12 



spirit of equality. It is equally obvious, that there is an 

 intimate connexion between purity of morals, and a true 

 and refined taste, which must be accompanied by purity 

 of mind, dignity, and elevation of sentiment, a love of 

 decorum, symmetry, grace, beauty, and good order. It is 

 evident, that such a spirit is an admirable preparative for 

 great exertions, not only in active life, but in the Jine a7-ts: 

 that it tends to treasure up the stores of exalted con- 

 ceptions, of great and magnificent ideas, from whence the 

 poet, the painter, and the sculptor, derive the wonders of 

 their respective arts. An imitation of the Divinity will 

 impress the mind with divine thoughts and notions : and 

 a refined taste in conduct, an abhorrence of the low, the 

 base, and the little, will lead to a refined taste in compo- 

 sition; a feeling of the good, the great, and the fair. The 

 characteristic of this Avill be, a noble and divine simpli- 

 city, a true and unafl'ected grandeur, not of tumid words, 

 but of noble sentiments; a rejection of sordid and puerile 

 conceits, of florid and affected ornaments. On the otiier 

 hand, where corruption and vice predominate; where the 

 lust of gain, and the rage of pleasure, bear sway; in pro- 

 portion as the mind is corrupted and depraved, the taste 

 is vitiated. All the forms and appearances of things, 

 then, are distorted into error, by the gross and pestiferous 

 atmosphere, in Avhich virtue cannot breathe. All our views 

 of life and conduct are inverted : all our notions are con- 

 founded: false measures of estimation and dishonour are 

 introduced : the basest and most unworthy pursuits are 



followed 



