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BEAUTY: 
 
 ILLUSTRATED CHIEFLY BY AN 
 
 ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION 
 
 OF 
 
 BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 PRECEDED BY 
 
 A CRITICAL VIEW OF THE GENERAL HYPOTHESES RESPECTING BEAUTY. 
 
 BY HUME, HOGARTH, BURKE, KNIGHT, ALISON. ETC. 
 
 AND FOLLOWED BY 
 
 A SIMILAR VIEW OF THE HYPOTHESES OF BEAUTY IN SCULPTURE AND PAINTING, 
 BY LEONARDO DA VINCI, WINCKELMANN, MENGS, BOSSI, ETC. 
 
 BY ALEXANDER WALKER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 “ PHYSIOGNOMY FOUNDED ON PHYSIOLOGY',” “ THE NERVOUS SYSTEM,” ETC 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY DRAWINGS FROM LIFE, 
 
 BY HENRY HOWARD, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF PAINTING TO THE ROYAL ACADEMY; 
 DRAWN ON STONE BY M. GAUCI & R. J. LANE, A.R.A. 
 
 “ E la bellezza, dopo Dio, il piu sublime oggetto, di cui occupar si possa 
 l'umano spirito.” Winckelmann. 
 
 #fconi ISlIttton, Lirbtsctf. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY G. BOHN, Y r ORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 M DCCC XLVI. 
 
THE GETTY CENTER 
 LIBRARY 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE BIRKBECK, M.D. F.G.S. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE LONDON MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION, 
 
 SfC. SfC. SfC. 
 
 A department of science, which in many respects 
 must be regarded as new, cannot so properly be 
 dedicated to any one as to the inventor of the 
 best mode of diffusing scientific knowledge among 
 the most meritorious and most oppressed classes 
 of society. 
 
 When the enemies of freedom, in order effec¬ 
 tually to blind the victims of their spoliation, 
 imposed a tax upon knowledge,—You rendered 
 the acquirement of science easy by the establish- 
 
IV 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 ment of Mechanics’ Institutions, — You gave the 
 first and greatest impulse to that diffusion of 
 knowledge which will render the repetition of such 
 a conspiracy against humanity impossible. 
 
 You more than once also wrested a reluctant 
 concession, in behalf of untaxed knowledge, from 
 the men who had evidently succeeded, in some 
 degree, to the spirit, as well as to the office, of the 
 original conspirators, and who unwisely hesitated 
 between the bad interest which is soon felt by all 
 participators in expensive government, and their 
 dread of the new and triumphant power of public 
 opinion, before which they know and feel that they 
 are but as chaff before the whirlwind. 
 
 For these services, accept this respectful dedi¬ 
 cation, as the expression of an homage, in which 
 I am sure that I am joined by thousands of 
 Britons. 
 
 Nor, in writing this, on a subject of which your 
 extensive knowledge enables you so well to judge, 
 am I without a peculiar and personal motive. 
 
 I gratefully acknowledge that, in one of the most 
 earnest and strenuous mental efforts I ever made, 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 V 
 
 in my work on “The Nervous System,” I owed 
 to your cautions as to logical reasoning and careful 
 induction, an anxiety at least, and a zeal in these 
 respects, which, whatever success may have at¬ 
 tended them, could not w 7 ell be exceeded. 
 
 I have endeavoured to act conformably with the 
 same cautions in the present work. He must be 
 weak-minded indeed, who can seek for aught in 
 philosophy but the discovery of truth; and he 
 must be a coward who, believing he has discovered 
 it, has any scruple to announce it. 
 
 Alexander Walker. 
 
 10 April, 1830. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 There is perhaps no subject more universally 
 or more deeply interesting than that which is the 
 chief subject of the present work. Yet no book, 
 even pretending to science or accuracy, has 
 hitherto appeared upon it. The forms and pro¬ 
 portions of animals — as of the horse and the dog, 
 have been examined in a hundred volumes. Not 
 one has been devoted to woman, on whose physical 
 and moral qualities the happiness of individuals 
 and the perpetual improvement of the human race, 
 are dependent. 
 
 The cause of this has been probably the neglect, 
 on the part of individuals, to combine anatomical 
 and physiological knowledge with the critical 
 observation of the external forms of woman ; and 
 perhaps some repugnance to anthropological know- 
 
 b 2 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 viii 
 
 ledge on the part of the public. The last obstacle, 
 if ever it existed, is now gone by, as many cii- 
 cumstances show; and it will be the business of 
 the author, in this work, to endeavour to obviate 
 the former. 
 
 The present work, besides giving new views of 
 the theory of beauty, and of its application to the 
 arts, presents an analysis and classification of 
 beauty in woman. A subsequent work will apply 
 the principles here established to intermarriages 
 and crossings among mankind, and will explain 
 their results in relation to the happiness of indivi¬ 
 duals, and to the beauty and the freedom from in¬ 
 sanity of their offspring. A final work will examine 
 the relations of woman in society, will expose the 
 extravagant hypotheses of writers on this subject 
 who have been ignorant of anthropology/and will 
 describe the reforms which the common interests of 
 mankind demand in this respect. 
 
 It is now to be seen, whether a branch of science, 
 which is strictly founded on anatomy and physi¬ 
 ology,— one which entangles the leader in no 
 mystical and delusive hypothesis, and presents to 
 him only indisputable facts,—one which is appli¬ 
 cable to the subject most universally and deeply 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 IX 
 
 interesting to mankind, the critical judgment of 
 female beauty, as founded on neqessary functions, 
 — and one which unravels the greater difficulties 
 which that subject presents, — may not excite and 
 permanently command a great degree of public 
 interest. 
 
 A preliminary view of the importance of this 
 subject is given in the first chapter; the urgency 
 of its discussion in relation to the interests of 
 decency and morality is established in the second ; 
 and some useful cautions as to youth are offered in 
 the third. 
 
 In regard to the importance of the subject, I 
 may, even here, avail myself of the highest au¬ 
 thorities. 
 
 Thomas More, speaking of the people of his 
 commonwealth, says, “ They do greatly wonder 
 at the folly of all other nations, which, in buying 
 a colt (whereas a little money is in hazard), 
 be so chary and circumspect, that, though he 
 be almost all bare, yet they will not buy him, 
 unless the saddle and all the harness be taken off— 
 lest, under those coverings, be hid some gall or 
 sore. And yet, in choosing a wife, which shall be 
 either pleasure or displeasure to them all their 
 
X 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 life after, they be so reckless, that, all the residue 
 of the woman’s body being covered with clothes, 
 they esteem her scarcely by one hand breadth 
 (for they can see no more but her face), and so 
 to join her to them, not without great jeopardy 
 of evil agreeing together — if anything in her body 
 afterward should chance to offend and mislike 
 them.* 
 
 Francis Bacon is of similar opinion. 
 
 Happily, the advancement of anthropological 
 science in modern times, may, as is here shown, 
 be so applied as to render quite unnecessary the 
 objectionable methods proposed by both these phi¬ 
 losophers, in order to carry their doctrines into 
 practice. 
 
 Shall I be blamed, because I avail myself of the 
 progress of knowledge to render all that these great 
 men desired on this subject of easy attainment and in¬ 
 offensive to woman ? Shall I be blamed, because I 
 first facilitate that which the still further advancement 
 of knowledge will inevitably render an every-day oc¬ 
 currence and the guide of the most important act of 
 human life ?—-I care not. 
 
 Utopia, Book II. Chap. viii. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 XI 
 
 In the details as to female beauty, it will be 
 seen how incorrectly Winckelmann says “ In 
 female figures, the forms of beauty are not so dif¬ 
 ferent, nor the gradations so various as in those of 
 males; and therefore in general they present no 
 other difference than that which is dependent upon 
 age . . . Hence, in treating of female beauty, 
 few observations occur as necessary to be made, 
 and the study of the artist is more limited and 
 more easy ... It is to be observed, that, in speak¬ 
 ing of the resemblance of nude female figures, I 
 speak solely of the body, without concluding from 
 it that they also resemble each other in the dis¬ 
 tinctive characters of the head, which are par¬ 
 ticularly marked in each, whether Goddess or 
 Heroine.”*—The differences, even in the bodies of 
 
 * “ Nelle figure femminili, la bellezza non ha s'l diverse forme 
 e si varj gradi, come nelle virili ; anzi generalmente altra dif- 
 ferenza non v’ e, fuor di quella che proviene dall’ eta . . . Indi 
 e che, trattando della femminile bellezza, poche cose ci si 
 offrono da osservare, e piu limitato e facile e lo studio dell’ 
 artista . . . Osservisi che, ov’ io parlo del somigliarsi che fanno 
 tra di loro le figure muliebri ignude, intendo di parlare della 
 sola corporatura, senza che quindi abbia a conchiudersi che 
 pur si somigliano ne’carratteri distintivi della testa, i quali in 
 ciascheduna si delle dee che delle eroine vengono particolar- 
 mente indicati .”—Storia delle Arti. 
 
Xll 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 females, are here shown to be both numerous and 
 capable of distinct classification. 
 
 All the drawings which illustrate this volume, 
 except the Frontispiece and Plates VIII, XV, 
 XVI, XVI b, and XVIII, are from the pencil of 
 Mr. Howard, executed at various times during 
 his earlier studies at the Life-academy, and se¬ 
 lected for this work from his drawing books. It 
 would be impertinent to eulogize drawings by an 
 artist who inherits so much of the spirit of the 
 ancients. 
 
 Plate XVI has been lithographed, and Plates 
 XV and XVI b. have been both drawn and 
 lithographed, by Mr. M. Gauci, the first of our 
 lithographers, equally distinguished by correct 
 anatomical knowledge, learning in ancient art, and 
 exquisite taste. It is needless to say that the 
 productions of such a man needed no superinten¬ 
 dence of the author. 
 
 The rest of the drawings Mr. Lane engaged to 
 represent by lithography, with all the skill of 
 which he is capable, and in his very best manner. 
 That he has conscientiously done so, the author 
 cannot doubt ; and indeed he knows that, in a 
 few instances, Mr. Lane has even made out some 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 xiii 
 
 subordinate parts which were left intentionally 
 unfinished by the distinguished* painter. Still 
 Mr. Lane’s lithographs present some errors, which 
 are described in subsequent notes, because that 
 appeared to be due both to the painter, and to the 
 author’s intention. The blame of these, however, 
 the author takes entirely upon himself, being de¬ 
 ceived by the superficial beauty of the litho¬ 
 graphs when on the stone, and rendered thereby 
 less quick in detecting any deviation of the litho¬ 
 grapher. 
 
 It is right to observe, that this work has 
 nothing to do with an early production of the 
 writer, a consciousness of the small value of which 
 prevented his attaching his name to it, which he 
 now knows to be utterly worthless, and which has 
 since been vamped up with things which are more 
 worthless still. 
 
 The most valuable features of the present work 
 are entirely new and original. Others are such 
 as the writer thought not unworthy of preservation 
 from earlier essays. He has also, throughout 
 this work, adopted from other writers, with no 
 other alteration than accuracy required, every view, 
 opinion, or remark, which he thought applicable to 
 
XIV 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 a department of science, of which all the great 
 features are new. 
 
 Such being the case, he thinks it just, at once 
 to himself and others, to indicate here the only 
 points on which he can himself lay any claim to 
 originality. These are as follows : 
 
 The more complete establishment of the truth 
 that, in relation to man and woman in particular, 
 beauty is the external sign of goodness in organiza¬ 
 tion and function, and thence its importance. — 
 Chapter I, and the work generally. 
 
 The showing that the discussion of this subject, 
 though involving the examination of the naked 
 figure, is urgent in relation to decency (the theory 
 of which is discussed), morality, and happy inter¬ 
 marriage.—Chapter II. 
 
 The showing that the ancient religion was the 
 cause of the perfection of the fine arts in Greece, 
 by its personification of simple attributes or virtues, 
 as objects of adoration.—Chapter II. 
 
 The exposition of the nature, the kinds, and 
 the characteristics of beauty ; and of some errors 
 of Burke, Knight, &c., on this subject. — Chapter 
 IV. 
 
 The showing that there are elements of beauty 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 XV 
 
 invariable in their nature and effect, and that these 
 are modified and complicated in* advancing from 
 simple to complex beings, and the arts relating to 
 them. — Chapter VI. 
 
 The pointing out these elements of beauty, and 
 their mode of operation in inanimate beings ; and 
 the errors of Knight and Alison on this subject. — 
 Sect. I, Chapter VI. 
 
 Ihe pointing out these elements, and others 
 which are superadded, in living beings; and the 
 errors of Alison on this subject. — Sect. II, 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 The pointing out these elements, and others 
 which are further superadded, in thinking beings ; 
 and the errors of Burke and Knight on this sub¬ 
 ject. — Sect. Ill, Chapter VI. 
 
 The exposition of these elements, as differing, 
 or variously modified, in the useful, ornamental, 
 and intellectual arts, respectively; and some re¬ 
 marks on ornament in architecture, and in female 
 dress. — Sect. IV, Chapter VI. 
 
 The explanation of the nature of the pic¬ 
 turesque, after the failure of Knight and Price in 
 this respect. — Sect. I, Appendix to Preceding 
 Chapters. 
 
XY1 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The vindication of the doctrine of Hobbes, as to 
 the cause of laughter ; and exposition of the errors 
 of Campbell and Beattie on this subject. — Sect. 
 
 II, Appendix. 
 
 The explanation of the cause of the pleasure re¬ 
 ceived from representations exciting pity; and of 
 the errors of Burke, &c. on that subject. Sect. 
 
 III, Appendix. 
 
 The arrangement of anatomy and physiology, 
 and the application of the principles of these sci¬ 
 ences to the distinguishing and judging of beauty. 
 — Chapter VII. 
 
 The explanation of the difference in the beauty 
 of the two sexes even in the same country. 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 Various arguments establishing the standard of 
 beauty in woman ; and exposure of the sophistry of 
 Knight, on this subject. -—Chapter X. 
 
 The showing, by the preceding arrangements, 
 that the ancient temperaments are partial or com¬ 
 plex views of anthropological phenomena. 
 Chapter XL et seq. 
 
 The description of the first species of beauty, 
 or that of the locomotive system, and of its varie- 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 XVII 
 
 ties, as founded on examination of structure. — 
 Chapter XII. 
 
 The description of the second species of beauty, 
 or that of the nutritive system, and of its varie¬ 
 ties, as founded on examination of structure. — 
 Chapter XIII. 
 
 The description of the third species of beauty, 
 or that of the thinking system, and of its va¬ 
 rieties, as founded on examination of structure.— 
 Chapter XIV. 
 
 The explanation of the cause of the deformity pro¬ 
 duced by the obliquely placed eyes of the Chinese, 
 &c. — Chapter XV. 
 
 The explanation of the mode in which the ac¬ 
 tion of the muscles of the face becomes physiogno- 
 mically expressive.—Ibid. 
 
 The explanation of the physiognomical character 
 of the different kinds of the hair. — Ibid. 
 
 The explanation of the cause of the different 
 effects of the same face, even in a state of repose. 
 — Ibid. 
 
 The indication of the faulty feature, and its gra¬ 
 dual increase, even in beautiful faces. — Ibid. 
 
 The exposition of the different organization of 
 Greek and Roman heads. — Ibid. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 xviii 
 
 The explanation of the combinations and transi¬ 
 tions of beauty.—Chapter XVI. 
 
 The explanation of the numerical, geometrical, 
 and harmonic methods of proportion, employed by 
 the ancient Greeks.—Chapter X\II. 
 
 Some remarks on character, expression, and 
 detail in art.—Ibid. 
 
 Some observations on the Greek forehead, ac¬ 
 tual as well as ideal.— Chapter XVIII. 
 
 The explanation of the reason of the Greek 
 ideal rule, as to the proportion between the 
 forehead and the other parts of the face. — 
 Ibid. 
 
 The explanation of the reason of the Greek 
 ideal rule, as to the profile of the forehead and 
 nose, or as to the direction of the mesial line.which 
 they form, and the exposition of Winckelmann s 
 blunder respecting it.—Ibid. 
 
 The explanation of the reason why the Greeks 
 suppressed all great degrees of impassioned ex¬ 
 pression.—Ibid. 
 
 The mere indication of the Greek idealizations 
 as applied to the nutritive and locomotive systems, 
 and the explanation of the latter in the Apollo. 
 Ibid. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 XXI 
 
 The replies to the objections of Burke and 
 Alison, as to ideal beauty.—Ibid. 
 
 The enunciation of the ideal in attitude.—Ibid. 
 
 Various views as to the Venus de Medici, the 
 conformation of the nose, and the connexion of 
 odour with love, in animals and plants. — Chapter 
 XIX. 
 
 Some remarks on the Venus de Medici.—Ibid. 
 
 The pointing out and explanation of various de¬ 
 fects in beauty.—Chapter XX. 
 
 The pointing out and explanation of various ex¬ 
 ternal indications of figure, beauty, mind, habits 
 and age.—Chapter XXI. 
 
 The writer may possibly be mistaken as to the 
 originality of one or two of these points ; but, leaving 
 the critical reader to deduct as many of these as it 
 is in his power to do, enough of novelty would re¬ 
 main for the writer’s ambition, in this respect, if he 
 had done no more than exposed the errors of 
 Burke, Knight, Alison, &c., and established the true 
 doctrine of beauty, in the first chapters,—given an 
 analysis and classification of beauty in woman, 
 in the chapters which follow,—and applied this to 
 the fine arts, and solved the difficulty of Leonardo 
 da \inci, &c., in the last chapters. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I.—Importance of the Subject.1 
 
 CHAPTER II.—Urgency of the Discussion of this Sub¬ 
 ject in relation to the Interests of 
 
 Decency and Morality.12 
 
 CHAPTER III.—Cautions to Youth. 28 
 
 CHAPTER IA .—Nature of Beauty.41 
 
 CHAPTER Y.—Standard of Taste in Beauty .... 52 
 
 CHAPTER ~V I.—The Elements of Beauty.70 
 
 Section I.—Elements of Beauty in Inanimate Beings 72 
 Section II—Elements of Beauty in Living Beings . 88 
 
 Section III.—Elements of Beauty in Thinking Beings 94 
 Section IV—Elements of Beauty as employed in 
 
 Objects of Art.105 
 
 Beauty of Useful Objects. 106 
 
 Beauty of Ornamental Objects.111 
 
 Beauty of Intellectual Objects.ny 
 
 Summary of this Chapter. 125 
 
 Appendix to the Preceding Chapters. j 93 
 
 Section I.—Nature of the Picturesque.128 
 
 Section II.—Cause of Laughter. 23 j 
 
 Section III—Cause of the Pleasure received from 
 
 Representations exciting Pity. . .137 
 CHAPTER VII.—Anatomical and Physiological Prin¬ 
 ciples . 247 
 
XXII 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.—Of the Ages of Woman in relation to 
 
 Beauty.162 
 
 CHAPTER IX.—Of the Causes of Beauty in Woman . 178 
 
 CHAPTER X.—Of the Standard of Beauty in Woman. 184 
 
 CHAPTER XI.—Of the Three Species of Female Beauty 
 generally viewed. 
 
 201 
 
 CHAPTER XII.—First Species of Beauty : Beauty of 
 the Locomotive System .... 
 First Variety or Modification of this Species of 
 
 Beauty. 
 
 Second Variety or Modification of this Species 
 
 of Beauty. 
 
 Third Variety or Modification of this Species of 
 
 Beauty. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII.— Second Species of Beauty : Beauty 
 of the Nutritive System . . . 
 
 First Variety or Modification of this Species of 
 
 Beauty. 
 
 Second Variety or Modification of this Species 
 
 of Beauty. 
 
 Third Variety or Modification of this Species of 
 Beauty. 
 
 206 
 
 209 
 
 215 
 
 216 
 
 222 
 
 227 
 
 230 
 
 233 
 
 CHAPTER XIV.—Third Species of Beauty : Beauty 
 of the Thinking System . . • 
 
 First Variety or Modification of this Species of 
 
 Beauty. 
 
 Second Variety or Modification of this Species 
 
 of Beauty. 
 
 Third Variety or Modification of this Species of 
 
 Beauty. 
 
 CHAPTER XV.—Beauty of the Face in particular . . 
 
 248 
 
 249 
 
 250 
 
 253 
 
 263 
 
 CHAPTER XVI.—Combinations and Transitions of the 
 
 Three Species of Female Beauty . 282 
 
CONTENTS. xxiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XVII.—Proportion, Character, Expression, 
 
 ...288 
 
 CHAPTER X\ III.—The Greek Ideal Beauty . . . 318 
 
 CHAPTER XIX.—The Ideal of Female Beauty . . . 357 
 
 CHAPTER XX.—Defects of Beauty.372 
 
 Defects of the Locomotive System. 372 
 
 Defects of the Vital System. 375 
 
 Defects of the Mental System.380 
 
 CHAPTER XXI.—External Indications ; or Art of De¬ 
 termining the precise Figure, the 
 degree of Beauty, the Mind, the 
 Habits, and the Age of Women, 
 notwithstanding the Aids and Dis¬ 
 guises of Dress.383 
 
 External Indications of Figure.383 
 
 External Indications of Beauty. 386 
 
 External Indications of Mind.390 
 
 External Indications of Habits. 392 
 
 External Indications of Age. 394 
 
LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 Frontispiece.—T he Venus de Medici. 
 
 Plate I.—Locomotive System predominating in Young 
 
 Women. to face page 168 
 
 II._The same System still most apparent . . . 170 
 
 HI.—The Age of Return.175 
 
 IV.—Age. 177 
 
 y._Front View illustrating Locomotive Beauty . 209 
 
 YI.—Side View illustrating Locomotive Beauty . 210 
 
 YII._Back View illustrating Locomotive Beauty 212 
 
 VIII. —Diana, the Greek Ideal of Locomotive 
 
 Beauty.220 
 
 IX. _Front View illustrating Vital Beauty . . 226 
 
 X. _Side View illustrating Vital Beauty ... 228 
 
 XI. _Back View illustrating Vital Beauty . . . 230 
 
 XII. _Front View illustrating Mental Beauty. . 249 
 
 XIII. —Side View illustrating Mental Beauty . . 250 
 
 XIV. _Back View illustrating Mental Beauty . 252 
 
 XV. _Minerva, the Greek Ideal of Mental Beauty 260 
 
 XVI. _The three Species of Beauty as affecting 
 
 the Head and Face.281 
 
 XVI b .—Heads of Diana, Venus and Minerva, the 
 
 Greek Ideals of these.282 
 
 XVII. —Combination of the Three Species of 
 
 Beauty.283 
 
 XVIII._Effects of Gestation, Parturition, and 
 
 Lactation ..3/1 
 
 XIX.—Excessive Breadth of Trunk.372 
 
 XX—Excessive Length of Waist.377 
 
 XXI. —Aridness or Want of Plumpness . . . 379 
 
 XXII. —Flaccidity. 380 
 
ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION 
 
 OF 
 
 BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 It is observed by Home, in his “ Elements of Cri¬ 
 ticism,” that a perception of beauty in external 
 objects, is requisite to attach us to them; that it 
 greatly promotes industry, by promoting a desire 
 to possess things that are beautiful; and that it 
 further joins with utility, in prompting us to em¬ 
 bellish our houses and enrich our fields. “ These, 
 however,” he says, “ are but slight effects, com¬ 
 pared with the connexions which are formed among 
 individuals in society by means of this singular 
 mechanism: the qualifications of the head and 
 heart are undoubtedly the most solid and most per¬ 
 manent foundations of such connexions; but as 
 external beauty lies more in view, and is more 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 obvious to the bulk of mankind than the qualities 
 now mentioned, the sense of beauty possesses the 
 more universal influence in forming these con¬ 
 nexions : at any rate, it concurs in an eminent degiec 
 with mental qualifications, to produce social inter¬ 
 course, mutual good-will, and consequently mutual 
 aid and support, which are the life of society. 
 
 Dr. Pritchard similarly observes, that “ the 
 perception of beauty is the chief principle in 
 every country which directs men in their mar¬ 
 riages.” 
 
 Advancing a step further, Sir Anthony Carlisle 
 thinks a taste for beauty worthy of being culti¬ 
 vated. “ Man,” he observes, “ dwells with felicity 
 even on ideal female attributes, and in imagination 
 discovers beauties and perfections which solace 
 his wearied hours, far beyond any other resource 
 within the scope of human life. It cannot, then, 
 be unwise to cultivate and refine this natural ten¬ 
 dency, and to enhance if possible these charms of 
 life. We increase and heighten all our pleasuies 
 by awakening and cultivating reflections which do 
 not exist in a state of ignorance. Thus the botanist 
 perceives elegances in plants and flowers unknown 
 and unfelt by the vulgar, and the landscape painter 
 revels in natural or imaginary scenery with feelings 
 which are unknown to the multitude. It would 
 be absurd to pretend that the more exquisite and 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. g 
 
 moie deeply attractive beauty of women is not 
 worthy of more profound, as well as more universal 
 cultivation.” 
 
 Such are the observations of philosophical an¬ 
 thropologists, who, nevertheless, in these remarks, 
 consider mere physical beauty, independent of its 
 connexion with corresponding functions or moral 
 qualities. 
 
 Il, however, the external beauty of woman, cal¬ 
 culated as it is to flatter the most experienced eye, 
 limited its effect to a local impression, to an optical 
 enjoyment, the sentiment of beauty would be far 
 from having all its extent and value. Happily, 
 ideas of goodness, of suitableness, of sympathy, 
 of progressive perfection, and of mutual happiness, 
 are, by an intimate and inevitable association, con¬ 
 nected with the first impression made by the sight 
 of beauty. 
 
 The foundation of this feeling is well expressed 
 by Dr. Pritchard, in his observation “ that the idea 
 of beauty of person, is synonymous with that of 
 health and perfect organization.” 
 
 Hence, it has been observed, the great ideal 
 models of beauty please us, not merely because 
 their forms are disposed and combined so as to 
 affect agreeably the organ of sight, but because their 
 exterior appears to correspond to admirable quali¬ 
 ties, and to announce an elevation in the condition 
 
 b 2 
 
4 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 of humanity. Such do the Greek monuments ap¬ 
 pear to physiologists and philosophical artists whose 
 minds pass rapidly from the beauty ol forms to that 
 locomotive, vital, or mental excellence which it 
 compels them to suppose. 
 
 Goodness and beauty in woman will accordingly 
 be found to bear a strict relation to each other ; 
 and the latter will be seen always to be the external 
 sign of the former. 
 
 There are, however, (slightly to anticipate what 
 must afterwards be explained,) different kinds both 
 of beauty and of goodness, which are confounded 
 by vulgar observers ; or rather there are beauty and 
 goodness belonging to different systems of which 
 the body is composed, and which ought never to 
 be confounded with each other. 
 
 Where, consequently, one of these kinds of 
 beauty and of goodness is wanting, even in a 
 remarkable degree, others may be found ; and, as 
 the vulgar do not distinguish, it is this which leads 
 to the gross error that these qualities have no strict 
 relations to their signs. 
 
 Want of beauty, then, in any one of the systems 
 of which the body is composed, indicates want 
 of goodness only in that system; but it is not less 
 a truth, and scarcely of less importance, on that 
 account. I will now illustrate this by brief ex¬ 
 amples. 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 There may, in any individual, exist deformity 
 ot limbs; and this will assuredly indicate want 
 of goodness in the locomotive system, or that of 
 geneial motion. There may exist coarseness of 
 skin, or paleness of complexion, and either of these 
 will as certainly indicate want of goodness in the 
 vital system or that of nutrition. There may exist 
 a malformation of the brain, externally evident; 
 and this no less certainly will indicate want of good¬ 
 ness in the mental system, or that of thought. 
 
 It follows that even the different kinds and 
 combinations of beauty, which are the objects of 
 taste to different persons, are founded upon the 
 same general principle of organic superiority. 
 Nay, even the preferences which, in beauty, appear 
 to depend most on fancy, depend in reality on that 
 cause; and the impression which every degree 
 and modification of beauty makes on mankind has, 
 as a fundamental rule, only their sentiment, more 
 or less delicate and just, of physical advantage in 
 relation to each individual. Such is the founda¬ 
 tion of all our sentiments of admiration and of 
 love. 
 
 The existence or non-existence of these ad¬ 
 vantages, and the power of determining this, or 
 the judgment of beauty, are therefore of transcen¬ 
 dent importance to individuals and to families. 
 Such judgment can be attained by analysis and 
 
6 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 classification alone. Nothing, therefore, can more 
 nearly affect all human interests than that analysis 
 and classification of beauty which are here pro¬ 
 posed. 
 
 To place beyond a doubt, and to illustrate more 
 minutely, the extraordinary importance of this 
 subject, as regards advantages real to the species, I 
 may anticipate some of the more minute appli¬ 
 cations of my doctrine. 
 
 If, in the locomotive system, it is especially from 
 the muscles connected with the pelvis being more 
 developed in women than in man, that result 
 much of the delicacy of her form, the ease and 
 grace of its movements, and its easily adapting 
 itself to great and remarkable changes,—of what 
 importance must not be the ability to determine, 
 even by walk or gesture, the existence of this 
 condition! 
 
 If, in the vital system, the elasticity and fresh¬ 
 ness of the skin are the characteristics of health, 
 and their absence warns us that the condition of 
 woman is unfavourable to the plan of nature rela¬ 
 tively to the maintenance of the species, or, if 
 the capacity of the pelvis and the consequent breadth 
 of the haunches, are necessary to all those functions 
 which are most essentially feminine, impregnation, 
 gestation, and parturition, without danger either to 
 parent or to child,—of what extreme importance 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 7 
 
 must not be the ability to determine this with cer¬ 
 tainty and ease! 
 
 It, in the mental system, the capacity and deli¬ 
 cacy ot the organs of sense, and the softness and 
 mobility ot the nervous system, are necessary to 
 
 the vivid and varying sensibility of woman,_ 
 
 if it is in consequence of this, that woman is 
 enabled to act on man by the continual observa¬ 
 tion of all that can captivate his imagination 
 or secure his affection, and by the irresistible 
 seduction of her manners,—if it is these qualities 
 which enable her to accommodate herself to his 
 taste, to yield without constraint even to the 
 caprice of the moment, and to seize the time 
 when observations, made as it were accidentally, 
 may produce the effect which she desires,—if it 
 is by these means that she fulfils her first duty, 
 namely, to please him to whom she has united 
 her days, and to attach him to her and to home, 
 by rendering both delightful,—if all this is the 
 case, of what inexpressible importance must not 
 be the ability to determine, in each individual, the 
 possession of the power and the will to produce 
 such effects ! 
 
 ^ descending to still more minute inquiries,_ 
 
 external indications as to figure are required as to 
 parts concealed by drapery,—if such indications 
 would obviate deception even with regard to 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 those parts of the figure which are more exposed to 
 observation by the closer adaptation of dress,—if, 
 even when the face is seen, the deception as to the 
 degree of beauty is such that a correct estimate ot 
 it is perhaps never formed,—if indications as to 
 mind may be derived from many external circum¬ 
 stances,—if external indications as to the personal 
 habits of women are both numerous and interest¬ 
 ing,—if SU ch indications even of age and health 
 are sometimes essential,—if all this be the case, 
 let the reader say what other object of human 
 inquiry exceeds this in importance. 
 
 Let us not, then, deceive ourselves respecting the 
 bases of those impressions which one sex expe¬ 
 riences from the sight of the other. It is evidently 
 nothing else than the more or less delicate and 
 just perception of a certain conformity of means 
 with a want which has been created by nature, and 
 which must be satisfied. 
 
 It is very obvious, says Dr. Pritchard, “ that this 
 peculiarity in the constitution of man, must have 
 considerable effects on the physical character of 
 the race, and that it must act as a constant prin¬ 
 ciple of improvement, supplying the place in our 
 own kind of the beneficial control [in the cross¬ 
 ing of races] which we exercise over the biute 
 creation.” And he adds, “ This is probably the 
 final cause for which the instinctive perception of 
 
IMPORTANCE OF TIIE SUBJECT. 
 
 9 
 
 human beauty was implanted by Providence in 
 our nature.” 
 
 We need not wonder, then, that the Greeks 
 should have preferred beauty to all other advan¬ 
 tages, should have placed it immediately after 
 virtue in the order of their affections, or should 
 have made it an object of worship. 
 
 Even the practical application of this principle 
 to the improvement of the human race is not a 
 matter of conjecture. We have seen both families 
 and nations ameliorated by the means which it 
 affords. Of this, the Turks are a striking example. 
 Nothing, therefore, can better deserve the re¬ 
 searches of the physiologist, or the exertions of 
 the philanthropist, than the fact that there are 
 laws, of which we have yet only a glimpse, ac¬ 
 cording to which we may influence the ameliora¬ 
 tion of the human race in a manner the most 
 extensive and profound, by acting according to a 
 uniform and uninterrupted system. 
 
 Well might Cabanis exclaim, “ After having 
 occupied ourselves so curiously with the means of 
 rendering more beautiful and better the races of 
 animals or of plants which are useful or agreeable, 
 — after having remodelled a hundred times that 
 of horses and dogs, — after having transplanted, 
 grafted, cultivated, in all manners, fruits and flow¬ 
 ers, — how shameful is it to have totally neglected 
 
10 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 the race of man! As if it affected us less nearly ! 
 as if it were more essential to have large and 
 strong oxen than vigorous and healthy men, 
 highly odorous peaches, or finely striped tulips, 
 than wise and good citizens.”* 
 
 I actually know a man who is so deeply inter¬ 
 ested in the doctrine of crossing, that every hour 
 of his life is devoted to the improvement of a race 
 of bantam fowls and curious pigeons, and who yet 
 married a mad woman, whom he confines in a 
 garret, and by whom he has some insane progeny. 
 
 Let it not be imagined that the discovery of 
 the precise laws of crossing or intermarriage, 
 and the best direction of physical living forces, 
 in relation both to the vital faculties and to those 
 of the mind, upon which knowledge and skill may 
 operate for the improvement of our race, is a 
 matter of difficulty. 
 
 It will be shown in this work, that there exist 
 
 * “Apres nous etre occupes si curieusement des moyens de 
 rendre plus belles et meilleures les races des animaux, ou des 
 plantes utiles et agreables; apres avoir remanie cent fois celle 
 des chevaux et des chiens; apres avoir transplants, greffe, 
 travaille de toutes les manieres, les fruits et les fleurs, combien 
 n’est il pas honteux de negliger totaleraent la race de 1’homme ! 
 Comme si elle nous touchait de moins pres! comme s’il Stait 
 plus essentiel d’avoir des bceufs grands et forts que des hommes 
 vigoureux et sains; des peches bien odorantes, ou des tulipes 
 bien tachetces, que des citoyens sages et bons !” 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 11 
 
 not only an influence of beauty and defects on 
 offspring, but peculiar laws regulating the resem¬ 
 blance of progeny to parents — laws which regard 
 the mode in which the organization of parents 
 affects that of children, or regulates the organs 
 which each parent respectively bestows. 
 
 It will accordingly be shown, that, as, on the 
 size, form and proportion of the various organs, 
 depend their functions, the importance of such 
 laws is indescribable,— whether we regard inter¬ 
 marriages, and that immunity from mental or 
 bodily disease which, when well directed, they 
 may insure,—or the determination of the parent¬ 
 age of a child, or the education of children, in 
 conformity with their faculties,—or the employ¬ 
 ment of men in society. 
 
 I conclude this brief view in the words of the 
 writer just quoted: “It is assuredly time for us 
 to attempt to do for ourselves that which we have 
 done so successfully for several of our companions 
 in existence, to review and correct this work of 
 nature—a noble enterprise, which truly merits 
 all our cares, and which nature itself appears to 
 have especially recommended to us by the sym¬ 
 pathies and the powers which it has given us.” 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 URGENCY OF TIIE DISCUSSION OF THIS SUBJECT IN 
 RELATION TO THE INTERESTS OF DECENCY 
 AND MORALITY. 
 
 It has now been seen that beauty results from 
 the perfection, chiefly of external forms, and the 
 correspondence of that perfection with superiority 
 of internal functions ; on the more or less perfect 
 perception of which, love, intermarriage, and the 
 condition of our race is dependent. 
 
 This mode of considering the elements, the na¬ 
 ture and the consequences of beauty, is equally 
 applicable to the two sexes; but, in woman, the 
 form of the species presents peculiar modifica¬ 
 tions. 
 
 In this work, it is the form of woman which is 
 chosen for examination, because it will be found, 
 by the contrast which is perpetually necessary, to 
 involve a knowledge of the form of man, because 
 it is best calculated to ensure attention from men, 
 and because it is men who, exercising the power 
 
URGENCY OF THE DISCUSSION, ETC. 13 
 
 of selection, have alone the ability thus to ensure 
 individual happiness and to ameliorate the species, 
 which are the objects of this work. 
 
 Let it not be imagined that the views now 
 taken are less favourable to woman than to man. 
 Whatever ensures the happiness of one ensures 
 that of the other ; and as the variety of forms and 
 functions in man requires as many varieties in 
 woman, it is not to exclusion or rejection with 
 regard to woman that this work tends, hut to a 
 reasoned guidance in a man’s choice ; to the greater 
 suitableness of all intermarriages, and to the greater 
 happiness of woman as well as man, both in herself 
 and in her progeny. 
 
 But notwithstanding the importance of any work 
 which is in any degree calculated to promote such 
 an object, some will tell us that decency forbids 
 nudity, and the analysis of female beauty on which 
 it can alone be founded.—I shall, on the contrary, 
 show that decency demands this analysis, that the 
 interests of nature, of truth, of the arts, and of 
 morality demand it. 
 
 Our present notions of sexual decencv belon^ 
 more to art than to nature, and may be divided 
 into artificial and artful decencies. 
 
 Artificial decencies are illustrated in the habits 
 of various nations. They have their origin in cold 
 countries, where clothing is necessary, and where 
 
14 
 
 URGENCY OF THE DISCUSSION 
 
 a deviation from the degree or mode of clothing 
 constitutes indecency. They could not exist in hot 
 climates, where clothing is scarcely possible. 
 
 In hot climates, natural decency can alone exist; 
 and there is not, I believe, one traveller in such 
 countries whose works do not prove that natural 
 decency there exists as much as in cold countries. 
 
 In exemplification of this, 1 make a single quo¬ 
 tation : it would be easy to make thousands.— 
 Burchell, speaking of the Bushmen Hottentots, 
 says, “ The natural bashful reserve of youth and 
 innocence is to be seen as much among these 
 savages, as in more polished nations; and the 
 young girls, though wanting but little of being 
 perfectly naked, evince as just a sense of modesty 
 as the most rigid and careful education could have 
 given them.” 
 
 In mild climates, the half clothed or slightly 
 clothed people appear to be somewhat at a loss 
 what to do. Fond of decorations, like all savage 
 or half civilized people, they seem to be divided 
 between the tatooing and painting of hot climates, 
 and the clothing of cold ones; and when they 
 adopt the latter, they do not rightly know what to 
 conceal. 
 
 The works of all travellers afford the same illus¬ 
 trations of this fact. I quote one. Kotzebue 
 describes the custom among the Tartar women of 
 
AS TO DECENCY AND MORALITY. 
 
 15 
 
 Kasan, of flying or of concealing their counte¬ 
 nance from the sight of a stranger. The neces¬ 
 sity of conforming to this custom threw into great 
 embarrassment a young woman who was obliged 
 to pass several times before the German tra¬ 
 veller. She at first concealed her face with her 
 hands ; but, soon embarrassed by that attitude, 
 she removed the veil which covered her bosom, 
 and threw it over her face. That, adds Kotzebue, 
 was, as we say, uncovering Paul to cover Jaques : 
 the bosom remained naked. To cover that, she 
 next showed what should have been concealed ; 
 and if anything escaped from her Hands, she 
 stooped, and, then, says Kotzebue, I saw both one 
 and the other. 
 
 In colder or more uncertain climes, the greatest 
 degree of covering constitutes the greatest degree 
 of artificial decency: fashion and decency are con¬ 
 founded. Among old fashioned people, of whom 
 a good example may be found in old country 
 women of the middle class in England, it is in¬ 
 decent to be seen with the head unclothed ; such 
 a woman is terrified at the chance of being seen 
 in that condition; and if intruded on at such a 
 time, she shrieks with terror, and flies to conceal 
 herself. In the equally polished dandy of the 
 metropolis, it is indecent to be seen without gloves. 
 Which of these respectable creatures is the most 
 
16 
 
 URGENCY OF THE DISCUSSION 
 
 enlightened, I do not take upon me to say ; but 
 I believe that the majority of suffrages would be 
 in favour of the old woman. 
 
 So entirely are these decencies artificial, that 
 any number of them may easily be created, not 
 merely with regard to man or woman, but even 
 with regard to domesticated animals. If it should 
 please some persons partially to clothe horses, 
 cows, or dogs, it would ere long be felt that their 
 appearing in the streets without trowsers or aprons 
 was grossly indecent. We might thus create a 
 real feeling of indecency, the perception of a new 
 impurity, which would take the place of the for¬ 
 mer absence of all impure thought, and once 
 established, the evil would be as real as our whims 
 have made it in other respects. 
 
 Moral feeling is deeply injured by this sub¬ 
 stitution of impure thoughts, however fancifully 
 founded, for pure ones, or rather for the entire 
 absence of thought about worthless things. Arti¬ 
 ficial crimes are thus made, which are not the less 
 real because artificial; for if aught of this kind is 
 believed to be right, there is weakness or wrong 
 in its violation. But violated it must be, if it 
 were but accidentally. 
 
 To corrupt minds, this very violation of artificial 
 decency, in the case of woman, affords the zest for 
 the sake of which many of these decencies seem 
 
AS TO DECENCY AND MORALITY. 17 
 
 to have been instituted ; and thus are created the 
 artful decencies. 
 
 The purpose and the zest of artful decency is 
 well illustrated by coquetry. Coquetry adopts a 
 general concealment, which it well knows can 
 alone give a sensual and seductive power to mo¬ 
 mentary exposure. Coquetry eschews permanent 
 exposure as the bane of sensuality and seduction ; 
 and where these are great, as among the women of 
 Spain, the concealment of dress is increased, even 
 in warm climates. Nothing can throw greater light 
 than this does on the nature of these decencies. 
 
 That coquetry has well calculated her procedure, 
 does not admit of a doubt. She appeals to ima¬ 
 gination, which she knows will spread charms over 
 even ugly forms; she seeks the concealment under 
 which sensuality and lust are engendered ; and, in 
 marriage, she at last lifts the veil which gratifies, 
 only to disgust, and repays a sensual hallucination 
 by years of misery. 
 
 Ought religion to claim the right of saying 
 grace to such unveiling of concealment and the 
 sensual feast that follows it? Ought religion to 
 profit by the impurities of sexual association ? 
 Marriage is a civil ceremony in other countries, 
 even in Scotland. Such profane and profitable 
 sanctions have nothing to do with primitive 
 Christianity: they are abhorrent to its letter as 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 URGENCY OF THE DISCUSSION 
 
 well as to its spirit. But worldly and profitable 
 religion is connected in business with government, 
 under the firm of Church and State, and drives 
 a thriving trade, in which the junior partner is 
 contented with the profit arising from the common 
 acts of life, while the senior one draws much of his 
 living from its sexual acts 
 
 What is said here, is no argument for living 
 nudity: that, our climate and our customs forbid; 
 and, in so doing, we can only regret that they are 
 unfavourable to natural purity ; while perfect fami¬ 
 liarity with the figure ensures that feeling in the 
 highest degree. 
 
 A distinguished artist informs me that greater 
 modesty is nowhere to be seen than at the 
 Life-Academy ; and it was an observation of the 
 great Flaxman, that “ the students, in entering the 
 academy, seemed to hang up their passions with 
 their hats.” I can, from personal experience, give 
 the same testimony in behalf of medical students 
 at the dissecting rooms. The familiarity of both 
 these classes with natural beauty leads them only 
 to seek to inform their minds and to purify their 
 taste. 
 
 Sinibaldi observes, “ that nothing is more inju¬ 
 rious to morals and to health, than the mcite- 
 
 * I do not wish to be forced into any discussion on this last 
 point. But if necessary, I shall not decline it. 
 
AS TO DECENCY AND MORALITY. 1 9 
 
 ments of the women who in such numbers walk 
 our streets, 5 ’ and that “the laws as to offences 
 against morals ought certainly to affect them the 
 moment their language or actions can be deemed 
 offensive.” But it is not to those who are critically 
 conversant with the highest beauty of the human 
 figure, that defective forms, ill painted skins, 
 rude manners, and contagious diseases, are at all 
 seductive. 
 
 Nothing, then, can be more favourable to sexual 
 virtue than the decoration of every house with the 
 beautiful copies of the glorious works of ancient 
 Greece; and it is only humiliating to think that 
 what has been so extensively done in this respect 
 in the best houses, is less owing to our own taste 
 than to the poor wanderers from Lucca or Barga. 
 Experiment on this subject is peculiarly easy in 
 London : let any one spend an hour in the shop 
 of the very able Mr. Sarti, of Dean-street, where 
 he will meet the most liberal attention, and let him 
 ask himself, in coming out, whether his moral 
 feeling, as well as his taste, is not improved. 
 
 Those who cannot make this experiment, will 
 perhaps be satisfied with the assurance of Ho¬ 
 garth, who says, “The rest of the body, not 
 having advantages in common with the face, 
 would soon satiate the eye, were it to be as con¬ 
 stantly exposed, nor would it have more effect 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 URGENCY OF THE DISCUSSION 
 
 than a marble statue.” Surely this is decisive 
 enough in its way! Now, let them mark what 
 follows. “ But,” he continues, “ when it is artfully 
 clothed and decorated, the mind at every turn re¬ 
 sumes its imaginary pursuits concerning it. Thus, 
 if I may be allowed a simile, the angler chooses 
 not to see the fish he angles for, until it is fairly 
 caught.” He meant, of course —“ the fish chooses 
 not to see the angler, until it is fairly caught!” 
 
 Be it known, then, to all, even the most aristo¬ 
 cratic as to sexual association—I say the most 
 aristocratic, and not the most religious, because 
 religion is in some countries made the pander to 
 aristocracy-—be it known that the critical judgment 
 and pure taste for beauty are the sole protection 
 against low and degrading connexions. 
 
 Home observes that “ the sense of beauty does 
 not tend to advance the interests of society, but 
 when in a due mien with respect to strength. 
 Love in particular, arising from a sense of beauty, 
 loses, when excessive, its sociable character : the 
 appetite for gratification, prevailing over affection 
 for the beloved object, is ungovernable, and tends 
 violently to its end, regardless of the misery that 
 must follow. Love in this state is no longer 
 a sweet agreeable passion: it becomes painful, 
 like hunger or thirst, and produceth no happi¬ 
 ness but in the instant of fruition. This discovery 
 
AS TO DECENCY AND MODALITY. 
 
 21 
 
 suggests a most important lesson, that moderation 
 in our desires and appetites, which fits us for 
 doing our duty, contributes at the same time the 
 most to happiness: even social passions, when 
 moderate, are more pleasant than when they swell 
 beyond proper bounds.” Payne Knight says, 
 “ When, at the age of puberty, animal desire ob¬ 
 trudes itself on a mind already qualified to feel 
 and enjoy the charms of intellectual merit, the 
 imagination immediately begins to form pictures 
 of perfection, by exaggerating and combining in 
 one hypothetic object every excellence that can 
 possibly belong to the whole sex; and the first 
 individual that meets the eye, with any exterior 
 signs of any of these ideal excellences, is imme¬ 
 diately decorated with them all, by the creative 
 magic of a vigorous and fertile fancy. Hence she 
 instantaneously becomes the object of the most 
 fervent affection, which is as instantaneously 
 cooled by possession: for, as it was not the object 
 herself, but a false idea of her raised in heated 
 imagination, that called forth all the lover’s rap¬ 
 tures, all immediately vanish at the detection of 
 his delusion ; and a degree of disgust proportioned 
 to the disappointment, of which it is the inevitable 
 consequence, instantly succeeds. Thus it happens 
 that what are called love-matches are seldom or 
 ever happy.” 
 
22 
 
 URGENCY OF THE DISCUSSION 
 
 Now, nothing can more effectually prevent even 
 the existence of the mania described by these 
 two philosophers than a critical judgment and a 
 pure taste for beauty, which again therefore are 
 the sole protection against low and degrading 
 connexions. 
 
 A just sense of this truth will give high encou¬ 
 ragement to sculpture and painting—arts which 
 may everj^where be looked upon as the best tests, 
 as well as the best records, of civilization. Such 
 encouragement they need in truth ; for the mon¬ 
 strous monopoly of landed property and the accu¬ 
 mulation of wealth in few hands—the great aim 
 ol our political economy, renders art poor indeed. 
 
 I am aware that the vulgar among artists think 
 otherwise; from the few rich they obtain employ¬ 
 ment ; and, like the dog with his master, they 
 look not beyond the hand that doles out their 
 pittance. But the rich are few ; and their palaces 
 are already filled. A diffusion of wealth alone 
 can give encouragement to art; nor can this ever 
 be, while British industry is crushed under the 
 weight of enormous taxation. 
 
 Having removed some objections to art, I would 
 add a few words to artists on the cause of the fine 
 arts in Greece, from a paper I, two years ago, con¬ 
 tributed to a monthly periodical.* 
 
 * The Magazine of the Fine Arts, No. 6, for October, 1833. 
 
AS TO DECENCY AND MORALITY. 
 
 23 
 
 That the mythology of Greece had an influence 
 over its arts, is generally grantedbut I am not 
 aware, that it has either been shown to be ex¬ 
 clusively their cause, or that its mode of opera¬ 
 tion has ever been explained. 
 
 Religion, I may observe, is as natural to man 
 as his weakness and helplessness. There is not 
 one of its systems, not even the vilest, which has 
 not afforded him consolation. Of its higher and 
 better systems, some are equally admirable for the 
 grandeur and the beauty of the truths on which 
 they are founded, the simplicity and the elegance 
 of their ostensible forms, the power and applica¬ 
 bility of their symbols, and their sympathy with 
 and control over the affections and the ima¬ 
 gination. 
 
 These high characteristics peculiarly distinguished 
 the religion of ancient Greece. 
 
 By bigots, we are indeed told, that, though 
 Homer is our model in epic, Anacreon in lyric, 
 and iEschylus in dramatic poetry, — though the 
 music of Greece doubtless corresponded to its 
 poetry in beauty, pathos and grandeur, — though 
 the mere wreck of her sculpture is never over¬ 
 looked in modern war and negotiation, — though 
 the mere sight of her ruined Parthenon is more 
 than a reward for the fatigue or the peril of a 
 journey to the eternal city,— though these pro- 
 
24 
 
 URGENCY OF THE DISCUSSION 
 
 ducts of art are the test of the highest civiliza¬ 
 tion which the world has witnessed, — though 
 to these chiefly Rome owed the little civilization 
 of which she was capable, and we ourselves 
 the circumstance that, at this hour, we are not, 
 like our ancestors, covered only with blue paint or 
 the skins of brutes, — though all this is true as to 
 the arts of Greece, we are told that, by the 
 strangest exception, the religion of Greece was a 
 base superstition. 
 
 That religion, however, was the creator of these 
 arts. They not only could not have existed with¬ 
 out it, but they never can be called into existence 
 by any other religion. 
 
 The personification of simple Beauty, Valour, 
 Wisdom, or Omnipotence, in Venus, Mars, Minerva, 
 or Jupiter, respectively, were essential to the 
 purity and the power of expression of these 
 attributes in the worship of the deities to whom 
 they respectively belonged. The union of abso¬ 
 lute beauty and valour in one being, is not more 
 impossible than their union in one expression of 
 homage and admiration. Delicacy, elegance, and 
 grace were as characteristic of the statue, the wor¬ 
 ship and the temple of the goddess of beauty, as 
 attributes nearly opposite to these were of the 
 statue, the worship and the temple of the god of 
 war. Thus were the fine arts in Greece created by 
 
AS TO DECENCY AND MODALITY. 
 
 25 
 
 the personification of simple attributes or virtues as 
 objects of adoration; and thus is. excellence in 
 these fine arts incapable of being elicited by any 
 system of religion in which more than one attribute 
 is ascribed to the god. 
 
 They must be ignorant indeed of the wonderful 
 people of whom I now speak, who allege, that the 
 Greeks worshipped the mere statue of the god, 
 and not the personified virtue. Even the history 
 of their beautiful religion proves the reverse. It 
 was the tomb which became the altar, and retained 
 nearly its form. It was the expression of love, of 
 regret, and of veneration for departed virtue, which 
 became divine adoration; and, as individual acts, 
 and even individual names, were ultimately lost 
 in one transcendent attribute, so were individual 
 forms and features, in its purified and ideal repre¬ 
 sentation. Here, then, instead of finding the wor¬ 
 ship of men or of their representations, we dis¬ 
 cover a gradual advance from beings to attributes— 
 from mortal man to eternal virtue, and a corre¬ 
 sponding and suitable advance from simple venera¬ 
 tion to divine adoration. 
 
