Excerpt from Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste The perception of these qualities is attended with an emo tion of pleasure, very distinguishable from every other pleas ure of our nature, and which is accordingly distinguished by the name of the emotion of taste. The distinction of the objects of taste, into the sublime and beautiful, has produced a similar division of this emotion, into the manners of sunburn! And the emotion of beauty. The qualities that produce these emotions, are to be found in almost every class of the objects of human knowledge, and the emotions themselves afford one of the most extensive sour ces of human delight. They occur to us, amid every variety of external scenery, and among many diversities of disposition and affection in the mind of man. The most pleasing arts of human invention are altogether directed to their pursuit: and even the necessary arts are exalted into dignity, by the genius that can unite beauty with use. From the. Earliest period of so ciety, to its last stage of improvement, they afford an innocent and elegant amusement to private life, at the same time that they increase the splendour of national character and in the pro gress of nations, as well as of individuals, while they attract attention from the pleasures they bestow, they serve to exalt the human mind, from corporeal to intellectual pursuits. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.