with respect to the fine arts, there nisu lefs difference of tafte than is commonly imagi ned. Nature hath marked all her works with indelible characters of high or low, plain or elegant, ftrong or weak.Thefest if at all perceived, are feldom mifapprehend-! ed by any tafte; and the fame marks are e qually perceptible in works of art. A defective tafte is incurable; and it hurts none but the poffeffor, because it carries no authority to impose upon others. I know not if there be fuch a thing as a tafte naturally bad or wrong; a tafte, for example, that prefers a groveling pleasure before one that is high and elegant. Groveling pleasures are ne-d ver preferred: they are only made welcome by those who know no better. Differences about objects of tafte, it is true, are endless: but they generally concern trifles, or poffibly matters of equal rank where the preference may be given either way with impunity. If, on any occafion, the difpute go deeper and perfons differ where they ought not, a depraved tafte will readily be difcovered on one or other fide, occafioned by imitation,

imitation, custom, or corrupted manners, fuch as are defcribed above.

I

If, after all that is faid, the ftandard of tafte be thought not yet fufficiently ascertained, there is ftill one refource in which put great confidence. What I have in view, are the principles that conftitute the fenfitive part of our nature. By means of these principles, common to all men, a wonderful uniformity is preferved among the emotions and feelings of different individuals; the fame object making upon every person the fame impreffion; the fame in kind, at least, if not in degree. There have been aberrations, as above obferved, from these principles; but foon or late they always prevail, by reftoring the wanderers to the right track. The uniformity of tafte here accounted for, is the very thing that in other words is termed the common fenfe of mankind. And this discovery leads us to means for ascertaining the common sense of mankind or the ftandard of tafte, more unerringly than the selection above infifted on. Every doubt with relation to this standard, occafioned by the practice of different nations

and

麵

and different times, may be cleared by applying to the principles that ought to govern the taste of every individual. In a word, a thorough acquaintance with these principles will enable us to form the standard of taste; and to lay a foundation for this valuable branch of knowledge, is the declared purpose of the prefent undertaking.

375

AP PE N D I X.

I.

Terms defined or explained.

Ꮯ

ONSIDERING the things I am conscious of, fome are internal or within my mind, fome external or without. Paffion, thinking, volition, are internal objects. Objects of fight, of hearing, of fmell, of touch, of taste, are external.

2. The faculty by which I difcover an internal object, is termed an internal sense : the faculty by which I discover an external object, is termed an external fenfe. This distinction among the fenfes is made with reference to their objects merely; for the fenfes, external and internal, are equally powers or faculties of the mind.

3. But as felf is an object, and the only one that cannot be termed either external

or

or internal, the faculty by which I am conscious of myself, must be distinguished from both the internal and external fenfes.

4. By fight we perceive the qualities of figure, colour, motion, &c.: by the ear we perceive the qualities high, low, loud, foft by touch we perceive rough, smooth, hot, cold, &c. by tafte we perceive fweet, four, bitter, c. by fmell we perceive fragrant, ftinking, &c. Qualities, from our very conception of them, are not capable of an independent exiftence; but must belong to fomething of which they are the qualities. A thing with respect to its qualities is termed a fubject, or fubftratum; because its qualities reft, as it were, upon it, of are founded upon it. The subject or fubftratum of vifible qualities, is termed fubftance, of audible qualities, found; of tangible qualities, body. In like manner, tafte is the fubftratum of qualities perceived by our fenfe of tafting; and fmell is the fubftratum of qualities perceived by our fense of smelling.

5. Substance and found are perceived exifting in a certain place; often at a confi

derable