 When, in great emergencies of the state, the 
 sages and the soldiers of Athens, in solemn pro¬ 
 cession repaired to the temple of Minerva, turned 
 their faces toward the statue of the goddess, and 
 prostrated themselves in spirit before her—let the 
 
26 
 
 URGENCY OF THE DISCUSSION. 
 
 beautiful history of Grecian science tell, whether in 
 the statue, they worshipped the mere marble struc¬ 
 ture, or, in its forms and attributes, beheld and 
 adored a personification of eternal truth and wis¬ 
 dom, and so prepared the mind for deeds which 
 have rendered Greece for ever illustrious. Or, 
 when returning from a Marathon, or a Salamis, 
 the warriors of Athens, followed by trains of 
 maidens, and matrons, and old men, returned 
 thanks to the god of victories,—let the immortal 
 record of the long series of glorious achievements 
 which succeeded these, tell, whether gratitude to 
 their heroes was not there identified with homage 
 to the spirit or the divinity that inspired them. 
 
 True it is, that whenever physical or moral prin¬ 
 ciples are personified, the ignorant may be led to 
 mistake the sign for that which is signified; but 
 one of the most admirable characteristics of the 
 Grecian religion is, that, with little effort, every 
 external form may be traced to the spirit which it 
 represents, and every fable may be resolved into a 
 beautiful illustration of physical or moral truth. 
 So that when mystic influences, with increasing 
 knowledge, ceased to sway the imagination, all 
 powerful truths directed the reason. 
 
 The natural and poetical religion of Greece, there¬ 
 fore, differed from false and vulgar religions in 
 this, that it was calculated to hold equal empire 
 
AS TO DECENCY AND MORALITY. 
 
 27 
 
 over the minds of the ignorant and the wise; and 
 the initiations of Eleusis were apparently the solemn 
 acts by which the youths and maidens of Greece 
 passed from ignorance and blind obedience to 
 knowledge and enlightened zeal. Thus, in that 
 happy region, neither were the priests knaves, nor 
 the people their dupes.* 
 
 And what has been the result of this fundamental 
 excellence ?—That no interpolated fooleries have 
 been able to destroy it;—that the religion of Greece 
 exists, and must ever exist, the religion of nature, 
 genius, and taste ;—and that neither poetry nor 
 the arts can have being without it. Schiller has 
 well expressed this truth in the following lines:— 
 
 “ The intelligible forms of ancient poets, 
 
 The fair humanities of old religion, 
 
 The power, the beauty, and the majesty, 
 
 That had their haunts in dale, or piny mountains, 
 
 Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly spring, 
 
 Or chasms, and watery depths.—all these have vanish’d; 
 They live no longer in the faith of reason ; 
 
 But still the heart doth need a language; still 
 Doth the old instinet bring back the old names ; 
 
 * * And even at this day, 
 
 ’Tis Jupiter who brings w'hate’er is great, 
 
 And Venus who brings everything that’s fair.” 
 
 * I am not here called upon to vindicate the errors and 
 absurdities which poets and others introduced into mythology. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 In relation to early sexual association, it cannot 
 be doubted, that when the instinct of reproduc¬ 
 tion begins to be developed, the reserve which 
 parents, relatives, and instructors adopt on this 
 subject is often the means of producing injurious 
 effects; because a system of concealment on this 
 subject, as observed in the preceding chapter, is 
 quite impracticable. Discoveries made by young 
 persons in obscene books, the unguarded language 
 or shameless conduct of grown-up persons, even 
 the wild flights of an imagination which is then 
 easily excited, will have the most fatal conse¬ 
 quences. 
 
 Parents or instructors ought therefore, at that 
 critical period, to give rational explanations as to 
 the nature and the object of the propensity, the 
 mechanism of reproduction in various vegetable 
 and animal beings, and the fatal consequences to 
 which this propensity may lead. Such procedure, 
 if well conducted, cannot but have the most bene- 
 
CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 29 
 
 ficial results; because, in order that a sane person 
 should avoid any danger, it is only necessary 
 that he should see it distinctly. 
 
 The advantage, it has been observed, which the 
 parent, relative, or instructor derives from himself 
 informing the adolescent in the new faculty which 
 is developed in him, is to prevent his choosing, 
 among corrupt servants or ignorant youths of his 
 own age, the confidants of his amorous passion. 
 The parent or instructor, moreover, is then justly 
 entitled to, and has gratefully given to him, the 
 entire confidence of the adolescent; and he is 
 thereby enabled exactly to appreciate the degree of 
 power of the propensity which he desires to divert 
 or to guide. 
 
 Such being the case, it is the business of the 
 parent to present a true picture of the effects of 
 too early association of this kind, on the stature, 
 the various development of the figure, the muscular 
 power, the quality of the voice, the health, and 
 especially on the acuteness, the power, the dignity, 
 and the courage of the mind. 
 
 In doing this, it would be as stupid as injurious 
 to employ the slightest degree of false representa¬ 
 tion, of reprimand, or even of what is called 
 moralizing, which is only the contemptible cant 
 of a being who cannot reason, when it takes the 
 place of a simple and powerful statement of facts. 
 
30 
 
 CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 All of these would only render the young man a 
 dissembler, and would compel him to choose another 
 confidant. 
 
 Among other considerations, varying according 
 to the circumstances of the case, those stated below 
 may with advantage be presented. 
 
 At a certain period in the life both of plants and 
 animals, varying according to their kind and the 
 climate they live in, they are fit for and disposed to 
 the reproduction of their species. The sexes in 
 both are then attracted to each other. In plants, 
 the powder termed pollen, in animals a peculiar 
 liquid which, deriving its name by analogy from 
 the seeds of plants, is termed seminal, is secreted 
 by the male plant or animal, and, by organs dif¬ 
 ferently formed in each kind, is cast upon ova or 
 eggs, either contained within, or deposited by, the 
 female. The details of this process are among the 
 most beautiful and interesting of the living eco¬ 
 nomy. In mankind, the transition to this period 
 is termed puberty. 
 
 It is with this critical period, and his conduct 
 during it, that all that the youth deems most valu¬ 
 able, all that can decide his fortunes and his hap¬ 
 piness in the world, his stature, figure, strength, 
 voice, health, and mental powers are most inti¬ 
 mately connected. 
 
 In regard to stature, the body appears to com- 
 
CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 31 
 
 plete its increase in height chiefly at the age of 
 puberty, and during the first years which succeed 
 that age. To be assured of the powerful influence 
 of his own conduct, at this period, upon his stature, 
 the youth has only to compare the tall men and 
 women of the country, as in Yorkshire, Lancashire, 
 Westmoreland, Cumberland, and the Scottish bor¬ 
 ders, where they have not been overworked, with 
 the stunted and dwarfed creatures of the metropolis, 
 where a stranger, when he first enters it, is apt 
 to think he sees so many ugly boys and girls, 
 whereas they are full-grown London men and 
 women. Half the population of the metropolis 
 is affected in this way; and it is the obvious con¬ 
 sequence of puberty being generally accelerated by 
 confinement, stimulating food, indecent plays, and 
 sexual association. 
 
 In regard to the perfect development and beauty 
 of the figure, the youth is probably aware that the 
 most beautiful races of horses and dogs rapidly 
 deteriorate, if men do not carefully maintain them 
 by continence as well as by crossing. The too 
 early employment, the depraved abuses, the injury, 
 or the removal of the sexual organs are all of them 
 causes still more certain of deformity. The latter 
 of these causes acts, of course, most obviously; 
 and it is evidenced in the almost universal mal¬ 
 formation of eunuchs, geldings, &c. 
 
32 
 
 CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 That, in regard to bodily strength, sexual con¬ 
 tinence adds energy to the muscular fibre, is clearly 
 seen by observing the most ardent quadrupeds pre¬ 
 vious to the time of the union of their sexes. But, 
 this being past, precisely in the same proportion 
 does the effusion necessary to reproduction debilitate 
 and break down the strongest animal. Many male 
 animals even fall almost exhausted by a single act 
 of union with the opposite sex. 
 
 Every classical student has read the beautiful 
 allegory of Hercules, who, having spun at the 
 knees of Omphale (opupaAo?, the navel, here put for 
 the most essential part of the female generative 
 organ) thereby lost his strength : this beautifully 
 expressed the abasement of power amidst the 
 indulgences of love. Euripides also depicts the 
 terrible Achilles as timid before women, and re¬ 
 spectful with Clytemnestra and Iphigenia. Hence, 
 when a foolish lord reproached the poet Dryden 
 with having given too much timidity toward women 
 to a personage in one of his tragedies, and added 
 that he knew better how to employ his time with 
 the ladies, the poet answered, “ You now acknow¬ 
 ledge that you are no hero, which I intended that 
 personage to be.” 
 
 As to voice, which depends on the muscles of 
 respiration, and more immediately on those of the 
 mouth and throat, as general strength does on 
 
CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 33 
 
 the muscles of the whole body, both merely 
 affording expressions of the mind, the influence of 
 the sexual union upon it is prodigious. How en¬ 
 tirely it is altered by the removal of the testes in 
 eunuchs is known to every one : in corresponding 
 proportion, is it altered by every act of the genera¬ 
 tive organs, but especially by sexual indulgence 
 during puberty. The horrible voice of earlv liber- 
 tines and prostitutes presents an alarming ex¬ 
 ample of this. To those who value voice in con¬ 
 versation, in the delightful and humanizing exer¬ 
 cise of music, or in the grander efforts of public 
 speaking, nothing more need be said. 
 
 As to health, the less we are prodigal of life, 
 the longer we preserve it. Every one capable of 
 observing may see that the stag loses his horns 
 and his hair after procreation • that birds fall into 
 moulting and sadness; and that male insects even 
 perish after this effort, as if they yielded their indi¬ 
 vidual life to their progeny. Indeed, everything 
 perishes so much the more readily, as it has thus 
 transmitted life to its descendants, or has cast it 
 away in vain pleasures. 
 
 In mankind, as in other animals, to procreate is 
 in effect to die to oneself, and to leave one’s life 
 to posterity; especially if this takes place in 
 early life. It is then that man becomes bald 
 and bent; and that the charms of woman fade. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 Even in advanced age, epicures are so well aware 
 of this, that they are known to abstain from 
 amorous excess, as the acknowledged cause of 
 premature death. 
 
 In relation to mind,-as the generative power 
 is the source of several characteristics of genius, 
 the exhaustion of that power at an early age must 
 take away these characteristics. Genius as surely 
 languishes, and is extinguished, amidst early sexual 
 indulgence, as do the faculties of voice and lo¬ 
 comotion, which are merely its signs and ex- 
 pressions. 
 
 It is thus with all our faculties, locomotive, vital, 
 
 mental, at an early age. They are strengthened 
 by all that they do not dissipate ; and that whic 
 their organs too abundantly dispense is not only 
 taken immediately from their own power, and 
 mediately from that of the other organs, but it 
 ensures the permanent debility of the whole. 
 
 It is true that the strong passions which are 
 modified or characterized by the sexual impulse, 
 excite the imagination and impel the mind to 
 sublime exertions; but the sole means of either 
 obtaining or preserving such impulsion is to shun 
 the indulgence of pleasure in early life, and its 
 waste at later periods. 
 
 It has accordingly been observed, that the pas¬ 
 sion of love appears to be most excessive in am- 
 
CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 35 
 
 mals which least excel in mental faculties. Thus 
 the beasts which are the most lascivious—the ass, 
 the boar, &c., are also the most stupid ; and idiots 
 and cretins display a sensuality which brutifies 
 them still more. Hence, the Homeric fable that 
 Circe transformed men into beasts. 
 
 It would also appear that the most stupid ani¬ 
 mals—swine, rabbits, &c., in general produce the 
 greatest number of young ; while men of genius 
 have engendered the fewest. It is remarked that 
 none of the greatest men of antiquity were much 
 given to sexual pleasure. 
 
 It is, then, of the greatest importance to young 
 men who are ambitious of excellence, to mark 
 well this truth, that the most powerful and dis¬ 
 tinguished in mental faculties, other things being 
 equal, will be he who wastes them least in early 
 life by sexual indulgence—who most economizes 
 the vital stimulant, in order to excite the mental 
 powers on great occasions. By such means may 
 a man surely surpass others, if he have received 
 from his parents proportional mental energy. 
 
 Beside the means already indicated, there is 
 one proposed by an able writer, as serving to 
 divert the instinct of propagation when too early 
 and excessive, and consequently dangerous: that 
 is, the sentiment of love. To employ this means, 
 he observes, “it is necessary to search early, after 
 d 2 
 
36 
 
 CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTII. 
 
 knowing the character of the adolescent whom it 
 is wished to direct, for a young woman whose 
 beauty and good qualities may inspire him with 
 attachment. This means will serve, more than 
 can easily he imagined, to preserve the adolescent 
 both from the grosser attractions of libertinism 
 and the diseases it entails, and from the more 
 dangerous snares of coquetry. It is,” he adds, £< a 
 virtuous young woman and a solid attachment 
 that are here spoken of.” At some future 
 period I shall probably show how wise this re¬ 
 commendation is, as well as the necessity and the 
 advantages of early marriages, under favourable 
 circumstances. 
 
 Having now shown the evils of early sexual 
 association, I may briefly notice those of later 
 libertinism. 
 
 If, even in more advanced life, and when the 
 constitution is stronger, the instinct of propagation 
 be not restrained within just limits, it degenerates 
 into inordinate lewdness or real , mania : “ Reperrit 
 ohscsenas veneres vitiosa libido.” By such depra¬ 
 vation, nobleness of character is utterly destroyed. 
 
 This scarcely evitable consequence of great for¬ 
 tune and of the facility of indulgence, it has been 
 justly observed, will ever be the ruin of the rich, 
 and a mode of enervating the most vigorous 
 branches of the most powerful houses. 
 
CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 37 
 
 The libertine, then, owing to exhaustion by 
 sexual indulgence, is characterized by physical and 
 moral impotence, or has a brain as incapable of 
 thinking as his muscles are of acting. 
 
 As libertines are enfeebled by indulgence, it fol¬ 
 lows that they are proportionally distinguished 
 by fear and cowardice. Nothing, indeed, destroys 
 courage more than sexual abuses. 
 
 But from cowardice spring cunning, duplicity, 
 lying, and perfidy. These common results of 
 cowardice are uniformly found in eunuchs, slaves, 
 courtiers, and sycophants, while boldness, frank¬ 
 ness, and generosity belong to free and mag¬ 
 nanimous men. 
 
 Again, cowardice, artifice, falsehood, and perfidy 
 are the usual elements of cruelty. Men feel more 
 wounded in self-love, as they are conscious of being 
 more contemptible ; and they avenge themselves 
 with more malignity upon their enemy, as they 
 find themselves more weak and worthless, and as 
 they consequently dread him more. 
 
 These are the causes of that malignant re¬ 
 venge which Princes have often shown, as, in 
 ancient times—Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, 
 Heliogabalus, &c. In later times, Catherine de 
 Medici solicited the massacre of the Protestants ; 
 Paul, Constantine, and Nicholas of Russia were 
 happy only when they wallowed in blood; Charles 
 
38 
 
 CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 the Tenth, equally effeminated and bigoted, perpe¬ 
 trated the massacre of the Parisians; Don Miguel 
 covered Portugal with his assassinations; and nearly 
 all the sovereigns and sycophants in Europe upheld 
 
 or palliated his atrocities. 
 
 The strong and brave man, on the contrary, 
 scarce feels hurt, and scorns revenge. 
 
 It is not cruelty only with which we may re¬ 
 proach these effeminate individuals : it is every vice 
 which springs from baseness of character. 
 
 Libertinism, moreover, is not hurtful only to 
 the health and welfare of these individuals : it is 
 
 so also to those of their posterity. 
 
 Finally, the results of libertinism have con¬ 
 stantly marked not merely the rum of families 
 but the degeneration of races, and the decay of 
 empires. The delights of Capua caused the ruin 
 of Hannibal; and the Roman, once so proud 
 before kings, finally transformed himself into the 
 wretched slave of monsters degraded far below the 
 rank of humanity. 
 
 So little, however, do men look to remote conse¬ 
 quences, that perhaps the most frightful punish¬ 
 ments of libertinism are the diseases which it in¬ 
 flicts. Man may, then, be said to meet only 
 
 death on the path of life. 
 
 The dangers of promiscuous love are indeed far 
 beyond what young men will easily believe. I 
 
CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 39 
 
 do not' exaggerate when I state, that, out of every 
 three women, and those the least common of the 
 promiscuous, two at least are certainly in a state 
 of pollution capable of the most destructive in¬ 
 fection. A surgeon in the habit of receiving foul 
 patients at a public hospital tells me, I might 
 safely say that nine out of every ten are in this 
 state. 
 
 While writing this, Sir Anthony Carlisle observes 
 to me, that, “ The special disease which appears to 
 be a punishment for sexual profligacy is not only 
 malignant, painful, and hideous in every stage of 
 it, but the only remedy known for its cure, mer¬ 
 cury, is a poison which generally leaves its own 
 evils for the venom it destroys. This frightful dis¬ 
 ease has no natural termination but in a disgusting 
 disgraceful death, after disfiguring the countenance, 
 by causing blindness, loss of the nose, the palate, 
 and teeth, and by the spoliation of the sinning 
 organs. The miserables who thus perish in public 
 hospitals are so offensive to the more respectable 
 patients that they are confined to appointed rooms, 
 termed foul wards, where they linger and die in the 
 bloom of life, either of the penalty inflicted by 
 their profligacy, of the poison administered to 
 them, or of incurable consequent diseases, such as 
 consumption, palsy, or madness.” 
 
 Hence, it has been observed, that if we have 
 
40 
 
 CAUTIONS AS TO YOUTH. 
 
 to deal with a young man incapable of guidance by 
 the nobler motives, of feeling contempt for vice, 
 and horror for debauchery, there yet remains means 
 to be employed. Let him be conducted to the 
 hospital, where he will find collected the poor 
 victims of debauchery—the unhappy women whom, 
 even the day before, he may have seen in the 
 streets, with faces dressed in smiles amidst the 
 torments, the corrosion, and the contagion of dis¬ 
 ease. This may leave an impression sufficiently 
 deep. But let him also know that these unhappy 
 creatures are a thousand times more pitiable than 
 the libertine, who destroys them, and who forfeits 
 the only good we cannot refuse to other wretches, 
 compassion for the misery he endures. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 In this chapter, my wish is to show that there 
 are more than one kind of beauty, and that much 
 confusion has arisen among writers, from not 
 clearly distinguishing the characteristics of these 
 kinds. 
 
 An essential condition, then, of all excitement 
 and action in animal bodies, is a greater or less 
 degree of novelty in the objects impressing them, 
 —even if this novelty should arise only for a pre¬ 
 vious cessation of excitement. 
 
 Now, objects of greater or less novelty, are the 
 causes of excitement, pleasurable or painful, by 
 means of their various relations. 
 
 The lowest degree of bodily pleasure, (though, 
 owing to its constancy, immense in its total 
 amount,) is that which arises, during health, from 
 those relations of bodies and that excitement which 
 cause the mere local exercise of the organs — a 
 source of pleasure which is seldom the object of 
 
42 
 
 NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 our voluntary attention, but which seems to me to 
 be the chief cause of attachment to life amidst its 
 more definite and conspicuous evils. 
 
 All higher mental emotions consist of pleasure 
 or pain superadded to more or less definite ideas. 
 Pleasurable emotions arise from the agreeable 
 relations of things; painful emotions, from the 
 disagreeable ones. 
 
 The term by which we express the influence 
 which objects, by means of their relations, pos¬ 
 sess of exciting emotions of pleasure in the mind, 
 is Beauty. 
 
 Beauty, when founded on the relations of objects, 
 or of the parts of objects, to each other, forms a 
 first class, and may be termed intrinsic beauty. 
 
 When beauty is further considered in relation to 
 ourselves, it forms a second class, and may be 
 termed extrinsic beauty. 
 
 We are next led (hitherto this has apparently 
 been done without analyzing or defining the opera¬ 
 tion) to a division of the latter into two genera— 
 namely, the minor beauty, of which prettiness, deli¬ 
 cacy, &c. are modifications, and that which is 
 called grandeur or sublimity. 
 
 The characters of the minor beauty or prettiness, 
 with relation to ourselves, are smallness, subor¬ 
 dination, or subjection. Hence female beauty, 
 in relation to the male. 
 
 
NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 43 
 
 The characters of grandeur or sublimity, with 
 relation to ourselves, are greatness, super-ordina¬ 
 tion, or power. Hence male beauty, in relation to 
 the female. 
 
 By the preceding brief train of analysis and 
 definition, is, I believe, answered the question — 
 “ Whether the emotion of grandeur make a branch 
 of the emotion of beauty, or be entirely distinct 
 from it ?” 
 
 Having, by this concise statement of my own 
 views on these subjects, made the reader acquainted 
 with some of the materials of future consideration 
 here employed, I may now examine the opinions 
 of some philosophers, in order to see how far they 
 accord with these first principles, and what answer 
 can be given to them where they differ. 
 
 That beauty generally considered has nothing to 
 do with particular size, is very well shown by 
 Payne Knight, who, though he argues incorrectly 
 about it in many other respects, here truly says, 
 “ All degrees of magnitude contribute to beauty in 
 proportion as they show objects to be perfect in 
 their kind. The dimensions of a beautiful horse 
 are very different from those of a beautiful lap- 
 dog ; and those of a beautiful oak, from those of 
 a beautiful myrtle; because nature has formed 
 these different kinds of animals and vegetables 
 upon different scales. 
 
44 
 
 NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 “ The notion of objects being rendered beautiful 
 by being gradually diminished, or tapered, is 
 equally unfounded; for the same object, which 
 is £ small by degrees, and beautifully less,’ when 
 seen in one direction, is large by degrees, and 
 beautifully bigger, when seen in another. The 
 stems of trees are tapered upwards ; and the 
 columns of Grecian architecture, having been 
 taken from them, and therefore retaining a degree 
 of analogy with them, were tapered upwards too : 
 but the legs of animals are tapered downwards, 
 and the inverted obelisks, upon which busts were 
 placed, having a similar analogy to them, were 
 tapered downwards also; whilst pilasters, which 
 had no analogy with either, but were mere 
 square posts terminating a wall, never tapered at 
 all.” 
 
 Speaking of beauty generally, and without seeing 
 the distinctions I have made above, Burke, on the 
 contrary, states the first quality of beauty to be 
 comparative smallness, and says, <c In ordinary 
 conversation, it is usual to add the endearing name 
 of little to everything we loveand, “ in most 
 languages, the objects of love are spoken of under 
 diminutive epithets.” 
 
 This is evidently true only of the objects of 
 minor or subordinate beauty , which Burke con¬ 
 fusedly thought the only kind of it, though 
 
nature of beauty. 
 
 45 
 
 lie elsewhere grants, that beauty may be con¬ 
 nected with sublimity ! It shows, -however, that 
 relative littleness is essential to that first kind of 
 beauty. 
 
 55 ith greater knowledge of facts than Burke 
 possessed, and with as feeble reasoning powers, 
 but with less taste, and with a perverse whimsi¬ 
 cality which was all his own, Payne Knight simi¬ 
 larly, making no distinction in beauty, considered 
 smallness as an accidental association, failed to 
 see that it characterized a kind of beauty, and 
 argued, that “ if w T e join the diminutive to a term, 
 which precludes all such affection, or does not 
 even, in some degree, express it, it immediately 
 converts it into a term of contempt and reproach : 
 thus a bantling, a fondling, a darling, & c . are 
 terms of endearment; but a witling, a change¬ 
 ling, a lordling, &c. are invariably terms of scorn : 
 so in French, ‘ mon petit enfant’ is an expression 
 of endearment; but ‘ mon petit monsieur’ is an 
 expression of the most pointed reproach and con¬ 
 tempt.” 
 
 Now this chatter of grammatical termination and 
 French phrase, though meant to look vastly clever, 
 is merely a blunder. There is no analogy in the 
 cases compared: a “darling” or little dear unites 
 dear, an expression of love, with little implying 
 that dependence which enhances love ; while “ wit- 
 
46 
 
 NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 ling” or little wit unites wit, an expression of 
 talent, with little, meaning the small quantity or 
 absence of the talent alluded to; and it is because 
 the latter term means, not physical littleness, 
 which well associates with love, but moral little¬ 
 ness, and mental degradation, that it becomes a 
 term of contempt. 
 
 Even from the little already said, it seems evi¬ 
 dent that much of the confusion on this subject 
 has arisen from not distinguishing the two genera 
 of beauty, and not seeing that “ the emotion of 
 grandeur” is merely “ a branch of the emotion of 
 beauty.” 
 
 The other genus of beauty, grand or sublime 
 beauty , is well described by the names given to 
 it, grandeur or sublimity. Some have considered 
 sublimity as expressing grandeur in the highest 
 degree: it would perhaps be as well to express 
 the cause of the emotion by grandeur, and the 
 emotion itself by sublimity. 
 
 Nothing is sublime that is not vast or powerful, 
 or that does not make him who feels it sensible of 
 its physical or moral superiority. 
 
 The simplest cause of sublimity is presented by 
 all objects of vast magnitude or extent—a seem¬ 
 ingly boundless plain, the sky, the ocean, &c. ; 
 and the particular direction of the magnitude or 
 extent always correspondingly modifies the emo- 
 
NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 47 
 
 tion,—height giving more especially the idea of 
 power, breadth of resistance, depth of danger, 
 &c. Of the objects mentioned above, the ocean 
 is the most sublime, because, to vastness in length 
 and breadth, it adds depth, and a force perpetually 
 active. 
 
 Now, that these objects though sublime, are 
 beautiful, is very evident; and it is therefore also 
 evident how much Burke erred in asserting com¬ 
 parative smallness to be the first character of 
 beauty generally considered. This and similar 
 errors, as already said, have greatly obscured this 
 subject, and have led Burke and others so to 
 modify and qualify their doctrines, as to take from 
 them all precision and certainty. 
 
 Hence, in one place, Burke says, “ As, in the 
 animal world, and in a good measure in the vege¬ 
 table world likewise, the qualities that constitute 
 beauty may possibly be united to things of greater 
 dimensions [that is, littleness may be united with 
 bigness !] ; when they are so united they constitute 
 a species something different both from the sublime 
 and beautiful, wdhich I have before called, Fine.” 
 
 So also he says, “ Ugliness I imagine likewise 
 to be consistent enough with an idea of the sublime. 
 But I would by no means insinuate that ugliness of 
 itself is a sublime idea, unless united with such 
 qualities as excite a strong terror.” 
 
48 
 
 NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Here, he confounds sublimity with terror, as do 
 Blair and other writers, when they say that “ exact 
 proportion of parts, though it enters often into the 
 beautiful, is much disregarded in the sublime.” 
 It is a fact, that exactly in proportion as ugliness 
 is substituted for beauty in vast objects, is sublimity 
 taken away, until at last it is utterly lost in the 
 terrible. 
 
 Even Blair shows that sublimity may exist 
 without terror or pain. “ The proper sensation 
 of sublimity appears,” he observes, “ to be distin¬ 
 guishable from the sensation of either of these, 
 and, on several occasions, to be entirely separated 
 from them. In many grand objects, there is no 
 coincidence with terror at all; as in the magnifi¬ 
 cent prospect of wide extended plains, and of the 
 starry firmament; or in the moral dispositions and 
 sentiments, which we view with high admiration • 
 and in many painful and terrible objects also, it is 
 clear, there is no sort of grandeur. The amputa¬ 
 tion of a limb, or the bite of a snake, are exceed- 
 ingly terrible, but are destitute of all claim what¬ 
 ever to sublimity.” 
 
 Payne Knight shows that terror is even opposed 
 to sublimity. " All the great and terrible con¬ 
 vulsions of nature; such as storms, tempests, 
 hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, &c. excite sub¬ 
 lime ideas, and impress sublime sentiments by 
 
NATURE OF BEAUTY- 
 
 49 
 
 the prodigious exertions of energy and power 
 which they seem to display: for though these 
 objects are, in their nature, terrible, and generally 
 known to be so, it is not this attribute of terror 
 that contributes, in the smallest degree, to render 
 them sublime. .. Timid women fly to a cellar, or 
 a darkened room, to avoid the sublime effects of a 
 thunder storm; because to them they are not 
 sublime, but terrible. To those only are they 
 sublime ‘ qui formidine nulla imbuti spectant,’ who 
 behold them without any fear at all; and to whom, 
 therefore, they are in no degree terrible.” 
 
 This further confirms the distinction which I 
 made of beauty into minor or subordinate, and 
 grand or sublime beauty, although Knight adopted 
 other principles, if principles they may be called, 
 and neglected such distinction. 
 
 There is but one other error on this subject 
 which I need to notice. Burke says, “ To make 
 anything very terrible, obscurity seems in general 
 to be necessary. When we know the full extent 
 of any danger, when we can accustom our eyes 
 to it, a great deal of the apprehension vanishes. 
 Every one will be sensible of this, who considers 
 how greatly night adds to our dread, in all cases 
 of danger . . . Those despotic governments, which 
 are founded on the passions of men, and principally 
 upon the passion of fear, keep their chief as much 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 as may be from the public eye. The policy has 
 been the same in many cases of religion. Almost 
 all the heathen temples were dark.” 
 
 From what has been already said, it is evident 
 that all this contributes to terror, not to sublimity, 
 and that the same error is made by Blair when he 
 says, “ As obscurity, so disorder too, is very com¬ 
 patible with grandeur, nay, frequently heightens it.” 
 
 To expose the weakness and to destroy the au¬ 
 thority of some writers on this subject, can only 
 set the mind free for the investigation of truth. I 
 may, therefore, conclude this chapter by quoting 
 the shrewd remarks of Knight on some of the 
 principles of Burke. I shall afterwards be forced 
 critically to examine the notions of Knight in their 
 turn. 
 
 Burke states that the highest degree of sublime 
 sensation is astonishment; and the subordinate de¬ 
 grees, awe, reverence, and respect; all which he 
 considers as modes of terror. And Knight ob¬ 
 serves that this graduated scale of the sublime, 
 from respect to astonishment, cannot, perhaps, be 
 better illustrated than by applying it to its cha¬ 
 racter. 
 
 “ He was certainly,” says Knight, “ a very 
 respectable man, and reverenced by all who knew 
 him intimately. At one period of his life, too, 
 when he became the disinterested patron of remote 
 
NATURE OF BEAUTY. 
 
 51 
 
 and injured nations, who had none to help them, 
 his character was truly sublime ; but unless upon 
 those whom he so ably and eloquently arraigned, I 
 do not believe that it impressed any awe ... If, 
 during this period, he had suddenly appeared 
 among the managers in Westminster Hall without 
 his wig and coat, or had walked up St. James’s- 
 street without his breeches, it would have occa¬ 
 sioned great and universal astonishment; and if he 
 had, at the same time, carried a loaded blunderbuss 
 in his hands, the astonishment would have been 
 mixed with no small portion of terror: but I do 
 not believe that the united effects of these two 
 powerful passions would have produced any senti¬ 
 ment or sensation approaching to sublime, even in 
 the breasts of those, who had the strongest sense 
 of self-preservation and the quickest sensibility of 
 danger.” 
 
 Thus, I believe, it now 7 appears that novelty is 
 the exciting cause of pleasurable emotion and of 
 the consequent perception of beauty in the relations 
 of things, and that the two genera of beauty, the 
 minor or subordinate beauty, and grandeur or 
 sublimity, have distinct characteristics, the con¬ 
 founding of which by writers has led to the ob¬ 
 scurity of this part of the subject. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 The expression, “ standard of taste,” is used to 
 signify the basis or foundation of our judgments, 
 respecting beauty and deformity, and their conse¬ 
 quent certainty. 
 
 Setting aside such objection as might be raised 
 to a standard of taste on the doctrine of Berkeley 
 (which I refuted in 1809, and which I need not 
 enter into here), this matter was long ago settled 
 by David Hume; and I have nothing new to say 
 upon the subject (there is probably enough of 
 novelty in other chapters, whatever its worth may 
 be), except that Burke appears to have borrowed 
 all he knew about it from that incomparably more 
 profound philosopher. 
 
 As I ought not, however, to omit here a view of 
 the subject, I cannot do better than transcribe the 
 words of Hume and Burke respectively. While 
 this will put the reader in possession of all that I 
 
STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 53 
 
 think necessary upon the subject, it will further 
 tend to show in what Burke’s ability as a philo¬ 
 sopher consisted. 
 
 I must first, however, observe that the word 
 “ taste,” as expressing our judgment of beauty, is 
 a metaphor whimsically borrowed from the lowest 
 of our senses, and is applied to our exercise of 
 that faculty, as regards both natural objects, and 
 the fine arts which imitate these. 
 
 It is not wonderful that the variety and incon¬ 
 stancy of tastes respecting the attributes and the 
 characters of beauty should have led many philo¬ 
 sophers to deny that there exist any certain com¬ 
 binations of forms and of effects to which the term 
 beauty ought to be invariably attached. 
 
 In his Philosophical Dictionary, Voltaire, after 
 quoting some nonsense from the crazy dreamer 
 who did so much injury to Greek philosophy, 
 says, “ I am willing to believe that nothing can 
 be more beautiful than this discourse of Plato; 
 but it does not give us very clear ideas of the 
 nature of the beautiful. Ask of a toad what is 
 beauty, pure beauty, the to *«xov ; he will answer 
 you that it is his female, with two large round 
 eyes projecting from her little head, a large and 
 flat throat, a yellow belly and a brown back. Ask 
 the devil, and he will tell you that the beautiful 
 is a pair of horns, four claws and a tail. Consult, 
 
54 
 
 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 lastly, the philosophers, and they will answer you 
 by rigmarole: they want something conformable 
 to the archetype of the beautiful in essence, to 
 the to x«xov.” This is wit, not reason: let us 
 look for that to a deeper thinker,— as proposed 
 above. 
 
 David Hume says, “ It appears that, amidst all 
 the variety and caprice of taste, there are certain 
 general principles of approbation or blame, whose 
 influence a careful eye may trace in all operations 
 of the mind. Some particular forms or qualities, 
 from the original structure of the internal fabric, 
 are calculated to please, and others to displease . . . 
 If they fail of their effect in any particular instance, 
 it is from some apparent defect or imperfection in 
 the organ. 
 
 In each creature there is a sound and a de¬ 
 fective state; and the former alone can be sup¬ 
 posed to afford us a true standard of taste and 
 sentiment. If, in the sound state of the organ, 
 there be an entire or a considerable uniformity of 
 sentiment among men, we may thence derive an 
 idea of the perfect beauty; in like manner as the 
 appearance of objects in day-light, to the eye of 
 a man in health, is denominated their true and 
 real colour.” 
 
 To the same purpose writes Burke, after some 
 preliminary observations. 
 
STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 55 
 
 “ All the natural powers in man, which I know, 
 that are conversant about external objects, are the 
 senses, the imagination, and the judgment. 
 
 “ First, with regard to the senses. We do and 
 we must suppose, that as the conformations ot 
 their organs are nearly, or altogether the same in 
 all men, so the manner of perceiving external ob¬ 
 jects is in all men the same, or with little dif¬ 
 ference. 
 
 “ As there will be little doubt that bodies pre¬ 
 sent similar images to the whole species, it must 
 necessarily be allowed, that the pleasures and the 
 pains which every object excites in one man, it 
 must raise in all mankind, whilst it operates 
 naturally, simply, and by its proper powers 
 only. 
 
 “ Custom, and some other causes, have made 
 many deviations from the natural pleasures or 
 pains which belong to these several tastes; but 
 then the powder of distinguishing between the 
 natural and the acquired relish remains to the 
 very last. 
 
 “ There is in all men a sufficient remembrance 
 of the original natural causes ot pleasure, to en¬ 
 able them to bring all things ottered to their 
 senses to that standard, and to regulate their teel- 
 ings and opinions by it. 
 
 “ Suppose one who had so vitiated his palate 
 
56 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 as to take more pleasure in the taste of opium 
 than in that ot butter or honey, to be presented 
 with a bolus ol squills ; there is hardly any doubt 
 but that he would prefer the butter or honey to 
 this nauseous morsel, or to any other bitter drug 
 to which he had not been accustomed; which 
 proves that his palate was naturally like that of 
 other men in all things, that it is still like the 
 palate of other men in many things, and only viti¬ 
 ated in some particular points.” 
 
 In the same manner, Payne Knight observes that 
 “ things, naturally the most nauseous, become 
 most grateful; and things, naturally most grateful, 
 most insipid. 
 
 This extreme effect, however, only takes place 
 where the palate has become morbid and vitiated 
 by continued, and even forced, gratification; and 
 even then the metaphors taken from this sense, 
 and employed to express intellectual qualities, 
 show that it is always felt and considered as a 
 corruption, even by those who are most corrupted: 
 for though there are many who prefer port wine 
 to malmsey, and tobacco to sugar, yet no one 
 ever spoke of a sour or bitter temper as pleasant, 
 or of a sweet one as^unpleasant.” By this con¬ 
 cession, Knight answers several of his own ob¬ 
 jections. 
 
 When it is said,” further observes Burke very 
 
STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 57 
 
 properly, 11 taste cannot be disputed, it can only 
 mean, that no one can strictly answer what plea¬ 
 sure or pain some particular man may find from 
 the taste of some particular thing. This indeed 
 cannot be disputed; but we may dispute, ana 
 with sufficient clearness too, concerning the things 
 which are naturally pleasing or disagreeable to 
 the sense. But when we talk of any peculiar or 
 acquired relish, then we must know the habits, 
 the prejudices, or the distempers of this par¬ 
 ticular man, and we must draw our conclusions 
 from those.” 
 
 Hume proceeds to a second point, observ¬ 
 ing that “ one obvious cause, why many feel 
 not the proper sentiment of beauty, is the want 
 of that delicacy of imagination which is requi¬ 
 site to convey a sensibility of those finer emo¬ 
 tions. 
 
 “ Where the organs are so fine, as to allow no¬ 
 thing to escape them, and at the same time so 
 exact, as to perceive every ingredient in the com¬ 
 position ; this we call delicacy ot taste, whether 
 we employ these terms in the literal or metaphori¬ 
 cal sense.” 
 
 Burke enlarges on this, after preliminarily ob¬ 
 serving that “ the power of the imagination is 
 incapable of producing anything absolutely new; 
 it can only vary the disposition of those ideas 
 
58 
 
 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 which it has received from the senses. Now, the 
 imagination is the most extensive province of 
 pleasure and pain, as it is the region of our fears 
 and our hopes, and of all our passions that are 
 connected with them. 
 
 “ Since the imagination is only the representa¬ 
 tion of these senses, it can only be pleased or dis¬ 
 pleased with the images, from the same principle 
 on which the sense is pleased or displeased with 
 the realities ; and consequently there must be just 
 as close an agreement in the imaginations as in 
 the senses of men. 
 
 “ There are some men formed with feelings so 
 blunt, with tempers so cold and phlegmatic, that 
 they can hardly be said to be awake during the 
 whole course of their lives. Upon such persons, 
 the most striking objects make but a faint and 
 obscure impression. There are others so continu¬ 
 ally in the agitation of gross and merely sensual 
 pleasures, or so occupied in the low drudgery of 
 avarice, or so heated in the chase of honours and 
 distinction, that their minds, which had been 
 used continually to the storms of these violent 
 and tempestuous passions, can hardly be put in 
 motion by the delicate and refined play of the 
 imagination. These men, though from a differ¬ 
 ent cause, become as stupid and insensible as the 
 former; but whenever either of these happen to be 
 
STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 59 
 
 struck with any natural elegance or greatness, or 
 with these qualities in any work of art, they are 
 moved upon the same principle.” 
 
 On a third point, Hume says, “But though 
 there be naturally a wide difference in point of 
 delicacy between one person and another, nothing 
 tends further to increase and improve this talent, 
 than 'practice in a particular art, and the frequent 
 survey or contemplation of a particular species of 
 beauty. 
 
 “ So advantageous is practice to the discern¬ 
 ment of beauty, that, before we can give judg¬ 
 ment on any work of importance, it will even be 
 requisite that that very individual peitormance 
 be more than once perused by us, and be sur¬ 
 veyed in different lights with attention and de¬ 
 liberation.” 
 
 This is well illustrated by Burke, who obseives, 
 “ It is known that the taste (whatever it is) is im¬ 
 proved exactly as we improve our knowledge, by 
 a steady attention to our object, and by frequent 
 exercise. 
 
 “To illustrate this (that there is a difference, 
 not in the causes, nor in the manner of men’s 
 being affected, but in the degree, owing to natural 
 sensibility, or greater attention to the object) to 
 illustrate this by the procedure of the senses in 
 which the same difference is found, let us suppose 
 
60 
 
 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 a very smooth marble table to be set before two 
 men; they both perceive it to be smooth, and they 
 are both pleased with it because of this quality. So 
 far they agree. 
 
 But suppose another, and after that another 
 table, the latter still smoother than the former, to 
 be set before them. It is now very probable that 
 these men, who are so agreed upon what is 
 smooth, and in the pleasure from thence, will 
 disagree when they come to settle which table 
 has the advantage in point of polish .... Nor is 
 it easy, when such a difference arises, to settle 
 the point, if the excess or diminution be not 
 glaring. 
 
 <£ In these nice cases, supposing the acuteness of 
 the sense equal, the greater attention and habit 
 in such things will have the advantage. In the 
 question about the tables, the marble-polisher 
 will unquestionably determine the most accu¬ 
 rately. 
 
 u In the imagination, besides the pain or plea¬ 
 sure arising from the properties of the natural 
 object, a pleasure is perceived from the resem¬ 
 blance which the imitation has to the original. 
 
 u All men are nearly equal in this point, as far as 
 their knowledge of the things represented or com¬ 
 pared extends. 
 
 “ The principle of this knowledge is very much 
 
STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 61 
 
 accidental, as it depends upon experience and ob¬ 
 servation, and not on the strength or weakness of 
 any natural faculty ; and it is from this difference 
 in knowledge that what we commonly, though 
 with no great exactness, call a difference in taste, 
 proceeds. 
 
 “ A man to whom sculpture is new sees a 
 barber’s block, or some ordinary piece of statu¬ 
 ary ; he is immediately struck and pleased, be¬ 
 cause he sees something like an human figure; 
 and entirely taken up with this likeness, he does 
 not at all attend to its defects. No person, I be¬ 
 lieve, at the first time of seeing a piece of imita¬ 
 tion, ever did. Some time after, we suppose that 
 this novice lights upon a more artificial work of 
 the same nature ; he begins to look with contempt 
 on what he admired at first; not that he admired 
 it even then for its unlikeness to a man, but for 
 that general though inaccurate resemblance which 
 it bore to the human figure. What he admired 
 at different times in these so different figures, is 
 strictly the same ; and though his knowledge is 
 improved, his taste is not altered. Hitherto his 
 mistake was from a want of knowledge in art, 
 and this arose from his inexperience ; but he may 
 be still deficient, from a want of knowledge in 
 nature. For it is possible that the man in ques¬ 
 tion may stop here, and that the master-piece of 
 
62 
 
 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 a great hand may please him no more than the 
 middling performance of a vulgar artist; and this 
 not for want of better or higher relish, but because 
 all men do not observe with sufficient accuracy on 
 the human figure, to enable them to judge properly 
 of an imitation of it.” 
 
 On other points, Hume makes the following 
 observations. 
 
 “ Without being frequently obliged to form 
 comparisons between the several species and de¬ 
 grees of excellence, and estimating their pro¬ 
 portion to each other ... a man is indeed totally 
 unqualified to pronounce an opinion with re¬ 
 gard to any object presented to him. By com¬ 
 parison alone, we fix the epithets of praise or 
 blame, and learn how to assign the due degree 
 of each. 
 
 “ But to enable a critic more fully to execute 
 this undertaking, he must preserve his mind free 
 from all prejudice, and allow nothing to enter into 
 his consideration, but the very object which is sub¬ 
 mitted to his examination. 
 
 “It is well known, that in all questions sub¬ 
 mitted to the understanding, prejudice is de¬ 
 structive of sound judgment, and perverts all 
 operations of the intellectual faculties : it is no 
 less contrary to good taste ; nor has it less in¬ 
 fluence to corrupt our sentiments of beauty. It 
 
STANDARD OF TASTt, IN BEAUTY. 
 
 63 
 
 belongs to good sense to check its influence in both 
 cases ; and in this respect, as well as in many 
 others, reason, if not an essential part of taste, is 
 at least requisite to the operations of this latter 
 faculty. In all the nobler productions of genius, 
 there is a mutual relation and correspondence of 
 parts ; nor can either the beauties or blemishes be 
 perceived by him whose thought is not capacious 
 enough to comprehend all those parts, and com¬ 
 pare them with each other, in order to perceive the 
 consistence and uniformity of the whole. Every 
 work of art has also a certain end or purpose for 
 which it is calculated ; and is to be deemed more 
 or less perfect, as it is more or less fitted to attain 
 this end.” 
 
 To a repetition of this, Burke adds some useful 
 remarks. 
 
 “As many of the works of imagination are not 
 confined to representation of sensible objects, nor 
 to efforts upon the passions, but extend themselves 
 to the manners, the characters, the actions, and 
 designs of men, their relations, their virtues and 
 vices, they come within the province of the judg¬ 
 ment, which is improved by attention and by the 
 habit of reasoning. 
 
 “ The cause of a wrong taste is a defect of 
 judgment, and this may arise from a natural weak¬ 
 ness of understanding (in whatever the strength 
 
64 
 
 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 of that faculty may consist,) or which is much 
 more commonly the case, it may arise from a 
 want of proper and well-directed exercise, which 
 alone can make it strong and ready. Besides 
 that ignorance, inattention, prejudice, rashness, 
 levity^, obstinacy, in short, all those passions, and 
 all those vices which pervert the judgment in 
 other matters, prejudice it no less in this its more 
 refined and elegant province. These causes pro¬ 
 duce different opinions upon everything which is 
 an object of the understanding, without inducing 
 us to suppose, that there are no settled principles 
 of reason. 
 
 tc A rectitude of judgment in the arts, which 
 may be called a good taste, does in a great mea¬ 
 sure depend upon sensibility ; because if the mind 
 has no bent to the pleasures of imagination, it 
 will never apply itself sufficiently to works of 
 that species to acquire a competent knowledge 
 in them. But though a degree of sensibility is 
 requisite to form a good judgment, yet a good 
 judgment does not necessarily arise from a quick 
 sensibility of pleasure ; it frequently happens that 
 a very poor judge, merely by force of a greater 
 complexional sensibility, is more affected by a poor 
 piece, than the best judge by the most perfect; 
 for as everything new, extraordinary, grand, or pas¬ 
 sionate, is well calculated to affect such a person, 
 
STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 65 
 
 and that the faults do not affect him, his pleasure 
 is more pure and unmixed. 
 
 “ In the morning of our days, when the senses 
 are unworn and tender, when the whole man is 
 awake in every part, and the gloss of novelty 
 fresh upon all the objects that surround us, how 
 lively at that time are our sensations, but how 
 false and inaccurate the judgments we form of 
 things ! 
 
 “ Every trivial cause of pleasure is apt to affect 
 the man of too sanguine a complexion: his ap¬ 
 petite is too keen to suffer his taste to he delicate. 
 
 . . . One of this character can never be a refined 
 judge ; never what the comic poet calls ‘ elegans 
 formarum spectator.’ 
 
 “ The rude hearer is affected by the principles 
 which operate in these arts even in their rudest 
 condition ; and he is not skilful enough to perceive 
 the defects. But as arts advance towards their 
 perfection, the science of criticism advances with 
 equal pace, and the pleasure of judges is frequently 
 interrupted by the faults which are discovered in 
 the most finished compositions.” 
 
 The chief idea above expressed, is again re¬ 
 peated by Sir J. Reynolds, who says, “ The prin¬ 
 ciples of these (the imagination and the passions) 
 are as invariable as the former (the senses), and 
 are to be known and reasoned upon in the same 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 manner, by an appeal to common sense deciding 
 upon the common feelings of mankind.” 
 
 These views are thus summed by Hume : “ The 
 organs of internal sensation are seldom so perfect 
 as to allow the general principles their full play, 
 and produce a feeling correspondent to those prin¬ 
 ciples. They either labour under some defect, or 
 are vitiated by some disorder ; and by that means, 
 excite a sentiment which may be pronounced 
 erroneous. When the critic has no delicacy, he 
 judges without any distinction, and is only affected 
 by the grosser and more palpable qualities of the 
 object: the finer touches pass unnoticed and dis¬ 
 regarded. Where he is not aided by practice, his 
 verdict is attended with confusion and hesitation. 
 Where no comparison has been employed, the 
 most frivolous beauties, such as rather merit the 
 name of defects, are the object of his admiration. 
 Where he lies under the influence of prejudice, 
 all his natural sentiments are perverted. Where 
 good sense is wanting, he is not qualified to dis¬ 
 cern the beauties of design and reasoning, which 
 are the highest and most excellent. Under some 
 or other of these imperfections, the generality of 
 men labour; and hence a true judge in the finer 
 arts is observed, even during the most polished 
 ages, to be so rare a character: strong sense, 
 united to delicate sentiment, improved by practice, 
 
STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 67 
 
 perfected by comparison, and cleared of all pre¬ 
 judice, can alone entitle critics to this valuable 
 character ; and the joint verdict of such’, wherever 
 they are to be found, is the true standard of taste 
 and beauty.” 
 
 Taking the principal ideas above, Burke also 
 concludes, “ On the whole it appears to me, that 
 what is called taste, in its most general acceptation, 
 is not a simple idea, but is partly made up of a 
 perception of the primary pleasures of sense, of the 
 secondary pleasures of the imagination, and of the 
 conclusions of the reasoning faculty, concerning 
 the various relations of these, and concerning the 
 human passions, manners and actions.” 
 
 “ It is sufficient for our present purpose,” Hume 
 further observes, “ if we have proved, that the 
 taste of all individuals is not upon an equal footing, 
 and that some men in general, however difficult to 
 be particularly pitched upon, will be acknowledged 
 by universal sentiment to have a preference above 
 others. 
 
 “ Though men of delicate taste be rare, they 
 are easily to be distinguished in society by the 
 soundness of their understanding, and the supe¬ 
 riority of their faculties above the rest of mankind. 
 The ascendant, which they require, gives a pre¬ 
 valence to that lively approbation with which they 
 receive any productions of genius, and renders it 
 f 2 
 
68 
 
 STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 
 
 generally predominant. Many men, when left to 
 themselves, have but a faint and dubious percep¬ 
 tion of beauty, who yet are capable of relishing 
 any fine stroke which is pointed out to them. 
 Every convert to the admiration of the real poet 
 or orator is the cause of some new conversion. 
 And though prejudices may prevail for a time, 
 they never unite in celebrating any rival to the true 
 genius, but yield at last to the force of nature and 
 just sentiment.” 
 
 Hume finally obviates some apparent difficulties. 
 
 “ But notwithstanding all our endeavours to fix 
 a standard of taste, and reconcile the discordant 
 apprehensions of men, there still remain two sources 
 of variation, which are not sufficient indeed to con¬ 
 found all the boundaries of beauty and deformity, 
 but will often serve to produce a difference in the 
 degrees of our approbation or blame. The one is 
 the different humours of particular men ; the other, 
 the particular manners and opinions of our age and 
 country. 
 
 (i A young man, whose passions are warm, will 
 be more sensibly touched with amorous and tender 
 images, than a man more advanced in years, who 
 takes pleasure in wise, philosophical reflections, 
 concerning the conduct of life and moderation of 
 the passions. At twenty, Ovid may be the favourite 
 author; Horace, at forty ; and perhaps Tacitus, at 
 
STANDARD OF TASTE IN BEAUTY. 69 
 
 fifty. Vainly would we, in such cases, endeavour 
 to enter into the sentiments of others, and divest 
 ourselves ot those propensities which are natuial to 
 us. We choose our favourite author as we do 
 our friend, from a conformity ot humour and dis¬ 
 position. 
 
 “ Such preferences are innocent and unavoid¬ 
 able, and can never reasonably be the object ot 
 dispute, because there is no standard by which they 
 can be decided. 
 
 “ For alike reason, we are more pleased, in the 
 course of our reading, with pictures and characters 
 that resemble objects which are found in our own 
 age or country, than with those which describe a 
 different set of customs. 
 
 “ A man of learning and reflection can make 
 allowance for these peculiarities of manners ; but a 
 common audience can never divest themselves so 
 far of their usual ideas and sentiments, as to relish 
 pictures which nowise resemble them.” 
 
 Thus I believe the reader has before him a view, 
 sufficiently clear, of that popular topic, the standard 
 of taste, as well as of the agreement which subsists 
 among the best writers on the subject. In the next 
 chapter, we proceed to a more fundamental and diffi” 
 cult inquiry. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY.* 
 
 On the subject of the preceding chapter, even 
 the reasonings of Hume appear to me to be of too 
 vague and indefinite a kind. It requires the more 
 minute scrutiny into which I shall now enter, in 
 order to place it upon a deeper and more scientific 
 foundation. If I can here show that, in the ma¬ 
 terial qualities of the objects of nature and art, 
 there exist elements of beauty equally invariable in 
 themselves, and in the kind of effect they produce 
 upon the mind, it is evident there can be no further 
 dispute about a standard of beauty. 
 
