part Authority lends its assistance to regulate private judgment; but its dictates are, not so rigorous, nor its decisions so arbitrary, as to exclude the privilege which every one may rightly claim, of judging for himself. It is not because Aristotle, Horace, and Quintilian have laid down the rules of criticism, that we must implicitly bow to their authority, It is because their rules are derived from the works which they criticize, works which have been distinguished by the admiration of the most improved part of mankind, from their first appearance to the present times. It is therefore with good reason Longinus has made the concurrent applause of persons of different ages, various characters and languages, a criterion of the true sublime. The sensible of mankind, as we have before remarked, possess in common the principles of taste, to which every production of literature and the arts may be referred. But it may abate the vanity of those who judge with precipitation, to recollect how often their final determinations have differed from their first opinions. From an impatience of control, a pride of singularity, and a rage for novelty, we may revolt against the established decrees of the republic of letters, and the schools of the arts: but mature reflection upon the grounds on which these decrees were pronounced, more complete and more distinct views of nature, and our own more enlarged experience, will induce us to allow their propriety, and acknowledge their justice. We may think indeed that the chain of prescription is apt to bind us too closely; but, if we proceed upon right principles, we shall at length come to the exact point, from which we were eager to recede. We shall abandon the pride of singularity as puerile and weak, and be happy to enlist under the standard of the sagacious part of mankind. "The addition of other men's judgment is so far from weakening, as is the opinion of many, our own, that it will fashion and consolidate those ideas of excellence, which lay in their birth feeble, ill-shaped, and confused; but which are finished and put in order by the authority and practice of those, whose works may be said to have been consecrated by having stood the test of ages." Reynolds's Discourses. ciple which regulates and gives stability to every art. The works, whether of poets, painters, moralists, or historians, which are built upon general nature, live for ever; while those which depend for their existence upon particular customs and habits, a partial view of nature, or the fluctuation of fashion can only be coeval with that which first raised them from obscurity, Present time and future may be considered as rivals; and he who solicits the one, must expect to be discountenanced by the other," Discourses, p. 146. time has elapsed. Fame is a plant that comes late to maturity; and it never flourishes more vigorously, takes deeper root, or puts forth more luxuriant branches, than after it has been checked in its early growth. Those works, which are highly commended as soon as they are published, rarely maintain their reputation through succeeding ages, because their claim to distinction is built upon limited views of nature, the fashions, the follies, or the vices of the times. Their attractions cease as soon as the originals from which they are taken are impaired or destroyed by age. The Hudibras of Butler, shares the fate of all occasional satire, and is now more praised than read. The poems of Churchill, and the life of Tristram Shandy, have gradually declined in popularity, since the death of their respective authors. What degree of applause have the Probationary Odes, or the scurrilous productions of Peter Pindar, to expect from the dispassionate and cool judgment of a distant age? Early fame is seldom the harbinger of future glory. While the public opinion is depressed too low by the envy of rivals and detractors, or raised too high by the flattery of injudicious friends, no fair decision can be expected. Time alone can overcome these obstructions and cause the agitation and the conflict of prejudice and partiality to subside. A considerable period may indeed elapse before an equitable posterity will make amends for the injustice of their forefathers; but in the mean time this soothing consolation may cheer the drooping spirits of neglected genius -that a few years will put an end to the attacks of slander and envy; that though his works may outlive the partiality of friends, they will triumph over the malignity of enemies; that they will pass like gold from the furnace pure and unhurt, through variations of taste and changes of manners; and that the longer they remain, the brighter will be their fame, and the more durable their honour. The final decision of mankind is seldom if ever wrong, because it results from the upright motives and unprejudiced examination of those who have no interest in traducing merit, or in depriving it of reward. The animosity of party spirit for a long time obstructed the reputation of the Paradise Lost; and the productions of Shakspeare and of Racine obtained their just estimation, not from their contemporaries, but from the generations that succeeded them*. "On the whole it seems to me, said Sir Joshua Reynolds, with his usual justness of observation, that there is but one presiding prin observations, and just principles of criticism, he had too little relish for works of pure imagination, and was too sparing in his concessions to the muses of Milton and of Gray. If we wish to be directed to authors, who were eminent for correctness of taste, we may select in painting Fresnoy, Vasari, and Reynolds; in music, Burney; in eloquence, Cicero and Quintilian; and in poetry, Horace, Pope, Gray and the Wartons. These were