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significant, improper, or of unamiable expressions. They who are conversant in the productions of the fine arts, must have equally observed, that the forms and propor. tions of features, which the sculptor and the painter have given to their works, are very different, according to the nature of the character they represent, and the emotion they wish to excite. The form or proportions of the

features of Jove are different from those of Hercules, those of Apollo from those of Ganymede, those of the fawn from those of the gladiator. In female beauty, the form and proportions in the features of Juno are very different from those of Venus, those of Minerva from those of Diana, those of Niobe from those of the Graces. All, however, are beautiful; because all are adapted with exquisite taste to the characters they wish the counte nance to express. Let the theorist change them, and substitute. for this varied and significant beauty, the forms which he chooses to consider as solely beautiful; and the experiment will very soon shew, that the beauty of these forms is not original and independent, but relative and significant: and that when they cease to be expressive of the character we expect, they cease in the same moment to be beautiful.

The illustration, however, may be made still more precise for even, in the same countenance, and in the same hour, the same form of feature may be beautiful or otherwise. Although there is an obvious distinction between the permanence of some features of the counte. nance, it is at the same time true, that even the permanent features are susceptible of some change of form; that they vary with the employment of the muscles which move them; and that therefore their permanence is rather relatively than positively true. The forehead changes in its form and dimensions, with various pas

sions. The line of the nose is varied by the elevation or depression of the muscles of the eye-brow; and its whole form is still more altered by the contraction or expansion of the nostrils. The cheeks sink or swell, as they are influenced by different emotions: And no one need to be told that the mouth is so susceptible of variety of form, that from that feature alone, every one is able to interpret the emotion of the person. The same observation is applicable to the rest of the features. If there were, therefore, any original form in all these features, which was instinctively beautiful, it would follow, that in all these changes, there was one only that was beautiful, and that all the rest would, according to their variations, be, in so far, deviations from beauty. The real fact however is, that every one of these varieties are beautiful, when they are expressive to us of emotions of which we approve, and in which we sympathize; that none is beautiful when it has not this expression; that any feature unsusceptible of these changes, would be felt as imperfect or monstrous; and that the degree of change or variation, which is beautiful or otherwise, is always determined by its correspondence to our sentiment of the propriety or impropriety of the emotion which it signifies. The reader will find innumerable illustrations of this truth, both in his observation of common nature, and of the representations of the painter and the sculptor.

With regard to the variable features, (those which are expressive of momentary or local emotion) that the beauty of their forms does not arise from their approach to any one standard, but from the nature of the expressions they signify to us, is a truth which may be easily observed in the study even of the same countenance. Nothing can be more different in point of form, than what occurs in the same face, in the muscles of the eyebrow, in the

close or open conformation of the eyelids, in the contrac tion or dilatation of the nostrils, in the elevation or depression of the lips, in the smoothness or swelling of the muscles of the throat and neck: yet all of these are beautiful, or at least susceptible of beauty. It may have been our fortune to see all these variations of form to have taken place in the same countenance, within the space of a few hours. And if we recollect our sentiments, we shall find, that all of them were not only beautiful, when they were the genuine signs of emotions with which we sympathized, but what is more, that they were the only forms which, in such circumstances, could have been beautiful: That their variety corresponded to the variety of emotions which the mind experienced; and that any other conformations of feature, however beautiful in other circumstances, would then have been painful or distressing. If any of my readers have not felt this in their own experience, let them attend (while it is yet in their power) to the countenance of Mrs. Siddons, in the progress of any of her great parts of tragedy. Let them observe how the forms and proportions of every feature vary with the passions which they so faithfully express; let them mark every variety of form almost, of which the human countenance is capable, take place in the space of a few short hours; let them then ask themselves what is the common source of this infinite beauty; and although, in this examination, they will still have but a feeble sense of the excellencies of this illustrious actress, they will be sensible, that there is no original or prescrib ed form of feature which alone is beautiful, but that every conformation is beautiful when it is expressive of the emotions we expect and approve.

PART III.

Of the Composition of the Colours and Features in the Human Countenance.

THE illustrations which I have given in the two former sections, relate to the beauty of the colours or features of the countenance, as single or individual objects of observation. It is very obvious, however, that all these are only parts of a whole: that some relation, at least, exists between those parts of the countenance, and the countenance itself: and that there is some harmony or accordance which we expect and demand in the composition of these ingredients, before we feel that the whole is beautiful. The investigation of the principles which govern us in our sentiments of composition will, I trust, afford an additional proof of the real nature and origin of human beauty.

If there were any original and independent beauty in any peculiar colours or forms, it would then necessarily follow, that the union of these beautiful forms and colours would compose a countenance of beauty, and that every deviation in composition from these original principles of beauty would, in proportion to this deviation, affect us with sentiments either of indifference or disgust. If such were the constitution of our nature, the painter and the sculptor would possess a simple and determinate rule for the creation of beauty; the beautiful forms and colours of the human countenance would be as definite as the proportions of architecture: and the production of beauty might be as certainly attained by the artist, as arithmetical truth is by the arithmetician. That this is not the case; that the beauty of the human countenance is not governed by such definite rules; and that there are some other qualities necessary for the painter

and the sculptor, than the mere observation of physical appearances, are truths with which every one is acquaint ed, and which therefore it would be unnecessary to at tempt to illustrate.

If, on the other hand, the principles which I have be fore attempted to illustrate are just, if the beauty of every individual colour or form in the countenance, is deter mined by its expression to us of some pleasing or interesting quality, then it ought to follow, (as in all other cases of composition), that the expression of the whole ought to regulate the beauty of the parts; that the actual beauty of these parts, or ingredients, ought to depend upon their relation to the general character; and that the composition therefore should only be beautiful, when this relation of expression was justly preserved, and when no colour or feature was admitted, but what tended to the production of one harmonious and unmingled emotion.

That this is really the case: that our opinion of the beauty of the human countenance is determined by this law, and that, in every particular case, our sense of the beauty of the constituent parts is decided by their rela tion to the prevailing character or expression of the countenance, may perhaps be obvious from the follow ing considerations:

I.

I have formerly endeavoured to shew, that in the case of physical forms, no form was, in reality, beautiful to us, which was not the sign of some pleasing or interesting expression, or which, in other words, was not productive of some emotion. It is natural to think, that the same law should be preserved in the forms, &c. of the human countenance; and it is still more natural to think so,

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