 
 
 fibly taken by the hand, and led where he 
 has a mind to fix your attention. You tra- 
 verfe his fields of action, and almoft fight 
 his battles. Shakefpeare preferves in his 
 characters the fame ftrong caft of feature and 
 turn of mind from the firft fpeech forward. 
 You are acquainted with every one after 
 the firft appearance, and your attention is 
 engaged as if you were amongft your friends, 
 and bufied in the tranfa&ions of neigh- 
 bours. Almoft every fentence in Mil- 
 ton's poetic works is a picture. But it 
 is neceflary to obferve, that in writing we 
 are not fo much moved by the exact pic- 
 ture of real life, or of objects, as we are 
 by the colouring and ftrokes of the ima- 
 gination. To make myfelf ur.derftood, 
 I muft obferve, that there is a greater 
 fenfibility in feme men than in others ; 
 two perfons fee the fame objects, the fame 
 misfortunes, with very different feelings ; 
 their defcriptions may be equally exact, 
 but with very different effects. A man 
 
 of
 
 140 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 of fenfibility finds words, and a language 
 tender, paffionate, and expreffive of his 
 feelings : you imagine he paints ob- 
 jects and actions, while he in reality 
 paints pafiion, and affects us by the image 
 of his own imagination. Great writers 
 in fact feldom defcend to a trivial exact- 
 nefs ; it is fufficient that they diftinguifh 
 the objects they offer to view by fome ge- 
 neral lines, and then they move us by the 
 enlivening fenfations that touch us by 
 fympathy. The poet, who calls your 
 imagination to his beloved groves and 
 cryftal fprings, does not diftinguifh his 
 trees into oak, afh, or elm j he fhews 
 them neither regularly nor in confufion ; 
 nor does he meafure the windings of his 
 ftream, nor mark out the fords, the 
 {hallows, and depths : he juft mentions 
 the rural fcene, and then proceeds to 
 paint the engaging image of calm con- 
 tent, and of eafy unfurfeiting joys, that 
 are not objects of fenfe, and yet are the 
 
 real
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 141 
 
 real objects of beauty. This animated 
 exprefllon is the very chara&eriftic of 
 great writers ; but it is not by any means 
 confined to great and important fubjects ; 
 the mod familiar ideas are equally capa- 
 ble of the tincture of fenfibility. The 
 flowing eafy drefs of the imagination, and 
 the foft colouring the mind gives to com- 
 mon occurrences, are as becoming and 
 beautiful over a lady's thoughts in her 
 letters, as more ftudied and laboured 
 painting in the compofition of philofo- 
 phers. It is not uncommon to find la- 
 dies paint finely in converfation, in the 
 carelefs current of their thoughts ; and 
 indeed the vivacity and delicacy of ima- 
 gination peculiar to your fex, feem to 
 have put this kind of charm into your 
 hands. In the little remains of Sappho 
 we fee dangerous proofs of the enchant- 
 ment of her painting ; and probably it is 
 happy that the reft of the works of that 
 ingenious Grecian lady are l<?ft. 
 
 Thefe
 
 142 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 Thefe three, the fublime, the paffions, 
 and the imagery, form the diftinguiflied 
 beauty of works of genius j but colours 
 may be too glaring, and beauty itfelf 
 overcharged or mifplaced. The imagery 
 fhould never confufe the attention, or 
 withdraw it from the main defign. They 
 fhould imitate drefs, whofe art it is not 
 to hide, but to lead the eye to the ob- 
 ject of drefs. Different fubje&s require 
 different ornaments j a plain habit be- 
 comes a philofopher or an ecclefiaftic, but 
 you may with great propriety drefs a lady 
 going to a ball in tiffue and diamonds. 
 You can hardly be too lavifh of your 
 rofes on the mantle of fpring ; but " you 
 muft leave the dreary heath its unvarie- 
 gated dufky robe. Mixed images con- 
 found your view, and give you unformed 
 feparate parts, inftead of juft pictures. 
 The paffions muft be governed with the 
 fame chaftity : the language of the heart 
 is plain, it is fimple ; it is exprefled in a 
 
 few
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 143 
 
 few and unadorned words : but this fim- 
 plicity, this plainnefs, is what men who 
 feel not the paffions find a difficulty to 
 paint. To perfuade you of their emo- 
 tion, they rave and blufter like young 
 players. It is one of Shakefpeare's faults, 
 that in the midft of his nobleft diftrefles, 
 he often introduces philofophic reflec- 
 tions, and defcriptions that are gene- 
 rally very beautiful, but ill-placed. I 
 do not take notice of this error to lower 
 in your efteem this extraordinary genius, 
 who knew human nature better than all 
 the philofophers put together, and has 
 given jufter pictures of it ; but to guard 
 you againft the power of his charms, 
 which are too apt to recommend his faults. 
 It is from a great man we are to appre- 
 hend danger of being mifled. 
 
 Befides the ftriking beauties I men- 
 tioned, a writer of genius is always dif- 
 dnguifhed by a ftrong impreffion of his 
 
 genius
 
 144 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 genius and a propriety of colouring, which 
 form his peculiar character, and ani- 
 mate his works. Ordinary writers re- 
 peat a language whofe ideas have nothing 
 particular to catch the attention : they are 
 read, but become unobferved, like objects 
 that we pafs by in the duflt of the even- 
 ing: but a great writer fixes the image 
 of his imagination upon his thoughts. 
 You fee plainly he does not repeat words 
 that he learned, and are in every one's 
 mouth, but ideas juft as they lay in his 
 own mind. 
 
 The maftery of a writer, and the com- 
 pafs of his genius, appear confpicuoufly 
 in two points; the propriety and juft- 
 nefs of his ftyle, and the unbroken con- 
 tinuation and advance of his defign from 
 the beginning to the conclufion. By 
 propriety of ftyle I do not mean an infi- 
 pid evennefs, and a murmur for ever re- 
 turning upon the ear. The fame waters 
 
 glide
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 145 
 
 glide gently through meadows, and fling 
 themfelves with tumult and bellowing 
 over precipices. When in the courfe of 
 a writer's fubjed"l he comes to lofty ideas, 
 his tone of voice muft become elevated 
 and fuperior : or when he leads you to 
 peaceful country profpects, his voice muft 
 be low like his reed ; but lofty or low, you 
 muft hear the fame voice. The variations 
 muft not be like the ftrange tranfitions from 
 a pipe to a trumpet, but like the fame in- 
 ftrument perfectly in tune, that fwells 
 and falls into continued harmony. For 
 the fame reafon he muft avoid all harfh 
 and dragged-in metaphors ; they break 
 the tenor; they difturb the view, and 
 turn our thoughts upon the labour of 
 the writer, If we had proper expref- 
 fions for every idea, metaphors had ne- 
 ver been thought of. It is neceflity gives 
 them currency ; and they mould not be 
 ufed but when they are ftronger and 
 clearer than any proper expreffion, and 
 L when
 
 146 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 when they feem to drop off the imagina- 
 tion upon the paper. Befides a juftnefs 
 of ftyle, a writer who aims at perfection, 
 and defifes to leave a folid pleafure on 
 the mind, never fuffers his attention to 
 flray from his defign ; he always pro- 
 ceeds forward towards the goal, whether 
 his pace be gentle and flowing, or im- 
 petuous and rapid. A view of feparated 
 or mutilated parts, however beautiful, 
 leave a fenfible want in the mind, which 
 is naturally delighted with feeing the 
 complete and whole union of defign. 
 
 It is agreed upon by moft writers of 
 good tafte, that the beauties of genius 
 are only difpofed with propriety when 
 they adorn virtue; but the reafon js not 
 fo generally underftood : it is this, vice 
 is for ever ignoble, bafe, and terminates 
 in mundane gratifications; for which 
 reafon, that drefs which is formed by 
 our ideas of beauty and grandeur, or 
 
 by
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 147 
 
 by the noble fentiments that imply a fu- 
 periority of foul, is manifeftly mifplaced 
 in adorning vice, and is difhoneftly ftolen 
 from the wardrobe of virtue. A love of 
 fenfuality cannot be noble or great, nor 
 can any means ufed to juftify or to in- 
 It be great, noble, or virtu- 
 ous. Wherefore, the beautiful language 
 fometimes made ufe of by late writers for 
 this purpofe appears to be falfe and im- 
 proper : when we read them, tafte revolts 
 againft inclination, and difcovers the im- 
 pofture. In fhort, the fine attire beftowed 
 on vice by genius, is like blooming gar- 
 lands bound round a withered leaflefs tree. 
 
 I am going, madam, to dictate to la- 
 dies with an air of decifion which I have 
 no where elfe aflumed, becaufe the fenti- 
 ment is yours ; and indeed it may be 
 eafily diftinguiftied by the delicacy. You 
 remember the difguft you exprefled at the 
 affectation of learning in your own fex : 
 L a I will
 
 14? CLIO: OR, A 
 
 I will venture to unfold your thought, 
 but you muft not expeft the fame grace 
 with which it fell from your lips. 
 
 A lady fliouid rather appear to think 
 well than to fpeak well of books : flie 
 may fhew the engaging light that good 
 tafte and fenfibility always diffufe over 
 converfation ; flie may give inftances 
 of her fenfe of great and affecting paf- 
 fages, becaufe they difplay the ftnenefs of 
 her imagination, or the goodnefs of her 
 heart ; but all criticifm beyond this fits as 
 aukwardly upon her as her grandfather's 
 large fpectacles. I would by all means 
 have a lady know more than flie difplays, 
 becaufe it gives her unafFe&ed powers in 
 difcourfe, for the fame reafon that a 
 man's efforts are eafy and firm, when his 
 aftion requires not his full ftrength. She 
 fhould by habit form her mind to the no- 
 ble and the pathetic ; and fliefliould have 
 an acquaintance with the fine arts, be- 
 caufe
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 149 
 
 caufe they enrich and beautify the ima- 
 gination ; but fhe fhould carefully keep 
 them out of view in the fhape of learn- 
 ing, and let them run through the eafy 
 vein of unpremeditated thought : for this 
 reafon fhe fhould never ufe nor even 
 underftand the terms of art : the gentle- 
 men will occafionally explain them to her, 
 I knew a lady of vaft addrefs who when 
 a term of art came to be mentioned, al- 
 ways turned to the gentleman fhe had a 
 mind to compliment, and with uncom- 
 mon grace afked him the meaning of it ; 
 by this means {he gave men the air of fu- 
 periority they like fo well, while fhe held 
 them in chains. No humour can be more 
 delicate than this, which plays upon the 
 tyrant, who requires an acknowledged fu- 
 periority of fenfe as well as power from 
 the weaker fex. 
 
 There are few who have not felt the 
 
 charms of mufic, and acknowledged its 
 
 L 3 ex-
 
 150 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 expreffions to be intelligible to the heart. 
 It is a language of delightful fenfations, 
 that is far more eloquent than words : it 
 breathes to the ear the cleareft intima- 
 tions ; but how it was learned, to what 
 origin we owe it, or what is the mean- 
 ing of fome of its moft affecting {trains, 
 we know not. 
 
 We feel plainly that mufic touches and 
 gently agitates the agreeable and fublime 
 pafllons ; that it wraps us in melancholy, 
 and elevates in joy ; that it difiblyes and 
 inflames ; that it melts us in tendernefs, 
 and roufes to rage : but its ftrokes are 
 fo fine and delicate, that, like a tragedy, 
 even the paffions that are wounded pleafe; 
 its forrows are charming, and its rage 
 heroic and delightful ; as people feel the 
 particular paffions with different degrees 
 of force, 'their tafte of harmony muft 
 proportionably vary. Mufic then is a 
 language directed to the paffions \ but 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 151 
 
 the rudeft paffions put on a new nature, 
 and become pleafmg in harmony : let me 
 add, alfo, that it awakens fome paffions 
 which we perceive not, in ordinary life. 
 Particularly the moft elevated fenfation 
 of mufic arifes from a confufed percep- 
 tion of ideal or vifionary beauty and rap- 
 ture, which is fufficiently perceivable to 
 fire the imagination, but not clear enough 
 to become an object of knowledge. This 
 fhadowy beauty the mind attempts, with 
 a languifliing curiofity, to collect into a 
 diftinct object of view and comprehen- 
 fion ; but it finks and efcapes, like the 
 difTolving ideas of a delightful dream, 
 that are neither within the reach of the 
 memory, nor yet totally fled. The no- 
 bleft charm of mufic then, though real 
 and affe.&ing, feems too confufed and 
 fluid to be collected into a diftinct idea. 
 Harmony is always underftood by the 
 croud, and almoft always miftaken by 
 muficians, who are, with hardly any ex- 
 L 4 ception,
 
 *5* C L I O : o R, A 
 
 ception, fervile followers of the tafte of 
 mode, and who having expended much 
 time and pains on the mechanic and prac- 
 tical part, lay a. ftrefs on the dexterities 
 of hand, which yet have no real value, 
 but as they ferve to produce thofe col- 
 lections of found that move the paflions. 
 The prefent Italian tafte for mufic isex- 
 a#ly correfpondent to the tafte of tragi- 
 comedy, that about a century ago gained 
 ground upon the ft-age. The muficians 
 of the prefent day are charmed at the 
 union they form between the grave and 
 the fantaftic, and at the furprifing tranfi- 
 tions they make between extremes, while 
 every hearer who has the leaft remainder 
 of the tafte of nature left, is fhocked 
 at the ftrange jargon. If the fame tafte 
 fhould prevail in painting, we muft foon 
 expect to fee the woman's head, a horfe's 
 body, and a fifh's tail, united by foft 
 gradations, greatly admired at our pub- 
 lic exhibitions. Mufica] gentlemen fhouid 
 
 take
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 153 
 
 take particular care to preferve in its full 
 vigour and ienfibility their original na- 
 tural tafte, which alone feels and difco- 
 vers the true beauty of mufic. 
 
