[Footnote A: Vide page 23.]
Taste, however, is as far removed from mere instinct as from mere reason. I only mean to say, that the taste of the masculine character is rather on the side of reason, or the understanding; that of the feminine on the side of instinct, and, let me add, imagination. The taste of the one and of the other seems to differ as justice does from mercy, as modesty from virtue, as grace from sublimity, &c. &c. And, as exterior feminine grace is the most perfect visible object of taste, the highest degree of feminine excellence, externally and internally united, must of course constitute woman, the most perfect existing object of taste in the creation.
The cultivation of the social moral affections is the cultivation of taste, and the domestic sphere is the true and almost only one in which it can appear in its highest dignity. It is peculiarly appropriated to feminine taste, and I may say it isabsolutelythe only one in which it can appear in its true lustre. True taste, particularly the feminine, is retired, calm, modest; it is the private honour of the heart, and is, I imagine, incompatible with the love of fame.
In the present state of society, taste seems to be equally excluded from the highest and from the lowest sphere of life. The one seems to be too much encumbered with artificial imaginary necessities; the other too much encumbered with the real and natural necessities of life, to attend to its cultivation. It is in the former that taste is universally thought to reside, which is because the idea of taste is inseparable from that of honour. It is that, indeed, in which the general taste of the nation is exhibited. It is itsface, as I may say, which expresses the internal character of the heart.
In this sphere, namely, the most exalted station of mankind, what true taste it does exhibit is placed in the strongest point of view; its contrary principles are also the same, particularly so to those who have been rightly educated at a distance from it; to such, the wrong will instruct as much as the right; but sure I am, that it is not, at thisperiod, the proper sphere for the infant mind to expand and improve in. The wrong will be too familiar to the mind to disgust; and the right, which I imagine is chiefly confined to therecordsof taste in the fine arts, will be too remote (wanting the preparatory love of nature and virtue) to please.
It is not, I imagine, from objects of excellence in the arts, that the mind receives the first impressions of taste, though from them the impressions, we have already received, may be strengthened and improved. The truths they exhibit awaken the recollection of what has pleased us in nature; and we exult in the confirmation of our judgement and taste on finding those objects represented, by genius, in their best and fairest light. Of course, the excellence we perceive in the fine arts, which is always relative to moral excellence, must tend to the improvement of taste.[A]
[Footnote A: L'esprit de l'homme est naturellement plein d'un nombre infini d'idées confuses du vrai, que souvent il n'entrevoit qu'à demi; et rien ne lui est plus agréable, que lorsqu'on lui offre quelqu'une de ces idées bien éclaircie et mise dans un beau jour. BOILEAU, Préface.]
But, though the arts are thus beneficial to the growing principles of taste, reflecting a few individuals, it is well known that their establishment in every nation has had a contrary effect on the community in general; for, in proportion to the encouragement given them, as that encouragement immediately promotes two of the most pernicious principles that can affect the human heart, the most destructive of moral virtue, namely, the love of fame and the love of riches, the general diffusion of corruption must ensue, and of course the extinction of the natural principles of taste, or relish of the human soul of what is truly beautiful, truly honourable, truly good.
To conclude. I will not presume to say, that a man without taste is without virtue; but I think I may venture to say, that it is only as he can have virtue without loving virtue, that he can have virtue without having taste; the definition of taste being, according to my apprehension of its perception, theloveof virtue. And, as that love springs from, and tends to, the source of all virtue, all good, may I not add, that it is but as a man can be religious without devotion, that a man can be religious without taste? the sentiment of devotion seeming to be, an aggregation of our most virtuous, most refined, conscious, energies of soul, in the awful vertical point of sublimity.
'From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,Path, motive, guide, original, and end!'
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of CaliforniaTHE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
General Editors
H. RICHARD ARCHER,Clark Memorial LibraryR.C. BOYS,University of MichiganE.N. HOOKER,University of California, Los AngelesJOHN LOFTIS,University of California, Los Angeles
The society exists to make available inexpensive reprints (usually facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works.