 Many attempts have been made to determine 
 the material elements of beauty, by Hogarth, 
 Home, and others. All have more or less failed, 
 from not observing that these elements are modi¬ 
 fied, varied, and complicated, as we advance from 
 
 * To the reader unaccustomed to inquiries of this kind, it 
 may save trouble to peruse first the brief Summary of the con¬ 
 tents of this important chapter, beginning in page 125 . 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 71 
 
 the most simple to the most complex class of 
 natural beings, or of the arts which relate to these 
 respectively. Many partial views of perfect truth 
 and great interest have been taken, and by every 
 one of these it will be my duty here to profit; but, 
 from the failure just pointed out, no philosophical 
 and systematic doctrine of beauty, ascending from 
 its origin in elements through its higher com¬ 
 binations has ever been attained by any of the 
 numerous, deep, acute, and elegant thinkers who 
 have devoted their time to this subject, as the 
 foundation of taste and of the fine or intellectual 
 arts. 
 
 Profiting, as I ought to do, by the partial views 
 of these philosophers, I pretend here only to take 
 one larger view T ,—to analyse, to generalize, to sys¬ 
 tematize the materials which they present to me. 
 
 In the hope of accomplishing this, I shall now 
 endeavour successively to trace the elements of 
 beauty which belong respectively to inanimate, 
 living, and thinking beings, and to the useful, 
 ornamental, and intellectual arts which have a 
 reference to these, the neglect of all which I have 
 described as the fundamental cause of previous 
 failure. 
 
 Again I repeat, it is to this analysis and gene¬ 
 ralization alone, and to the systematization founded 
 upon it, that I make any pretence. The materials 
 
72 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 have long been presented by all the great writers on 
 the subject; they have only left them in confusion, 
 and without conclusion. I shall now proceed to 
 employ them. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY IN INANIMATE BEINGS. 
 
 Though Burke did not accurately trace the 
 elements of beauty in any one class of the objects 
 of nature or art, he yet states a preliminary truth 
 on this subject so well, that I here quote it: “ It 
 would be absurd,” he observes, “ to say that all 
 things affect us by association only ; since some 
 things must have been originally and naturally 
 agreeable or disagreeable, from which the others 
 derive their associated powers; and it would be, I 
 fancy, to little purpose to look for the cause of our 
 passions in association, until we fail of it in the 
 natural properties of things.” 
 
 Home, advancing further, says, “If a tree be 
 beautiful by means of its colour, its figure, its 
 size, its motion, it is in reality possessed of so 
 many different beauties, which ought to be exa¬ 
 mined separately, in order to have a clear notion of 
 the whole. 
 
 “ When any body is viewed as a whole, the 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 73 
 
 beauty of its figure arises from regularity* and 
 simplicity; and viewing the parts with relation to 
 each other, from uniformity,* proportion and order. 
 
 I will here only observe that these are the quali¬ 
 ties, as will speedily appear, which Burke should 
 have set down as the fundamental and first charac¬ 
 teristics of beauty, instead ot relative littleness, 
 which belongs not to beauty generally, but only to 
 the minor or subordinate beauty. 
 
 Even Home, having arrived thus lar, says, “To 
 inquire whv an object, by means ot the particulais 
 mentioned, appears beautiful, would, 1 am afraid, 
 be a vain attempt.” 
 
 But he truly adds, “ One thing is clear, that 
 regularity, uniformity, order, and simplicity, con¬ 
 tribute each of them to readiness ot appiehension, 
 and enable us to form more distinct images of 
 objects than can be done, with the utmost attention, 
 where these particulars are not founded.” And he 
 subjoins, “ This final cause is, I acknowledge, too 
 slight, to account satisfactorily for a taste that 
 makes a figure so illustrious in the nature of man , 
 and that this branch of our constitution hath a 
 purpose still more important, we have great reason 
 to believe. 
 
 * Regularity expresses the similarity ot parts considered as 
 constituting a whole; and uniformity, the similarity of parts 
 considered separately. 
 
74 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Now, had Home seen that the characteristics of 
 general beauty always are, with regard to the ob¬ 
 ject, accordant and agreeable relations, the im¬ 
 portance of the qualities he has just enumerated 
 would have been evident; for, without them, these 
 characteristics of the object could not exist: sim¬ 
 plicity, regularity, uniformity, order, &c. are the 
 very elements of accordant and agreeable relations. 
 This is, in reality, the still more important purpose 
 in which Home believed, and to which the readi¬ 
 ness of apprehension he now alludes to eminently 
 contributes. 
 
 As to simplicity, he observes, that “ a multitude 
 of objects crowding into the mind at once, disturb 
 the attention, and pass without making any im¬ 
 pression, or any lasting impression ; and in any 
 group, no single object makes the figure it would 
 do apart, when it occupies the whole attention. 
 For the same reason, even a single object, when it 
 divides the attention by the multiplicity of its 
 parts, equals not, in strength of impression, a more 
 simple object comprehended in a single view: 
 parts extremely complex must be considered in 
 portions successively; and a number of impres¬ 
 sions in succession, which cannot unite because 
 not simultaneous, never touch the mind like one 
 entire impression made, as it were, at one stroke. 
 
 “ A square is less beautiful than a circle, because 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 75 
 
 it is less simple: a circle has parts as well as a 
 square; but its parts not being distinct like those 
 of a square, it makes one entire impression; 
 whereas the attention is divided among the sides 
 and angles of a square. . . A square, though not 
 more regular than a hexagon or octagon, is more 
 beautiful than either, because a square is more 
 simple, and the attention less divided. 
 
 “ Simplicity thus contributes to beauty.” 
 
 By regularity is meant that circumstance in a 
 figure by which we perceive it to be formed ac¬ 
 cording to a certain rule. Thus a circle, a square, 
 a parallelogram, or triangle, please by their regu¬ 
 larity. 
 
 “ A square,” says Home, (who here furnishes 
 the best materials to a more general view, because 
 he most frequently assigns physical causes, and 
 whom, with some abbreviations, I therefore con¬ 
 tinue to quote)—“ a square is more beautiful than 
 a parallelogram, because the former exceeds the 
 latter in regularity and in uniformity of parts. 
 This is true with respect to intrinsic beauty only; 
 for in many instances, utility comes in to cast the 
 balance on the side of the parallelogram: this 
 figure for the doors and windows of a dwelling- 
 house, is preferred because of utility ; and here we 
 find the beauty of utility prevailing over that of 
 regularity and uniformity.” 
 
76 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Thus regularity and uniformity contribute to in¬ 
 trinsic beauty. 
 
 “ A parallelogram, again, depends for its beauty 
 on the proportion [or relation of quantity] of its 
 sides. Its beauty is lost by a great inequality of 
 these sides: it is also lost by their approximating 
 towards equality; for proportion there degenerates 
 into imperfect uniformity, and the figure appears 
 an unsuccessful attempt towards a square.” 
 
 Thus proportion contributes to beauty. 
 
 “ An equilateral triangle yields not to a square 
 in regularity nor in uniformity of parts, and it is 
 more simple. Its inferiority in beauty is at least 
 partly owing to inferiority of order in the position 
 of its parts: the sides of an equilateral triangle 
 incline to each other in the same angle, which is 
 the most perfect order they are susceptible of; 
 but this order is obscure, and far from being so 
 perfect as the parallelism of the sides of a square.” 
 
 Thus order contributes to the beauty of visible 
 objects. 
 
 “ A mountain, it may be objected, is an agree¬ 
 able object, without so much as the appearance of 
 regularity ; and a chain of mountains is still more 
 agreeable, without being arranged in any order. 
 But though regularity, uniformity, and order are 
 causes of beauty, there are also other causes of it, 
 as colour; and when we pass from small to great 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 77 
 
 objects, and consider grandeur instead of beauty, 
 very little regularity is required.” 
 
 It follows, from all that has been here said, and 
 this has been shown by Burke, that any lugged, 
 any sudden projection, any sharp angle, is in the 
 highest degree contrary to the idea of beauty. 
 Such projections and angles are destitute of all 
 the qualities which have just been enumerated 
 simplicity, regularity, uniformity, proportion, or¬ 
 der; and, conformably to the principles I have 
 laid down in a previous chapter, they can present 
 only relations which are naturally disagieeable. 
 This view is corroborated by the fact, that all veiy 
 sharp, broken, or angular objects, were disagree¬ 
 able to the boy couched by Cheselden, as they are 
 to all eyes of very nice sensibility. 
 
 Now, as angular forms give, to the sense of 
 touch, sharpness, roughness or harshness, so do 
 opposite forms give smoothness or fineness. Hence 
 Burke makes smoothness his second characteristic 
 of beauty, and that far more truly than he makes 
 littleness its first, for, as he observes, smoothness 
 is a quality so essential to beauty, that I do 
 not now recollect anything beautiful that is not 
 smooth. 
 
 Such being really the case, I am bound to ex¬ 
 pose Knight’s sophistry on this point. “ This 
 elegant author,” says he, “ has expatiated upon 
 
78 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 the gratifications of feeling smooth and undulating 
 surfaces in general: but, I believe, these gratifi¬ 
 cations have been confined to himself; and pro¬ 
 bably to his own imagination acting through the 
 medium of his favourite system : for, except in the 
 communication of the sexes, which affords no 
 general illustration, and ought therefore to be kept 
 entirely out of the question, I have never heard 
 of any person being addicted to such luxuries; 
 though a feeling-board would certainly afford as 
 cheap and innocent a gratification, as either a smell¬ 
 ing-bottle, a picture, or a flute, provided it were 
 capable of affording any gratification at all.” 
 
 This is a good specimen of the kind of perverted 
 reasoning, which peculiarly distinguishes Knight. 
 
 A man affecting the character of philosopher, 
 ought calmly to have observed that, by young 
 people before puberty, and, consequently, when 
 there is not the slightest sexual bias, smooth ob¬ 
 jects are generally found to be agreeable, and 
 rough or harsh ones to be the reverse. This would 
 at once have set him right upon this point. 
 
 If, to such a man, it should for a moment have 
 appeared worth while to ask why we do not make 
 use of feeling-boards, as well as of smelling-bottles, 
 he ought to have sought the solution of his diffi¬ 
 culty in the nature of the senses; and then with 
 a trifle more of ability than Payne Knight hereby 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 79 
 
 shows himself to have possessed, he would have 
 seen that smoothness affords us as much pleasure 
 as any smell, but that, , as it would have been 
 always troublesome, and often impossible, to apply 
 our fingers to smooth surfaces, we generally re¬ 
 ceive the varied and incessant pleasure it affords, 
 by means of sight; that it is borne by light to the 
 eye, as smell is by the air; and that this is the 
 reason why, except when contact is indispensable, 
 we have no need of anything in the way of a 
 feeling-board. 
 
 But Knight says, “ Smoothness being properly 
 a quality, perceivable only by the touch, and 
 applied metaphorically to the objects of the other 
 senses, we often apply it, very improperly, to 
 those of vision ; assigning smoothness, as a cause of 
 visible beauty, to things which, though smooth to 
 the touch, cast the most sharp, harsh, and angular 
 reflections of light upon the eyes; and these re¬ 
 flections are all that the eye feels, or naturally 
 perceives . . . Such are all objects of cut glass, or 
 polished metal; as may be seen by the manner in 
 which painters imitate them : for as the imitations 
 of painting extend only to the visible qualities of 
 bodies, they show those visible qualities fairly and 
 impartially . . . Yet the imitative representation of 
 such objects in painting is far less harsh and daz¬ 
 zling than the effects of them in reality : for there 
 
80 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 are no materials, that a painter can employ, 
 capable of expressing the sharpness and brilliancy 
 of those angular reflections of the collected and 
 condensed rays, which are emitted from the sur¬ 
 faces of polished metals.” 
 
 It seems, to me, scarcely possible to find so¬ 
 phistry more worthless than this, or rather a more 
 contemptible quibble; for that which, availing 
 himself of our technicalities about light, he calls 
 angularity, sharpness, &c., has no analogy with 
 disagreeable angularity of form. To produce the 
 brilliance and splendour which he calls angular, 
 and describes as so offensive , we polish crystalline 
 and metallic bodies in the highest degree !—we 
 value precisely those which thus admit of greatest 
 splendour!—and, on that very account, the dia¬ 
 mond (rightly or wrongly, is not the question) is 
 deemed the most valuable object on earth ! 
 
 So much for those elements of beauty, in inani¬ 
 mate things, which fall under the cognizance of our 
 fundamental sense, or that of touch. 
 
 As to sight and its objects, it is true that, as this 
 organ varies in different persons, their taste is mo¬ 
 dified, with regard to colours. But the preference 
 of light and delicate colours to dark and glaring 
 ones, is almost universal among persons of sensi¬ 
 bility. 
 
 Alison, indeed, ascribes the effects of all colours 
 
TIIE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 81 
 
 to association. “ White,” he says, “ as it is the 
 colour of day, is expressive to us ot the cheerful¬ 
 ness or gaiety which the return ot clay brings : 
 black, as the colour of darkness [night], is ex¬ 
 pressive of gloom and melancholy.” And he adds, 
 “ Whether some colours may not of themselves 
 produce agreeable sensations, and others disagree¬ 
 able sensations, I am not anxious to dispute.” 
 But this is the very point into which Alison ought 
 to have inquired. Nature does nothing without 
 foundation in the simplest principles; and this 
 foundation is not only anterior to, but is the cause 
 of all association. 
 
 That, independent of any association, blackness 
 is naturally disagreeable, if not painful, is happily 
 determined by the case of the boy restored to sight 
 by Cheselden, who tells us that the first time the 
 boy saw a black object, it gave him great uneasi¬ 
 ness ; and that, some time after, upon accidentally 
 seeing a negro woman, he was struck with great 
 horror at the sight. This appears to be perfectly 
 conclusive. 
 
 Knight, indeed, says, <c As to the uneasiness, 
 which the boy, couched by Cheselden, felt at the 
 first sight of a black object, it arose either from 
 the harshness of its outline, or from its appearing 
 to act as a partial extinguisher applied to his eyes, 
 which, as every object that he saw, seemed to 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 touch them, would, of course, be its effect.” It is 
 highly probable that black operates in both these 
 ways; and it has therefore natural effects, inde¬ 
 pendent of all association. 
 
 As to sounds, Alison observes, that the cries of 
 some animals are sublime, as the roar of the lion, 
 the scream of the eagle, &c., and he thinks they 
 become so, because we associate them with the 
 strength and ferocity of the animals which utter 
 them. By opposite associations, he accounts for 
 the beauty of the notes of birds. And he says, 
 that there is a similar sublimity or beauty, in the 
 tones of the human voice, and that “ such sounds 
 are associated, in our imaginations, with the quali¬ 
 ties of mind of which they are in general ex¬ 
 pressive, and naturally produce in us the con¬ 
 ception of these qualities.” 
 
 This writer endeavours to establish his views on 
 this subject, by observing that “ Grandeur, or sub¬ 
 limity of sound, can no otherwise arise from its 
 loudness, than as that loudness excites an idea of 
 power in the sonorous object, or in some other 
 associated with it in the mind : for a child’s drum, 
 close to the ear, fills it with more real noise, than 
 the discharge of a cannon a mile off; and the 
 rattling of a carriage in the street, when faintly 
 and indistinctly heard, has often been mistaken 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 83 
 
 for thunder at a distance. Yet no one ever ima¬ 
 gined the beating of a child’s drum, or the rattling 
 of a carriage over the stones, to be grand or sub¬ 
 lime ; which, nevertheless, they must be, if gran¬ 
 deur or sublimity belong at all to the sensation ot 
 loudness. But artillery and lightning are powerful 
 engines of destruction : and with their power we 
 sympathize, whenever the sound of them excites 
 any sentiments of sublimity.” 
 
 Now, all this is directly opposed to the doctrine 
 it is meant to support. It distinctly implies that 
 loudness is so natural and so frequent a result of 
 the violent contact of bodies, that we sometimes 
 mistakenly ascribe power to objects, ot which we 
 have not correctly distinguished the sounds, owing 
 to imitation, distance, &c. The occasional mistake 
 implies the general truth. 
 
 Alison, himself, notwithstanding his doctrine of 
 association, is accordingly led to observe, that 
 “ there are some philosophers who consider these 
 as the natural signs of passion or affection, and 
 who believe that it is not from experience, but by 
 means of an original faculty, that we interpret 
 them: and this opinion is supported by great 
 authorities.” 
 
 He adds the following observations, which, not¬ 
 withstanding the error they involve, are too much 
 
 g 2 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 to the purpose to be omitted here, and which in 
 reality illustrate a natural and true theory, better 
 than they do his own. 
 
 “ It is natural, however, to suppose, that in this, 
 as in every case, our experience should gradually 
 lead to the formation of some general rules, with 
 regard to this expression. 
 
 “ The great divisions of sound are into loud and 
 low, grave and acute, long and short, increasing 
 and diminishing. The two first divisions are ex¬ 
 pressive in themselves : the two last, only in con¬ 
 junction with others. 
 
 “ Loud sound is connected with ideas of power 
 and danger. Many objects in nature which have 
 such qualities, are distinguished by such sounds; 
 and this association is further confirmed from the 
 human voice, in which all violent and impetuous 
 passions are expressed in loud tones. 
 
 “ Low sound has a contrary expression, and is 
 connected with ideas of weakness, gentleness, and 
 delicacy. This association takes its rise not only 
 from the observation of inanimate nature, or of 
 animals, where, in a great number of cases, such 
 sounds distinguish objects with such qualities, 
 but particularly from the human voice, where all 
 gentle, or delicate, or sorrowful affections, are 
 expressed by such tones. 
 
 “ Grave sound is connected with ideas of 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 85 
 
 moderation, dignity, solemnity, &c., principally, 
 
 I believe, from all moderate, or restrained, or 
 chastened affections, being distinguished by such 
 tones in the human voice. 
 
 “ Acute sound is expressive of pain, or fear, or 
 surprise, &c., and generally operates by producing 
 some degree of astonishment. This association, 
 also, seems principally to arise from our experience 
 of such connexions in the human voice. 
 
 “ Lons: or lengthened sound seems to me to 
 have no expression in itself, but only to signify 
 the continuance of that quality which is signified 
 by other qualities of sound. A loud or a low, 
 a grave or an acute sound prolonged, expresses 
 to us no more than the continuance of the quality 
 which is generally signified by such sounds. 
 
 “ Short or abrupt sound has a contrary expres¬ 
 sion, and signifies the sudden cessation of the 
 quality thus expressed. 
 
 “ Increasing sound signifies, in the same man¬ 
 ner, the increase of the quality expressed. 
 
 “ Decreasing sound signifies the gradual dimi¬ 
 nution of such qualities. 
 
 “ Motion furnishes another sort of beauty. 
 
 “ Figure, colour, and motion readily blend in 
 one object, and one general perception of beauty. 
 In many beautiful objects, they all unite, and 
 render the beauty greater.” 
 
86 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 These characteristics are too universal not to 
 support the doctrine of natural appropriation and 
 power, of which association is merely a conse¬ 
 quence. 
 
 It may be said, that all this chiefly regards mere 
 geometrical forms, not objects in nature. But, on 
 referring to inanimate objects, it will be found that 
 they everywhere present these forms. 
 
 The round, the simplest form, appears to cha¬ 
 racterize all elementary bodies and all that are 
 free from compression, to be in fact the most ele¬ 
 mentary and the most readily assumed in nature. 
 This form, accordingly, is presented by the drops 
 of water and of every liquid, by every atom pro¬ 
 bably of oxygen, hydrogen and azote, and by the 
 largest as well as the smallest bodies, the innumer¬ 
 able celestial orbs. 
 
 All the other, the angular forms, are presented 
 by inanimate bodies under compression, or by 
 mineral crystals. 
 
 Thus, then, do these simple geometrical forms 
 characterize the simplest bodies in nature; and it 
 appears that this first kind of beauty is peculiarly 
 their own. It will, in the sequel, be as clearly 
 seen, that each of the other classes of natural 
 beings presents beauty of a different kind, which 
 similarly characterizes it. Hence no rational 
 theory of beauty could be formed by writers, who 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 87 
 
 indiscriminatingly jumbled together the character¬ 
 istics of all the kinds of beauty, and expected to 
 find them everywhere. 
 
 As, then, from all that has been said, it appears 
 that all the elements of beauty which have thus 
 been noticed, belonged to inanimate beings, and 
 as this is shown by the passages I have quoted 
 from the best writers, it seems surprising not 
 merely that they should not have seen this to be 
 the case, but, that it should not have led them to 
 observe, that there exists also a second beauty, of 
 living beings, and third, of thinking beings, as well 
 as others of the useful, the ornamental, and the 
 intellectual arts respectively, in each of which 
 some new element was only added to the characters 
 of the preceding species. 
 
 It seems still more surprising that Alison, who 
 deviates so widely from all fundamental principles, 
 should have actually stumbled upon an observation 
 of a few of the characteristics of inanimate beings, 
 and trace them as they pass upward through some 
 living and thinking beings—whose new character¬ 
 istics, however, he did not discriminate. He ob¬ 
 serves, that “ the greater part of those bodies 
 in nature, which possess hardness, strength, or 
 durability, are distinguished by angular forms. 
 The greater part of those bodies, on the contrary, 
 which possess weakness, fragility or delicacy, are 
 
88 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 distinguished by winding or curvilinear forms. In 
 the mineral kingdom, all rocks, stones, and metals, 
 the hardest and most durable bodies we know, as¬ 
 sume universally angular forms. In the vegetable 
 kingdom, all strong and durable plants are in gene¬ 
 ral distinguished by similar forms. The feebler and 
 more delicate race of vegetables, on the contrary, 
 are mostly distinguished by winding forms. In 
 the animal kingdom, in the same manner, strong 
 and powerful animals are generally characterized 
 by angular forms ; feeble and delicate animals, by 
 forms of the contrary kind.” 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY IN LIVING BEINGS. 
 
 I have now to show that, in living beings, while 
 the characters of the first and fundamental beauty, 
 that of inanimate beings, are still partially con¬ 
 tinued, new characteristics are added to them. 
 
 Plants, accordingly, possess both rigid parts, like 
 some of those described in the preceding section, 
 and delicate parts, which, in ascending through 
 the classes of natural beings from the simplest to 
 the most complex, are the very first to present to 
 us new and additional characters totally distinct 
 from those of the preceding class. 
 
 I. To begin as nature does, then, we find the 
 trunks and stems of plants, which are near the 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 89 
 
 ground, resembling most in charactei tlie inani¬ 
 mate bodies from among which they spring. They 
 assume the simplest and most uni\eisal toim in 
 nature, the round one; but as growth is their great 
 function, they extend in height and become cylin¬ 
 drical. 
 
 Even the branches, the twigs, and the tendrils, 
 continue this elementary character; but it is in 
 them, or in the stem when, like them, it is tender, 
 that such elementary characters give way to the 
 purposes of life—namely, growth and reproduction, 
 and that we discover the new and additional cha¬ 
 racters of beauty which this class presents to us. 
 
 II. To render this matter plain, I must observe 
 that the formation of rings, which unite in tubes, 
 appears to be almost universally the material con¬ 
 dition of growth and reproduction. Every new 
 portion of these tubes, moreover, and every super- 
 added ring, is less than that which preceded it. 
 
 It is from this that results the first characteristic 
 of this second kind of beauty—namely, fineness or 
 delicacy. Hence Burke made the possession of a 
 delicate frame, without any remarkable appearance 
 of strength, his fifth condition in beauty ; and he 
 here erred only from that want of discrimination 
 which led him to confound together all the con¬ 
 ditions of beauty, and prevented his seeing that 
 they belonged to different genera. 
 
90 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Now, as fine and delicate bodies, which are 
 growing, will shoot in that direction where space, 
 air, and light can best be had, and as this, amidst 
 other twigs and tendrils, will greatly vary, so will 
 their productions rarely continue long in the same 
 straight line, but will, on the contrary, bend. 
 Hence the curved or bending form is the second 
 characteristic of this kind of beauty. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that as the trunks, 
 stems, twigs, and tendrils of plants assume the 
 simplest and most universal form in nature, the 
 round one, so their more delicate parts have again 
 the tendency to bend into a similar form. 
 
 In the young and feeble branches of plants, it 
 is observed by Alison, that the bending form is 
 “ beautiful, when we perceive that it is the con¬ 
 sequence of the delicacy of their texture, and of 
 their being overpowered by the weight of the 
 flower ... In the smaller and feebler tribe of 
 flowers, as in the violet, the daisy, or the lily of 
 the valley, the bending of the stem constitutes a 
 very beautiful form, because we immediately per¬ 
 ceive that it is the consequence of the weakness 
 and delicacy of the flower.” 
 
 From the circumstances now described, it re¬ 
 sults that all the parts of plants present the most 
 surprising variety. They vary their direction 
 every moment, as Burke observes, and they 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 91 
 
 change under the eye by a deviation continually 
 carrying on, but for whose beginning or pnd you 
 will find it difficult to ascertain a point. 
 
 Variety is therefore the third characteristic of 
 this second kind of beauty; and in the ^discri¬ 
 minating views of Burke, he made two similar 
 conditions—viz., “ Thirdly, to have a variety in 
 the direction of the parts ; but, fourthly, to have 
 those parts not angular, but melted, as it were, 
 into each otherthus applying these to beauty 
 generally, to which they are not applicable, but in 
 a confused and imperfect way. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to observe that variety, 
 as a character of beauty, owes its effect to the 
 need of changing impressions, in order to enliven 
 our sensibility, which does not fail to become 
 inactive under the long-continued impression of 
 the same stimulant. 
 
 It is connected with this variety that unequal 
 numbers are preferred, as we see in the number 
 of flowers and ot their petals, in that of leaves 
 grouped together, and in the indentations of these 
 leaves. 
 
 From all this springs the fourth and last cha¬ 
 racteristic of this second species of beauty—namely, 
 contrast. This strikes us when we at once look 
 at the rigid stem and bending boughs, and all the 
 variety which the latter display. 
 
92 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 It will be observed, that of all the characteristics 
 of beauty, none tend to render our perceptions so 
 vivid as variety and contrast. 
 
 I conclude this section with a few remarks on 
 the errors which Alison has committed on this 
 subject. 
 
 “ In the rose,” says that writer, “ and the white 
 lily, and in the tribe of flowering shrubs, the same 
 bending form assumed by the stem is felt as a 
 defect; and instead of impressing us with the 
 idea of delicacy, leads us to behold the operation 
 of some force to twist it into this direction.”—This, 
 however, is no defect arising from the bending 
 form’s not being abstractly more beautiful, but 
 from its being contrary to the nature of the stem 
 of flowering shrubs to bend, from its being, as 
 he himself observes, the result of some force to 
 twist it. 
 
 He asserts, however, that in plants, angular 
 forms are beautiful, when they are expressive of 
 fineness, of tenderness, of delicacy, or such affect¬ 
 ing qualities ; and he thinks that this may perhaps 
 appear from the consideration of the following 
 instances. 
 
 “ The myrtle, for instance, is generally reckoned 
 a beautiful form, yet the growth of its stem is 
 perpendicular, the junction of its branches form 
 
the elements of beauty. 
 
 93 
 
 regular and similar angles, and their direction is 
 in straight or angular lines. The known delicacy, 
 however, and tenderness of the vegetable, at least 
 in this climate, prevail over the general expression 
 of the form, and give it the same beauty which we 
 generally find in forms of a contrary kind.” The 
 mistake here committed is in supposing the beauty 
 of the myrtle to depend on its angularity, instead 
 of its being evergreen, fragrant, and suggesting 
 pleasures of association. 
 
 “ How much more beautiful,” he says, “ is the 
 rose-tree when its buds begin to blow, than after¬ 
 wards, when its flowers are full and in their 
 greatest perfection ! yet in this first situation, its 
 form has much less winding surface, and is much 
 more composed of straight lines and of angles, 
 than afterwards, when the weight of the flower 
 weighs down the feeble branches, and describes 
 the easiest and most varied curves.” —But he 
 answers himself by adding, “The circumstance of 
 its youth, a circumstance in all cases so affecting, 
 the delicacy of its blossom, so well expressed by 
 the care which nature has taken in surrounding the 
 opening bud with leaves, prevail so much upon out 
 imagination, that we behold the form itself with 
 more delight in this situation than afterwards, when 
 it assumes the more general form of delicacy. 
 
94 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 “ There are few things in the vegetable world,” 
 he says, “ more beautiful than the knotted and 
 angular stem of the balsam, merely from its sin¬ 
 gular transparency, which it is impossible to look 
 at without a strong impression of the fineness and 
 delicacy of the vegetable.”—But it is its trans¬ 
 parency, not its angularity, that is beautiful. 
 
 The beauty of colour is not less conspicuous 
 than that of form in this class of beings. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY IN THINKING BEINGS. 
 
 I have next to show that, in thinking beings, 
 while the characters of inanimate, and those of 
 living beauty are still more or less continued, new 
 characteristics are also added to them. 
 
 I. In animals, accordingly, the bones bear a 
 close analogy to the wood of plants. They gene¬ 
 rally assume the same rounded form; but, as 
 thinking beings are necessarily moving ones, their 
 bones are hollow to combine lightness with 
 strength, and they are separated by joints to 
 permit flexion and extension. 
 
 II. As animals, like plants, grow and reproduce, 
 a portion of their general organization, their vas¬ 
 cular system, which serves the purpose of growth 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 95 
 
 and reproduction, consists like plants, ot trunks, 
 branches, &c., and the surface ot their bodies, the 
 skin, is formed by a tissue ot these vessels. Ac¬ 
 cordingly, both the vessels themselves, and the 
 tissue which they form, present the delicacy, the 
 bending, the variety, and the contrast which are 
 the characters of the preceding species of beauty. 
 
 The undulating and serpentine lines which art 
 seeks always to design in its most beautitul pro¬ 
 ductions, exist in greater number at the surface 
 of the human body than at that of any other 
 animal. Wherever, as Hogarth observes, “ for 
 the sake of the necessary motion of the parts, 
 with proper strength and agility, the insertions 
 of the muscles are too hard and sudden, their 
 swellings too bold, or the hollows between them 
 too deep, for their outlines to be beautiful; nature 
 softens these hardnesses, and plumps up these 
 vacancies with a proper supply of fat, and covers 
 the whole with the soft, smooth, springy, and, in 
 delicate life, almost transparent skin, which, con¬ 
 forming itself to the external shape of all the parts 
 beneath, expresses to the eye the idea of its contents 
 with the utmost delicacy of beauty and grace.” 
 
 It is principally in the features of the face, as 
 has often been observed, and on the surface of the 
 torso and of the members of a beautiful woman, 
 that these delicate, bending, varied and contrasted 
 
96 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 lines are multiplied: by their union, they mark 
 the outlines of different parts, as in the region of 
 the neck, of the bosom, at the shoulders, on the 
 surface of the abdomen, on the sides, and prin¬ 
 cipally in the gradual transitions from the head 
 to the neck, and from the loins to the inferior 
 extremities. 
 
 These lines vary under different circumstances ; 
 much enbonpoint producing round lines, and lean¬ 
 ness or old age producing straight ones. 
 
 Woman and man stand pre-eminent among 
 animals as to this kind of beauty ; and to them 
 succeed the swifter animals, as the horse, the 
 stag, &c. 
 
 The animals, on the contrary, of which the sur¬ 
 face presents right lines and square forms, are cor¬ 
 respondingly deprived of beauty; as the toad, 
 the hog, and all the animals which seem to us 
 
 ugly- 
 
 In all animals, also, the beauty of colour, even 
 when slightly varied, becomes extremely interest¬ 
 ing. In human beauty, considerable variety is pro¬ 
 duced by the different shades of the skin. 
 
 Such indeed is the variety resulting from all 
 this, that some degree even of intricacy is pro¬ 
 duced. The undulating lines which cross in every 
 direction, and the tortuous paths of the eye, are 
 the means of an agreeable complication. 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 97 
 
 Hence Burke, following Hogarth, says, “ Ob¬ 
 serve that part of a beautiful woman where she is 
 perhaps the most beautiful, about the neck and 
 breasts : the smoothness, the softness, the easy and 
 insensible swell, the variety of the surface, which is 
 never for the smallest space the same, the deceitful 
 maze, through which the unsteady eye slides gid¬ 
 dily, without knowing where to fix, or whither it is 
 carried. Is not this a demonstration of that change 
 of surface, continual, and yet hardly perceptible at 
 any point, which forms one of the great constituents 
 of beauty ?” 
 
 The hair affords an excellent instance of this 
 agreeable complication. Soft curls agitated by the 
 wind have been the theme of every poet. And yet, 
 says Hogarth, “ to show how excess ought to be 
 avoided in intricacy, as well as in every other prin¬ 
 ciple, the very same head of hair, wisped and matted 
 together, would make the most disagreeable figure; 
 because the eye would be perplexed, and at a fault, 
 and unable to trace such a confused number of uu- 
 composed and entangled lines.” 
 
 III. But animals have a higher system of organs 
 and functions which peculiarly distinguishes them, 
 and which presents new and peculiar characteristics 
 of beauty. This consists of the organs by which 
 they receive impressions from, and re-act upon, the 
 objects around them,—the first organs which nature 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 presents having altogether external relations, and 
 the first consequently in which we look for fitness 
 for any purpose. 
 
 The importance of fitness to the beauty of such 
 objects is learnt imperceptibly. Lines and forms, 
 though the most elegant, fail to please us, if ill dis¬ 
 tributed in this respect; and objects to a great 
 extent destitute of the other characters of natural 
 beauty, become beautiful when regarded in relation 
 to fitness. Thus would this sense appear to be so 
 powerful, as in some measure to regulate our other 
 perceptions of beauty. 
 
 It is fitness which leads us to admire in one 
 animal, what would displease us if found in another. 
 The variety, says Barry, “ and union of parts, which 
 we call beautiful in a greyhound, are pleasing in 
 consequence of the idea of agility wdiich they con¬ 
 vey. In other animals, less agility is united with 
 more strength ; and indeed all the different arrange¬ 
 ments please because they indicate either different 
 qualities, different degrees of qualities, or the dif¬ 
 ferent combinations of them.” 
 
 In relation to the various fitness of the human 
 body, the same writer says, “We should not in¬ 
 crease the beauty of the female bosom, by the 
 addition of another protuberance ; and the exquisite 
 undulating transitions from the convex to the con¬ 
 cave tendencies could not be multiplied with any 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 99 
 
 success. In fine, our rule forjudging of the mode 
 and decree ot this combination of variety and unity, 
 seems to be no other than that of its fitness, and 
 conformity to the designation of each species. 
 
 But it is less necessary for me to adduce autho¬ 
 rities in support of this truth, than to answer the 
 objections that have been made to it by some of the 
 ablest writers on the subject,— objections which 
 have generally their origin in the narrow views 
 which these men have taken, and in those partial 
 hypotheses which, even when true, led them to 
 reject all other truth. 
 
 “ It is said,” observes Burke, “ that the idea of 
 a part’s being well adapted to answer its end, is one 
 cause of beauty, or indeed beauty itself. ... In 
 framing this theory, I am apprehensive that ex¬ 
 perience was not sufficiently consulted. For, on 
 that principle, the wedge-like snout of a swine, 
 with its tough cartilage at the end, the little sunk 
 eyes, and the whole make of the head, so well 
 adapted to its offices of digging and rooting, would 
 be extremely beautiful.”—And so they are, when 
 the beauty of fitness for their purpose is considered; 
 but that purpose being the mere growth and fatten¬ 
 ing of an animal of sensual and dirty habits, it is a 
 fallacy to represent this, without explanation, as a 
 fair proof of the absence of connexion between 
 fitness and beauty. 
 
 h 2 
 
100 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 “ If beauty in our own species,” says the same 
 writer, “was annexed to use, men would be much 
 more lovely than women; and strength and agility 
 would be considered as the only beauties.”—Burke 
 was a stringer of fine words, not for woman, but 
 for queens, when that served a selfish and venal 
 purpose. The sentence just quoted shows that his 
 gallantry was as ignorant as it was mean. He here 
 asserts, by implication, that women are less useful 
 than men, although it is to women that the care of 
 the whole human race, during its most helpless 
 years, is committed, and although they take upon 
 themselves all that half of the duties of life which 
 men are as little capable of performing, as women 
 are of performing the portion suited to men. 
 
 “ And,” says he, “ I appeal to the first and most 
 natural feelings of mankind, whether, on beholding 
 a beautiful eye, or a well-fashioned mouth, or a 
 well-turned leg, any ideas of their being well fitted 
 for seeing, eating, or running, ever present them¬ 
 selves.”— Is running, then, the proper use of the 
 leg in woman !/ Rousseau more truly thought its use 
 was to fail in running, or not to run ! Is eating the 
 only use of her mouth ! This, too, from the man 
 who deplored that “ the age of chivalry was gone !” 
 — Nevertheless, I will venture to assert that such 
 things never were, and never will be, seen, without 
 suggesting ideas of fitness of some kind or other. 
 
TI1E ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 101 
 
 “ There is,” he proceeds, “ another notion cur¬ 
 rent, pretty closely allied to the former; that per¬ 
 fection is the constituent cause of beauty. This 
 opinion has been made to extend much further 
 than to sensible objects. But in these, so tar is 
 perfection, considered as such, from being the cause 
 of beauty, that this quality, where it is highest in 
 the female sex, almost always carries with it an idea 
 of weakness and imperfection.”—For this plain 
 reason, that female pertection is utterly incompatible 
 with great muscular perfection or strength, which 
 would indeed be injurious to the performance ol 
 every feminine function. 
 
 We may now advance another step in the subject 
 under discussion. What, then, are the peculiar 
 physical characters of beings thus possessing sense 
 and motion, and thus characterized by fitness ? 
 
 “ It must be remembered,” says Knight, “ that 
 irregularity is the general characteristic ot trees, 
 and regularity that of animals.” — It would have 
 been more correct to say that symmetry is this 
 peculiar characteristic. There is little resemblance 
 between the parts of one side, and it is symmetry 
 which results from the uniform disposition of 
 double parts, and from the regular division of single 
 ones. 
 
 Hence an agreeable impression is produced by 
 the corresponding disposition and the exact resem- 
 
102 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 blance of the eyes, of the eye-brows, of the ears, of 
 the hemispheres of the bosom, and of the different 
 parts of which the limbs are composed ; and the 
 forehead, the nose, the mouth, the abdomen, the 
 back, are agreeably distinguished by means of the 
 median line which divides them. 
 
 It appears that the eye is pleased by the exact¬ 
 ness of corresponding parts; and that symmetry 
 is the first character of beauty in thinking beings. 
 
 Occasional irregularity makes us better appre¬ 
 ciate the importance of symmetry. The oblique 
 direction of the eyes, squinting, twisting of the nose 
 or lips, unequal magnitude of the hemispheres of 
 the bosom, or unequal length of the limbs, disfigure 
 the most beautiful person. 
 
 But how does symmetry contribute to fitness, or 
 why is it necessary ? 
 
 “ All our limbs and organs,” says Payne Knight, 
 “ serve us in pairs, and by mutual co-operation with 
 each other : whence the habitual association of ideas 
 has taught us to consider this uniformity as indis¬ 
 pensable to the beauty and perfection of the animal 
 form. There is no reason to be deduced from any 
 abstract consideration of the nature of things, why 
 an animal should be more ugly and disgusting for 
 having only one eye, or one ear, than for having 
 only one nose or one mouth ; yet if we were to meet 
 with a beast with one eye, or two noses, or two 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 103 
 
 mouths, in any part of the world, we should, with¬ 
 out inquiry, decide it to be a monster, and turn 
 from it with abhorrence: neither is there any 
 reason, in the nature of things, why a strict parity, 
 or relative equality, in the correspondent limbs and 
 features of a man or a horse, should be absolutely 
 essential to beauty, and absolutely destructive ot it 
 in the roots and branches of a tree. But, never¬ 
 theless, the Creator having formed the one regular, 
 and the other irregular, we habitually associate ideas 
 of regularity to the perfection of the one, and ideas 
 of irregularity to the perfection of the other; and 
 this habit has been so unvaried as to have become 
 natural.” 
 
 This is the common cant ot every weak man at 
 a loss tor a reason. He screens his own helplessness 
 bv lupins; in the Creator j and then he hopes that 
 the solemnity ot the Creator s presence, thus me- 
 verently procured, will silence his antagonist. Now, 
 it is not by any “ habitual association with “ our 
 limbs and organs serving us in pairs,” that we are 
 “ taught to consider this uniformity indispensable to 
 beauty,” but because, independent of all association, 
 we could not conveniently walk upon one leg, or 
 indeed on any unequal number of legs: and there 
 being two sides in the moving organs, there are 
 necessarily two in the sensitive organs, which are 
 mere portions of the same general system. Thus it 
 
104 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 is locomotion to be performed that renders “ a strict 
 parity, or relative equality, in the correspondent 
 limbs and features of a man or a horse absolutely 
 essential to beauty; and it is the absence of loco¬ 
 motion which renders it utterly worthless, and 
 therefore very rare, in “the roots and branches of 
 a tree.” 
 
 In animals, proportion is not less essential than 
 symmetry. It is indeed the second character of 
 this kind of beauty. As this part of the subject has 
 been perfectly well treated by Mr. Alison, I need 
 only quote what he has said. 
 
 “ It is this expression of fitness which is, I ap¬ 
 prehend, the source of the beauty of what is strictly 
 and properly called proportion in the parts of the 
 human form. 
 
 “We expect a different form and a different con¬ 
 formation of limbs, in a running footman and a 
 waterman, in a wrestler and a racing groom, in a 
 shepherd and a sailor, &c. 
 
 “ They who are conversant in the productions 
 of the fine arts, must have equally observed, that 
 the forms and proportions 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 Her- 
 
THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 105 
 
 cules; 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 ol Juno are very different from those of 
 Venus; those of Minerva, from those of Diana ; 
 those ol Niobe, from those ot the Graces. All, 
 however, are beautiful ; because all are adapted 
 with exquisite taste to the characters they wish the 
 countenance to express.” 
 
 In “ the Hercules and the Antinous, the Jupiter 
 and the Apollo, we find that not only the propoi- 
 tions of the form, but those of every limb, are 
 different; and that the pleasure we feel in these 
 proportions arises from their exquisite fitness for 
 the physical ends which the artists were consulting. 
 
 “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.” 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. 
 
 I divide the Arts into the useful, the ornamental, 
 and the intellectual, commonly called the fine arts ; 
 and I shall endeavour to show, that the objects of 
 each of these are characterized by a peculiar kind 
 
106 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 of beauty, corresponding to one of those already 
 described. 
 
 I shall endeavour to show that the objects of the 
 useful arts are characterized by the simple geo¬ 
 metrical forms which belong to inanimate beings ; 
 that those of the ornamental arts are characterized 
 by the delicate, bending, varied and contrasted 
 forms of living beings; and that those of the in¬ 
 tellectual arts are, in their highest efforts charac¬ 
 terized chiefly by thinking forms, as in gesture, 
 sculpture, painting, or by functions of mind actually 
 exercised, in oratory, poetry, music. 
 
 In all these arts, purpose is implied — not pur¬ 
 pose in the hypothetical sense, as applied to the 
 existence, conditions, and objects of natural beings 
 — but in the common intelligible sense of the word, 
 as expressing the intention of men in the pursuit of 
 these arts. 
 
 Beauty of Useful Objects. 
 
 Here the purpose being utility, this kind of 
 beauty arises from the perception of means as 
 adapted to an end, which of course implies, the 
 parts of anything being fitted to answer the pur¬ 
 pose of the whole. 
 
 This implies an act of understanding and judg¬ 
 ment: for of no product of useful art can we per- 
 
AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. 
 
 107 
 
 ceive the extrinsic beauty, until we know its des¬ 
 tination, and the relation which that involves. 
 
 When these are known, so powerful is the sense 
 of utility, that, though deviation Irom the elemen¬ 
 tary beauty never ceases to be felt; yet that sense 
 sanctions it to a great extent. Hence it is that an 
 irregular dwelling-house may become beautiful, 
 when its convenience is striking. Hence it is that, 
 iu the forms of furniture, machines, and instru¬ 
 ments, their beauty arises chiefly from this consi¬ 
 deration ; and that every form becomes beautiful 
 by association, where it is perfectly adapted to its 
 end. 
 
 The greater, however, the elementary beauty, 
 that can he introduced in uselul objects, the more 
 obvious will their utility be, and the more beautiful 
 will they universally appear. This will be granted 
 the moment I mention simplicity. 
 
 Of all the elements of beauty already spoken 
 of_ of all the means of producing accordant and 
 agreeable relations, simplicity appears to be the 
 most efficient; and in all the useful arts, no ele¬ 
 mentary consideration recommends their objects so 
 much. 
 
 This implies all the rest, regularity, uniformity, 
 proportion, order, &c., as far as is compatible with 
 purpose. 
 
 Thus, in regard to uniformity, says some one, 
 
108 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 a number of things destined for the same purpose, 
 as chairs, spoons, &c., cannot be too uniform, 
 because they are adapted to uniform purposes ; but 
 it would be absurd to give to objects destined for 
 one purpose the form suited to those destined for 
 another. 
 
 So also the objects of useful art will resemble in 
 form precisely as they resemble in purpose ; and 
 where the purpose is similar, and the deviation 
 which is admissible is slight, this becomes a sub¬ 
 ject of great nicety, and, if ornament be at the same 
 time admissible, a subject of exquisite taste. 
 
 It was by the transcendent exercise of these 
 qualities, that the Greeks succeeded in fixing the 
 orders of architecture. The most beautiful columns 
 would have shocked the sight, if their mass had not 
 corresponded to that of the edifice which they sus¬ 
 tained ; and the difference which existed in this 
 respect, required a difference of ornament. 
 
 Home,indeed, observes, that “writers on architec¬ 
 ture insist much upon the proportions of a column, 
 and assign different proportions to the Doric, Ionic, 
 and Corinthian ; but no architect will maintain, 
 that the most accurate proportions contribute more 
 to use, than several that are less accurate and less 
 agreeable.” 
 
 That such a man should have committed such an 
 error is surprising. It seems evident that the 
 
AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. 109 
 
 different proportion in the columns of these orders 
 is admirably suited to the different quantity ol mat¬ 
 ter in their entablatures. A greater superincum¬ 
 bent mass, required shorter and thicker columns ; a 
 less super-incumbent mass, longer and slenderer 
 ones. Many experiments, much observation, were 
 requisite to determine this ; but the Greeks had the 
 means of making them, and solved every problem 
 on the subject; and the result of the perfection they 
 attained is, that all err who depart from the truth 
 they have determined. 
 
 It was, again, the differing quantities ol matter in 
 the entablatures, and the accurately corresponding- 
 dimensions of the columns that determined, of 
 course amidst infinite experiment and observation, 
 the nature of their ornaments. Hence the Doric 
 is distinguished by simplicity ; the Ionic by ele¬ 
 gance ; and the Corinthian by lightness, in orna¬ 
 ment as well as in proportion. 
 
 Even, therefore, if we were to destroy all the 
 associations of elegance, of magnificence, of cost¬ 
 liness, and still more than all, of antiquity, which 
 are so strongly connected with such forms, the 
 pleasure which their proportions would afford, 
 would remain, as in all cases where means are best 
 adapted to their end. 
 
 In his objections to proportion as an element of 
 
110 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 beauty, Burke only confounds this kind of beauty 
 with that which I have next to describe. 
 
 “The effects of proportion and fitness,” he says, 
 “ at least so far as they proceed from a mere consi¬ 
 deration of the work itself, produce approbation, 
 the acquiescence of the understanding, but not love, 
 nor any passion of that species. When we examine 
 the structure of a watch, when we come to know 
 thoroughly the use of every part of it, satisfied as 
 we are with the fitness of the whole, we are far 
 enough from perceiving anything like beauty in the 
 watch-work itself; but let us look on the case, the 
 labour of some curious artist in engraving, with 
 little or no idea of use, we shall have a much 
 livelier idea of beauty than we ever could have 
 had from the watch itself, though the master-piece 
 of Graham. 
 
 It is an emotion of pleasure which is the inevit¬ 
 able result of the perception of beauty, not love, 
 nor any passion of the kind. These will, or will 
 not follow, according to the nature of the object, 
 and of the mind of the observer. A hill, a valley, 
 or a rivulet may be beautiful, and it will excite an 
 emotion of pleasure when its beauty is discerned ; 
 but it may produce no desire or passion of love. 
 There may exist, then, the beauty of utility, as to 
 the structure of the watch, and that of ornament, as 
 
AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. Ill 
 
 to its case ; and some minds will more readily per¬ 
 ceive the one ; others, the other. 
 
 When Burke adds, “ In beauty, the effect is pre¬ 
 vious to any knowledge ot the use ; but to judge 
 of proportion, we must know the end for which 
 any work is designedhe forgets, that in the 
 instance of the barber’s block, &c., he shovred 
 that the perception of beauty, as well as propor¬ 
 tion, required observation, experience, and re¬ 
 flection. 
 
 Beauty of Ornamental Objects. 
 
 There are three great arts which, under circum¬ 
 stances of high civilization, become ornamental, 
 namely, landscape gardening, architecture, and 
 dress, — the particular arts by w T hich our persons 
 are more or less closely invested ;* and all of them, 
 then, require beauty of the second kind, that which 
 belongs particularly to vegetable beings, and is 
 characterized by delicate, bending, varied and con¬ 
 trasted forms. 
 
 All these, regarded as ornamental arts, have 
 chiefly bodily and sensual pleasures for their pur¬ 
 pose ; and this I consider as distinguishing them 
 from the intellectual arts w 7 hich have a higher 
 purpose. 
 
 * The common character of these arts has been overlooked. 
 
112 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 Of landscape gardening, the materials are plants, 
 and therefore its beauty is evidently dependent on, 
 or rather composed of, theirs. 
 
 The same kind of beauty will be found in every 
 ornamental art. Hence, Alison says, “ The greater 
 part of beautiful forms in nature, are to be found 
 in the vegetable kingdom, in the forms of flowers, 
 of foliage, of shrubs, and in those assumed by the 
 young shoots of trees. It is from them, accord¬ 
 ingly, that almost all those forms have been imi¬ 
 tated, which have been employed by artists, for the 
 purposes of ornament and elegance.” 
 
 On this kind of beauty, mistaking it for the only 
 one, Hogarth founded his peculiar doctrine. “ He 
 adopts two lines, on which, according to him, the 
 beauty of figure principally depends. One is the 
 waving line, or a curve bending gently in opposite 
 directions. This he calls the line of beauty ; and 
 he shows how often it is found in flowers, shells, 
 and various works of nature; while it is common 
 also in the figures designed by painters and sculp¬ 
 tors, for the purpose of decoration. The other line, 
 which he calls the line of grace, is the former waving 
 line, twisted round some solid body. Twisted 
 pillars, and twisted horns, exhibit it. In all the 
 instances which he mentions, variety plainly appears 
 to be so important an element of this kind of beauty, 
 that he states a portion of the truth, when he defines 
 
AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. 
 
 113 
 
 the art of drawing pleasing forms, to be the art 
 of varying well; for the curve line, so mqch the 
 favourite of painters, derives much of its beauty 
 from its perpetual bending and variation from the 
 stiff regularity of the straight line.” It is evident, 
 however, that in this, he mistakes one kind of 
 beauty for all. 
 
 Of architecture, considered as a fine art, much 
 of the beauty depends on the imitation of vege¬ 
 table forms. Employing materials which require 
 the best characteristics of the first kind of beauty , 
 it, in its choicest and ornamented parts, imitates 
 both the rigid trunks, and the delicate and bend¬ 
 ing forms of plants. Its columns tapering upward, 
 are copied from the trunks of trees; and their 
 decorations are suited with consummate art to their 
 dimensions, and the weight they support. The 
 simple Doric has little ornament; the elegant Ionic 
 has more ; the light Corinthian has most. 
 
 On the subject of these finely calculated orna¬ 
 ments, some observations have struck me, which 
 I have not seen mentioned elsewhere. The Doric 
 presents only columns, without any other orna¬ 
 ment than that of which their mere form admits. 
 The Ionic expresses increased lightness, by the 
 interposition of its volute, as if the superin¬ 
 cumbent weight had but gently pressed a soft solid 
 into a scroll. The Corinthian expresses the utmost 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 lightness, by forming its capitals of foliage, as if 
 the weight above them could not crush even a leaf. 
 The Composite expresses gaiety, by adding flowers 
 to the foliage. It is from imperfect views of this, 
 that the meaning and effect of caryatides have been 
 mistaken : instead of being oppressed by weight, 
 they seem, when well employed, to have no weight 
 to support. 
 
 In nearly all internal architectural decorations, 
 it is the delicate, bending, varied and contrasted 
 vegetable forms, which are imitated. 
 
 ££ There is scarce a room, in any house what¬ 
 ever,” says Hogarth, ££ where one does not see the 
 waving-line employed in some way or other. How 
 inelegant would the shapes of all our moveables be 
 without it; how very plain and unornamental the 
 mouldings of cornices and chimney-pieces, without 
 the variety introduced by the ogee member, which 
 is entirely composed of waving lines.” 
 
 The distinctions I have here made, are farther 
 illustrated by the remarks of Alison, who says, 
 ££ These ornaments being executed in a very hard 
 and durable substance, are in fact only beautiful 
 when they appear but as minute parts of the whole. 
 The great constituent parts of every building require 
 direct and angular lines, because in such parts we 
 require'the expression of stability and strength. 
 It is only in the minute and delicate parts of the 
 
AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. 
 
