Excerpt from Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Vol. 1 of 2 When we name criticifing, prejudices may perhaps arife, of the fame kind with thofe which I mentioned before with refpefit to rhetoric. As rhetoric has been fometimes thought' to fignify nothing more than the fcholaitic ftudy of words, and phrafes, and trepes, fo criticifm has. Been confidered as merely the art of finding faults as the frigid application 05 certain technical terms, by means of which perfons are taught to cavil and cenfure in a learned manner. But this is the criti cifm of pedants only. True criticifm is a liberal andshumane art. It is the offspring of good fenfe and refined talte. It aims at acquiring a juf't difcernment of the real merit of au thors. It promotes a lively relifh of their beauties, while it preferves us from that blind and implicit veneration which would confound their beauties and faults in our clteem. It teaches us, in a word, to admire and to blame with judgment. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.