225 



and effects, either from his own experience^ 

 or that of persons near and dear to him ; 

 nor are we in any case unconcerned specta** 

 tors where they operate. 



Had it in the nature of things been pos- 

 siblej that the same eager, constant, and 

 general interest should have prevailed with 

 respect to objects of taste, the discrimina- 

 tions might have been hardly less numerous, 

 or less generally understood and acknow- 

 ledged ; and it is by no means impossible, 

 should the distinctions in question con- 

 tinue for a long time together the subject of 

 eager discussion, and likewise of practical 

 application, that new discriminations, and 

 new terms for them may take place* The 

 picturesque might not only be distinguished 

 from the sublime, and from the beautiful* 

 but its union with them, or, what no less 

 frequently occurs, with ugliness, might, 

 when nearly balanced, have an appropriate 

 term. At present, when we talk of a pic* 

 turesque figure, no one can guess by that 

 expression alone*, to which of the other 

 characters it may be allied : whether it be 



Vol. i. q 



