lost
pieces which every research scholar hoped someday to discover.

In 1935 it appeared that the search was over. Among some manuscripts
of Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi, long hidden in Wales, was found a printed copy
of an anonymous _Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, and of
the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty_, which seemed to be the lost essay.
The date was correct; the _Enquiry_ was dedicated to Mrs. Montagu; it
contained a quotation from Dr. Johnson; and, best of all, there was
attached to the pamphlet a copy (in an unidentified handwriting) of
Johnson's well-known letter to Miss Reynolds concerning her essay.

Only one thing stood squarely in the way of the identification. James
Northcote in his _Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds_, published in 1818 (II,
116-19), after describing Johnson's connection with the manuscript,
gives two pages of short excerpts. Most of the quotations are general
statements such as "Dress is the strong indication of the moral
character" or "The fine arts comprehend all that is excellent in the
moral system, and, at the same time, open every path that tends to the
corruption of moral excellence." Unfortunately none of these excerpts
appears directly in the _Enquiry_. Although some of the ideas are
similar, the wording and specific details are different. By no stretch
of the imagination could they be considered to come from the same
piece. Thus Northcote blocked the solution of the mystery for nearly
fifteen years.

Recently, however, evidence has turned up which makes the attribution
a certainty. It is now obvious that Northcote must have been mistaken
in the source of his quotations. Writing as he did many years after
the events he was describing, Northcote either had found a copy of
the first draft of Miss Reynolds' essay, or erroneously quoted from
another anonymous piece which he assumed was by Miss Reynolds. In any
event he was not quoting from the final version which she wished the
world to see.

The story of Miss Reynolds' attempts to publish her essay can at
last be pieced together from various bits of evidence, some hitherto
unpublished. Just when the essay was written is uncertain. All that
we know is that a preliminary version was submitted to the rigorous
criticism of Dr. Johnson in 1781. Johnson, who had corrected some of
her verses in red ink the year before, commented on 21 July 1781:

There is in these such force of comprehension, and such nicety
of observation as Loc