264 On the Principles of Beauty in Colouring. 



the emotion of beauty ; yet it will scarcely be said that sounds 

 without melody or harmony would excite such emotions; — and 

 therefore the beauty of musical compositions must in some mea- 

 sure depend on the succession and combination of agreeable 

 sounds. 



It will be obvious to the reader that I confine the term leau- 

 i'ful, to those emotions which are suggested to the mind by means 

 that are agreeable to the organs of sensation. This forms the 

 distinction between the beautifid and sublime; as it does not ap- 

 pear necessary that sounds should be agreeable to produce the 

 emotion of sublimity. 



I am not aware that the ears of savages and barbarians are 

 in any respect different from those of ether men ; and there are 

 physical reasons from which \vc may conclude that they would 

 be equally sensible of the melody of sound with their more civi- 

 lized brethren, if their natural powers were not vitiated by the 

 powerful influence of early habits. As sound is commnnicated 

 by the vibration of sonorous bodies, when there is not a certain 

 relation between the times of vibration of coexistent sounds, it is 

 obvious that, though the emotion excited may not be absolutely 

 painful, except to a musical ear, yet we feel dissatisfied with it, — 

 habit will make us insensible of the disagreement, and habit will 

 render the ear sensible of it to a painful degree. To what can 

 we attribute the admiration which is excited by the skill and 

 power of the composer, if that skill and power be not directed 

 to the end of producing something agreeable ? And will not the 

 beauty of the composition be in proportion to his success in ren- 

 dering it agreeable to the ear ? 



We know that the eye, when it has adapted itself to a parti- 

 cular degree of light, is painfully affected by a sudden change. 

 The same thing happens, though not in a painful degree, when 

 it has been directed for some time to one colour, and is sud- 

 denly directed towards an opposite colour. The disagree- 

 able effect may be caused by tl.e different-coloured rays being 

 projected on the organ of sensation with different degrees ot ve- 

 locity. But the writer of the article Beaoty {Etinj. Brit.) is 

 not a little sceptical on these subjects, and is mucii more in- 

 clined to ridicule than to investigate. He even supposes that if 

 all the colours in Nature were disposed on a broad pannel, ac- 

 cordhig to the nicest rules of harmony, it would be doubtful if 

 any "grown crcatare" would call the display beautiful*. It 

 would have Iveen better if, before repeating this assertion f, he 

 had procured the assistance of some friendly artist, to transpose 

 for him the colouts of the prismatic spectrum. This simple ex- 



* Edin. Rcnicn-, No. xxxv. p. 37. 1811. f Supp. Ency. Brit. art. 



Hemity, p. 193. 1316. 



periment 