 If Milton, Shakefpeare, or Dryden, had 
 been born with the fame ger.ius and in- 
 fpiration for mufic as for poetry, and had 
 patted through the practical part without 
 corrupting the natural tafte, or blending 
 with it a prepoffeflion in favour of the 
 flights and dexteries of hand, then 
 would their notes be tuned to paifions 
 arid to fentiments as natural and expref- 
 five as the tones and modulations of the 
 voice in difcourfe. The mufic and the 
 thought would not make different impref- 
 fions : the hearers would only think impe- 
 tuoufly ; and the effecT: of the mufic would 
 be to give the ideas a tumultuous violence 
 and divine impulfe upon the mind. Any 
 perfon converfant with the claflic poets, 
 fees inftantly that the paffionate power 
 
 of
 
 154 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 of mufte I fpeak of, was perfectly un- 
 derftood and practifed by the antients ; 
 that the mufes of the Greeks always fung, 
 and their fong was the echo of the fubject, 
 which fwelled their poetry into enthu- 
 flafm and rapture. An enquiry into the 
 nature and merits of the ancient mufic, 
 and a comparifon thereof with modern 
 compofition, by a perfon of poetic genius 
 and an admirer of harmony, who is free 
 from the (hackles of practice, and the 
 prejudices of the mode, aided by the 
 countenance of a few men of rank, of 
 elevated and true tafte, would probably 
 lay the prefent half-Gothic mode of mu- 
 fie in ruins, like thofe towers of whofe 
 little laboured ornaments it is an exact 
 picture, and reftore the Grecian tafte of 
 paflionate harmony once more, to the de- 
 light and wonder of mankind. But as 
 from the difpofition of things, and the 
 force of fafhion, we cannot hope in our 
 time to refcue the facred lyre, and fee it 
 7 P ut
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 15$ 
 
 put into the hands of men of genius, I 
 ean only recall you to your own natural 
 feeling of. harmony, and obferve to you, 
 that its emotions are not found in the la- 
 boured, fantaftic, and furprizing compo- 
 ntions that form the modern ftyle of mu- 
 fic ; but you meet them in fome few 
 pieces that are the growth of wild unvi- 
 tiated tafte ; you difcover them in the 
 fwelling founds that wrap us in imagi- 
 nary grandeur j in thofe plaintive notes 
 that make us in love with woe ; in the 
 tones that utter the lover's fighs, and 
 fluctuate the breaft with gentle pain ; 
 in the noble ftrokes that coil up the 
 courage and fury of the foul, or that lull 
 it in confufed vifions of joy : in fhort, 
 in thofe affecting {trains that find their 
 way to the inward recefles of the heart ; 
 
 Untwifling all the chains that tie 
 The hidden foul of harmony. 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 Sculpture
 
 156 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 Sculpture and painting have their ftan- 
 dard in nature ; and their principles dif- 
 fer only according to the different ma- 
 terials made ufe of in thefe arts. The 
 variety of his colours, and the flat fur- 
 face on which the painter is at liberty 
 to raife his magic objects, give him a vaft 
 fcope of ornament, variety, harmony of 
 parts, and oppofition, to pleafe the mind, 
 and divert it from too ftricl; an examina- 
 tion. The fculptor, being fo much con-' 
 fined, has nothing to move with but 
 beauty, palHon, and force of attitude ; 
 Sculpture therefore admits of no medi- 
 ocrity ; its works are either intolerable, 
 or very fine. In Greece, the finifhing of 
 a fingle ftatue was often the work of ma- 
 ny years. 
 
 Sculpture and painting take their me- 
 rit from the fame fpirit that poetry does ; 
 a juftnefs, a grandeur, and force of 
 exprelfion : and their principal objects
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 157 
 
 are the fublime, the beautiful, and the 
 pafHonate. Painting, on account of its 
 great latitude, approaches alfo very near 
 to the variety of poetry ; in general their 
 principles vary only according to the 
 different materials of each. 
 
 Poetry is capable of taking a feries of 
 fucceffive facts, which comprehend a 
 whole action from the beginning. It 
 puts the paflions in motion gradually, 
 and winds them up by fuccefiive efforts, 
 that all conduce to the intended effect ; 
 the mind could never be agitated fo vio- 
 lently, if the ftorm had not come on by 
 degrees : befides, language by its capa- 
 city of reprefenting thoughts, of forming) 
 the communication of mind with mind, 
 and defcribing emotions, takes in feveral 
 great, awful, and paflionate ideas that 
 colours cannot reprefent j but the painter 
 is confined to objects of vifion, and to 
 one point or inftant of time : he cannot
 
 158 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 bring into view any events which did not, 
 or at leaft might not happen, at one and 
 the fame inftant. The chief art of the 
 hiftory painter, is to hit upon a point of 
 time, that unites the whole fucceflive 
 aftion in one view, and ftrikes out the 
 emotion you are defirous of raifing. Some 
 painters have had the power of preferving 
 the traces of a receding paflion, or the 
 mixed difturbed emotions of the mind, 
 without impairing the principal paflion. 
 The Medea of Timomachus was a miracle 
 of this kind j her wild love, her rage, 
 and her maternal pity, were all poured 
 forth to the eye, in one portrait. From 
 this mixture of paffions, which is in na- 
 ture, the murdrefs appeared dreadfully 
 affecting. 
 
 It is very necefTary for the union of 
 defign in painting, that one principal 
 figure appear eminently in view, and that 
 all the reft be fubordinate to it j that is, 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 159 
 
 the paflion or attention of that principal 
 objedt fhould give a caft to the whole 
 piece : for inftance, if it be a wreftler, 
 or a courfer in the race, the whole fcene 
 fhould not only be a&ive, but the atten- 
 tions and paflions of the reft of the figures 
 fhould all be directed bythatobjea: if it be 
 a fifherman over the ftream, the whole 
 fcene muft be filent, and meditative ; if 
 ruins, a bridge, or waterfall, even the liv- 
 ing perfons muft be fubordinate, and the 
 traveller fhould gaze or look back with 
 wonder. This ftrict union and concord is 
 rather more neceflary in painting than in 
 poetry : the reafon is, painting is almoft 
 palpably a deception, and requires the ut- 
 moft fkill in fele&ing a vicinity of probable 
 ideas, to give it the air of reality and nature. 
 For this reafon alfo nothing ftrange, 
 wonderful, or fhocking to credulity, 
 ought to be admitted in paintings that 
 are defigned after real life. 
 
 The
 
 160 C L I O: on, A 
 
 The principal art of the landfcape 
 painter lies in felecting thofe objects of 
 view that are beautiful or great, provid- 
 ing there be a propriety and a juft neigh- 
 bourhood preferved in the aflemblage, 
 along with a carelefs diftribution that fo- 
 licits your eye to the principal object 
 where it refts ; in giving fuch a glance 
 or confufed view of thofe that retire out 
 of profpecl:, as to raife curiofity, and cre- 
 ate in the imagination affecting ideas 
 that do not appear ; and in beftowing as 
 much life and action as poffible, without 
 overcharging the piece. A landfcape is 
 enlivened by putting the animated figures 
 into action ; by flinging over it the chear- 
 ful afpecl which the fun beftows, either 
 by a proper difpofition of fhade, or by the 
 appearances that beautify his rifmg or fet- 
 ting ; and by a judicious profpet of wa- 
 ter, which always conveys the idea of mo- 
 tion : a few diflievelled clouds have the 
 
 fame
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. i6j 
 
 -fame effeft, but with fomewhat lefs vi- 
 vacity. 
 
 The excellence of portrait-painting 
 and fculpture fpring from the fame prin- 
 ciples that affect us in life ; they are 
 not the perfons who perform at a co- 
 medy or tragedy we go to fee with fo 
 much pleafure, but the paffions and 
 emotions they difplay : in like-manner,^ 
 the value of ftatues and pictures arife in 
 proportion to the ftrength and clear- 
 nefs of the expreffion of the paffions ; and 
 to the peculiar and diftinguifhing air of 
 character. Great painters almoft always 
 chufe a fine face to exhibit the paffions 
 in. If you recollect what I faid on 
 beauty, you will eafily conceive the 
 reafon why the agreeable paffions are mod 
 lively in a beautiful face j beauty is the 
 natural vehicle of the agreeable paffions. 
 For the fame reafon the tempeftucus paf- 
 fions appear ftrongeft in a fine face ; it 
 fuffers the moft violent derangement 
 M ty
 
 162 C L I O : o RJ A 
 
 by them. To which we may add, upon 
 the fame principle, that dignity or courage 
 cannot be mixed in a very ill favoured 
 countenance j and that the painter, after 
 exerting his whole (kill, finds in their 
 ftead pride and terror. Thefe obfer- 
 vations, which have been often made, 
 1 .ferve to illuftrate our thoughts on 
 beauty. Befides the ftricT: propriety 
 of nature, fculpture and figure-painting 
 is a kind of defcription, which, like 
 poetry, is under the direction of ge- 
 nius ; that, while it preferves nature, 
 fometimes, in a fine flight of fancy, 
 throws an ideal fplendor over the figures 
 that never exifted in real life. Such is 
 the fublime and celeftial character that 
 breathes over the Apollo Belvedere, and 
 the inexpreffible beauties that dwell 
 upon the Venus of Medici, and feem to 
 fhed an illumination around her. This 
 fuperior beauty muft be varied with pro- 
 priety, as well as the paffions j the ele- 
 gance of Juno muft be decent, lofty, and 
 
 elated ;
 
 DISCOURSE ONTASTE. 163 
 
 elated; of Minerva, mafculine, confident, 
 and chafte ; and of Venus, winning, foft, 
 and confcious of pleafing. Thefe fifter 
 arts, painting and ftatuary, as well as po- 
 etry, put it out of all doubt, that the 
 imagination carries the ideas of the beau- 
 tiful and the fublime far beyond vifible 
 nature ; fince no mortal ever poflefled the 
 blaze of divine charms that furrounds the 
 Apollo Belvedere, or the Venus of Me- 
 dici, I have juft mentioned. 
 
 A variety and flufli of colouring is 
 generally the refuge of painters, who are 
 not able to animate their defigns. We may- 
 call a luftre of colouring, the rant and 
 fuftain of painting, under which are hid the 
 want of ftrength and nature. None but a 
 painter of real genius can be fevere and 
 modeft in his colouring, and pleafe at 
 the fame time. It muft be obferved, that 
 the glow and variety of colours, give a 
 M 2 pleafure
 
 1 64 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 pleafure of a very different kind from th* 
 object of painting. When foreign or- 
 naments, gilding, and carving come to be 
 confidered as neceflary to the beauty of 
 pictures, they are a plain diagnoflic of a 
 decay in tafte and power. 
 
 A free and eafy proportion united with 
 fimplicity, feem to conftitute the ele- 
 gance of form in building. A fubordi- 
 nation of parts to one evident defign 
 forms fimplicity - y when the members thus 
 evidently related are great, the union is 
 always very great. In the proportions 
 of a noble edifice, you fee the image of a 
 creating mind refult from the whole. The 
 evident uniformity of the rotunda, and 
 its unparalleled fimplicity, are probably 
 the fources of its fuperior beauty. When 
 we look up at the vaulted roof, that 
 feems to reft upon our horizon, we are 
 ?ftonimed at the magnificence, more than 
 git the vifible extent. . 
 
 When
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. ifc$ 
 
 When I am taking a review of the" 
 obje&s of beauty and grandeur, can I 
 pafs by unnoticed the fource of colours 
 and vifible beauty ? When the light is 
 withdrawn, all nature retires from view, 
 vifible bodies are annihilated, and the 
 foul mourns the univerfal abfence in fo- 
 litude j when it returns, it brings along 
 with it the creation, and reftores joy as 
 well as beauty. 
 
