A sense of the utility of such a design has prompted me to attempt a subject, which, although accurately investigated by foreign writers, seems not, in our own country, to have met with the attention it deserves. Since, as secretary to the academy, I am, on solemn occasions, permitted to deliver my sentiments before so respectable an assembly, that privilege, I presume, cannot be used more agreeably to my fellow academicians, than when, under the guidance of those models, which they have thought worthy of consulting, I endeavour to discriminate the grand principles of taste, and to determine the degree of certainty of which they are susceptible.
In executing this design, I discharge at the same time the most delightful of duties, by expressing the gratitude of the academy to its august founder and generous protector, as this cannot be more forcibly exhibited than by procuring esteem for pursuits which he vouchsafes to encourage. This esteem must be supported by certainty and conviction. Though perpetually exposed to deceit and error, man, thirsting after truth, cannot rest from painful research till he arrives at some undoubted conclusion. The most enchanting pleasures vanish, when we begin to disbelieve their principles. On the least suspicion of fallacy, our adoration is converted into contempt. Behold that idol, to whom with profound veneration the prostrate million look up: destroy the persuasion of its divinity, and suddenly the mighty god will change to a shapeless block of marble, and not a single worshipper will approach his desolated shrine.
