is works correspond with
those prejudices which we have in favour of what we continually see; and
the relish of the antique simplicity corresponds with what we may call
the, more learned and scientific prejudice.

There was a statue made not long since of Voltaire, which the sculptor,
not having that respect for the prejudices of mankind which he ought to
have, has made entirely naked, and as meagre and emaciated as the
original is said to be. The consequence is what might be expected; it
has remained in the sculptor's shop, though it was intended as a public
ornament and a public honour to Voltaire, as it was procured at the
expense of his cotemporary wits and admirers.

Whoever would reform a nation, supposing a bad taste to prevail in it,
will not accomplish his purpose by going directly against the stream of
their prejudices. Men's minds must be prepared to receive what is new to
them. Reformation is a work of time. A national taste, however wrong it
may be, cannot be totally change at once; we must yield a little to the
prepossession which has taken hold on the mind, and we may then bring
people to adopt what would offend them if endeavoured to be introduced by
storm. When Battisto Franco was employed, in conjunction with Titian,
Paul Veronese, and Tintoret, to adorn the library of St. Mark, his work,
Vasari says, gave less satisfaction than any of the others: the dry
manner of the Roman school was very ill calculated to please eyes that
had been accustomed to the luxuriance, splendour, and richness of
Venetian colouring. Had the Romans been the judges of this work,
probably the determination would have been just contrary; for in the more
noble parts of the art Battisto Franco was, perhaps, not inferior to any
of his rivals.

* * * * *

Gentlemen,--It has been the main scope and principal end of this
discourse to demonstrate the reality of a standard in taste, as well as
in corporeal beauty; that a false or depraved taste is a thing as well
known, as easily discovered, as anything that is deformed, misshapen, or
wrong in our form or outward make; and that this knowledge is derived
from the uniformity of sentiments among mankind, from whence proceeds the
knowledge of what are the general habits of nature, the result of which
is an idea of perfect beauty.

If what has been advanced be true, that besides this beauty or truth
which is formed on the uniform eternal and immutable laws of nature, and
which of