 If I fhould diftinguifh the perceptions 
 of the fenfes from each other, according to 
 the flrength of the traces left on the ima- 
 gination, I fhould call thofe of hearing, 
 feeling, fmelling, and tafting, notions, 
 which imprefs the memory, but weakly j 
 while thofe of colours I fhould call ideas, 
 to denote their flrength and peculiar 
 clearnefs upon the imagination. This 
 diftinHon deferves particular notice. The 
 Author of nature has drawn an impene- 
 trable veil over the fixed material world 
 M 3 that
 
 i66 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 that furrounds us : folid matter refufes 
 our acquaintance, and will be known to 
 us only by refitting the touch ; but how 
 obfcure are the informations of feeling ! 
 light comes like an intimate acquaintance 
 to relieve us ; it introduces all nature to 
 us, the fields, the trees, the flowers, the 
 cryftal ftreams, and azure fky. But all 
 this beauteous diverfity is no more than 
 an agreeable enchantment formed by the 
 light that fpreads itfelf to view ; the fixed 
 parts of nature are eternally entombed be- 
 neath the light, and we fee nothing in 
 fact but a creation of colours. School- 
 men, with their ufual arrogance, will 
 tell you their ideas are tranfcripts of na- 
 ture, and aflure you that the veracity of 
 God requires they fhould be fo, becaufe 
 we cannot well avoid thinking fo ; but 
 nothing is an object of vifion but light, 
 the picture we fee is not annexed to the 
 earth, but comes with angelic celerity to 
 meet our eyes. That which is called 
 
 body
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 167 
 
 body or fubftance, that reflects the various 
 colours of the light, and lies hid beneath 
 the appearance, is wrapt in impenetrable 
 obfcurity j it is fatally fhut out from our 
 eyes and imagination, and only caufes in 
 us the ideas of feeling, tafting, or fmeliing, 
 which yet are not refemblances of any 
 part of matter. I do not know do if I ap- 
 pear too ftrong when I call colours the 
 expreffion of the Divinity. Light ftrikes us 
 with fuch vivacity and force, that we can 
 hardly call it inanimate or unintelligent. 
 
 Shall we admit uniformity into our 
 lift of beauty, or firft examine its real 
 merits ? When we look into the works 
 of nature, we cannot avoid obferving that 
 uniformity is but the beauty of minute 
 objects. The oppofite fides of a leaf di- 
 vided in the middle, and the leaves of the 
 fame fpecies of vegetables, retain a ftriking 
 uniformity ; but the branch, the tree, 
 and foreft defert this ftmilarity, and take 
 M 4 a noble
 
 168 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 2 noble irregularity with vaft advantage. 
 Cut a tree into a regular form, and you 
 change its lofty port for a minute pret- 
 tinefs. What forms the beauty of 
 country fcenes, but the want of unifor- 
 mity ? No two hills, vales, rivers, or 
 profpcdts, are alike j and you are charm- 
 ed by the variety. Let us now fuppofe 
 a country made up of the moft beautiful 
 hills and defcents imaginable, but every 
 hill and every vale alike, and at an equal 
 diftancej they foon tire you, and you 
 find the delight vanilhes with the no- 
 velty. 
 
 There are, I own, certain aflemblages 
 that form a powerful beauty by their 
 union, of which a fine face is inconteft- 
 ible evidence. But the charm does not 
 feem by any means to refide in the uni- 
 formity, which in the human countenance 
 is not very exat. The human counte- 
 nance may be planned out much more 
 
 regu-
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 169 
 
 regularly, but I fancy without adding to 
 the beauty, for which we muft faek 
 another fource. In truth, the fineft eye 
 in the world without meaning, and the 
 fineft mouth without a fmile, are infinid. 
 An agreeable countenance includes in the 
 idea thereof an agreeable and gentle dif- 
 pofiticn. How the countenance, and an 
 arrangement of colours and feature's, can. 
 exprefs the idea of an unfeen mind, we 
 know not ; but fo the facl: is, and to this 
 fine intelligent picture, whether it be 
 falfe or true, certain I am, that the 
 beauty of the human countenance is ow- 
 ing, more than to uniformity. Shall 
 we then fay, that the grestcft uniformity, 
 along with the greafcft variety, fonrs 
 beauty ? But this is a repetition of words 
 without diftincl ideas, and explicates a 
 well-known effect, by an obfcure caufe. 
 Uniformity, as far as it extends, excludes 
 variety ; and variety, fo far as it reaches, 
 excludes uniformity. Variety is by far
 
 170 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 more pleafing than uniformity, but it 
 does not conftitute beauty; for it is im- 
 poffible that can be called beauty, which, 
 when well known, ceafes to pleafe : 
 whereas a fine piece of mufic fliall charm 
 after being heard a hundred times j and 
 a lovely countenance makes a ftronger 
 impreffion on the mind by being often 
 feen, becaufe there, beauty is real. I 
 think we may, upon the whole, con- 
 clude, that if uniformity be a beauty, it 
 is but the beauty of minute objects ; and 
 that it pleafes only by the vifible defign, 
 and the evident footiteps of intelligence 
 it difcovers. 
 
 I muft fay fomething of the evanefcent 
 charms of novelty. When our curiofity 
 is excited at the opening of new fcenes, 
 our ideas are affecting and beyond life, 
 and we fee objects in a brighter hue than 
 they after appear in. For when curio- 
 fity is fated, the objecls grow dull, and 
 
 our
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 171 
 
 our ideas fall to their diminutive natural 
 Ijze. What I have faid may account for 
 the raptured profpect of our youth we fee 
 backward ; novelty always recommends, 
 becaufe expectations of the unknown are 
 ever high ; and in youth we have an eternal 
 novelty : unexperienced credulous youth 
 gilds our young ideas, and ever meets a 
 frefh luftre that is not yet allayed by doubts. 
 In age, experience corrects our hopes, and 
 the imagination cools ; for this reafon, 
 wifdom and high pleafure do not refide 
 together, 
 
 I have obferved through this difcourfe, 
 that the delight we receive from the vifible 
 objects of nature, or from the fine arts, 
 may be divided into the conceptions of 
 the fublime, and conceptions of the 
 beautiful. Of the origin of the fublime 
 I fpoke hypothetically, and with diffidence; 
 all we certainly know on this head is, 
 
 that
 
 172 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 F that the fenfations of the fuhlime we re- 
 ceive from external obje&s, are attended 
 v.-ith obfcure ideas of power and immen- 
 fity j the origin of our fenfations of beau- 
 ty, are ftill more unintelligible : however, 
 I think there is fome foundation for claf- 
 fmg the obje&s of beauty under different 
 heads, by a correfpondence or fimilarity, 
 that maybe obferved between feveral par- 
 
 i i ticulars. 
 
 A fall and confiftent evidence of de 
 fign, efpecial'y if the defign be attended 
 v/ith an important effel, gives the idea 
 of beauty : thus a fhip under fail, a grey- 
 hound, a well-fhaped horfe, are beauti- 
 ful, becaufe they difplay with eafe a great 
 defign. Birds and beafts of prey, com- 
 pleatly armed for deftruilion, are for the 
 fame reafon beautiful, although objects 
 of terror. 
 
 Where
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 173 
 
 . Where different defigns at a fingle 
 view, appear to concur to one effec~r, the 
 beauty accumulates j as in the Grecian 
 architecture : where different defigns, 
 leading to different effeds, unite in the 
 fame whole, they caufe confufion,- and 
 diminifh the idea of beauty, as in ths 
 Gothic buildings. Upon the fame prin- 
 ciple, confufion and diforder are ugly or 
 frightful ; the figures ma<'e by fpilled 
 liquors are always ugly. Regular figures 
 are handfome j and the circular, the moft 
 regular, is the moft beautiful. This re- 
 gulation holds only where the fublime 
 does not enter ; for in that cafe the irre- 
 gularity and careleffbefs adds to the ideas 
 of power, and raifes in proportion our 
 admiration. The confufion in which 
 we fee the ftars fcattered over the heavens, 
 and the rude arrangement of mountains, 
 add to their grandeur. 
 
 A mixture of the fublime aids ex- 
 ceedingly the idea of beauty, and height- 
 x ens
 
 ,74 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 ens the horrors of diforder and uglinefs. 
 Perfonal beauty is vaftly raifed by a noble 
 air ; on the contrary, the d involution and 
 ruins of a large city, diftrefles the mind 
 proportionally : but while we mourn over 
 great ruins, at the deftru&ion of our 
 fpecies, we are alfo foothed by the ge- 
 nerous commiferation we fed in our own 
 breads, and therefore ruins give us the 
 fame kind of grateful melancholly we feel 
 at a tragedy. Of all the obje&s of dif- 
 cord and confufion, no other is fo (hock- 
 ing as the human foul in madnefs. When 
 we fee the principle of thought and beauty 
 difordered, the horror is too high, like 
 that of a maflacre committed before our 
 eyes, to fuffer the mind to make any re- 
 flex aft on the god-like traces of pity 
 that diftinguifh our fpecies ; and we feel 
 nofenfations but thofe of difmay and terror. 
 
 Regular motion and life fhewn in inani- 
 mate objects, give us alfo the fecret plea- 
 
 fure
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 175 
 
 fure we call beauty. Thus waves fpent, 
 and fucceffively breaking upon the fhore, 
 and waving fields of corn or grafs in con- 
 tinued motion, are ever beautiful. The 
 beauty of colours may perhaps be arrang- 
 ed under this head : colours, like notes 
 of mufic, affect the paflions ; red incites 
 anger ; black to melancholy ; white brings 
 a gentle joy to the mind ; the fofter co- 
 lours refrefh or relax it. The mixtures 
 and gradations of colours have an effect 
 correfpondent to the tranfitions and com- 
 binations of founds ; but the ftrokes are 
 too tranfient and feeble to become the 
 objects of expreffion. 
 
 Beauty alfo refults from every difpofi- 
 tion of nature that plainly difcovers her fa- 
 vour and indulgence to us. Thus the fpring 
 feafon, when the weather becomes mild, 
 the verdant fields, trees loaded with fruit 
 or covered with (hade, clear fprings, but 
 particularly the human face, where the 
 
 gentle
 
 176 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 gentle paffions are delineated, is beyond 
 expreflion beautiful. On the fame prin- 
 ciple, inclement wintry (kies, trees ftrip- 
 ped of their verdure, defert barren lands, 
 and above all death, is frightful and fhock- 
 ing. I muft, however, obferve, that I 
 do not by any means fuppofe, that the 
 fentiment of beauty arifes from a reflex 
 confiderate ac"l of the mind, upon the ob- 
 fervation of the defigns of nature or of 
 art ; the fentiment of beauty is inftan T 
 taneous, and depends on no prior reflec- 
 tions. All I mean is, that defign and 
 beauty are in an arbitrary manner united 
 together j fo that where we fee the one, 
 whether we reflect on it or no, we per- 
 ceive the other. I muft further add, that 
 there may be other divifions of beauty 
 eafily difcoverable, which I have not taken 
 notice of. 
 
 s 
 
 The general fenfe of beauty, as well 
 
 as of grandeur, feems peculiar to man in 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 177 
 
 the creation. ^ The herd in common 
 with him enjoy the gentle breath of 
 fpring j they lye down to repofe on the 
 flowery bank, and hear the peaceful hum- 
 ming of the bee ; they enjoy the green 
 fields and paftures : but we have reafon 
 to think, that it is man only who fees the 
 image of beauty over the happy profpecl, 
 and rejoices at it j that it is hid from 
 the brute creation, and depends not upon 
 fenfe, but on the intelligent mind. 
 
 We have juft taken a tranfient view of 
 the principal departments of tafte ; let us 
 now, madam, make a few general re- 
 flections upon our fubjeft. 
 
 The human genius, with thebeft aflift- 
 ance, and the fined examples, breaks 
 forth but flowly ; and the greateft men 
 have but gradually acquired a juft tafte, 
 and chafte fimple conceptions of beauty. 
 At an immature age, the fenfe of beauty 
 N is
 
 178 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 is weak and confufed, and requires an 
 cxcefs of colouring to catch its attention. 
 It then prefers extravagance and rant to 
 juftnefs, a grofs falfe wit to the engaging 
 light of nature, and the fhewy, rich, and 
 glaring, to the fine and amiable. This 
 is the childhood of tafte j but as the hu- 
 man genius ftrengthens and grows to 
 maturity, if it be aflifted by a happy edu- 
 cation, the fenfe of univerfal beauty 
 awakes ; it begins to be difgufted with 
 the falfe and mifhapen deceptions that 
 pleafed before, and refts with delight on 
 elegant fimplicity, on pictures of eafy 
 beauty, and unaffected grandeur. 
 
 The progrefs of the fine arts in the hu- 
 man mind, may be fixed at three re- 
 markable degrees, from their foundation 
 to the loftieft height. The bafis is a 
 fenfe of beauty and of the fublime, the 
 fecond ftep we may call tafte, and the 
 laft genius. 
 