 115 
 
 work, that any kind of ornament is attempted with 
 propriety; and whenever ornaments exceed in size, 
 in their quantity of matter, or in the prominence 
 of their relief, that proportion, which, in point of 
 lightness or delicacy, we expect them to hold with 
 respect to the whole of the building, the imitation 
 of the most beautiful vegetable forms does not pre¬ 
 serve them from the censure of clumsiness and 
 deformity.” 
 
 In dress, considered as an ornamental art, and, 
 as practised by the sex which chiefly studies it, the 
 chief beauty depends on the adoption of winding 
 forms in drapery, and of wreaths of flowers for the 
 head, &c. These are essential to the variety and 
 contrast, as well as to the gaiety which that sex 
 desires. 
 
 “ Uniformity,” says Hogarth, “ is chiefly com¬ 
 plied with, in dress, on account of fitness, and 
 seems to be extended not much further than dress¬ 
 ing both arms alike, and having the shoes of the 
 same colour. For when any part of dress has not 
 the excuse of fitness or propriety for its uniformity 
 of parts, the ladies always call it formal.” 
 
 These irregular, varying, and somewhat compli¬ 
 cated draperies, excite that active curiosity, and 
 those movements of imagination, to which skilful 
 women never neglect to address themselves in 
 modern costume. 
 
 i 2 
 
116 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 It is with the same feeling and intention, whe¬ 
 ther these be defined or not, that, in the head-dress, 
 they seek for bending lines and circumvolutions, 
 and that they combine variously the waves and 
 the tresses of the hair. 
 
 For the same reason, a feather or a flower is 
 never placed precisely over the middle of the fore¬ 
 head ; and if two are employed, great care is taken 
 that their positions are dissimilar. 
 
 It has sometimes struck me as remarkable, that 
 precious stones are almost always arranged differ¬ 
 ently from flowers. While the latter are placed 
 irregularly, and in waving lines, not only on the 
 head, but the bosom, and the skirt of the dress; 
 the former are in general regularly placed, eithei 
 on the medium line of the person, as the middle 
 of the forehead and, in eastern countries, of the 
 nose, or symmetrically in similar pendants from 
 each ear, and bracelets on the arms and wrists. 
 
 The instinctive feeling which gives origin to this, 
 is, that flowers adorn the system of life and re¬ 
 production, and by their colour and smell, asso¬ 
 ciate with its emotions, which they also express 
 and communicate to others—they, therefore, as¬ 
 sume the varied forms of that system ; whereas 
 diamonds, attached generally to mental organs, oi 
 organs of sense, are significant of mental feelings, 
 love of splendour, distinction, pride, &c. —they, 
 
AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. 117 
 
 therefore, assume the symmetrical form of these 
 organs. Hence, too, flowers are recommended to 
 the young; diamonds are permitted only to the 
 old. 
 
 Beauty of Intellectual Objects. 
 
 I have already said, that the intellectual arts 
 are, in their highest efforts, characterized chiefly 
 by animal forms, as in gesture, sculpture, and 
 painting, or by animal functions actually exercised, 
 in oratory, poetry, and music. 
 
 In the useful arts, the purpose is utility ; in the 
 ornamental arts it is bodily or sensual pleasures; 
 and in the intellectual arts, it is the pleasure of 
 imagination. 
 
 The first elements of beauty, however, are not 
 forgotten in these arts. As simplicity is conspi¬ 
 cuous in the works of nature, so is it a condition 
 of beauty in all the operations of mind. In philo¬ 
 sophy, general theorems become beautiful from 
 this simplicity; and polished manners receive from 
 it dignity and grace. The intellectual arts are 
 especially dependent upon it: it has been a strik¬ 
 ing character of their most illustrious cultivators, 
 and of their very highest efforts. 
 
 How much the characters and accidents of ele¬ 
 mentary beauty influence intellectual art, has been 
 well shown by Mr. Knight. 
 
 “ In the higher class of landscapes,” he says, 
 
118 
 
 THJi ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 whether in nature or in art, the mere sensual 
 gratification of the eye is comparatively so small, 
 as scarcely to be attended to: but yet, if there 
 occur a single spot, either in the scene or the pic¬ 
 ture, offensively harsh and glaring—if the land¬ 
 scape gardener, in the one, or the picture cleaner, 
 in the other, have exerted their unhappy talents of 
 polishing, all the magic instantly vanishes, and the 
 imagination avenges the injury offered to the sense. 
 The glaring and unharmonious spot, being the 
 most prominent and obtrusive, irresistibly attracts 
 the attention, so as to interrupt the repose of 
 the whole, and leaves the mind no place to rest 
 upon.” 
 
 It is, in some respects,” he observes, “ the 
 same with the sense of hearing. The mere sen¬ 
 sual gratification, arising from the melody of an 
 actor’s voice, is a very small part indeed of the 
 pleasure, which we receive from the representation 
 of a fine drama : but, nevertheless, if a single note 
 of the voice be absolutely cracked and out of tune, 
 so as to offend and disgust the ear, it will com¬ 
 pletely destroy the effect of the most skilful acting, 
 and render all the sublimity and pathos of the 
 finest tragedy ludicrous.” 
 
 This, I may observe, is a concession of much 
 that he elsewhere inconsistently contends for; for 
 sensual beauty could never act thus powerfully, if 
 
AS EMPLOYED IX OBJECTS OF ART. 
 
 119 
 
 it possessed not fundamental importance as an 
 element even in the most complex beauty. . 
 
 That the second kind of beauty also enters into 
 the acts or products of intellectual beauty, is suf¬ 
 ficiently illustrated by the observation of Hogarth, 
 who on this subject observes, that all the common 
 and necessary motions lor the business ol life are 
 performed by men in straight or plain lines, while 
 all the graceful and ornamental movements are 
 made in waving lines. 
 
 As Alison has given the best view ol the history 
 and character of beauty in the intellectual arts, 
 as that indeed constitutes the most valuable por¬ 
 tion of his work, I shall conclude this section by 
 a greatly abridged view ol these, as nearly as pos¬ 
 sible in his own words. 
 
 There is no production of taste, which has not 
 many qualities of a very indifferent kind ; and our 
 sense of the beauty or sublimity of every object 
 accordingly depends upon the quality or qualities 
 of it which we consider. 
 
 This, Mr. Alison might have observed, is in 
 great measure dependent upon our will. We can 
 generally, when we please, confine our considera¬ 
 tion of it to the qualities that least excite pleasur¬ 
 able or painful emotion, and that can least interest 
 the imagination. 
 
 It is in consequence of this, that the exercise ol 
 
120 
 
 TIIE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 criticism always destroys, for the time, our sensi¬ 
 bility to the beauty of every composition, and that 
 habits of this kind generally destroy the sensibility 
 of taste. 
 
 When, on the other hand, the emotions of sub¬ 
 limity or beauty are produced, it will be found that 
 some affection is uniformly first excited by the 
 presence of the object; and whether the general 
 impression we receive is that of gaiety, or tender¬ 
 ness, or melancholy, or solemnity, or terror, &c. 
 we have never any difficulty of determining. 
 
 But whatever may be the nature of that simple 
 emotion which any object is fitted to excite, if it 
 produce not a train of kindred thought in our 
 minds, we are conscious only of that simple emo¬ 
 tion. 
 
 In many cases, on the contrary, we are conscious 
 of a train of thought being immediately awakened 
 in the imagination, analogous to the character of 
 expression of the original object. 
 
 “ Thus, when we feel either the beauty or sub¬ 
 limity of natural scenery,—the gay lustre of a 
 morning in spring, or the mild radiance of a sum¬ 
 mer evening, — the savage majesty of a wintry 
 storm, or the wild magnificence of the tempestuous 
 ocean,—we are conscious of a variety of images in 
 our minds, very different from those which the 
 objects themselves present to the eye. Trains of 
 
AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. 
 
 121 
 
 pleasing or of solemn thought arise spontaneously 
 within our minds ; our hearts swell with emotions, 
 of which the objects before us seem to afford no 
 adequate cause ; and we are never so much satiated 
 with delight, as when, in recalling our attention, 
 we are unable (little able, perhaps, and less dis¬ 
 posed) to trace either the progress or the con¬ 
 nexion of those thoughts, which have passed with 
 so much rapidity through our imagination. 
 
 “ The effect of the different arts of taste is 
 similar. The landscapes of Claude Lorraine, the 
 poetry of Milton, the music of the greatest masters, 
 excite feeble emotions in our minds when our 
 attention is confined to the qualities they present to 
 our senses, or when it is to such qualities ot theii 
 composition that we turn our regard. It is then 
 only we feel the sublimity or beauty of their pro¬ 
 ductions, when our imaginations are kindled by 
 their power, when we lose ourselves amid the 
 number of images that pass before our minds, and 
 when we waken at last from this play of fancy, 
 as from the charm ot a romantic dieam. 
 
 u The degree in which the emotions of sublimity 
 or beauty are felt, is in general proportioned to 
 the prevalence of those relations of thought in the 
 mind, upon which this exercise of imagination de¬ 
 pends. The principal relation which seems to take 
 place in those trains of thought that are produced 
 
122 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 by objects of taste, is that of resemblance; the 
 relation, of all others the most loose and general, 
 and which affords the greatest range of thought for 
 our imagination to pursue. Wherever, accord¬ 
 ingly, these emotions are felt, it will be found, not 
 only that this is the relation which principally pre¬ 
 vails among our ideas, but that the emotion itself 
 is proportioned to the degree in which it prevails. 
 
 What for instance, is the impression we feel 
 from the scenery of spring ? The soft and gentle 
 green with which the earth is spread, the feeble 
 texture of the plants and flowers, the young of 
 animals just entering into life, and the remains of 
 winter yet lingering among the woods and hills, 
 —all conspire to infuse into our minds somewhat 
 of that fearful tenderness with which infancy is 
 usually beheld. With such a sentiment, how in¬ 
 numerable are the ideas which present themselves 
 to our imagination! ideas, it is apparent, by no 
 means confined to the scene before our eyes, or 
 to the possible desolation which may yet await its 
 infant beauty, but which almost involuntarily ex¬ 
 tend themselves to analogies with the life of man, 
 and bring before us all those images of hope or 
 fear, which, according to our peculiar situations, 
 have the dominion of our heart!-—The beauty of 
 autumn is accompanied with a similar exercise of 
 thought. 
 
AS EMPLOYED IN OBJECTS OF ART. 123 
 
 “ Whatever increases this exercise or employ¬ 
 ment of imagination, increases also the emotion of 
 beauty or sublimity. 
 
 “ This is very obviously the effect of all associa¬ 
 tions. There is no man who has not some inter¬ 
 esting associations with particular scenes, or airs, 
 or books, and who does not feel their beauty or 
 sublimity enhanced to him by such connexions. 
 The view of the house where one was born, of the 
 school where one was educated, and where the gay 
 years of infancy were passed, is indifferent to no 
 man. 
 
 “ In the case of those trains of thought, which 
 are suggested by objects either of sublimity or 
 beauty, it will be found, that they are in all cases 
 composed of ideas capable of exciting some affec¬ 
 tion or emotion; and that not only the whole suc¬ 
 cession is accompanied with that peculiar emotion 
 which we call the emotion of beauty or sublimity, 
 but that every individual idea of such a succession 
 is in itself productive of some simple emotion or 
 other. 
 
 “ Thus the ideas suggested by the scenery of 
 spring, are ideas productive of emotions of cheer¬ 
 fulness, of gladness, and of tenderness. The 
 images suggested by the prospect of ruins, are 
 images belonging to pity, to melancholy, and to 
 admiration. The ideas, in the same manner, 
 
124 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY 
 
 awakened by the view of the ocean in a storm 
 are ideas of power, of majesty, and of terror.” 
 
 To prevent circumlocution, such ideas may he 
 termed ideas of emotion; and the effect which is 
 produced upon the mind, by objects of taste, may 
 be considered as consisting in the production of a 
 regular or consistent train of ideas of emotion. 
 
 “ In those trains which are suggested by objects 
 of sublimity or beauty, however slight the con¬ 
 nexion between individual thoughts may be, it will 
 he found, that there is always some general prin¬ 
 ciple of connexion which pervades the whole, and 
 gives them some certain definite character. They 
 are either gay, or pathetic, or melancholy, or 
 solemn, or awful, or elevating, &c. according to the 
 nature of the emotion which is first excited. Thus 
 the prospect of a serene evening in summer, pro¬ 
 duces first an emotion of peacefulness and tran¬ 
 quillity, and then suggests a variety of images cor¬ 
 responding to this primary impression. The sight 
 of a torrent, or of a storm, in the same manner, 
 impresses us first with sentiments of awe or solem¬ 
 nity, or terror, and then awakens in our minds a 
 series of conceptions allied to this peculiar emotion.” 
 
 The intellectual, or fine arts, are those whose 
 objects are thus addressed to the imagination; 
 and the pleasures they afford are described, by way 
 of distinction, as the pleasures of the imagination. 
 
SUMMARY OF THIS CHAPTER. 
 
 125 
 
 SUMMARY OF THIS CHAPTER. 
 
 Thus, by analysis, generalization and systematiza¬ 
 tion of the materials which the best writers pre¬ 
 sent, I have, in this chapter, endeavoured to take 
 new and larger views; and, by an examination 
 of the elements of beauty, I have endeavoured to 
 fix its doctrines upon an immovable basis. 
 
 I have shown that there exist elements of beauty 
 equally invariable in themselves, and in the kind 
 of effect they produce upon the mind ; that these 
 elements are modified, varied, and complicated, as 
 we advance from the most simple to the most com¬ 
 plex class of natural beings, or of the arts which 
 relate to these respectively ; that the elements ol 
 beauty in inanimate beings consist in the simplicity, 
 regularity, uniformity, proportion, order, &c., of 
 those geometrical forms which are so intimately 
 connected with mere existence; that the elements 
 of beauty in living beings, consist in adding to 
 the preceding the delicacy, bending, variety, con¬ 
 trast, &c., which are connected with growth, and 
 reproduction; that the elements of beauty in think¬ 
 ing beings, consist in adding to the preceding the 
 symmetry, proportion,* &c., which are connected 
 
 * Proportion is here employed, not as expressing an intrinsic 
 relation, as in the beauty of inanimate beings, but as expressing 
 an extrinsic relation to fitness for ends. 
 
126 
 
 THE ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 with fitness for sense, thought and motion; that 
 the elements of beauty in the objects of useful 
 art, consist in the same simplicity, regularity, uni¬ 
 formity, proportion, order, &c., of geometrical 
 forms which belong to inanimate beings; that the 
 elements of beauty in the objects of ornamental art 
 consist in the same delicacy, bending, variety, con¬ 
 trast, &c., which belong to living beings; and that 
 the elements of beauty, in the objects of intellec¬ 
 tual art, consist in thinking forms, in gesture, 
 sculpture and painting, or in functions of mind 
 actually exercised, in oratory, poetry, and music. 
 
 The elements of beauty have hitherto been con¬ 
 founded by many writers, as more or less appli¬ 
 cable to objects of all kinds; and as this general 
 and confused application was easily disproved as 
 to many objects, uncertainty and doubt has been 
 thrown over the whole. The remaining writers 
 have consequently been led to adopt, as characters 
 of beauty, only one or two of these elements, which 
 were consequently capable of application only to 
 one or two classes of its objects. Hence, no sub¬ 
 ject of human inquiry has hitherto been left in a 
 more disgraceful condition than this, the very 
 foundation of taste. 
 
 I do not hesitate to say that, owing to the near 
 approximations to truth, and the insensible transi¬ 
 tions into error, which I have found in every 
 
SUMMARY OF THIS CHAPTER. 
 
 127 
 
 writer, and the immense mass of confused ma¬ 
 terials which they present, this subject has cost me 
 more trouble than any one I have ever investi¬ 
 gated, except that of my work on the mind ;* nor 
 without some physiological knowledge, do I think 
 tasks of this kind at all practicable. Generally 
 speaking, each branch of knowledge is most surely 
 advanced by acquaintance with its related branches ; 
 and philosophers cannot too much bear in mind 
 the words of Cicero,—“ Etenim omnes artes quae 
 ad humanitatem pertinent, habent quoddam com¬ 
 mune vinculum, et quasi cognatione quadam inter 
 se continentur.” 
 
 * The Nervous System, Anatomical and Physiological : 
 in which the Functions of the various parts of the Brain are for 
 the first time assigned. 
 
APPENDIX TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 SECTION I. 
 
 NATURE OF TIIE PICTURESQUE.* 
 
 In landscape, the nature of the beautiful and the 
 sublime seems to be better understood than that of 
 the picturesque. There are few disputes as to the 
 former; many as to the latter. These disputes, 
 moreover, are not as to what is picturesque , but as 
 to what picturesque is. 
 
 Payne Knight asserts, that the picturesque has 
 no distinctive character, and merely designates 
 what a painter would imitate. Price, on the con¬ 
 trary, has given so many admirable illustrations of 
 it, that its characteristics are before every reader. 
 Strange to tell, its nature or essence has not been 
 penetrated, because these characteristics have not 
 been rigidly analysed. 
 
 Price has, indeed, generalized considerably on 
 this subject, by showing that irregularity, rough¬ 
 ness, &c., enter into all scenes of a picturesque 
 
 * Communicated by the writer to the Magazine of the Fine 
 Arts, No. 11, for June, 1833. 
 
APPENDIX TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 129 
 
 description ; and the examination of any one of 
 them, will certainly verify the truth of his observa¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Thus, on a remote country road, we often observe 
 the deep ruts on its surface which in winter would 
 render it impassable,—the huge and loose moss- 
 grown stone, ready to encumber it by falling from 
 the bank,—the stunted pollard by its side, whose 
 roots are exposed by the earth falling away from 
 it, and which must itself be swept away by the 
 first wind that may blow against it in an un¬ 
 favourable direction,—the almost ruined cottage, 
 above and beyond these, whose gable is propped up 
 by an old and broken wheel, and whose thatched 
 roof, stained with every hue of moss or lichen, has, 
 at one part, long fallen in,—the shaggy and ragged 
 horse that browses among the rank weeds around 
 it,—and the old man, bent with age, who leans over 
 the broken gate in front of it. 
 
 Here, in every circumstance, is verified the irre¬ 
 gularity and roughness which Price ascribes to 
 the picturesque. But he has failed to observe, 
 that the irregularity and roughness are hut the 
 signs of that which interests the mind far more 
 deeply —namely, the universal decay which causes 
 them. This is the essence of the picturesque — 
 the charm in it which begets our sympathy. 
 
 Confining his remark merely to ruins, the author 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 of {£ Observations on Gardening,” says, “ At the 
 sight of a ruin, reflections on the change, the decay, 
 and the desolation before us naturally occur ; and 
 they introduce a long succession of others, all 
 tinctured with that melancholy which these have 
 inspired ; or if the monument revive the memory 
 of former times, we do not stop at the simple fact 
 which it records, but recollect many more coeval 
 circumstances which we see, not perhaps as they 
 were, but as they are come down to us, venerable 
 with age, and magnified by fame.”—What is here 
 said of ruins, and is indeed as to them sufficiently 
 striking, is true of the picturesque universally, and 
 it is only surprising that, amidst such disputes, 
 this simple and obvious truth should not have been 
 observed. 
 
 In landscape, therefore, the picturesque stands 
 in the same relation to the beautiful and sublime, 
 that the pathetic does to them in poetry. Hence 
 speaking also of ruins only, Alison says, “ The 
 images suggested by the prospect of ruins, are 
 images belonging to pity, to melancholy, and to 
 admiration.” 
 
 A thousand illustrations might be given in sup¬ 
 port of this truth and the principle which it affords ; 
 but I think it better to leave these to the suggestion 
 or the choice of every reader. 
 
PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 131 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 CAUSE OF LAUGHTER. 
 
 This has been partly explained by Beattie, partly 
 by Hobbes; and it is chiefly to vindicate the latter, 
 who knew much more of the human mind than the 
 people who have attacked him, that I write the 
 pages immediately following. 
 
 Speaking of the quality in things, which makes 
 them provoke the pleasing emotion or sentiment 
 of which laughter is the external sign, Beattie says, 
 “It is an uncommon mixture of relation and con¬ 
 trariety, exhibited, or supposed to be united, in 
 the same assemblage.” And elsewhere he says, 
 “ Laughter arises from the view of two or more in¬ 
 consistent, unsuitable, or incongruous parts or cir¬ 
 cumstances, considered as united in one complex 
 object or assemblage, or as acquiring a sort of 
 mutual relation from the peculiar manner in which 
 the mind takes notice of them.” 
 
 “ The latter may arise from contiguity, from the 
 relation of cause and effect, from unexpected like¬ 
 ness, from dignity and meanness, from absur¬ 
 dity, &c. 
 
132 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 “ Thus, at first view, the dawn of the morning, 
 and a boiled lobster, seem utterly incongruous, but 
 when a change of colour from black to red is sug¬ 
 gested, we recognise a likeness, and consequently a 
 relation, or ground of comparison. 
 
 “And here let it be observed, that the greater 
 the number of incongruities that are blended in 
 the same assemblage, the more ludicrous it will 
 probably be. If, as in the last example, there be 
 an opposition of dignity and meanness, as well as 
 of likeness and dissimilitude, the effect of the 
 contrast will be more powerful than if only one 
 of these oppositions had appeared in the ludicrous 
 idea.” 
 
 This first part of the subject seems, indeed, so 
 clear as to admit of no objection. 
 
 Hobbes, viewing more particularly the act of 
 the mind, defines laughter to be a “ sudden glory, 
 arising from a sudden conception of some emi- 
 nency in ourselves, by comparison with the in¬ 
 firmity of others, or with our own formerly.” And 
 elsewhere he says, “ Men laugh at jests, the wit 
 whereof always consisteth in the elegant discover¬ 
 ing and conveying to our minds, some absurdity 
 of another. 
 
 Dr. Campbell objects that “ contempt may be 
 
 * Human Nature, chap. ix. § 13. 
 
PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 133 
 
 raised in a very high degree, both suddenly and 
 unexpectedly, without producing the least ten¬ 
 dency to laugh.” But if there exist that incon¬ 
 gruity in the same assemblage described as the 
 fundamental cause of this sudden conception of our 
 own superiority, laughter, as Beattie has shown, 
 “ will always, or for the most part, excite the risible 
 emotion, unless when the perception of it is at¬ 
 tended with some other emotion of greater autho¬ 
 rity,” dependent on custom, politeness, &c. 
 
 Dr. Campbell also observes, that, “ laughter 
 may be, and is daily, produced by the perception 
 of incongruous associations, when there is no con¬ 
 tempt. 
 
 “ We often smile at a witty performance or pas¬ 
 sage, such as Butler’s allusion to a boiled lobster, 
 in his picture of the morning, when we are so far 
 from conceiving any inferiority or turpitude in the 
 author, that we greatly admire his genius, and wish 
 ourselves possessed of that very turn of fancy which 
 produced the drollery in question. 
 
 “Many have laughed at the queerness of the 
 comparison in these lines, 
 
 “ For rhyme the rudder is of verses, 
 
 With which like ships they steer their courses 
 
 who never dreamt that there was any person or 
 party, practice or opinion, derided in them. 
 
134 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 “If any admirer of the Hobbesian philosophy 
 should pretend to discover some class of men whom 
 the poet here meant to ridicule, he ought to con¬ 
 sider, that if any one hath been tickled with the 
 passage to whom the same thought never occurred, 
 that single instance would be sufficient to subvert 
 the doctrine, as it would show that there may be 
 laughter where there is no triumph or glorying over 
 anybody, and consequently no conceit of one’s own 
 superiority.” 
 
 Now, the class of men laughed at in both cases 
 is the same, namely, poets, whose lofty allusions 
 are ridiculed by the former, and silly rhymes by 
 the latter ; nor can any one duly appreciate or be 
 pleased with either, to whom this intention of 
 the writer is not obvious. Who ever dreamed of 
 “ turpitude in the author,” as Dr. Campbell sup¬ 
 poses ! 
 
 “As to the wag,” says Beattie, “who amuses 
 himself on the first of April with telling lies, he 
 must be shallow indeed, if he hope by so doing to 
 acquire any superiority over another man, whom 
 he knows to be wiser and better than himself; 
 for on these occasions the greatness of the joke, 
 and the loudness of the laugh, are, if I rightly 
 remember, in exact proportion to the sagacity of 
 the person imposed on.”—No doubt ; but it is 
 because he is thrown into an apparent and whim- 
 
PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 135 
 
 sical, though momentary, inferiority; and the 
 greater his sagacity, the more amusing does this 
 appear. 
 
 “Do we not,” says he, “sometimes laugh at 
 fortuitous combinations, in which, as no mental 
 energy is concerned in producing them, there can¬ 
 not be either fault or turpitude ? Could not one 
 imagine a set of people jumbled together by acci¬ 
 dent, so as to present a laughable group to those 
 w T ho know their characters?”—Undoubtedly; but 
 then the slouch of one, and the rigidity of the 
 other, &c., make both contemptible, as to physical 
 characteristics at least, and there is no need of tur¬ 
 pitude in either. 
 
 The strongest apparent objection, however, is 
 that of Dr. Campbell, who says, “Indeed, men’s 
 telling their own blunders, even blunders recently 
 committed, and laughing at them, a thing not un¬ 
 common in very risible dispositions, is utterly inex¬ 
 plicable upon Hobbes’s system. For, to consider 
 the thing only with regard to the laughter himself, 
 there is to him no subject of glorying that is not 
 counterbalanced by an equal subject of humiliation 
 (he being both the person laughing, and the person 
 laughed at), and these two subjects must destroy 
 one another.” 
 
 But he overlooks the precise terms employed 
 by Hobbes, who says, “ The passion of laughter 
 
136 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 is nothing else but sudden glory, arising from a 
 sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, 
 by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with 
 our own formerly. For men laugh at the follies of 
 themselves past , when they come suddenly to re¬ 
 membrance, except they bring with them any present 
 dishonour .” 
 
 It is not therefore true, as Dr. Campbell says, 
 that “ with regard to others, he appears solely 
 under the notion of inferiority, as the person tri¬ 
 umphed over.” He, on the contrary, appears as 
 achieving a very glorious triumph—that, namely, 
 over his own errors. 
 
 This shows also the error of Addison’s remarks, 
 that, “ according to this account, when we hear 
 a man laugh excessively, instead of saying that he 
 is very merry, we ought to tell him that he is very 
 proud.”—A man may contemn the errors both of 
 himself and others, without pride; and indeed, in 
 contemning the former, he proves himself to be far 
 above that sentiment, and verifies Dr. Campbell’s 
 remark, that no two characters more rarely meet in 
 the same person, than that of a very risible man, 
 and a very self-conceited supercilious man. 
 
 It is curious to see a great man, like Hobbes, 
 thus attacked by less ones, who do not even under¬ 
 stand him. 
 
PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 137 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 CAUSE OF THE PLEASURE RECEIVED FROM REPRESENTATIONS 
 EXCITING PITY. 
 
 Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain 
 this cause. 
 
 According to the Abbe Du Bos,* in order to 
 get rid of listlessness, the mind seeks for emotions ; 
 and the stronger these are the better. Hence the 
 passions which in themselves are the most distress¬ 
 ing, are, for this purpose, preferable to the pleasant, 
 because they most effectually relieve the mind from 
 the less endurable languor which preys upon it 
 during inaction. 
 
 The sophistry of this explanation is evident.— 
 Pleasant passions, as Dr. Campbell has shown, 
 ought in every respect to have the advantage, be¬ 
 cause, while they preserve the mind from this 
 state of inaction, they convey a feeling which is 
 agreeable. Nor is it true that the stronger the 
 emotion is, so much the fitter for this purpose; 
 for if we exceed a certain measure, instead of a 
 sympathetic and delightful sorrow, we excite only 
 
 * 
 
 Reflexions Critiques sur la Poesie et sur la Peinture. 
 
138 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 horror and aversion. The most, therefore, that 
 can be concluded from the Abbe’s premises, is, 
 that it is useful to excite passion of some kind or 
 other, but not that the distressing ones are the 
 fittest. 
 
 According to Fontenelle,* theatrical representa¬ 
 tion has almost the effect of reality; but yet not 
 altogether. We have still a certain idea of false¬ 
 hood in the whole of what we see. We weep for 
 the misfortunes of a hero to whom we are attached. 
 In the same instant, we comfort ourselves by re¬ 
 flecting, that it is nothing but a fiction. 
 
 The short answer to this is, that we are conscious 
 of no such alternation as that here described. 
 
 According to David Hume, whose hypothesis 
 is a kind of supplement to the former two, that 
 which, “ when the sorrow is not softened by fiction, 
 raises a pleasure from the bosom of uneasiness, a 
 pleasure, which still retains all the features and 
 outward symptoms of distress and sorrow, is that 
 very eloquence with which the melancholy scene is 
 represented.” 
 
 In reply, Dr. Campbell has shown that the 
 aggravating of all the circumstances of misery in 
 the representation, cannot make it be contem¬ 
 plated with pleasure, but must be the most effec- 
 
 * Reflexions sur la Poetique. 
 
PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 139 
 
 tual method for making it give greater pain; 
 that the detection of the speaker’s talents and 
 address, which Hume’s hypothesis implies, is in 
 direct opposition to the fundamental maxim, that 
 “ it is essential to the art to conceal the artand 
 that the supposition that there are two distinct 
 effects produced by the eloquence on the hearers, 
 one the sentiment of beauty, or of the harmony of 
 oratorical numbers, the other the passion which the 
 speaker purposes to raise in their minds, and that 
 when the first predominates, the mixture ot the 
 two effects becomes exceedingly pleasant, and the 
 reverse when the second is superior, is altogether 
 imaginary. 
 
 According to Hawkesworth,* the compassion 
 in question may be “ resolved into that power of 
 imagination, by which we apply the misfortunes 
 of others to ourselves and we are said “ to pity 
 no longer than we fancy ourselves to suffer, and to 
 be pleased only by reflecting that our sufferings are 
 not real; thus indulging a dream of distress, from 
 which we can awake whenever we please, to exult 
 in our security, and enjoy the comparison of the 
 fiction with the truth.” 
 
 This hypothesis is evidently too gross to need 
 reply. 
 
 * Adventurer, No. 110. 
 
140 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 Dr. Campbell has answered the preceding hypo¬ 
 thesis at great length, and quite satisfactorily. I 
 regret to say that his own is as worthless, as well as 
 remarkably confused and unintelligible. 
 
 To Burke, who wrote at a later period, it falls to 
 my lot to reply at greater length. 
 
 “To examine this point concerning the effect of 
 tragedy in a proper manner,” says that writer, “we 
 must previously consider how we are affected by 
 the feelings of our fellow-creatures in circum¬ 
 stances of real distress. I am convinced we have a 
 degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real 
 misfortunes and pains of others ; for let the affec¬ 
 tion be what it will in appearance, if it does not 
 make us shun such objects, if on the contrary it 
 induces us to approach them, if it makes us dwell 
 upon them, in this case I conceive we must have 
 a delight or pleasure of some species or other in 
 contemplating objects of this kind. . . . Our delight 
 in cases of this kind is very greatly heightened, 
 if the sufferer be some excellent person who sinks 
 under an unworthy fortune. ... The delight we 
 have in such things hinders us from shunning 
 scenes of misery ; and the pains we feel, prompt 
 us to relieve ourselves, in relieving those who 
 suffer. ... In imitated distress, the only difference 
 is the pleasure resulting from the effects of imi¬ 
 tation.” 
 
PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 141 
 
 A more monstrous doctrine than this was never, 
 perhaps, enunciated. A very little analysis will 
 expose its fallacy. 
 
 In relation to events of this kind, there are three 
 very distinct cases—real occurrence, subsequent 
 inspection or historical narration, and dramatic 
 representation ; in each, the affection of the mind 
 is very different; and nearly all the errors on this 
 subject seem to have occurred from confound¬ 
 ing them. Burke has done this in the greatest 
 degree. 
 
 The real occurrence of unmerited suffering is 
 beheld with no delight, but with unmixed pain, by 
 every well constituted mind. Hume,* therefore, 
 justly observes, that “ the same object of distress, 
 which pleases in a tragedy, were it really set before 
 us, would give the most unfeigned uneasiness.” 
 It is only by confounding this with the next case, 
 of subsequent inspection or historical narration, 
 that Burke gets into error here. 
 
 “ We do not,” says Burke, sufficiently distin¬ 
 guish what we would by no means choose to do 
 [or to see done —he should have added] from what 
 we should be eager enough to see if it was once 
 done. We delight in seeing things [after they are 
 done —he should have added], which so far from 
 
 * Essay on Tragedy. 
 
142 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 doing, our heartiest wishes would be to see re¬ 
 dressed.” 
 
 That the additions I have made, more truly 
 state the case, seems as evident, as it is, that they 
 afford a very different conclusion from Burke’s, 
 of our beholding unmerited suffering with delight. 
 But he himself proves this by the very instance 
 which he gives in illustration of his doctrine. 
 
 “ This noble capital,” he says, “ the pride of 
 England and of Europe, I believe no man is so 
 strangely wicked as to desire to see destroyed by a 
 conflagration or an earthquake, though he should 
 be removed himself to the greatest distance from 
 the danger. But suppose such a fatal accident to 
 have happened , what numbers from all parts would 
 crowd to behold the ruins, and amongst them 
 many who would have been content never to have 
 seen London in its glory ?” 
 
 Here the words which I have put in italics 
 clearly show that I was right in the additions I 
 suggested in his previous statement, and that he 
 there confounded delight in seeing the infliction of 
 unmerited suffering, with delight in seeing it after 
 infliction, or of seeing it historically narrated; for, 
 in this his illustration, it is the latter, and not the 
 former, that he supposes—nay, he now says “ no 
 man is so strangely wicked as to desire to see de¬ 
 stroyed ! ” &c. Indeed, it is quite plain that, sup- 
 
PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 143 
 
 posing an attempt made to destroy London, so far 
 would every one be from being delighted to see it 
 done, that he would eagerly prevent it. There is 
 here, therefore, on the part of this writer, only his 
 common and characteristic confusion of ideas. 
 
 “ Choose a day,” he says, “ on which to repre¬ 
 sent the most sublime and affecting tragedy w'e 
 have; appoint the most favourite actors; spare 
 no cost upon the scenes and decorations ; unite the 
 greatest efforts of poetry, painting, and music ; and 
 when you have collected your audience, just at the 
 moment when their minds are erect with expecta¬ 
 tion, let it be reported that a state-criminal of high 
 rank, is on the point of being executed in the 
 adjoining square ; in a moment the emptiness of 
 the theatre would demonstrate the comparative 
 weakness of the imitative arts, and proclaim the 
 triumph of the real sympathy.” 
 
 This presents only another instance of want of 
 discrimination. If the “ state-criminal of high 
 rank” were not a real criminal,—if he were an 
 unmerited sufferer, the place of execution, sup¬ 
 posing his rescue impossible, would assuredly be 
 fled from by every person of feeling and honour; 
 as we read of in the public papers, lately, when 
 a murder of that kind was perpetrating by some 
 one of the base little jailor-princes of Germany. 
 And we know that, in the case of legal perpe- 
 
144 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 trations of that kind in England, even upon real 
 criminals, none but the most degraded wretches go 
 to witness such scenes. 
 
 In tragic representation, then, we know that the 
 suffering is not real, else should we fly. There 
 have indeed, in such cases, been instances of a 
 sort of momentary deception, but it is only chil¬ 
 dren, and very simple people, utter strangers to 
 theatrical amusements, who are apt to be so de¬ 
 ceived : and as their case always excites the sur¬ 
 prise and laughter of every one, it clearly proves 
 that others are under no sort of deception. 
 
 Even Burke, notwithstanding his want of dis¬ 
 crimination, and his monstrous hypothesis, says, 
 “ Imitated distress is never so perfect, but we can 
 perceive it is imitation, and on that principle are 
 somewhat pleased with it.” And his case of deser¬ 
 tion of the theatre, if it occur under any circum¬ 
 stances, illustrates this. 
 
 Burke adds, indeed, “ But then I imagine we 
 shall be much mistaken if we attribute any con¬ 
 siderable part of our satisfaction in tragedy to the 
 consideration that tragedy is a deceit, and its re¬ 
 presentations no realities. [We seek no satisfac¬ 
 tion of the kind: we know it to be a deceit 
 throughout!] The nearer it approaches the reality, 
 and the further it removes us from all idea of fiction, 
 the more perfect is its power.” 
 
PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 145 
 
 The nearest possible approach to reality, is only 
 necessary to the success of fiction, to the pleasure 
 of imagination. He himself has said, “ Imitated 
 distress is never so perfect, but we can perceive it 
 is imitation !” Again, therefore, here is only Burke’s 
 characteristic confusion of ideas. 
 
 My own doctrine on this subject is already ob¬ 
 vious from the remarks made on others. We never 
 cease to know that tragic representation is a mere 
 deception; our reason is never imposed upon; our 
 imagination is alone engaged; we are perfectly con¬ 
 scious that it is so; and we have all the sensibility, 
 fine feeling, and generosity of pity, as well as the 
 satisfaction of being thereby raised wonderfully in 
 our own esteem, at the small cost of three shillings ! 
 
 It is not a little curious, that this should not 
 have been evident to those who have w T ritten so 
 much about it. Dr. Campbell, alone, has ap¬ 
 proached it. “ So great,” he says, “ is the ano¬ 
 maly which sometimes displays itself in human 
 characters, that it is not impossible to find persons 
 who are quickly made to cry at seeing a tragedy, 
 or reading a romance, which they know to be 
 fictions, and yet are both inattentive and unfeeling 
 in respect of the actual objects of compassion who 
 live in their neighbourhood, and are daily under 
 their eye . . . Men may be of a selfish, contracted, 
 and even avaricious disposition, who are not what 
 
 L 
 
146 APPENDIX TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS. 
 
 we should denominate hard-hearted, or unsus¬ 
 ceptible of sympathetic feeling. Such will gladly 
 enjoy the luxury of pity (as Hawkesworth terms 
 it) when it nowise interferes with their more power¬ 
 ful passions ; that is, when it comes unaccompanied 
 with a demand upon their pockets.”—This should 
 have led him to the simple truth, and should have 
 prevented his framing the most confused, unin¬ 
 telligible, and worthless hypothesis upon this 
 subject. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ANATOMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 To any inquiry respecting the beauty of woman, 
 the replies are, in general, various, inconsistent, 
 or contradictory. The assertion might, therefore, 
 appear to be true, that, even under the same 
 climate, beauty is not always the same. 
 
 Our vague perceptions, however, and our vague 
 expressions respecting beauty will be found to be, 
 in a great measure, owing to the inaccuracy of our 
 mode of examining it, and, in some measure, to the 
 imperfect nomenclature which we possess for de¬ 
 scribing it. 
 
 Beauty, and even true taste, respecting it, are 
 always the same; but, in the first place, we ob¬ 
 serve beauty partially and imperfectly; and in the 
 second place, our actual preferences are dependent 
 on our particular wants, and will be found to differ 
 only because these wants differ in every individual, 
 and even in the same individual at different periods 
 of life. 
 
148 
 
 ANATOMICAL AND 
 
 The laws regulating beauty in woman, and taste 
 respecting it in man, have not been attempted to 
 be explained, except in the worthless work alluded 
 to in the Advertisement. Yet nothing perhaps is 
 more universally interesting. 
 
 As, in this view, the kinds of beauty demand the 
 first and chief attention, the following illustrations 
 are necessary. 
 
 We observe a woman possessing one species of 
 beauty:—Her face is generally oblong; her neck 
 is rather long and tapering; her shoulders, with¬ 
 out being angular, are sufficiently broad and defi¬ 
 nite ; her bosom is of moderate dimensions; her 
 waist, remarkable for fine proportion, resembles in 
 some respects an inverted cone; her haunches are 
 moderately expanded; her thighs, proportional; 
 her arms, as well as her limbs, are rather long and 
 tapering; her hands and feet are moderately small; 
 her complexion is often rather dark; and her hair 
 is frequently abundant, dark and strong. The 
 whole figure is precise, striking and brilliant. Yet 
 has she few or none, of the qualities of the succeed¬ 
 ing species. 
 
 We observe, next, another species of beauty:— 
 Her face is generally round; her eyes are gene¬ 
 rally of the softest azure ; her neck is often rather 
 short; her shoulders are softly rounded, and owe 
 any breadth they may possess rather to the ex- 
 
PHYSIOLOGICAL PKIXCirLES. 
 
 149 
 
 panded chest, than to the size of the shoulders 
 themselves; her bosom, in its luxuriance, seems 
 laterally to protrude on the space occupied by the 
 arms; her waist, though sufficiently marked, is, 
 as it were, encroached on by the embonpoint of 
 all the contiguous parts ; her haunches are greatly 
 expanded; her thighs are large in proportion; 
 but her limbs and arms, tapering and becoming 
 delicate, terminate in feet and hands which, com¬ 
 pared with the ample trunk, are peculiarly small; 
 her complexion has the rose and lily so exquisitely 
 blended, that w 7 e are surprised it should defy the 
 usual operation of the elements; and she boasts a 
 luxuriant profusion of soft and fine flaxen or au¬ 
 burn hair.—The whole figure is soft and volup¬ 
 tuous in the extreme. Yet has she not the almost 
 measured proportions and the brilliant air of the 
 preceding species; nor has she the qualities of 
 the succeeding one. 
 
 We observe, then, a beauty of a third species: 
 —Her face is generally oval; her high and pale 
 forehead announces the intellectuality of her 
 character; her intensely expressive eye is full of 
 sensibility; in her lower features, modesty and 
 dignity are often united; she has not the ex¬ 
 panded bosom, the general embonpoint, or the 
 beautiful complexion of the second species; 
 and she boasts easy and graceful motion, rather 
 
150 
 
 ANATOMICAL AND 
 
 than the elegant proportion of the first. — The 
 whole figure is characterized by intellectuality 
 and grace. 
 
 Such are the three species of beauty of which all 
 the rest are varieties. 
 
 Now, as it is in general one only of these species 
 which characterizes any one woman, and as each 
 of these species is suited to the wants of, and is 
 consequently agreeable to, a different individual, 
 it is obvious why the common vague reports of 
 the beauty of any woman are always so various, 
 inconsistent or contradictory. 
 
 In the more accurate study of this subject, it is 
 indispensable that the reader should understand the 
 scientific principles on which the preceding brief 
 analysis of female beauty, as reducible to three 
 species, is founded. 
 
 To attain this knowledge, and to acquire faci¬ 
 lity in the art of distinguishing and judging of 
 beauty in woman, a little general knowledge of 
 Anatomy is absolutely essential. The writer 
 begs, therefore, attention to the following sketch. 
 It may not at first seem interesting to the general 
 reader; but it is the sole basis of a scientific 
 knowledge of female beauty; the study of it dur¬ 
 ing one hour is sufficient to apprehend it in all 
 its bearings ; and it will obviate every future 
 difficulty. 
 
PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 151 
 
 In viewing the human organs in a general man¬ 
 ner, a class of these organs at once obtrudes itself 
 upon our notice, from its consisting of an appara¬ 
 tus of levers, from its performing motion from 
 place to place or locomotion, and from these mo¬ 
 tions being of the most obvious kind.—A little 
 more observation presents to us another class, 
 which is distinguished from the preceding by its 
 consisting of cylindrical tubes, by its transmitting 
 and transmuting liquids, performing vascular ac¬ 
 tion or nutrition, and by its motions being barely 
 apparent.—Further investigation discovers a third, 
 which differs essentially from both these, in its 
 consisting of nervous particles, in its transmitting 
 impressions from external objects, performing nerv¬ 
 ous action or thought, and in that action being 
 altogether invisible. 
 
 Thus, each of these classes of organs is dis¬ 
 tinguished from another by the structure of its 
 parts, by the purposes which it serves, and by the 
 greater or less obviousness of its motions. 
 
 The first consists of levers; the second, of 
 cylindrical tubes ; and the third, of nervous 
 particles. The first performs motion from place 
 to place or locomotion; the second transmits 
 and transmutes liquids, performing vascular ac¬ 
 tion or nutrition; and the third transmits im¬ 
 pressions from external objects, performing nerv- 
 
152 
 
 ANATOMICAL AND 
 
 ous action or thought. The motion of the first 
 is extremely obvious; that of the second is barely 
 apparent; and that of the third is altogether in¬ 
 visible. 
 
 Not one of them can be confounded with an¬ 
 other : for, considering their purposes only, it is 
 evident that that which performs locomotion, 
 neither transmits liquids nor sensations; that 
 which transmits liquids, neither performs loco¬ 
 motion nor is the means of sensibility; and that 
 which is the means of sensibility, neither performs 
 locomotion nor transmits liquids. 
 
 Now, the organs employed in locomotion are 
 the bones, ligaments and muscles; those em¬ 
 ployed in transmitting liquids or in nutrition, 
 are the absorbent, circulating and secreting ves¬ 
 sels ; and those employed about sensations or 
 in thought, are the organs of sense, cerebrum 
 and cerebel, with the nerves which connect 
 them. 
 
 The first class of organs may, therefore, be 
 termed locomotive, or (from their very obvious 
 action) mechanical; the second, vascular or nu¬ 
 tritive, or (as even vegetables, from their pos¬ 
 sessing vessels, have life) they may be termed 
 vital; and the third may be named nervous 
 or thinking, or (as mind results from them) 
 mental. 
 
PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 153 
 
 The human body, then, consists of organs 
 of three kinds. By the first kind, locomotive 
 or mechanical action is effected; by the se¬ 
 cond, nutritive or vital action is maintained; 
 and by the third, thinking or mental action is 
 permitted. 
 
 Anatomy is, therefore, divided into three parts, 
 namely, that which considers the mechanical or 
 locomotive organs; that which considers the nu¬ 
 tritive or vital organs; and that which considers 
 the thinking or mental organs. 
 
 Under the mechanical or locomotive organs 
 are classed, first, the bones or organs of sup¬ 
 port ; second, the ligaments or organs of arti¬ 
 culation; and third, the muscles or organs of 
 motion. 
 
 Under the nutritive or vital organs are classed, 
 first, the absorbent vessels or organs of absorp¬ 
 tion ; second, the blood-vessels, which derive their 
 contents from the absorbed lymph, or organs of 
 circulation ; and third, the secreting vessels, which 
 separate various matters from the blood, or organs 
 of secretion. 
 
 Under the thinking or mental organs are 
 classed, first, the organs of sense, where impres¬ 
 sions take place; second, the cerebrum or organ 
 of thought, properly so called, where these excite 
 ideas, emotions and passions; and third, the cere- 
 
154 
 
 ANATOMICAL ANI) 
 
 bel or organ of volition, where acts of the will 
 result from the last.* 
 
 We may now more particularly notice the func¬ 
 tions of these organs, which are the subject of 
 Physiology. 
 
 In the locomotive functions, the bones at once 
 give support, and form levers for motion; the 
 ligaments form articulations, and afford the points 
 of support; and the muscles are the moving 
 
 * To some it may appear, that the organs and functions of 
 digestion, respiration and generation, are not involved by this 
 anangement; but such a notion can originate only in super¬ 
 ficial observation. 
 
 Digestion is a compound function easily reducible to some 
 of the simple ones which have been enumerated. It consists 
 of the motion of the stomach and contiguous parts, of the 
 secretion of a liquid from its internal surface, and of that heat, 
 which is the common result of all action, whether mechanical, 
 vital, or mental, and which is better explained by such motion, 
 than by chemical theories. Similarly compounded are respira¬ 
 tion and generation. 
 
 Thus, there is no organ nor function which is not involved 
 by the simple and natural arrangement here sketched. 
 
 Compound, however, as the organs of digestion, respiration 
 and generation are, yet, as they form so important a part of 
 the system, it may be asked, with which of these classes they 
 are most allied ? The answer is obvious. All of them consist 
 of tubular vessels of various diameter; and all of them transmit 
 and transmute liquids. Possessing such strong characteristics 
 of the nutritive or vital system, they are evidently most allied 
 to it. 
 
 In short, digestion prepares the nutritive or vital matter, 
 which is taken up by absorption—the first of the simple nu- 
 
PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 155 
 
 powers. To the first, are owing all the symmetry 
 and elegance of human form; to the second, its 
 beautiful flexibility; and to the third, all the bril¬ 
 liance and grace of motion which fancy can in¬ 
 spire, or skill can execute. 
 
 In the nutritive functions, the food, having 
 passed into the mouth, is, after mastication, aided 
 by mixture with the saliva, thrown back, by the 
 tongue and contiguous parts, into the cavity be¬ 
 hind, called fauces and pharynx; this contracting, 
 presses it into the oesophagus or gullet; this also 
 
 tritive functions; respiration renovates it in the very middle of 
 its course—between the two portions of the simple function of 
 circulation ; and generation, dependent on secretion the last 
 of these functions, communicates this nutritive matter, or pro¬ 
 pagates vitality to a new series of beings. In such arrange¬ 
 ment, the digestive organs, therefore, precede, and the genera¬ 
 tive follow, the simple nutritive organs; while the respiratory 
 occupy a middle place between the venous and the arterial 
 circulation. 
 
 Nothing can be more improper, as the preceding observations 
 show, than considering any one of these as a distinct class. 
 
 More fully, therefore, to enumerate the nutritive or vital or¬ 
 gans, we may say, that, under them are classed, first, the or¬ 
 gans of digestion, the external and internal absorbent surfaces, 
 and the vessels which absorb from these surfaces, or the organs 
 of absorption; second, the heart, lungs and blood-vessels, 
 which derive their contents (the blood) from the absorbed 
 lymph, or the organs of circulation ; and third, the secreting 
 cavities, glands, &c., which separate various matters from the 
 blood, or the organs of secretion, and of which generation is 
 the sequel. 
 
156 
 
 ANATOMICAL AND 
 
 contracting, propels it into the stomach, which, after 
 its due digestion aided by the gastric juice, simi¬ 
 larly contracting, transmits whatever portion of it, 
 now called chyme, is sufficiently comminuted to 
 pass through its lower opening, the pylorus, into 
 the intestines; these, at the commencement of which 
 it receives the bile and pancreatic juice, similarly 
 pressing it on all sides, urge forward its most solid 
 part to the anus; while its liquid portion partly 
 escapes from the pressure into the mouths of the 
 absorbents. The absorbents arising by minute open¬ 
 ings from all the internal surfaces, and continuing 
 a similar contractile motion, transmit it, now called 
 chyle, by all their gradually enlarging branches, 
 and through their general trunk, the thoracic duct, 
 where it is blended with the lymph brought from 
 other parts, into the great veins contiguous to the 
 heart, where it is mixed with the venous or re¬ 
 turning and dark-coloured blood, and whence it 
 flows into the anterior side of that organ. The 
 anterior side of the heart, forcibly repeating this 
 contraction, propels it, commixed with the venous 
 blood, into the lungs, which perform the office of 
 respiration, and in some measure of sanguification ; 
 there, giving off carbonaceous matter, and assum¬ 
 ing a vermilion hue and new vivifying properties, it 
 flows back as arterial blood, into the posterior 
 side of the heart. The posterior side of the heart, 
 
PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 157 
 
 still similarly contracting, discharges it into the 
 arteries; these, maintaining a like contraction, 
 carry it over all the system ; and a great ‘portion 
 of it, impregnated with carbon, and of a dark 
 colour, returns through the veins in order to un¬ 
 dergo the same course. Much, however, of its 
 gelatinous and fibrous parts is retained in the cells 
 of the parenchyma, or cellular, vascular and nerv¬ 
 ous substance forming the basis of the whole fabric, 
 and constitutes nutrition, properly so called; while 
 other portions of it become entangled in the pe¬ 
 culiarly formed labyrinths of the glands, and form 
 secretion and excretion—the products of the for¬ 
 mer contributing to the exercise of other func¬ 
 tions, and those of the latter being rejected. As 
 digestion precedes the first, so generation follows 
 the last of these functions, and not only continues 
 the same species of action, but propagates it 
 widely to new existences in the manner just de¬ 
 scribed. 
 
 In the thinking functions, the organs of sense re¬ 
 ceive external impressions, which excite in them 
 sensations; the cerebrum, having these transmitted 
 to it, performs the more complicated functions of 
 mental operation, whence result ideas, emotions 
 and passions ; and the cerebel, being similarly in¬ 
 fluenced, performs the function of volition, or 
 causes the acts of the will. 
 
158 
 
 ANATOMICAL AND 
 
 It is not unusual to consider the body as being 
 divided into the head, the trunk and the extremi¬ 
 ties ; but, in consequence of the hitherto universal 
 neglect of the natural arrangement of the organs 
 and functions into locomotive, nutritive, and think- 
 the beauty and interest which may be at¬ 
 tached to this division, have equally escaped the 
 notice of anatomists. 
 
