is sense of the beautiful is a refined and pleasurable
feeling; and, as we shall see, it is traceable to a variety of sources.

+26. Literary Taste.+ Literary taste is that power or faculty of the
mind which apprehends and appreciates what is beautiful and artistic in
literature. It embraces two elements: first, the apprehension of the
aesthetic quality; and secondly, an appreciation or emotional response to
its appeal. These two elements are not always equally developed in the
critic; and it frequently happens that an artistic literary production
affords exquisite pleasure without a clear apprehension of the aesthetic
elements from which the pleasure springs.

In literary criticism, as has already been shown, the standard of taste
is the ideal, developed by an application of necessary and recognized
principles, which the intelligent critic is able to form in every
department of literature. The capacity of taste is a natural gift; but,
like other powers of the mind, it is capable of great development. It is
cultivated by a study of the principles of beauty and by a contemplation
of beautiful objects in nature and art. Bad taste exhibits itself in a
failure to apprehend and appreciate what is genuinely beautiful; it
often mistakes defects for excellences. A refined taste responds to what
is delicate in beauty, and a catholic taste recognizes and responds to
beauty of every kind. The critic who would do honor to his office must
have a taste both refined and catholic.

+27. AEsthetic Elements.+ Literary beauty may pertain either to the
_form_ or to the _content_. Deferring to subsequent chapters the
elements of _external beauty_, we here consider the elements of
_internal beauty_. Though beauty of form and beauty of content may thus
be distinguished, they are always combined in works of the highest
excellence. Both alike have their source in the cultivated, creative
spirit of the writer. They cannot be effectually learned by rule; and
the best training for successful authorship is the development of the
intellectual and moral faculties.

Vividness of description is a frequent source of literary beauty.
Scenes, objects, and events are sometimes so presented as to become
visible to the inner eye. Thus Tennyson describes the flinging of
Arthur's sword:

"The great brand
Made lightnings in the splendor of the moon."

Carlyle was a master of graphic description, and in a few touches he
th