DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18825#0042
32 history of art. [lECT. 1.
only by the azure mountains: not satisfied with the-
survey of distant objects, the eye must be enter-
tained in our respective habitations; we embellish
our apartments with splendor, we decorate them with
magnificence, we engage in this business every pro-
duction of nature, improved by the labour of Art;
how manv brilliant colours! how many elegant forms!
what variety of materials ! what skill ! what ex-
pence !—to gratify the sight, to charm the eye.
And not only is a person deSrous of these enjoy-
ments for himself, but he readily, and without hesi-
tation, supposes, that his friends also will partake of
this his good fortune ; persuaded that Nature has im-
parted the same sensations to them as to himself, he
scruples not to imagine, that they also will be enter-
tained with this kind of entertainment, and be de-
lighted with these delights; so general, so univer-
sal, is the conviction of the pleasures arising from
sight 1
But now, might I be permitted to ask some who
possess these advantages, whether they truly enjov
them ? I am not certain thev could answer in the af-
jfirmative ; in vain the extensive prospect presents its
beauties, unless the beholder has skill to perceive
them; in vain the well-decorated apartment excites
admiration, if the spectator be ignorant of the Artist's
excellence.
It is true Nature gives us sight, but the sense must
rather be considered as a channel of conveyance for
delight, than as delight itself; rather as a mean than
as the end. It is the mind which receives satisfac-
tion through the medium of sight; and if the mind
2 be
only by the azure mountains: not satisfied with the-
survey of distant objects, the eye must be enter-
tained in our respective habitations; we embellish
our apartments with splendor, we decorate them with
magnificence, we engage in this business every pro-
duction of nature, improved by the labour of Art;
how manv brilliant colours! how many elegant forms!
what variety of materials ! what skill ! what ex-
pence !—to gratify the sight, to charm the eye.
And not only is a person deSrous of these enjoy-
ments for himself, but he readily, and without hesi-
tation, supposes, that his friends also will partake of
this his good fortune ; persuaded that Nature has im-
parted the same sensations to them as to himself, he
scruples not to imagine, that they also will be enter-
tained with this kind of entertainment, and be de-
lighted with these delights; so general, so univer-
sal, is the conviction of the pleasures arising from
sight 1
But now, might I be permitted to ask some who
possess these advantages, whether they truly enjov
them ? I am not certain thev could answer in the af-
jfirmative ; in vain the extensive prospect presents its
beauties, unless the beholder has skill to perceive
them; in vain the well-decorated apartment excites
admiration, if the spectator be ignorant of the Artist's
excellence.
It is true Nature gives us sight, but the sense must
rather be considered as a channel of conveyance for
delight, than as delight itself; rather as a mean than
as the end. It is the mind which receives satisfac-
tion through the medium of sight; and if the mind
2 be