as well as the common prejudices of his art, to labour to distinguish his productions by that pure and permanent expression which may be felt in every age, and to disdain to borrow a transitory fame by yielding to the temporary caprices of his time, or by exhibiting only the display of his own dexterity and skill. Or if the accidental taste of mankind must be gratified, it is still to be remembered that it is only in those arts which are employed upon perishable subjects that it can be gratified with safety, that in those greater productions of art which are destined to last for centuries, the fame of the artist must altogether depend upon the permanence of the expression which he can communicate to his work, and that the only expression which is thus permanent and which can awaken the admiration of every succeeding age is that which arises from the nature of the form itself, and which is founded on the uniform constitution of man and of nature."

Inattention, by which I mean a hasty conclusion drawn from few and superficial observations, we must particularly beware of; we must observe, examine, compare, and discriminate carefully before coming to a determination on matters of taste. By this very general fault the architects of the present day too often deceive their employers and make them the dupes of their own carelessness; for what other purpose do they so highly colour their designs with tints which a man might spend his life in endeavouring to discover in nature, and fail. It is thus they introduce parts into their designs good in themselves, but unfitted for their position, and from want of attention, they adopt without due consideration what may perhaps originally have justly caused their admiration. Thoughtless of the nature of the surrounding scenery, they mar their own work, they swallow without masticating. Depend on it, it is not enough to judge, everyone can do that, but to judge correctly and to enable us so to do, inattention and rash conclusions must be carefully avoided.

Men of taste have hungry stomachs and often empty pockets; unwillingly do they pander to a senseless patron: who shall blame them? The most talented men are too often inattentive; we excuse the fault, and could wish it otherwise. But, monstrous! an ignorant, illiterate quack starts up, buys gaudy toys and books, affects to love the Arts,

and is dubbed a man of most refined taste. What thongs shall be tough enough to whip him off? what contempt sufficient to destroy his pretensions? none. These men are always the most arrant coxcombs in art, the more ignorant the more confident, and the more confident with the multitude at least, the more admirable. With a mind crammed with magazine reports and essays, such a one overwhelms you with technicalities, condemns Vitruvius, adores Michael Angelo, loses his soul in the chancel of a Gothic cathedral, and is going to St. Peter's on purpose to lose it again, but isn't quite sure that he approves the style of architecture and so may fail. It is a pity that age should too often lend the respect due to grey hairs to such a character, and abuse the unbounded admiration of youthful aspirants, who know him not. There are such men in our profession, and the sooner they make their fortunes, as they are sure to, and leave it the better. These men have, I must observe, practical knowledge, to which were they content to keep, they would command respect, not contempt. We come now to what has always been allowed to be the greatest let and hindrance to investigation, the first step towards the attainment of taste, known as prejudice. "The only way, says Locke, “to remove this great cause of ignorance and error out of the world, is for everyone impartially to examine himself," let everyone do so. I own myself faulty, and so, may be, do you. Let us set then to work vigorously to weed out this noxious, stubborn rooted plant, and believe that until we have succeeded, we had better be silent on the particular subject, as we must have a consciousness of speaking unadvisedly and disingenuously. Where this prejudice against some particular style of art is founded on rules and principles we are willing to explain and discuss, it is no longer blameable, and loses the character of prejudice, which as its name denotes, signifies a judging beforehand, without due consideration, through mere inclination, fancy, or education. And here I must remark that instead of thumbing speculative essays on taste in art, we had, it appears to me, far better refer to a wellknown work called "Locke on the Conduct of the Understanding," which will guide us more immediately and practically on our course. It discovers to us the road to abstract truth, and the necessary tutelage of the mind

previous to its attainment, Truth is the same everywhere and in everything, and as there is a true belief and a false belief, a true state of virtue and false state of virtue, a true philosophy and a false philosophy, so is there a true taste and a false taste. The attainment of which state of truth must, I feel convinced, be regulated by the same course and be arrived at by the same means in each. There is one mistake men make who set up for professors of good taste, which is, that they seem to imagine a feeling for the beauties of nature or art, a sensibility of temperament, a ready reception of impressions of grief at a dead Saviour, of mirth at a Bacchanalian dance, of awe at the raising of Lazarus, that this excitability of mind is the only qualification, and with this false idea they enter into the lists. of architecture, the last of the arts capable of producing these sensations, and fancy themselves supreme. Let no one accept this false shadow of the fact, but remember that although it is the basis and very foundation of his desired structure, it is nothing more; added to this must be a sound judgment, (and these two nature often combines), a cultivated mind and one well stored with works of a similar nature of art, together with a freedom from those qualities which we have before treated of, then will we own him an excellent and worthy judge in such matters. Then for him "taste exalts the affections and purifies the passions, clothes a private life in white, and a public one in purple, adding a new feature as it were to the pomp, the bloom and the exuberance of nature, it enables the mind to illumine what is dark and to colour what is faded, giving a lighter yellow to the topaz and a deeper crimson to the ruby, a more celestial hue to the sapphire, and a more transparent purple to the amethist, bearing a price which only the heart and imagination can estimate, and being the author of a thousand chaste desires and secret hopes. Taste strews flowers in the paths of literature and science, and breathing inexpressible sounds and picturing celestial forms, qualifies the hour of sorrow by inducing that secret sense of cheerfulness which in its operation'

"Refines the soft and swells the strong
And joining nature's general song

Though many a varying tone unfolds

The harmony of human souls."

Mrs. Chapone.-Saturday Magazine.