 It is a curious fact, and strongly confirmative of 
 the preceding arrangements, that one of these 
 parts the extremities, consists almost entirely of 
 locomotive organs, namely, of bones, ligaments 
 and muscles ; that another—the trunk, consists 
 of all the greater nutritive organs, namely, absor¬ 
 bents, blood-vessels and glands; and that the 
 third the head, contains all the thinking organs, 
 namely, the organs of sense, cerebrum and ce- 
 rebel. # 
 
 It is a fact not less curious, nor less confirmative 
 of the preceding arrangements, that, of these 
 parts, those which consist chiefly of locomotive or 
 
 * In perfect consistency with the assertion, that, though the 
 organs of digestion, respiration, and generation, were really 
 compound, still they were chiefly nutritive or vital, and pro¬ 
 perly belonged to that class, it is not less remarkable, that in 
 
 this division of the body, they are found to occupy that part_ 
 
 the trunk, in which the chief simple nutritive organs are con¬ 
 tained. This also shows the impropriety of reckoning any of 
 these a separate system from the vital. 
 
PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 159 
 
 mechanical organs — organs which, as to mere 
 structure, and considered apart from the influence 
 of the nervous system over them, are common to 
 us with the lowest class of beings, namely, mine¬ 
 rals,* * * § are placed in the lowest situation, namely, 
 the extremities; that which consists chiefly of 
 nutritive or vital organs—organs common to us 
 with a higher class of beings, namely, vegeta¬ 
 bles,! is placed in a higher situation, namely, 
 the trunk; and that which consists chiefly of 
 thinking or mental organs — organs peculiar to 
 the highest class of beings, namely, animals,! 
 is placed in the highest situation, namely, the 
 head. 
 
 It is not less remarkable, that this analogy is 
 supported even in its minutest details; for, to 
 choose the nutritive organs contained in the trunk, 
 as an illustration, it is a fact, that those of absorp¬ 
 tion and secretion, which are most common to us 
 with plants—a lower class of beings, have a lower 
 situation—in the cavity of the abdomen; while those 
 of circulation, which are very imperfect in plants,§ 
 
 * The bones resemble these, in containing the greatest 
 quantity of earthy mineral matter. 
 
 p It is the possession of vessels which constitutes the vitality 
 of vegetables. 
 
 1 In animals, alone, is nervous matter discoverable. 
 
 § Plants have no real circulation, nor passage of their nutri¬ 
 tive liquids through the same point. 
 
160 
 
 ANATOMICAL AND 
 
 and more peculiar to animals—a higher class of 
 beings, hold a higher situation—in the cavity of 
 the thorax. 
 
 It is, moreover, worthy of remark, and still 
 illustrative of the preceding arrangements, that, 
 in each of these three situations, the bones differ 
 both in position and in form. In the extremities, 
 they are situated internally to the soft parts, and 
 are generally of cylindrical form; in the trunk, 
 they begin to assume a more external situation 
 and a flatter form, because they protect nutritive 
 and more important parts, which they do not, 
 however, altogether cover; and, in the head, 
 they obtain the most external situation and the 
 flattest form, especially in its highest part, be¬ 
 cause they protect thinking and most important 
 organs, which, in some parts, they completely 
 invest. 
 
 The loss of such general views is the conse¬ 
 quence of arbitrary methods.* 
 
 * This arrangement of Anatomy and Physiology was first 
 published by me in 1806; and, notwithstanding its being the 
 arrangement of nature, it has not been adopted by any one 
 that I know of, until very lately, when it was in some measure 
 used by Dr. Roget, without acknowledgment. 
 
 The originality, as well as the truth and value, of this 
 arrangement, will be illustrated by referring to any other pub¬ 
 lished previous to 1806, or even to 1808, when I republished it 
 in “ Preliminary Lectures,” Edinburgh. 
 
161 
 
 PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 We may now apply these anatomical and physio- 
 logical views to the art of distinguishing and judg- 
 ing of beauty in woman. 
 
 °lt is evidently the locomotive or mechanical sys¬ 
 tem which is highly developed in the beauty whose 
 figure is precise, striking, and brilliant. 
 
 °It is evidently the nutritive or vital system which 
 is highly developed in the beauty whose figuie is 
 soft and voluptuous. 
 
 It is not less evidently the thinking or mental 
 system which is highly developed in the beauty 
 whose figure is characterized by intellectuality am 
 
 grace. 
 
 Thus can anatomical principles alone at once 
 illustrate and establish the accuracy of the three 
 species of beauty which I have analytically de¬ 
 scribed. 
 
 M 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OF THE AGES OF WOMAN IN RELATION TO BEAUTY. 
 
 The variations of the organization of woman do not 
 distinctly mark the seasons of life. Many con¬ 
 nected phenomena glide on imperceptibly; and we 
 can distinguish the strong characters of different 
 and distinct ages, only at periods remote from each 
 other. Although, therefore, woman is perpetually 
 changing, it requires some care to discriminate the 
 principal epochs of her life. 
 
 The first age of woman extends from birth to the 
 period of puberty. 
 
 In beginning the career of life, woman is not yet 
 truly woman; the characters of her sex are not yet 
 decided ; she is an equivocal being, who does not 
 differ from the male of the same age even by the 
 delicacy of the organs ; and we observe between 
 them a perfect identity of wants, functions, and 
 movements. Their existence is then purely indi¬ 
 vidual; we perceive none of the relations which 
 
OF TI1E AGES OF WOMAN, ETC. 
 
 163 
 
 afterwards establish between them a mutual depen¬ 
 dence ; each lives only lor self. 
 
 This conformity and independence ot ‘the sexes 
 are the more remarkable, the earlier the age and 
 the less advanced the development. 
 
 Confining our view to woman alone, it is not 
 only in dimensions that, at this age, her person 
 differs from that in which the growth is termi¬ 
 nated : it presents another model. The various 
 parts have not, in relation to each other, the same 
 proportions. 
 
 The head is much more voluminous; and this 
 is not a result of the extent of the lace, lor that is 
 small and contracted, because the apparatus ot 
 smell and of mastication are not yet developed. 
 Nor is the head only more voluminous : it is also 
 more active, and forms a centre toward which is 
 
 directed all the effort of life. 
 
 The spine of the back has not either the minuter 
 prominences or the general inflexions which iavoui 
 the action of the extensor muscles, a circumstance 
 which is opposed to standing perpendicularly dur¬ 
 ing the first months. The infant consequently can 
 
 only crawl like a quadruped. 
 
 Little distinction can then be drawn, and that 
 with difficulty, from the comparative width of the 
 haunches, and magnitude of the pelvis. That part 
 is scarcely more developed in the female than in the 
 
 m 2 
 
or TIIE AGES OF WOMAN 
 
 164 
 
 male ; its general form is the same ; and its different 
 diameters have similar relations to each other. 
 
 The length of the trunk is great in proportion 
 to the limbs, which are slightly and imperfectly 
 developed. 
 
 Owing to the great length of the chest, and the 
 imperfection of the inferior members, the middle 
 of the body then corresponds to the region of the 
 umbilicus. An infant having other proportions, 
 
 would appear to be deprived of the characters of 
 its age. 
 
 In the locomotive system, the muscles have not 
 yet acted with sufficient power and frequency to 
 modify the direction of the bones, and to bestow a 
 peculiar character upon their combination in the 
 skeleton. The fleshy and other soft parts do not 
 yet appear to differ from those of the male, either as 
 to form or as to relative volume. 
 
 The vital functions of digestion, of circulation, 
 and respiration, of nutrition, secretion, and excretion, 
 are performed in the same manner. The want of 
 nourishment is unceasingly renewed, and the move¬ 
 ments of the pulse, and of inspiration and expira¬ 
 tion, are rapidly performed, owing to the extreme 
 irritability of all the organs. 
 
 The mental functions present the same resem¬ 
 blance ; the ideas, the appetites, the passions, have 
 the greatest analogy * and similar moral dispositions 
 
IN RELATION TO BEAUTY. 
 
 165 
 
 prevail. Little girls, it has been observed, have in 
 some measure the petulance of little boys, and these 
 have in some measure the mobility and tlie incon¬ 
 stancy of little girls. 
 
 Owing to the pelvis not being yet developed, 
 little girls walk nearly like children of the other 
 sex. 
 
 These points of resemblance do not continue 
 during a long period : the female begins to acquire 
 a distinct physiognomy, and traits which are pe¬ 
 culiar to her long before we can discern any ot 
 the symptoms of puberty; and although the especial 
 marks which distinguish her sex do not yet show 
 themselves, the general forms which characterize 
 it may be perceived. These differences, however, 
 are only slight modifications, more easily felt than 
 determined. 
 
 The cartilaginous extremities of the bones ap¬ 
 pear to enlarge; and the mucous substance, which 
 ultimately gives the soft reliefs which distinguish 
 woman, is not yet secreted. She is now, perhaps, 
 more easily distinguished by the nature ot her 
 inclinations and the general character of her mind : 
 while man now seeks to make use of his strength, 
 woman endeavours to acquire agreeable arts. 
 The movements, the gait, of the little gill begin 
 to change. 
 
 These shades are so much the more sensible as 
 
166 
 
 OF THE AGES OF WOMAN 
 
 the development is more advanced. Still, woman, 
 in advancing towards puberty, appears to remove 
 less than man from her primitive constitution; she 
 always preserves something of the character proper 
 to children, and the texture of her organs never 
 loses all its original softness. 
 
 At the near approach to puberty, woman becomes 
 daily more perfect. 
 
 We observe a predominance of the action of the 
 lungs and the arteries; the pelvis enlarges; the 
 haunches are rounded; and the figure acquires 
 elegance. 
 
 There is in particular a remarkable increase of 
 the capacity of the pelvis, of which the circum¬ 
 ference at last presents the circular form* it being 
 no longer, as in the little girl and in man, the 
 antero-posterior diameter which is the greatest, but 
 the transverse one. It has been observed that the 
 same occurs in the females of the greater qua¬ 
 drupeds. The pelvis, however, does not acquire, till 
 the moment of perfect puberty, its proper form and 
 dimensions. 
 
 The changes which the same cause produces at 
 the surface, are a general development of the cel¬ 
 lular tissue, the delicacy of all the outlines, the 
 fineness and the animation of the skin, and the’new 
 state of the bosom. 
 
 ihe (ire ot the eyes, and the altogether new 
 
IN RELATION TO BEAUTY. 
 
 167 
 
 expression of the physiognomy, show that there 
 now also exists the sensation of a new want, which 
 various circumstances may for a time enfeeble or 
 silence, but can never entirely stifle ; and with it 
 come those tastes, that direction of the mind, and 
 those habits which are the effect of an internal 
 power now called into activity. 
 
 The gait and hearing of woman is now no longer 
 the same; and the voice changes as well as the 
 physiognomy. 
 
 In all that has yet occurred, it will he observe 
 that nutrition and growth take place with great 
 rapidity in woman. Her internal structure, her ex¬ 
 ternal form, her faculties, are all developed promptly. 
 It would appear that the parts which compose her 
 body, being less, less compact, and less strong than 
 those of man, require less time to attain their com- 
 plete development. 
 
 Woman consequently arrives earlier at the age of 
 puberty, and her body is commonly, at twenty years 
 of age, as completely formed as that of man at 
 thirty. Thus beauty and grace, as has been ob¬ 
 served, seem to demand of nature less labour and 
 time than the attributes of force and grandeur. 
 
 In many women, however, nutrition languishes 
 even until the sexual organs enter into action, and 
 determine a revolution under the influence of which 
 growth is accomplished. 
 
168 
 
 OF THE AGES OF WOMAN 
 
 Still it is certain that, for several years, the 
 locomotive system predominates in young women, 
 even in figures promising the ultimate develop¬ 
 ment of the vital system in the highest degree.— 
 See Plate I., in which it is very obvious; and Plate 
 *’ in which it is still apparent enough. 
 
 The second age of woman extends from puberty 
 to the cessation of the menses, or, we may say, 
 trom the period of full growth, the general time of 
 bearing children, to the time of ceasing to bear- 
 generally perhaps from twenty to forty. 
 
 It IS at the beginning of this period that woman 
 acquired all her attributes, her most seducing 
 graces. She is not now distinguished merely by 
 the organs which are the dire’ct instruments of 
 reproduction: many other differences of structure, 
 having a relation to her part in life, present them- 
 selves to our view. 
 
 At this maturer age, the whole figure is, in the 
 female, smaller and slenderer than in the male. 
 The ancients accordingly gave seven heads and a 
 
 half to the Venus, and eight heads and some mo- 
 dules to the Apollo. 
 
 'I he relations between the dimensions of the 
 different parts differ also in the two sexes. 
 
 In woman, the head, shoulders, and chest, are 
 small and compact, whilst the haunches, the hips, 
 

IN RELATION TO BEAUTY. 
 
 169 
 
 the thighs, and the parts connected with the ab¬ 
 domen are ample and large. Hence, her body 
 tapers upward, as her limbs taper downward. And 
 this is the most remarkable circumstance in her 
 general form. 
 
 Owing to smaller stature, and to greater size of 
 the abdominal region, the middle point which is at 
 the pubis in the male, is situated higher in the 
 female. This is the next remarkable circumstance 
 in a general view. 
 
 The inferior members still continue shorter. 
 
 In general, woman is not only less in stature, 
 and different in her general proportions, but her 
 haunches are more apart, her hips more elevated, 
 her abdomen larger, her members more rounded, 
 her soft parts less compact, her forms more softened, 
 her traits finer. 
 
 During youth, especially, and among civilized 
 nations, woman is further distinguished by the 
 softness, the smoothness, the delicacy and the 
 polish of all the forms, by the gradual and easy 
 transitions between all the parts, by the number 
 and the harmony of the undulating lines which 
 these present in every view, by the beautiful out¬ 
 line of the reliefs, and by the fineness and the 
 animation of the skin. 
 
 The soft parts which enter into the composition 
 
170 
 
 OF THE AGES OF WOMAN 
 
 of woman, and the cellular tissue which serves to 
 unite them, are also more delicate, and more supple 
 than those of man. 
 
 All these circumstances indicate very clearly 
 the passive state to which nature has destined 
 
 woman, and which will be fully illustrated in a 
 future volume. 
 
 If, in a living body, any part liable to be dis¬ 
 tended had too much firmness, or even elasticity, it 
 might press against some essential organ ; and the 
 liquids being impeded in their course, would in that 
 case be speedily altered, if the neighbouring parts 
 offeied not flexible vessels for their reception. 
 
 Now, in the body of woman, certain parts are ex¬ 
 posed to suffer great distentions and compressions. 
 
 It is therefore necessary that her organs should be 
 of such structure as to yield readily to these im¬ 
 pressions, and to supply each other when their 
 respective functions are impeded. 
 
 From this it follows, that woman never enjoys 
 existence better, than when a moderate plumpness 
 bestows on her organs, without too much weaken¬ 
 ing them, all the suppleness of which they are 
 capable. 
 
 This leads to the consideration of the natural 
 mobility of the organs of woman. 
 
 Their mobility is a necessary consequence, in the 
 first place, of their littleness. The movements of all 
 
II 
 
IN RELATION TO BEAUTY. 
 
 171 
 
 animals appear to be executed with more rapidity, 
 the less their bulk. It has been observed, that 
 the arteries of the ox beat only thirty-five times, 
 whilst those of the sheep beat sixty, and that the 
 pulse of women is smaller and more rapid than that 
 of men. 
 
 A second physical quality, which concurs to 
 render more mobile the various parts of woman, is 
 their softness. 
 
 A certain feebleness is the necessary consequence 
 of these two circumstances. But it is thence that 
 spring woman’s suppleness and lightness of move¬ 
 ment, and her capacity for grace of attitude. 
 
 It has been conjectured, that even the elements 
 of the parts which constitute woman, have a parti¬ 
 cular organization, on which depends the elegance 
 of the forms, the vivacity ol the sensations, and the 
 lightness of the movements which characterize her. 
 
 The result of these circumstances is that, while 
 man possesses force and majesty, woman is dis¬ 
 tinguished by beauty and grace. The character¬ 
 istics of woman are less imposing and more amiable; 
 they inspire less admiration than love. As has been 
 observed, a single trait of rudeness, a severe air, or 
 even the character of majesty would injure the 
 effect of womanly beauty. Lucien admirably re¬ 
 presents to us the god of Love frightened at the 
 masculine air of Minerva. 
 
172 
 
 OF THE AGES OF WOMAN 
 
 While man, by force and activity, surmounts the 
 obstacles which embarrass him, woman, by yield 
 mg, withdraws from their action, and adds to 
 eauty, a gentle and winning grace which places 
 all the vaunted power of man at her disposal. 
 
 It is evidently the influence of the organs dis- 
 tinguishing the two sexes, which is the primary 
 cause of their peculiar beauty. 
 
 As the liquid which, in man, is secreted in certain 
 vessels for the purpose of reproduction, communi¬ 
 cates a general excitement and activity to the cha¬ 
 racter, so when, in woman, the periodical excretion 
 appears, the breasts expand, the eyes sparkle, the 
 countenance becomes more expressive, but at the 
 same t,me more timid and reserved, and a character 
 of flexibility and grace distinguishes every motion. 
 
 Conformably with this view, the appearance and 
 the manners of eunuchs approach to those of women, 
 y the softness and feebleness of their organiza¬ 
 tion, as well as by their timidity, and by their acute 
 voice. 
 
 The very opposite is naturally the result of the 
 extirpation of the ovaries in women. Pott, givin* 
 an account of the case of a female, in whom both 
 the ovaries were extirpated, says, the person “ has 
 become thinner, and more apparently muscular; 
 her breasts, which were large, are gone; nor has’ 
 she ever menstruated since the operation, which is 
 
IN RELATION TO BEAUTY. 
 
 173 
 
 now some years*” Haighton found that, by dividing 
 the Fallopian tubes, which connect the ovaries with 
 the womb, sexual feelings were destroyed, and the 
 ovaries gradually wasted. 
 
 The women, also, in whom the uterus and the 
 ovaries remain inert during life, approximate in 
 forms and habits to men. It is stated, in the 
 Philosophical Transactions for 1805, that an adult 
 female, in whom the ovaries were defective, pre¬ 
 sented a corresponding defect in the state of the 
 constitution. 
 
 To the same general principle, it has been ob¬ 
 served, we must refer the partial growth of a 
 beard on females in the decline of life, and the cir¬ 
 cumstance that female birds, when they have ceased 
 to lay eggs, occasionally assume the plumage, 
 and, to a certain extent, the other characters of 
 the male. 
 
 Under the influence of this cause, the first exer¬ 
 cise of her new faculty determines remarkable 
 modifications in woman. Her neck swells and 
 
 augments in size — 
 
 “ Non illam nutrix orienti luce revisens 
 Hesterno collum poterit circumdare filo;"* 
 
 * The cause of this has never been explained; and it could 
 not well be explained, without a perception of the views in my 
 preceding physiological arrangement.—The brain, at this period, 
 becomes more subservient to purposes connected with gene¬ 
 ration ; the communication between the trunk and the head is 
 
m 
 
 OF THE AGES OF WOMAN 
 
 her voice assumes another expression; her moral 
 habits totally change ; and many women owe to 
 love and marriage more splendid beauty. 
 
 The women thus happily constituted are not 
 those of hot climates, but those of cooler regions 
 and calmer temperament, whose placid features 
 and more elastic forms announce a gentler and 
 more passive love. 
 
 Impassioned women, on the contrary, do not 
 so long preserve their freshness: the expansive 
 force, from which the organs derived their form 
 and colouring, abates ; and a less agreeable flac- 
 cidity succeeds to the elasticity with which they 
 were endowed, if the plumpness which adult age 
 commonly brings does not sustain them. 
 
 During pregnancy and suckling, the first men¬ 
 tioned class of women retain a remarkable fresh- 
 oess and plumpness. 
 
 Ihe last mentioned class of women most fre¬ 
 quently become meagre, and lose their freshness 
 during the continuance of these states. 
 
 If, however, during these states, suitable pre- 
 
 more frequent, intense and sustained; and the neck, which 
 contains the communicating organs, necessarily increases in 
 size. This unexplained circumstance led to the mistake of 
 the craniologists respecting the cerebel. Here, therefore, as in 
 other cases pointed out in my work on Physiognomy’ Gall 
 and Spurzheim ascribe to deeper seated organs what belongs to 
 more superficial ones. 
 
IN RELATION TO BEAUTY. 
 
 175 
 
 cautions and preservative cares be not employed, 
 it is the first class who most suffer from traces of 
 maternity. 
 
 Conception, pregnancy, delivery, and suckling, 
 being renewed more or less frequently during the 
 second age, hasten debility in feeble and ill-consti¬ 
 tuted women ; especially if misery or an improper 
 mode of life increase the influence of these causes. 
 
 It is unnecessary to give here any drawings to 
 illustrate woman during her second age. That is 
 done by the plates in the sequel: it is their prin¬ 
 cipal object. 
 
 In the third age of woman, extending generally 
 from forty to sixty, the physical form does not 
 suddenly deteriorate; and, as has often been ob¬ 
 served, “when premature infirmities or misfortunes, 
 the exercise of an unfavourable profession, or a 
 wrong employment of life, have not hastened old 
 age, women during the third age preserve many of 
 the charms of the preceding one.” 
 
 At this period, in well-constituted women, the 
 fat, being absorbed with less activity, is accumu¬ 
 lated in the cellular tissue under the skin and 
 elsewhere ; and this effaces any wrinkles which 
 might have begun to furrow the skin, rounds the 
 outlines anew, and again restores an air of youth 
 and freshness. Hence this period is called “ the 
 age of return.”—See Plate III. 
 
176 
 
 OF THE AGES OF WOMAN 
 
 This plumpness, though juvenile lightness and 
 freshness be wanting, sustains the forms, and some¬ 
 times confers a majestic air, which, in women 
 
 otherwise favourably organized, still interests for a 
 number of years. 
 
 The shape certainly is no longer so elegant; the 
 articulations have less elasticity; the muscles are 
 more feeble ; the movements are less light; and in 
 plump women we observe those broken motions 
 and in meagre ones that stiffness, which mark the’ 
 walk or the dance at that age. 
 
 At this period occurs a remarkable alteration in 
 the organs of voice. Women, therefore, to whom 
 singing is a profession, ought to limit its exercise. 
 
 When women pass happily from the third to the 
 fourth age, their constitution, as every one must have 
 observed, changes entirely; it becomes stronger; 
 
 and nature abandons to individual life all the rest of 
 existence. 
 
 Beauty, however, is no more; form and shape 
 have disappeared ; the plumpness which supported 
 the reliefs has abandoned them; sinkings and 
 wrinkles are multiplied; the skin has lost its polish; 
 colour and freshness have fled for ever. 
 
 These injuries of time, it has been observed, com¬ 
 monly begin by the abdomen, which loses its polish 
 and its firmness ; the hemispheres of the bosom no 
 longer sustain themselves; the clavicles project; 
 
IV 
 
IN RELATION TO BEAUTY. 
 
 177 
 
 the neck becomes meagre; all the reliefs are 
 effaced ; all the forms are altered from roundness 
 and softness to angularity and hardness. — See 
 Plate IV. 
 
 That which, amidst these ruins, still survives 
 for a long time, is the entireness of the hair, the 
 placidity or the fineness of the look, the air of sen¬ 
 timent, the amiable expression of the countenance, 
 and, in women of elegant mind and great ac¬ 
 complishments, caressing manners and charming 
 graces, which almost make us forget youth and 
 beauty. 
 
 Finally, and especially in muscular or nervous 
 women, the temperament changes, and the con¬ 
 stitution of woman approaches to that of man; 
 the organs become rigid; and, in some unhappy 
 cases, a beard protrudes. 
 
 Old age and decrepitude finally succeed. 
 
 N 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OF THE CAUSES OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 The crossing of races is often spoken of as a 
 means of perfecting the form of man, and of de¬ 
 veloping beauty; and we are told that it is in this 
 manner that the Persians have become a beautiful 
 people, and that many tribes of Tartar origin have 
 been improved, especially the Turks, who now 
 present to us scarcely anything of the Mongol. 
 
 In these general and vague statements, however, 
 the mere crossing of different races is always 
 deemed sufficient; whereas every improvement 
 depends on the circumstance that the organization 
 of the races subjected to this operation are duly 
 suited to each other. It is in that way only, 
 that we can explain the following facts stated by 
 Moreau. 
 
 In one of the great towns of the north of France, 
 the women, half a century ago, were rather ugly 
 than pretty; but a detachment of the guards 
 
OF THE CAUSES OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 179 
 
 being quartered there, and remaining during se¬ 
 veral years, the population changed in appear¬ 
 ance, and, favoured by this circurhstance, the 
 town is now indebted to strangers lor the beauty 
 of the most interesting portion of its inhabi¬ 
 tants. 
 
 The monks of Citeaux exercised an influence 
 no less remarkable upon the beauty ol the in¬ 
 habitants of the country around their monastery ; 
 and it may be stated, as the result of actual ob¬ 
 servation, that the young female peasants ol their 
 neighbourhood were much more beautilul than 
 those of other cantons. And, adds this writer, 
 “ there can be no doubt that the same effect oc¬ 
 curred in the different places whither religious 
 houses attracted foreign inmates, whom love and 
 pleasure speedily united with the indigenous in¬ 
 habitants !” 
 
 The other circumstances which contribute to 
 female beauty are, a mild climate, a fertile soil, 
 a generous but temperate diet, a regular mode of 
 life, favourable education, the guidance and sup¬ 
 pression of passions, easy manners, good moral, 
 social, and political institutions, and occupations 
 which do not injure the beautiful proportions of 
 the body. 
 
 Beauty, accordingly, is more especially to be 
 found in certain countries. Thus, as has often 
 
 n 2 
 
180 OE THE CAUSES OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 been observed, the sanguine temperament is that 
 of the nations ot the north; the phlegmatic is 
 that of cold and moist countries ; and the bilious 
 is that of the greater part of the inhabitants of 
 southern regions. Each of these has its degree 
 and modification of beauty. 
 
 The native country of beauty is not to be found 
 either in regions where cold freezes up the living 
 juices, or in those where the animal structure is 
 withered by heat. A climate removed from the 
 excessive influence of both these causes consti¬ 
 tutes an essential condition in the production of 
 beauty; and this, with its effect, we find between 
 the 35th and 65th degree of northern latitude, in 
 Persia, the countries bordering upon Caucasus, and 
 principally Tchercassia, Georgia, and Mingrelia, 
 Turkey in Europe and Asia, Greece, Italy, some 
 part of Spain, a very small part of France, Eng¬ 
 land, Holland, some parts of Germany, Poland, 
 Denmark, Sweden, and a part of Norway and even 
 of Russia. 
 
 Even under the same degree of latitude, it is ob¬ 
 served that the position of the place, its elevation, 
 its vicinity to the sea, the direction of the winds, 
 the nature of the soil, and all the peculiarities of 
 locality which constitute the climate proper to each 
 place, occasion great differences in beauty. 
 
 In relation to the causes of beauty, some obser- 
 
OF THE CAUSES OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 181 
 
 vations, which seem to me important, arise out of 
 the remarks of De Pauw on the Greeks. 
 
 De Pauw endeavoured to show, that though the 
 men of ancient Greece were handsome, the women 
 of that country were never beautiful. He thence 
 accounted for the excessive admiration which there 
 prevailed of Courtezans from Ionia, &c. 
 
 This, however, was so contrary to the notions 
 formed of the beauty of that people from what was 
 known of their taste, that it was considered as a 
 paradox. Travellers, accordingly, sought for such 
 beauty in the women of modern Greece. They 
 were disappointed in not finding it. 
 
 What rendered this the more remarkable was, 
 that in various places they found the ancient and 
 beautiful cast of countenance among the men, and 
 not among the women of that country—thus corro¬ 
 borating in all respects the doctrine of De Pauw. 
 
 On considering that doctrine, however, and com¬ 
 paring it with more extended observations, it 
 would seem to be only a particular application of a 
 more general law unknown to De Pauw,—that, in 
 most countries, one of the sexes excels the other in 
 beauty. 
 
 Thus, in some parts of the highlands of Scot¬ 
 land, we find the men as remarkable for beauty 
 as the women for ugliness; while, in some eastern 
 counties of England, we find precisely the reverse. 
 
1 82 OF THE CAUSES OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 The strong features, the dark curled hair, and 
 the muscular form of the highlander, are as un¬ 
 suitable to the female sex, as the soft features, the 
 flaxen hair, and the short and tapering limbs of 
 the woman of the eastern coast, are unsuitable to 
 the male. 
 
 If the soil, climate, and productions of these 
 countries be considered, we discover the causes 
 of the differences alluded to. The hardships of 
 mountain life are favourable to the stronger de¬ 
 velopment of the locomotive system, which ought 
 more or less to characterize the male; and the 
 luxuriance of the plains is favourable to those de- 
 velopements of the nutritive system, which ought 
 to characterize the female. 
 
 This is illustrated even in inferior animals. 
 Oxen become large bodied and fat in low and 
 rich soils, but are remarkable for shortness of 
 legs; while, in higher and drier situations, the 
 bulk of the body is less, and the limbs are stronger 
 and more muscular. 
 
 The quantity and quality of the aliments is 
 another cause, not less powerful in regard to 
 beauty. Abundance, or rather a proper medio¬ 
 crity, as to nutritious food, contributes to per¬ 
 fection in this respect. 
 
 beauty is also, in some measure, a result of 
 civilization. Women, accordingly, of consum- 
 
OF THE CAUSES OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 183 
 
 mate beauty are found only in civilized na¬ 
 tions. 
 
 Professions can rarely be said to favour beauty ; 
 but they do not impede its development when 
 their exercise does not compel to laborious em¬ 
 ployments an organization suited only to sedentary 
 occupations. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 The ideas of the beautiful vary in different indi¬ 
 viduals, and in different nations. Hence many 
 men of talent have thought them altogether re¬ 
 lative and arbitrary. 
 
 Ask, says Voltaire, “ a Negro of Guinea 
 [what is beauty] : the beautiful is for him a black 
 oily skin, deep-seated eyes, and a broad flat nose.” 
 
 “ Perfect beauty,” says Payne Knight, “ taking 
 perfect in its most strict, and beauty in its most 
 comprehensive signification, ought to be equally 
 pleasing to all; but of this, instances are scarcely 
 to be found: for, as to taking them, or, indeed, 
 any examples for illustration, from the other sex 
 of our own species, it is extremely fallacious; as 
 there can be little doubt that all male animals 
 think the females of their own species the most 
 beautiful productions of nature. At least we 
 know this to be the case among the different 
 
OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 185 
 
 varieties of men, whose respective ideas of the 
 beauty of their females are as widely different as 
 those of man, and any other animal, can- he. The 
 sable Africans view with pity and contempt the 
 marked deformity of the Europeans; whose 
 mouths are compressed, their noses pinched, their 
 cheeks shrunk, their hair rendered lank and 
 flimsy, their bodies lengthened and emaciated, 
 and their skins unnaturally bleached by shade 
 and seclusion, and the baneful influence of a cold 
 humid climate . . . Who shall decide which party 
 is right, or which is wrong; or whether the black 
 or white model be, according to the laws ot 
 nature, the most perfect specimen of a perfect 
 woman ? . . . The sexual desires of brutes are pro¬ 
 bably more strictly natural inclinations, and less 
 changed or modified by the influence of acquired 
 ideas, or social habits, than those of any race of 
 mankind; but their desires seem, in general, to be 
 excited by smell, rather than by sight or contact. 
 If, however, a boar can think a sow the sweetest 
 and most lovely of living creatures, we can have no 
 difficulty in believing that he also thinks her the 
 most beautiful.” 
 
 “ Among the various reasons,” says Reynolds, 
 “ why we prefer one part of nature’s works to 
 another, the most general, I believe, is habit and 
 custom ; custom makes, in a certain sense, white 
 
186 OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 black, and black white; it is custom alone deter¬ 
 mines our preference of the colour of the Euro¬ 
 peans to the Ethiopians, and they, for the same 
 reason, prefer their own colour to ours. I sup- 
 pose nobody will doubt, if one of their painters 
 were to paint the goddess of Beauty, but that he 
 would represent her black, with thick lips, flat 
 nose, and woolly hair; and it seems to me, he 
 would act very unnaturally if he did not; for by 
 what criterion will any one dispute the propriety 
 of his idea? We indeed say, that the form and 
 colour of the European is preferable to that of the 
 Ethiopian ; but I know of no other reason we have 
 for it, but that we are more accustomed to it.” 
 
 The coquetry of several tribes, it has been ob¬ 
 served, leads them to mutilate and disfigure them¬ 
 selves, to flatten their forehead, to enlarge their 
 mouth and ears, to blacken their skin, and cover 
 it with the marks of suffering.—We make ugliness 
 in that way, says Montaigne. 
 
 But, to confine our observations to individual 
 nations, and these civilized ones; we every day 
 see irregular or even common figures, preferred to 
 those which the enlightened judge deems beau¬ 
 tiful. 
 
 How, then, it is asked, amidst these different 
 tastes, these opposite opinions, are we to admit 
 ideas of absolute beauty? 
 
OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 187 
 
 These are the strongest objections against all 
 ideas of absolute and essential beauty in woman. 
 
 To establish, in opposition to these objections, 
 a standard of womanly beauty, equal talent has 
 been employed; but the reasoning, though suf¬ 
 ficient for such objections, has been rather of a 
 vague description. As, however, the subject is of 
 great importance, I shall endeavour to abridge 
 and concentrate the arguments of which it con¬ 
 sists, before I point out the surer method which 
 is founded on the Elements of Beauty already 
 established. 
 
 To refute these objections, it has been thought 
 sufficient to examine the chief conditions which 
 are necessary, in order to appreciate properly the 
 impression of those combinations, which woman 
 presents, and to expose the principal circumstances 
 which are opposed to the accuracy of opinions, 
 and judgments respecting them. 
 
 The conditions necessary to enable us to pro¬ 
 nounce respecting the real attributes of beauty, 
 are, first, a temperate climate, under which nature 
 brings to perfection all her productions, and gives 
 to their forms and functions generally, and to 
 those of man in particular, all the development 
 of which they are capable, without excess in the 
 action of some, and defect in that of others;— 
 secondly, in man in particular, a brain capable of 
 
188 OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 Vigorous thought, sound judgment, and exquisite 
 taste;—and thirdly, a very advanced civilization, 
 without which these faculties cannot be duly exer¬ 
 cised or attain any perfection. 
 
 It is evident enough that none of these con¬ 
 ditions are to be met with in the whimsical judg¬ 
 ments and tastes of many nations. 
 
 The consequence of the absence of these con¬ 
 ditions, in relation to the uncivilized and ignorant 
 inhabitants of hot climates, is marked in their 
 deeming characteristics of beauty, the thick lips 
 of Negresses, the long and pendant mamma of 
 the women in several nations both of Africa 
 and America, or the gross forms of those of 
 Egypt. 
 
 The consequence of the absence of these con¬ 
 ditions, in relation to the uncivilized and ignorant 
 inhabitants of cold climates, is equally marked in 
 their deeming characteristics of beauty, the short 
 figures of the women of icy regions, in which, 
 deprived of the vivifying action of heat and light, 
 living beings appear only in a state of deformity 
 and alteration; and in their similarly deeming 
 beautiful the obliquely placed eyes of the Chinese 
 and Japanese, and the crushed nose of the Cal- 
 mucs, &c. &c. 
 
 Those who take these views, which are true 
 
OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 189 
 
 though somewhat vague and inconclusive, should, 
 
 I think, have seen and added, that the deviations 
 from beauty in the forms of the women of hot 
 climates are commonly in excess, owing to the 
 great development of organs of sense or of sex ; 
 while the deviations from beauty, in the forms ot 
 the women of cold climates, are commonly in defect, 
 owing to the imperfect development of organs of 
 sense, and of the general figure. 
 
 This view renders it more clear that both these 
 kinds of deviation are deformities, incompatible 
 with the consistent and harmonious development 
 of the whole. And without this view, the pre¬ 
 ceding arguments are indeed too vague to be easily 
 tenable. 
 
 In relation more especially to the second of the 
 preceding conditions, the possession of a brain 
 capable of vigorous thought, sound judgment, and 
 exquisite taste, Hume observes that the same excel¬ 
 lence of faculties which contributes to the improve¬ 
 ment of reason, the same clearness of conception, 
 the same exactness of distinction, the same vivacity 
 of apprehension, are essential to the operations of 
 true taste. 
 
 Here again, those who take these true, but 
 vague and inconclusive views, should, I think, 
 have seen and added that this excellence of the 
 
190 OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 thinking faculties is incompatible with the obvi¬ 
 ously constricted brain, which is a defect common 
 both to the Negro and the Mongol — a defect 
 which is incompatible with beauty either of form 
 or function, and which I have shown, in my work 
 on Physiognomy, to be intimately connected with 
 climate. Ihis renders the argument sufficiently 
 strong. 
 
 Those who employ these arguments as to a 
 standard of beauty in woman, proceed to show 
 the modes in which defects of this kind unfit per¬ 
 sons to judge of beauty; and though their further 
 arguments are similarly vague, they nevertheless 
 tend to support the truth. 
 
 If, say they, amongst the forms and the features 
 which we compare, some are associated by us 
 with certain qualities or sentiments which please us, 
 they equally lead us to a predilection or prejudice, 
 m consequence of which the most common or the 
 least beautiful figure is preferred to the most per¬ 
 fect. In this case, the imagination has perverted 
 the judgment. 
 
 Winckelmann truly observes, that young people 
 are most exposed to such errors: placed under 
 the influence of sentiment and of illusion, they 
 often regard, as very beautiful, women who have 
 nothing capable of charming, but an animated 
 physiognomy, in which breathe desire, voluptu- 
 
OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 191 
 
 ousness, and languor.* The results of this as to 
 life may easily be foreseen. 
 
 Of the excess to which such prejudice may go, 
 a good instance is adduced in Descartes, who pre¬ 
 ferred women who squinted to the most perfect 
 beauties, because squinting was one of the most 
 remarkable features of the woman who was the first 
 object of his affections. 
 
 Winckelmann observes, that even artists them¬ 
 selves have not always an exquisite sentiment ot 
 beauty : their first impressions have often an in¬ 
 fluence which they cannot overcome, nor even 
 weaken, especially when, at a distance fiom the 
 admirable productions of the ancients, they cannot 
 rectify their first judgments.! 
 
 Circumstances of profession, it is truly observed, 
 
 * “ Ad un giovane, in cui ferve l’amor del piacere, sembra 
 una dea colei, che senza essere veramente bella, pur ha nel 
 volto un non so che di vezzo languido, e di vivace che alletta; 
 laddove mirera egli con indifferenza una bella donna che ne 
 gesti e nel contegno spiri modestia, ancorche abbia per avven- 
 tura le sublimi forme e la maesta d’ una Giunone. —Storia 
 delle Arti del Disegno. 
 
 •f* “ Sovente mold degli artisti formansi 1 idea del bello sulle 
 prime informi impressioni che ricevono, e ben di rado avviene 
 che 1’ osservazione di un bello pin sublime e pin perfetto la in- 
 debolisca, o la cancelli dalla fantasia loro, principalmente ov’ 
 essi, lontani dai bei monumenti dell’ antichita, non possano 
 
 riformare, direm cosi, l’immaginazione, e corregere lo spirito. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
192 OP THE STANDARD OP BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 may also lead to associations of ideas capable of 
 deceiving us in our opinions respecting beauty. 
 Men are apt to refer everything to their exclusive 
 knowledge and the mode of judging which it em¬ 
 ploys. The “ what does that prove” of the ma¬ 
 thematician, when judging the finest products of 
 imagination, has passed into a proverb. And. 
 every one knows of that other cultivator of the~ 
 same science, who declared that he never could 
 discover anything sublime in Milton’s Paradise 
 Lost, but that he could never read the queries at 
 the end of one of the books in Newton’s Optics 
 without his hair standing on end and his blood 
 running cold. 
 
 The necessity of the third condition, namely, 
 advanced civilization, to a right judgment respect¬ 
 ing a standard of beauty in woman, is evident, 
 when we consider that it requires a taste formed by 
 
 the habit of bringing things together, and of com- 
 paring them. 
 
 One accustomed to see, says Hume, “ and exa- 
 mine, and weigh the several performances, ad¬ 
 mired in different ages and nations, can alone rate 
 the merits of a work exhibited to his view, and 
 
 assign its proper rank among the productions of 
 genius.” 
 
 From all this, it is certainly evident, not merely 
 that that which pleases us is not always beautiful; 
 
OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 193 
 
 that numerous causes may form so many sources 
 of diversity and of error on this subject; and that 
 we cannot thence conclude that the’ ideas of 
 beauty are relative and arbitrary: but that certain 
 conditions are indispensable to form the judgment 
 respecting beauty ; and that the principal of these 
 conditions are a temperate climate and fertile soil, a 
 well developed brain, sound judgment and delicate 
 taste, and a highly advanced civilization. 
 
 This is perfectly conformable with the practical 
 fact that it was under a most delightful climate, 
 among a people of unrivalled judgment, genius, and 
 taste, and amidst a civilization which the world has 
 never since witnessed, that the laws of nature as to 
 beauty were discovered, and applied to the produc¬ 
 tion of those immortal forms which the unfavourable 
 accidents occurring to the existence of all beings 
 have never permitted nature herself to combine in 
 any one individual. 
 
 Though I have endeavoured to amend these 
 arguments respecting a standard of beauty in 
 woman, I prefer those which may be founded on 
 the doctrine I have laid down respecting the 
 Elements of Beauty. It will be found that the 
 greatest number of these elements are combined 
 in the woman whom we commonly deem the most 
 beautiful. 
 
 To illustrate this, it will be sufficient to examine 
 
 o 
 
194 OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 their most striking and distinctive characteristic— 
 namely, their fair complexion, which is intimately 
 connected with all their other characteristics, and 
 which gives increased splendour and effect to their 
 form and features. 
 
 It is remarkable that even Alison, though the 
 advocate of all beauty being dependent on asso¬ 
 ciation, grants that the pure white of the counte¬ 
 nance is expressive to us, according to its different 
 degrees, of purity, fineness, gaiety; that the dark 
 complexion, on the other hand, is expressive to us 
 of melancholy, gloom, or sadness; and that so far 
 is this from being a fanciful relation, that it is 
 generally admitted by those who have the best 
 opportunities of ascertaining it, the professors of 
 medical science. He also observes that black eyes 
 are commonly united with the dark, and blue 
 eyes, with the fair complexion: and that in the 
 colour of the eyes, blue, according to its different 
 degrees, is expressive of softness, gentleness, cheer¬ 
 fulness, or severity ; and black, of thought, or gra¬ 
 vity, or of sadness. 
 
 Even this, however, is less conclusive than the 
 pathological or physiological facts stated by Che- 
 selden, as to the boy restored by him to sight, 
 namely, that the first view of a black object gave 
 him great pain, and that that of a negro woman 
 struck him with horror. 
 
OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 195 
 
 Independently of this, white, as every one is 
 aware, is the colour which reflects the greatest 
 number of luminous rays; and, for that reason, it 
 bestows the brilliance and splendour upon beauti¬ 
 ful forms with which all are charmed. 
 
 Winckelmann, indeed, observes that the head of 
 Scipio the elder, in the Palazzo Rospigliosi, exe¬ 
 cuted in basalt of a deep green, is very beautiful.* 
 But, in that case, it is the form, not the colour, of 
 the head, that is beautiful. While greenness of 
 complexion would not be beautiful in a man, it 
 would certainly be hideously ugly in a woman. 
 
 Moreover, while, in a dead black or any dark 
 colour of face, it cannot be pretended that, con¬ 
 sidering its colour only, we should have more than 
 blackness or darkness for admiration, it is evident 
 that, in a fair complexion, we have, in addition to 
 its general brilliance or splendour, the infinite 
 variety of its tints, their exquisite blendings, 
 and the beautiful expression of every transient 
 emotion. 
 
 I have now only to expose the sophistry which 
 Payne Knight has employed upon this subject. 
 
 * “ La bella testa muliebre di basalte verdognolo esistente 
 nella villa Albani non potrebbe esser piii bella se fosse scolpita 
 in marmo bianco; quella di Scipione il seniore di basalte ancor 
 piii capo esistente nel palazzo Rospigliosi supera in bellezza le 
 tre altre teste dello stesso in bianco marmo.”— Ibid. 
 
 o 2 
 
196 OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 “ I am aware,” he says, “ indeed, that it would 
 he no easy task to persuade a lover that the forms 
 upon which he doats with such rapture are not 
 really beautiful, independent of the medium of 
 affection, passion, and appetite, through which he 
 views them. But before he pronounces either 
 the infidel or the sceptic guilty of blasphemy 
 against nature, let him take a mould from the 
 lovely features or lovely bosom of this master¬ 
 piece of creation, and cast a plum-pudding in it 
 (an object by no means disgusting to most men’s 
 appetite), and I think, he will no longer be in rap¬ 
 tures with the form, whatever he may be with the 
 substance.” 
 
 Now, it happens that a grosser incongruity can 
 scarcely be supposed than that which exists be¬ 
 tween lovely features or a lovely bosom and a 
 plum-pudding, or between the sentiment of love 
 and the propensity to gluttony ; and therefore to 
 place the substance of the pudding, in which in¬ 
 ternal composition is alone of importance, and 
 shape of none, under the form of features or a 
 bosom, in which internal structure is unknown or 
 unthought of, and shape or other external pro¬ 
 perties are alone considered, is a gross and offen¬ 
 sive substitution, intended not to enlighten judg¬ 
 ment respecting form, but to pervert it, and to 
 degrade the higher object by comparison with the 
 
OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 197 
 
 lower one. The shape, moreover, is a true sign in 
 the one case, and a false one in the other.—Of 
 nearly similar character is the following,: 
 
 “ If a man, perfectly possessed both of feeling 
 and sight—conversant with, and sensible to the 
 charms of women, were even to be in contact with 
 what he conceived to be the most beautiful and 
 lovely of the sex, and at the moment when he 
 was going to embrace her, he was to discover that 
 the parts which he touched only were feminine or 
 human; and that, in the rest of her form, she was 
 an animal of a different species, or a person of his 
 own sex, the total and instantaneous change of 
 his sentiments from one extreme to another, would 
 abundantly convince him that his sexual desires de¬ 
 pended as little upon that abstract sense of touch, 
 as upon that of sight.” 
 
 That, in detecting an imposture of this kind, 
 admiration would give place to disgust, only proves 
 that the external qualities which were admired 
 were the natural and appropriate signs of the in¬ 
 ternal qualities expected to be found under them, 
 and that they now cease to interest only because 
 they have become, not naturally less the signs of 
 these qualities, but because they have by a mere 
 trick been rendered insignificant, because truth and 
 nature have been violated, and because the mind 
 feels only disgust at the imposture. I cannot help 
 
198 OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 saying that if Knight was in earnest when he framed 
 such arguments, his mind was sometimes dull as 
 well as perverse. 
 
 “ The redness of any morbid inflammation,” 
 he says, “ may display a gradation of tint, which, 
 in a pink, or a rose, we should think as beautiful 
 as c the purple light of love and bloom of young 
 desire and the cadaverous paleness of death or 
 disease, a degree of whiteness, which, in a piece 
 of marble or alabaster, we should deem to be as 
 pure, as that of the most delicate skin of the 
 fairest damsel of the frigid zone; consequently, 
 the mere visible beauty is in both the same ; and 
 the difference consists entirely in mental sympa¬ 
 thies, excited by certain internal stimuli, and guided 
 by habit.” 
 
 There is here the same confusion of heteroge¬ 
 neous and inconsistent objects, as in the preceding 
 cases. To judge of beauty in simple objects, 
 each quality may be separately considered; and 
 in this view, if the inflammation presented the 
 same tint as the pink or the rose, then, as a mere 
 tint, abstracted from every other quality of the re¬ 
 spective objects, it would be precisely as beauti¬ 
 ful in the one as in the other ; but as the colour 
 of a rose on the human body would indicate that 
 flow of blood to the skin which can result only 
 from excessive action, it ceases to be considered 
 
OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 199 
 
 intrinsically, and is regarded only as a sign of dis¬ 
 ease. The same observations are applicable to the 
 other case here adduced. 
 
 “ The African black,” he says, “when he first 
 beholds an European complexion, thinks both its 
 red and white morbid and unnatural, and ot course 
 disgusting. His sun-burnt beauties express their 
 modesty and sensibility by variations in the sable 
 tints of their countenances, which are equally 
 attractive to him, as the most delicate blush of 
 red to us.” 
 
 In treating of the Elements of Beauty, I have 
 endeavoured to show, that the more those simpler 
 elements of beauty, which characterize inanimate 
 bodies, are retained in more compound ones, the 
 more beautiful these become; but that the latter 
 retain these elements in very different degrees, de¬ 
 pendent upon internal or external circumstances, 
 and that such elementary beauty is often sacri¬ 
 ficed to the higher ones of life or mind. Now, 
 in the case of the African, he is born whitish, 
 like the European, but he speedily loses such 
 beauty for that of adaptation, by his colour, to the 
 hot climate in which he exists. The latter beauty 
 is the higher and more important one, and forms 
 for the African a profitable exchange; but the 
 European is still more fortunate, because, in the 
 region he inhabits, the simple and elementary 
 
200 OF THE STANDARD OF BEAUTY IN WOMAN. 
 
 beauty is compatible with that of adaptation to 
 climate. The climate of Africa, the cerebral struc¬ 
 ture of its inhabitants, and the degree of their 
 civilization are as unfavourable to the existence of 
 beauty as to the power of judging respecting it. 
 What he adds, as to variation in sable countenances, 
 is a mere exaggeration. 
 
 “ Were it possible for a person to judge of the 
 beauty of colour in his own species, upon the 
 same principles, and with the same impartiality as 
 he judges of it in other objects, both animal, ve¬ 
 getable, and mineral, there can be no doubt that 
 mixed tints would be preferred ; and a pimpled 
 face have the same superiority over a smooth one, 
 as a zebra has over an ass, a variegated tulip over a 
 plain one, or a column of jasper or porphyry over 
 one of a common red or white marble.” 
 
 Here the same mistake is committed. Elemen¬ 
 tary beauty is preferred to that of adaptation to 
 climate, fitness for physiognomical expression, &c. 
 Knight’s other arguments all involve similar errors, 
 and admit of similar answers. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE THREE SPECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY 
 GENERALLY VIEWED. 
 
 These have been already briefly mentioned. They 
 are repeated and illustrated here. 
 
 The view which is given of them will throw light 
 on the celebrated temperaments of the ancients. 
 It will appear that all the disputes which have 
 occurred respecting these, have arisen from their 
 being founded, not on precise data, but on em¬ 
 pirical observation, at a time when the great truths 
 of anatomy and physiology were unknown; that 
 to the rectification of the doctrine of tempera¬ 
 ments, the arrangement of these sciences, laid 
 down in a preceding chapter, is indispensable; 
 that some of these temperaments are compara¬ 
 tively simple, and consist in an excessive or a 
 defective action of locomotive, nutritive, or think¬ 
 ing organs; that others, which have been con¬ 
 founded with these, are, on the contrary, com¬ 
 pound ; and that, from this want of classification, 
 their nature has been imperfectly understood. 
 
202 THE THREE SPECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 To make this clear, it is necessary to lay before 
 the reader a succinct view of the doctrine of tem¬ 
 peraments. 
 
 The ancients classed individuals in one or other 
 of four temperaments, founded on the hypothesis 
 of four humours, of which the blood was supposed 
 to be composed—the red part, phlegm, yellow, 
 and black bile. These were regarded as the ele¬ 
 ments of the body, and their respective predomi¬ 
 nance passed for the cause of the differences which 
 it presented. Hence were derived the names of 
 the sanguine, the phlegmatic, the choleric, and 
 the melancholic temperaments. 
 
 Although the hypothesis on which this doctrine 
 was founded is universally discarded, the pheno¬ 
 mena which observation had taught the ancients, 
 and which they had hypothetically connected with 
 these elements, were so true, that that classifi¬ 
 cation has been more or less employed in all the 
 hypotheses which have since been invented to ex¬ 
 plain their cause; and their nomenclature has con¬ 
 tinued in use to the present day. 
 
 A temperament may be defined a peculiar state 
 of the system, depending on the relative propor¬ 
 tion of its different masses, and the relative energy 
 of its different functions, by which it acquires a 
 tendency to certain actions. 
 
 The predominance of any particular organ or 
 
THE THREE SrECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 203 
 
 system of organs, its excess of force, extends its 
 sphere of activity to all the other functions, and 
 modifies them in a peculiar manner. Thus, con¬ 
 forming in the illustration to the preceding ar¬ 
 rangement, in one person, the muscles are more 
 frequently employed than the brain ; in another, 
 the stomach or the organs ol reproduction are 
 more employed than the muscles ; and in a third, 
 the brain and nerves are more employed than 
 either. This predominance or excess establishes 
 the temperament. 
 
 The relative feebleness of any organ or system 
 of organs, similarly forms modifications not less 
 important. Thus in one person, the organs of the 
 abdomen are less employed ; in another, those ol 
 the chest; in a third, the brain. 
 
 Disease, it is observed, “ commonly enters into 
 the organization by these feeble points : death even 
 attacks them first; extends afterwards from one to 
 another; and makes progress more or less rapid, 
 according to the importance of the organ primi¬ 
 tively affected.” 
 
 Temperaments, however, vary infinitely. It may 
 be said that every individual has a peculiar one, to 
 which he owes his mode of existence and his degree 
 of health, ability and happiness. 
 
