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The Romans, bv constant study, came to excel iii the art of war,which led them naturally to improve upon other arts. Ilavms;, inthe progress of society, acquired some degree of taste and polish,a talent for writing broke forth. The reign of Augustus Caesar ,which put an enci to the rancour of civil war, and restored peaceto Rome with the comforts of society, proved an auspicious a'ra forliterature ; and produced a cluster of Latin historians, poets, andphilosophers, to whom the moderns are indebted for their taste.One who makes a figure rouses emulation in all: one catches tirefrom another, and the national spirit is every where triumphant:classical works are composed, and useful dsscoveries made ineverv art and science. As the progress of arts and sciences to-wards perfection is greatly promoted by emulation, nothing ismore fatal to an art or science than to remove that spur ; as hap-pens where some extraordinary genius appeal's who soars abovefivakliip. Mathematics seem to he declining in Britain : thegreat Newton, having surpassed all the ancients, has not left to themoderns any hope of equalling him ; and what man will enterthe lists who despairs of victory ? In a country thinly peopled,where even necessary arts wants hands, it is common to see oneperson exercising more arts than one : in several parts of Scotland ,one man acts as a physician, surgeon, and apothecary; and formerlyin various parts of Europe the trade of a barber was conjoined withthese professions. Butin every populous country, even simplearts are split into parts, and each part has an artist appropriated toit. Inthe large towns ofancient Egypt , a physician was confined to asingle disease. In mechanic arts that method has its advantagesand disadvantages. As a hand confined to a single operation be-comes both expert and expeditious, a mechanic art is perfected byhaving its different operations distributed among the greatestnumber of hands. Many hands are employed in making a watch,and a still greater number in manufacturing a web of woollen cloth.But although this division of labour, doubtless, tends to the per-fections of the manufactures, it is attended with the worst of con-sequences to file artisan. Various arts or operations, carried onby the same man, invigorate his mind, because they exercise dif-ferent faculties; and as he cannot be equally expert in every art oroperation, he is frequently reduced to supply want of skill bythought and invention. Constant application, on the contrary, toa single operation, confines the mind to a single object, ami ex-cludes all thought and invention : in such a train of life, the ope-rator becomes dull and stupid, like a beast of burden. The dif-ference is visible in the manners of the people : in a country where,from want of hands, several occupations must be carried on by. thesame person, the people are knowing and conversable: in a popu-lous country, where manufactures flourish, they are ignorant, un-sociable, and ready tor every act of the most Gothic barbarity.Useful ai'ts paved the way for fine arts. Men upon whom theformer had bestowed every convenience turned their thoughts tothe latter. Beauty was studied in objects of sight; and men oftaste attached themselves to the fine arts, which multiplied theirenjoyments and improved their benevolence. Sculpture andpainting made an early figure in Greece ; which afforded plentyof beautiful originals to be copied in these imitative arts. Statuary,a more simple imitation than painting, was sooner brought to per-fection : the statue of Jupiter bv Phidias , and of Juno by Poly-cletes, though the admiration of all the world, were executed longbefore the art of light and shade was known. It is agreed, by allantiquaries, that the first writings were in verse, and that writingsin prose were of a much later date. The first Greek who wrotein prose was Phereckles Syrus: the first Roman was AppiusCircus, who composed a declamation against Pyrrhus . What con-tributed to this was perhaps the profession of a bard, which sprungbefore writing was known. The songs of the bards, being univer-sally relished, were certainly the first compositions that writing wasemployed upon; they would be carefully collected by the mostskilful writers, in order to preserve them in perpetual remembrance.The succeeding part of the progress is obvious. People ac-quainted with no written composition, but what were in verse,composed in verse their laws, their religious ceremonies, and everymemorable transaction that was intended to be preserved inmemory by writing. But when subjects of writing multiplied,and became more and more involved ; when people began toreason, to teach, and to harangue; they were obliged to descendto humble prose.

