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lities, wliich are found to constitute beauty 

 in general. 



I must here acknowledge, that the opinion 

 of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the last of his 

 Letters inserted in the Idler, and since pub- 

 lished in his works, does not coincide with 

 that of Mr. Burke ; but, on the contrary, 

 differs from it in some essential points. I 

 imagine Sir Joshua's attack (for such it is) 

 was directed against Hogarth's Analysis of 

 Beauty, and in particular against a very 

 vulnerable part of it — the line of beauty ; 

 but as Mr. Burke adopted many of Ho- 

 garth's principles, ihough he rejected the 

 idea of any one line peculiarly beautiful, 

 he still is exposed to a ridicule, which 

 might not have been levelled against him. 



It cannot be supposed, that in these first 

 Essays, written, for a periodical paper, the 

 ideas can be so perfectly digested, as in his 

 later, and more studied productions : still, 

 whatever comes from such a mind as his, 

 especially on subjects connected with his 

 own art, deserves the highest attention ; and 

 although I feel great unwillingness to con- 



