xx THE TRUE STANDARD OF THE BEAUTIFUL 353 



greatest modern artists which adorn the Academy walls. It 

 is, however, quite possible, or even probable, that some of us 

 may think the present fashionable shape the more beautiful of 

 the two. In such case it would be well to pause to consider 

 whether we are sure that our judgment is sound on the subject. 

 Let us remember that to the Australian the nose-peg is an 

 admired ornament ; that to the Thlinkeet, the Botocudo, and 

 the Bongo negro, the lip dragged down by the heavy plug, and 

 the ears distended by huge discs of wood, are things of beauty ; 

 that the Malay prefers teeth that are black to those of the 

 most pearly whiteness ; that the native American despises the 

 form of a head not flattened down like a pancake, or elongated 

 like a sugar-loaf, and then let us carefully ask ourselves 

 whether we are sure that in leaving nature as a standard of 

 the beautiful, and adopting a purely conventional one, we 

 are not falling into an error exactly similar to that of all 

 these people whose tastes we are so ready to condemn. 



The fact is, that in admiring such distorted forms as the 

 constricted waist and symmetrically pointed foot, we are 

 opposing our judgment to that of the Maker of our bodies ; 

 we are neglecting the criterion afforded by nature ; we are 

 departing from the highest standard of classical antiquity : 

 we are simply putting ourselves on a level in point of taste 

 with those Australians, Botocudos, and Negroes. We are 

 taking fashion, and nothing better, higher, or truer, for our 

 guide ; and after the( various examples which have now been 

 brought forward, may we not well ask, with Shakespeare, 



" SEEST THOU NOT, WHAT A DEFORMED THIEF THIS FASHION is ?" 



2 A 