 A fenfe
 
 DISCOURSE ONTASTE. 179 
 
 A fenfe of the beautiful and of the 
 great is univerfal, which appears from the 
 uniformity thereof in the moft diflant 
 ages and nations. What was engaging 
 and fublime in antient Greece and Rome, 
 are fo at this day : and, as I obferved 
 before, there is not the leaft neceffity of 
 improvement or fcience, to difcover the 
 charms of a graceful or noble deportment. 
 Here is a fine, but an ineffectual light in 
 the bread of man. After nightfall we 
 have admired the planet Venus, the beau- 
 ty and vivacity of her luftre, the immenfe 
 diftance from which we judged her beams 
 iffued, and the filence of the night, all 
 concurred to ftrike us with an agreeable 
 amazement. But fhe fhone indiftinguim- 
 ed beauty, without giving fufficient light 
 to direct our fteps, or (hew us the ob- 
 jects around us. Thus in unimproved 
 nature, the light of the mind is bright 
 and ufelefs. In utter barbarity, our 
 profpect of it is ftill lefs fixed j it ap- 
 N 2 pears,
 
 i8o CLIO: OR, A 
 
 pears, and then again fcems wholly to 
 vanifh in the favage breaftj like the fame 
 planet Venus, when fhe has but juft 
 raifed her orient beams to mariners above 
 the waves, and is now defcried, and now 
 loft, through the fwelling billows. 
 
 The next ftep is tafte, the fubjeft of 
 our enquiry, which confifts in a diftinft, 
 unconfufed knowledge of the great and 
 beautiful. Although you fee not many 
 poflefled of a good tafte, yet the generality 
 of mankind are capable of it. The very 
 populace of Athens had acquired a good 
 tafte by habit and fine examples, fo that a 
 delicacy of judgment feemed natural to 
 all who breathed the air of that elegant 
 city : we find a manly and elevated fenfe 
 diftinguifli the common people of Rome 
 and of all the cities of Greece, while the 
 level of mankind was preferved in thofe 
 cities ; while the Plebeians had a (hare in 
 the government, and an utter reparation 
 
 was
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 181 
 
 was not made between them and the 
 nobles, by wealth and luxury. But 
 when once the common people are rent 
 afunder wholly from the great and opu- 
 lent, and made fubfervient to the luxury 
 of the latter ; then the tafte of nature in- 
 fallibly takes her flight from both parties. 
 The poor by a fordid habit, and an at- 
 tention wholly confined to mean views, 
 and the rich by an attention to the change- 
 able modes of fancy, and a vitiated pre- 
 ference for the rich and coftly, lofe view 
 of fimple beauty and grandeur. It may 
 feem a paradox, and yet I am firmly per- 
 fuaded, that it would be eafier at this 
 day to give a good tafte to the young 
 favages of America, than to the noble 
 youth of Europe. 
 
 Genius, the pride of man, as man is 
 
 of the creation, has been poflefled but 
 
 by few, even in the brighteft ages. Men 
 
 of fuperior genius, while they fee the 
 
 N3 reft
 
 182 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 reft of mankind painfully ftruggling to 
 comprehend obvious truths, glance them- 
 felves through the moft remote confe- 
 quences, like lightning through a path 
 that cannot be traced. They fee the 
 beauties of nature with life and warmth, 
 and paint them forcibly without effort, 
 as the morning fun does the fcenes he 
 T rifes upon ; and in feveral inftances, com- 
 municate to objects a morning frefhnefs 
 and unaccountable luftre, that is not feen 
 in the creation of nature. The poet, 
 the ftatuary, the painter, have produced 
 images that left nature far behind. 
 
 The conftellations of extraordinary 
 perfonages who appeared in Greece and 
 Rome, at or near the fame period of 
 time, after ages of darknefs to which we 
 know no beginning ; and the long bar- 
 rennefs of thofe countries after in great 
 jj* ( men, prove that genius owes much of 
 its luftre to a perfonal conteft of glory, 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 183 
 
 and the ftrong rivalftiip of great examples 
 within actual view and knowledge ; and 
 that great parts alone are not able to 
 lift a perfon out of barbarity. It is 
 further to be obferved, that when the 
 infpiring fpirit of the fine arts retired, and 
 -left inanimate and cold the breafts of 
 poets, painters, and ftatuaries, men of 
 tafte ftill remained, who diftinguifhed and 
 admired the beauteous monuments of 
 genius ; but the power of execution was 
 loft ; and although monarchs loved and 
 courted the arts, yet they refufed to re- 
 turn. From whence it is evident, that 
 neither tafte, nor natural parts, form the 
 creating genius that infpired the great 
 mafters of antiquity, and that they owed 
 their extraordinary powers to fomething 
 different from both. 
 
 If we confider the numbers of men who 
 wrote well, and excelled in every de- 
 partment of the liberal arts, in the ages 
 of genius, and the fimplicity that always 
 N 4 attends
 
 1 84 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 -s attends beauty j we muft be led to think, 
 that although few perhaps can reach to 
 the fupreme beauty of imagination dif- 
 played by the firft-rate poets, orators, 
 and philofophers j yet moft men are ca- 
 pable of juft thinking and agreeable 
 writing. Nature lies very near our re- 
 flections, and will appear, if we be not 
 mifled and prejudiced before the fenfe of 
 beauty grows to maturity. The popu- 
 lace of Athens and Rome prove flrongly, 
 that uncommon parts or great learning are 
 , not neceflary to make men think juftly. 
 
 We know not the bounds of tafle, be- 
 caufe we are unacquainted with the ex- 
 tent and boundaries of the human genius. 
 The mind in ignorance is like a fleeping 
 giant j it has immenfe capacities, without 
 the power of ufmg them. By liftening to 
 the leflbns of Socrates, men grew heroes, 
 philofophers, and legiflators ; for he, of 
 all mankind, feemed to have difcovered 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 185 
 
 thefhort and lightfome path to the facul- 
 ties of the mind. To give you an in- 
 ftance of the human capacity, that comes 
 more immediately within your notice, 
 what graces, what fentiments have been 
 tranfplanted into the motion of a minuet, 
 which a favage has no conception of ! 
 We know not to what degree of rapture 
 harmony is capable of being carried, 
 nor what hidden powers may be in yet 
 unexperienced beauties of the imagina- 
 tion, whofe objects are in fcenes and in 
 worlds we are ftrangers to. Children who 
 die young, have no conception of the fen- 
 timent of perfonal beauty. Are we cer- 
 tain that we are not yet children in re- 
 fpecl: to feveral fpecies of beauties ? We 
 are ignorant whether there be not paffions 
 in the foul, that have hitherto remained 
 unawaked and undifcovered for want of 
 objects to roufe them : we feel plainly, 
 that fome fuch are gently agitated and 
 moved by certain notes of mufic. In 
 
 reality,
 
 186 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 reality, we know not but the tafte and ca- 
 pacity of beauty and grandeur in the 
 foul, may extend as far beyond all we 
 actually perceive, as this whole world ex- 
 ceeds the fphere of a cockle or an oyfter. 
 
 Let us now confider by what means 
 tafte is ufually depraved and loft in a 
 nation, that is neither conquered by bar- 
 barians nor has loft the improvements in 
 agriculture, hufbandry, and defence, that 
 allow men leifure for reflection and em- 
 belifliment. I obferved before, that this 
 natural light is not fo clear in the great- 
 eft men, but it may lie opprefled by bar- 
 barity. When people of mean parts, and 
 of pride without genius, get into ele- 
 vated ftations, they want a tafte for 
 fimple grandeur, and miftake for it what 
 is uncommonly glaring and extraordina- 
 ry ; whence proceeds falfe wit of every 
 kind, a gaudy richnefs in drefs, an op- 
 preflive load of ornament in building, and a 
 grandeur
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 187 
 
 grandeur overftrained and puerile univer- 
 fally. I muft obferve, that people of bad 
 tafte and little genius almoft always lay 
 a great ftrefs on trivial matters, and are 
 oftentatious and exact in fingularities, or 
 in a decorum in trifles. When people of 
 mean parts appear in high ftations, and at 
 the head of the fafhionable world, they 
 cannot fail to introduce a falfe embroid- 
 ered habit of mind : people of nearly the 
 fame genius who make up the croud, 
 will admire and follow them ; and at 
 length folitary tafte, adorned only by 
 noble fimplicity, will be loft in the ge- 
 neral example, 
 
 Alfowhen a nation is much corrupted; 
 when avarice and a love of gain have 
 feized upon the hearts of men ; when the 
 nobles ignominioufly bend their necks to 
 corruption and bribery, or enter into the 
 bafe myfteries of gaming ; then decency, 
 elevated principles, and greatnefs of foul 
 
 expire .
 
 i88 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 expire ; and all that remains is a comedy 
 or puppet-fhew of elegance, in which the 
 dancing-mafter and peer are upon a level, 
 and the mind is underftood to have no 
 part in the drama of politenefs, or elfe to 
 act under a mean difguife of virtues 
 which it is not poffeffed of. 
 
 Upon putting together the whole of our 
 reflections, you fee two different natures 
 laying claim to the human race, and drag- 
 ging it different ways. You fee a necef- 
 fity that arifes from our fituation andcir- 
 cumftances, bending us down into un- 
 worthy mifery and fordid bafenefs ; and 
 you fee, when we can efcape from the 
 infulting tyranny of our fate, and acquire 
 eafe and freedom, a generous nature 
 that lay ftupified and oppreffed, begin 
 to awake and charm us with profpects of 
 beauty and glory. This awaking genius 
 gazes in rapture at the beauteous and ele- 
 vating fcenes of nature. The beauties of 
 nature are familiar, and charm it like a 
 
 mother's
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 189 
 
 mother's bofom ; and the objects which 
 have the plain marks of immenfe power 
 and grandeur, raife in it a dill, an in- 
 quifitive, and trembling delight : but genius 
 often throws over the objects of its con- 
 ceptions colours finer than thofe of na- 
 ture, and opens a Paradife that exifts no 
 where but in its own creations. The 
 bright and peaceful fcenes of Arcadia, 
 and the lovely defcriptions of paftoral 
 poetry, never exifted on earth, no more 
 than Pope's fhepherds or the river gods 
 of Windfor foreft : it is all but a charm- 
 ing illufion, which the mind firft paints 
 with celeftial colours, and then languiflies 
 for. Knight-errantry is another kind 
 of delufion, which though it be fictitious 
 in fact, yet is true in fentiment. I be- 
 lieve there are few people who in their 
 youth, before they be corrupted by the 
 commerce of the world, are not knight- 
 errants and princefles in their hearts. 
 The foul, in a beauteous ecftacy, com- 
 municates
 
 igo C L I O: OR, A 
 
 municates a flame to words which they 
 had not j and poetry, by its quick tran- 
 fitions, bold figures, lively images, and 
 the variety of efforts to paint the latent 
 rapture, bears witnefs, that the confufed 
 ideas of the mind are ftill infinitely fu- 
 perior, and beyond the reach of all de- 
 fcription. It is this divine fpirit that, 
 when roufed from its lethargy, breathes 
 in noble fentiments, that charms in 
 elegance, that ftamps upon marble or 
 canvas the figures of gods and heroes, 
 that infpires them with an air above hu- 
 manity, and leads the foul through the 
 enchanting meanders of mufic in a wak- 
 ing vifion, through which it cannot 
 break to difcover the near objects that 
 charm it. 
 
 How fhall we venture to trace the ob- 
 ject of this furprifing beauty peculiar 
 to genius, which evidently does not come 
 to the mind from the fenfes : it is not 
 conveyed in found, for we feel the founds 
 
 of
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 191 
 
 of mufic charm us by gently agitating 
 and fwelling the paffions, and fetting 
 fome paffions afloat, for which we have 
 no name, and knew not until they were 
 awaked in the mind by harmony. This 
 beauty does not arrive at the mind by the 
 ideas of vifion, though it be moved by 
 them ; for it evidently beftows on the 
 mimic reprefentations and images the 
 mind makes of the objects of fenfe, 
 an enchanting lovelinefs that never ex- 
 ifted in thofe objeas. Where fhall the 
 foul find this amazing beauty, whofe 
 very fliadow, glimmering upon the ima- 
 gination, opens unfpeakable raptures 
 in it, and diftracls it with languishing 
 pleafure ? What are thofe ftranger fenti- 
 ments that lie in wait in the foul, until mu- 
 fic calls them forth ? What is the obfcure 
 but unavoidable value or merit of virtue ? 
 or who is the law-maker in the mind who ' 
 gives it a worth and dignity beyond all 
 eftimation, and puniflies the breach of 
 
 it
 
 192 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 it with confcious terror and defpair ? 
 What is it in objects of immeafura- 
 ble power and grandeur, that we look 
 for with ftill amazement and awful de- 
 light ? But I find, madam, we have 
 been infenfibly led into fubje&s too ab- 
 ftrufe and fevere ; I muft not put the 
 graces with whom we have been conyerf- 
 ing to flight, and draw the ferious air 
 of meditation over that countenance 
 where the fmiles naturally dwell. 
 
 I have, in confequence of your permif- 
 fion, put together fuch thoughts as occur- 
 red to me on good tafte. I told, you if I 
 had leifure hereafter, I would difpofe of 
 them with more regularity, and add any 
 new obfervation that I may make. Before 
 I finifh, I muft in j uftice make my acknow- 
 ledgements of the afliftance I received. 
 I took notice, at the beginning, that Rol- 
 lin's Obfervations on Tafte gave occafion 
 to this difcourfe. Sir Harry Beaumont's 
 I polifhed
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 193 
 
 polifhed dialogue on beauty, called Cri- 
 to, was of fervice to me j and I have 
 availed myfelf of the writings and fenti- 
 ments of the ancients, particularly of the 
 poets and ftatuaries of Greece, which 
 was the native and original country of 
 the graces and fine arts. But I mould be 
 very unjuft, if I did not make my chief 
 acknowledgments where they are more 
 peculiarly due. If your modefty will not 
 fuffer me to draw that picture from 
 which I borrowed my ideas of elegance, 
 I am bound, at leaft in honefty, to 
 difclaim every merit but that of copying 
 from a bright original. 
 
