BEAUTY. 



379 



Boauty. mony of sound ; from general theorems, &c. But 

 "" v ' there may be a ~~eat deal of beauty where there is 

 no variety at all, as in a single agreeable colirur, or a 

 single melodious sound ; and many beautiful objects 

 have a variety amounting to intricacy. In the beau- 

 ties of nature, we must take into the account sim- 

 plicity, elegance, delicacy, and a number of qualities 

 which are totally disregarded in the theory of Dr 

 Hutcheson. 



The ingenious Mr Hogarth, in his Analysis of 

 Beauty, seems to consider variety as its most essen- 

 tial characteristic : he enumerates, indeed, five other 

 qualities, as contributing to our approbation of beau- 

 tiful objects, namely, fitness, uniformity, simplicity, 

 intricacy, and quantity ; but rather as secondary and 

 subsidiary causes of this approbation, than as the 

 primary and essential requisites of beauty. He ex- 

 pressly lays it down, that " those lines which have 

 most variety in themselves contribute most towards 

 the production of beauty ;" and that the most beau- 

 tiful line by which a surface can be bounded, is the 

 waving, or serpentine, or that which continually and 

 imperceptibly deviates from the straight line. This, 

 which is so frequently exhibited in shells, flowers, 

 and other pleasing productions of nature, he calls 

 the line of beauty ; and another line, which he calls 

 the line of grace, is the same waving curve twisted 

 spirally round a solid body, as in the worm of a com- 

 mon jack, or the horns of various animals. On the 

 curling worm-wheel of the jack, Mr Hogarth des- 

 cants with peculiar delight. It is, he says, always 

 leasing, either at rest or in motion ; but particul- 

 arly attractive when in motion. " I never can for- 

 get," he adds, " my frequent strong attention to it 

 when I was very young ; and that its beguiling move- 

 ment gave me the same kind of sensation then, which 

 I since have felt at seeing a country dance, though 

 perhaps the latter might be somewhat more enga- 

 ging, particularly when my eye eagerly pursued a 

 favourite dancer, through all the windings of the fi- 

 gure." Analysis of Beauty, ch. v. 



Mr Hogarth's theory, like that of Dr Hutcheson, 

 undoubtedly takes too limited a view of the sources 

 of the beautiful. Many other qualities, besides gra- 

 dual variation of outline, have a share in producing 

 this effect, while many beautiful forms may be point- 

 ed out, in which the straight line entirely predomi- 

 nates. This we shall immediately have occasion to 

 illustrate more particularly ; and in the mean time 

 shall be content with observing, that the Grecian 

 nose, which is perfectly straight, has as many ad- 

 mirers as the Roman, with all the advantages of its 

 graceful curvature. 



Various authors, as if despairing of being able to 

 resolve beauty into its absolute essence, have content- 

 ed themselves with an enumeration of the various qua- 

 lities which most eminently distinguish beautiful ob- 

 jects ; and which may therefore be said to form the 

 constituents of beauty. In an ingenious performance 

 called Crito, or a Dialogue on Beauty, ascribed to the 

 author of Polymelia, the constituent qualities of beau- 

 ty, at least in the female sex, arc reduced to four ; 

 vi/.. colour, form, expression, and grace ; the two 

 former of which may be called the body, and the two 

 latter the soul of beauty. Mr Burke is inclined to 



l.i 



consider beauty as a quality in bodies acting mecha- 

 nically upon the human mind, through the medium 

 of the senses, and arising from the following particu- 

 lars : smallness of size, smoothness, gradual variation 

 of outline, delicacy, and colour. This, at best, can 

 be looked upon only as an enumeration of beautiful 

 qualities, and not an analysis of beauty itself. But 

 even contemplated as a mere enumeration, this ac- 

 count of the matter is very unsatisfactory ; for we 

 have just seen that gradual variation of outline is by 

 no means essential to beauty ; and so far is smallness 

 of size from being so, that Mr Hogarth, as above 

 mentioned, considers quantity, or greatness of dimen- 

 sion, as an important constituent of beautiful objects. 



The insufficiency of all those systems that attempt 

 to reduce beauty to certain permanent and invariable 

 qualities in objects, has been very satisfactorily proved 

 by Mr Alison, in his Essays on the Nature and Prin- 

 ciples of Taste, in consequence of a very careful and 

 judicious examination of the distinguishing properties 

 of all those objects that we denominate beautiful. 

 " It should seem," says this ingenious author, " that 

 a very simple and a very obvious principle is sufficient 

 to guide our investigation into the source of the beau- 

 ty of the qualities of matter. If these qualities are 

 in themselves fitted to produce the emotion of beauty, 

 (or, in other words, are in themselves beautiful,) I 

 think it is obvious that they must produce this emo- 

 tion, independently of any association. If, on the 

 contrary, it is found, that these qualities only produce 

 such emotion when they are associated with interest- 

 ing or affecting qualities ; and that when such asso- 

 ciations are destroyed, they no longer produce the 

 same emotion, I think it must also be allowed, that 

 their beauty is to be ascribed, not to the material, 

 but to the associated qualities." (Essay 2.) Hav- 

 ing laid down this general principle, Mr Alison pro- 

 ceeds to examine whatever is considered as beautiful 

 in the material world, contemplated under the various 

 aspects of sounds, colours, forms, and motions ; and 

 inters, that it is principally, or solely in consequence 

 of association, that we ascribe beauty to many of 

 these, and not in consequence of any permanent mate- 

 rial qualities ; because he finds nothing in the quali- 

 ties themselves when simply considered, calculated to 

 raise any emotion in the mind ; because it is only 

 with persons who have such associations that these 

 qualities are considered as beautiful, and because, 

 when these associations are destroyed, the beauty of 

 the qualities is destroyed at the same time. 



A few examples will render this doctrine intelli- 

 gible to our readers ; and first in the case of sounds. 

 With respect to musical sounds, the most extensively 

 pleasing of this class, Mr Alison is of opinion, that 

 there are two distinct species of pleasure of which 

 they are productive. 1. That mechanical pleasure, 

 which, by the constitution of our nature, accompanies 

 the perception of a regular succession of related 

 sounds. 2. That pleasure which such compositions 

 of sound may produce, cither by the expression of 

 some pathetic or interesting affection ; or by being 

 the sign of some pleasing or valuable quality, either 

 in the composition or the performance. That musi- 

 cal sounds are calculated to please in consequence of 

 the original constitution of our nature, is plainly 



Beauty. 



