251 



6or has thus taken advantage, is an imagi- 

 nary one, and that the picturesque is 

 merely that kind of beauty which belongs 

 exclusively to the sense of vision ; or to 

 the imagination, guided by that sense. 

 It must always be remembered in inquiries 

 of this kind, that the eye, unassisted, per- 

 ceives nothing but light variously gradu- 

 ated and modified : black objects are those 

 which totally absorb it, and white those 

 which entirely reflect it ; and all the inter- 

 mediate shades and colours are the various 

 degrees in which it is partially absorbed or 

 impeded, and the various modes in which 

 it is reflected and refracted. Smoothness, 

 or harmony of surface, is to the touch 

 what harmony of colour is to the eye ; 

 and as the eye has learnt by habit to per- 

 ceive form as instantaneously as colour, 

 we perpetually apply terms belonging to 

 the sense of touch to objects of sight ; and 

 while they relate only to perception, we are 

 guilty of no impropriety in so doing; but 

 we should not forget tha t perception and sew- 

 mtion are quite different; the one being an 



