mind of man is fitted to receive pleasure equally from both. Uniformity and variety are inter woven in the works of nature with furprifing art: variety, however great, is never without fome degree of uniformity; nor the greatest uniformity without fome degree of variety: there is great variety in the same plant, by the different appearances of its ftem, branches, leaves, bloffoms, fruit, fize, and colour; and yet, when we trace that variety through different plants, especially of the fame kind, there is difcovered a furprifing uniformity: again, where nature seems to have intended the most exact uniformity, as among individuals of the fame kind, there ftill appears a diverfity, which ferves readily to diftinguish one individual from another. It is indeed admirable, that the human vifage, in which uniformity is fo prevalent, fhould yet be fo marked, as to leave no room, among millions, for mistaking one perfon for another these marks, though clearly perceived, are generally fo delicate, that words cannot be found to describe them. A correfpondence fo perfect between the human mind and the works of nature, is extremely remarkable. The oppofition between variety and uniformity is fo great, that one would not readily imagine they could both be relished by the fame palate; at least not in the fame object, nor at the fame time: it is however true, that the pleasures they afford, being happily adjusted to each other, and readily

mixing

mixing in intimate union, are frequently produced by the fame individual object. Nay, further, in the objects that touch us the most, uniformity and variety are conftantly combined; witness natural objects, where this combination is always found in perfection. Hence it is, that natural objects readily form themselves into groups, and are agreeable in whatever manner combined: a wood with its trees, fhrubs, and herbs, is agreeable: the mufic of birds, the lowing of cattle, and the murmuring of a brook, are in conjunction delightful; though they strike the ear without modulation or harmony. In short, nothing can be more happily accommodated to the inward conftitution of man, than that mixture of uniformity with variety, which the eye discovers in natural objects; and, accordingly, the mind is never more highly gratified than in contemplating a natural landscape,

CHAP.

MAN

CHAP. X.

CONGRUITY AND PROPRIETY.

AN is fuperior to the brute, not more by his rational faculties, than by his fenfes. With respect to external senses, brutes probably yield not to men; and they may also have some obfcure perception of beauty: but the more delicate fenfes of regularity, order, uniformity, and congruity, being connected with morality and religion, are reserved to dignify the chief of the terrestrial creation. Upon that account, no difcipline is more fuitable to man, nor more congruous to the dignity of his nature, and that which refines his tafte, and leads him to distinguish, in every fubject, what is regular, what is orderly, what is fuitable, and what is fit and proper

*

It is clear from the very conception of the terms congruity and propriety, that they are not applicable

* Nec vero illa parva vis naturæ eft rationisque, quod unum hoc animal fentit quid fit ordo, quid fit quod deceat in factis dictisque, qui modus. Itaque eorum ipfo. rum, quæ afpectu fentiuntur, nullum aliud animal, pulchritudinem, venuftatem, convenientiam partium fentit. Quam fimilitudinem natura ratioque ab oculis ad animum transferens, multo etiam magis pulchritudinem,

conftantiam,

applicable to any fingle object: they imply a plurality, and obviously fignify a particular relation between different objects. Thus we say currently, that a decent garb is fuitable or proper for a judge, modeft behaviour for a young woman, and a lofty ftyle for an epic poem: and, on the other hand, that it is unfuitable or incongruous to fee a little woman funk in an overgrown farthingale, a coat richly embroidered covering coarse and dirty linen, a mean subject in an elevated ftyle, an elevated fubject in a mean ftyle, a first minifter darning his wife's ftocking, or a reverend prelate in lawn fleeves dancing a hornpipe.

The perception we have of this relation, which feems peculiar to man, cannot proceed from any other caufe, but from a fenfe of congruity or propriety; for, fuppofing us deftitute of that fense, the terms would be to us unintelligible *.

It is matter of experience, that congruity or propriety, wherever perceived, is agreeable; and that

conftantiam, ordinem, in confiliis factisque confervandum putat, cavetque ne quid indecore effeminateve faciat; tum in omnibus et opinionibus et factis ne quid libidinose aut faciat aut cogitet. Quibus ex rebus conflatur et efficitur id, quod quærimus, honeftum. Cicero de Officiis, l. 1.

From many things that pafs current in the world without being generally condemned, one at firft view would imagine, that the fenfe of congruity or propriety hath scarce any foundation in nature; and that it is ra

ther

that incongruity or impropriety, wherever perceived, is difagreeable. The only difficulty is, to ascertain what are the particular objects that in conjunction suggest these relations; for there are many objects that do not; the fea, for example, viewed in conjunction with a picture, or a man viewed in conjunction with a mountain, fuggeft not either congruity or incongruity. It feems natural to infer, what will be found true by induction, that we never perceive congruity nor incongruity but among things that are connected by fome relation; fuch as a man and his actions, a principal and its acceffories, a fub

ject

1

ther an artificial refinement of those who affect to distinguish themselves from others. The fulfome panegyrics bestowed upon the great and opulent, in epiftles dedicatory and other fuch compofitions, would incline us to think fo. Did there prevail in the world, it will be faid, or did nature suggest, a taste of what is suitable, decent, or proper, would any good writer deal in fuch compofi tions, or any man of fenfe receive them without disgust? Can it be supposed that Lewis XIV. of France was endued by nature with any sense of propriety, when, in a dramatic performance purposely composed for his entertainment, he fuffered himself, publicly and in his prefence, to be styled the greatest king ever the earth produced? Thefe, it is true, are strong facts; but luckily they do not prove the fenfe of propriety to be artificial: they? only prove, that the sense of propriety is at times overpowered by pride and vanity; which is no fingular cafe, for that fometimes is the fate even of the sense of justice.