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not observed so many instances at va- 

 rious times, of the indifference of pep- 

 sons little conversant with pictures to pic- 

 turesque objects — I must have given up 

 one principal ground of my distinction. 

 Its strongest foundation, however, rests upon 

 the direct and striking opposition that exists 

 between the qualities which prevail in ob- 

 jects which all allow to be beautiful, and 

 those which prevail in others, almost as 

 generally admitted to be picturesque : and 

 till youth and age, freshness and decay, 

 smoothness and ruggedness, symmetry and 

 irregularity, are looked upon in the same 

 light, and the objects in which they are pre- 

 valent give the same kind of pleasure to 

 all persons, — whether one term be applied 

 to all objects however constituted, or the 

 terms beautiful and picturesque be applied 

 to them indifferently,— the character of the 

 objects themselves, must, in truth, be as dis- 

 tinct, as the qualities of which they are 

 composed. This, Seymour, is my creed, 

 which I have made as short as I could, 

 and may perhaps write down, as a sort of 

 c c 2 



