DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48954#0285
Ch. VI. NOVELTY, &c. 269
difference, or with a very ssight emotion : thus a
pebble , however Angular in its appearance , scarce
moves our wonder. The emotion rises with the
rank of the objetft, and , other circumstances be-
ing equal, is strongest in the highest order of ex-
istence : a strange inseft assefts us more than a
strange vegetable ; and a strange quadruped more
than a strange inseft.
However natural novelty may be , it is a matter
os experience , that those who relifli it the most are
careful to conceal its inssuence. Love of novelty,
it is true, prevails in children, in idlers , and in
men of shallow understanding : and yet, after all,
why should one be ashamed of indulging a natural
propenssty ? A distintssion will afford a satisfailo-
ry answer. No man is ashamed of curiossty when
it is indulged in order to acquire knowledge. But
to prefer any thing merely becaufe itisnew, shows
a mean taste , which one ought to be ashamed of:
vanity is commonly at the bottom, which leads
those who are deficient in taste to prefer things
odd,- rare, or Angular, in order to distinguish
themselves from others. And in fad, that appe-
tite , as above mentioned , reigns chiessy among
persons of a mean taste , who are ignorant of refi-
ned and elegant pleasures.
One final cause of wonder, hinted above, is,
that this emotion is intended to stimulate our cu-
rioslty. Another, somewhat different, is , to pre-
pare the mind for receiving deep impressionS os
difference, or with a very ssight emotion : thus a
pebble , however Angular in its appearance , scarce
moves our wonder. The emotion rises with the
rank of the objetft, and , other circumstances be-
ing equal, is strongest in the highest order of ex-
istence : a strange inseft assefts us more than a
strange vegetable ; and a strange quadruped more
than a strange inseft.
However natural novelty may be , it is a matter
os experience , that those who relifli it the most are
careful to conceal its inssuence. Love of novelty,
it is true, prevails in children, in idlers , and in
men of shallow understanding : and yet, after all,
why should one be ashamed of indulging a natural
propenssty ? A distintssion will afford a satisfailo-
ry answer. No man is ashamed of curiossty when
it is indulged in order to acquire knowledge. But
to prefer any thing merely becaufe itisnew, shows
a mean taste , which one ought to be ashamed of:
vanity is commonly at the bottom, which leads
those who are deficient in taste to prefer things
odd,- rare, or Angular, in order to distinguish
themselves from others. And in fad, that appe-
tite , as above mentioned , reigns chiessy among
persons of a mean taste , who are ignorant of refi-
ned and elegant pleasures.
One final cause of wonder, hinted above, is,
that this emotion is intended to stimulate our cu-
rioslty. Another, somewhat different, is , to pre-
pare the mind for receiving deep impressionS os