delectating

So intent were they upon contributing to the comfort of the men who had been wounded in protecting their homes, as they regarded it, that they brought a piano into my ward, and the young ladies vied with each other in delectating us with the Marseillaise, Dixie, and like patriotic songs, interspersing occasionally something about moonlight walks in

Thirteen Months in the Rebel Army Being a Narrative of Personal Adventures in the Infantry, Ordnance, Cavalry, Courier, and Hospital Services; With an Exhibition of the Power, Purposes, Earnestness, Military Despotism, and Demoralization of the South William G. Stevenson

First then, as Fine Art delights in proportion to the delectating interest of the objects it depicts, and, as subsequently stated, grieves or distresses in proportion as the objects are grievous or distressing, we have this resultant: "Fine Art excites in proportion to the excitor influence of the object;" and then, that "fine art excites either the sensory or the mental faculties, in a like proportion to the excitor properties of the objects respectively."

The Germ, Issue #1: Thoughts Toward Nature in Poetry, Literature, and Art Germ: Various Authors 1848