xtent,
of a power of awaking pleasant suggestions, but in order that these
should constitute a ground of aesthetic value, they must be common,
participated in by all, or at least by an indefinite number. This will
be the case when the association rests on our common every-day
experiences, and our common knowledge of things, as in the case of the
peaceful beauty of an ascending curl of blue smoke in a woody landscape,
or the awful beauty of a lofty precipice. On the other hand, when the
experience and recollections, which are the source of the pleasure, are
restricted and accidental, any attribution of objective worth is
illusory. Thus, the ascription of beauty to one's native village, to
one's beloved friends, and so on, in so far as it carries the conviction
of objective worth, may imply a confusion of the individual with the
common experience.

The active side of this species of illusions would be illustrated in
every instance of ascribing beauty to objects which is due, in a
considerable measure at least, to some pre-existing disposition in the
mind, whether permanent or temporary. A man brings his peculiar habits
of thought and feeling to the contemplation of objects, and the aesthetic
impression produced is coloured by these predispositions. Thus, a person
of a sad and gloomy cast of mind will be disposed to see a sombre beauty
where other eyes see nothing of the kind. And then there are all the
effects of temporary conditions of the imagination and the feelings.
Thus, the individual mind may be focussed in a certain way through the
suggestion of another. People not seldom see a thing to be beautiful
because they are told that it is so. It might not be well to inquire too
curiously how many of the frequenters of the annual art exhibitions use
their own eyes in framing their aesthetic judgments. Or the temporary
predisposition may reside in a purely personal feeling or desire
uppermost at the time. Our enjoyment of nature or of art is coloured by
our temporary mood. There are moments of exceptional mental
exhilaration, when even a commonplace scene will excite an appreciable
kind of admiration. Or there may be a strong wish to find a thing
beautiful begotten of another feeling. Thus, a lover desires to find
beauty in his mistress; or, having found it in her face and form,
desires to find a harmonious beauty in her mind. In these different ways
temporary accidents of personal feeling and imagination enter into and
d