[1] LETTERS CONCERNING TAST E. LETTER I. To EUPHEMI U S. W HENCE comes it, EUPHE MIUS, that you, who are feelingly alive to each fine Senfa tion that Beauty or Harmony gives the Soul, fhould fo often affert, contrary to what you daily experience, that TASTE is govern'd by Caprice, and that BEAUTY is reducible to no Criterion? I am afraid your Generosity in this Inftance is greater than your Sincerity, and that you are B wil ling ling to compliment the circle of your Friends, in giving up by this Conceffion that envied Superiority you might claim over them, fhould it be acknowledg'd that thofe uncommon Emotions of Pleafure, which arise in your Breaft upon the Obfervation of moral or natural Elegance, were caused by a more ready and intimate Perception of that univerfal TRUTH, which the all-perfect CREATOR of this harmonious Syftem ordain'd to be the VENUS of every Object, whether in the Material World; in the imitative Arts; or in living Characters and Manners. How irreconcileable are your Doctrines to the Example you afford us! However, fince you prefs me to justify your Practice against your Declarations, by giving a Definition of what is meant by TASTE, I fhall not avoid the invidious Office of pointing out your fuperior Excellence to others, by proving that TRUTH and BEAUTy are coincident, and that the warmest Admirers of thefe CELESTIAL TWINS, have confequently Souls more nearly allied to to ætherial Spirits of a higher Order. A good TASTE is that inftantaneous Glow of Pleasure which thrills throw our whole Frame, and feizes upon the Applause of the Heart, before the intellectual Power, Reason, can defcend from the Throne of the Mind to ratify it's Approbation, cither when we receive into the Soul beautiful Images thro' the Organs of bodily Senfes ; or the Decorum of an amiable Character thro' the Faculties of moral Perception; or when we recall, by the imitative Arts, both of 'em thro' the intermediate Power of the Imagination. Nor is this delightful and immediate Senfation to be excited in an undistemper'd Soul, but by a Chain of Truths, dependent upon one another till they terminate in the Source of all Perfection, the Divine ARCHITECT of the whole. Let us caft our Eyes firft upon the Objects of the Material World. A rural Prospect upon the very first Glance yields a grateful Emotion in the Breast, when in a Variety of Scenes there arifes from the whole ONE Order, whofe different Parts will be found, by the critical Eye of Contemplation, to relate mutually to one another, and each examin'd apart, to be productive of the Neceffaries, the Conveniencies, and Emoluments of Life. Suppofe you was to behold from an Eminence, thro' a small range of Mountains cover'd with Woods, feveral little Streams gushing out of Rocks, fome gently tinkling over Pebbles; others tumbling from a Precipice, and a few gliding gently in Willow-fhaded Rivulets thro' green Meadows, till their tributary Waters are all collected by fome River God of a larger Urn; who at fome few Miles diftance is loft in the Ocean, which heaves it's broad Bofom to the Sight, and ends the Prospect with an immense Expanfe of Waters. Tell me, EUPHEMIUS, would not such a Scene captivate the Heart even before the Intellectual Powers difcover Minerals in the Mountains'; future Navies in the Woods; Civil and Military Architecture in the Rocks; healing Qualities in the smaller Streams; Fertility, that |