 Voltaire describes good taste as a combination of sentiment and erudition. In his article “Taste” in the Encyclopédie, he gives the example of a young man who cries at a theatrical performance. Voltaire demands that this spontaneous reaction eventually be backed up by an understanding of the reasons why the play had this effect on him—namely, rules such as the Aristotelean unities. The experience is similar to that described by Crousaz, except that the latter describes the ideal artistic reception as an immediate sentiment that is later confirmed by reason rather than rules. As for more extensive thoughts on beauty, however, Voltaire scholars affirm in their works devoted to his role as critic that he did not have an all-encompassing aesthetic theory. Instead, he made pronouncements on taste in the arts on a case-by-case basis, with a clear preference for Greco-Roman conventions, but still willing to make exceptions for certain passages by great writers who broke these rules, such as Shakespeare.