independent of other qualities, Polite Literature eminently possesses the power of pleasing, and that Taste is the faculty which enables us to judge of that power.
Those who have written concerning Polite Literature and Taste in general, have pursued two very different paths.
From works of genius, possessed of an established reputation, some authors have deduced rules for composition; supposing that admiration will always attend upon what has acquired applause, and regarding decisions already pronounced, as documents for the formation of our sentiments, by an attention to which we may anticipate the opinions of succeeding ages. Without seeming to have entirely forgotten that an unerring judgment can only be derived from an intuitive knowledge of nature, they have in general trusted too implicitly to the authority of human opinion. It is, however, by a close attention to nature alone, that a person can learn to animate his own writings, or to read with instruction the works of others.
Remounting to this source of genuine science, others indeed, by an appeal to nature, have fixed upon this as the only criterion by which to decide upon the talents of authors, and the taste of readers.
Of these two modes of judging, the former has necessarily preceded the latter, which is doubtless the most reasonable. Both, however, are liable to extremes.
