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  THE 
  FACT 
  OF 
  BEAUTY 
  

  

  " 
  Plant 
  lovelier 
  in 
  its 
  own 
  recess 
  

   Than 
  Grecian 
  naiad 
  seen 
  at 
  earliest 
  dawn 
  

   Tending 
  her 
  font, 
  or 
  Lady 
  of 
  the 
  lake 
  

   Sole 
  sitting 
  by 
  the 
  shores 
  of 
  old 
  romance." 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  first 
  place, 
  our 
  enjoyment 
  has 
  a 
  sensory 
  or 
  physi- 
  

   ological 
  factor. 
  What 
  we 
  see 
  sets 
  up 
  agreeable 
  rhythmic 
  

   processes 
  in 
  our 
  eyes, 
  and 
  agreeable 
  rhythmic 
  messages 
  

   waves 
  of 
  chemical 
  reaction 
  if 
  you 
  will 
  pass 
  to 
  our 
  brain, 
  

   and 
  the 
  good 
  news 
  the 
  pleasedness 
  is 
  echoed 
  throughout 
  

   the 
  body, 
  in 
  the 
  pulse, 
  for 
  instance, 
  and 
  the 
  beating 
  of 
  the 
  

   heart. 
  Wordsworth 
  was 
  a 
  better 
  physiologist 
  than 
  he 
  knew 
  

   when 
  he 
  said, 
  " 
  my 
  heart 
  leaps 
  up 
  when 
  I 
  behold 
  a 
  rainbow 
  

   in 
  the 
  sky 
  ", 
  or 
  again, 
  " 
  And 
  then 
  my 
  heart 
  with 
  pleasure 
  

   fills, 
  and 
  dances 
  with 
  the 
  daffodils 
  ". 
  As 
  with 
  music, 
  so 
  

   with 
  beautiful 
  sights 
  external 
  rhythms 
  are 
  often 
  echoed 
  

   in 
  internal 
  rhythms, 
  and 
  rhythms 
  are 
  pleasant. 
  It 
  is 
  easy 
  

   enough 
  to 
  burlesque 
  the 
  idea 
  of 
  the 
  physiological 
  factor 
  in 
  

   aesthetic 
  delight, 
  but 
  the 
  sensory 
  thrill 
  is 
  always 
  there, 
  and 
  

   in 
  simple 
  cases, 
  where 
  perception 
  is 
  not 
  wide 
  awake, 
  it 
  may 
  

   be 
  predominant. 
  We 
  cannot 
  enter 
  into 
  the 
  difficult 
  question 
  

   of 
  the 
  precise 
  relation 
  of 
  the 
  bodily 
  resonance 
  to 
  the 
  aesthetic 
  

   emotion, 
  in 
  connection 
  with 
  which 
  three 
  views 
  have 
  been 
  

   held. 
  They 
  are 
  thus 
  stated 
  by 
  Sherrington: 
  (a) 
  that 
  emo- 
  

   tion 
  is 
  first 
  aroused 
  and 
  that 
  its 
  nervous 
  correlate 
  excites 
  

   bodily 
  resonance; 
  (&) 
  that 
  the 
  stimulus 
  excites 
  the 
  mind 
  

   and 
  the 
  nervous 
  centres 
  for 
  visceral 
  resonance 
  concurrently 
  ; 
  

   and 
  (c) 
  that 
  the 
  stimulus 
  acts 
  on 
  centres 
  ruling 
  the 
  viscera, 
  

   and 
  that 
  the 
  visceral 
  sensations, 
  laden 
  with 
  affective 
  quality, 
  

   induce 
  the 
  emotion. 
  We 
  adhere 
  to 
  Sherrington's 
  conclusion, 
  

   that 
  the 
  visceral 
  resonance 
  is 
  secondary 
  to 
  the 
  cerebral 
  ex- 
  

   citement 
  and 
  the 
  associated 
  emotion, 
  that 
  it 
  reinforces 
  rather 
  

   than 
  initiates 
  the 
  joy. 
  

  

  