fion; but with refpect to feeing and hearing, being infenfible of the organic impreffion, we are not mifled to affign a wrong place to the pleafant or painful feelings caufed by that impreffion; and therefore we naturally place them in the mind, where they really are: upon that account, they are conceived to be more refined and fpiritual, than what are derived from tafling, touching, and fmelling; for the latter feelings, feeming to exift externally at the organ of fenfe, are conceived to be merely corporeal.

The pleasures of the eye and the car, being thus elevated above thofe of the other external fenfes, acquire fo much dignity as to become a laudable entertainment. They are not, however, set on a level with the purely intellectual; being no lefs inferior in dignity to intellectual pleasures, than

we

After the utmost efforts, we find it beyond our power to conceive the flavor of a rofe to exift in the mind: are neceffarily led to conceive that pleafure as exifling in the noftrils along with the impreffion made by the rofe upon that organ. And the fame will be the refult of experiments with refpect to every fecling of tafle, touch, and fmell. Touch affords the most fatisfactory experiments. Were it not that the delusion is detected by philofophy, no perfon would hefitate to pronounce, that the pleafure arifing from touching a fmooth, foft, and velvet furface, has its exiftence at the ends of the fingers, without once dreaming of its exifting any where else.

fuperior to the organic or corporeal: they indeed resemble the latter, being, like them, produced by external objects; but they alfo refemble the former, being, like them, produced without any fenfible organic impreffion. Their mixt nature and middle place between organic and intellectual pleafures, qualify them to affociate with both: beauty heightens all the organic feelings, as well as the intellectual: harmony, though it afpires to inflame devotion, difdains not to improve the relifh of a banquet.

The pleasures of the eye and the ear, have other valuable properties befide thofe of dignity and elevation being sweet and moderately exhilarating, they are in their tone equally distant from the turbulence of paffion, and the languor of indolence; and by that tone are perfectly well qualified, not only to revive the fpirits when funk by fenfual gratification, but also to relax them when overftrained in any violent purfuit. Here is a remedy provided for many diftreffes; and to be convinced of its falutary effects, it will be fufficient to run over the following particulars. Organic pleasures have naturally a fhort duration; when prolonged, they lofe their relifh; when indulged to excefs, they beget fatiety and difguft: and to reftore a proper

tone of mind, nothing can be more happily contrived than the exhilarating pleafures of the eye and ear. On the other hand, any intenfe exercife of intellectual powers, becomes painful by overstraining the mind: ceffation from fuch exercife gives . not inftant relief; it is neceffary that the void be filled with fome amufement, gently relaxing the fpirits organic pleafure, which hath no relish but while we are in vigor, is ill qualified for that office; but the finer pleafures of fenfe, which occupy without exhaufting the mind, are finely qualified to restore its ufual tone after fevere application to study or bufinefs, as well as after fatiety from fenfual gratification.

Our first perceptions are of external objects, and our firft attachments are to them. Organic pleasures take the lead: but the mind, gradually ripening, relisheth more and more the pleasures of the eye and ear; which approach the purely mental, without exhaufting the fpirits; and exceed the purely fenfual, without danger of fatiety. The pleasures of the eye and ear have accordingly a natural aptitude to draw us from the immoderate

3 Du Bos judicioufly obferves, that filence doth not tend to calm an agitated mind; but that foft and flow mufic bath a fine effect.

gratification of sensual appetite; and the mind, once accustomed to enjoy a variety of external ob-. jects without being fenfible of the organic impreffion, is prepared for enjoying internal objects where there cannot be an organic impreffion. Thus the author of nature, by qualifying the human mind for a fucceffion of enjoyments from low to high, leads it by gentle fteps from the moft groveling corporeal pleasures, for which only it is fitted in the beginning of life, to thofe refined and fublime pleasures that are fuited to its maturity."

But we are not bound down to this fucceffion by any law of neceffity: the God of nature offers it to us, in order to advance our happiness; and it is fufficient, that he hath enabled us to carry it on in a natural courfe. Nor has he made our task either disagreable or difficult: on the contrary, the tranfition is fweet and easy, from corporeal pleasures to the more refined pleafures of fense; and no lefs fo, from thefe to the exalted pleasures of morality and religion. We ftand therefore engaged in honor as well as intereft, to fecond the purposes of nature, by cultivating the pleasures of the eye and ear, those especially that require

extraordinary culture, fuch as arife from poetry, painting, fulpture, mufic, gardening, and architecture. This especially is the duty of the opulent, who have leifure to improve their minds and their feelings. The fine arts are contrived to give pleasure to the eye and the ear, difregarding the inferior fenfes. A tafte for these arts is a plant. that grows naturally in many foils; but, without culture, fcarce to perfection in any foil: it is fufceptible of much refinement; and is by proper care, greatly improved. In this refpect, a tafte in the fine arts goes hand in hand with the moral fenfe, to which indeed it is nearly allied: both of them discover what is right and what is wrong: fashion, temper and education, have an influence and unto vitiate both, or to preferve them tainted: neither of them are arbitrary nor local; being rooted in human nature, and governed by principles common to all men. The defign of the

pure

4 A tafte for natural objects is born with us in perfection; for relishing a fine countenance, a rich landscape, or a vivid color, culture is unneceffary. The obfervation holds equally in natural founds, fuch as the finging of birds, or the murmuring of a brook. Nature here, the artificer of the object as well as of the percipient, hath accurately fuited them to each other. But of a poem, a cantata, a picture, or other artificial production, a true relish is not commonly attained without fome study and much practice.