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    tower- which he may think himself authorized to give It . It is impossible ihat he should be so well acquainted with the mutual relations of the different objects of human inquiry , or the variety of practical applications of which any kind of knowledge that he has yet to acquire is susceptible , as to escape the most serious errors in attempting to determine this point for himself . Now we may all be said in like manner to be in a considerable degree learners in every department of science ; and it would perhaps be presumptuous in any one to affirm with confidence that a certain inquiry is purely speculative , and incapable of any valuable practical application .

    Respecting the polite arts , particularly those of music , painting , and poetry , it has been justly remarked , * that " the reader of the Observations on Man can scarcely fail to infer , either that Hartley carried his views too fkr ; or that there is considerable improvement among us with respect to public ' taste since his time ; that it is on the whole decidedly more accordant with vir tue , " It is , however , still too true , that many kinds of music , paintings and poetry , have close connexions with vice , particularly with the vices of intemperance and lewdness ; that they represent them in gay , pleasing colours , or , at least , take off from the abhorrence due to them ; that they cannot . be * enjoyed without evil communications and concurrence in the pagan show and pomp of the world $ and that they introduce a frame of mind quite opposite to devotion and earnest concern for our own and others' future welfare .

    Besides , to acquire great skill in these arts requires a great consumption of time , and in most cases an extravagant and enormous expense , and the accomplishments themselves are apt to excite vanity , self-conceit , and mutual jealousies in their votaries , f To these observations , as a further proof that what are commonly called the pleasures of the imagination were not intended to be made our primary

    pursuit , it may be added , that there appears to be a certain limit beyond which it is scarcely possible that they should be carried . It is true that a cultivated and refined taste enables us to perceive in the various productions of elegant fancy many beauties which escape the observation of the vul g ar ; but it should be remembered that the sensibility to errors and imperfections is increased also . The man of taste , in proportion as he becomes more refined , becomes also more fastidious ; he is offended by the minutest

    deviation from certain strict rules of art ; and though it may be true that the perception of those hidden excellencies which present themselves to him alone , is attended by a peculiar species of enjoyment altogether inaccessible to the multitude , yet it may perhaps be doubted whether even these equal in interest and intensity the comparatively rude gratifications of the uninitiated . The connoisseur is too apt to identify himself with the mere critic ; and in this capacity he judges , but rarely feels ; he may approve , but does not often

    allow himself to admire ; and is more occupied in detecting inaccuracies and defects , than in marking and enjoying the beauties of the objects which were meant to give him p leasure , l ^ ms exerci se of the mind , even when emp loyed in discovering and exposing blemishes , may indeed be itself attended by a certain species of gratification ; but it is a pleasure not so much of the imagination as of the understanding ; derived , not from any thing which is immediately fitted to g ive satisfaction , but from the perception of truth , of conformity to a certain prescribed rule ; of peculiar difficulties overcome with a skill and ingenuity which the instructed artist alone is able duly to appreciate . The generality of mankind receive p leasure from performances

    1 ' ' * ¦ » i 1 * | ' 1 ¦ ¦ ••!•• * » ¦ 1 1 ¦ » " ¦ ¦ 1 " 1 . r 11 1 1 ' ¦ ? Rees ' a Cyclopwdia , art . Moral Philosophy . t Hartley , Vol II . prop . 59 .

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    Hartley * s Rule of Life . £ 97

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 297, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/9/