TASTE. 



no fiTigk emotion into which thcfe varied cffeds can be re- 

 folved ; hut, on the contrary, that every finiple emotion, and 

 therefore every object capable of producing any fimple 

 emotion, may be tlie foundation of the complex emotion of 

 beauty or fublimity ; and that this complex emotion is never 

 produced, unlefs, befides the excitement of fome fmiple 

 emotion, the imagination alfo is excited, and the exercife of 

 tlic two faculties combined in the general cfFeA ; — proceeds 

 to fliew what is that " law of mind," according to which, 

 ill actual life, this exercife of imagination is excited, and what 

 are the means by which, in the different fine arts, the aftift 

 is able to awaken this important exercife of imagination, and 

 to exalt objefts of fimple and common pleafure into objcdls 

 of beauty and fimphcity. In the laft place, he invelligates 

 the nature of that faculty by which the emotions defcribed 

 by him are perceived and felt. This he (liews has no re- 

 iemblance to a fenfe ; wherever it is employed, two diftinft 

 and independent powers of mind are engaged, fo that it is not 

 to be confidcred as a feparate and pecuhar faculty, but to 

 be finally refolved into fome general principles of our confti- 

 tution. Thefe fpeculations further K'ad to the important 

 enquiry, whether there is any llandard by whicii our fenti- 

 ments on thefe fubjefts may be determined ; to an explan- 

 ation of the means by which tafle may be corrected or im- 

 proved ; and to an illuftration of the purpofes which this 

 peculiar conftitution of our nature ferves ; in the increafe of 

 human happinefs, and the exaltation of human charafter. 

 Our limits will not allow any further abllraft or abridg- 

 ment of this valuable work ; and we muft refer thofe 

 readers who with to purfue difquifitions of this kind to the 

 work itfelf, in 2 vols. edit. 4, 18 15. 



' We cannot forbear citing fome pertinent remarks, that 

 are prefented to our notice by a living writer of dillin- 

 guifhed celebrity, profeffor Dugald Stewart. Taile, fays 

 this author, is not a fimple and original faculty, but a power 

 gradually formed by experience and obfervation. It implies, 

 as its ground-work, a certain degree of natural fenfibility ; 

 but it implies alfo the exercife of the judgment, and is the 

 flow refult of an attentive examination and comparifon of 

 the agreeable and difagreeable effeAs produced on the mind 

 by external objefts. In tracing the progrefs of talle from 

 rudenefs to refinement, we find an analogy to the progrefs 

 of phyfical knowledge from the fuperftitions of a favage tribe 

 to the inveftigation of the laws of nature, founded on the 

 fuppofition, that, as in the material world there are general 

 fadts beyond which philofophy is unable to proceed, fo, in 

 the conftitution of man, there is an inexphcable adaptation 

 of the mind to the objefts with vvliich his faculties are con- 

 verfant, in confequence of which, thefe objetts are fitted to 

 produce agreeable or difagreeable emotions. In both cafes, 

 reafoning may be employed with propriety to refer parti- 

 cular phenomena to general principles ; but in both cafes, 

 we mull at laft arrive at principles of which no account 

 can be given, but that fuch is the will of our Maker. In 

 matters of tafle it fhould be confidered, that the tendency to 

 cafual alfociation is much flronger than it commonly is, 

 with refpeiEl to phyfical events ; and when fuch alfociations 

 are formed, they are not fo hkely to be corrected by mere ex- 

 perience, unaffifted by ftudy. Hence fome have errore- 

 oufly fuppofed, that affociation is fufficient to account for 

 the origin of the notions we form concerning matte^-s of 

 tafle ; and that there is no fuch thing as a flandard of talle 

 founded on the principles of the human conftitution. V/hen- 

 ever, fays our author, affociation produces a change in our 

 judgments on matters of tafte, it does fo by co-operating 

 with fome natural principle of the mind, and implies the 

 exifience of certain original fcnirces of pleafure and uoeafi- 

 VoL. XXXV. 



nefs. The circumllances which pleafc, in the objefts of 

 tafte, are of two kinds: ill. Thofe which are fitted to 

 pleafe by nature, or by aflbciations, which all mankind are 

 led to form by their common condition ; and, zdly. Thofe 

 whicii pleafe in confequence of alfociations arifing from 

 local and accidental circumllances. Hence we derive two 

 kinds of talle ; the one enabling us to judge of thofe beau- 

 ties which have a foundation in the human conftitution ; the 

 other, of fucii objedls as owe their princi])al recommend- 

 ation to the influence of faftiion. Thefe two kinds of tafte 

 are not always, indeed rarely, united in the fame perfon. 

