378 



BEAUTY. 



beauty. How well fitted is the wolf for running and 

 ' v -' leaping ! how admirably is the lion armed for battle ! 

 but will any one, therefore, call the elephant, the 

 wolf, and the lion, beautiful animals ? I believe no- 

 body will think the form of a man's legs so well 

 adapted to running as those of a horse, a dog, a deer, 

 and several other creatures; at least they nave not 

 that appearance : yet, I believe, a well-fashioned hu- 

 man leg will be allowed far to exceed all these in 

 beauty." Part iii. sect. 7. 



Again, if, in our own species, beauty were annexed 

 only to usefulness, men would be considered as much 

 more lovely than women ; and strength and agility 

 would be considered as the only beauties. The sto- 

 mach, the lungs, the liver, as well as many other 

 parts of the body, are incomparably well adapted to 

 their purposes: yet they are far from having any 

 beauty. A plough is a highly useful machine, and 

 i xcellently adapted to its end ; yet we by no means 

 consider it as beautiful ; while this term may be pro- 

 perly applied to some insignificant trinket of no va- 

 lue at all. When we examine the structure of a 

 watch, and even come to know thoroughly the use 

 of all its parts, we may indeed admit the fitness of 

 the whole; but are far enough from perceiving any- 

 thing like beauty in the work ; but if its case be 

 curiously chased and engraved, it will excite in us a 

 very lively idea of beauty, although this kind of or- 

 nament is not of the smallest use. It is plain, then, 

 that it is not utility, or the fitness of an object to 

 produce some important end, that constitutes beauty. 



Somewhat allied to the theories already mentioned, 

 is that which ascribes beauty to perfection in a par- 

 ticular kind or species ; or to the exact conformity 

 of an object to the generally prevailing character of 

 the co-related objects. This theory has been adopt- 

 ed and illustrated by the learned and ingenious Fa- 

 ther Baffier. It is supposed to explain, why, in 

 Africa, a black complexion, woolly hair, a flat nose, 

 and thick lips, are esteemed beauties, while their op- 

 posites only are admired in Europe : And it pro- 

 fesses to determine what is justly considered as a de- 

 sideratum, the standard of beauty ; which, according 

 to this theory, is that which is most common to all 

 the individuals of a species ; and of which, though 

 the whole parts may not be found in any one indivi- 

 dual, yet something may be contributed by them all. 

 Specious, however, as this theory seems to be, it 

 will by no means apply in a multiplicity of instances ; 

 for numberless beautiful objects are to be found, 

 which deviate very widely from the common standard 

 of their species. The most common, or standard 

 forms, of any species, are those which are viewed, 

 perhaps, with the greatest indifference, being possess- 

 ed of no other quality than mediocrity, which is as 

 remote from beauty, on the one hand, as it is from 

 deformity on the other. 



" So far is perfection, considered as such, from 

 being the cause of beauty," remarks Mr Burke, 

 " that this quality, where it is highest in the female 

 sex, almost always carries with it an idea of weakness 

 and imperfection. Women are very sensible of this ; 

 for which reason they learn to lisp, to totter in their 

 walk, to counterfeit weakness, and even sickness. 

 Jn all this they are guided by nature. Beauty in 



distress is much the most affecting beauty. Blush- 

 ing has little less power ; and modesty in general, ' 

 which is a tacit allowance of imperfection, is itself 

 considered as an amiable quality, and certainly heigh- 

 tens every other that is so. I know it is in every 

 body's mouth, that we ought to love perfection. 

 This is to me a sufficient proof, that it is not the 

 proper object of love. Who ever said, we ought 

 to love a fine woman, or even any of those beautiful 

 animals which please us I Here to be affected there 

 is no need of the concurrence of our will." Part iii. 

 sect. 10. 



The celebrated Dr Hutcheson of Glasgow propo- 

 sed a theory of beauty, which was greatly admired 

 in its time, and likewise, for a while, very generally 

 adopted. According to this theory, beauty consists 

 in a certain determinate combination of variety of 

 parts, with uniformity of structure. This system, 

 which is sustained by all the formality of mathema- 

 tical demonstration, lays it down, that of two given 

 bodies, if the number of parts be the same, the beau- 

 ty will be as the uniformity of structure ; if the 

 uniformity be the same, the beauty will be as the va- 

 riety of parts ; if neither be the same, the beauty will 

 be in the compound ratio of the variety and unifor- 

 mity. Thus, an equilateral triangle is more beautiful 

 than one with unequal sides, because, with the same 

 number of parts, it possesses more uniformity of 

 structure. A square is more beautiful than an equi- 

 lateral triangle, because, with the same uniformity of 

 structure, it possesses a greater variety of parts. An 

 ellipsis nearly equals the beauty of a circle, because, 

 with less uniformity of structure, it has greater va- 

 riety of parts ; and so forth. 



" The beauty of an equilateral triangle," says Dr 

 Hutcheson, " is less than that of a square, which is 

 less than that of a pentagon, and this again is sur- 

 passed by the hexagon. When, indeed, the number 

 of the sides is much increased, the proportion of them 

 to the radius, or diameter of the figure, is so much 

 lost to our observation, that the beauty does not al- 

 ways increase with the number of sides ; and the 

 want of parallelism, in the sides of heptagons, and 

 other figures of odd numbers, may also diminish their 

 beauty. So in solids, the eicosicdron surpasses the 

 octaedron, which is still more beautiful than the cube, 

 and this again surpasses the regular pyramid ; the 

 obvious ground of this is greater variety with equal 

 uniformity." " Instances of the compound ratio we 

 have, in comparing circles or spheres with ellipses or 

 spheroids, not very eccentric ; and in comparing the 

 compound solids, the exoctaedron, and cicosidode- 

 caedron, with the perfectly regular ones of which 

 they are compounded ; and we shall find, that the 

 want of that most perfect uniformity observable in 

 the latter, is compensated by the greater variety in 

 the others, so that the beauty is nearly equal." In- 

 quiry concerning Beauty, Order, Sfc. p. 16. 



1 his theory may have some plausibility when ap- 

 plied to works of art ; but it is altogether defective 

 when applied to the beauties of nature. Dr Hutcheson, 

 indeed, illustrates his doctrine by examples, deduced 

 not only from artificial figures, but from the outward 

 form and inward structure of animals ; from the pro- 

 portion of their parts to each other ; from the har- 



Beauttv 



