BEAUTY. 



381 



Beauty, because it is that allotted to the royal family. In 

 y~~ Spain and Venice, on the contrary, black is a lively 

 colour, because .t is this that distinguishes the dress 

 of the great. All this serves very plainly to shew, 

 that the character of colour depends more upon the 

 qualities with which it is associated, than upon any 

 thing inherent in its own nature. 



That the beauty of colour is to be ascribed to ex- 

 pression, farther appears from this, that those co- 

 lours which, in general, we call beautiful, cease to be 

 so when associated with mean ideas ; and that the 

 most indifferent colours become beautiful, in conse- 

 quence of dignified associations. The colours which 

 distinguish the dress of the common people are never 

 considered as beautiful, although often the most 

 brilliant of the rainbow ; while those which are worn 

 by the gay and the fashionable, become immediately 

 pleasing, whatever my be the disagreeable associa- 

 tions with which they are more directly connected. 

 ' A plain man," says Mr Alison, " would scarcely 

 believe, that the colours of a glass bottle, of a dead 

 leaf, of clay, &c. could ever be beautiful ; yet with- 

 in these few years, not only these, but some much 

 Biore unpleasant colours that might be mentioned, 

 have been fashionable and admired. As soon, how- 

 ever, as the fashion changes, as soon as they whose 

 rank or accomplishments give this fictitious value to 

 the colours they wear, think proper to desert them, 

 so soon the beauty of the colour is at an end." (Es- 

 say ii. ch. ii. sect. 2.) In the same manner, the co- 

 lours of common implements, or pieces of furniture, 

 are never admired ; while those of mahogany, cedar, 

 sattin-wood, &c. although far from naturally plea- 

 sing, are, on account of the costliness of the mate- 

 rials, preferred by us to the most brilliant colours 

 with which these valuable woods could be painted. 



We come now to the beauty of forms, the most 

 difficult branch of the subject, and that on which 

 Mr Alison has exhibited the greatest portion of ori- 

 ginality and ingenuity. It seems to have been im- 

 plicitly assumed by all preceding inquirers into the 

 characteristics of beauty, that some forms were es- 

 sentially, and, by their very nature, more beautiful 

 than others ; hence the ideal line of beauty and of 

 grace, the serpentine, and gradually curling outline 

 of Mr Hogarth and his followers. Mr Alison seems 

 completely to have proved, that forms are beautiful, 

 solely in consequence of association, and of the qua- 

 lities of which they are expressive ; that all forms 

 are beautiful which are expressive of delicacy or ten- 

 derness ; that the angular form, when it has this 

 expression, is reckoned as beautiful as the curvili- 

 near ; and that the curvilinear, when it is deprived 

 pf this expression, ceases any longer to be beautiful. 



The cause of the general prejudice in favuur of 

 the winding line, as constituting the true line of 

 beauty, is thus satisfactorily explained by Mr Ali- 

 son : " The great*. r part of these bodies in nature, 

 which possets hardness, strength, or durability, are 

 distinguished by angular forms. The greater part 

 of those bodies, on the contrary, which possess 

 weakness, fragility, or delicacy, are distinguished 

 by winding or curvilinear forms. In the mineral 

 kingdom, all rocks, stones, and metals, the hardest 

 and most durable bodies we know, assume universal- 



ly angular forms. In the vegetable kingdom, all 

 strong and durable plants are in general distinguish- 

 ed by similar forms. The feebler and more delicate 

 race of vegetables, on the contrary, are mostly dis- 

 tinguished by winding forms. In the animal king- 

 dom, in the same manner, strong and powerful ani- 

 mals are generally characterised by angular forms : 

 feeble and delicate animals, by forms of the contra 

 kind. I11 consequence of this very general connec- 

 tion in nature, these different forms become expres- 

 sive to us of the different qualities of strength and 

 delicacy. In all those bodies which have a progress, 

 or which grow and decay within our own observa- 

 tion, the same character of form is observable. In 

 the vegetable kingdom, the infancy or youth of plants 

 is in general distinguished by winding forms. The 

 infancy and youth of animals is, in the same manner, 

 distinguished by winding or serpentine forms. Their 

 mature and perfect age, by forms more direct and 

 angular. In consequence of this connection, forms 

 of the first kind become in such cases expressive to 

 us of infancy, and tenderness, and delicacy ; and 

 those of the second kind of maturity, and strength, 

 and vigour. Besides these very obvious associa- 

 tions, it is also to be observed, that, from the sense 

 of touch, angular forms are expressive to us of 

 roughness, sharpness, harshness ; winding forms, on 

 the contrary, of softness, smoothness, delicacy, aufl 

 fineness; and this connection is so permanent, that 

 we immediately infer the existence of these qualities 

 when the bodies are only perceived by the eye. 

 These is a very strong analogy between such quali- 

 ties as are perceived by the sense of touch, and certain 

 qualities of mind, as in all languages such qualities 

 are expressed by terms drawn from the perceptions 

 of the external sense. Such forms, therefore, when 

 presented to the eye, not only lead us to infer those- 

 material qualities which are perceived by the sense of 

 touch, but, along with these, to infer also tho6e 

 qualities of mind, which, from analogy, are signified 

 by such qualities of matter ; and to feel from them 

 some degree of that emotion which these dispositions 

 of mind themselves are fitted to produce." Essay 

 ii. ch. iv. sect. 1. part 2. 



That it is only in consequence of the expression 

 of delicacy, that the winding form is esteemed beau- 

 tiful, may be inferred from this, that when this ex- 

 pression or association is destroyed, the form imme- 

 diately loses its beauty. It is possible, by mechani- 

 cal means, to bend bars of metal into waving lines ; 

 but the effect is far from pleasing, because instead 

 of delicacy, it becomes expressive of force and con- 

 straint ; and if in any case such forms exhibited in 

 metal are pleasing, it is when the material is brought 

 to a very line texture, as in the imitation of delicate 

 shrubs ; or when the workmanship is so exquisite, 

 as to bestow en the subject a character of delicacy, 

 which does not properly belong to it. Neither is 

 the crooked or curvilinear form pleasing in the 

 stems or branches of trees, or in the more robust 

 plants ; because here, instead of being expressive c 

 ease, it rather denotes force and constraint. 



But again, angular forms themselves are beautiful, 

 when expressive of fineness, tenderness, or delicacy. 

 " The myrtle, for instance," says Mr Alison, " is 



Beauty. 



