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seem to follow, which it may not be unuseful to the ob servers of nature to attend to; and to the artists who are engaged in the representation of beautiful nature to remember.

I.

There seem to be three distinct sources of the beau ty or sublimity of the countenance of man.

1st, From physical beauty, or the beauty of certain colours and forms, considered simply as forms or col

ours.

2d, From the beauty of expression and character; or that habitual form of features and colour of complex. ion, which, from experience, we consider as significant of those habitual dispositions of the human mind, which we love, or approve, or admire. And,

3d, From the beauty of emotion; or the expression of certain local or tempory affections of mind, which we approve, or love, or admire.

II.

Each of these species of beauty will be perfect, when the composition of the countenance is such as to preserve, pure and unmingled, the expression which it predominantly conveys; and when no feature or colour is admitted, but which is subservient to the unity of this expression.

III.

The last or highest degree of beauty or sublimity of the human countenance, will alone be attained when all these expressions are united; when the physical beauty! corresponds to the characteristic; when the beauty of temporary emotion harmonizes with the beauty of character; and when ail fall upon the heart of the spectator as one whole, in which matter, in all its most exquisite

forms, is only felt as the sign of one great or amiable

character of mind.

SECTION III.

Of the Beauty and Sublimity of the Human Form.

THE same principle which leads us to ascribe the beauty of inanimate forms to some one original and independent configuration of beautiful form, has a tendency to mislead us with regard to the beauty of the human form. In some species of form we perceive beauty; in others, we perceive none. Of so uniform an effect we believe there must be an equally uniform cause, and as the apparent cause is in the nature and circumstances of the material form, we very naturally satisfy the indolence of inquiry, by supposing that there must be some one appearance or character of this material form which is originally beautiful; and that, of consequence, the absence of beauty arises, in any case, from the absence of this peculiar and gifted form. Such is the first and most It is that which we univer

natural theory of mankind. sally find among the lower ranks of men; and which, though it does not satisfy them, perhaps, in any individ ual case to which they give their attention, is yet sufficient to give them something like a general principle, which, while it has the appearance of truth, has still more the great convenience of theory, that of saving them from the labour of farther investigation. Of this popular and infant theory, it is needless for me to enter into any investigation. It is always abandoned as soon as men are capable of observation; when they are able to perceive, that there is in fact no such supposed form of original beauty; and when they begin to feel, from their own experience, that the sentiment of beauty is felt from ma

ny different and even opposite appearances of human form.

From this early hypothesis, the next step has uniformly been to the imagination of some original beauty in cer tain proportions of the human form. The belief that there is one central and sacred form which alone is beau tiful, must be abandoned as soon as men are capable of observation. But the natural prejudice to refer the cause of this emotion to the material qualities alone which excite it, is not so soon abandoned; and as these are sus ceptible of measurement and precision, there is an obvi ous motive given, both to the philosopher and the artist, to establish a correspondent precision in the system of the one, and the productions of the other.

The human form is composed of different parts. In the natural or in the imitated form, there are some relations or proportions of these parts, which are every where felt as beautiful. It is natural therefore to conclude, that the adoption of such measures or proportions will always secure the production of the same effect; it seems hence naturally to follow, that the latent beauty of form arises from these peculiar proportions; and that if these proprotions were precisely ascertained, there would be a certain rule given, by which the production of beauty, in this respect, would infallibly be attained. Artists, accordingly, in every age, have taken pains to ascertain the most exact measurements of the human form, and of all its parts. They have imagined also various standards of this measurement; and many disputes have arisen whether the length of the head, of the foot, or of the nose, was to be considered as this central and sacred standard. Of such questions, and such disputes, it is not possible to speak with seriousness, when they occur in the present times. But it ought at the same time to be remem

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bered, that this theory, however imperfect, was yet a step (and indeed a great one) in the progress, both of the art and of the science of taste. It supposed observation—it animated attention; and what is more, under the name of physical proportion (as I shall afterwards show), it involved the study of higher and more genuine proportion. The artist, in attending to the rude grammar of his language, learned something of its spirit and capacity; and when the progressive expansion of genius left behind it the rules and proportions of the school, the philosopher learned also to extend his induction, and to perceive that there were other principles by which his emotions were governed, and which were yet remaining for his investigation.

Of this second theory, therefore, "That there are cer"tain relations or proportions of the different parts of the "human form, which are originally and essentially beau66 tiful, and from the perception of which all our sentiment "of beauty in this respect arises”—it is, I trust, now unnecessary for me to enter into any lengthened refutation. Yet, as some opinions of this kind yet linger among connoisseurs and men of taste; and as the anxiety for some definite rules of judgment is ever more prevalent among such men, than the desire of investigating their truth, it may not be unuseful to suggest the following very simple considerations, which every one of my intelligent readers must fully have anticipated.

1. If there were any definite proportions of the parts of the human form, which, by the constitution of our nature, were solely and essentially beautiful, it must inevitably have followed, that the beauty of these proportions must have been as positively and definitely settled as the relations of justice or of geometry. To take an original sense for granted, and, at the same time, to suppose, that

the indications of this sense are variable, or contradicto

гу, is a solecism in reasoning, which no man will venture to support. If such a sense is supposed, then the uni versal opinion of mankind ought to be found to agree in some precise and definite proportion of the parts of the human form. If the opinions of mankind do not agree in such certain and definite proportion, then no peculiar sense can be supposed to exist, by which these sentiments are received.

That not only the sentiments of mankind do not agree upon this subject, but that the sentiments of the same individual differ, in a most material manner, is a truth very susceptible of illustration. There is no form, perhaps in nature, which admits of such variety, both in appearand ance and proportion of parts, as the body of man; which, therefore, scems so little capable of being reduc ed to any definite system of proportion. The propor tions of the form of the infant are different from those of youth; these again from those of manhood; and these again perhaps still more from those of old age and decay. If there were any instinctive sense of beauty in form, in this long history, there would be one age only in which this sense could be gratified. Yet every one knows, not only that each of these periods is susceptible of beautiful form, but what is much more, that the actual beauty of every period consists in the preservation of the proportions peculiar to that period, and that these differ in every article almost from those that are beautiful in other periods of the life of the same individual. The same observation is yet still more obvious with regard to the difference of sex. In every part of the form, the propor tions which are beautiful in the two sexes are different; and the application of the proportions of the one to the form of the other, is every where felt as painful and dis

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