Cooper defines the effect of good taste as a "Glow
of Pleasure which thrills thro' our whole Frame." This "Glow" is
characterized by high emotional sensibility, and it thus minimizes the
passivity which Hutcheson attributes to the internal sense.
Armstrong's sources are more eclectic than Cooper's. Armstrong shows
similarities to Pope in his rationalism, to Dennis in his treatment
of poetry as an expression of the passions, and to Hutcheson in his
emphasis on benevolence and the psychological basis of perception.
But to these views, he frequently adds personal eccentricities. For
example, _Taste: An Epistle to a Young Critic_ reveals its Popean
descent in its tone and form; however, its gastronomic ending displays
Armstrong's interest, as a physician, in the relation of diet to
literary taste. If Armstrong's boast that "I'm a shrewd observer,
and will guess What books you doat on from your fav'rite mess," is
a personal eccentricity, his attack on false criticism and his
exhortation to judge for oneself are typical harbingers of late
eighteenth-century individualism and confidence in the "natural" man.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25