 A DIS.
 
 ( 194 ) 
 A DISCOURSE on TASTE. 
 
 Continued in a DIALOGUE between * 
 young Lady and the Dean of .. 
 
 Amelia. T AM pleafed with the famili- 
 * arity of your friend's Clio, and 
 I aaa pleafed at the fubjecl:. I always took 
 learning to be harm and unfociable, but 
 nothing can be more agreeable- than the 
 fine arts. Dear mufic ! painting ! fta- 
 tuary ! architecture ! elegance ! I am in 
 love with them all. Why is our tafte for 
 them fo different from our tafte for the 
 other parts of learning ? 
 
 Dean. Modern philofophers, madam, 
 leave the human mind to the poets, as a 
 thing of too much levity to deferve at- 
 tention, and pay their chief regards to 
 fober folid matter, or the fubftance of 
 
 which
 
 DISCOURSE ONTASTE. 195 
 
 which bodies are formed. They will 
 teach you its laws, and how to compute, 
 with fcrupulous exa&nefs, the forces of 
 bodies in motion. They nicely weigh 
 the arguments pro and con about the di- 
 vifibility of matter, and then leave them 
 in the balances. They meafure and com. 
 pare figures, which is of vaft ufe in the 
 concerns of life : but they have greater 
 effects in view j no lefs than the conftruc- 
 tion of worlds, and the furnifliing them 
 afterwards. They ingenioufly attribute 
 feveral powers to the form, to the motion, 
 and fize of the invifible particles of 
 bodies, which were never known to refide 
 in vifible form, motion, or fize. For in- 
 ftance, they tell you that the fame fub- 
 ftance or matter, being in the form of 
 minute fpheres or globes, conftitutes wa- 
 ter; but being exhibited in the form 
 of fquares, pyramids, and other figures, 
 of proper fizes, it makes trees, rocks, 
 animals, and the other furniture of this 
 O 2 world.
 
 196 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 world. Having taken a licence of beftow- 
 ing a metamorphofing or productive pow- 
 er on unknown forms and fizes, where 
 they are confident they cannot be detect- 
 ed, they fit you out a world with its 
 cargo, with as little difficulty as they 
 would a fhip for the Eaft Indies ; and are 
 ready to furnifh you out as many more as 
 there is occafion for, throughout the ex- 
 panfe of the heavens. It is even a cafe of 
 doubt, whether matter may not think. 
 But as the graveft philofophers have mo>- 
 deftly acknowledged, that thought muft in 
 that cafe be im-prefled by the arbitrary 
 volition of the deity on matter, we (hall 
 never be able to determine, whether in a 
 world conftituted fomewhat differently 
 from this, the trees are not animated, 
 and the flowers are not little gay coquets. 
 
 A. I fhould like much to be ac- 
 quainted with your little gaudy coquets, 
 if they were not fubjedt to die fo foon on
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 197 
 
 my hands. As for the reft of what you 
 have been faying, I underftand little of 
 it. Your philofophers have already tired 
 me ; let us leave them at work in their 
 matter, I would not for the world difturb 
 them, for I fee they are bufy about affair* 
 of great confequence. What I want to 
 know is, why the fine arts are fo familiar 
 and pleafing. 
 
 D. You fee that the kind of learn- 
 ing I have been fpeaking of, bears little 
 relation to man : therefore providenti- 
 ally it has few natural charms for him. 
 The truth is, the world is a fcene thro' 
 which his fate obliges him to haften ; its 
 matter and creation are of little confer 
 quence to him, otherwife than affording 
 him a paflage between birth and death j 
 in a few years they will be of no manner 
 of concern to him. In proportion to this 
 worthleflhefs, provident nature has wrap- 
 ped them in obfcurity. When he em- 
 O 3 ploys
 
 198 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 ploys his thoughts about matter, it re- 
 tires from him fullenly into darknefs, and 
 his philofophy becomes trifling, cold, 
 and barren : but when you look towards 
 the fine arts, you fee that they all bear a 
 manifeft relation to the foul or fpirit, 
 that forms ourfelves throughout our whole 
 exiftence. Hiftory, tragedy, comedy, and 
 every fpecies of poetry, are either reprefen- 
 tations of the human paflions, or of the 
 ideas that move them. Painting, fculp- 
 ture, the various beauties of vifion, mu- 
 fic, and that noble part of philofophy, 
 which treats of human nature, all take 
 their value from their relation to the 
 foul. 
 
 A. If I underftand you right, you 
 are of opinion, that it is fome profpect 
 exhibited of the mind itfelf, or of the paf- 
 fions, that make hiftory, tragedy, comedy, 
 and the other fpecies of poetry delight- 
 ful 3 and that the ftudies that have not 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 199 
 
 the mind immediately in view, are cold 
 and taftelefs. 
 
 D. You conceive my meaning very 
 exa&ly. Euclid and Sir Ifaac Newton 
 were men of prodigious knowledge and 
 invention ; every lover of fcience ftudies 
 them carefully, and is obliged to admire 
 the clearnefs and extent of genius they 
 difplayed j but their works are cold and 
 inanimate ; to read them requires patience, 
 and to comprehend them uncommon la- 
 bour, and painful perfeverance . they con- 
 vince our reafon, but touch not the heart. 
 If you like to feaft on the ideas that na- 
 turally charm us, look at the fimple con- 
 ceptions of the human mind in Shake- 
 fpeare, or the fublirrie of Milton. It is in 
 vain to plead in behalf of Euclid and Sir 
 Ifaac Newton, that improvements beyond 
 meafure ufeful in the concerns of life, 
 depend on their difcoveries. Tafte is 
 not convinced by argument, nor bribed 
 4 by
 
 200 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 by ufe or conveniency. It pafles by the 
 inventors of ufeful arts with negligence, 
 and admires with a lover's warmth the 
 poet, the ftatuary, and painter, and their 
 idle arts. Let me add, that the fcholars 
 of Socrates, (who much confined their 
 enquiries to the human mind) feemed to 
 have acquired powers fuperior to the reft 
 of mankind, and to difplay a pomp of 
 genius that never appeared before or fince j 
 which is a ftrong teltimony of the rich- 
 nefs of this vein of fcience, and of the 
 kindnefs of the author of our prepofief- 
 fions, who has invited us by pleafure and 
 advantage to turn our thoughts to the 
 intellectual part of man. 
 
 A I am glad Socrates, whom you ad- 
 mire fomuch, was of mytafte; and Ifliall 
 have a great efteem for him from hence- 
 forward. You have given me a new 
 light into the connection obfervable be- 
 tween the fine arts. They are all united 
 
 by
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 261 
 
 by the human mind, to which they are 
 mutually related. But how came it to 
 pafs that the fine arts lay dead fo long 
 in barbarity ? 
 
 D. My friend told you in Clio when 
 the lifeofmanwasmortened,andhis wants 
 encreafed by the barrennefs of the earth ; 
 when half his life was caft into helplefs, 
 youth, or declining age ; and cold, hun- 
 ger, and wild beads perfecuted 'him, he 
 was inevitably obliged to turn all his at- 
 tention to his neceflities, and to neglect 
 all thoughts of arts and elegance, con- 
 fequently to fall into barbarifm. 
 
 A. That I comprehend very clearly ; 
 but after the human ftate was improved, 
 and men had leifure to think, when the 
 arts came to be known, admired, and 
 cultivated, how came their reign to be fo 
 ftiort ? What was the reafon that they for- 
 fook nations that loved them, and were 
 
 cap-
 
 202 C t I Or OR, A 
 
 captivated with their charms ; and that 
 although courted, they obftinately re- 
 fufed to return ? 
 
 /). There is fomething equally un- 
 accountable in their firft vifit to the 
 world. In Greece, and Greece only, 
 the fine arts fprung up, unlooked for, 
 and unknown, to a (late of perfection", 
 and to a ftate of perfection beyond all 
 emulation. Tragedy, comedy, hiftory, 
 philofophy, fculpture, painting, and 
 mufic, like the Graces, appeared hand in 
 hand. And in the Grecian writers, you 
 frequently difcover manifeft traces of the 
 grand genius that infpired them. But 
 the wonder of their appearance was not 
 greater, than that of their recefs. The 
 great men in thofe arts in Greece, lay 
 within fo narrow a compafs, that they 
 might nearly be acquainted with each 
 other. But v/hen that noble age pafled 
 by, the arts began to languifli, and never 
 6 after
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 203 
 
 after recovered their luflre. Exactly 
 the fame revolution happened in Rome : 
 the genius of tafle feemed to vifit the 
 world once more, and to take her refi- 
 dence in the capital of the world. She 
 ftaid about eighty years : ihe waited up- 
 on the obfequies of the commonwealth j 
 but after, fhe could not be detained by 
 any human means or power, although 
 the emperors of the world were many of 
 them the profefTed patrons of the fcien- 
 ces. In this laft age there is a light re- 
 flected from the two bright asras I have 
 mentioned, which now fhines upon the 
 weftern world. I call it a reflected light, 
 becaufe the powers of the Ibul do not 
 revive in concert as formerly, and dif- 
 play an uniform force of genius, but the 
 fine arts appear amongft us exactly in 
 proportion to the ftandards we have left 
 from the antients. Mufic being totally 
 loft, we have but faint, difunited, and 
 accidental traces of the mighty powers of 
 
 it.
 
 zo4 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 it. Painting* elegance, and oratory, are 
 in a ftate of mediocrity, if not below it. 
 But poetry, which is fo ftrong and fuf- 
 ceptible in the human breaft, and fculp- 
 ture, in both of which we have fo many 
 fine models from the antients, are arrived 
 at a higher degree of perfection ; al- 
 though in both, we fee the antients at a 
 vaft diftance before us, and come near to 
 perfedtion only in proportion as we imi- 
 tate well, and catch fomewhat of their 
 original fpirit. 
 
 A. I thought we excelled all ages in 
 every branch of knowledge, and in all 
 arts. I am impatient to know the rea- 
 fon of our inferiority. I want to know 
 feveral things together for fear I fhould 
 forget them. What was the reafon of 
 the rife of the fine arts in Greece and 
 Rome ? and why did they go away fo ab- 
 ruptly without any refpecl or complai- 
 fance for kings and emperors ? 
 
 D. So
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 205 
 
 D. So many great men have failed in the 
 difcoveries you require, that all a per- 
 fon who attempts them can reafonably 
 hope for, is to guefs well. The method 
 I fhall purfue, in order to fatisfy you, is 
 to take a clofe view of the circumftances 
 in which the fublime arts were produced ; 
 and from them to deduce the effects with 
 as much probability as they will bear : 
 your knowledge of Greek and Roman 
 hiftory will make what I have to fay eafy 
 to you. You may obferve, that the 
 fine arts appeared in perfection only in 
 free ftates ; and that when freedom fell, 
 the arts alfo languifhad and expired with 
 it, in fpite of all endeavours to the con- 
 trary, and left nothing behind, but a 
 cold imitation of the original creating 
 genius that infpired artifts. Yet it is 
 neceflary to obferve, that if the birth of 
 arts depended on liberty alone, they would 
 grow up pretty fimilarly in all democra- 
 cies. The event fhews, that there are 
 
 other
 
 206 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 other requifites necefTary, which con- 
 curred in Greece, but no where elfe, in 
 the fame aufpicious degree. 
 
 The fine arts only arrived to perfec- 
 tion in free countries, becaufe liberty is 
 the very foul, and infpiring idea of the 
 arts. Let us unfold this truth gradually, 
 that we may conceive it well. I ob- 
 ferved before, that thofe arts depend on 
 the mind of man for their value ; and I 
 alfo hinted often, that there is a certain 
 fublimity of genius common to them 
 all. Here then are two known points 
 ! of union. Freedom beftows on man an 
 uncommon elevation and dignity of foul, 
 whofe fymptoms are very ftriking. The 
 members of free ftates have always looked 
 upon themfelves as a fpecies of men far 
 above the fubjects of monarchies. This 
 haughty idea is inculcated by habit ; it is 
 fucked in with their milk ; it is the bur- 
 4en of the wondrous talss told to their 
 
 litfening
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 207 
 
 liftening youth ; it is nurfed by exam- 
 ple and precept, until it becomes an en- 
 thufiafm that poflefles the whole imagi- 
 nation. Thofe who are acquainted with 
 the Roman and Grecian orators, know 
 that they fpoke in defence of liberty with 
 a facred tranfport and warmth that ap- 
 proached to rapture; and their patriots, 
 infpired by the fame fpirit, performed ac- 
 tions that aftonifhed nations, and feemed 
 above human power. This fublime idea, 
 that flamed and lightned in the oration, 
 and gave fupernatural force to the pa- 
 triot, was undoubtedly the fame that 
 beamed fo brightly on the imagination 
 of the ftatuary and painter, and ftruck 
 the lyre with fuch divine rage : but 
 when liberty fell, this glorious dignity of 
 foul was no more, and the arts fell to a 
 fervile imitation, when the celeftial idea 
 that gave them power expired. But 
 however haughty the members of demo- 
 cracies may be, this divine fpirit being 
 
 equally
 
 208 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 equally opprefled in all men, by the avo- 
 cation of their ftate, and their neceffi- 
 ties, it will remain liftlefs and inani- 
 mated even in a free ftate, until feveral 
 fortunate circumftances concur to warm 
 it into life and operation. 
 
