BEAUTY. 803 



because wc see in her face evident signs of intelli- 

 gence, of tenderness, of delicate feeling, of iino 

 syinpatljy ; and these positive good qualities may 

 more than outbalance any slight want of physical 

 stamina. But in all such instances it is only that 

 one element of perfect beauty is wanting — in no 

 circumstances could we call anvbodv handsome in 

 whom there was a positive cleliciency even of 

 physical perfection, such as a very frightful face, 

 or a very distorted featu'-e, or a very bloated and 

 unwholesome countenance. 



Intellectual qualities are equally necessary in 

 order to make u face truly beautiful in any high 

 or thorough sense. A very low or narrow fore- 

 head — not one on which merely the hair growu 

 low, but a naturally contracted brc ., — is far from 

 our ideal of beauty cither in man or woman. A 

 dull and heavy eye is unpleasant to us — a bright, 

 intelligent, speaking eye, on the other hand, 

 immediately attracts us. Much of what we call 

 expression in ordinary language is really the 

 external indication of a quick and vivid native 

 intellect; and, however much we may admire in 

 repose, especially in sculpture, a clear-cut and 

 statuesque face devoid of movement, we never 

 admire it so much in actual life as one of those 

 faces in which the signs of inner thought .^nd 

 passing feeling are ah 'ays coming and going" in 

 ceaseless change upon the ever-varying and re- 



