' THE DEWY MORN ' 241 



to express beauty you must delineate the adipose tissue ; 

 the knee is the exception. 



' Here the bone — the knee-cap — is but thinly covered, 

 and there is cartilage and sinew ; not much more than the 

 skin hides them. Here is the only place where the bone 

 and sinew can approach the surface — can be recognized — • 

 and yet not interfere with the sense of loveliness. Why 

 so ? 



' Because at this centre motion commences ; the idea of 

 motion is inseparable from it, motion in graceful lines. 

 In walking it is the knee that gives the step, in the dance, 

 stooping to gather flowers, bending to prayer ; from the 

 knee passion springs to the arms of her lover. We have 

 seen these movements and admired them, and the eye 

 transfers their grace to the knee. 



' But it is also of itself shaped. There alone the bone 

 and sinew assume an exquisite form. I cannot tell you 

 why the human heart yearns towards that which is 

 rounded, smooth, shapely ; it is an instinct in the depth 

 of our nature. 



' The knee is so very human, so nearly sorrowful in its 

 humanity ; sorrow seeks its knees, sadness bends on them, 

 love desiring in secret does so on its knees. They have 

 been bent in many moods in so many lands so many many 

 centuries past. Human life is centred in the knee. In 

 the knee we recognize all that the heart has experienced. 



' Beautiful knees, the poise and centre of the form ! 

 Were I rich, how gladly I would give a thousand pounds 

 for a true picture of the knee ! and if the coloured shadow 

 on canvas were worth so much, how many times multiplied 

 the value of the original reality ! 



' However indifferent the person may be — the individual 

 — to see the knee is to love it for itself. 



' The shadow of the upper one partially encroached on 

 the lower ; round about the under knee, too, the short 

 grass rose. Immediately behind, the least way higher 

 than the upper knee, the bullion fringe of the tunic 

 drooped across the white skin. Her left hand rested 



16 