critics, who had the singular merit of teaching that art in which they were themselves distinguished; and their own works are an example and an illustration of their rules. They knew the difficulty that attends every attempt to reach the summit of excellence; and therefore, in the distribution of their censure and their praise, they were considerate, generous, and candid. Their various knowledge, extensive experience, and refined judgment, qualified them for their important office as arbiters of merit; and they deserve the earnest attention of the public, when they preside at the tribunal of taste, and pass sentence upon the works of literature and the arts. CHAPTER II. THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. MUSIC and poetry considered as conveying a very high degree of pleasure to the ear and the imagination, engage the immediate notice of the critic: painting, which is an equal source of gratification to the eye, as properly belongs to the province of the connoisseur, as music. 1. MUSIC. "What kinds of musical tones are most grateful to the ear? Such as are produced by the vocal organ. And next to singing what kinds of sounds are most pleasing? Those which approach the nearest to vocal. Which are they? Such as can be sustained, swelled, and diminished at pleaOf these the first in rank are the violin, flute, and Hautbois. But what instrument is capable of the greatest effects? The organ; which can not only imitate a number sure. The tales of Ovid delight the imagination of boys, at a time when they peruse many passages of Virgil with indifference in riper years they gradually experience an alteration of opinion, and applaud the correctness and delicacy of the one, in proportion as they disapprove the improbable fictions and puerile descriptions of the other. The glowing and gorgeous tints of the Florence school please the eye at the first view; but it requires time and comparison to relish the simple majesty and sublime forms of the Roman artists. Of a pure and correct taste, the genuine offspring is candid and enlightened criticism. A good critic answers to the character which Pope has so finely drawn of Longinus. He is "An ardent judge, who, faithful to his trust, With warmth gives sentence, and is always just." It is his province to determine the general laws of the arts, to assign their beauties to particular classes, and to explain the reasons of their affecting the mind with pleasure. He observes irregularities with a penetrating eye, and discovers that precise character of excellence or defect, by which every work is respectively marked. Although such is the proper description of a critic, we may venture to pronounce, that all who are commonly known by that name have not an equal claim to our approbation. Scaliger, the enthusiastic admirer of Virgil, endeavoured to raise the fame of that elegant poet by depreciating Homer; and the deep and various learning displayed in his critical works is but a slight palliation for the weakness of his arguments, and the violence of his prejudices. Hurd, the ingenious annotator on Horace, is deservedly esteemed as an eminent scholar, and a correct writer: but surely in his critical productions he discovers much cold precision of remark, and much fondness for systematic trifling. Warburton, considered as a commentator on Shakspeare, showed a great degree of ingenuity; but it was too often exerted without judgment and without taste. He only saw in his author what he predetermined to see, and thus frequently sacrificed the sense of Shakspeare to the caprices of his own fancy. He amuses his readers by his specious arguments, more than he instructs them by his explanation of obscure passages. Comprehensive as was the mind of Johnson, his judgment was often perverted by prejudice; and in his Lives of the English Poets, much as they abound with solid observations, and just principles of criticism, he had too little relish for works of pure imagination, and was too sparing in his concessions to the muses of Milton and of Gray. If we wish to be directed to authors, who were eminent for correctness of taste, we may select in painting Fresnoy, Vasari, and Reynolds; in music, Burney; in eloquence, Cicero and Quintilian; and in poetry, Horace, Pope, Gray and the Wartons. These were critics, who had the singular merit of teaching that art in which they were themselves distinguished; and their own works are an example and an illustration of their rules. They knew the difficulty that attends every attempt to reach the summit of excellence; and therefore, in the distribution of their censure and their praise, they were considerate, generous, and candid. Their various knowledge, extensive experience, and refined judgment, qualified them for their important office as arbiters of merit; and they deserve the earnest attention of the public, when they preside at the tribunal of taste, and pass sentence upon the works of literature and the arts. CHAPTER II. THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. MUSIC and poetry considered as conveying a very high degree of pleasure to the ear and the imagination, engage the immediate notice of the critic: painting, which is an equal source of gratification to the eye, as properly belongs to the province of the connoisseur, as music. 1. MUSIC. "What kinds of musical tones are most grateful to the ear? Such as are produced by the vocal organ. And next to singing what kinds of sounds are most pleasing? Those which approach the nearest to vocal. Which are they? Such as can be sustained, swelled, and diminished at pleasure. Of these the first in rank are the violin, flute, and Hautbois. But what instrument is capable of the greatest effects? The organ; which can not only imitate a number |