THE LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFUL 



I was born. Daily, almost hourly, we 

 commit our very lives to the truth of cer- 

 tain propositions which we have never 

 verified and never expect to try to verify. 

 It would be strange, indeed, if we should 

 find nothing corresponding to this in the 

 aesthetic world. Some persons are color 

 blind. For them color schemes must go 

 by authority. Some persons "have a poor 

 ear for music." The word of a critic must 

 satisfy them as to what is good and what 

 bad. We read Shakespeare long before 

 we really enjoy it, because we believe on 

 authority that it is good. But presently 

 we learn to like Shakespeare or the music 

 which at first did not please us, and herein 

 lies the justification of our application of 

 this principle to the world of aesthetics. 

 The student always reads good books, 

 studies good pictures, listens to good music, 

 under the direction of authority, "in order 

 to improve his taste." The whole theory 

 of the improvement of taste, therefore, 

 rests upon our willingness to accept as 

 beautiful those objects in which others have 

 found beauty. It is the unpardonable 

 aesthetic sin, of course, to rely always on 

 the judgment of others, and never to know 



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