 The temperament, moreover, of each individual 
 is not always characterized by well marked symp- 
 
204 THE THREE SPECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 toms j and even where it has been strongly marked 
 by nature, education, age, the influence of climate, 
 the exercise of professions and trades, and various 
 habits produce in it infinite changes. 
 
 Temperaments also combine together, so that 
 all men are, in some degree, at once sanguine and 
 bilious, or otherwise compound. Thus all inter¬ 
 mediate shades of temperament are produced ; and 
 it is often difficult, or, under particular circum¬ 
 stances, impossible, to determine under which 
 temperament individuals may be classed. 
 
 The simple temperaments are therefore abstrac¬ 
 tions, which it is difficult to realize; and the in¬ 
 fluence of any temperament is sometimes undis- 
 coverable except in some extraordinary circum¬ 
 stances of disorder or disease, during which it may 
 be observed. 
 
 Cullen admits the four temperaments of Hip¬ 
 pocrates, and remarks concerning them, that it is 
 probable they were first founded upon observation, 
 and afterwards adapted to the theory of the an¬ 
 cients, since we find they “ have a real existence.” 
 
 Dr. Pritchard remarks that, “ this division of 
 temperaments is by no means a fanciful distinc¬ 
 tion.” 
 
 To the four temperaments of Hippocrates, Gre¬ 
 gory adds a fifth, the nervous temperament. 
 
 Thus are formed five temperaments generally 
 
THE THREE SPECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 205 
 
 admitted—namely, 1st, the phlegmatic or relaxed ; 
 2nd, the sanguine arterial; 3rd, the sanguine ve¬ 
 nous or bilious; 4th, the nervous; and, 5th, the 
 muscular or athletic. 
 
 Some writers join to these the partial tempera¬ 
 ments which determine the ascendancy of the 
 functions exercised by particular organs; whence 
 principally come the temperaments which they 
 call the cerebral, epigastric, abdominal, hepatic, 
 genital, &c. 
 
 As already said, it will in the sequel appear that 
 some of these temperaments are compaiatively 
 simple, that others are compound, and that from 
 this want of classification, their nature has been 
 imperfectly understood. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY.—BEAUTY OF THE 
 LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 The average stature of woman, as already said, is 
 two or three inches less than that of man. 
 
 The bones of woman remain always smaller 
 than those of man ; the cylindrical ones being 
 more slender, and the flat ones thinner, while the 
 former are also rounder. The muscles render the 
 surfaces of the bones less uneven; the projections 
 of the latter are less; and all their cavities and 
 impressions have less depth. The bones of wo¬ 
 man have likewise less hardness than those of 
 man. 
 
 Such being the solid and fundamental parts of 
 this system in woman, the most remarkable cir¬ 
 cumstances in their combination should next be 
 noticed. 
 
 In woman, the magnitude of the pelvis or lower 
 part of the trunk, has the greatest influence on the 
 apparent proportion of parts, and on the general 
 figure. 
 
BEAUTY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 207 
 
 The most remarkable differences between the 
 two sexes, in relation to this system, are conse¬ 
 quently those presented by the inferior and su¬ 
 perior part of the trunk in each. The bieast and 
 the haunches are in an inverse proportion in the 
 two sexes. Man has the breast larger and wider 
 than that of woman : woman has the haunches less 
 circumscribed than those of man. 
 
 The upper part of the body is also less promi¬ 
 nent, and the lower part more prominent, in woman 
 than in man; and therefore, when they stand up¬ 
 right, or lie on the back, the breast is most pro- 
 minent in the male, and the pubes in the female. 
 The indication this affords of the fitness of woman 
 for impregnation, gestation and parturition, is 
 obvious. 
 
 From the same cause, the back of woman is 
 more hollow. 
 
 Still further to increase the capacity of the lower 
 part of the body, woman has the loins more ex¬ 
 tended than man. This portion of her body is 
 in every way enlarged at the expense of neighbour¬ 
 ing parts. Hence, the chest is shorter above ; and 
 the thighs and legs are shorter below. 
 
 The thigh-bones of woman are also more sepa¬ 
 rated superiorly ; the knees are more approxi¬ 
 mated ; the feet are smaller; and the base of sup¬ 
 port is less extended. 
 
208 
 
 FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 The reader desirous of thoroughly understanding 
 these matters, should compare the beautiful plates 
 of the male and female skeletons by Albinus and 
 Scemmerrins;. 
 
 Beauty of the locomotive system in woman, de¬ 
 pends especially upon these fundamental facts, 
 and those tendencies of structure which thus dis¬ 
 tinguish her from man. 
 
 In the woman possessing this species of 
 beauty, therefore, the face is generally somewhat 
 bony and oblong; the neck, less connected with 
 the nutritive system, is rather long and tapering; 
 
 the shoulders, without being angular, are suffi¬ 
 ciently broad and definite for muscular attach¬ 
 ments; the bosom, a vital organ, is of but 
 moderate dimensions ; — the waist, enclosing 
 smaller nutritive organs, is remarkable for fine 
 proportion, and resembles, in some respects, an 
 inverted cone ;—the haunches, for the same rea¬ 
 son, are but moderately expanded the thighs 
 are proportional-the arms, as well as the limbs, 
 being formed chiefly of locomotive organs, are 
 rather long and moderately tapering;—the hands 
 and feet are moderately small -—the complexion, 
 owing to the inferiority of the nutritive system, is 
 often rather dark; — and the hair is frequentlv 
 dark and strong. — The whole figure is precise, 
 striking, and often brilliant. — From its propor- 
 
V 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 209 
 
 tions, it sometimes seems almost aerial; and we 
 would imagine, that, if our hands were placed 
 under the lateral parts of the tapering waist of a 
 woman thus characterized, the slightest pressure 
 would suffice to throw her into the air. 
 
 To this class belong generally the more firm, 
 vigorous, and even actively impassioned women : 
 though it may doubtless boast many of greatly 
 modified character. 
 
 This species of beauty is very well illustrated 
 in Plates V., VI., and VII. 
 
 FIRST VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 It may here be observed, that the varieties or 
 modifications of each species of beauty naturally 
 correspond with the greater or less development 
 of some one of the various organs on which the 
 species is founded. Thus the modifications of 
 beauty of the locomotive system [correspond with 
 the greater or less development of the bones, the 
 ligaments, or the muscles ; those of the nutritive 
 system correspond with the greater or less de¬ 
 velopment of the absorbents, the blood-vessels, or 
 the glands; and those of the thinking system cor¬ 
 respond with the greater or less development of 
 the organs of sense, the brain, or the cerebel. A 
 little reflection will show, that some of these modi¬ 
 fications will be more, and others less beautiful. 
 
 p 
 
210 FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 To understand the present variety, the bony 
 structure on which it especially depends, must 
 now be more minutely described. 
 
 Commencing with the trunk of the body,—the 
 chest in woman is shorter, but more expanded, 
 the breast-bone is shorter, but wider; the two 
 upper ribs are flatter; the collar-bones are more 
 straight or less curved, and do not present that 
 prominent relief which appears on the chest of 
 man; the shoulders are carried further back, and 
 project less from the trunk. 
 
 The haunches, as already stated, are propor¬ 
 tionally wider in woman than in man, and the in¬ 
 terior cavity of the pelvis, which is between them, 
 being adapted to gestation, is more capacious. 
 This greater capacity of the pelvis arises from the 
 lateral parts having in woman more convexity out¬ 
 ward ; from the bones called ossa pubis, which 
 form the anterior part, touching at a smaller num¬ 
 ber of points, and running obliquely or forming a 
 greater angle, to enlarge the space which is be¬ 
 tween them and the inferior extremity of the 
 posterior part of the pelvis ; from the arch of the 
 pubis being larger; from the greater concavity and 
 breadth of the os sacrum or posterior bone of the 
 pelvis, its posterior part forming a greater pro¬ 
 minence outwards; and from the whole pelvis 
 being thus wider and less deep, its circumference 
 

THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 211 
 
 approaching more to the circular form. The cavi¬ 
 ties, it may be added, in which the heads of the 
 thigh bones are received, are of course further 
 apart: they are also oblique, and less deep. 
 
 The arms of woman are shorter than in man.— 
 As these members are well marked in beauty of 
 the locomotive system, they may the more fully 
 be considered here.—The arms, and especially their 
 extremities, are susceptible of a degree of beauty of 
 which we see few examples. Their bases, the bones, 
 ligaments, and muscles, belong to the locomotive 
 system ; and their fundamental beauty consequently 
 depends upon its proportions; but to the nutri¬ 
 tive system are owing the circumstances that in wo¬ 
 man, the arm is fatter and more rounded, has softer 
 forms and more flowing and purer outlines. The 
 hand in woman is smaller, more plump, more soft, 
 and more white. It is peculiarly beautiful when 
 full ; when it is gently dimpled over the first 
 joints ; when the fingers are long, round, taper¬ 
 ing towards the ends; when the other joints are 
 marked by slight reliefs and shadows; and when 
 the fingers are delicate and flexible. Beauty of the 
 hand becomes the more precious, because it is the 
 principal organ of a sense which may be considered 
 as the most valuable of all. 
 
 In regard to the lower extremities, it has been 
 observed, that the lateral convexity of the pelvis 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 causes the hones of the thighs attached to them to 
 be further separated from each othei , and this 
 separation of the bones of the thighs causes an 
 increase of the size of the haunches. It is over 
 the posterior part of the space thus produced, that 
 we observe the reliefs which the inferior members 
 present superiorily, and which unite them 
 the trunk, by forms so beautifully rounded. The 
 thighs are also proportionally larger, on accoun 
 of this separation: they are more rounded, as well 
 as much more voluminous: they are also more 
 curved before than in man. At their inferior part, 
 they approximate; and the knees project a little 
 inward. It has been truly observed, that this 
 conformation manifests, relatively to gestation and 
 parturition, advantages of which the exterior ex¬ 
 pression is not found in the women who are com¬ 
 monly regarded as well-made, and who, however, 
 are not so, if the best conformation or beauty 
 result from a direct and well marked relation be¬ 
 tween the form of the organs and their functions. 
 It is owing to the thighs of woman being thus 
 carried more inward when she walks, that the 
 change of the point of gravity which marks each 
 Step,°is in her much more remarkable. All the 
 other parts of the inferior members are in general 
 distinguished by forms more softly rounded ; the leg 
 is remarkable for its delicacy; the long line of the 
 
vn 
 

THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 213 
 
 anterior bone is entirely hid under its envelope; its 
 inferior part is shaped with more elegance ; the 
 foot is smaller ; and the base of support is less ex¬ 
 tended. The feet, like the hands, are susceptible ol 
 a kind of beauty of which nature is sparing. 
 
 From all this it appears that the only bones 
 which nature tends to enlarge in woman are those 
 of the pelvis; that all the rest are small; and that 
 they proportionally diminish in size, as we pass 
 from that central part to the extremities. 
 
 The first modification, therefore, of this 
 species of beauty, is that in which the development 
 of the bones, those of the pelvis excepted, is pro¬ 
 portionally small. 
 
 This character will be especially apparent where 
 the long bones approach the surface; as in the 
 arm immediately above the wrist, and, in the leg, 
 immediately above the ankle. Its effect will be 
 proportionally delicate and feminine. 
 
 Various subordinate modifications of this kind 
 of beauty are found in various countries, and under 
 the influence of various circumstances. 
 
 The women of Rome, we are told, present beauty 
 of the shoulders in the highest degree, when they 
 arrive at that period of life in which plumpness 
 succeeds to juvenile elasticity. 
 
 It has been suggested, that the Greek or Ionian 
 women, whose arms were of so perfect a form, 
 
214 
 
 FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 owed that beauty in some measure to the custom 
 of leaving them nude, or covered only by loose 
 drapery: as in that case, no pressure constricted 
 the roundness of the fleshy parts, and prevented 
 their development; no ligature, binding the upper 
 part of the arm, altered the colour of* tl*e skin ; 
 and the arm, being always uncovered, received at 
 the toilet the same attention as other parts. 
 Hence, it is supposed, antique statuary has left us 
 such admirable models of the beauty of this part. 
 
 It is certainly not improbable that we may 
 attribute the absence of this beauty, in some mea¬ 
 sure, to a custom which, in many cases, medicine 
 may approve, but which is unfavourable to the 
 arm, that of wearing long sieves; but want of 
 exercise is its great cause. 
 
 The form of the hand often announces the occu¬ 
 pation of the person to whom it belongs, and 
 sometimes even her particular capabilities. There 
 certainly are hands that we may call intellectual; 
 and there are others that we may call foolish or 
 stupid. Of the hand, Lavater says, that, whether 
 in movement or in repose, its expression cannot 
 be mistaken: its most tranquil position indicates 
 our natural dispositions; its flexions, our actions 
 and our passions. 
 
 The ancients, it has been observed, attached 
 much importance to the form of the feet: the 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 215 
 
 philosophers did not neglect it in the general view 
 of the physiognomy; and the historians as well 
 as the poets made mention of their beauty, in 
 speaking of Polyxene, Aspasia, and others ; as they 
 did of their deformities in speaking of the emperor 
 Domitian. 
 
 Perfection or deformity of the feet is no doubt, 
 in general, hereditary; but good management will 
 preserve the former of these, and repair the latter. 
 We commonly deform these parts by means of 
 our shoes : the second toe, observes a writer on 
 this subject, which naturally projects most, as we 
 see from the antique, is arrested in its develop¬ 
 ment, and the foot, which ought, in the outline of 
 its extremity, to approach to the elegant form of 
 the ellipsis, is rounded without beauty, and is dis¬ 
 figured by our ridiculous compressions. 
 
 SECOND VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 The joints generally are small in woman, and 
 especially so in the extremities. The elbow joint 
 is softly rounded; and the various joints of the 
 fingers are marked chiefly by little reliefs and faint 
 shadows. The articulation of the knee is feebly 
 indicated; the ankles are disposed in such a man¬ 
 ner as to offer only agreeable outlines; and there 
 are dimples over the first joints of the toes, with 
 exceedingly gentle indications of the other joints. 
 
216 
 
 FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 The second modification, therefore, of this 
 species of beauty is that in which the development 
 of the ligaments and the articulations they form, is 
 proportionally small. 
 
 This conformation will be especially apparent, 
 — in the arm, at the wrist,—and, in the leg, at 
 the ankle. Its effect will be proportionally hand¬ 
 some. 
 
 THIRD VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 The muscles of woman are more slender and 
 feeble than those of man ; their bundles are 
 rounder; their fibres are finer, more humid, soft, 
 and delicate, and less compact; their central parts 
 or bellies are less prominent; their reliefs do not 
 appear in any strength at the surface of the body; 
 but being, on the contrary, surrounded on all sides 
 by a loose cellular tissue, they only render that 
 surface beautifully rounded. 
 
 Although, however, the muscular system of 
 woman is weaker, and the muscles proportionally 
 smaller, yet, as already said, in some parts the 
 muscular system is more developed than in man. 
 This, owing to the magnitude of the pelvis, is most 
 remarkable about the thighs. The muscles of 
 these parts having larger origins from the pelvis, 
 and being less compressed by reciprocal contact, 
 have more liberty to extend themselves. The 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 217 
 
 thighs of women are consequently remarkable for 
 their voluptuous fulness, the softness of their out¬ 
 lines, and their exquisite polish. It is from this, 
 that results much of the delicacy of the female form, 
 as well as the ease, suppleness, and capability ol 
 grace in its movements. 
 
 It is otherwise in all parts remote from the 
 pelvis. Women, accordingly, can less be said to 
 have calves, than legs which, like their arms and 
 lingers, gently taper. 
 
 The third modification, therefore, of this 
 species of beauty is that in which the development 
 of the muscles is proportionally large around the 
 pelvis, and delicate elsewhere. 
 
 This conformation being concealed by the dra¬ 
 pery, may nevertheless be conjectured from the 
 imperfect view of the hip, or of the calf of the leg, 
 or, more accurately, by means of the external indi¬ 
 cations of form which are given in a subsequent 
 chapter. Its effect will be proportionally elegant. 
 
 Woman’s power of muscular motion being thus 
 limited to the vicinity of the pelvis, that of her ex¬ 
 tremities is generally feeble. 
 
 Other causes contribute to this. Thus, with 
 regard to the upper extremities, it has been ob¬ 
 served, that the collar-bone, not separating so 
 much the arm from the axis of the body, the 
 extent of its movements is limited ; and this cir- 
 
218 
 
 FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 cumstance explains why women, who wish to over¬ 
 come great resistances with the superior members, 
 experience difficulty in doing so—why, for example, 
 when they wish to throw a stone, they are obliged 
 to turn the body on the foot opposite to the arm 
 with which they throw. 
 
 Thus also the largeness of the pelvis, and the 
 approximation of the knees, influence the gait of 
 woman, and render it vacillating and unsteady. 
 Conscious of this, women, in countries where the 
 nutritive system in general and the pelvis in par¬ 
 ticular are large, affect a greater degree of this 
 vacillation and unsteadiness. An example of this 
 is seen in the lateral and rotatory motion which is 
 given to the pelvis in walking, by certain classes of 
 the women of London. 
 
 For the same reason, united to a smaller foot, 
 and some other circumstances, women, it is ob¬ 
 served, who execute gentle and light movements 
 with so much skill, do not attempt with advantage 
 great evolutions, run with difficulty and without 
 grace, and fly—in order to be caught, as Rousseau 
 has said. 
 
 In woman, however, the muscular fibre is thus 
 soft, yielding, feeble and incapable of great evolu¬ 
 tions, because it is necessary that it should easily 
 adapt itself to remarkable changes. 
 
 From all this, from women having more address 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 219 
 
 in the use of their fingers, from their aptitude foi 
 little and light domestic works, the caie of chil¬ 
 dren, and sedentary occupations, it is evident that 
 they cannot devote themselves to toilsome labouis 
 without struggling against their organization, and 
 suffering proportionally. 
 
 The voice being connected with the motive 
 organs, it may here be noticed that the larynx or 
 flute part of the throat in woman is more con¬ 
 tracted and less prominent than in man; that the 
 glottis does not enlarge in the same proportion ; 
 that the tongue-bone is much smaller; and that 
 the tongue, its muscles, and the organs of speech 
 in general, being, like all the other parts, more 
 mobile, young girls articulate and pronounce much 
 more quickly. Their voice is also so much more 
 acute, that if man and woman sing in unison, there 
 is always between them the relation of an octave, 
 which forms the most natural and most agreeable 
 consonance. 
 
 It is evidently the union of all that is good in 
 these varieties which renders beauty in the loco¬ 
 motive system perfect. 
 
 This is perfectly represented in the Diana ot 
 Grecian sculpture, in which, with admirable taste, 
 it is neither the nutritive nor the thinking, but the 
 
220 
 
 FIRST SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 locomotive system, which is developed. — See 
 Plate VIII. 
 
 I have already said, that the temperaments of 
 the ancients are only partial views of some of the 
 varieties I am now describing. The athletic tem- 
 jierament falls under the last of these varieties; 
 and it is the only one that falls under this species. 
 Happily, it does not occur in woman. 
 
 This temperament results from a great develop¬ 
 ment of the bones and muscles, and is that of 
 mere physical strength. It is marked by all the 
 outward signs of strength : the head is small, the 
 neck thick behind, the shoulders broad, the chest 
 expanded, the haunches firm, the intervals of the 
 muscles deeply marked, the tendons apparent 
 through the skin, and all the joints not covered 
 by muscles, seemingly small. 
 
 In this temperament, muscular strength prevails 
 over the functions of the other organs, and espe¬ 
 cially usurps the energies necessary to the produc¬ 
 tion of thought; the perceptions are deficient in 
 quickness, delicacy, accuracy, and strength; and 
 ail the mental functions are with difficulty excited ; 
 but the body is capable of great exertion, and it 
 surmounts great physical resistance when roused. 
 
 The Farnese Hercules, says a French physio¬ 
 logist, exhibits a model of the physical attributes 
 
the 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 221 
 
 of this constitution ; and that which fabulous an¬ 
 tiquity relates of the exploits of this demigod, 
 gives us the idea of the moral dispositions that 
 accompany it. In the history of his twelve la¬ 
 bours, without reflection and as by instinct, we 
 see him courageous, because he is strong, seeking 
 obstacles to conquer them, certain of overwhelm¬ 
 ing whatever resists him, but joining to such 
 strength so little subtlety, that he is cheated b\ 
 all the kings he serves, and by all the women he 
 loves. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY.—BEAUTY OF THE 
 NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 With the vital system of woman, the capacity 
 of the pelvis and the consequent breadth of the 
 haunches, are still more connected than with the 
 locomotive system; for, with these, all those 
 
 functions which are most essentially feminine_ 
 
 impregnation, gestation, and parturition, are inti¬ 
 mately connected. 
 
 Camper, in a memoir on physical beauty, read 
 to the Academy of Design, at Amsterdam,* showed, 
 that in tracing the forms of the male and female 
 within two elliptical areas of equal size, the female 
 pelvis extended beyond the ellipsis, while the 
 shoulders were within; and the male shoulders 
 reached beyond their ellipsis, while the pelvis 
 was within. — The pelvis of the African woman 
 is said by some to be greater than that of the 
 European. 
 
 * Memoire sur le Beau Physique. 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 223 
 
 The abdominal and lumbar portion of the trunk, 
 as already said, is longer in woman. In persons 
 above the common stature, there is almost half a 
 face more in the part of the body which is between 
 the mammae and the bifurcation of the trunk. 
 
 The abdomen, placed below the chest, has more 
 projection and roundness in woman than in man: 
 but it has little fulness in a figure capable of serving 
 as a model; and the slightest alteration in its out¬ 
 lines or its polish is injurious. 
 
 The waist, which is most distinctly marked in 
 the back and loins, owes all its advantages to its 
 elegance, softness and flexibility. 
 
 The neck should, by the gentlest curvature, 
 form an almost insensible transition between the 
 body and the head. It should also present ful¬ 
 ness sufficient to conceal the projection of the 
 flute part of the throat in front, and of the two 
 large muscles which descend from behind the ears 
 toward the pit above the breast bone.* 
 
 Over all these parts, the predominance of the 
 cellular tissue, and the soft and moderate plump- 
 
 * A curious but true remark is made by Moreau, namely, 
 that if these conditions are met with without being united to a 
 certain expression, and to the most complete combination of 
 the elements of beauty of countenance, they frequently give 
 an air of insensibility and of mental weakness, which greatly 
 enfeebles the impression that a first view had caused. 
 
224 - 
 
 second SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 ness which is connected with it, is a remarkable 
 characteristic of the vital system in woman.— 
 While this facilitates the adaptation of the loco¬ 
 motive system to every change, it at the same 
 time obliterates the projection of the muscles, and 
 invests the whole figure with rounded and beautiful 
 forms. 
 
 It has been well observed that the principal 
 effect of such forms upon the observer, must be 
 referred to the faculties which they reveal; for, as 
 remarked by Roussel, if we examine the greater 
 part of the attributes which constitute beauty, if 
 reason analyse that which instinct judges at a 
 glance, we shall find that these attributes have a 
 reference to real advantages for the species. A 
 light shape, supple movements, whence spring 
 brilliance and grace, are qualities which please, 
 because they announce the good condition of the 
 individual who possesses them, and the greater 
 degree of aptitude for the functions which that 
 individual ought to fulfil. 
 
 Beauty, then, of the nutritive system in woman 
 depends especially upon these fundamental facts, 
 and those tendencies of structure which thus dis¬ 
 tinguish her from man. 
 
 In the woman possessing this species of beauty, 
 therefore, the face is generally rounded, to give 
 greater room to the cavities connected with nutri- 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 225 
 
 tion;—the eyes are generally of the softest azure, 
 which is similarly associated ;—the neck is often 
 rather short, in order intimately to connect the 
 head with the nutritive organs in the trunk ;— 
 the shoulders are softly rounded, and owe any 
 breadth they may possess rather to the expanded 
 chest, containing these organs, than to any bony 
 or muscular size of the shoulders themselves; — 
 the bosom, a vital organ, in its luxuriance seems 
 laterally to protrude on the space occupied by the 
 arms;—the waist, though sufficiently marked, is, 
 as it were, encroached on by that plumpness of 
 all the contiguous parts which the powerful nu¬ 
 tritive system affords ;—the haunches are greatly 
 expanded for the vital purposes of gestation and 
 parturition;—the thighs are large in proportion ; 
 — but the locomotive organs, the limbs and arms, 
 tapering and becoming delicate, terminate in feet 
 and hands which, compared with the ample trunk, 
 are peculiarly small;—the complexion, dependent 
 upon nutrition, has the rose and lily so exquisitely 
 blended, that we are surprised it should defy the 
 usual operation of the elements;—and there is a 
 luxuriant profusion of soft and fine flaxen or auburn 
 hair.—The whole figure is soft and voluptuous in 
 the extreme. 
 
 To this class belong all the more feminine, soft, 
 and passively voluptuous women. 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 This species of beauty is illustrated in Plates IX., 
 X., XI.—These illustrate the vital system as fully 
 developed in forms of considerable breadth.—The 
 kind of beauty characterized by them is seen 
 chiefly in the Saxon races of our eastern coast; 
 and it is certainly more frequent in women of short 
 stature. 
 
 The vital system is peculiarly the system of 
 woman ; and so truly is this the case, that any 
 great employment, either of the locomotive or 
 mental organs, deranges the peculiar functions of 
 woman, and destroys the characteristics of her sex. 
 
 Women who greatly occupy the locomotive 
 organs, acquire a coarse and masculine appear¬ 
 ance ; and so well is this incompatibility of power 
 in the use of locomotive organs with the exercise of 
 vital ones, known to the best female dancers, that, 
 during the time of their engagements, they generally 
 live apart from their husbands. 
 
 As to intellectual ladies, they either seldom be¬ 
 come mothers, or they become intellectual when 
 they cease to be mothers. 
 
 These few facts are worth a thousand hypo¬ 
 theses and dreams, however amiable they may be. 
 
 The vital system is relatively largest in little 
 women, especially after they have been mothers. 
 The shorter stature of woman ensures, indeed, in 
 almost all, a relative excess of the vital system 
 
IX 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 227 
 
 after, if not before, they become mothers; for, 
 whatever the stature, the mammae, abdomen, &c., 
 necessarily expand. In those of short stature, these 
 parts, of course, become nearly as large as in the 
 tall; and this circumstance causes them to touch on 
 the limits of each other in little women. 
 
 As, in pregnancy and suckling, the abdomen and 
 mammae necessarily expand, and as they would 
 afterwards collapse and become wrinkled, were not 
 a certain degree of plumpness acquired, that ac¬ 
 quisition is essential to beauty in mothers. Mea¬ 
 greness in them, accordingly, becomes deformity. 
 
 A French writer indeed says, “Most of our 
 fashionables are extremely slender; they have 
 constituted this an essential to beauty; leanness 
 is in France necessary to the air elegant ” It 
 must be remembered, however, that the vital sys¬ 
 tem—that which we have just said is peculiarly the 
 system of woman, is, in its most beautiful parts, 
 peculiarly defective in France ; and that, owing in 
 a great measure to that circumstance, the women of 
 France are amongst the ugliest in Europe. — But of 
 that in its proper place. 
 
 FIRST VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 It may here be observed, that the varieties of 
 beauty of the locomotive system, and also those of 
 
 q 2 
 
228 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 beauty of the mental system, are easily explicable, 
 because these systems are, in some respects, more 
 limited and simple. The varieties of beauty of the 
 vital system are, on the contrary, more difficult of 
 explanation, because that system is, in some respects, 
 more diffused and complicated. 
 
 Even the preparatory vital organs and functions 
 differ somewhat in the two sexes. 
 
 Woman has frequently a smaller number of molar 
 teeth than man ; those called wisdom teeth not 
 always appearing. Mastication is also less energetic 
 in woman. 
 
 The stomach, in woman, is much smaller; the 
 appetite for food is less; hunger does not appear 
 to press her so imperiously ; and her consumption 
 of food is much less considerable.* Hence in¬ 
 dubitable cases of long abstinence from food, have 
 generally occurred in females. 
 
 In the choice and the preference of certain ali¬ 
 ments, woman also differs much from man. In 
 general, women prefer light and agreeable food, 
 which flatters the palate by its perfume and its 
 savour. Their appetites are also much more varied. 
 
 Women, whom vicious habits have not de¬ 
 praved, use also beverages less abundantly than 
 
 * Statistical results in relation to the supply of hospitals 
 and prisons, carry the expense of a man much beyond that of a 
 
 woman. 
 

 X. 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM, 
 
 229 
 
 men. Fermented, vinous and spirituous beverages 
 are indeed used only by the monsters engendered 
 in the corruption of towns—amidst the insane dis¬ 
 sipation of the rich, or the wretched and pitiable 
 suffering of the poor ; and both are then brought 
 to one humiliating level, marked by the red and 
 pimpled, or the pallid face, the swimming eye, the 
 haggard features, the pestilential breath. The 
 scarf skin in these cases divides all that may be 
 worthy from all that is utterly worthless: the 
 worthy part may be external to the cuticle, in sub¬ 
 stantial, though polluted clothing; the worthless is 
 the yet living portion, which, whether called body 
 or soul, is no longer worth picking off a dunghill. 
 
 Digestion in woman is made, however, with great 
 rapidity; and the whole canal interested in that 
 process possesses great irritability. 
 
 The absorbent vessels in woman are much more 
 developed, and seem to enjoy a more active vi¬ 
 tality. The circumstances of pregnancy and suck¬ 
 ling appear also to augment the energy of these 
 vessels. 
 
 The first modification, therefore, of this spe¬ 
 cies of beauty, is that in which the digestive and 
 absorbent system is small but active; for the great 
 purpose of life in woman is secretion, whether it 
 regard the formation of the superficial adipose 
 substance which invests her with beautiful and 
 
230 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 attractive forms, or the nutrition of the new being 
 which is the object of her attractions and of her life. 
 
 Hence it is that women naturally and instinc¬ 
 tively affect abstemiousness and delicacy of appetite. 
 Hence it is that they compress the waist, and en¬ 
 deavour to render it slender. 
 
 SECOND VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Women have, in greater abundance than men, 
 several of the liquids which enter into the com¬ 
 position of the body. They appear to have a 
 greater quantity of blood; and they certainly 
 have more frequent and more considerable hemor¬ 
 rhages. There is less force in the circulation and 
 respiration; but the heart beats more rapidly. 
 The pulse also is less full, but it is more quick 
 and more firm. 
 
 In woman, the purer lily and more vivid rose of 
 complexion depend on various causes. 
 
 It would appear that, in women, the blood is 
 in general carried less abundantly to the surface 
 and to the extremities, where also the white vessels 
 are more developed ; and that, to this, as well as to 
 the subjacent adipose substance, the skin owes its 
 whiteness. 
 
 In youth, however, one of the constituent parts 
 of the skin, the reticular tissue, or whatever the 
 substance under the scarf-skin may be called, ap- 
 
if 
 
 3 
 

THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 231 
 
 pears to be more expanded, especially in women ; 
 and it would seem that this tissue is then filled 
 with a blood which is less dark, and which forms 
 the colouring of youth. This, differently modified 
 by the scarf-skin, gives the blue, the purple, and 
 all the tints formed by these and the colour of the 
 skin. Where the vessels are more patent, and the 
 skin more thin, delicate and transparent, as in the 
 cheeks, the hue of the rose is cast over that of the 
 lily. In addition to this, the slightest emotions of 
 surprise, of pleasure, of love, of shame, of fear, 
 often diversify all these tints. 
 
 Lightness of complexion, however, is probably 
 dependent more particularly on the arterial circu¬ 
 lation, and darkness of complexion on the venous 
 circulation ; for we know that in fairer woman the 
 arteries possess greater energy, while in darker man 
 the veins are more developed, larger and fuller. 
 
 Further confirmation of this is afforded by an 
 observation, which physiologists have neglected to 
 make, that the kidneys, receiving arterial blood, 
 are the artery-relieving glands, while the liver, re¬ 
 ceiving venous blood, is the vein-relieving gland. 
 Now, it is certain that, in cold climates, the urinary 
 secretion and fairness prevail; while, in hot cli¬ 
 mates, the hepatic secretion and darkness pre¬ 
 vail. Many physiologists have indeed made the 
 insulated remark, that the dark complexion has 
 
232 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 much to do with the hepatic secretion. The more 
 abundant urinary and hepatic secretions, however, 
 may not be the causes, but only concomitant 
 effects of the same cause with fairness and dark¬ 
 ness of complexion. 
 
 The second modification, therefore, of this 
 species of beauty, is that in which the circulating 
 vessels, being moderately active and finely ramified, 
 bestow upon the skin a whiteness, a transparency, 
 and a complexion, which are necessary to beauty. 
 
 The whiteness, the transparency, and the colour 
 of the skin have, in all highly civilized nations, 
 been deemed essential conditions of beauty. 
 
 The ancients regarded whiteness, in particular, 
 as the distinctive character of beauty; and they 
 estimated that character so highly, that the name of 
 Venus, from the Celtic ven, ben, or ban, signifies 
 white, or whiteness ; and Venus herself is said to be 
 fair and golden haired. 
 
 Among the civilized moderns, also, a taste 
 which women seek always to satisfy, is that for 
 whiteness of the skin; hence the white lily, new 
 fallen snow, white marble, or alabaster, are the 
 images which poetry employs, when the colour of a 
 woman is its subject. So greatly, indeed, does white¬ 
 ness contribute to beauty, that many women deemed 
 beautiful by us, have little other right to that epi¬ 
 thet except what they derive from a beautiful skin. 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 233 
 
 THIRD VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 The branches of the great artery of the body, 
 the aorta, supplying the abdomen and pelvis, are 
 larger in woman than in man, as well as more 
 habitually liable to variation in the quantity of 
 their contents. The quantity of blood, also, which 
 passes to the abdomen, is greater. 
 
 At the same time, the excretions are generally 
 less in woman. Hippocrates says, “ Nam corpus 
 muliebre minus dissipatur quam virile the ex¬ 
 penditure of the body of woman is less than that 
 of man. 
 
 It is evident, then, that the secretions, nutrition 
 in particular, must be greater. We actually know 
 them to be so. 
 
 But the nourishment of the organs concerned 
 in locomotion is less active, and that of the cellular 
 and adipose substance is generally more active 
 than in man. And on this, important conse¬ 
 quences depend. 
 
 Woman is subject to crises which would destroy 
 all her organs, if they offered too powerful a re¬ 
 sistance. Some parts of her body are exposed to 
 great shocks, to alternate extensions, compressions, 
 and reductions, which could not take place with 
 impunity, but by means of this predominance of 
 the cellular and adipose structure. 
 
234 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 The cellular expansion, the general basis of the 
 structure, appears then to be more abundant in 
 woman, more lax and yielding, more dilated and 
 fuller of liquids; and it is by yielding gradually, 
 by decomposing and weakening shocks by means 
 of the general suppleness of the different organs, 
 thus procured, that nature seems, in woman, to 
 avoid, or to destroy, every hurtful effort. 
 
 It is observed, moreover, that certain parts, 
 naturally more loose, receive into all their vessels 
 a more considerable quantity of liquid, and assume 
 a particular enlargement, at the moment when 
 their sympathy with the uterus causes them to 
 enter into action in concert with it; and it is 
 also observed that they dilate more easily during 
 pregnancy. 
 
 It is thus, then, that nature gives to all the parts 
 of woman that suppleness which renders her ca¬ 
 pable of easily yielding to the great revolutions 
 which affect her organization in regard to repro¬ 
 duction, as well as mark the different periods of 
 her life. 
 
 The great development of the cellular and fatty 
 tissue in woman is illustrated by the remarkable 
 fact, that anciently the Romans, in order to burn 
 the bodies of dead men, were obliged to join to 
 them those of women, the fat of which greatly 
 facilitated combustion. 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 235 
 
 Now, with the great purposes described above, 
 beauty is naturally associated. It is principally 
 this excess of the cellular and fatty tissues which 
 gives to the members of woman those round and 
 beautiful outlines, that soft and polished surface, 
 which the body of man does not possess. 
 
 In every part, however, of the human figure, as 
 observed by Reynolds, “ when not spoiled by too 
 great corpulency, will be found distinctness, the 
 parts never appearing uncertain or confused, or as 
 a musician would say, slurred; and all those 
 smaller parts which are comprehended in the 
 larger compartment are still found to be there, 
 however marked.” 
 
 Now, while all this is the case, it appears that 
 the true skin is much thinner and more delicate in 
 woman than in man, and that it derives more or 
 less of its clear whiteness from the quantity of fat 
 which is below it; for meagreness inevitably tar¬ 
 nishes and dries it. Hence to possess a fine, soft, 
 white and fresh skin, it is also indispensable to 
 possess plumpness. 
 
 In relation to this purer white, it must also be 
 observed, that transpiration, which might soil it, 
 appears to be much less abundant in woman ; and 
 that the liver or vein-relieving gland, is very large. 
 The excretions of the skin in women are indeed 
 chiefly limited to certain parts ; and it is thence 
 
236 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 that it has in various parts, an odour which a 
 French writer observes “ it is difficult to describe, 
 but which an exercised sense of smell easily suc¬ 
 ceeds in distinguishing in women who fully en¬ 
 joy all the attributes of their sex, and who are 
 women even in the atmosphere which exhales 
 from them.” 
 
 While the skin is thus more white in women, 
 it is also more transparent. The reticular tissue, 
 or substance interposed between the true skin and 
 scarf-skin, appears to have more clearness and 
 turgescence, especially on the face, where, under 
 the influence of various emotions, it easily permits 
 a passage to the blood, as we see in blushing. It 
 is in youth that this turgescence and clearness are 
 most evident. 
 
 Hence the skin in woman less conceals the 
 veins, of which the colour, only enfeebled or mo¬ 
 dified by the skin, “ gives all those shades of 
 azure which the charmed eye follows with so 
 much pleasure on the surface of the bosom and 
 of all the parts where the skin has least of thick¬ 
 ness.” 
 
 All this constitutes freshness, or animation, 
 which is nearly synonymous with health, and with¬ 
 out which there is no beauty. When that quality, 
 as observed by Roussel, “ is wanting, all other 
 attractions strike but feebly, because the prompt 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 237 
 
 judgment, which instinct suggests, warns us that 
 the woman whose person does not present all the 
 characters of perfect health, is in a disposition 
 little favourable to the plan of nature, relatively 
 to the maintenance of the species.” 
 
 The whiteness and the animation of the skin, 
 however, do not alone constitute its beauty: there 
 is still another quality which is absolutely neces¬ 
 sary to it. This is the softness and the polish 
 which, as the reader has seen, is one of the first 
 conditions of physical beauty. In woman, this 
 is probably derived from a slight degree of olea¬ 
 ginous secretion. Hence she has few asperities of 
 the skin, especially on the surface of the bosom, 
 on the inside of the thighs, where the skin is ex¬ 
 cessively smooth, and elsewhere. 
 
 Brown women, who probably have more of this 
 oleaginous secretion, are said to possess in a greater 
 degiee the polish of skin which gives impressions 
 so agreeable to the organ of touch ; and hence 
 Winckelmann has said that persons who prefer 
 brown women to fair ones, allow themselves to be 
 captivated by the touch rather than the sight.* 
 
 Quegli che pieferisce la bruna non nial s’appone certa- 
 mente, se piu del tatto che dallo sguardo si lasci attrarre; 
 poiche generalmente la pelle d’una mano bruna (quando tal sia 
 naturalmente, e non per l’azione del sole e dell’ aria) e piu 
 dilicata e morbida che quella d’una mano Candida.”— Storia 
 delle Arti del Disegno. 
 
238 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 There is reason, however, to doubt the accuracy of 
 this. Brown women appear to have greater soft¬ 
 ness, but less smoothness of skin. 
 
 The body of woman is nearly deprived of hairs 
 upon all parts, except the head, axillae, &c.; and 
 the hair of her head is generally long, fine, and 
 flexible. 
 
 The quantity and the colour of the hair is always 
 in relation to the constitution of the individual 
 to which it belongs, and generally to the temjiera- 
 ture of the place. The people of northern coun¬ 
 tries have the hair of a silky fineness and of sur¬ 
 prising length. 
 
 The hair which is most admired is not only 
 very fine and flexible, but light coloured. Fair 
 golden hair was, of all its tints, that which the 
 ancient artists preferred. 
 
 In woman, the hair of the head whitens and falls 
 later than in man. 
 
 It is curious that, in regard to the hair, the dis¬ 
 tinctive characters of the sexes should not always 
 have been preserved. Though nature gives long 
 hair to woman, it has sometimes been the fashion 
 to wear it short; and though man has naturally 
 shorter hair, it has sometimes been the fashion 
 to cherish its growth, and to shave the beard 
 from his face. The latter has especially been the 
 case in degenerate and effeminate times ; and this 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 239 
 
 has sometimes been accompanied by remarkable 
 consequences. 
 
 One of the greatest misfortunes, says a Frencli 
 writer, which France ever had to lament, the di¬ 
 vorce of Louis le Jeune from Elinor of Guyenne, 
 resulted from the fashion, which this prince wished 
 to introduce, of shaving his chin and cropping his 
 head. The queen, his wife, who appears to have 
 possessed, with a masculine beauty, considerable 
 acuteness of intellect, observed with some dis¬ 
 pleasure, that she imagined herself to have 
 espoused a monarch, not a monk. The obstinacy 
 of Louis in shaving himself, and the horror con¬ 
 ceived by Elinor at the sight of a beardless chin, 
 occasioned France the loss of those fine provinces 
 which constituted the dowry of this princess ; and 
 which, devolving to England by a second marriage, 
 became the source of wars which desolated France 
 during 400 years. 
 
 The habit of wearing the beard is a manly and 
 noble one. Nature made it distinctive of the male 
 and female; and its abandonment has commonly 
 been accompanied not only by periods of ge¬ 
 neral effeminacy, but even by the decline and 
 fall of states. They were bearded Romans who 
 conquered the then beardless Greeks; they were 
 bearded Goths who vanquished the then beardless 
 Romans ; and they are bearded Tartars who now 
 
440 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 promise once more to inundate the regions oc¬ 
 cupied by the shaven and effeminate people of 
 western Europe. 
 
 In further illustration of the manliness of this 
 habit we may observe, that throughout Europe, 
 wars have generally led to its temporary and par¬ 
 tial introduction, as at the present day. Those 
 assuredly blunder, who ridicule the wearing of 
 the beard. Silly affectation, on the contrary, is im¬ 
 putable only to those who, by removing the beard, 
 take the trouble so far to emasculate themselves! 
 and who think themselves beautified by an un¬ 
 natural imitation of the smoother face of woman ! 
 
 As appendages of the skin, the nails may here 
 be noticed. Their beauty consists in their figure, 
 their surface, and their colour. 
 
 By their figure, they serve as a defence to the 
 delicate extremities of the fingers, which would 
 otherwise be easily hurt against hard bodies. 
 They form at once shields and supporting arches 
 to the fingers; and they give facility in laying 
 hold of bodies which would escape, from their 
 smallness. They ought accordingly to be arched, 
 and to extend as far as the flesh which terminates 
 the fingers.—The form of the nails depends much 
 on the care employed in cutting them during in¬ 
 fancy, and still more on the mode of employing 
 the hand. 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 241 
 
 The. nails ought to be smooth and polished, 
 somewhat transparent, and rose-coloured. Their 
 rosy colour seems to show that their texture has 
 less density and more transparence. 
 
 It is in this view of the nutritive system and 
 the characteristics which render it beautiful, and 
 especially after this portion of it which regards 
 the organs and functions of secretion, that the 
 mammse and their beauty should be considered. 
 
 In woman, the bust is smaller and more rounded 
 than in man ; and it is distinguished by the volume 
 and the elegant form of the bosom. 
 
 The external and elevated position of the mam¬ 
 mae is by far the most suitable for a nursling, 
 which, no longer deriving subsistence from within 
 the mother, nor yet able of itself to find it without, 
 must be gently and softly borne toward her; an 
 admirable position, says a French writer, “ which, 
 in keeping the infant under the eyes and in the 
 arms of the mother, establishes between them an 
 interesting exchange of tenderness, of cares, and of 
 innocent caresses, which enables the one the better 
 to express its wants, and the other to enjoy the 
 sacrifices which she makes, in continually contem¬ 
 plating their object.” 
 
 According to Buffon, in order that the manurne 
 be well placed, it is necessary that the space be¬ 
 tween them should be as great as that from the 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 mammae to the middle of the depression between 
 the clavicles, so that these three points form an 
 equilateral triangle. 
 
 The two portions of the mammae should be well 
 detached. The whole presents in beautiful models, 
 more elegance than volume; and the areola, it 
 may be observed, is red in fair women, and deeper 
 coloured in brown ones. 
 
 Winckelmann observes that, in the antique 
 statues, the mammae terminate gently in a point, 
 and that they have always virginal forms, as a 
 consequence of the system of the ancient artists, 
 which consists in not recalling in the ideal the 
 wants and the accidents of humanity. 
 
 Finally, on this particular head, I must observe 
 that the reproduction of the species is, in woman, 
 the most important object of life, and that every¬ 
 thing in her physical organization has evident 
 reference to it. Of all the passions in woman, 
 says Richerand, “love has the greatest sway: 
 it has even been said to be her only passion. 
 All the others are modified by it, and receive 
 from it a peculiar cast, which distinguishes 
 them from those of man . . . Fontenelle used to 
 say of the devotion of some women, ‘ One may 
 see that love has been here.’ It has been said, 
 in speaking of St. Theresa, ‘ To love God is still 
 to love.’ Thomas maintains that, ‘ With women 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 243 
 
 a man is more than a nation.’ ‘ Love,’ says 
 Madame cle Stael, ‘ is but an episode in the life 
 of man; it is the whole history of the life of 
 woman.’ ” 
 
 The third modification, therefore, of this 
 species of beauty, is that in which the secreting 
 vessels being active, not only cause the plump¬ 
 ness, &c., necessary to beauty, but furnish the 
 mammary and uterine secretions, on which pro¬ 
 geny is dependent. This must inevitably be fol¬ 
 lowed by moderate excretions. 
 
 It should not pass unobserved that there exist, 
 in some women, a fair skin and dark hair, forming 
 a rather extraordinary and striking combination. 
 As such women have the skin remarkably smooth 
 and moist, this is probably connected with some 
 peculiarity of secretion and excretion. 
 
 It is evidently the union of all that is good in 
 these varieties which renders beauty in the vital 
 system perfect. 
 
 This is illustrated, though not strongly, in the 
 Venus de Medici.—See the Frontispiece. 
 
 This union is nowhere so frequently to be seen 
 as in England and in Holland. 
 
 It is curious that cleanliness among women 
 r 2 
 
244 
 
 SECOND SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 seems necessarily to increase with the develop¬ 
 ment of this system; and that, in general, dirti¬ 
 ness increases as we pass from England and 
 Holland, towards France, Italy, Spain and Por¬ 
 tugal, even among women of the highest con¬ 
 dition. 
 
 Of the temperaments of the ancients, which, as 
 already said, are only partial views of some of the 
 varieties I am now describing, two, the phlegmatic 
 temperament and the sanguine temperament , appear 
 to belong fundamentally to this species. It has 
 been supposed, that the first affects the absor¬ 
 bent, the second the circulating system. They 
 appear to me to be exactly opposite affections of 
 the whole nutritive system at least. 
 
 The phlegmatic temperament may exist in both 
 sexes. The causes which tend to develop it, are 
 infancy, humidity with cold, the absence of light, 
 indolence, and the feeble influence of the repro¬ 
 ductive functions upon the general system. 
 
 In this temperament, there exists an excess in 
 the proportions of the absorbent vessels; the 
 pulse is weak, slow, and soft; there is a turges- 
 cence of the cellular tissue, and a more marked 
 development of the glands ; the internal stimu¬ 
 lants, having less energy than in the other tem- 
 
THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 245 
 
 peraments, life is less active, and all its actions 
 are more or less languid; even the uterus is not 
 endowed with suitable energy. 
 
 But these characteristics are not confined to the 
 nutritive system : they extend to the thinking one. 
 The attention is not continuous ; the perceptions 
 succeed with some difficulty; the memory is not 
 to be trusted; the imagination is weak ; and the 
 propensities, the appetites, and the passions are 
 so languid, as to be scarcely capable of troubling 
 the quietude and the indolence which depend on 
 such a constitution. 
 
 These characteristics of the phlegmatic temper¬ 
 ament present to us forms more rounded and less 
 expressive, a general softness, a feeble colour ol 
 the skin, a sort of etiolation, a pale countenance, 
 a light and abundant hair, and, generally, an in¬ 
 surmountable inclination to sloth, averse alike to 
 labours of the mind and body. 
 
 It has been observed, that the sanguine tem¬ 
 perament, so generally met with among northern 
 nations, is the necessary consequence of the con¬ 
 tinual and very energetic re-action of the powers 
 of circulation, against the effects of external cold ; 
 that it is only by the constant activity of the heart 
 and vessels that calorification can be effected with 
 the necessary vigour; and that the effects of this 
 redoubled action are the same to the organs of cir- 
 
246 
 
 THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 culation as to the muscles, under the influence of 
 volition; exertion in both, increasing the power 
 of the organs exerted. 
 
 In the sanguine temperament, the lymphatic, 
 circulating, and secreting systems appear to be in 
 a sort of equilibrium ; the chest is larger, and the 
 lungs more voluminous ; the circulation is more 
 rapid ; the arterial predominance is obvious ; the 
 pulse is sharp, frequent, and regular; the com¬ 
 plexion is ruddy; all the vital actions are ex¬ 
 tremely easy ; and the health is rarely altered. 
 
 The mental functions correspond. The concep¬ 
 tion is quick ; the memory is prompt; the ima¬ 
 gination is lively; the judgment has more readi¬ 
 ness than depth and extent; the mind, easily 
 affected by the impressions of outward objects, 
 passes rapidly from one idea to another; the tastes, 
 propensities, appetites, passions, are equally ephe¬ 
 meral ; and there is much activity, but the strength 
 is soon exhausted. 
 
 In persons of this temperament, the countenance 
 is animated; the hair is fair, and inclining to ches- 
 nut; the shape is good; the form is softened, 
 though distinct; and the muscles are of tolerable 
 consistence, and moderate development. The 
 whole appearance is generally so amiable, that 
 this temperament may be called that of health, 
 beauty, and happiness. 
 

 THE NUTRITIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 247 
 
 In the women who present the attributes of 
 their sex with the greatest unity, we distinguish, 
 especially during youth and adult age, the traits 
 of the sanguine temperament, which may be re¬ 
 garded as the most suitable to the organization 
 of woman. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY.—BEAUTY OF THE 
 THINKING SYSTEM. 
 
 In woman, the organs of sense are proportionally 
 larger, and the sensibility is more quick and deli¬ 
 cate than in man. 
 
 Hence, also, the mental quickness and delicacy 
 of woman are greater. Her perceptions succeed 
 with rapidity and intenseness; and the last of 
 them generally predominates. In well organized 
 women, accordingly, the forehead and the observing 
 faculties are peculiarly developed. 
 
 The general nervous system of woman is like¬ 
 wise far more mobile than that of man. 
 
 Beauty of the thinking system in woman de¬ 
 pends especially upon these fundamental facts, 
 and those tendencies of structure, which thus dis¬ 
 tinguish her from man. 
 
 In the woman possessing this species of beauty, 
 accordingly, the greater development of its upper 
 part gives to the head, in every view, a pyriform 
 appearance ; — the face is generally oval; — the 
 

XU. 
 
THE THINKING SYSTEM. 
 
 249 
 
 high and pale forehead announces the excellence 
 of the observing faculties ;—the intensely expres¬ 
 sive eye is full of sensibility;—in the lower fea¬ 
 tures, modesty and dignity are often united;— 
 she has not the expanded bosom, the general 
 plumpness, or the beautiful complexion of the 
 second species of beauty ;—and she boasts easy 
 and graceful motion, rather than the elegant pro¬ 
 portion of the first.—The whole figure is charac¬ 
 terized by intellectuality and grace. 
 
 This species of beauty is less proper to woman, 
 —less feminine, than the preceding. It is not 
 the intellectual system, but the vital one, which 
 is, and ought to be most developed in woman. 
 
 This species of beauty is tolerably well illus¬ 
 trated in Plates XII., XIII., and XIV.—For all 
 inferiority to what these might be, the difficulty, 
 or rather the impossibility, of procuring proper 
 persons at the Life-academy, will fully account. A 
 more suitable subject would, in general, be less 
 plump, and would present outlines more elegant 
 and delicate. 
 
 FIRST VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 In woman, the nervous extremities appear to 
 be larger than in man ; a pulpy appearance is more 
 remarkable in them; and the papillae in which 
 they terminate, appear to have less rigidity. 
 
250 
 
 THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 The organs of sense are proportionally larger, 
 and more delicately outlined. There is indeed in 
 woman more development in the organs of sensa¬ 
 tion, than in that of understanding, reasoning, and 
 judging; whilst the contrary is the case in man. 
 The sensations, accordingly, are in woman more 
 acute, and their minute differences are more easily 
 discerned. Man reflects more than he feels: 
 woman always feels more than she reflects. 
 
 The first modification, therefore, of this 
 species of beauty, is that in which the develop¬ 
 ment of the organs of sense is proportionally 
 large, and the sensibility greater. 
 
