An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, and of the Origin of our Ideas of Beauty, etc. | Page 5

on the Sublime, Samuel Monk
pointed out certain other tendencies which fore-shadow the coming
Romantic revolt. This shift may also be noted in Miss Reynolds'
extension of countenance, the reflection of internal virtue, to mean
"form," and the extension of internal virtue to mean "disposition,"

"object," or content. In developing this form-content division, she
stumbles on a key criticism of associationism: "From association of
ideas, any object may be pleasing, though absolutely devoid of beauty,
and displeasing with it. The form is then out of the question; it is some
real good or evil, with which the object, but not its form, is associated."
This notion that associationism leads away from the work of art as such
is a perceptive comment. Her notion that form and disposition (or
content) must correspond in order to give aesthetic pleasure suggests,
though the terms are different, certain of Coleridge's basic ideas.
One other point might be stressed: Miss Reynolds takes an extreme
moralistic position toward the arts. Again and again it is insisted that
taste and beauty are moral attributes, not purely aesthetic concepts.
Chapter II
ends with the ringing statement: "Of this I am certain, that true
refinement is the effect of true virtue; that virtue is truth, and good; and
that beauty dwells in them, and they in her." And the next chapter
begins: "Taste seems to be an inherent impulsive tendency of the soul
towards true good." On the other hand, she sees that the arts are not to
be encouraged because such encouragement is apt to lead to the
destruction of moral virtue--the desire for fame and wealth. The value
of art as education is dismissed as of importance only to the few; the
dangers of encouragement will imperil the many. "Though the arts are
thus beneficial to the growing principles of taste, respecting a few
individuals, it is well known that their establishment in every nation has
had a contrary effect on the community in general...."
To conclude: despite its many deficiencies Frances Reynolds' Enquiry
is worth reading. It serves admirably to mirror the conflicting
eighteenth-century theories out of which our own aesthetic concepts
have been formed.
James L. Clifford Columbia University

Notes to the Introduction
1. Letters, II, 223-24; corrected from original letter in possession of
Professor F.W. Hilles of Yale University, who has given invaluable aid

in the present investigation.
2. Letters, II, 249-50, corrected from the original by Dr. R.W.
Chapman.
3. Copy in possession of Mrs. Doreen Ashworth, Windlesham, Surrey.
4. Original in Huntington Library.
5. Original in possession of Mrs. Ashworth.
6. Rough draft in possession of Mrs. Ashworth.
7. Original in possession of Professor F.W. Hilles.

AN ENQUIRY CONCERNING THE PRINCIPLES of TASTE, AND
OF THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS of BEAUTY, &c.

Sunt certi denique fines, Quos ultra citraquè nequit consistere rectum.
HOR.

To Mrs. MONTAGU.
MADAM,
Were I not prompted by gratitude, admiration, and affection, to
dedicate to you the best produce of my abilities, which I imagine this to
be, yet, as the subject, of which it particularly treats, is moral
excellence, the universal voice of mankind, with whom your very name
is synonymous with virtue itself, must plead my apology for taking this
liberty. Besides, madam, it was natural for me, as an author, to with to
avail myself of the advantage, which this address affords me, of
prepossessing the minds of my readers with an example of that
perfection to which all my arguments tend, as a preparative, or aid, to
their better comprehending my meaning.
The influence of virtue is every way beneficial! Your character, not
only secures me from all imputation of flattery, but this public avowal
of my admiration of its excellence conveys an honourable testimony of
the consistency of my principles; having endeavoured to inculcate, that
the love and esteem of true virtue is true honour. And I may add, that
the sweet gratification I feel, in the indulging the strongest and best
propension of my nature, in thus expatiating in its praise, is true
pleasure, true happiness.
I am, Madam,
Your obliged,

Most obedient,
And most humble, servant,
The AUTHOR.

CHAPTER I.
A SKETCH of the MENTAL SYSTEM respecting our Perceptions of
Taste, &c.
The mind of man, introspecting itself, seems, as it were, (in conjunction
with the inscrutable principles of nature,) placed in the central point of
the creation: from whence, impelled by her energetic powers and
illumined by her light, the intellectual faculties, like rays, shoot forth in
direct tendency to their ultimate point of perfection; and, as they
advance, each individual mind imperceptibly imbibes the influence and
light of each, and is by this imbibition alone enabled to approach it.
But, though the light of nature and of reason direct the human mind to
perfection, or true