The subject proposed. Dedication. The ideas of the Supreme Being, the
exemplars of all things. The variety of constitution in the minds of
men; with its final cause. The general character of a fine
imagination. All the immediate pleasures of the human imagination
proceed either from Greatness or Beauty in external objects. The
pleasure from Greatness; with its final cause. The natural connexion
of Beauty with truth [2] and good. The different orders of Beauty in
different objects. The infinite and all-comprehending form of Beauty,
which belongs to the Divine Mind. The partial and artificial forms
of Beauty, which belong to inferior intellectual beings. The origin
and general conduct of beauty in man. The subordination of local
beauties to the beauty of the Universe. Conclusion.
With what enchantment Nature's goodly scene
Attracts the sense of mortals; how the mind
For its own eye doth objects nobler still
Prepare; how men by various lessons learn
To judge of Beauty's praise; what raptures fill
The breast with fancy's native arts endow'd,
And what true culture guides it to renown,
My verse unfolds. Ye gods, or godlike powers,
Ye guardians of the sacred task, attend
Propitious.
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