 It ought to be observed, that though, in woman, 
 when well organized, the whole head is propor¬ 
 tionally less than in man, yet the organs of sense 
 will be found to be proportionally larger. This 
 sufficiently indicates the importance of such pro¬ 
 portional development. Upon it, indeed, depend 
 that increased sensibility and quickness of ob¬ 
 servation, which are essential to the female cha¬ 
 racter. 
 
 SECOND VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES 
 OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Of all parts of the brain in woman, when well 
 formed, the forehead, especially, is found to be 
 large. Without this, she would have sensibility 
 
XHI 
 
the thinking system. 
 
 251 
 
 without observation, a most unhappy condition of 
 the nervous system. 
 
 In woman, the brain partakes of the softness ot 
 all the other parts of her structure. The cellular 
 tissue which covers it, and which descends be¬ 
 tween its convolutions, is more abundant, mucous, 
 and loose. 
 
 The mind, correspondingly, is more impressed 
 by any new object of thought; the whole neivous 
 system is more extensively affected by impres¬ 
 sions on the brain; the propensity to emotion is 
 stronger, and women are more habitually under 
 its influence. 
 
 The intimate connexion of the thinking, with a 
 peculiar modification of the reproductive faculties, 
 inspires into woman the want of maternity, which 
 is more powerful than life, and which renders her 
 capable of every sacrifice. Associated with this, 
 are her affection, tenderness, and compassion. 
 
 Upon the whole, sensibility in woman is greater 
 than understanding; the involuntary play of the 
 imagination, than its regulated combinations ; and 
 passion, generally of the gentler kind, than resolve 
 or determination. She has, therefore, more finesse 
 and activity, than depth or force of thought; and 
 her nervous system is also more frequently de-. 
 ranged by accidents unknown to man. 
 
 As the calvarium forms the superior and pos- 
 
252 
 
 THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 terior part of the head, and contains the brain, 
 its degree of development indicates corresponding 
 cerebral capacity, and excellence of intellectual 
 faculty. The conformation of this part is, there¬ 
 fore, of great importance in the analysis of beauty. 
 
 The extent of the brain, anteriorly, is measured 
 by the different degrees of the opening of an angle, 
 which Camper has called the facial angle; and 
 so far it is favourable to woman well conformed ; 
 but it gives no notion of the magnitude of the 
 brain superiorly, posteriorly, or laterally. 
 
 The brain of woman, however, in general, ex¬ 
 tends a good deal posteriorly as well as anteriorly, 
 though it narrows in the former of these direc¬ 
 tions ; and, to the proportional length thus ac¬ 
 quired, is owing that intensity in her functions, 
 which I have just described. Superiorly, centrally, 
 and laterally, the brain of woman is generally 
 much less than that of man; and hence the want 
 of elevation, depth, and endurance in her mental 
 faculties.* 
 
 Upon the whole, the brain of woman is less 
 than that of man, and it is especially less in its 
 superior, central, and, intellectually considered, 
 more important portions. 
 
 The second modification, therefore, of this 
 
 * See the causes ol‘ this explained in my work on “ Phy¬ 
 siognomy.” 
 

THE THINKING SYSTEM. 
 
 253 
 
 species of beauty, is that in which the develop¬ 
 ment of the brain is proportionally small. This is 
 an evident corollary from what we have just stated 
 as to the first modification of this species ; for it 
 is not possible that the organs of sense should be 
 proportionally large, without the rest of the head 
 being proportionally small. 
 
 This is not quite conformable with the wishes 
 of phrenology ; but we must leave any dispute be¬ 
 tween that art and nature to its own issue. A 
 Venus, moreover, with a small, yet beautifully 
 proportioned head, is often seen to be the mother 
 of a boy who has a large head ; the difference of 
 sex causing a A T ast modification and difference of 
 development. 
 
 THIRD VARIETY OR MODIFICATION OF THIS SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 From what has been already said, it may be 
 concluded that, in action or conduct, women are 
 less guided by intellect, and are more biassed by 
 feeling and emotion ; and it may also be concluded, 
 that all their movements to fulfil the purposes of 
 feeling and emotion are made in a manner more 
 easy and more prompt, though less sustained. 
 This is increased by the ready obedience of the 
 muscular fibre, and the relative shortness of the 
 stature. 
 
 This more easy and less forcible action is per- 
 
254 
 
 THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 fectly conformable physically with the small and 
 elongated form of the cerebel, or organ of the will, 
 in woman; as it is morally with the part which 
 woman performs in life, and her desire to please, 
 while it is that of man to protect and to defend. 
 
 Conformably with the smaller size of the cere¬ 
 bel, and especially with its smaller breadth (the 
 influence of which is explained in the work last 
 referred to), the disposition of woman to sustained 
 exertion, whether mental or bodily, is much less; 
 and hence the character “ varium et mutabile 
 semper foemina.” 
 
 It is, then, the prompt and easily affected sen¬ 
 sibility of woman, not her understanding, or force 
 of mind, which renders her so eminently fit to be 
 interested in infancy, which enables her to sur¬ 
 mount maternal pains by the sentiment of affec¬ 
 tion and pity, and which makes agreeable to her 
 the cares and the details of housekeeping; and it 
 is this which sometimes renders nothing too irk¬ 
 some or too painful for a mother, a wife, or a 
 mistress, to endure. 
 
 Hence, the constitution of woman is perfectly 
 adapted to these functions; hence her existence is 
 more sedentary than man’s; hence she has more 
 gentleness of character than he; and hence she 
 is less acquainted with great crimes. 
 
 The third modification, therefore, of this 
 
THE THINKING SYSTEM. 
 
 255 
 
 species of beauty is that in which the develop¬ 
 ment of the cerebel or organ of the will, as well 
 as the muscles which it actuates, is proportionally 
 small. 
 
 The situation of this considerable organ is in 
 the back and lower part of the head, and may be 
 pretty accurately indicated by saying, that a line 
 passing through it would complete, posteriorly, a 
 longer line passing backward from the nose through 
 the lower part of the ear. 
 
 When this organ, which is that of the will, is 
 high, and more especially when it is large, a de¬ 
 termination and force seems to be given by it to 
 the character, which render it the reverse of femi¬ 
 nine. 
 
 Having spoken here of the ready exercise 
 of the will in woman, and its adaptation to her 
 wish to please, it seems to be here that 
 some circumstances dependent on these should 
 be noticed. 
 
 With this ready exercise of the will and desire 
 to please, are evidently connected the light care¬ 
 lessness, the graceful ease, and the gentle softness 
 which add so much to the power of beauty. 
 Hence artists give to woman the bending form 
 which associates so well with all her character¬ 
 istics ; for all feel, with Hogarth, that undulating 
 lines are more or less formed in all movements 
 
256 
 
 THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 executed with the intention of expressing senti¬ 
 ments of courtesy, respect, benevolence, or love. 
 
 But it is grace that we must especially consider 
 here —grace which directly emanates from this 
 ready exercise of the will and desire to please, 
 especially when combined with observing facul¬ 
 ties so perfect and so perpetually active as those 
 of woman. 
 
 “Gracefulness,” says Burke, “ is an idea not very 
 different from beauty; it consists in much the 
 same thing . . . Gracefulness is an idea belonging 
 to posture and motion. In both these, to be 
 gi aceful, it is requisite that there be no appear¬ 
 ance of difficulty; there is required a small in¬ 
 flexion of the body; and a composure of the 
 paits in such a manner as not to encumber each 
 other, nor to appear divided by sharp and sudden 
 angles. In this ease, this roundness, this deli¬ 
 cacy of attitude, and motion, it is that all the 
 magic of grace consists, and what is called ‘je ne 
 sais quoi.’ ” 
 
 It is not in these mere physical qualities, that 
 all the magic of grace consists, which, in the state 
 of Burke’s knowledge, he might indeed well call 
 1 je ne sais quoi ’! Let the reader hear what is said 
 on this subject by a man who could look a little 
 deeper than Burke, and who owed no fame to the 
 little art of substituting a flash of words for depth 
 
THE THINKING SYSTEM. 
 
 257 
 
 of thought, and serving by it a venal purpose as 
 little as the art itself. 
 
 “ What grace,” says Smith, “ what noble pro¬ 
 priety do we not feel in the conduct of’ those who 
 exert that recollection and self-command which 
 constitute the dignity of every passion, and which 
 bring it down to what others can enter into ! We 
 are disgusted with that clamorous grief, which, 
 without any delicacy, calls upon our compassion 
 with sighs and tears, and importunate lamentation. 
 But we reverence that reserved, that silent and 
 majestic sorrow, which discovers itself only in the 
 swelling of the eyes, in the quivering of the lips 
 and cheeks, and in the distant, but affecting ad¬ 
 dress of the whole behaviour. It imposes the 
 like silence upon us ; we regard it with respect¬ 
 ful attention, and watch over our whole behaviour, 
 lest, by any impropriety, we should disturb that 
 concerted tranquillity which it requires so great an 
 effort to support.” This is eloquence indeed. 
 
 Alison duly appreciates this earliest definition 
 of grace. “ It is,” he says, “ this ‘ recollection 
 and self-command,’ which in such scenes consti¬ 
 tute what even in common language is called the 
 graceful in behaviour or deportment; and it is 
 the expression of the same qualities in the atti¬ 
 tude and gesture, which constitutes, in my appre¬ 
 hension, the grace of such gestures or attitudes . . . 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Wherever, in the movements of the form, self- 
 command or self-possession is expressed, some 
 degree of grace, at least, is always produced. . . 
 Whenever in such motions grace is actually per¬ 
 ceived, I think.it will always be found to be in 
 slow, and, if I may use the expression, in restrained 
 or measured motions. 
 
 “ The motions of the horse, when wild in the 
 pasture, are beautiful; when urged to his speed, 
 and straining for victory, they may be felt as sub¬ 
 lime ; but it is chiefly in movements of a different 
 kind that we feel them as graceful, when, in the 
 impatience of the field, or in the curvetting of 
 the manege, he seems to be conscious of all the 
 powers with which he is animated, and yet to 
 restrain them, from some principle of beneficence 
 or of dignity. Every movement of the stag almost 
 is beautiful, from the fineness of his foim and 
 the ease of his gestures; yet it is not in these 
 or in the heat of the chase that he is graceful: it 
 is when he pauses upon some eminence in the 
 pursuit, when he erects his crested head, and 
 when, looking with disdain upon the enemy who 
 follows, he bounds to the freedom of his hills. 
 It is not, in the same manner, in the rapid speed 
 of the eagle when he darts upon his prey, that 
 we perceive the grace of which his motions are 
 capable. It is when he soars slowly upwards to 
 
THE THINKING SYSTEM. 
 
 259 
 
 the sun, or when he wheels with easy and con¬ 
 tinuous motion in airy circles in the sky. 
 
 “ In the personification which we naturally 
 give to all inanimate objects which are susceptible 
 of movement, we may easily perceive the influence 
 of the same association. We speak commonly, 
 for instance, of the graceful motions of trees, and 
 of the graceful movements of a river. It is never, 
 however, when these motions are violent or ex¬ 
 treme, that we apply to them the term of grace. 
 It is the gentle waving of the tree in slow and 
 measured cadence which is graceful, not the toss¬ 
 ing of its branches amid the storm. It is the slow 
 and easy winding which is graceful in the move¬ 
 ments of the river, and not the burst of the cata¬ 
 ract, or the fury of the torrent. 
 
 “ It is only in the perfection of the human sys¬ 
 tem; in the age when the form has assumed all 
 its powers, and the mind is awake to the con¬ 
 sciousness of all the capacities it possesses, and the 
 lofty obligations they impose, that the reign of 
 physical grace commences; and that the form is 
 capable of expressing, under the dominion of 
 every passion or emotion, the high and habitual 
 superiority which it possesses, either to the allure¬ 
 ments of pleasure or the apprehensions of pain. 
 It is this age, accordingly, which the artists of 
 antiquity have uniformly represented, when they 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 sought to display the perfection of grace, and 
 when they succeeded in leaving their compo¬ 
 sitions as models of this perfection to every suc¬ 
 ceeding age.” 
 
 It is evidently the union of all that is good in 
 the varieties now described which renders beauty, 
 in the thinking system, perfect. 
 
 This is well illustrated in the Minerva of the 
 Giustiniani Gallery, which, in this lespect, is 
 scarcely the less valuable because it is diaped, 
 for it is the head that ever bears the greatest im¬ 
 press of intellectuality.—See Plate XV. 
 
 This union is by no means perfect in the English 
 female head, although, from the considerable de¬ 
 velopment of the forehead and the moderate one 
 of the backhead, the general form of that head 
 is beautiful. As to the French female head, a 
 Frenchman, writing under the name of Count 
 Stendhal, scruples not to say, “ The form of the 
 head in Paris is ugly ; the cranium approaches to 
 that of the ape ; and this occasions the women 
 to have the appearance of age very early m life. 
 The women of Paris differ not, in this respect, 
 from those of France generally. Nearly all have 
 the character here described. 
 
Is 
 
 OTP?;! 
 
TIIE THINKING SYSTEM. 
 
 261 
 
 It is under this species that the nervous tempera¬ 
 ment falls, which is constituted by great sensibility 
 and corresponding mobility, and therefore belongs 
 to the first and the last of those varieties; a tem¬ 
 perament chiefly to be found among women. 
 
 This temperament scarcely exists in the athletic, 
 is weak in the phlegmatic, is moderate in the san¬ 
 guine, and is rather active in the bilious. 
 
 It is characterised by the smallness and emaci¬ 
 ation of the muscles, the quickness and intensity 
 of the sensations, and the suddenness and fickle¬ 
 ness of the determinations. 
 
 It is seldom natural, but commonly depends on 
 a sedentary and inactive life, on a diseased con¬ 
 dition of the brain produced by reading works of 
 imagination, and on habits of sensual indulgence. 
 In confirmation of this, we are told that the Roman 
 ladies became subject to nervous affections only 
 in consequence of those depraved manners which 
 marked the decline of the empire ; and that these 
 affections were extremely common in France in the 
 licentious times preceding the fall of the corrupt 
 and corrupting monarchy. 
 
 Another partial view falling under this species, 
 and properly under the second variety is the cere¬ 
 bral temperament , which results from the energy 
 and influence of the brain. 
 
 This temperament, being thus determined by an 
 
622 
 
 THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY. 
 
 excess in the power of the brain, has been called 
 the temperament of genius. When it is increased 
 by education and habits, the other organs are ge¬ 
 nerally more feeble. 
 
 In woman, the cerebral temperament is more 
 particularly characterised by a predominance of 
 imagination, which is evidently dependent on the 
 organization which has already been described. 
 
 It has been truly observed, that to contribute 
 to the perfection of reason as well as to the pre¬ 
 servation of health, the brain ought to be exer¬ 
 cised and developed in every direction; that the 
 mere exercise of memory carried too far renders 
 persons foolish; that the predominance of imagi¬ 
 nation disposes to nervous affections, and e\en to 
 alienation; that meditation alters the digestive 
 functions; and that the dry and minute contention 
 which business requires, disposes, when joined to a 
 defect of exercise (and I suspect to the vinous ex¬ 
 cesses in which men of business indulge), to apo¬ 
 plexy, and to paralysis. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 “ It is probable,” says Dr. Prichard, “ that the 
 natural idea of the beautiful in the human person 
 has been more or less distorted in almost every 
 nation. Peculiar characters of countenance, in 
 many countries, accidentally enter into the ideal 
 standard. This observation has been made par¬ 
 ticularly of the negroes of Africa, who are said 
 to consider a flat nose and thick lips as principal 
 ingredients of beauty, and we are informed by 
 Pallus that the Kalmucs* esteem no face as 
 handsome which has not the eyes in angular po¬ 
 sition, and the other characteristics of their race. 
 The Aztecs of Mexico have ever preferred a de¬ 
 pressed forehead,! which forms the strongest 
 contrast to the majestic contour of the Grecian 
 busts: the former represented their divinities with 
 
 * Pallas—Voyages en Siberie. 
 
 t Humboldt s Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. 
 
264 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 a head more flattened than it is ever seen among 
 the Caribs, and the Greeks, on the contrary, gave 
 to their gods and heroes a still more unnatural 
 elevation.” 
 
 Knowing, as the reader now does, what con¬ 
 stitutes the worth, the dignity, and the beauty of 
 the various organs, this statement tends to show 
 the value of that standard of beauty which we owe 
 to the Greeks. I proceed to illustrate it in regard 
 to the FACE. 
 
 The beauty of the human countenance is de¬ 
 scribed by various writers, as including the beauty 
 of form, in the various features of the face ; the 
 beauty of colour, in the shades of the complexion ; 
 the beauty of character, in some distinctive and 
 permanent relations ; and the beauty of expression, 
 in some immediate and temporary feeling. 
 
 In regard to the form of the tace, considered 
 as a whole, the opening of the facial angle of 
 Camper, in measuring geometrically the extent 
 of the upper part of the head, marks the develop¬ 
 ment of the brain or organ of thought, and shows 
 the proportion wdiich it bears to the middle and 
 lower part of the face, or to the organs of sense 
 and expression. 
 
 This development of the upper part of the head 
 contributes essentially to beauty, by giving to the 
 whole head that pyriform appearance already 
 
BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR 
 
 265 
 
 described, by which in every view it is larger at the 
 superior part, diminishes gradually as it descends, 
 and terminates by the agreeable outline of the chin. 
 
 In the most beautiful race of men, the facial 
 angle extends to eighty-five degrees, acquiring an 
 increase of ten degrees above the inferior varieties ; 
 the face is diminished ; the eyes are better placed ; 
 the nose assumes a more elegant form ; and all 
 appearance of muzzle vanishes. 
 
 In the Greek ideal head, the development pre¬ 
 senting a facial angle of ninety degrees, confers 
 the highest beauty of the form of the head, the 
 majesty of the forehead, the position of the eyes 
 upon a line which divides the face into two equal 
 parts, the elegant projection of the nose, the ab¬ 
 sence of all tumidity of the lips.—But of that, in 
 the sequel. 
 
 In the face, generally, as observed by Winckel- 
 mann, beauty of form depends greatly upon the 
 profile, and particularly on the line described by 
 the forehead and nose, by the greater or less degree 
 of the concavity or declivity of which, beauty is in¬ 
 creased or diminished. The nearer the profile ap¬ 
 proaches to a straight line, the more majestic, and 
 at the same time softer, does the countenance ap¬ 
 pear, the unity and simplicity of this line being, 
 as in everything else, the cause of this grand, yet 
 soft harmony. 
 
266 
 
 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 The face being the seat of several organs, each 
 must be examined in its turn. 
 
 Winckelmann observes, that “A large high fore¬ 
 head [an excess, in this respect,] was regarded by 
 the ancients as a deformity.” And “ Arnobius 
 says, that those women who had a high forehead, 
 covered a part of it with a fillet.”* The reason of 
 this will afterwards be pointed out. 
 
 The sense of touch resides in all parts of the 
 face, but especially in the lips. It is most perfect, 
 however, at the tips of the fingers. 
 
 A thinner skin permits to the touch of woman 
 more vivacity, delicacy and profoundness. It seizes 
 the details which generally escape the touch of man. 
 It is more easily hurt by hard, rough and angular, 
 cold or hot, bodies. 
 
 Hence woman requires vestments which are 
 light and smooth ; and she enjoys more than man 
 the pleasure of reposing on flocculent substances 
 which softly resist her pressure. 
 
 In the face, the lips are peculiarly the organ of 
 touch. 
 
 Of all the organs of sense, the mouth admits, I 
 believe, of the greatest beauty and the greatest 
 
 * “ Una fronte spaziosa ed alta aveasi dagli antichi in conto 
 d’una deformita .”—Storia clelle Arti. “ Arnobio c’ insegna, 
 che quelle feminine, che avevano la fronte alta, se ne cinge- 
 vano una porzione con una fascia. —Monumenti lncditi. 
 
BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 267 
 
 deformity. Considered in repose, nothing cer¬ 
 tainly is more lovely than this organ when beauti¬ 
 fully formed in a beautiful woman. And in action, 
 during speech, the simplest words passing through 
 it receive a charm altogether peculiar. 
 
 The mouth ought to be small, and not to extend 
 much beyond the nostrils; a large mouth and 
 thick lips are contrary to beauty. The curve of 
 the upper lip is said to have served as a model to 
 the ancient artists for the bow of Love. The 
 lower lip should be most developed, rounded and 
 turned outward ; so as to produce, between it and 
 the chin, that beautiful hollow which assists so 
 much in giving the latter a more perfect rotundity. 
 Both, but especially the upper, should become thin 
 toward the angles of the mouth. 
 
 Although we see many lips without evident and 
 offensive defects, there are very few of them really 
 beautiful; and indeed it is only persons of great 
 delicacy and of refined taste who attach the highest 
 value to perfect beauty of the lips. 
 
 Lips of beautiful form and of vermillion hue, 
 teeth which are small, equal, slightly rounded, 
 white, clean and well arranged, and a pure breath, 
 are the circumstances which constitute a beautiful 
 mouth. 
 
 The sense of taste is more delicate and more 
 exquisite in woman than in man. She accordingly 
 
268 
 
 BEAUTY OF TIIE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 seeks for savours which are less rough and irritating 
 than those which are agreeable to him. 
 
 The nose is the most prominent and conspicuous 
 feature of the face; it is the central fixed point 
 around which are arranged all its other parts: 
 and it is thus essential to the regularity of the 
 features. When these, moreover, are in action, 
 the nose, by its immobility, marks the degree of 
 change which they undergo, and renders intel¬ 
 ligible all the movements produced by admiration, 
 joy, sadness, fear, &c. 
 
 To perfect beauty of the nose, it is necessary 
 that it should be nearly in the same direction with 
 the forehead, and should unite with that part, 
 without leaving more than a slight inflexion to be 
 seen. This constitutes the Greek profile; and 
 the various degrees of deviation from it constitute, 
 as to this organ, the various degenerations from 
 beauty the most consummate to ugliness the most 
 disgusting. 
 
 Nature, says Winckelmann, is sparing of this 
 beauty both in burning climates and in frozen 
 regions.* 
 
 The same writer says, “The flat compressed 
 
 * It is remarkable that, in infants, the nose is almost always 
 flat, and that, in some members of the same family, it always 
 remains so, while, in others, it rises. This is attended by dif¬ 
 ference of function. 
 
BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 269 
 
 nose of the Calmucks, Chinese, and other distant 
 nations, is also a defect, because it destroys the 
 harmony of forms, according to which all the other 
 parts are constructed : nor is there any reason 
 why nature should compress and hollow it, instead 
 of continuing the straight line begun in the fore¬ 
 head.”* The fact is true; the reasoning false, as 
 will be seen in a subsequent chapter, to which 
 this point properly belongs. 
 
 Under the influence of passion, the nostrils ex¬ 
 pand and are drawn upward ; and these two motions 
 are the only ones of which the lower and moveable 
 part of the nose is capable. 
 
 The sense of smell, like that of taste, is more 
 delicate and more exquisite in woman than in 
 man. Woman accordingly enjoys more, and suf¬ 
 fers more, by that sense than man does ; and its 
 influence is said to dispose her more than man to 
 those pleasures which have remarkable relations to 
 that sense. 
 
 To beauty of the eye, magnitude and elongated 
 form contribute more perhaps than colour : if its 
 
 * “ Tale e pure il naso compresso e simo de’ Calmucchi, de’ 
 Cinesi, e d’altre lontane nazioni, poiche guasta 1’ armonia 
 delle forme, secondo la quale tutte le altre parti sono costruite : 
 ne scorgesi ragione alcuna, per cui la Natura abbia dovuto 
 comprimerlo e incavarlo, anziche continuare la linea retta in 
 cominciata dalla f'ronte .”—Sloria delle Arti. 
 
270 
 
 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 form be bad, no colour will render it beautiful. In 
 woman, however, the most beautiful eyes, in rela¬ 
 tion to colour, are those which appear to be blue, 
 hazel, or black. But no colour of the eye is beau¬ 
 tiful without clearness in every part. 
 
 “The more obliquely, and at an angle to each 
 other,” says Winckelmann, “ that the eyes are 
 placed, as in cats, the more their position is 
 removed from the base, or from the funda¬ 
 mental lines of the human face, which form a 
 cross that divides it into four parts, the nose di¬ 
 viding it perpendicularly into two equal parts, 
 and the eyes dividing it horizontally. When the 
 eyes are placed obliquely, they form an angle 
 with a line parallel to that which we suppose 
 to pass through their centre. And this indeed is 
 doubtless the reason why it displeases us to see 
 a mouth which goes awry, because it generally 
 offends the eye to see two lines diverging from 
 each other without any reason. Thus eyes placed 
 obliquely, as may be seen sometimes amongst 
 ourselves, and commonly amongst the Chinese, 
 Japanese, and in Egyptian heads, are an irregu¬ 
 larity and a deformity.”* 
 
 * “ Quanto pin inclinati, e posti ad angolo fra di loro sono 
 gli occhi, come ne’ gatti, tanto pin la loro posizione s’ allontana 
 dal la base ossia dalle linee fondamentali del volto umano, che 
 
BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 271 
 
 Here, again, Winckelmann’s fact is true, and 
 his reasoning false, or rather, perhaps, superficial. 
 The real cause of the deformity of obliquely placed 
 eyes is, that the vital parts of the head prepon¬ 
 derate. The cavities of the upper jaw, which 
 open into the internal nose, are, in the Mongolic 
 races so large, that they raise the cheek-bones, 
 throw the orbit upward at its lateral part, and en¬ 
 croach apparently upon the space which should con¬ 
 tain a nobler organ, the brain. The causes assigned 
 by Winckelmann are but consequences of this. 
 
 The eyelids in woman, when well formed, pre¬ 
 sent the gentlest inflexions. The eye-lashes, when 
 long and silky, form a sign of gentleness, and 
 sometimes of softness. The eye-brows ought to 
 be furnished with fine hairs, arched and sepa¬ 
 rated : if they are too thin, they do not suffi¬ 
 ciently protect the organ of sight: if they unite 
 
 formano una croce la quale lo divide in quattro, tagliando in 
 due parti eguali perpendicolarmente il naso, ed orizzontalmente 
 gli occhi. Se questi sono inclinati vengono a far angolo con 
 una linea parallela a quella che si suppone passare pel loro 
 centro. E questa e pur senza dubbio la cagione per eui displace 
 il vedere una bocca che va un po’ di traverso, poiche general- 
 mente ripugna all’ occhio il vedere due linee, delle quali una 
 dall’ altra diverga senza ragione. Per tanto gli occhi obbliqua- 
 mente posti, che presso di noi pur talora s’ incontrano, e che si 
 vedono ne Cinesi e ne Giapponesi come sulle teste egiziane, 
 sono un’ irregolarita e un difetto.”— Ibid. 
 
272 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 they render the physiognomy sombre : their too 
 marked approximation, and their extreme separa¬ 
 tion, are real deformities. 
 
 The sense of sight in woman is rapid and active; 
 yet, in her, the slow and languid motion of the 
 eye is generally employed, and is more beautiful 
 than a brisk one. Woman requires a mild light, 
 and colours of moderate vividness, rather than 
 otherwise. 
 
 The beauty of the ear is too little regarded. 
 To an experienced eye it presents great beauties, 
 and great deformities, in form, magnitude, and 
 projection. 
 
 The size and prominence of the ear, which cha¬ 
 racterise several nomadic tribes, are contrary to 
 beauty, not merely because they alter the regu¬ 
 larity of the oval of the head, and surcharge its 
 outline with prominences, but because they are 
 in themselves ugly, indicating rather the coarse 
 strength common to inferior animals than the 
 
 delicacy to be found in man. 
 
 In woman, the ear is also more delicate, more 
 sensible, but more feeble than in man. Strong 
 sounds, loud noises, which may be agreeable to 
 the ear of man, are offensive to her. She prefeis 
 soft and tender, gay or pathetic music, to every 
 other; and whatever may be the perfection of her 
 musical education, she also prefers sweet and 
 
BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 273 
 
 tender melody to the most complicated Sclavonic 
 harmony. 
 
 Such are the organs of sense or those of im¬ 
 pression, which form the first and most important 
 portion of the face of woman. — The organs of 
 expression, the muscles of the face, on the con¬ 
 trary, are feeble in her ; and correspondingly feeble 
 and rounded are the bony points to which they 
 are attached. 
 
 Woman presents very little prominence of the 
 frontal sinuses; the cheek-bones display beautiful 
 curves; the edges of the alveoli containing the 
 teeth are much more elliptical than in man ; and 
 the chin is softly rounded. Of the chin, it should 
 be observed that it is a distinctive character of the 
 human species, and is not found in any other ani¬ 
 mal. When well formed, it is full, united, and 
 generally without a dimple; and it passes gently 
 and almost insensibly into the neighbouring parts. 
 In woman especially, the chin ought to be finely 
 rounded ; for when projecting, it expresses, 
 owing to its connexion with muscular action 
 and power, a firmness and a determination which 
 we do not wish to discover in her character. 
 “ The apparent convexity of the cheeks,” says 
 Winckelmann, “ which in many heads appears 
 greater than natural, contributes to this rotundity: 
 
 T 
 
274 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 it is not, however, ideal, but taken from natural 
 beauty.”* 
 
 The muscles of the face express all the shades 
 of emotion and passion, not because such expres¬ 
 sion is the primary, or the proper, object of their 
 motion, but because their various motions adapt 
 the organs to the further purposes required of 
 them in consequence of preceding impressions; 
 and these motions become expressive to us only 
 because we are thus enabled to infer the feeling 
 and purpose of the person in whom they oc¬ 
 cur. This is a fundamental principle of physi¬ 
 ognomy ; and its not being understood has led to 
 many of our errors in that science. 
 
 In woman, the countenance is more rounded, 
 as well as more abundantly furnished with that 
 cellular and fatty tissue which fills all the chasms, 
 effaces all the angles, and unites all the parts by 
 the gentlest transitions. At the same time, the 
 muscles are feebler, more mobile, resigned for a 
 shorter time to the same contraction, and as in¬ 
 constant as the emotions and passions which their 
 rapid play expresses. 
 
 The result of all this is, that the muscles do 
 
 * « A una si fatta rotondita contribuisce 1’ apparente con- 
 vessita delle mascelle, la quale sebbene in molte teste sembra 
 maggiore del naturale, non e pero ideale, ma presa dalla pm 
 bella natura .”—Monumenti Inediti. 
 
BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR 
 
 275 
 
 not profoundly modify the face, which conse¬ 
 quently has not so much of permanent character 
 as that of man, and which permits us more diffi¬ 
 cultly to discover, through the rounded; soft, and 
 shifting parts, the nature of her various feelings. 
 As, however, the abundance of the cellular tissue 
 diminishes with age, and as the sentiments be¬ 
 come at the same time less ephemeral, the phy¬ 
 siognomical character and expression of woman 
 become more decided. 
 
 As to colour of the face, it may be observed 
 that the forehead, the temples, the eyelids, the 
 nose, the upper part of the superior lip, and the 
 lower part of the inferior lip, ought in woman to 
 be of a beautiful and rather opaque white. The 
 approach to the cheeks and the middle of the 
 chin ought to have a slight tint of rose colour, 
 and the middle of the cheeks ought to be alto¬ 
 gether rosy, but of a delicate hue. — Cheeks of 
 an animated white are preferable to those of a 
 red colour, although less beautiful than those of 
 rosy hue. 
 
 With regard to the hair, it may be observed, 
 that sometimes, rising from its bulbs, it turns 
 in irregular rings, and by displaying a forehead 
 rather large, confers a certain sanguine, as well as 
 open, air upon the physiognomy. This, however, 
 is most frequently seen in men, and chiefly in men 
 
 t 2 
 
276 
 
 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 of exuberant vitality, rather than intellectuality : it 
 indeed depends entirely upon the former. 
 
 In other men, and almost always in women, 
 the hair generally divides in a line extending from 
 the crown to the forehead, and falls over the tem¬ 
 ples. The line thus formed, uniting with the 
 median line of the face in general, and that ol 
 the nose in particular, gives to the whole of the 
 features a peculiar symmetry and beauty. 
 
 I have said, already, that symmetry is a cha¬ 
 racteristic of thinking beings, and I have explained 
 the reason of this. The present case admirably 
 illustrates it. This symmetrical arrangement of 
 the hair bestows an intellectual air; and it well 
 may, for, when natural, it derives its tendency to 
 fall on each side, from the top of the head, either 
 from the general elevation of the calvarium, or from 
 the particular elevation of the forehead, which is 
 characteristic of beauty in woman. 
 
 It accordingly announces in the individual 
 higher observing faculties: hence the ancient 
 sculptors never omitted this in their highest 
 personages: hence we find it in the heads of 
 Raffaelle and Guido. 
 
 “A fair hue, £av0o S ,” says Winckelmann, “has 
 ever been regarded as the most beautiful; and 
 flaxen coloured hair was assigned to the most 
 beautiful, not only amongst the Gods, as Apollo 
 
BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 277 
 
 [^'pvcroKo/xxv 1 AtcoWcovo., golden haired Apollo] and 
 Bacchus, but also amongst the heroes : Alexander 
 the Great had flaxen hair.”* The modern Italians 
 called Cupid ‘ II biondo Dio.’ 
 
 Having concluded what I have here to say of 
 the parts of the face, I may observe, that the 
 different effects of the same face , even in a state 
 of repose, have often been observed, never ex¬ 
 plained. I have, however, in another work, shown 
 that the face is composed of motive, nutritive and 
 thinking parts or organs. Now, circumstances 
 bring these variously into action ; and the different 
 effects alluded to, in reality depend on the motive, 
 or the nutritive, or the intellectual, expression 
 being at the time, respectively, most apparent, or 
 most attended to by us. The study of this subject, 
 which I have not space here to develop, is of 
 infinite importance to the man of taste, the physi¬ 
 ognomist, and the artist. The latter cannot easily 
 excel without understanding it. 
 
 Another curious fact, not hitherto observed, is, 
 that though beauty of face is, owing to the power 
 of the vital system, almost universal at a certain 
 age, there is always a faulty feature, which the 
 
 * “ II color biondo, £av0oe, e stato in ogni tempo tenuto pel 
 piu bello ; e bionde chiome furon date ai piu avvenenti non solo 
 fra gli dei, come ad Apollo e a Bacco, ma agli eroi eziandio : 
 Alessandro il Grande av r ea i capelli biondi .”—Storia delle Arti. 
 
278 
 
 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 physiognomists may observe, and which ever con¬ 
 tinues to exaggerate, until it terminate in relative 
 ugliness. Thus we scarcely observe the long 
 upper lip during youth, in some women; and 
 yet it afterwards gives to them the sober grimace 
 of baboons. We admire in youth the spirit of the 
 piercing eye, and aquiline nose in others, to whom 
 these afterwards give the look of so many old 
 hawks. In others, still, we are charmed with the 
 round, rosy and innocent cheeks, which, when 
 they become paler and more pendent, confer on 
 them the aspect either of seals or of mastiffs, ac¬ 
 cording to other circumstances of temper and dis¬ 
 position. I could easily trace these, and many 
 more, from youth to middle age, and illustrate 
 them convincingly, by drawings: but I have no 
 room for it here. 
 
 Each, indeed, of the subjects of the two im¬ 
 mediately preceding paragraphs, is worthy of a 
 volume 5 for the first is as essential to all judg¬ 
 ment of existing beauty at the instant of its being 
 before us, as the second is to all prescience of 
 what beauty will very soon be — to all who have 
 no love for a leap in the dark. 
 
 I add to this chapter but a few words on the 
 very different organization of the head and face, and 
 the very different mind, of the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 Whoever, for the purpose of comparing the heads 
 
BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR 
 
 279 
 
 of these two nations, may walk into the British 
 Museum, will be struck with the difference be¬ 
 tween them. 
 
 The forehead is almost always rather narrow, and 
 rather high, in the most illustrious Greeks; and 
 this could not so uniformly have been so repre¬ 
 sented in sculpture, unless it had been so also in fact. 
 This is verified, in the third room of the Townley 
 collection, by the heads of Homer, Hippocrates, 
 Epicurus, Pericles, &c.—by the almost universal 
 conformation of Greek heads, to which there are 
 but few exceptions : Sophocles, in this room, and 
 Demosthenes, in the eleventh, are rather broader. 
 
 On the contrary, the forehead, the face, the 
 jaws, are excessively broad, and the cranium is 
 depressed and low, in the Romans,-— in Severus, 
 Nero, Caracalla, &c. in the sixth room, and in Tibe¬ 
 rius and Augustus, in the eleventh; nor is this owing 
 to the circumstance that these generally were men 
 degraded in feeling or intellect, for nearly the 
 same configuration is found in Trajan, Hadrian, 
 &c., in the fourth, sixth, and other rooms. The 
 faces of the Romans are not less ugly than their 
 heads; and those of their women are absolutely 
 detestable, as may be seen in Faustina, Plautilla, 
 Sabina, Domitia, &c., in the sixth of these rooms. 
 
 If further illustration of this be wanting, it may 
 be found in the circumstance that, while the Greeks 
 
280 
 
 BEAUTY OF THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 preferred the rather high forehead, and invented 
 the ideal one; the Romans, on the contrary, pre¬ 
 ferred a little forehead and united eye-brows. 
 Ovid assures us that the women of his time painted 
 their eye-brows in such a manner, that they might 
 appear to form only one. 
 
 In the work so often referred to, I have shown 
 that the intensity of functions is as the length of 
 their organs, and the permanence of functions as 
 the breadth of their organs. No truth can be bet¬ 
 ter illustrated than this is, in the organization and 
 the faculties of the Greeks and Romans. With 
 the higher and larger head of the Greeks was 
 united an intensity of genius, which no other people 
 has yet rivalled; and with the broader head of 
 the Romans, a perseverance, equally obstinate and 
 unfeeling, which has been similarly unrivalled. 
 
 A good illustration of the vaunted Roman vir¬ 
 tue is recorded in Porcia, the daughter of Cato, 
 the wile of Brutus, who plunged a toilet knife 
 into her thigh, and kept it eight days in the 
 wound, without complaining, to prove to her hus¬ 
 band that her courage and her discretion rendered 
 her worthy of entering into the conspiracy, which 
 he meditated; and who also destroyed herself 
 by swallowing burning coals, when she heard of 
 his defeat. Obstinacy and insensibility were great 
 sources of the crimes either perpetrated, or, by 
 
BEAUTY OE THE FACE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 281 
 
 their lying historians, pretended to be perpetrated, 
 under the name of Roman virtue. 
 
 It would be out of place, here, to enter further 
 into the character and expression of the face. 
 Those whom these remarks dispose to do so, may 
 refer to the physiognomical work, which I have 
 been so often compelled to allude to, and of which 
 I therefore give the title below.* To those who 
 are satisfied neither with the vague, though tasteful 
 inspirations of Lavater, nor with the empyrical 
 or unreasoned manifestations of Gall and Spurz- 
 heim, but who desire the assignment of a reason 
 for every ascription of physiognomical character or 
 expression , that work may afford some satisfaction. 
 
 The three species of beauty, as they affect the 
 head and face, are illustrated in Plate XVI. 
 
 That the Greeks, either intuitively or reasonedly, 
 distinguished the three species of beauty as to the 
 Figure, has been already seen. That they equally 
 did so as to the Face, is shown in Plate XVI. h, in 
 which heads of Diana, Venus, and Minerva, respec¬ 
 tively present beauty of the Locomotive, Vital, and 
 Mental Systems. 
 
 * “ Physiognomy founded on Physiology, and applied to 
 various Countries, Professions, and Individuals : with an Ap¬ 
 pendix on the Bones at Hythe —the Sculls of the ancient In¬ 
 habitants of Britain, and its Invaders : illustrated by Engrav¬ 
 ings.—Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill.” 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 COMBINATIONS AND TRANSITIONS OF THE THREE 
 SPECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 As to the combinations of beauty, it must now 
 be observed, that some one of these species of 
 beauty always characterizes the same individual 
 during every stage of life; and, to the experienced 
 observer, it never is difficult to say which of them 
 predominates. Attention to the preceding prin¬ 
 ciples will render this easy. 
 
 It is right to mention here the cause of this 
 general predominance of one species of beauty 
 over the rest. It depends on this, that the slightest 
 original or accidental preponderance of strength 
 in one system above that of the rest, though un¬ 
 observed at first, leads to a more frequent employ¬ 
 ment of its functions, and therefore to a more 
 perfect development of its organs, until at last 
 the disproportion between these and those of 
 the other systems, becomes characteristic of the 
 individual. 
 
 In a truly beautiful woman, none of the systems 
 described can exist in a great degree of degrad- 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
XVII. 
 
COMBINATIONS AND TRANSITIONS, ETC. 283 
 
 ation ; but of the three, the nutritive or vital system 
 is to woman the most essential. In Tngland, from 
 thirty to forty is generally the age of its highest 
 perfection. 
 
 It often, however, occurs that two, or even the 
 whole of these species of beauty, are blended in 
 considerable perfection. Plate XVII. presents the 
 three species of beauty in some degree combined, 
 from a living figure; and even so much as this 
 figure presents of locomotive and vital beauty, is 
 not of very frequent occurrence. The locomo¬ 
 tive system is well developed in the length and 
 elegance of the limbs; the vital or nutritive sys¬ 
 tem everywhere presents soft forms, and rounds 
 both body and limbs ; and the mental or thinking 
 system displays a capability of grace in action, 
 notwithstanding the constrained attitude assumed 
 to conceal the face. 
 
 Although there can indeed be no great degree 
 of beauty in which this combination is not more 
 or less the case, yet a union of all the three species 
 of beauty, in the greatest compatible degree, is to 
 be found only in some of those immortal images 
 of ideal beauty, which were created by the genius 
 and the chisel of the Greeks. 
 
 Having briefly spoken of these combinations, I 
 may notice also those combinations which similarly 
 occur among the temperaments , which, as already 
 
284 COMBINATIONS AND TRANSITIONS OF THE 
 
 said, constitute partial views of the varieties I have 
 been describing. 
 
 In relation to a combination of the phlegmatic 
 and nervous temperament, I may refer to Richer- 
 and, who says, that, “ among the moderns, the 
 easy Michael Montaigne, all of whose passions 
 were so moderate, who reasoned on every thing, 
 even on feeling, was truly pituitous. But in him 
 the predominance of the lymphatic system was not 
 carried so far, hut that he joined to it a good deal 
 of nervous susceptibility.” 
 
 Of women, more especially, it is observed, that 
 they rarely present examples of the lymphatic 
 temperament, unmodified by nervous mobility ; 
 whence come extreme vivacity in the sensations 
 with great feebleness, determinations equally pre¬ 
 cipitate and unsteady, excited imagination and 
 ephemeral tastes, absolute will, &c. 
 
 The sanguine temperament is similarly combined 
 with the nervous one. Hence the physiologist above 
 quoted says, “ that to the extreme love of pleasure, 
 sanguine men join, when circumstances require it 
 [he should have said, in some cases], great eleva¬ 
 tion of thought and character, and can bring into 
 action the highest talents in every department: the 
 history of Henry IV., of Mirabeau, and others, 
 proves that.” 
 
 The ancients gave the name of bilious , to a tern- 
 
THREE SPECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 285 
 
 perament in which the sanguineous system is ener¬ 
 getic, the pulse strong, hard and frequent, the 
 sub-cutaneous veins prominent, the development 
 of the liver excessive, the superabundance of bile 
 remarkable, the sensibility easily excited, yet 
 capable of dwelling upon one object, the passions 
 violent, the movements abrupt and impetuous, and 
 the character inflexible. This is evidently a very 
 compound temperament, and should never have 
 been classed, any more than the two preceding, 
 with the simple temperaments, the athletic or mus¬ 
 cular, the phlegmatic or lymphatic, the sanguine, 
 and the nervous, which I have noticed under the 
 heads to which they belong. 
 
 In persons of this temperament, the skin is of a 
 yellowish brown, the hair black, the muscles 
 marked, the form harshly expressed. “ Bold in 
 the conception of a project,” says Richerand, 
 “ constant and indefatigable in its execution, it is 
 among men of this temperament that we find those 
 who, in different ages, have governed the destinies 
 of the world : full of courage, boldness, and ac¬ 
 tivity, they have signalized themselves by great 
 virtues or great crimes, and have been the ter¬ 
 ror or admiration of the universe. Such were 
 Alexander, Julius Caesar, Brutus, Mohamed, 
 Charles XII., the Czar Peter, Cromwell, Sixtus V., 
 Cardinal Richelieu [and, he should have added, 
 
286 COMBINATIONS AND TRANSITIONS OF THE 
 
 Buonaparte] ... To attain to results of such impor¬ 
 tance, the profoundest dissimulation and the most 
 obstinate constancy are equally necessary; and 
 these are the most eminent qualities of the bilious.” 
 
 A still more compound temperament is the me¬ 
 lancholic, in which disease is added to the bilious 
 temperament, a derangement of the functions of 
 the nervous system, and the diseased obstruction 
 of some one of the organs of the abdomen, so that 
 the nutritive functions are feebly or irregularly 
 performed, the bowels sluggish, the pulse hard and 
 contracted, the excretions difficult, the imagination 
 gloomy, the disposition suspicious. 
 
 In persons of this temperament, the shin is of a 
 still deeper hue, and the look uneasy and gloomy. 
 Rousseau and Tiberius are excellent examples of 
 this temperament, as associated with genius and 
 virtue in one, and with truly royal vice in the other. 
 In women, this temperament is rarely so intense 
 as in men. 
 
 Of the transitions of beauty, I have now to 
 observe, that, though one species of beauty always 
 characterizes the same individual during every 
 stage of life, yet it is remarkable, that the young 
 woman (whatever species of beauty predominates) 
 has always a tendency to beauty of the locomotive 
 
THREE SPECIES OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 287 
 
 system ; — that the middle-aged woman has always 
 a tendency to beauty of the nutritive system; — 
 and that the woman of advanced age has always a 
 tendency to beauty of the thinking system.’ 
 
 Some women would seem, in the progress of 
 life, to pass through all these systems (and the 
 more perfect the whole organization, the more 
 will this seem to be the case); but the accurate 
 observer will always see the predominance of the 
 same system. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 Winckelmann says, “ I cannot imagine beauty 
 without the proportion which is always its foun¬ 
 dation.—The drawing of the naked figure is founded 
 upon the idea and the knowledge of beauty; and 
 this idea consists partly in measures and relations, 
 and partly in forms, the beauty of which was, as 
 Cicero observes, the object of the first Grecian 
 artists : the latter determine the figure ; the former 
 fix the proportions.”* 
 
 The great variety of proportions presented by the 
 human body causes much difficulty in determin¬ 
 ing with precision what are the best. The diffi¬ 
 culty becomes quite insurmountable if we attempt 
 
 * “ Non puo immaginarsi bellezza senza la proporzione che n' e 
 sempre il fondamento.”—“II disegno del nudo fondasi sulla 
 cognizione e sull’ idea del hello; e quest’ idea consiste in parte 
 nelle misure e rapporti, e in parte nelle forme, la bellezza delle 
 quali era, al dir di Cicerone, 1’ oggetto de’ primi artisti 
 Greci: queste determinano la figura; quelle ne fissano le pro¬ 
 porzione.”— Ibid. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 289 
 
 to assign precise dimensions to the details of con¬ 
 figuration or to minute parts. 
 
 Many circumstances are opposed to the exact¬ 
 ness of these measures. Even in the same person, 
 one part is rarely in all respects similar to the cor¬ 
 responding part; we are taller in the morning 
 than in the evening; and the proportions change 
 at different periods of life. In different indivi¬ 
 duals, the differences are still more evident. More¬ 
 over, habits, professions, trades, all unite to op¬ 
 pose regularity in the proportions. 
 
 It has further been observed that, in the con¬ 
 formation of woman, both as regards the whole 
 and as regards the various parts, nature still more 
 rarely approaches determinate proportions than in 
 man. 
 
 It is lemarked by Hogarth, whose views I now 
 abridge, that in society we every day hear women 
 pronounce perfectly correct opinions as to the 
 proportions of the neck, the bosom, the hands and 
 the arms of other women, whom they have an 
 interest in observing with severity. It is evident 
 that, for such an examination, they ought to be 
 capable of seizing, with great precision, the relation 
 of length and thickness, and of following the slight 
 sinuosities, the swellings, the depressions, almost 
 insensible and continually varying, at the surface 
 of the parts observed. If so, it is certainly in the 
 
 u 
 
290 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 power of a man of science, with as observing an 
 eye, to go still further, and conceive many other 
 necessary circumstances concerning proportion. 
 
 But he says, “ though much of this matter 
 may be easily understood by common observa¬ 
 tion, assisted by science, still I fear it will be 
 difficult to raise a very clear idea of what consti¬ 
 tutes or composes the utmost beauty of propor¬ 
 tion. . . We shall soon find that it is chiefly to be 
 effected by means of the nice sensation we natu¬ 
 rally have of what certain quantities or dimensions 
 of parts are fittest to produce the utmost strength 
 for moving or supporting great weights, and of 
 what are most fit for the utmost light agility, as 
 also for every degree, between these two ex¬ 
 tremes.” 
 
 After some illustrations of this, which naturally 
 leave the method very vague, he adds, “ I am ap¬ 
 prehensive that this part of my scheme, for ex¬ 
 plaining exact proportion, may not be thought so 
 sufficiently determinate as could be wished.” So 
 that Hogarth’s method as to proportions, both 
 general and particular, reduces itself to the em¬ 
 ployment of the eye and the nice sensation we 
 have of quantities or dimensions. 
 
 But the Greek artists had not only done what 
 Hogarth thus vaguely speaks of, but advanced 
 much further; and indeed all that has been done 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 291 
 
 on this important subject belongs rather to the 
 history of art than that of nature. 
 
 “ It is not,” says Buffon, “ by the comparison 
 of the body of one man with that of another man, 
 or by measures actually taken in a great number 
 of subjects, that we can acquire this knowledge 
 [that of proportion] : it is by the efforts which have 
 been made exactly to copy and imitate nature ; it 
 is to the art of design that we owe all that we 
 know in this respect. Feeling and taste have 
 done all that mechanics could not do; the rule 
 and the compass have been quitted in order to 
 profit by the eye; all the forms, all the outlines, 
 and all the parts of the human body, have been 
 realized in marble ; and we have known nature 
 better by the representation than by nature itself. 
 It is by great exercise of the art of design and 
 by an exquisite sentiment, that great statuaries 
 have succeeded in making us feel the just pro¬ 
 portions of the works of nature. The Greeks have 
 formed such admirable statues, that with one 
 consent they are regarded as the most exact re¬ 
 presentation of the most perfect human body. 
 These statues, which were only copies from man, 
 are become originals, because these copies were 
 not made from any individual, but from the whole 
 human species well observed, so well indeed, 
 that no man has been found whose figure is so well 
 
 u 2 
 
292 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 proportioned as these statues: it is then fioin 
 these models that the measures of the human body 
 have been taken.” 
 
 It is now necessary to lay before the reader 
 the principles of the Greeks, as to the pioportions 
 of the human body. Much has been well done 
 on this subject by Winckelmann, Bossi, and 
 others; but, at the same time, from want of en¬ 
 larged anatomical and physiological views, they 
 have overlooked some fundamental considerations, 
 and have failed to unravel the greatest difficulties 
 which the subject presents. That the reader may 
 be satisfied of the accuracy of my representations, 
 
 I shall lay the statements of these writers before 
 him in their own words, rendering them only as 
 succinct as possible ; and, as their works are rather 
 scarce and expensive, I shall in general quote the 
 original language at the bottom of the page* 
 
 Of the first epoch of art among the Etruscans 
 and Greeks, Mengs says, “They prefened the 
 most necessary things to those which were less so ; 
 and therefore they directed their attention first to 
 the muscles, and next to 'proportion, these consti¬ 
 tuting the two parts the most useful and necessary 
 of the human form ; and this is, throughout, the 
 
 * Of the best works on this subject, those of Mengs alone, 
 I believe, have been translated; but the translation is so 
 inaccurate as to be worthless. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 293 
 
 character of their primitive taste. All this vve 
 observe in history, and in the divine and human 
 figures which they have represented.* 
 
 In these figures,” he further observes, “ we 
 find a proportion, impossible to be known and prac¬ 
 tised, without an art which furnishes sure rules. 
 These rules could not be founded otherwise than 
 in proportion, which was invented and practised by 
 the Greeks.”f 
 
 In this, Flaxman agrees, when he says, “ It 
 must not be supposed that those simple geome¬ 
 trical forms of body and limbs, in the divinities 
 and heroes of antiquity, depended upon acci¬ 
 dental choice, or blind and ignorant arbitration. 
 They are, on the contrary, a consequence of the 
 strict and extensive examination of nature, of 
 rational inquiry into its most perfect organization 
 and physical well-being, expressed in outward 
 appearance.” 
 
 Preferivano le cose piii necessarie a quelle, che lo erano 
 meno; e quindi niettevano attenzione primieramente ne’ 
 muscoli, e dopo nella proporzione, consistendo in queste due 
 parti ll piu utile, e il piii necessario della forma umana; 
 e questo e il carattere di tutto il loro gusto primitive. Tutto 
 cio si osserva nelle storie, e nelle figure divine e umane, die 
 hanno rappresentate.”— Opere di Antonio Raffaello Mengs. 
 
 t ‘ In quelle figure trovasi una proporzione impossibile a 
 conoscersi e a praticarsi senza un’ arte, che dia regole sicure 
 Queste regole non potevano fondarsi in altro che nella pro¬ 
 porzione,” &c— Ibid. 
 
