34 OF TASTE. BOOK I. 



of canvass ; the latter, by making two or three of the forms or 

 colours more conspicuous than the rest. But if incongruity re- 

 sults from the want of unity in one quality of matter, it is still 

 more conspicuous in the forced union of two qualities which 

 fitness and truth require to be separate ; thus a piece of archi- 

 tecture executed in stone painted green, or a tree cut in the 

 form of a man or a horse, alike displease those of a chaste and 

 natural taste. 



Intricacy is different from variety, as it always requires 

 the presence of two qualities, form and colour, light and dark- 

 ness, ox form and disposition. When we speak of an intricate 

 form, we always refer to the qualities of its surface, or to the 

 parts of which it is composed. Intricate objects, whatever may 

 be the form employed, black, or a mixture of black with blue, 

 is always the best colour ; for as intricacy operates by conceal- 

 ment, which excites curiosity, no colour aids disposition so much 

 as black, which of itself serves to obscure objects, while dis- 

 position totally conceals them. Still, however, there are forms 

 better adapted for producing intricacy than others. Lines, when 

 properly disposed, are much better than either squares or cir- 

 cles ; as we may observe on the rough grassy banks of water, 

 or in the hair or wool of animals. 



Harmony is the last and most exquisite combination of the 



