ELEMENTS

OF

CRITICISM.

VOLUME II.

EDINBURGH:

Printed for A. MILLAR, London;

AND

A. KINCAID & J. BELL, Edinburgh,

MDCCLXII

ELEMENTS

OF

CRITICISM.

CHAP. Χ.

Congruity and Propriety.

M

AN is diftinguished from the brute creation, not more remarkably by the fuperiority of his rational faculties, than by the greater delicacy of his perceptions and feelings. With respect to the gross pleafures of fenfe, man probably has little superiority over other animals. Some obfcure perception of beauty may also fall to their share. But they are probably not acquainted with the more delicate conceptions of regularity, order, uniformity, or congruity. Such

A 2

Such refined conceptions, being connected with morality and religion, are reserved to dignify the chief of the terrestrial creation. Upon this account, no difcipline is more suitable to man, or more congruous to the dignity of his nature, than that by which his taste is refined, to diftinguish in every fubject, what is regular, what is orderly, what is suitable, and what is fit and proper *.

No difcerning person can be at a loss about the meaning of the terms congruity and propriety, when applied to drefs, behaviour, or language; that a decent garb, for example, is proper for a judge, modeft behaviour for a young woman, and a lofty

Nec vero illa parva vis naturæ est rationisque, quod unum hoc animal sentit quid fit ordo, quid fit quod deceat in faEtis dictisque, qui modus. Itaque corum ipforum, quæ afpeCtu fentiuntur, nullum aliud animal, pulchritudinem, venuftatem, convenientiam partium, fentit. Quam fimilitudinem natura ratioque ab oculis ad animum transferens, multo etiam magis pulchritudinem, conftantiam, ordinem, in confiliis faEtisque confervandum putat, cavetque ne quid indecorè effeminatève faciat; tum in omnibus et opinionibus et factis ne quid libidinosè aut faciat aut cogitet. Quibus ex rebus conflatur et efficitur id, quod quærimus, honestum. Cicero de officiis, l. 1.

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