We may therefore conclude that the real substance, as it may be called,
of what goes under the name of taste, is fixed and established in the
nature of things; that there are certain and regular causes by which the
imagination and passions of men are affected; and that the knowledge of
these causes is acquired by a laborious and diligent investigation of
nature, and by the same slow progress as wisdom or knowledge of every
kind, however instantaneous its operations may appear when thus acquired.

It has been often observed that the good and virtuous man alone can
acquire this true or just relish, even of works of art. This opinion
will not appear entirely without foundation when we consider that the
same habit of mind which is acquired by our search after truth in the
more serious duties of life, is only transferred to the pursuit of
lighter amusements: the same disposition, the same desire to find
something steady, substantial, and durable, on which the mind can lean,
as it were, and rest with safety. The subject only is changed. We
pursue the same method in our search after the idea of beauty and
perfection in each; of virtue, by looking forwards beyond ourselves to
society, and to the whole; of arts, by extending our views in the same
manner to all ages and all times.

Every art, like our own, has in its composition fluctuating as well as
fixed principles. It is an attentive inquiry into their difference that
will enable us to determine how far we are influenced by custom and
habit, and what is fixed in the nature of things.

To distinguish how much has solid foundation, we may have recourse to the
same proof by which some hold wit ought to be tried--whether it preserves
itself when translated. That wit is false which can subsist only in one
language; and that picture which pleases only one age or one nation, owes