CORRECT TASTE.
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to make exclusively his own, by purchase, the rubies, the emeralds, the sapphires of the vegetable kingdom, formed in the depths of the earth, by the slow elaboration of ages; but the humble violet and rose are taken to the home of the poor, to light the gloom of his lowly shed."
If the admiration of what is beautiful in Nature, tends to refine and elevate, that for what is graceful and good in manners and character, might seem to be a step towards their acquisition. "Our taste declines with our merits," said a philosopher of other times. Was his position correct? May taste in any degree be admitted as a test of mental or moral integrity?
"Taste," says a fine writer, "is of all attainments the most easily perceived, yet the most difficult to describe." Its more common modifications, as they are seen in the style of dress, furniture, or arrangements of a household, seem to prove an innate perception of delicacy, a sense of propriety, or a principle of adaptation, which, though not entitled to rank with the severe conclusions of an accurate judgment in matters of higher import, are still in our sex no slight accomplishments, or trifling indications of character. When manifested in graceful movement, or manners, elegance of language, and correct appreciation of the fine arts, it serves as a sort of historical index, pointing to the influence of refined society, education, or such means of improvement, as are seldom accessible in solitude and obscurity. It aids in decyphering the drama in