his attention to this
subject may, however, at first have some difficulty in distinguishing
between the noble grotesque of these great nations, and the barbarous
grotesque of mere savages, as seen in the work of the Hindoo and other
Indian nations; or, more grossly still, in that of the complete savage
of the Pacific islands; or if, as is to be hoped, he instinctively
feels the difference, he may yet find difficulty in determining wherein
that difference consists. But he will discover, on consideration, that
the noble grotesque _involves the true appreciation of beauty_, though
the mind may wilfully turn to other images or the hand resolutely stop
short of the perfection which it must fail, if it endeavored, to reach;
while the grotesque of the Sandwich islander involves no perception or
imagination of anything above itself. He will find that in the exact
proportion in which the grotesque results from an incapability of
perceiving beauty, it becomes savage or barbarous; and that there are
many stages of progress to be found in it even in its best times, much
truly savage grotesque occurring in the fine Gothic periods, mingled
with the other forms of the ignoble grotesque resulting from vicious
inclinations or base sportiveness. Nothing is more mysterious in the
history of the human mind, than the manner in which gross and ludicrous
images are mingled with the most solemn subjects in the work of the
middle ages, whether of sculpture or illumination; and although, in
great part, such incongruities are to be accounted for on the various
principles which I have above endeavored to define, in many instances
they are clearly the result of vice and sensuality. The general
greatness of seriousness of an age does not effect the restoration of
human nature; and it would be strange, if, in the midst of the art even
of the best periods, when that art was entrusted to myriads of workmen,
we found no manifestations of impiety, folly, or impurity.

Sec. LXXI. It needs only to be added that in the noble grotesque, as it is
partly the result of a morbid state of the imaginative power, that power
itself will be always seen in a high degree; and that therefore our
power of judging of the rank of a grotesque work will depend on the
degree in which we are in general sensible of the presence of invention.
The reader may partly test this power in himself by referring to the
Plate given in the opening of this chapter, in which, on the left, is