ANIMAL BEAUTY 49 



are the elephant, the bison, the buffalo, and the 

 rhinoceros. And it would be hard to discover 

 beauty in any of these. As we see the rhinoceros, 

 for example, in the Zoological Gardens nothing 

 could be more ugly. Yet we should not despair of 

 finding beauty even in a rhinoceros if we could study 

 him in his natural surroundings and understand all 

 the circumstances of his life. If we observed him 

 and his habits and habitat with the knowledge of the 

 naturalist and the keenness of the sportsman, we 

 might find that in his form and colour he does in his 

 own peculiar fashion fitly express the purpose of his 

 being. And whatever adequately expresses a 

 definite purpose is beautiful. Where a dainty ante- 

 lope would be altogether out of place, the ponderous 

 rhinoceros may be completely in his element. 

 Where a tender-skinned horse would be driven mad 

 by insects, the thick-skinned beast passes the time 

 untroubled. In a drawing-room a daintily-dressed 

 lady is a vision of loveliness. In a ploughed field she 

 would look ridiculous. In a drawing-room a peasant 

 would look uncouth. In a field, as Millet has shown 

 us, he possesses a beauty, dignified and touching. 

 It is not impossible, therefore, that an artist who 

 had the opportunity of entering into the life of a 

 rhinoceros, as Millet had of entering into the life of 

 a peasant, might discover beauty even in that 

 monstrosity. This, however, I allow is an extreme 

 case. 



In a less extreme case beauty has already been dis- 

 covered . The bison does not at first sight strike us as 

 a beautiful animal. Yet Mr. Stebbing, the naturalist- 

 sportsman, says that, as he caught sight of one after 