 A. Dear fir, let us come to Greece 
 as faft as we can, and fee the circum- 
 ftances that concurred there fo happily 
 to produce the fine arts. 
 
 D. I told you, madam, I fpeak only 
 in doubt - 3 but no appearance of truth 
 ought to be neglected in this curious 
 enquiry. We are looking back to an 
 age, when agriculture and the other arts 
 of plenty and eafe were lately introduced 
 into Greece : the acquifition of the necef- 
 Jfaries of life allowed time of reflection ; 
 and luxury, which even then was at a 
 great height in Afia, had not yet found 
 the way into Europe. In this ftate the 
 
 fimple
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 209 
 
 /imple and natural always lie near men's 
 thoughts. 
 
 The Greeks had received the firft hints 
 in painting and ftatuary from Egypt ; 
 but thefe arts ferved in Egypt only to mark 
 down important notes, and public regu- 
 lations, by hieroglyphics, or vifible pic- 
 tures, before the ufe of letters was difcover- 
 ed ; and they were confidered as inventions 
 of public utility, but not of genius. 
 What were fymbols in Egypt, were 
 looked upon in Greece as the figures of 
 gods ; and this miftake produced new 
 ideas in painters and ftatuaries, that muft 
 prove favourable to their arts : they now 
 thought it neceflary to diftinguifh their 
 works by their beauty and grandeur. At 
 the fame time mufic and poetry lay in a 
 favage ftate, but in their favage Hate they 
 were admired and cultivated. 
 
 Greece at this early age was divided 
 
 into a great number of petty ftates, of 
 
 P different
 
 2io C L I O : OR, A 
 
 different origins, principles, cuftoms, 
 and governments, that agreed in nothing 
 but the common fentiments of nature, 
 and fortunately in one language. It 
 happened that they inftituted frequent 
 public afiemblies, where the men of ge- 
 nius, the idle, and opulent, who had lei- 
 fure for reflexion, and the moft illuftrious 
 in their refpe&ive ftates, met regularly, 
 amongft other decifions, to judge of works 
 of tafte, which at firft undoubtedly were 
 rude and coarfe. Befide the appointed 
 judges, curiofity collected a vaft number 
 of others, whom you may call the vo- 
 luntary difciples of tafte. In thefe noble 
 afTemblies their prejudices were confined 
 to each community and town ; and they 
 had no common prejudice, but in favour 
 
 I of what was really beautiful. The uni- 
 verfal judgment was therefore always 
 
 right, and could be no other than the 
 common univerfal tafte of nature : for 
 you are never to forget, that although 
 
 tafte
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 211 
 
 tafte be overwhelmed by prejudice, it is 
 not loft. The Goths had their poetry 
 and arch i teclure, in which the divine 
 genius appeared bewildered, but ftill that 
 appearance charmed them. It is alfo ne- 
 ceffary to conceive, that although all 
 mankind lay under prejudices, their pre- 
 judices, like the teftimony of falfe wit- 
 neffes, differed, while all agree in the fen- 
 timents of nature. Under the aufpicious 
 ceconomy I fpoke of, and judges fo happily 
 calculated, in Greece genius ftripped off 
 faft, though gradually, its beggar's weeds, 
 and fhone forth in its native fplendor. 
 Falfe ornament and prejudice were de- 
 tected, true beauty of every kind fprung 
 forth like original light, it was difcovered 
 with vaft exultation, and fpread without 
 pains like the national language. Their 
 very populace thought and fpoke nobly. 
 The Romans, about the time of the ruin 
 of the commonwealth, were in a fitua- 
 tion not very unlike this I have been 
 P 2 fpeaking
 
 an CLIO: OR, A 
 
 fpeaking of: they were formed of al! 
 the known nations of the earth, and yet 
 ,-- they all fpoke one language. A variety 
 in the original prepofleflions, along with 
 an univerfal communication, is the beft 
 circumftance for wearing away preju- 
 dices, and for arriving at juft concep- 
 tions of nature and beauty. Befides, the 
 "TRomans with vaft emulation, made the 
 acquifitions of Greece their own, and 
 caught the fpirit they admired. But it 
 muft be confefied, that the Roman tafte 
 had much of imitation, and inherited 
 only a remnant of the creating genius 
 of Greece. Amongft the happy circum- 
 ftances peculiar to the native country of 
 the mufes and the graces, I fhould have 
 obferved, that an excellency in the arts 
 always procured diftin&ion and honours 
 in the ftate, which in free governments, 
 where numbers enjoy a fhare of the fo~ 
 vereign power, is a warmer incentive to 
 emulation, than a monarch has to beftow. 
 2 Artifts
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 213 
 
 Artifts in Greece reflected honour on the 
 dates they belonged to, and were almoft 
 idolized by thofe ftates. 
 
 In fuch a noble conteft of genuis, in 
 which every ftep was calculated to unveil 
 the fublime beauties of the mind, men im- 
 mediately came to imitate nature. The 
 pictures and images exprefled and moved, 
 the paffions of mufic were difcovered, and 
 oratory armed itfelf with the mighty 
 powers of the foul. After the beautiful 
 and affecting, appeared the fublime : the 
 human fpirit was furprifed to hear the 
 divine voice of poetry raifed fo high ; 
 it was furprifed to fee its unutterable 
 fentiments fixed upon marble, and a gran- 
 deur difclofed in the different provinces 
 of genius by far fuperior to the originals 
 in nature. But it would be abfolutely 
 impoiftble for the mind to take this lofty 
 flight in the imitative arts, if their ideas 
 of the human fpirit, which is the object 
 P 3 of
 
 214 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 of thefe arts, was not vaft and enthufi- 
 aftic. The arts in fupreme beauty are 
 the infpiration of a foul furrounded with 
 grandeur, breathing virtue and liberty, 
 whofe tone of voice is celeftial, and 
 whofe attitudes exprefs a divine habit of 
 mind. While this fpirit exifted in 
 Greece and Rome, their patriots were 
 demi gods ; the poet's idea produced 
 tragic and epic heroes, who emulated 
 their deities. The painter and fculptor 
 ventured to bring gods to view in the 
 human form, expreflive of the divine cha- 
 racter ; and mufic was compofed, that 
 called up the paflions with fovereign 
 authority, and led the foul captive 
 by a regulated order of founds. It is a 
 lofs to me, that you are not acquainted 
 with Demofthenes : the infpiring fpirit 
 that raifed him and the other antient 
 orators to fo high a degree of importance, 
 is immediately difcovered to confift in 
 this dignity and immenfe value put 
 upon human virtue and freedom. As 
 
 foon
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 215 
 
 foon as the liberties of Greece and Rome 
 were deftroyed ; when the value of hu- 
 man nature funk, and defpotic govern- 
 ments brought guilt and fervitude together 
 into view, then the divine enthufiafm and 
 boldnefs that attended on liberty expired; 
 and the arts, whofe real object was the 
 haughty and fublime fpirit of man, fell 
 together irretrievably. After which, ge- 
 nius could only imitate the works of the 
 antients, and produce a cold beauty, 
 dcftitute of the original facred energy. J 
 
 A, I have heard you with great atten- 
 tion ; every thing you have faid gives 
 me caufe to grieve for the lofs of the li- 
 berties ofalmoftthe whole world. What 
 beauty ! what grandeur ! what invention 
 did they bring to mankind ? O ye ty-r 
 rants of the earth, how have ye defaced 
 human nature ! What a happinefs is it 
 to be born in a country of liberty ! 
 
 P 4 D. You
 
 2i6 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 D. You have got a view of the fair 
 fide of human nature. If there were not 
 fome mighty inconveniencies that attended 
 liberty, fuch is the fondnefs of the world 
 for it, that any man who durft affume 
 the fovereignty over his fellow-creatures, 
 would be torn in pieces by his own rela- 
 tions and domeftics ; and every perfon on 
 earth would prove a Brutus to him. The 
 truth is, if the dignity and virtue affumed 
 by the republican were real, the whole 
 race of man would be free, and there 
 would be little occafion for government : 
 but natural dignity and virtue are only 
 fine fpe&res, that haunt and delight the 
 foul, like the poet's vifions. For, in 
 fact, man's ftate, his circumftances, 
 and vices, make fubje&ion neceflary 
 to him, and oblige him to bear a yoke 
 he hates. If indeed he were prefled by 
 no appetites, and invaded by no evils, 
 or had always at hand a fupply of enjoy- 
 ments, he would be a very innocent crea- 
 ture, he would form no defigns to difturb 
 
 bis
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 217 
 
 his neighbour's repofe, and would re- 
 quire but few laws to reftrain him : he 
 would have no temptation to violate his 
 intellectual tafte of virtue and digni- 
 ty ; and the golden age, which in idea 
 looks fo delightful, would appear in re- 
 ality on the earth. But while man is a 
 prey to evils, and to appetites, which 
 may be allayed at his neighbour's coft, 
 his natural inclinations, to which he is 
 impelled by his wretchednefs, is to tref- 
 pafs upon thofe who are pofleffed of what 
 he wants j and if he be not able to pro- 
 cure them by force, he does not ceafe to 
 covet them, and attempt to acquire them 
 by fraud. This is the fecondary natural 
 ftate of man, that arifes from his exter- 
 nal circumftances and wants, which make 
 a ftate of fubje&ion and fociety necefTary, 
 to reftrain him from perpetual warfare 
 and rapine, in all communities where 
 fome men are rich and others poor ; for 
 it is neceflary to obferve, that amongft 
 favages, where there is no permanent 
 poflefiion.
 
 2i8 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 pofleflion, and little to be coveted, there 
 the fetters of government are unneceflary. 
 
 A. I did not fpeak againft fubje&ion, 
 but againft tyranny and flavery. I fup- 
 pofe it is not the liberty of wild beafts 
 that republicans feek for, but a mode- 
 rate government j and that they only 
 avoid tyranny. The Roman and Grecian 
 commonwealths, who carried the dignity 
 of human nature fo high, were real fo~ 
 cieties, and governed by laws j fo that 
 there is no neceffity to be unreftrained, in 
 order to be free. 
 
 D. The condition of mankind in an im- 
 proved and opulent ftate, requires reftraintj 
 and bylaws of neceffity as ftrong as fate, 
 they cannot live a day in fafety without 
 it j their fears and danger therefore, not- 
 withftanding their darling love of free- 
 dom, extort obedience from them ; 
 and at the moment they have attained 
 that full liberty that leaves no more to. 
 
 defire,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 219 
 
 defire, make the moft infulting degree 
 of tyranny neceflary to fave them from 
 civil war and mutual carnage. What I 
 was fpeaking of, was the contention be- 
 tween fubjection and that liberty which is 
 the beloved object of the fons of freedom j 
 and to conceive what this really is, let us 
 take in the whole feries of conduct 
 of paft republicks, in vindication of 
 liberty ; and we (hall find that no people 
 ever broke from monarchy, or the go- 
 vernment of a few, and adopted the po- 
 pular form, flopped at any ftep fhort of 
 anarchy ; but regularly, and with a pre- 
 cipitate inclination, proceeded to demo- 
 lifti, ftep by ftep, every prerogative of 
 the ruling powers, until they came to 
 that level, which it is impofiible to en- 
 joy in an opulent ftate. If the Romans, 
 the Carthaginians, the Athenians, and 
 every other popular ftate that ever exifted, 
 ^proceeded alike, directly and reguarly, to 
 untie every band of government, until 
 they fell into diforder and anarchy, and 
 
 made
 
 220 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 made a tyranny neceflary, to fave them 
 from the miferies of endlcfs civil war ; 
 it cannot be doubted, but the real ob- 
 je& of their defires is that liberty, of 
 which human nature is always enamoured, 
 and ever incapable of pofiefiing. Men arc 
 very often hurried on, by the violence 
 of their pafiions, without feeing their 
 ends, or fuffcring themfelves to take a 
 view of the landing-place, to which they 
 tend ; and reafon, that eternal volun- 
 teer in the fervice of the paffions, only 
 ferves to find pretences and excufes, to 
 juftify the inclinations. The parliament 
 who attacked king Charles I. never fuf- 
 peted that they were ruflaing into anar- 
 chy : they felt the grievance of govern- 
 ment ; by little and little they eafed 
 themfelves of their burden j they grafped 
 at power ; every advance they made to- 
 wards free.'om only made the remainder 
 of fubje&ion intolerable to them : but 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 221 
 
 the minute they acquired the full potfef- 
 fion of liberty, the tyranny of Cromwell 
 became neceflary, to fave them from cut- 
 ting each others throats. 
 
