66 Preface 



the result of study, observation, and experience. He 

 knows what can and what cannot be accomplished 

 within certain limits. He ought to know what to adopt 

 and what to reject; he must endeavour to accommo- 

 date his plans to the wishes of the person who consults 

 him, although, in some cases, they may not strictly 

 accord with his own taste."^ 



Good sense may exist without good taste,^^ yet, from 

 their intimate connexion, many persons are as much 

 offended at having their taste as their understanding 

 disputed; hence, the most ignorant being generally 

 the most obstinate, I have occasionally found that, as 

 " a little learning is a dangerous thing," a little taste is 

 a troublesome one. 



Both taste and understanding require cultivation and 

 improvement. Natural taste, like natural genius, may 

 exist to a certain degree, but without study, observa- 

 tion, and experience, they lead to error. There is, per- 

 haps, no circumstance which so strongly marks the 

 decline of public taste as the extravagant applause 

 bestowed on early efforts of unlettered and unculti- 

 vated genius. Extraordinary instances of prematurity 

 deserve to be patronised, fostered, and encouraged, 

 provided they excite admiration from excellence, inde- 

 pendent of peculiar circumstances ; but the public 

 taste is endangered by the circulation of such crude 

 productions as are curious only from the youth or 

 ignorance of their authors. Such an apology to the 

 learned will not compensate for the defects of grammar 

 in poetry, nor to the scientific artist for the defects of 

 proportion and design in architecture ; while the incor- 

 rectness of such efforts is hardly visible to the bulk of 

 mankind, incapable of comparing their excellence with 

 works of established reputation. Thus in poetry, in 



