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INTRODUCTION.

1 e c t. virtues may be grafted upon it. Whereas to beI. entirely devoid of relifh for eloquence, poetry,or any of the fine arts, is juftly conftructed tobe an unpromifing fymptom of youth ; and raifesfupicions of their being prone to low gratifica-tions, or deftined to drudge in the more vulgarand illiberal purfuits of life.

There are indeed few good difpofitions ofany kind with which the improvement of tafteis not more or lefs connected. A cultivated tafteincreafes fenfibility to all the tender and humanepaffions , by giving them frequent exercife ;while it tends to weaken the more violent andfierce emotions.

-Ingenuas didicifle fideliter artes

Emollit snores, nec finit effe feros. *

The elevated fentiments and high exampleswhich poetry , eloquence and hiftory are oftenbringing under our view , naturally tend tonourilh in our minds public fpirit, the love ofglory, contempt of external fortune, and theadmiration of what is truly illuRrious andgreat.

I will not go fo far as to fay that the im-provement of tafte and of virtue is the fame;or that they may always be expected to coexiftin an equal degree. More powerful correctivesthan tafte can apply, are neceffary for reforming

* Thefe polifhed arts have humaniz’d mankind,

Soften’d the rude, and calm’d the boiit’rous mind