B E A 



B E A 



of which may be called the body, and the two latter, the 

 foul of beauty. As for the beauty of colour, if we allow 

 for affociations and prepolTeflions arifing from difference of 

 climate and peculiarity of conftitution, that have great in- 

 fluence on the internal fenfc, as well as on thofc fenfes that 

 are external, and confequently on the judgment, it feems to 

 depend, according to the common eftimate of mankind, on 

 that quality, as it expred'es perfect health and llvelinefs, and 

 in the fair fcx, foftnefs and delicacy ; nor can any thing be 

 called dcfor.T.ity but what indicates difeafe and decline. 

 Tlie beauty of colour, therefore, is derived from the perfec- 

 tion which it expreffes. " Venuftas et pulchritudo corporis 

 fccerni non poteil a valetudine." Cicero. The moil beauti- 

 - iuiform or proportion of parts, according to this author, is 

 that which indicates delicacy and foftnefs in the fair fcx ; 

 and in the male, either llrengthoragihty ; fo that the beau- 

 ty of form lies altogether in expreflion. With regard to ex- 

 frejjion, he obfcrves, that tliis has greater power than either 

 colour or form ; and that it is only the exprelHon of the 

 tender and kind pafiions that gives beauty ; that all the 

 cruel and unkind ones add to deformity ; and that, on their 

 account, good nature may very properly be faid to be the 

 bell feature, even in the finell face. Modelly, fenfibility, 

 and fweetnefs, blended together, fo as either to enhven or 

 correal each other, give almoll as much attratlion as the 

 paflions are capable of adding to a very pretty face. It is 

 owing to this force of pleafingnefs, which attends all the 

 kinder pafTions, fays this author, that lovers not only feem, 

 but really are, more beautiful to each other than to the reft 

 of the world ; and in their mutual prefence and intercourfc 

 there is, as a French writer has well expreded it, a foul upon 

 their countenances, which does not appear when they are 

 abfent from one another, or even in company that lays a 

 rcllraint upon their features. The laft and nobleft part of 

 beauty is grace, which this author thinks to be incapable of 

 an accurate definition (fee Gr.ice.) All the ingredients 

 of beauty, enumerated and defcribed bv this ingenious au- 

 thor, terminate in expreflion : they exprefs either fome per- 

 tedlion of the body, as a part of the man, and an inilrument 

 of the mind, or fome amiable quality or attribute of the 

 mind itielf. 



Dr. Blair (Leftures vol. i. p. loi, &c.), in his enume- 

 ration of the feparate principles of beauty, in each of 

 thofe clalTcs of objefts, which mod remarkably exhibit 

 it, begins with colour, as affording the limpleft inftance 

 of beauty. With refpedl to this he obferves, that neither 

 variety, nor uniformity, nor any other principle which he 

 knows, can be afligned as the foundation of beauty ; and 

 that it can be referred to no other caufe but the ftrufture of 

 the eye, which determines us to receive certain modifications 

 of the rays of light with more pleafure than others. As this 

 organ varies in dilfercnt perfons, they have their different re- 

 fpeftive favourite colours. In feme cafes, he thinks it pro- 

 bable, that afTociation of ideas has influence on the pleafure 

 which we receive from colour. Green, for inftance, may 

 appear more beautiful, by being conneftcd in our ideas with 

 rurtd profpeils and fcenes ; white, with innocence; blue, with 

 the fercnity of the fky. Independently of fuch affociations, 

 thofe colours, chofen for beauty, are, generally, delicate 

 rather than glaring. Figure opens to us forms of beauty 

 more complex and divcrfified. Under this head, regula- 

 rity is firft noticed as a fource of beauty. Thus a circle, a 

 Jquare, a triangle, or a hexagon, pleafe the eye, by their 

 regularity, as beautiful figures. But regularity is not the 

 fole, or the chief foundation of beauty in figure. On the 

 contrary, a certain graceful variety is found to be a much 

 Hio.-e powerful principle of beauty. Regularity, according 



to this autl-.or, exprefTes beauty chiefly, if not folely, on ac- 

 count of its fuggcfting the idea of litnefs, propriety, and 

 ufe, which have always a greater conneftion with orderly and 

 proportioned forms, than with thofe which appear not con- 

 flruded according to any certain rule. Nature, the moft 

 graceful artift, hath, in all her ornamental works, purfued 

 variety witii an apparent negle(El of regularity, ^ir. Ho- 

 garth, in his " Analyfis of Beauty," publiflied about the 

 year 1753, enumerates, ^* elements of beauty,^/H^r, variety, 

 uniformity, fmplicity, intricacy, and quantity ; and he obferves, 

 that figures bounded by curve lines are, in general, more 

 beautiful than thofe bounded by ftraight lines and angles. 

 The beauty of figure principally depends, in his opinion, 

 upon two lines which he has feledled. One of them is the 

 " waving line," fomewhat in the form of the letter S : and 

 this he calls the " line of beauty," which is found in fhells, 

 flowers, and fuch other ornamental works of nature, and is 

 alfo common in the figures dcfigned by painters and fculp- 

 tors, for the purpofe of decoration. Tlie other line, which 

 he calls the " line of grace," is the former waving curve, 

 twifted round fome folid body, a:id exhiliited in twifted 

 pillars and twilled horns, and in the curling worm of a com- 

 mon jack. Variety plainly appears, in the inftanccs which 

 he mentions, to be fo material a principle of beauty, that 

 he defines the art of drawing pleafing forms to be the art of 

 varying well ; and, according to him, the curve line, which 

 is fo much the favourite of painters, derives its chief advan- 

 tage from its perpetual bending and variation from the ftiff 

 regularity of the ftraight line. Motion, fays Dr. Blair, fur- 

 nilhes another fource of beauty, diftintt from figure ; being of 

 itfelf pleafing, fo that bodies in motion are, " cajteris pari- 

 bus," preferred to thofe at reft. But the quality of beau- 

 tiful belongs to gentle motion, fuch as that of a bird gliding 

 through the air, and that of a imooth running ilream. In ge- 

 neral, motion in a ftraight line is lefs beautiful than that in an 

 undulating direClion ; and motion upwards is aifo commonly 

 more agreeable than motion downwards. The eafy curling 

 motion of flame and fmoI»e is an objeft fingularly pleafing, 

 and exhibits an inftance of Mr. Hogarth's waving line of 

 beauty. This artift obferves, that, as all the common and 

 necetfary motions for the bufinefs of life are performed in 

 ftraight or plain lines, all the graceful and ornamental move- 

 ments are made in waving lines. Dr. Beattie, in his " Dif- 

 fertations Moral and Critical," has introduced, in his digref- 

 iion on beauty, fome ingenious remarks on this fubjeft.. 

 After obferving that cuftom has a perpetual influence in de- 

 termining our notions of beauty, he proceeds to prove, that 

 from aftociations founded on habit, many, or perhaps moft 

 of thofe pleafing emotions are derived, wliich accompany the 

 perception of what in things vifihle is called beauty. With 

 regard to the beauty or aukwardnefs of motion, he obferves, 

 that the one will be found to pleafe, and the other to dif- 

 pleafe, chiefly on account of certain' agreeable ideas fuijgeft- 

 ed by the former, and of certain dilagteeable ones affociated 

 with the latter. Motions, that imply eafe, whh fuch an 

 arrangement and proportion of parts in the moving objeCl, as 

 may give rcafon to expedl its continuance without injury, 

 are generally pleafing, at leaft in animals, efpecially whcEi 

 they betoken a fort of perfeftion fuited to the nature of the 

 animal. But motions, that betray infirmity, unwieldinefs, 

 imperfeftion, or the appearance of danger, cannot be called 

 beautiful, becaufe they convey unpleafing ideas. Thcfe ob- 

 fervations are illuft rated by a variety of appofite inilances. Ci^ 

 cero (de Off. 1. i. § 36.) blames every motion that alters the 

 countenance, quickens the breath, or betrays any difcompo- 

 fure. Rouffeau obferves, tliat in running, a woman is delli- 

 tute of that grace which attends her on other occafions. 



Perhpfs, 