Arts, polite, the essence of the polite arts, consists in ex-

pression. The end of all these arts is pleasure ; whereas the endof the sciences is instruction and utility. Some of the polite artsindeed, as eloquence, poetry, and architecture, are frequently ap-plied to objects that are useful, or exercised in matters that areinstructive, as we shall show more particularly in their properplace; hut in these cases, though jlhe ground work belongs !othose sciences which employ the understanding, yet the expressionarises from the inveutive faculty- It should therefore'be con-stantly remembered, that the essence of the polite arts consists inexpression. This expression lies sometimes in the words, andsometimes in the pen; sometimes in sounds and their harmony,and at others, in corporeal attitudes ; sometimes in the pencil, orinthe chisel, and at others inthe graver; sometimes in a properdisposition, or judicious employment of the mechanic arts, and atothers, merely in their manner of acting. The object of all thepolite arts is Beauty. It is not however, so easy, as it may seem,to give a clear and determinate idea of what we mean by that term.(See Beautv.) It is one of those expressions that we compre-hend immediately, that leave a distinct impression on our minds,,when it is simply written or pronounced; but which philosophersenvelope in darkness, when they attempt to elucidate it by defini-tions and descriptions; and the more, as mankind have differentideas ot beauty, their opinions and tastes being as various as theirunderstandings and physiognomies. We may sav, however, ingeneral, that beauty results from the various perfections of whichan object is susceptible, and which it actually possesses; and that,the perfections which produce beauty consist principally in theagreeable and delightful proportions which are found, 1. Betweenthe several parts of the same object; 2. Between each part andthe whole together; 3. Between the parts and the end or designof the object, to which they belong. Genius, or invention, is the-iaculty ot the mind by which beauty is produced. Taste, dispo-sition, or rather the natural sensation of the mind refined by art,serves to guide the genus in discerning, embracing, and producing,that which is beautiful of every kind. (See Taste.) lienee itfollows, that the general theory of the polite arts is nothing morethan tire knowledge of what they contain that is truly beautifuland agreeable ;and it is this knowledge, this theory, which modemphilosopher's call by the name of arsthetica, or Esthetics. It is ajust reflection that no rules whatever are capable of making agreat poet, an able orator, or an excellent artist; because thequality, necessary to form these, depends-on the natural dispo-sition, the fire of genius, which no human art can confer, butwhich is the gift of heaven. Rules, however, will prevent a manfrom being a had artist, a dull orator, or a wretched poet. Theyare also of use in facilitating his labours, and in directing him toarrive by the shortest and surest road to perfection. Thev refine,,strengthen, and confirm, his taste. . Nature, , abandoned' to her--self, has something wild. Art, founded on just rules, gives herelegance, and dignity. These general rules are- few, I. The firstis, above all things to consult genius. By this term we understand,in general, a faculty of the mind, a particular genius, a livelyinvention, a certain subtile spirit, which gives a facility in discover-ing something new. But it is necessary also to prescribe justbounds to this term new, which must not be here taken in an ab-solute sense. The fine arts in their imitations of nature, in theirexpressions, can borrow images, figures, comparisons, from thosethings only that exist and are known. But the novelty, of whichwe here speak, consists in the ingenious use of combinations ofall the various objects of nature, that are new, happy, and agree-able, that have not yet been exhausted, and which appear evento be inexhaustible; and of the use which the artist makes of allnew discoveries, which he turns to his advantage, by a judi-cious application. Invention therefore supposes a considerablefund ot preliminary knowledge, such as is capable of furnishingideas and images, to form new combinations. But there is no artby which invention itself can be produced ; for that gift of heavenis an endowment, which even those possessed of it cannot alwaysuse at pleasure. We would rather say, therefore, that inventionconsists hi producing, in works of genius, that which is unex-pected ; an object, a harmony, a perfection, a thought, an ex-pression, of which we had no idea, that we could not foresee, norliope to find, where the artist has so happily placed it, and where v- eperceive it with delight. II .The second rule is, That every artist oughtincessantly to labour in the improvement of his taste; in acquiring thatrefined and clear discernment, by which he will be enabled todi-tin-

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