Victorian Tuning, "usual" or "best"?

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Greetings all, 

So, I posted:
> it is my understanding that "best" derives
>from the "best" tuner at Broadwood in 1885.  
and Bill replies: 
> the reason he was considered "best" is that his tunings were "more" equal,  

     Hmm, I have to hit the brakes here, this may be a "respectful
disagreement" or just another possibility we should consider.  Two points
1.  Is it not possible that this man could have tuned closer to ET than he
did, and the deviations from strict ET we see in his tuning are not haphazard
errors, but rather, a carefully crafted bias in the notes that would give a
little color without any offense?
     I personally like this explanation, because it appeals to my faith in the
organic human qualities taking precedence over strict mathematics......and it
is highly unlikely that random errors would produce a temperament so finely
balanced.  (This is the "It wasn't an accident, I did it on purpose!" theory).

2)   If today we can find greater beauty in a "Victorian" temperament than in
"perfect" ET, would that also not be true of 115 years ago?  I don't think
factory tuners would have been the proponents of change anymore back then than
now. (now THERE'S some unavoidable flame bait, I know there are exceptions,
but it is part of the historical record and will come up again in the future).
This is the "If it is good for me, it must have been good for Pa"  theory. 

I suggest that "best" might be culturally defined as logically as defining it
by comparison to ET.  

>The "usual" has more definition, according to Skip.

   I agree.  If it is definition we want, this is a better place to get it.
People treat tonal color in music much like salt in food.  A lot of it is
prior exposure.    Some like way too much, others simply cannot stand to have
any.  Sometimes its everywhere and we forget how much of it we are getting.
Sometimes there is none and we begin to feel unsatisfied.  But sometimes, it
is perfectly balanced, and those rare times are the ones that remain in our
memory as inspiration. 
  All of the tunings are good, but not for all of the music or all of the
people.  
   As Owen J. said, "there has never been an improvement in temperament".
This statement is necessarily based on some values getting put up somewhere,
and history teaches us that those values change.  It is rare that the change
can be so clearly seen as in the last 10 years, but with the history of
intonation being one of constantly shortening periods in which a given system
prevails, who can tell what sort of evolutionary cycle we are on?  oh there is
more, but my thread has begun turning to lint. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote