V 



EARS 



Men and women have ears, and so have jugs and 

 pitchers. In the latter case they are useful : jugs 

 and pitchers are lifted by them. And what is useful 

 is fit, and fitness is the first condition of beauty. 

 But human ears are put to no use, except sometimes 

 when naughty little boys are lifted by them in the 

 way of discipline ; and I can see no beauty in them. 

 It is only because they are so common that we do 

 not notice how ridiculous they are. In the days of 

 Charles I. men sometimes had their ears cut off for 

 holding wrong opinions, which would have made 

 them famous and popular in these enlightened days, 

 but at that time it made all right-thinking people 

 despise them, so the fashion of going without ears 

 did not spread among us. If it had, then how 

 differently we should all think of the matter now ! 

 If we were all accustomed to neat, round heads at 

 drawing-rooms, levees and balls, how repulsive it 

 would be to see a well-dressed man with two ridiculous, 

 wrinkled appendages sticking out from the sides of 

 his face ! 



In saying this I am not drawing on my fancy, 



