Mr. Blunt, on the disposition of whose grounds and plantations I have so often with pleasure descanted, could not accede to Mr. Barnaby's unsettling opinions, but confessed himself unable to reason others into the conviction which he felt himself, that there existed in the general constitution of our minds some established rules and principles of taste. "It appears to me," continued this gentleman, "from the little acquaintance I have with the subject, that all the great rules in the fine arts have fixed foundations in our general nature. The sense of the beauty that arises from a due subserviency of parts to their whole; the love of variety, subordinate to a general uniformity; the pleasing pride of surmounting small difficulties; the spring that results from novelty, and the grateful feeling which accompanies every expansion of thought; are sources of satisfaction with which most minds are provided, and are distributed in analogous though unequal portions among all mankind.

"These principles, I am convinced, are throughout human nature the same in kind, though different in degree, according to the primary organization of different minds. In some, indeed, they languish for want of exercise; in some they are warped by wrong application; but in sound and cultivated minds they will operate for the most part in producing a sympathy and correspondence of taste. Where men of a cultivated relish are found to differ, the difference is generally traceable to some accidental association or temporary perversion, and supposing the pride of opinion and contest removed, might in most cases be reconciled by a fair investigation of their respective principles of disgust and approbation.

"I must not forget, indeed, to include among the principal causes of varieties of taste, the difference in

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the opportunities afforded to different men. qualities of every thing in this world are appreciated by comparison, two minds equally constituted may pronounce different decisions as to the same object, from the same principles of judging; or, in other words, one man shall approve, on the account of its possessing more titles to his approbation than other similar objects to which hitherto he has been accustomed, the same thing that another man will condemn, because of the scarcity it exhibits of the same claims to admiration comparatively with those perfecter objects which have fallen within the range of his observation. They are both in search of the same qualities, and both acknowledge the same pretensions in the subjects of their contemplation; but they discover more or less of these qualities and pretensions, according to the ratio in which the chances of life have thrown the treasures of art into the paths of their inquiry. It is in quantity, and not in quality, that they differ; in the relation, and not in the essence; in the accidental, and not in the intrinsic character of the object of their difference. It is even from this conformity of their principles, that their practical disagreement arises; for, did they found their approbation and dislike on dissimilar qualities, they might both allow the same portion of Imerit on different accounts to one and the same object, though there were ever so wide a disparity in their sources and materials of comparison. For the same reason a man may differ from himself, and pronounce very opposite decisions in the different periods of his life, without adopting any new principles of taste, or undergoing any subsequent change in the conformation of his mind."

Our travelled member now took up the question, and entertained us with so many sensible remarks,

that, on my return home, finding that my mother was gone to bed, I tried my utmost to recollect the substance of his discourse; and having arranged it as well as I could in my mind, I resolved to present it in my present paper to my readers.

Addressing himself to Mr. Blunt, "It has always struck me," said he, "that there is a good deal of vanity and impertinence at the bottom of the common remark, there is no disputing about tastes, and that it often means little else than, 'I am at a loss to support my opinions, and rather than confess myself wrong, I will deny the existence of any measure or rule of decision.' I consider, however, that my taste' is one thing, and 'taste' is another; and that, in a multitude of instances, we must understand taste' to be 'my want of taste.'

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"Surely a strong proof, à posteriori, that true taste has its basis in the fixed and fundamental principles of our nature, is furnished from the gradual improvement of the fine arts, and that involuntary convergence of general opinions on all subjects in which it is concerned, as, in the progress of national refinement, the faculties of men are advanced by exercise and culture. Without supposing this sort of polar truth in the region of taste, we should have some difficulty in accounting for the uniform tendency and constant direction, which, in a civilised country, is sure to characterise the arts of elegance and design. Without such a point of union, we might expect to see them in a perpetual fluctuation, subject to the lubricous empire of the moment, and shifting their character with every gale of popular caprice.

"I have no doubt but that the rules of taste are in themselves as susceptible of demonstration as the objects of pure reasoning, having their sources in a theory as sound and complete; but as, by the nature

within her, the eminent sorrows of that great lady, upon whom, for four sad years, has been exhausted the collected malice of millions of beings calling themselves men! who, for four sad years, has suffered all that sensibility can endure, and all that cruelty can invent! outraged in all the feelings of her nature! as a queen, as a mother, as a wife, as a woman, ingeniously abused! unconsoled by one pitying eye among the wretches that surround her, and supported by nothing but that mental majesty which no traitors can wrest from her, and that mournful solace derived from the prospect of an ignominious death? Let the gates of the city be shut on its own abominations, and let the horrid transaction be covered with its own gloom! let no eye witness it that has ever dropped a tear; let no ear hear it that is not deaf to the voice of nature; "let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it; let it not be joined to the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months!"

I have a letter by me, which I think I cannot produce upon a better occasion. I insert it, with a humble hope that it may strike the individual whose particular case it represents; but if it miss of its mark, it may at least hold out an useful caution to married couples.

"To the Rev. Simon Olive-branch.

"Rev. Sir,

"I shall make no apology for troubling, with a detail of my distresses, a man whose concern is with every thing that appertains to man. I wish, however, you had been married, that my case might have touched you more nearly, and called down upon a practice which has so disturbed my repose as that of which I am going to complain, the severest tones

of your displeasure.-I have been married twelve years, ten of which have been spent in that placid harmony by which happy unions are distinguished. The two last have been disquieted by an event, from which one would not readily have predicted the consequences which have flowed. A party was formed, in the summer before last, among the relations of my wife, to visit the Spa; and, as our manner of living had hitherto been extremely domestic, we were persuaded to join them, because it would vary the scene.' Now this varying the scene may be a good argument for locomotion with couples that have nothing to risk; but there is certainly great folly in all fresh experiments where a reasonable proportion of felicity has once been obtained. Our visit to Spa gave us all such a taste for travelling, that, during a calm interval at Paris, we were actually induced to extend our journey to that wretched theatre of discord and absurdity.

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My wife has by nature a warm heart and vivid imagination, and can take up no notions with indifference that concern in any way the happiness of her fellow-creatures. She is always very enthusiastical in her first impressions; and accident having given her mind a bias towards democracy, she has, somehow or other, been carried away by the mania with which so many good heads have been turned. It is impossible to tell you how completely all our conjugal happiness has been destroyed by this political fury of my poor wife. I verily believe there was not a more peaceful woman in the world about two years ago; and at present I am sure there is not to be found a more determined wrangler. She is resolved to dispute through the day; and if I hold my tongue, she will dispute with me for not disputing: