\ 4 INTRODUCTION. 



tiful and the Picturesque : but these are terms on the true meaning 

 of which much controversy has arisen ; and, as they are frequently 

 alluded to in the course of these Essays, it may be requisite that 

 they should be noticed with reference to the effect which each may 

 produce on the mind. Ideas of beauty vary as much as those of 

 taste, and the term beautiful is, perhaps, more extensively applied 

 than any other in the English language, — as, a beautiful tree, a 

 beautiful house, a beautiful picture, and a beautiful woman. It has 

 been asserted that uniformity amidst variety is essential to the cha- 

 racter of the beautiful ; yet this cannot be the criterion in all 

 cases, as many objects please which possess but little variety : again, 

 colour is sometimes the agent in presenting and heightening the 

 character of beauty ; figure, in numerous instances, also augments 

 and forcibly displays beauty; sometimes a regularly formed figure 

 appears beautiful, from the neatness and exactness of its workman- 

 ship ; a graceful variety, also, may be considered as another and 

 striking characteristic of the beautiful, which excites pleasing sen- 

 sation more often than the utmost regularity or just proportion of 

 form, as a winding river pleases more than a straight canal. Ho- 

 garth, for his line of beauty, adopted a waving line, like the letter S ; 

 and a curved line is the universal favourite of artists. All these pecu- 

 liarities, and their various combinations of effect, proceeding fi'om 

 colour, regularity, and opposition, should be united and properly 