The editorial policy of the Society continues unchanged. As in the past, the editors welcome suggestions concerning publications.
All correspondence concerning subscriptions in the United States and Canada should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2205 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles 18, California. Correspondence concerning editoral matters may be addressed to any of the general editors. Membership fee continues $2.50 per year. British and European subscribers should address B.H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England.
Publications for the fifth year [1950-1951]
(_At least six items, most of them from the following list, will be reprinted.)
FRANCES REYNOLDS (?):An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, and of the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty, &c.(1785). Introduction by James L. Clifford.
THOMAS BAKER:The Fine Lady's Airs(1709). Introduction by JohnHarrington Smith.
DANIEL DEFOE:Vindication of the Press(1718). Introduction by OrthoClinton Williams.
JOHN EVELYN:An Apologie for the Royal Party(1659);A Panegyric toCharles the Second(1661). Introduction by Geoffery Keynes.
CHARLES MACKLIN:Man of the World(1781). Introduction by DougaldMacMillan.
Prefaces to Fiction. Selected and with an Introduction by Benjamin Boyce.
THOMAS SPRAT:Poems.
SIR WILLIAM PETTY:The Advice of W.P. to Mr. Samuel Hartlib for theAdvancement of some particular Parts of Learning(1648).
THOMAS GRAY:An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard(1751). (Facsimile of first edition and of portions of Gray's manuscripts of the poem).
* * * * *
To the Augustan Reprint SocietySubscriber's Name and Address:William Andrews Clark Memorial Library 2205 West Adams Boulevard Los Angeles 18, California
AsMEMBERSHIP FEEI enclose for the years marked:The current year $ 2.50 The current & the 4th year 5.00 The current, 3rd, & 4th year 7.50 The current, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th year 10.00 The current, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th year 11.50 (Publications no. 3 & 4 are out of print)
Make check or money order payable to THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITYOF CALIFORNIA.
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William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
First Year (1946-1947)
1. Richard Blackmore'sEssay upon Wit(1716), and Addison'sFreeholderNo. 45 (1716).
2. Samuel Cobb'sOf PoetryandDiscourse on Criticism(1707).
3.Letter to A.H. Esq.; concerning the Stage(1698), and Richard Willis'Occasional Paper No. IX(1698). (OUT OF PRINT)
4.Essay on Wit(1748), together with Characters by Flecknoe, and Joseph Warton'sAdventurerNos. 127 and 133. (OUT OF PRINT)
5. Samuel Wesley'sEpistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry(1700) andEssay on Heroic Poetry(1693).
6.Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the Stage(1704) andSome Thoughts Concerning the Stage(1704).
Second Year (1947-1948)
7. John Gay'sThe Present State of Wit(1711); and a section on Wit fromThe English Theophrastus(1702).
8. Rapin'sDe Carmine Pastorali, translated by Creech (1684).
9. T. Hanmer's (?)Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet(1736).
10. Corbyn MorrisEssay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, etc. (1744).
11. Thomas Purney'sDiscourse on the Pastoral(1717).
12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch.
Third Year (1948-1949)
13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.),The Theatre(1720).
14. Edward Moore'sThe Gamester(1753).
15. John Oldmixon'sReflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley(1712); and Arthur Mainwaring'sThe British Academy(1712).
16. Nevil Payne'sFatal Jealousy(1673).
17. Nicholas Rowe'sSome Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear(1709).
18. Aaron Hill's Preface toThe Creation; and Thomas Brereton's Preface toEsther.
Fourth Year (1949-1950)
19. Susanna Centlivre'sThe Busie Body(1709).
20. Lewis Theobald'sPreface to The Works of Shakespeare(1734).
21.Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Gradison, Clarissa, and Pamela(1754).
22. Samuel Johnson'sThe Vanity of Human Wishes(1749) and TwoRamblerpapers (1750).
23. John Dryden'sHis Majesties Declaration Defended(1681).
24. Pierre Nicole'sAn Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in Which from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting Epigrams, translated by J.V. Cunningham.