The Connexion Between Taste and Morals: Two lectures

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THE
CONNEXION
BETWEEN
TASTE AND MORALS:
TWO LECTURES
MARK HOPKINS, D. D. PRESIDENT OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
Boston: PUBLISHED BY DUTTON AND WENTWORTH. 1841.
LECTURE I.
Is the prevalence of a cultivated taste, favorable to morals? Is there a connexion, either in individuals, or in communities, between good taste and good morals?
When I began to reflect upon this point with reference to a public discussion of it, I put the above questions to three educated men, as I happened to meet them. The first said, he had not thought of it, but that, at the first view, he did not believe there was any such connexion; the second said he should wish to see it proved before he would believe it; and the third said, he thought there was such a connexion. This difference of opinion among educated men, led me to think that an investigation of the subject might be a matter of interest, and perhaps of profit. As every thing, in this country, depends upon a sound state of morals in the community, whatever bears upon that, deserves our most careful scrutiny.