50 



OF TASTE. 



BOOK I. 



feelings and judgment, with such emotions as have been con- 

 fessedly felt by all men of taste ; I mean the emotions excited 

 by sublimity and beauty. 



CONCLUSION. 



The progress of taste in the human mind admits of three divi- 

 sions. The first is from our earliest years, until a relish for the 

 sublime, and the chief sorts of beauty*, is acquired. The se- 

 cond, from that period until the judgment in matters of taste 

 is matured. With respect to artists, poets, musicians, or those 

 who are capable of embodying their ideas, a third period may 

 be said to commence; which is that wherein they produce 

 works of genius. Formerly, nature, or the models of a master, 

 were indiscriminately copied by the artist : now he selects, ar- 

 ranges, and forms new combinations of his own. These three 

 stages of taste, so to speak, are perfectly applicable to archi- 

 tecture and landscape gardening. Those who begin to design, 

 either for their own properties or for those of others, before 

 they have a feeling for beauty and character, will do much 

 mischief. Those who begin to do it before their judgment is 



* Buch as supreme beauty, picturesque beauty, and antique beauty. 