 The perfeftion of the one depends upon the degree in which 

 we are able to free the mind from the influence of cafual 

 affociations : that of the other, on the contrary, depends on 

 a facility of affociation, which enables us to fall in, at once, 

 with all the turns of the fafliion, and (as Shakfpeare cx- 

 piefles it) " to catch the tune of the times." For the 

 author's application of his principles and remarks to the 

 fubjeft of language, which affords numberlefs i.iilances to 

 exemplify the influence which the affociation of ideas has on 

 our judgments in matters of tafte, we muft refer to his own 

 valuable work. See Dr. Blair's Leftures on Rhetoric, and 

 Belles Lcttrcs, vol. i.left. ii. and iii. See alfo Hume's Effay 

 of the ftandard of tafte, in his Effays, &c. vol. i. eff. xxiii. 

 p. 253, edit. 1764. Stewart's Elements of the Pliilofophy 

 of the Human Mind, partii. ch. v. ^ 2. Knight's Analyt. 

 Enq. into the Principles of Tafte, 8vo. 1805. Alifon on 

 Tafte, 2 vols. 8vo. 1815. Edin. Rev. N° XIV. 



Taste, in Mufic, is often confounded with graces, or 

 change of paffages ; but a movement compofed in good 

 tafte, is often injured by what are called graces. We rather 

 fuppofe tafte to depend on feeling and exprelTion, than in 

 flourifhes, or, as the Italians call them, riffioramenli ; in for- 

 row, pathos ; in joy, briUiancy and fire. Yet when cliangcs 

 and embellifhments are neceffaiy, good tafte is likcwife re- 

 quifite in their choice and apphcation. The compofer dif- 

 covers his tafte by his melodies, as much as the performer 

 by expreffing his thoughts. 



Tafle, fays Rouffeau, is of all Nature's gifts the moft 

 eafily felt, and the moft difficult to explain ; it would not 

 be what it is, if it could be defined : for it judges of ob- 

 jedls beyond the reach of judgment, and ferves, in a man- 

 ner, as a magnifying glafs to reafoii. 



There are fome melodies more agreeable than others, 

 though equally well phrafcd and modulated ; there are com- 

 binations in harmony of great effedl, and others that excite 

 no attention, all equally regular as to compofition ; there is 

 ill the texture of the parts, an cxquifite art of arranging 

 and fetting off one paffage by another, whicii depends on 

 fomething more fubtle than the laws of contraft. 



Genius creates, but tafte felefts. Genius is often lavifli 

 and redundant, and in want of a fevere critic to prevent liim 

 from the abufe of his riches. Many great things may be 

 achieved without tafte ; but it is tafte that renders them in- 

 terefting. It is tafte which enables a vocal compofer to 

 feize and cxprefs the ideas of the poet ; it is tafte which 

 guides the performer to the true exprcffion of the compofcr's 

 ideas ; it is tafte vvliich fnniiflies both with whatever can em- 

 bellifh and enrich the fubjeiSt ; aiid it is tafte which enables 

 the hearer to feel all thefe perfcilions. Tafte is, however, 

 not mere- fenfibility. A cold heart may have much tafte ; 

 and a man tranfported with things truly fpirited and im- 

 paffioned, i? little touched by grace and elegance. It fccms 

 as if tafte attached itfelf to minute refinements, and fenfi- 

 bility to grand and fublime effafta. 



Taste injinging and playing ; Gout du Chaiil, Fr. Ac- 

 cording to Rouffeau, tnere was, in his lime, in France, a 



T perfon 



