The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-05-13 00:00:00

• ,

Mali% N Ji S.
Although it may appear presumptuous to antici-
pate any of the des:hams of nostenty, it seems not
ntr"bable that, a centui y the potent may
br denuii.inatcu the Age et flow. Taste is a word
v. iiish occurs to..re trecpseinty than any other in all
uua is inled annals, and one pri.steriry must natorall)
insagiii, that it wan di pl stik irk which in our times
ailed ail itilizuist Cif:nature and an moveable art.
Wlut it is, those alto CIAIII° aster us ma, ire as much
al a item to ..rite, as we are oursclwev ; but that it is
rery s,n;l,:.bi.ig, they
Joust conclude from every species of evidence.
It wont], however, b 4.: prudent in us to afford one
children's children mime data by which they might
form an idea of this universal principle ur pa.s,,ion„
We canna:, it is Lot d, be wholly inattentive to our
char.als, in fun are time., and it behoves us, therefore,
tot u.u. c th:.)4e pt er'exitics which obscure them, and
inn,t ;ender ri,or paradmi...ll. But
in wtra4. wanner can we do this, by vltat law:
we
rci,:urt tau taste to a common suiudar ',II what;
means %e sttaii liu.it art cf trate; cr
one SIICCVSSOIIb antW€. • tve.pot r•-rgot ibe.n,teantte,
t t %%one, are ait:lihiti appear ipsupera-1
bk. tin many usurFers have &date in,ial!
ma .era of inst.:, e..:eiskita.i;tedil 'mks over
prreons mid; hint. it Irsi • ;weir mterisied to contrail,
that we ttesp.iir i.fseeiny a ..egutar ijovirr.theitt esea-
* bhsb"ti in tthi t,f out tcwt.iut:atrinunal,
chrrigte its. s and rr.gulationt, era y
sc.+. as, *rat leases nom for re R.A.t .6.).1 or appeal to
"our' vv. J

At •Isi. leerier ie the year, tree eresidef twer rnits,
revs in these, see perceive thatit
consists of the ar7regate of crowded rooms, chalked
re and S'lTiltatoii !Amps. When these are di.-
rci died by the able historian whree province it is to
record .iihh aasocialons, We seem to have all which
association can 'give ns. In those splendid entertain-
ments which fiarmerly were denominated dinners and
suppers,. but which, by a fortunate coalition, are
thrown into one, and called dinner-apprre, taste is
displayed.in an exhibition of articles, some of which
are not intended, and some are unit to be eat ; aad
extreme taste, or that which melds and receives the
eulogiums of the historians above mentioned, consists
in the lateness of- the hour of assernbling. Hence
some have supposed that taste is innie particularly
conneted with midnight, and that the light ort/se
sun, for some reasons not openly avowed, has ofiate
years become particularly obnoxious to persons of
true taste.
When we have once agreed to regulate our time
by the principles of taste, It h but a slight transition
to place our dress under he same controul ; but here
it must be confessed we are every day. departing fir-
ther and farther from any thing like a standard. .f'k
few years ago, taste prescribed that dress should nbt
only be applied to decorate the person, but to become
an integral part of the human body ; hence the ad-
dition of cork rumps, wax bosoms, and other articles
retessary to complete the Went which nature had
very unaccauntably left unfinished. But taste, wlffeh
sometimes enjoins superfinities,-will at others deny
its votaries common necessaries ; and accordingly
has lately prescribed tllat nature, which by the for-
mer experrments was found incapable of improve-
ment, should be publicly exposed, and those objets
displayed which had been concealed for near a cen-
tury before. This is now in a great measure, true
:ewe, and has been attended with some very singular
effeets in the rfanufaCturing world. We arc assured
by an eminent artist that a dress may now be made
so exceedingly fine and thin,that it may he either
carried in a
.pocket-book, or conveyed by the two-
.penny post to any part ate town.
But while this taste pre *veils With the female hahi.
.liments, the gentlemen have a rule of taste peculiar
to themselves, and which can best be descrhedby
saying, that it is the very reverse of the 'former.—
'With the ladies, it is the objet to thew h. s little will
do for dress;' with the gentlemen. how 7 lch they
ran carry without fatigue. Hence the total ...istise
ilk, linen and cambric, andthe substitution of broad
cloth and leather. But this too is taste, and as such has
the effea't of law. The lords of the creation have
tailors and hoot-makers for their preceptor!' • and '
es or coachmen fur their examples. With such
usMiiiin, how can they be otherwise than deeply
learned in affairs of taste
In cur amusements, we have likewise a taste ap-
propriate to them. This in the drama is nn longer
the province of the author, but of the scene-painter,
the scene-shifter, and the carpenter ; nor would it
be just to deprive the musical composer of his due
share in this compound taste. fur he haedone won-
den. By dressing the author's cii.dugue sometimes
in a solemn suite of semibreves, and sometimes in the
plain garb of minions ; by sometimes helping him
out with crochets, and sometimes pricking him on
with quavers and semiquavers, he has given to gross
• nonsense a refined taste, and has kept incapacity out
of sight with astonielling ingenuity.
In ixeee:, too, there is a 'taste .not very different
from this ; foe as in the drama our taste depends on
the painter, and carpenter, and the musician, so in
bnuks we owe it to the stationer, the printer, the en-
graver, and the book-binder. The seilioner affords
cepiatine wire-wove paper 'last-pressed ; the printer
supplies types as fine as copper-plates, " with a ri-
vulet or tertaintriag through a meadow a margin;"
t,lll binder makes the author pale far a man of taste,
ete repot& . cometwet. col. tire draurst. &c.
or depot, ft& or Metter* fsaul. elerees.
But tine?` evvvy. kartic °lime has a taste affixed
w. it. it ,Itl/40t be luneeiled that some have very
scrrat objectj't to the word, and at firftetit, if
slot itseorred,. another is substi-
eur infoteiation be
wad :which is. yet e.neualftteragible, amid • cor!se-
qui:coif better adapted to ittneral'PlitPoich- This
is ST Yt. L. Oile man lives 44 a autty genteel style,
while ar.a..ber rixle his hot* '.%St buialaY,, in the
M. diadons s stylepark, a very :pretty 'style.
of itatettls triton .11.1Partalt but, eat
more than. bits Hoby'r. kyle of butt-`opt;
Fe='s styk oT oratory•is that
'or Demosthenes, bur tat comparison has vet-been
found for the stylipirewhich Lady ball-room
Was chalked last Wedneday. 'Few men are much
eanneneedial for their prudent coeduEt irralomestic
arrangeim.ts, but some of the most Celebrated he-
roes of Bond-street are celebrated for doing things
4:4*Ps •
05,thy...g01r4.1 is the application of this Magicalword,
itei'biuper critics have had a prodigious ad-
, &Lim to thew necessar! rimployments, and are
ioinetimelhisatiatint-bn the style ofan Epic Poem,
and sometimes deskintink oil •style of a grand
Jiener ; sumetimes roman: deg the style of a treaty,