“And ever against eating cares,
    Lap me in soft Lydian airs;
    In notes with many a winding bout
    Of linked sweetness long drawn out;
    With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,
    The melting voice through mazes running;
    Untwisting all the chains that tie
    The hidden soul of harmony.”

Let us parallel this with the softness, the winding surface, the unbroken continuance, the easy gradation of the beautiful in other things; and all the diversities of the several senses, with all their several affections, will rather help to throw lights from one another to finish one clear, consistent idea of the whole, than to obscure it by their intricacy and variety.

To the above-mentioned description I shall add one or two remarks.  The first is; that the beautiful in music will not hear that loudness and strength of sounds, which may be used to raise other passions; nor notes which are shrill, or harsh, or deep; it agrees best with such as are clear, even, smooth, and weak.  The second is; that great variety, and quick transitions from one measure or tone to another, are contrary to the genius of the beautiful in music.  Such[28] transitions often excite mirth, or other sudden or tumultuous passions; but not that sinking, that melting, that languor, which is the characteristical effect of the beautiful as it regards every sense.  The passion excited by beauty is in fact nearer to a species of melancholy, than to jollity and mirth.  I do not here mean to confine music to any one species of notes, or tones, neither is it an art in which I can say I have any great skill.  My sole design in this remark is to settle a consistent idea of beauty.  The infinite variety of the affections of the soul will suggest to a good head, and skilful ear, a variety of such sounds as are fitted to raise them.  It can be no prejudice to this, to clear and distinguish some few particulars that belong to the same class, and are consistent with each other, from the immense crowd of different and sometimes contradictory ideas, that rank vulgarly under the standard of beauty.  And of these it is my intention to mark such only of the leading points as show the conformity of the sense of hearing with all the other senses, in the article of their pleasures.

SECTION XXVI.

TASTE AND SMELL.

This general agreement of the senses is yet more evident on minutely considering those of taste and smell.  We metaphorically apply the idea of sweetness to sights and sounds; but as the qualities of bodies by which they are fitted to excite either pleasure or pain in these senses are not so obvious as they are in the others, we shall refer an explanation of their analogy, which is a very close one, to that part wherein we come to consider the common efficient cause of beauty, as it regards all the senses.  I do not think