﻿THE 
  FACT 
  OF 
  BEAUTY 
  277 
  

  

  The 
  main 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  answer 
  which 
  we 
  would 
  suggest 
  

   is 
  simple. 
  Keeping 
  to 
  those 
  combinations 
  and 
  arrangements 
  

   of 
  lines 
  and 
  colours 
  which 
  are 
  the 
  expression 
  of 
  development, 
  

   growth, 
  and 
  activity, 
  what 
  strikes 
  us 
  as 
  characteristic 
  is 
  their 
  

   harmony. 
  The 
  expert 
  in 
  these 
  matters 
  is 
  of 
  course 
  the 
  artist, 
  

   the 
  producer 
  of 
  the 
  beautiful 
  and 
  of 
  more 
  than 
  beauty, 
  and 
  

   his 
  verdict 
  almost 
  without 
  exception 
  is 
  that 
  every 
  one 
  of 
  

   these 
  wild 
  creatures 
  is 
  an 
  artistic 
  unity. 
  The 
  simple 
  reason 
  

   for 
  this 
  is 
  that 
  the 
  lines 
  and 
  the 
  colours, 
  in 
  their 
  arrange- 
  

   ments 
  and 
  combinations, 
  'are 
  the 
  expression 
  of 
  unified 
  viable 
  

   individualities 
  which 
  have 
  stood 
  the 
  test 
  of 
  time. 
  Perhaps 
  

   this 
  is 
  in 
  agreement 
  with 
  Signer 
  Croce's 
  definition 
  of 
  beauty 
  

   as 
  " 
  successful 
  expression 
  ". 
  In 
  the 
  age-long 
  struggle 
  for 
  

   existence 
  the 
  unharmonious, 
  the 
  ' 
  impossible 
  ', 
  have 
  been 
  

   always 
  weeded 
  out 
  before 
  they 
  took 
  firm 
  root 
  and 
  multiplied. 
  

   The 
  monster 
  is 
  a 
  contradiction 
  in 
  terms. 
  Meredith 
  put 
  it 
  

   all 
  in 
  a 
  nutshell 
  when 
  he 
  said 
  " 
  Ugly 
  is 
  only 
  half 
  way 
  to 
  a 
  

   thing 
  ". 
  Nature 
  pronounces 
  her 
  verdict 
  on 
  ugliness 
  by 
  

   eliminating 
  it. 
  Beauty 
  is 
  Nature's 
  stamp 
  of 
  approval 
  on 
  

   harmonious 
  viable 
  individuality, 
  and 
  just 
  as, 
  objectively, 
  

   the 
  ugly 
  is 
  only 
  halfway 
  to 
  a 
  thing, 
  a 
  too 
  incomplete 
  ex- 
  

   pression, 
  so 
  is 
  it 
  subjectively. 
  As 
  Professor 
  Bosanquet 
  puts 
  

   it 
  (1915), 
  the 
  imagination 
  is 
  " 
  at 
  once 
  excited 
  in 
  a 
  particular 
  

   direction 
  and 
  thwarted 
  in 
  it 
  ". 
  

  

  But 
  there 
  is 
  another 
  side 
  to 
  it. 
  In 
  the 
  course 
  of 
  hundreds 
  

   of 
  thousands 
  of 
  years 
  our 
  senses 
  have 
  become 
  attuned 
  to 
  the 
  

   natural. 
  We 
  have 
  unconscious 
  or 
  conscious 
  standards 
  of 
  

   line 
  and 
  colour, 
  of 
  sound 
  and 
  movement. 
  Just 
  as 
  a 
  discord 
  

   may 
  break 
  a 
  precious 
  glass 
  vessel 
  by 
  setting 
  up 
  contradictory 
  

   vibrations, 
  so 
  there 
  are 
  colour-schemes 
  that 
  almost 
  literally 
  

   jar, 
  and 
  muddy 
  colours 
  that 
  are 
  as 
  painful 
  as 
  noises. 
  The 
  

   big 
  result 
  remains, 
  that 
  the 
  combinations 
  of 
  lines 
  and 
  colours 
  

  

  