 Montefquieu obferves, that factions 
 and contention are efiential to free ftates. 
 He faw plainly the fact, but was not 
 quite fo well apprized of the caufe ; for 
 nothing can be a clearer evidence, that the 
 freedom men defire, cannot be recon- 
 ciled with any permanancy to the human 
 ftate, than that in all focieties who adopt 
 the principles of liberty, there is a perpetual 
 ferment and ftrife, until thofe principles 
 be ejected out of the conftitution. The 
 oftracifm of the Athenians, and the pro- 
 fcriptions of the Romans, demonftrate 
 the natural infirmity of their governments, 
 and the want of a fufficient ruling power. 
 Popular ftates are generally paft remedy, 
 before the decay be fufpecledj as their final 
 
 end
 
 222 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 end approaches, factions bring on a conti- 
 nual fever, that tends to deftroy a frame 
 that cannot be preferved j and then ano- 
 ther form of government, which is always 
 defpotic, fucceeds. Nothing is more ob- 
 vious, than that the government of Rome 
 was vitally deftroyed fome years before 
 Crefar won the decifive battle of Phar- 
 falia. It was not his ambition ruined 
 the commonwealth, but the fall of the 
 commonwealth, which that vigilant poli- 
 tician faw inevitable, incited his ambition. 
 The prerogatives of the ruling powers 
 were in his time utterly exhaufted, yet 
 were the Romans at no other age fo 
 univerfally mad for liberty ; by the en- 
 couragement of which fpirit, that great 
 ftatefman brought the republic to its 
 final ruin. There is a truth necefTary to 
 be taken notice of, which Addifon in 
 his Cato has concealed with great care : 
 it is, that Cato was the tory and cavalier 
 
 of
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 223 
 
 cf his time, who flood up for prerogative; 
 and that Caefar, while he was planing the 
 cleftru&ion of the republic, was the whig 
 and patron of liberty, who took every op- 
 portunity to extend the privileges of the 
 people, in order to heighten the diforder, 
 that was then too far gone. Pompey, who 
 was before Casfar the patron of the people, 
 took exa&ly the fame method, for the 
 fame reafon ; and from the event, we 
 may infer, that there are no limits to ft" 
 defire of freedom ftiort of the definition 
 of government ; and that there is no 
 ilage of government, in which men are 
 more impatient for new degrees of liber- 
 ty, than when the commonwealth is upon 
 the point of diflblution, for want of fuf- 
 ficient authority. 
 
 A. This is really inhuman, to give 
 me fuch a fine idea of liberty, and then 
 to dam it to the ground. But fince the 
 liberty men really feek and defire is not 
 
 at-
 
 224 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 attainable, how comes it to pafs that the 
 world has fuch an eager paflion for it ? 
 
 D. Pleafe to recollect what I told 
 you a while ago, that fubjection is the 
 neceflary iflue of vice j and that true 
 virtue and dignity require no obedience to 
 laws. Liberty is the natural endowment of 
 innocence, confequentlya right to liberty 
 infers virtue and dignity, which the re- 
 publican always lays open claim to : 
 whilft, on the other hand, fubjeclion is 
 the cleared evidence of a vicious nature, 
 and openly impeaches the worth and 
 dignity of man. Here you may eafily 
 conceive, why an elevated deportment, 
 and alfo the tranquil and foftened ap- 
 pearance of an eafy mind, become parts 
 of the elegance we admire. They are the 
 pictures or fymbois of internal virtue and 
 innocence, which are the real ornaments 
 of man. 
 
 Now
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 225 
 
 To conceive a juft idea of the paffion 
 of liberty, it is necefiary to make an efti- 
 mate of the powers of human pride and 
 conference, which form that pafilon. No 
 one is able to bear a reproachful idea of 
 himfelf, except thofe few Chriftians who 
 are refolyed in earneft to attack their own 
 vices, and to make the facrifice required 
 by the gofpel. We fee the reft of the 
 world making it the chief art of life, and 
 employing the moft refined management, 
 to produce to view an amiable picture of 
 themfelves. Various treatifes have been 
 written by divines and philofophers, on 
 the manifold and impervious operations of 
 pride; and yet no one ever perhaps had 
 an idea of the extent of genius, and va- 
 riety of artifice, by which pride conceals 
 the corruption of our hearts. *The fana- 
 tic indeed, in general terms, acknow- 
 ledges the depravity and wretchednefs of 
 his nature j but even this vague acknow- 
 ledgement is feldom made, until he has 
 Q. perfuaded
 
 226 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 perfuaded himfelf that he is actually pu- 
 rified by the particular favour of Provi- 
 dence. Pride is not thus employed in 
 order to conceal us from others only ; its 
 principal addrefs is to hide us from our- 
 felves, and to fave us from the infuffer- 
 able feelings of our own depravity, mifery, 
 and meannefs. I join mifery and meannefs 
 to depravity, becaufe we have a tacit fenfe 
 of their aflbciation : we are afhamed of a 
 vile and wretched ftate as if it were our 
 own fault ; our blufhes for poverty fhew 
 that in fentiment we acquit Providence of 
 the evils of life, and place them at our 
 own doors, although reafon be unable to 
 trace our mifery from our crimes : 
 we alfo conceive a relation between me- 
 rit and happinefs j for which reafon peo- 
 ple generally affecT: the appearance of hap- 
 pinefs. In confequence of the attempt 
 men make to impofe on themfelves, it is 
 that we are generally ftrangers to the ela- 
 borate operations and artifices of our own 
 pride, even when it is moft bufily em- 
 ployed
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 22; 
 
 ployed ; for, the fame reafons that make 
 us deceitful in this matter make us alfo 
 defirous of remaining ftrangers to the de- 
 ceit ; we are not willing to know, that 
 we are hiding the corruption, whofe ex- 
 iftence we would fain make a fecret to 
 ourfelves. 
 
 Now, in liberty, man aflerts the in- 
 nocence and dignity he adores ; he revolts 
 againft reftraint and ignominy ; he lays 
 claim to an upright nature, and difclaims 
 with infinite hatred the mifery and vice 
 that make a defpotic government necef- 
 fary to chain him down. The real 
 grandeur and worth inferred by liberty, 
 to man immerfed in the vice he loves, 
 impatient of fhame, and liable to the 
 outrage of confcience, is like the fuf- 
 penfion of Prometheus's vulture. It lifts 
 him out of meannefs and dejection ; it 
 fooths him with a profpet of native ex- 
 cellence ; it drives fervile fear at a dif- 
 tance ; it enlarges and ennobles his foul ; 
 Q.2 it
 
 228 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 it infpires him with language and at- 
 titudes that aftonifh and ravifh, and 
 with fublitne and celeftial ideas that bear 
 him far above the human ftate. What a 
 pity it is that fuch beauteous vifions have 
 no reality but in the imagination ; that 
 the fubje&ion we fly is as neceflary, as 
 our vice and mifery are real ; and that 
 the virtue and dignity afiumed by the 
 haughty republican, is falfe and fpurious, 
 fupported by mean hypocrify, and a pride 
 that deceives and lies ! 
 
 A. Enough, enough ; do not triumph 
 in my affliction j I am an Englifli wo- 
 man, and love liberty ; why do you 
 trample with fuch infult on what is fo 
 dear to me ? 
 
 D. Donotmiftakeme,madam, I love li- 
 berty with an enthufiaftic pafiion,but I am 
 Well afTured it cannot be enjoyed in opu- 
 lent improved Hates ; I alfo admire the 
 
 noble
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE, 229 
 
 noble idea of human nature j but I know 
 it is deceitful and falfe, and that man is 
 by nature a vicious and miferable being, 
 doomed to fubjeclion, fufferings, and ig- 
 nominy. Let us follow the patriot hero, i 
 who has refcued his country from flavery, 
 furrounded with immortal glory, and 
 covered with laurels ever-green, the em- 
 blems of eternity ; and look upon him 
 in the bed of ficknefs, opprefTed with vile 
 old age, or aghaft and panting under 
 the ftroke of death the conqueror, and 
 afk ourfelves is this the end of glory? 
 But be not caft down, madam j life is 
 fhort and fleeting, and it is fated to 
 infult and diftrefs by a hand we cannot 
 refift : and indeed feeing that eternity lies 
 before us, it is very happy for us, 
 that it is not in the prefent world this 
 fine appetite is to be fatisfied. The con- 
 nection between the fine arts and free- 
 dom, brought on the reflexions J made 
 on the nature of government, which 
 were neceffary to lead you to the fol- 
 
 lowing
 
 230 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 lowing important truth, that the glorious 
 idea that infpires all the arts, was not 
 calculated for the prefent fcene : the en- 
 thufiafm of genius bears very legibly the 
 character of a flate infinitely fuperior to 
 this ; where the poet, the orator, the 
 fculptor and painter's ideas, that rife fo 
 , far above nature, will meet equal objects. 
 
 ^.You have given me fome confolation 
 in hope: farewell, fweetundifturbed liberty, 
 till we meet in heaven. I am glad the en- 
 thufiafm that infpires the arts ends there; 
 and that we have a revelation, even in our 
 own bofoms, that we are born for a 
 country of rapture. We may expect 
 from the lofty views of Chriftianity, and 
 its warmer zeal, much nobler flights of 
 fancy than the heathens were capable of. 
 
 D. I expected your religious fenti- 
 raents would lead you to the reflection 
 you make ; but to give you a perfect 
 
 idea
 
 DISCOURSE ONTASTE. 23! 
 
 idea of the origin and fpirit of the fine 
 arts, I am obliged to inform you, that 
 we muft not hope they fhould ever re- 
 vive in their primitive luftre amongft us. 
 Don't be ftartled, madam, the Goths and 
 Vandals are not broke loofe ; it is Chrif- 
 tianity itfelf that is unfavourable to fome 
 of the elegant arts, and will not fuffer 
 them to flouriih. 
 
 A. This is indeed a ftroke I did not 
 expeft. How is it poffible that the reli- 
 gion, whofe fpirit is eternal beauty and 
 virtue, fhould prove deftru&ive to tafte ; 
 a religion that promifes fuch noble fates 
 to the human foul ? I have a curiofity, 
 and yet I am afraid to hear you. 
 
 D. The little digreffion I juft made 
 on the nature of the paffion of li. 
 berty, was a neceflary introduction to 
 fome reflections I am going to make 
 on the influence of Chriftianity on the 
 Q.4 fine
 
 232 C LID: OR, A 
 
 fine arts. I muft pray you to obferve 
 carefully, that the Chriftian religion 
 takes the fall of man, and its corrupt 
 irate for its foundation, and ftridtly re- 
 quires of us a deep fenfe of our natural 
 wretchednefs and depravity. It is beyond 
 the power of thought to form fo ftriking 
 a pifture of human corruption as what is 
 exhibited to us by the death of the Son of 
 God. We may reflect upon it as long as we 
 pleafe, but the warmeft imagination will 
 never be able to reach, or comprehend, 
 the boundJefs iniquity, that this immane 
 facrifice fuggefts. The fixed defign and 
 tenor of revelation is to imbue us with a 
 fenfe of our mifery and vice, to render us 
 lowly and humble in our own eyes, and 
 to fubdue the delufive idea of our own 
 excellence and worth. For this end, it 
 inculcates felf-dcnial,penitence,contrition, 
 and prayers, all of them the children of hu- 
 mility and felf-condemnation. The con- 
 ceptiqnit gives usof thehumanftate is very 
 mortifying. You fee already, without fur- 
 ther
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 233 
 
 ther preamble, that politenefs whofe 
 end It is to make the people we con- 
 verfe with pleafed with themfelves, 
 is a dangerous commerce, that the 
 beauties of elegance are fufpicious and 
 falfe ; and that the haughty dignity af- 
 fumed by the Greeks and Romans was a 
 radical oppofition to Chriflianity. Here 
 you may behold, open to your view, the 
 rooted and implacable enmity that muft 
 neceflarilyfubfiil between thefpiritof man, 
 andChriftianity ; between the law of God, 
 that draws our happinefs from humility, 
 and the principle that elevates and flatters 
 the human heart. You fee Christianity, 
 like a defpotic and mercilefs tyrant, ftrip 
 off from man all his natural beauty and 
 merit ; and you fee the reafon, why lord 
 Shaftefbury, and other writers who infift on 
 the natural dignity of man, become pro- 
 portioiiably enemies to Chriftianity. 
 When we take into confideration the true 
 profpecl: of our religion, we know in a 
 moment, why Chriftian faints, who were 
 
 paffive
 
 334 C L I O: OR, A 
 
 pafiive and meek fufferers, and were hum- 
 ble and lowly in their own eyes, are impro- 
 per fubjecb of tragedy, epic poetry, fta- 
 tuary, or painting ; and why modern 
 poets are obliged to bring heathen heroes 
 on the ftage, and give their favourite cha- 
 ra&ers the haughty heathen fentiments of 
 virtue ; by which means they fpecioufly 
 undermine the principles of Chriftianity, 
 and debauch the heart, by the beautiful 
 pictures they draw of natural dignity and 
 grandeur of foul. 
 
 A. Cruel man ! to fet all I admire, 
 and all I refpecl, at war in my breaft; 
 to give me a fear and horror of the vir- 
 tue and dignity I almoft adore j to debafe 
 Chriftianity, and to fet all that is noble 
 and great in oppofition to it. This is 
 furely to feduce me from religion, and 
 make me fling myfelf for relief on Deifm. 
 How much kinder would it be in you, 
 to reconcile religion and the elevating 
 fentiments
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 235 
 
 fentiments that give us joy and pleafurc 
 in our exiftence. 
 
 D. I might have done fo, it is true, 
 and decked out a flattering religion, 
 agreeable to the modern tafte j for which 
 almoft every one would give me fincere 
 thanks ; but then it would not be 
 real Chriftianity. However, let me 
 obferve, that Chriftianity gives a much 
 finer profpect than it takes away ; it 
 only takes away a feducing, falfe, and 
 painted picture of human excellence ; 
 but in exchange, it lifts the curtain 
 of futurity, and fhews you a prof- 
 pect of human glory and beauty, that 
 will never fade, fuperior to the vile 
 infults of old age, to fortune, tyranny, 
 or the grave. Although the fpurious 
 picture of our own virtue gives us more 
 gratification and pride, yet the ideas of 
 Chriftianity are infinitely more fublime 
 and affecting. The vafteft imagination 
 
 poflefled
 
 236 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 poflefled by any of the human race, that 
 has come to our knowledge, was un- 
 doubtedly Homer's ; yet when moft on 
 fiiT, how poor and inferior are his ideas 
 of divine power, compared to thofe of 
 the Scriptures j and it is when he ap- 
 proaches to the Chriftian ideas, that his 
 conceptions of the Gods are truly di- 
 vine. The foul of man alfo, in ruins 
 and depravity, is an object much more 
 noble, and alfo more afFe<5ting than the 
 heathen hero, although not fo flattering 
 or beautiful. We all feel a deep fenfe of 
 our native mifery, and the truth breaks in 
 upon us from every quarter ; although we 
 hide it like midnight confpirators, and 
 dare not breathe it to our own hearing. 
 It breaks in upon us in the midft of 
 worldly pomp and pride, and appears 
 ve'ry cbnfpicuouily in the puerile felicity 
 we feel in the falfe {hew of drefs, the 
 falfe dignity, honour, and eafe we af- 
 fume ; all of which we know to be coun- 
 terfeit and deceitful. Nothing difcovers 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 237 
 
 theconfcious fenfe we have of our wretch- 
 ednefs more than our eagernefs to get 
 it out of view. The deift fhews his 
 feeling of guilt, while he fortifies his 
 fenfual heart with endlefs fophifms 
 drawn round it, while he feeks to elude 
 confcience, by arguments evidently 
 fjiatched up by diftrefs and defpair. It is- 
 the internal perception of human mifery r 
 and of a mifgiving confcience, that give* 
 irreilftible force to the wild rhapfodies of 
 fanatics. It is in vain to reafon with? 
 them againft a fentiment they really feel 
 and experience j and their difcourfes are 
 infectious, becaufe all mankind feel juft 
 as they do. The fears of fuperftition are 
 fentiments of the mind, which, like all 
 other inftinclive fentiments, cannot be 
 tried at the bar of reafon, and yet are 
 better eftablifhed, and more prefent than 
 the conclufions of reafon. When a horfe 
 difcovers a lion breaking into the paf- 
 tures, and moving towards him, he be- 
 holds in his form and terrific motions, 
 6 evi-
 
 fi 
 
 238 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 evidences of his might and fury, that will 
 not fuffer him to hefitate or doubt. If 
 the horfe were a modern philofopher, he 
 mould, at the fight of an animal fo 
 much beneath him in fize, await at leaft, 
 and put his force to a trial, before he 
 drew the fhameful conclufion ; he mould 
 fufpecl that his dread was a prejudice for 
 want of due examination, and he ought 
 to fummon his reafon to his afliflance. 
 But the horfe, by a fecret light of fenti- 
 ment, which cannot be traced or ac- 
 counted for, but which yet is very juft, 
 meafures in a moment the power of the 
 lion with his own, without fcale or com- 
 pafs, without the laws of mechanics or 
 geometry, and flies by the impreflion of 
 an internal fenfe. In like manner the 
 fanatic yields to a fenfe of his natural 
 mifery in his own breaft, convicting as 
 fate, although it be without fenfible proof, 
 which generally drives him intoenthufiafm 
 and predeftination for relief. Thus one 
 party of the thoughtful and reflecting, get 
 
 rid
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 239 
 
 rid of the terrours of Chriftianity by enthu- 
 fiafm ; another party by philofophy and 
 deifm, which are only different fhifts of 
 hiding from the fame fpec~r.re. But the 
 generality of mankind, who are enemies 
 to thought, avoid the very approaches of 
 it in diverfion and amufement. When 
 Chriftianity appeared upon the earth, it 
 was this affrighted fenfe that took the 
 alarm againft it. The world did notregard 
 the gofpelasafable,thatdeferved contempt, 
 but as a two-edged fword that pierced their 
 bofoms ; and accordingly they ftarted up 
 and attacked it, with a deadly hatred, that 
 cannot be attributed to any other caufe 
 than uncommon terrour and refentment. 
 You may call religious terrour, as men ge- 
 nerally do, by thenameofyz^i?r/?///0, and 
 then it is a human fentiment put into ri- 
 dicule ; and indeed if men had not dread- 
 ful terrours in their own bofoms, which 
 they earneftly defire to keep in quiet and 
 repofe, they would not difcover fo much 
 
 refent-
 
 240 CLIO: OR, A 
 
 refentment as they ufually do againft the 
 fuperftitious and fcrupulous, who other- 
 wile are only objects of companion. 
 
 It is certain, that Chriftianity, from 
 the profpecl: it give us of our corruption 
 and ruin, and the force it receives from 
 our internal fentiments, is capable 
 of more affecting and more fublime 
 oratory, than the heathens were able 
 to conceive ; but then it is terrific and 
 unpleafmg to human nature, like the 
 fea in ftorms about a mariner, who, from 
 his little fkiff, that every moment feems 
 to be overwhelmed, views the noble 
 dreadful fcene ; but views it in fuch an- 
 xiety as deftroys the beauty. 
 
 Chriftians alfo ought, by all the rules 
 of theory, to excel the heathens in mufic, 
 whofe religious ideas are fo fuperiorly paf- 
 fionate and noble. It is certain, that 
 Chriftianity naturally familiarizes us to 
 the great, the affecting, and plaintive 
 
 paflions
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE, 241 
 
 i" 'i 
 
 pafllons that form the epic part of har- 
 mony ; and it may be aflerted with fome 
 degree of confidence, that wherever the 
 tafte of mufic is revived, it will affift in 
 awaking the other powers of genius, and 
 imprefling the mind with a fublime habit 
 of thinking. In ftatuary and painting, 
 Chriftians have no profpecl of equalling 
 the heathens. Paffion and pride are the 
 very foul of painting j what recourfe then 
 has the artift, when he draws the great 
 models of Chriftianity, whofe glory it is 
 to fuffer injuries with patience, and to 
 ftifle the effedh of pride, its revenge, its 
 difcontent, its majefty, and haughty 
 port ? I before obferved, that the fpirit 
 of Chriftianity is not favourable to tra- 
 gedy ; and I believe I may add, that tra- 
 gedy will never appear in fplendor, 
 where men's ideas of human worth 
 and merit are formed from genuine 
 Chriftianity. 
 
 R Since
 
 242 C L I O : o R, A 
 
 Since I have fpoken of the effects of 
 Chriftianity on the fine arts, it is not 
 wholly befide my defign, to obferve, 
 what effedl infidelity, which gains ground 
 over all thofe parts of Europe, where a 
 difference in religion hath obtained, muft 
 have on them. From what I have faid, 
 it appears pretty evident, that where reli- 
 gion is turned out, there all the arts, and 
 tafte itfelf, muft utterly fet in darknefs 
 and vanifti. The heathen religion, how- 
 ever abfurd, imparted thofe noble ideas 
 we find in the heathen works of genius 5 
 and religion is fo neceffary to preferve 
 grandeur of thought, that Lucretius waa 
 obliged, in his poetry, to pay his devo- 
 tions to the gods he annihilated in his 
 arguments. Indeed the fublime cannot 
 fubfift without the awful and mighty 
 views of religion : on which account 
 great poets, whatever were their private 
 opinions, were always in their works men 
 of eminent piety. On the contrary, as 
 
 infi-
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 243 
 
 infidelity advances and chills the enthu- 
 iiafm of the mind, the divine and noble 
 ideas mult perifh in poetry, oratory, fculp- 
 ture, and painting. However enthufiafm 
 be applied, it originally belongs to reli- 
 gion, and muft perifh where religion is 
 loft : genius therefore, which under Go- 
 thic obfcurity was only opprefled and over- 
 whelmed, but ftill ftruggled, muft fubmit 
 to infidelity, and lie quietly in the grave : 
 Epicurifm, or heathen infidelity, came into 
 repute juft when the arts fell in Greece 
 and Rome. I fhould have obferved 
 before, that Chriftianity gives the beft 
 profpecl: of that equality, that confti- 
 tutes the moft valuable part of free- 
 dom. Where the greateft poflible free- 
 dom is enjoyed, there muft be in opu- 
 lent ftates, a fubordination, and the 
 croud muft be for ever diftrefled in their 
 private circumftances : but the chriftian 
 religion puts all upon a level j it opens 
 R 2 views
 
 244 C L I O : OR, A 
 
 views of glory to the moft wretched, and 
 ftamps every foul with infinite value. 
 
 But when Amelia appears loft in thought 
 and penfive in reflection, it is time to put 
 an end to the difcourfe that occafions 
 her concern. I fhall only mention in as 
 few words as poffible, the refult of 
 what we read, and of what we have juft 
 now faid. There are in the foul original 
 fentiments, which, when man has leifure 
 to turn his attention to them, form his 
 diftinguifhing character, his genuine tafte 
 and judgment: thefe fentiments, together 
 with the elegant arts they give rife to, 
 and his obftinate affectation of worth and 
 dignity, all difcover illuftnous marks of 
 regal grandeur in the foul : this beloved 
 grandeur we would fain affume in this 
 life, for prefent pafTion naturally feeks 
 prefent enjoyment ; and while we are de- 
 lighted with the fublime idea of human 
 nature, we fondly defire that liberty which
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 245 
 
 is the birthright of innocence : but to con- 
 found and humble us, human corruption 
 attends forever, and fcourges man back 
 into vile fubjeclion, with the terrors 
 of anarchy, confufion, murders, and in- 
 fecurity. Society and laws are not the 
 effects of choice, but of bitter neceffity, 
 that never fuffered any people to remain 
 in a ftate of freedom, where they had any 
 poflefiions to be coveted : the ftern decree 
 of bondage, along with the inclemencies 
 of life, and its variety of wants and mife- 
 ries, inform us in the language of the 
 Almighty, that we are ruined, guilty, and 
 condemned; confequently, that our pride 
 and oppofition to fubjeclion, are prefump- 
 tion, rebellion, and fin. The heathen 
 religion, which allowed the reality of 
 human rectitude and virtue, and appro- 
 priated the enthufiaftic views to this 
 life, gave room to genius to work miracles 
 in free ftates, where the grandeur of hu- 
 man nature became a principle of adion. 
 
 But
 
 24.6 CLIO OR, A 
 
 But Chriftianity turns our fublime views 
 from this world to their proper fcene, 
 to a future life, and confines the flight 
 and heroifm of the mind to devotion, 
 fortitude in fuffering, patience, and to a 
 noble conqueft of the paflions. 
 
 A. The fine arts, I am convinced, bear 
 a relation to a ftate in which we are not at 
 prefent. I fee plainly, although thac 
 ftate be furrounded with clouds, which 
 deny a near view of it, yet that it is a 
 ftate of amazing rapture and joy, and that 
 the fine arts are indubitable proofs of the 
 unfpeakable fublimity of the fpiritof man. 
 Upon the whole, the profpet you have 
 given me, I own is great ; but it is alfo 
 melancholy and terrible. I am convinced 
 that the heathen ideas of human virtue 
 and grandeur were falfe and low ; yet 
 they are very engaging, and I quit them 
 with reluctance. I think I am like Eve 
 taking her laft leave of the garden of 
 2 Eden,
 
 DISCOURSE ON TASTE. 247 
 
 Eden, with the whole world in profpeft 
 before her, and heaven in her hope. 
 However unbounded her new inheritance, 
 and noble the promifes fhe received, yet 
 fhe could not forbear looking back with 
 a figh, and feeling a fecret inclination to 
 remain. 
 
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