294 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 “ That the Greeks,” says Bossi, “ wrote much 
 on this subject [their doctrine respecting symme¬ 
 try,] we have ample evidence in Pliny, Vitruvius 
 himself, Philostratus the younger, and others. 
 
 “ Polycletus did not confine himself to giving 
 a commentary upon this fundamental point, but, 
 in illustration of his treatise, according to Galen, 
 made an admirable statue that confirmed the 
 precepts laid down in the work ; and ‘ The Rule ol 
 Polycletus,’ the name given to this statue, became 
 so famous for its beauty, that it passed into a 
 proverb to express a perfect body, as we may find 
 in Lucian. 
 
 “ But of so ipany writings, which ought at least 
 to equal the works that remain to us, and probably 
 were superior, inasmuch as it is easier to lay down 
 precepts than to put them in execution,—of so 
 many treatises, I say, not a fragment remains 
 [except the few lines of Vitruvius], nor is there, 
 now, any hope that a vestige will be found, unless 
 something may remain for posterity amongst the 
 papyri of Herculaneum. 
 
 * « Molto certamente di tale scienza fa scritto dai Greci, 
 come ne abbiamo ampie testimonianze in Plinio, in Vitruvio 
 stesso, in Filostrato juniore ed in altri. _ 
 
 « Policleto non si accontento di dare un commentario 1 
 questa facolta, ma, per testimonio di Galeno, ad illustrazione 
 dello scritto fece una mirabile statua che confermava i precetti 
 in esso scritto contenuti; e il Canone di Policleto, nome che 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 295 
 
 Now, to approach to the ancients in excellence 
 is quite impossible, until some one shall explain 
 the great principles on which they acted.— 
 Assuredly they are, in some of the most im¬ 
 portant respects, unknown at present. Servile 
 imitation will never answer the purpose; and to 
 learn as the ancients did, and reach perfection, 
 perhaps, in as many ages, is not very rational, 
 when we can avail ourselves of their practice to 
 discover their principles. I will, in this chapter, 
 endeavour to point out some of these principles 
 in the practice of art, as I have already done in 
 the general theory of beauty. 
 
 “ It is probable,” says Winckelmann, “ that the 
 Grecian artists, in imitation of the Egyptians, had 
 fixed, by well-determined rules, not only the 
 largest, but even the very smallest proportions, 
 and the measure of the length proper to every age 
 
 a quella statua si diede, divenne si famoso per la sua bellezza, 
 che passo in proverbio per esprimere un corpo perfetto, come 
 possiamo vedere presso Luciano. 
 
 Ma di tanti scritti che dovevano per lo meno pareggiare in 
 eccellenza le opere che ci rimangono, e che probabilmente, 
 perche e piu facile il dar precetti che operare, le avranno 
 superate, di tanti scritti, dico, non, ci rimane frammento, ne 
 e da sperare ormai che se ne trovi vestigio, se pure cjualche 
 
 cosa non esistesse pei posteri fra e papiri Ercolanesi.”_ Delle 
 
 Opinioni di Leonardo da Vinci inform alia Simmetria de 
 Cor pi TJmani. 
 
296 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 and to every kind of contour; and probably all 
 these rules were learnt by young persons, from 
 books that treated of symmetry.”* 
 
 These rules, we know, were of three kinds — 
 numerical, geometrical, and harmonic; and we 
 shall see, in the sequel, that the loss of them has 
 been much deplored. It is not a little curious, 
 however, that the numerical and geometrical 
 methods are, in some measure, actually practised 
 even at the present day, and that the harmonic 
 method (the loss of which has caused the greatest 
 confusion) is easily deducible from anatomical and 
 physiological principles, as I shall* endeavour to 
 show. 
 
 As to the numerical method, it is evidently 
 that of which Vitruvius has preserved some notions, 
 and which is at present practised by artists. 
 
 “ As it is the painter’s business,” says Bossi, 
 “ to imitate a great variety of human bodies, and 
 as the difference of parts in beautiful bodies is 
 generally slight, and becomes, as it were, imper¬ 
 ceptible, in the most usual imitations less than life, 
 
 * “ E’ probabile che e Greci artisti, ad imitazione degli 
 Egizj, abbiano su ben determinate regole fissate non solo le piu 
 grandi, ma eziandio le piu piccole proporzioni, e la misura 
 della lunghezza e larghezza propria ad ogni eta e ad ogni qualita 
 di contorni; e tutte queste leggi verosimilmente s’ imparavan 
 dai giovani su i libri, che trattavano della simmetria ."—Storia 
 delle Arti. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 297 
 
 Leonardo perceived it was necessary for the artist to 
 use a general measure, for the purpose of preparing 
 historical compositions quickly. He required that 
 the figure to he employed should be carefully 
 selected on the model of some natural body, the 
 proportions of which were generally considered 
 beautiful.—This measure, he required, should be 
 employed solely for length, and not for width, 
 which requires more evident variety.”* 
 
 “ It has been observed,” says Flaxman, “ that 
 Vitruvius, from the writings of the most eminent 
 Greek painters and sculptors, informs us that 
 they made their figures eight heads high, or ten 
 faces, and he instances different parts of the 
 figure measured according to that rule, which the 
 gieat Michael Angelo adopted, as we see by a print 
 from a drawing of his.” 
 
 Winckelmann, however, shows that the foot 
 
 * “Siccome avviene al pittore d’imitare i corpi umani acen- 
 tinaja, e siccome ne’ corpi belli le differenze delle parti per lo 
 pm sono piccole, e diventano poi quasi impercettibili nelle piii 
 comuni lmitazioni minori della grandezza naturale, Leonardo 
 riconosceva essere necessario al pittore l’adoprare una misura 
 generale, specialmente per l’uso privato di preparare con pron- 
 tezza le composizioni delle istorie. Volea pero cbe 1’ elezione 
 della figura in che far abito, fosse fatta con grandi avvertenze 
 sopra la regola di un corpo naturale, il quale comunemente 
 fosse di proporzione laudabile.—Voleva ancora che questa 
 misura fosse unicamente usata per le Iunghezze e non per le 
 larghezze, nelle quali esige piii sensibile varieta.”— Bossi,Lib. cit. 
 
298 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 served the Greeks as a measure for all their larger 
 dimensions, and that their sculptors regulated their 
 proportions by it, in giving six times its length, as 
 the model of the human figure. Vitruvius says, 
 
 “ Pes vero altitudinis corporis sextee.” 
 
 “ The foot,” says Winckelmann, “ which among 
 the ancients was used as the standard of measures 
 of every magnitude, (for a given measure of fluids 
 was also called by this name,) was very useful to 
 sculptors in fixing the proportions of the body, 
 and with reason; for the foot was a more deter¬ 
 minate measure than that of the head or face, 
 of which the moderns generally make use. The 
 ancient artists regulated the size of their statues 
 by the length of the foot, making them, according to 
 Vitruvius, six times the length of the foot. Upon 
 this principle, Pythagoras determined the height 
 of Hercules, by the length of the feet with which 
 he measured the Olympic stadium at Elis. 
 
 “ This proportion of six to one between the 
 foot and the body, is founded upon experience of 
 nature, even in slender figures: it is found cor¬ 
 rect, not only in the Egyptian statues, but also in 
 the Grecian ; and it will be discovered in the 
 greater part of the ancient figures where the feet 
 are preserved.”* 
 
 * “ II piede, che presso tutti gli antichi prendeasi per norma 
 nelle misure d’ogni grandezza, cosicche con questo nome 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 299 
 
 “ We would not omit mentioning,” says Bossi, 
 “ the erroneous opinion of those, who esteem the 
 feet of females beautiful in proportion to their 
 smallness. The beauty of the feet consists in the 
 handsomeness and neatness of their shape, not 
 in their being short, or extremely small: were it 
 otherwise, the feet of the Chinese and Japanese 
 women would be beautiful, and those of the Venus 
 de Medici frightful.”f 
 
 Such, then, is evidently the numerical method of 
 
 chiamavasi anclie una data misura de’ fluidi, era di molt’ uso 
 agli statuarj per fissare le proporzioni del corpo, e con ragione; 
 poiche il piede ha una misura piu determinata che non ha la 
 testa o ’1 volto, di cui si valgono generalmente i moderni. Gli 
 antichi artisti dalla lunghezza del piede determinavano la gran- 
 dezza delle loro statue, e davan loro, secondo il testimonio di 
 Vitruvio, sei lunghezze di piede. Su questo principio Pitta- 
 gora determine la grandezza d’ Ercole dalla misura de’ piedi 
 coi quali avea misurato lo stadio Olimpico in Elide. 
 
 “ Tale proporzione di sei ad u'no tra T piede e ’1 corpo, fondasi 
 sulla sperienza naturale, eziandio nelle figure svelte : si ravvisa 
 esatta non solamente nelle statue Egiziane, ma ben anche sulle 
 Greche ; e troverebbesi nella maggior parte delle antiche figure, 
 se loro si fossero conservati i piedi .”—Storia delle Arti. 
 
 f “ Non e da lasciarsi inavvertita 1’ erronea opinione di coloro 
 che estimano tanto piu belli i piedi femminili quanto piu sono 
 piccioli. La bellezza de’ piedi sta nella leggiadria econcin- 
 nita della forma, non nell’ esser corti o estremamente piccioli; 
 che se fosse diversamente, sarebbero bellissimi i piedi delle 
 donne Cinesi e Giapponesi, e mostruosi quelli della Venere de’ 
 Medici.’’— Lib. Cit. 
 
300 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 the ancients.—Of the geometrical method, we 
 have many illustrations. 
 
 A man standing upright, with his arms extended, 
 is, as Leonardo da Vinci has shown, enclosed in a 
 square, the extreme extent of his arms being equal 
 to his height. This is evidently the most general 
 
 measure of the latter kind. 
 
 Of the latter kind, also, is Camper’s ellipsis for 
 measuring the relative size of the shoulders in the 
 male, and the pelvis in the female. 
 
 So also is the measure from the centre of one 
 mamma to that of the other, as equal to the dis¬ 
 tance from each to the pit over the breast-bone. 
 
 We now approach the chief difficulty, which 
 evidently formed a stumbling block even to Leo¬ 
 nardo da Vinci,—that harmonic method which, 
 strange as it may appear, will be found to afford 
 rules that are at once perfectly precise, and yet infi¬ 
 nitely variable. The apparent impossibility indeed 
 of such a rule seems to have embarrassed every one. 
 And the statement which Bossi makes in regard to 
 Leonardo da Vinci, in this respect, is exceedingly 
 interesting. 
 
 “ He thought,” says Bossi, “ but little of any 
 general measure of the species ; and that the true 
 proportion admitted by him, and acknowledged to 
 be of difficult investigation, is solely the proportion 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 301 
 
 of an individual in regard to himself , which, accord¬ 
 ing to true imitation, should be different in all the 
 individuals of a species, as is the case in nature. 
 Thus, says he, ‘ all the parts of any animal should 
 correspond with the whole; that which is short and 
 thick, should have every member short and thick ; 
 that which is long and thin, every member long 
 and thin; and that which is between the two, mem¬ 
 bers of a proportionate size.’ From this and other 
 precepts, it follows, that, when he speaks of pro¬ 
 portion, he is to be understood as referring to the 
 harmony of the parts of an individual, and not to the 
 general rule of imitation in reference to dimen¬ 
 sions.”* How clearly (notwithstanding the error 
 as to all being short and thick) does this point to 
 
 * “ Ei non facea gran conto delle misare generali delle 
 specie, come di cosa di lieve discorso; e che la vera propor- 
 zione da 1 ul amraessa e riconosciuta di difficile investigazione, 
 e unicamente la proporzione di un particolare riguardo a se 
 stesso, la quale, secondo la retta imitazione, debb’ essere di- 
 versa in tutti i particolari d una specie, siccome awiene nella 
 natura. Cosi, die’ egli, tutte le parti di qualunque animale 
 sieno correspondent al suo tutto : cioe che quel che e corto e 
 grosso, deve avere ogni membro in se corto e grosso; e quello 
 che e lungo e sottile, abbia le membra lunghe e sottili; e il me¬ 
 diocre abbia in se le membra della medesima mediocrita. E 
 con questo e con altri precetti fa scorgere che, allorche ei parla 
 di proporzioni, si debbe intendere ch’ ei ragioni della coinmodu- 
 lazione delle parti di un individuo anzi che di una norma gene- 
 rale dell imitazione per cio che spetta alle misure.”— Ibid. 
 
302 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 the harmonic method of proportion forthwith to be 
 explained. 
 
 “ It would seem he felt within himself that he 
 did not reach the perfection of those wonderful 
 ancients of whom he professed himself the admirer 
 and disciple. 
 
 “ It became, therefore, Leonardo’s particular care 
 and study to approach as nearly as he could to the 
 ancients in the true imitation of beautiful nature 
 under the guidance of philosophy. 
 
 “ But whether from want of great examples, or 
 from not sufficiently penetrating, as he himself 
 thought, into these artifices, or from comprehend¬ 
 ing them too late, he modestly laments that he did 
 not possess the ancient art of proportions. He 
 then protests that he has done the little he was 
 able to do, and asks pardon of posterity that he 
 has not done more. Such are the sentiments that 
 Platino exhibits in the following epitaph : 
 
 Leonardus Vincia (sic) Florentinus 
 Statuarius Pictor que nobilissimus 
 de se parce loquitur. 
 
 Non sum L'ysippus ; nec Apelles; nec Policletus ; 
 
 Nec Zeuxis; nec sum nobilis sere Myron. 
 
 Sum Florentinus Leonardus Vincia proles ; 
 
 Mirator veterum discipulusque memor. 
 
 Defuit una milii symmetria prisca : peregi 
 Quod potui: veniam da mihi posteritas. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 303 
 
 “ It is evident that these sentiments are not to 
 be attributed to the imagination of the poet.”* 
 
 Bossi, having no glimpse of the great principles 
 for which Leonardo sought in vain, says, “ Since 
 then, this great man could not satisfy himself in 
 the difficult task of dimensions, whilst on other 
 points he seems to dread no censure, it should 
 give us a strong idea of the difficulty of determin¬ 
 ing the laws of beautiful symmetry, and pre¬ 
 serving it in works with that harmony which is felt, 
 hut cannot be explained, and which varies in every 
 figure, according to the age, circumstances and par¬ 
 ticular character of each. 
 
 “ And when we recollect that, though Leonardo 
 sought successfully in Vitruvius the proportions 
 
 Sembra che dentro di se sentisse di non giungere alia 
 eccellenza di que’ meravigliosi antichi, de’ quali si protestava 
 ammiratore e discepolo. 
 
 Era poi cura e studio speciale di Leonardo di avvicinarsi 
 per quanto poteva agli antichi nella vera e bella imitazione 
 della natura colla scorta della filosofia. 
 
 “ P er 6j 0 fosse la mancanza de’ grandi esemplari, o non ne 
 penetrasse, secondo ch’ egli credeva, abbastanza gli artifizj, o 
 che troppo tardi giungesse a comprenderli, egli lagnavasi 
 modestamente di non aver posseduto 1’ antico niagistero delle 
 proporzioni. Si protestava poi d’ aver fatto il poco che aveva 
 potuto, e chiedeva perdono alia posterity, se non aveva fatto 
 di piu. Ecco i sentimenti che il Platino espose nell’ epitaffio 
 che qui trascrivo, [as above.] 
 
 Ognun vede che sensi si fatti non si possono attribuire all’ 
 invenzione del poeta.”— Ibid. 
 
304 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 which Vitruvius himself seems to have drawn from 
 the Greeks, he yet lamented that he did not possess 
 the ancient symmetry, it is easily seen that he 
 did not mean by this science, as already stated, a 
 determinate general measure for man, but that 
 harmony of parts which is suited to each individual, 
 according to the respective circumstances of sex, age, 
 character, and the like”*— Again, how clearly does 
 this point to the harmonic method of proportion to 
 be presently explained! 
 
 “ ]3ut,” Bossi proceeds, “ how difficult it is to 
 combine the beautiful and elegant, with easy and 
 harmonic measures, may be judged from the vain 
 attempts of many otherwise ingenious men, as I 
 will here relate for the benefit of artists. The dif- 
 
 * “ Or dunque questo non contentarsi di si grand uomo 
 nell’ ardua materia delle misure, mentre nel resto non parea 
 temere 1’ altrui censura, ci debbe dare una grande idea della 
 difficolta di determinare le leggi della bella simmetna, e di 
 conservarle nelle opere con quell’ armonia che si sente, ma 
 che non si spiega e che varia in ogni figura secondo 1 eta, gh 
 accidenti e i caratteri particolari di ciascheduna. 
 
 “ E quando finalmente si riflettera che quantunque Leo¬ 
 nardo con si buon esito indagasse in Vitruvio le misure che 
 Vitruvio stesso sembra aver tratte dai Greci, lagnavasi nondi- 
 meno di non aver posseduto la vera antica simmetria, si cora- 
 prendera bene che per questa scienza egli non intendeva, come 
 aia accennai, una determinata misura generale dell’ uomo, ma 
 quella commodulazione di parti che a ciaschedun individuo 
 conviene secondo le respettive circostanze di sesso, di eta, di 
 carattere e simili- — Ibid. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 305 
 
 ficulty will be still more evident if we reflect how 
 arduous a task it is to make the proportions that 
 the Greeks denominated numerical, harmonic, and 
 geometrical agree together, and to apply them, thus 
 agreeing, to the formation of rules and measures of 
 a visible object so various in its component parts as 
 the human body.”*—In despair, Bossi tries to 
 show its absolute impossibility ! 
 
 In the second place, to penetrate completely 
 the natural reason of the proportions of the human 
 body, would require a knowledge of physics, 
 which it is not in man’s power to obtain. The 
 univeisal equilibrium of the numerous constituent 
 parts of the human machine, every one of whicli 
 eminently attains the end for which it was des¬ 
 tined, without interrupting the course that every 
 other part takes to its respective end, in which 
 true proportion seems to consist, is more easily 
 stated than understood. And even if an artist 
 
 * “Ma quanto questa forma bella e leggiadra sia difficile a 
 combinarsi con misure facili ed armonicbe, si puo giudicare 
 dai vani sforzi di tanti uomini d’altronde ingegnosi, che qui 
 mi piacque a comodo degli artefici raccogliere. Tale difficolta 
 diventera poi piu evidente, allorche si riflettera quanto e ardua 
 cosa V accordare fra loro le tre proporzioni che gli antichi dis- 
 tinguevano, la numerica, 1’ armonica e la geometrica, e T ap- 
 plicare tale accordo a formar regole e misure di un oggetto 
 visible si vario nelle parti che lo compongono, qual e il corpo 
 umano.”— Ibid. 
 
 X 
 
306 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 could arrive at such a knowledge of man as to be 
 able, so to speak, to compose him, he would have 
 done but little, because he would have made but 
 one man. By the alteration of only one of the 
 infinite parts that compose the human frame, the 
 equilibrium and respective relation of the others 
 are necessarily altered: in short, each separate in¬ 
 dividual would be the subject of a totally new 
 study.* 
 
 “ Every human habit, of whatever nature it 
 may be, has an influence over the human figure, 
 and from the indefinable variety and incalculable 
 mixture of such habits, there results an infinite 
 variety of figures. Thus it is evident that true 
 general proportions cannot be laid down without 
 
 * “ In secondo luogo, il penetrare compiutamente la ragion 
 naturale delle proporzioni umane esigerebbe una conoscenza 
 della fisica che all’ uomo non e dato di ottenere. L’ equili- 
 brio universale delle infinite parti costituenti la macchina umana, 
 ciascuna delle quali ottenga eminentemente il fine cui e des- 
 tinata senza interrompere il corso che ogni altra parte ha al suo 
 fine respettivo, in che pare consistere la vera proporzione, e 
 cosa da dirsi pin che da intendersi. E quando anche si giun- 
 gesse a conoscere si fattamente V uomo, che si potesse, direi 
 quasi, comporlo, imitando, esattamente il composto naturale, si 
 sarebbe ancor fatto poco, perche si sarebbe fatto un uomo solo. 
 Una sola delle infinite parti che il composto umano costituis- 
 cono, che si debba alterare, 1’ equiponderanza e respettiva 
 relazione delle altre rimangono necessariamente alterate; in 
 breve ogni uomo separatamente sarebbe subietto di tutta una 
 nuova scienza.’ — Ibid. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 307 
 
 violating nature, which it is the object of art to 
 imitate.”*—If, by “general proportions,” Bossi 
 here means proportions applicable to all or to a 
 great number, he completely loses sight of the 
 object of the great man on whose opinions he 
 comments ; for he sought a rule for the harmony 
 of parts in each distinct individual. 
 
 Again, Bossi abandons, as impossible, the find¬ 
 ing of the harmonic rule, which was the great 
 object of Leonardo.—“ From what has been said, 
 we may finally conclude that large proportions only 
 can be established, and that placing too much 
 confidence in measures, retards, rather than favours 
 the arts. 
 
 “ It was written of Raphael, and is seen, that 
 he had as many proportions as he made figures. 
 Michael Angelo did the same, and it was his 
 saying, that he who had not the compasses in 
 his eye, would never be able to supply the defi¬ 
 ciency by artificial means. Vincentio Danti, who 
 treasured the doctrine of Michael Angelo, asserts 
 in his work, that the proportions do not fall under 
 any measure of quantity. We have seen the 
 
 * 0gni umana abitudine, di qualunque genere ella sia, 
 influisce sulla forma umana, e dalla varieta indefinite e dalia 
 incalcolabile mistura di tali abitudini nasce la infinita varieta 
 deUe forme ‘ Dunque e evidente che non si possono determinare 
 vere proporziom generali senza offendere la natura che Parte 
 vorrebbe pur imitare.”— Ibid. 
 
 x 2 
 
308 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 infinite exceptions of Leonardo, respecting the 
 measurement of man, and his own few works 
 confirm it. I speak no more of inferior persons 
 among the moderns ; but turning to the ancients, 
 
 I find that the proportions of every good statue 
 are different.”* — And this will be found con¬ 
 formable to the harmonic rule. 
 
 “ And speaking generally of works in relievo, 
 what canons can determine the largeness or 
 smallness of some parts, so as to obtain a greater 
 effect, according to the circumstances of light, 
 distance, material, visual point, &c. ? Certainly 
 none.”f This was not to be expected from the 
 rule sought for. 
 
 * “ Dal fin qui detto, si debbe per ultimo dedurre che non 
 si possono stabilire che proporzioni grosse, e che ll nporre 
 troppo di confidenza nelle misure inceppa 1 arte anzi che 
 favorirla.”— Ibid. 
 
 “ Di Raffaello fu scritto, e si vede che tenne tante propor¬ 
 zioni quante fece figure. Michelagnolo fece lo stesso ed e 
 suo motto che chi non ha le seste negli occhi, non trovera 
 mai artifizio con che supplire a tal difetto. Vincenzo Danti 
 che fe’ tesoro della dottrina di Michelagnolo, asseri nel suo 
 libro, che le proporzioni non cadono sotto alcuna misura di 
 quantita. Di Leonardo abbiamo veduto le infinite eccezioni 
 circa il misurar l’uomo, e le poche sue opere le confermano. 
 Non parlo degli altri minori fra i moderni; e volgendomi 
 agli antichi, trovo che ogni statue lodevole ha proporzioni 
 diverse.”— Ibid. 
 
 f “ E parlando poi in generate delle opere di rilievo, quali 
 canoni potranno determinare la diminuzione o 1 ingrandimento 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 309 
 
 “I shall deem that I have gained some recom¬ 
 pense for the toil of wading through so many- 
 tedious works, if it shall induce any faith in the 
 advice I now give, namely, ‘ That every student 
 of painting should himself measure many bodies 
 of acknowledged beauty, compare them with the 
 finest imitations in painting and sculpture, and 
 from these measures make a canon for himself, 
 dividing it in the manner best suited to his genius 
 and memory. If this plan were more generally 
 adopted, art and its productions would both be 
 gainers.’ —It might do so, among as ingenious 
 a people as the Greeks, in as many ages as the 
 same method cost them to do it in ! Leonardo da 
 Vinci wanted to abridge the time, instead of begin¬ 
 ning again! 
 
 Winckelmann as little understands this great 
 man’s object, when, after saying, “ as the ancients 
 
 di alcune parti, onde ottenere un migliore effetto secondo le 
 circostanze di luce, di distanza, di materia, di punto visuale e 
 simili ? nessuno di certo.”— Ibid. 
 
 Mi parra intanto d’ aver buon frutto dalla fatica da me 
 fatta in cercare tanti nojosi libri, se cio dara qualche fede a 
 quanto io sono per consigliare, cioe : Che ogni studente di 
 pittura misuri da se molti corpi di lodata bellezza, facendone 
 confronto colle piu lodate imitazioni di pittura e di scultura, e 
 che da queste misure ricavi un canone suo proprio, diviso a 
 quel modo che piu al suo ingegno ed alia sua memoria sia con- 
 forme. Se molti seguiranno questo metodo, l’arte guadagnera 
 e nella scienza e re’ prodotti.”— Ibid. 
 
310 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 made ideal beauty their principal study, they 
 determined its relations and proportions,” he adds 
 u from which, however, they allowed themselves 
 to deviate, when they had a good reason, and 
 yielded themselves to the guidance of their 
 genius.”*—Why, the whole purpose of the rule 
 sought for was to regulate every possible deviation, 
 as will now be seen. 
 
 The harmonic method of the Greeks, that 
 measure which Leonardo calls the “ true pro¬ 
 portion,” “ the proportion of an individual in 
 regard to himself,” <£ which should be different 
 in all the individuals of a species,” but in which 
 tc all the parts of any animal should correspond 
 with the whole,” which constitutes “ the harmony 
 of the parts of an individual,” and which, as Bossi 
 adds, “ varies in every figure, according to the 
 age, circumstances, and particular character of 
 each,” -—in short, this method for the harmony of 
 parts in each distinct individual,—this method pre¬ 
 senting rules , perfectly precise , and yet infinitely 
 variable , has, in all its elements, been already 
 clearly laid before the reader, (though not enun- 
 
 * “ Gli antichi, siccome faceano del bello ideale il loro 
 principal studio, cosi ne aveano determinati i rapporti e le 
 proporzioni, dalle quali pero, quando ne aveano una giusta 
 ragione, s’allontanavano, lasciandosi guidare dal loro genio. 
 Storia delle Arti. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 311 
 
 ciated as a rule,)—In the relative proportions of 
 the locomotive, nutritive, and thinking systems, 
 or, generally speaking, of the limbs, trunk, and 
 head, and in the three species of beauty which are 
 founded on them. 
 
 These, it is evident, present to the philosophic 
 observer, the sole means of judging of beauty by 
 harmonic rule, the great object of Leonardo da 
 Vinci’s desires and regrets. They present the 
 great features of the Greek method, — if that 
 method conformed to truth and nature, as it un¬ 
 doubtedly did. This will be rendered still clearer, 
 by a single example. 
 
 Thus, if any individual be characterized by the 
 development of the nutritive system, this harmonic 
 rule of nature demands not only that, as in the 
 Saxon English, the Dutch, and many Germans, 
 the trunk shall be large, but consequently, that 
 the other two portions, the head and the limbs, 
 shall be relatively small; that the calvarium shall 
 be small and round, and the intellectual powers 
 restricted; that the head shall, nevertheless, be 
 broad, because the vital cavities of the head are 
 large, and because large jaws and muscles of 
 mastication are necessary for the supply of such 
 a system; that the neck shall be short, because 
 the locomotive system is little developed ; that it 
 shall be thick, because the vessels which connect 
 
312 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 the head to the trunk are large and full, the former 
 being only an appendage of the latter; that the 
 lower limbs shall be both short and slender; that 
 the calves of the legs shall be small and high ■* 
 that the feet shall be little turned out, &c. &c. 
 
 So also, if any individual be characterized by 
 the development of the locomotive system, the 
 harmonic rule demands, not only that the limbs 
 shall be large, but, consequently, that the other 
 two portions, the head and the trunk, shall be 
 relatively small; that the calvarium shall be small 
 and long, and the intellectual powers limited; 
 that the head shall be long, because the jaws and 
 their muscles are extended, &c. &c. 
 
 So likewise, if any individual be characterized 
 by the development of the thinking system, the 
 harmonic rule demands, not only that the head 
 shall be large, but, consequently, that the other 
 two portions, the trunk and limbs, shall be rela¬ 
 tively small; that the head shall not only be 
 large, but that its upper part, the calvarium, 
 shall be largest, giving a pyramidal appearance 
 to the head; that the trunk and limbs, however 
 elegantly formed, shall be relatively feeble, the 
 former often liable to disease, the latter to acci- 
 
 * Thus it is not correct, as stated by Leonardo, that when 
 some parts are broad or thick, all are broad; though, in 
 peculiar combinations, that may occur. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 313 
 
 dent, as we have seen in the most illustrious 
 examples, &c. &c. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, however, as already 
 explained, that there may be innumerable combi¬ 
 nations and modifications of these characteristics; 
 certain greater ones, nevertheless, generally pre¬ 
 dominating. 
 
 Such, doubtless, was the harmonic method of 
 the Greeks; whether, by them, it was thus clearly 
 founded on anthropology, or not. 
 
 It is curious that several writers, and Winckel- 
 mann among the rest, should have adopted a 
 triple division of the body — without, however, 
 duly founding it in anthropology. Thus Winckel- 
 mann says, “ the entire body is divided into three 
 parts, and the principal members are also divided 
 into three. The parts of the body are the trunk, 
 the thighs, and the legs!”*—a distribution 
 and division founded neither in nature nor in 
 truth. 
 
 That the Greeks were more or less aware of the 
 principles here stated, though their writings have 
 not descended to us, is proved by their idealiza¬ 
 tions founded upon them. 
 
 If different proportions,” says Winckelmann, 
 
 II corpo intero dividesi in tre parti; e in tre pur si 
 dividono i mernbri principals Le parti del corpo sono il 
 tronco, le cosce, e le gambe Storia delle Arti. 
 
314 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 “ are sometimes met with in any figure, as for 
 example, in the beautiful trunk of a naked female 
 figure in the possession of Signior Cavaceppi, at 
 Rome, in which the body from the naval to the 
 sexual parts is of an uncommon length, it is most 
 probable that such figures have been copied from 
 nature, that is, from persons so formed.”* No¬ 
 thing certainly would be better founded in natural 
 tendency than such idealization. 
 
 All the three Greek methods of proportion being 
 now before the reader, I must briefly notice other 
 circumstances. 
 
 In the head in particular, may be observed 
 character, or a permanent and invariable form, 
 which defines its capabilities, and expression, or 
 temporary and variable forms, which indicate its 
 actual functions. 
 
 The teachers of anatomy for artists have not, 
 that I know of, clearly described the causes of 
 these. I may therefore observe, that as character 
 is permanent and invariable, it depends fundamen¬ 
 tally on permanent and invariable parts the 
 bones; and as expression is temporary and vari- 
 
 * “ Che se talora s’ ineontrano differenti proporzioni in qualche 
 figura, come, a cagion d’ esempio, in un bel torso d’ una figu- 
 rina muliebre ignuda presso il Signor Cavaceppi in Roma, in 
 cui dad’ umbilico alle parti sessuali passa una distanza non 
 comune, allora deggiam credere che simili figure siano state 
 copiate dal naturale, cioe da persone cosi format eS'-Ibid. 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 315 
 
 able, it depends on shifting and variable parts— 
 the muscles. 
 
 It is well observed by Mengs that, in relation to 
 character, “ the peculiar distinction of the ancients 
 is, that from one part of the face we may know 
 the character of the whole.”* And, of expression 
 Winckelmann observes, that “ the portion which 
 possesses beauty of expression or action, or beauty 
 of both added to the figure of any person, is like 
 the resemblance of one who views himself in a 
 fountain; the reflection is not seen plainly unless 
 the surface of the water be still, limpid, and clear: 
 quiet and tranquillity are as suitable to beauty as 
 to the sea. Expression and action being, in art 
 as in nature, the evidence of the active or passive 
 state of the mind, perfect beauty can never exist 
 in the countenance, unless the mind be calm and 
 free from all agitation, at least from everything 
 likely to change and disturb the lineaments of 
 which beauty is composed.” 
 
 Now the details which, during the period of per¬ 
 fection in art, were so skilfully employed, were 
 these very means of expression or circumstances 
 attending and indicating them — minuter forms 
 which are universal, and without which nature is 
 imperfectly represented — minuter forms of the 
 
 '* “ A particolare degli antichi e, che da una parte del viso 
 si puo conoscere il carattere di tutto il restante.”_ Opere. 
 
316 PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 
 
 highest order, because the means of expressing 
 intellect, emotion, and passion, if required. 
 
 These higher details we find, for instance, in 
 the turn of the inner end of the eyebrow, or con¬ 
 striction and elevation of the under eyelid, or a 
 hundred other traits dependent on subjacent mus¬ 
 cles. We find them in slight risings of mere cu¬ 
 taneous parts, when they lie over and are elevated 
 by the attachment of muscles, as at the inner 
 angles of the eyes, the corners of the mouth, and 
 elsewhere. We find them in depressions or fur¬ 
 rows, when they are drawn down by contiguous 
 muscles. These are of higher character, because 
 they belong to expression or its means; and 
 there is a corresponding want of completeness, of 
 truth, of nature, without them. 
 
 Between these intellectual means, these higher 
 details, and those of a lower order, accidental de¬ 
 tails, the great artists of Greece distinguished. 
 Accidental details have nothing to do with expres¬ 
 sion or the means of expression; they depend 
 upon an inferior system, that merely of life, and 
 constitute all the depositions, excrescences, and 
 growths which confuse the vision of the unexpe¬ 
 rienced, and embarrass that of the most discri¬ 
 minating, in the examination of higher beauty. 
 
 These lower details we find, for instance, in the 
 puffings of adipose substance which project from 
 
PROPORTION, CHARACTER, EXPRESSION, ETC. 317 
 
 the spaces between the muscles of the face, and 
 from other accidents of the vital system, as 
 wrinkles or folds from the absence of adipose sub¬ 
 stance, fulness or emptiness of the vessels, pro¬ 
 jecting veins, peculiar conditions of the skin, tur¬ 
 bidity of the eyes, hairs of the head, beard, or 
 skin, &c. These have always characterized in¬ 
 ferior artists and inferior periods of art. 
 
 From these observations, it will be seen that 
 such unqualified statements as the following by 
 Azara, lead only to misconception :—“ A human 
 face, for example, is composed of the forehead, 
 brows, eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, and beard. 
 These are the great parts; but each of these con¬ 
 tains many other minor parts, which also contain 
 an infinity of others still less. If the painter will 
 content himself to express well the great parts 
 which I have taken notice of, he will have a grand 
 style; if he depicts also the second, his style will 
 be that of mediocrity ; and if he pretends to intro¬ 
 duce the last, his style will be insignificant and 
 ridiculous.” 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 On this important doctrine of art, of which Winck- 
 elmann says, “ The ideal is as much more noble 
 than the mechanical, as the mind is superior to the 
 body,” I shall follow, so far as I can advantage¬ 
 ously, the great writers on the subject, in order 
 that the reader may have all the confidence in its 
 recognised portions that authority can bestow, and 
 that he may the better distinguish them from the 
 new views which are here added. 
 
 “ There are,” says Winckelmann, “ two kinds 
 of beauty, individual and ideal: the former is a 
 combination of the beauties of an individual; the 
 latter, a selection of beautiful parts from several.* 
 
 “ The formation of beauty was begun from some 
 beautiful individual, that is, from the imitation of 
 some beautiful person, as in the representation of 
 
 * “ La bellezza e di due specie, individuata, e ideate; la prirna 
 e un complesso delle belle forme d’ un individuo ; e la seconda 
 un estratto di essa preso da piii individui .”—Monumenti Inediti. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 319 
 
 some divinity. Even in the ages when the arts 
 were flourishing, the goddesses were formed from 
 the models of beautiful women, and even from 
 those who publicly sold their charms: £uch was 
 Theodota, of whom Xenophon speaks. Nor was 
 any one scandalized at it, for the opinion of the 
 ancients on these matters was very different from 
 ours.” # 
 
 Winckelmann adds, “ There is rarely or never, a 
 body without fault, all the parts of which are such 
 that it is impossible to find or draw them more 
 perfect in other persons. The wisest artists, being 
 
 * “ La formazione della bellezza ha comineiato dal bello indi- 
 viduo, cioe dall’ imitare una bella persona, anche nel rappre- 
 sentare qualche divinita. Ne’ tempi eziandio, in cui le arti 
 fiorivano, effigiavansi le dee sul modello di belle donne, e di 
 quelle pure che a pubblico comodo vendevan piaceri: tale fu 
 Teodota, di cui parla Senofonte. Ne siavi chi di cio si scan- 
 dalezzi, poiche gli antichi su questo proposito pensavano ben 
 diversamente da noi .”—Storia delle Arti. 
 
 But I much doubt his assertion when he says, “La natura 
 ha formato sempre e va formando tutto giorno de’ visi com- 
 parabili a quante teste della piu sublime bellezza veder si 
 possono scolpite ne’ marmi, e nellegemme: anche a di nostri 
 si veggon vive delle Niobi e degli Apollini Vaticani. Certe 
 teste di deita che a taluno sembrar ne possono concepite con 
 P intelletto astratto dall’ osservazione della creatura, e ritratte 
 come per isvergognar cio di che la natura fa mostra, non 
 saranno per avventura che immagini di persone anticamente 
 vissute; gia sappiamo che alcune statue di Venere e di altre 
 dee furon fatte a similitudine sin delle femmine che faceano 
 mercimonio della loro bellezza .”—Monumenti Inediti. 
 
320 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 aware of this . . . did not confine themselves to 
 copying the forms of beauty from one indi¬ 
 vidual ... but seeking what is beautiful from various 
 objects, they endeavoured to combine them toge¬ 
 ther, as the celebrated Parrhasius says in his dis¬ 
 course with Socrates. Thus, in the formation of 
 their figures, they were not guided by any personal 
 affections, by which we are frequently led, in the 
 pursuit of beauty that pleases us, to abandon true 
 beauty.* 
 
 “ From the selection of the most beautiful parts 
 and their harmonious union in one figure, arises 
 ideal beauty : nor is this a metaphysical idea, be¬ 
 cause all the portions of the human figure taken 
 separately are not ideal; but merely the entire 
 figure.”! And he elsewhere says, “ it is called 
 
 * “V’ ha di rado o non mai un corpo senza difetti, e di cui 
 tutte le parti siano tali che in altri corpi rit.rovar non se ne pos- 
 sano o figurare almeno delle piu perfette. Di cio persuasi i piu 
 saggi artisti ...»non ristringevansi ad un solo individuo per 
 copiare le forme della bellezza .... ma il bello su varj oggetti 
 ricercando studiavansi di combinarlo insieme, come diceva il 
 celebre pittore Parrasio, ragionando con Socrate. Cosi nel 
 formare le loro figure non erano diretti da quella inclinazione 
 personale, per cui sovente il nostro spirito, seguendo una belta 
 che piace, abbandona la vera bellezza.’’— Storia delle Arti. 
 
 + “ Dalla scelta delle piu belle parti e dalla loro armonica 
 unione in una figura nasce il bello ideale : ne e gia questa un’ 
 idea metafisica, poiche ideali non sono tutte le parti dell’ 
 umana figura separatamente prese ; ma solo deve ideale chia- 
 marsi la figura intera.”— Ibid. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 321 
 
 ideal not as regards its parts but as a whole, in 
 which nature can be surpassed by art.” # 
 
 With deeper observations still, he adds that, 
 “ though nature tends to perfection in the for¬ 
 mation of individuals, yet she is so constantly 
 thwarted by the numerous accidents to which 
 humanity is subject, that she cannot attain the 
 end proposed; so that it is in a manner impossible 
 to find an individual in whom all parts of the 
 body are perfectly beautiful.”f 
 It was to the same purport that Proclus had in 
 ancient times said, “ He who takes for his model 
 such forms as nature produces, and confines 
 
 * “ Dicesi poi ideale non rispetto alle parti, ma al totale, in 
 cui la natura pud esser superata dall’ arte .”—Monumenti Inediti. 
 
 t “ La natura, quantunque nella formazione de’ suoi indivi- 
 dui tenda al perfetto, trovasi poco meno che quasi sempre 
 impedita dalla materia e da tanti accidenti a’ quali e soggetta 
 1 umanita, sicche non possa arrivar al fine ch’ ella si propone ; 
 talmente che sara quasi impossibile di trovar uomo alcuno di 
 bellezza finita in ogni sua parte.”— Ibid. 
 
 In his Storia delle Arti, Winckelmann says, “ II Bernini 
 considero come impossibile e sognata la scelta delle piu belle 
 parti di cinque avvenenti donne di Crotona, fatta da Seusi 
 quando voile dipingere Giunone, asserendo che le parti e le 
 membra d un individuo non possono ad altri ben convenire, 
 fuorche a quello di cui sono proprie.” And he properly replies, 
 Ma in cio il Bernini s’ inganno, come s’ ingannaron tutti coloro 
 1 quali negando, come lui, esservi altra bellezza fuorche 1’ 
 individua, cosi ragionarono.” Assuredly, however, the painters 
 of modern times, ignorant of the great principles of the Greeks, 
 are incapable of uniting such parts in one harmonic combination. 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 himself to an exact imitation of them, will never 
 attain to what is perfectly beautiful. For the 
 works of nature are full of disproportion, and fall 
 very short of the true standard of beauty. So that 
 Phidias, when he formed his Jupiter, did not copy 
 any object ever presented to his sight, but con¬ 
 templated only that image which he had conceived 
 in his mind from Homer’s description.’ 
 
 In short, while the Greek artists perpetually 
 studied nature, they discovered her best and 
 highest tendencies even in her most perfect forms ; 
 their works accordingly present nothing foreign to 
 that which is strictly beautiful; they present not 
 only no inferior forms, but no idle ornaments; and 
 everything in them is accordingly at once simple 
 and sublime. 
 
 Barryf affords me the means of continu¬ 
 ing the view I now wish to present. “ In all 
 
 * Lib. II. in Timseum Platonis. 
 
 f This member of the Royal Academy was suspected of 
 having written that “ republics had done more for the advance¬ 
 ment of the fine arts than monarchies.” The late George the 
 Third, who did not approve of truths of that kind, was thereby 
 so much enraged, that he instantly sent for the list of the 
 members of the Academy, and therefrom erased the name of 
 Barry. The academicians humbly submitted to the indignity 
 which hereditary wisdom thus inflicted. It would appear, 
 however, that bad principles are spreading among the Royal 
 Academicians; for the works of this expelled member are now 
 daringly given by them as a prize to students at the Academy . 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 323 
 
 individuals,” he says, “ of every species, there 
 is necessarily a visible tendency to a certain 
 point or form. In this point or form, the standard 
 of each species rests. The deviations from this, 
 either by excess or deficiency, are of two kinds : 
 first, deviations indicating a more peculiar adapt¬ 
 ation of certain characters of advantage and utility, 
 such as strength, agility, and so forth; even 
 mental as well as corporeal, since they some¬ 
 times result from habit and education, as well 
 as from original conformation. In these devia¬ 
 tions, are to be found those ingredients which, 
 in their composition and union, exhibit the ab¬ 
 stract or ideal perfection in the several classes 
 or species of character. The second kind of de¬ 
 viation is that which, having no reference to any¬ 
 thing useful or advantageous, but rather visibly 
 indicating the contrary, as being useless, cumber¬ 
 some, or deficient, is considered as deformity; 
 and this deformity will be always found different 
 in the several individuals, by either not being in 
 the same part, in the same manner, or in the same 
 degree. The points of agreement which indicate 
 the species, are therefore many; of difference 
 which indicate the deformity, few.” 
 
 Barry, however, wrongly says, “ Mere beauty, 
 then, though always interesting, is notwithstand¬ 
 ing vague and indeterminate; as it indicates no 
 
 y 2 
 
324 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 particular expression either of body or mind. - 
 But it indicates the highest character, the capa¬ 
 bility of all noble expression, and this is better 
 than its sacrifice to actuality in one. 
 
 I am now led to the greater rules which their 
 ideal method suggested to the Greeks. Payne 
 Knight indeed says, “ Precise rules and defi¬ 
 nitions, in matters of this sort, are merely the 
 playthings or tools of system-builders; and, un¬ 
 checked by any recollection of the practical and 
 unrivalled excellence of the founders of these 
 rules, he adds a great deal of narrow-minded and 
 mistaken nonsense upon the subject, never distin¬ 
 guishing between rules in themselves rational, and 
 the stretching of them to utter inapplicability. On 
 this subject, even Reynolds properly observes, 
 “ that some of the greatest names of antiquity, 
 and those who have most distinguished themselves 
 in works of genius and imagination, were equally 
 eminent for their critical skill. Plato, Aristotle, 
 Cicero, and Horace; and among the moderns, 
 Boileau, Corneille, Pope, and Dryden, are at least 
 instances of genius not being destroyed by atten¬ 
 tion or subjection to rules and science.” 
 
 But the grossest errors on this subject have 
 been committed by Alison, who says, “ Artists, 
 in every age, have taken pains to ascertain the 
 most exact measurement of the human form, and 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 325 
 
 of all its parts. . . If the beauty of form consisted in 
 any original proportion, the productions of the fine 
 arts would everywhere have testified it; and, in 
 the works of the statuary and the painter, we 
 should have found only this sole and sacred sys¬ 
 tem of proportion. The fact however is, as 
 every one knows, that, in such productions, no 
 such rule is observed ; that there is no one pro¬ 
 portion of parts which belongs to the most beau¬ 
 tiful productions of these arts; that the propor¬ 
 tions of the Apollo, for instance, are different 
 from those of the Hercules, the Antinous, the 
 Gladiator, &c.; and that there are not, in the 
 whole catalogue of ancient statues, two, perhaps, 
 of which the proportions are actually the same.” 
 
 Now, 1 believe, we may say that this original or 
 most perfect proportion is presented in the Apollo, 
 which is not, as generally supposed, an example 
 of peculiar, but of universal, beauty—the loco¬ 
 motive system presenting as much strength as is 
 compatible with agility, and as much agility as is 
 compatible with strength, and any other modifi¬ 
 cation of either ensuring diminution of power; 
 while the vital and mental systems are equally 
 perfect. Wherever this model is deviated from 
 by the ancient artists, it is peculiar beauty, I be¬ 
 lieve, that is represented. 
 
 He further says, “ They have imagined also 
 
326 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 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 con¬ 
 sidered 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.” So also Burke says, “ It must 
 be likewise shown, that these parts stand in such 
 a relation to each other, that the comparison be¬ 
 tween them may be easily made, and that the 
 affection of the mind may naturally result from it.” 
 
 Now, no man in his senses ever cared which of 
 these measures was adopted, except as a matter 
 of convenience, or ever imagined that peculiar 
 virtue resided in any of them. 
 
 The following are some of the principal rules 
 which, either by intuition or with due definition, 
 resulted from and guided the practice of the an¬ 
 cient Greeks. 
 
 First, in regard to the thinking system, when 
 the ancient artists, either from taste or from prin¬ 
 ciple, gave greater opening to the facial angle than 
 80°, they believed that an increase of intelligence 
 corresponded to that conformation. By increasing 
 the angle beyond 85°, they impressed upon their 
 figures the grandest character, as we see in the 
 heads of the Apollo, the Venus, and others whose 
 facial angle extends to or exceeds 90°. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 327 
 
 In regard to the forehead, then, this afforded their 
 rule for distinguishing beings of a superior kind. 
 How well they observed the tendency of nature 
 to increase that angle with the increase of some of 
 the thinking faculties, we now know. This ideal 
 rule was, therefore, admirably founded. 
 
 Whoever reflects on the nature of this angle 
 will perceive that its increase tended in no way 
 to raise the forehead, but to throw it forward, and 
 therefore to lengthen the head. This conforms to 
 the metaphor by which a long head is used for a 
 wise head, and which has not yet given place to a 
 broad head, preferred by the German craniologists, 
 in compliment to their own organization. 
 
 With regard to the height of the forehead, it 
 has already been observed that it was, among 
 the ancient Greeks, more considerable than its 
 breadth, as may be seen by the busts of their 
 most illustrious men. Still, neither the natural 
 nor the ideal forehead much exceeded the space 
 from the forehead to the bottom of the nose, or 
 that from the nose to the bottom of the chin. 
 
 Winckelmann accordingly says, “ The forehead 
 to be beautiful should be low [meaning, as his 
 expressions elsewhere show, no higher than the 
 other two spaces just mentioned] ; and its lowness 
 was so fixed amongst the ideas of beauty by the 
 Grecian artists, that it serves a§ a mark to dis- 
 
328 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 tinguish modern heads from ancient. The reason 
 of this appears founded in the very rules of pro¬ 
 portion, which, as in the whole human body, was 
 amongst the ancients tripartite : thus the face also 
 was divided into three parts; so that the fore¬ 
 head should be of the same length as the nose, 
 and the remainder of the face to the chin of 
 the same length likewise. This proportion was 
 founded on observation, and we may at anytime 
 convince ourselves of it in any individual with a 
 low forehead, by covering with a finger the hair 
 at the top of the forehead, so as to render it so 
 much higher, and we shall then see a want of 
 harmony of proportion and how detrimental a high 
 forehead is to beauty.* 
 
 * “ La fronte per esser bella convien che sia bassa ; e la 
 bassezza sua si era talmente fissata fra le idee della bellezza, 
 dagli artefici Greci, ch’ ella suol essere un distintivo per dis- 
 cernere le teste moderne dalle antielie. La ragione di cio par 
 fondata nelle massime stesse della proporzione, la quale sic- 
 come in tutta la figura umana era sfata presso gli antichi 
 tripartita : cost tripartita er’ ancora statanel viso; di modo che 
 1’ altezza della fronte fosse uguale alia lunghezza del naso ; e 
 quindi altrettanta altezza avesse il viso sino all’estremita del 
 mento. Questa proporzione fu stabilita dell’ osservazione, e 
 noi pure possiamo con essa chiarircene a nostro talento in 
 alcuna persona di fronte bassa ; coprendole con la larghezza 
 di un dito le radici de’ capelli sopra la fronte, per figurarcela 
 quel tanto piu alta; e allora scopriremo, per dir cosi, la dis- 
 armonica dissonanza della proporzione, e quanto pregiudichi 
 alia bellezza la fronte alta .”—Monumenti dntichi. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 329 
 
 These views of Winckelmann, the ideal rule 
 which they illustrate, and above all, the actual di¬ 
 mension of the forehead among the philosophers, 
 the poets, and the legislators of Greece, whose 
 genius has been unequalled in modern times, 
 show the folly of the craniological hypothesis. 
 The reason of the ideal rule has not indeed been 
 assigned: it appears to me to be this, that the 
 three parts of the face which, as I have shown 
 both here and in my work on Physiognomy, are 
 respectively connected with ideas, emotions, and 
 passions, should be equal one to another, or that 
 these acts of the organs of sense and brain should 
 be in due proportion and harmony. While there¬ 
 fore, I do not, with the craniologists, seek the pre¬ 
 dominance of any one of them, neither do I, with 
 Giovani de Laet, take no notice of the space be¬ 
 tween the top of the head and the commencement 
 of the forehead, and say this part is not to be consi¬ 
 dered in the height of a man, quia pars excrementosa 
 est! 
 
 Their next rule regarded the form of the nose , 
 in nearly the same line with the forehead, and 
 with little indentation between these parts. 
 
 The foundation of this rule I have not seen 
 pointed out; and it was indeed difficult of dis¬ 
 covery, without previous knowledge of the phy¬ 
 siological fact first mentioned, in my physiogno- 
 
330 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 mical work, namely, that the nose is the inlet 
 of vital emotion or pleasure, as the eye is of men¬ 
 tal emotion; while the passions connected with 
 nutrition and thought respectively, depend upon 
 other organs, the mouth and the ear. Anatomists 
 know how closely associated are the nose and the 
 eyes, and the mouth and the ears respectively. 
 
 Now, as in these ideal representations, their 
 object was to increase the means of emotion, but 
 not those of passion, the organs of the former, the 
 nose and the eyes, were all, at the same time, en¬ 
 larged by raising the junction of the forehead and 
 the nose; while those of passion, the mouth and 
 the ears, were relatively decreased. Not only was 
 the passage of the nose or of the olfactory nerves 
 to the brain strikingly dilated by this elevation of 
 the intermediate part, but the orbits of the eyes 
 were enlarged. As then we naturally associate 
 the increase of organs with the increase of their 
 sensations and with corresponding effects upon 
 the brain, and as the tendency to such configuration 
 is as conspicuous in the countries they inhabited, 
 as is the energy of the emotions with which they 
 are connected, this rule was as admirably founded 
 as the former in natural tendencies. 
 
 I deem this a pendant to Camper’s discovery of 
 the facial angle, and one, too, which was not quite 
 so obvious or so easy to be made. It disposes of 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 331 
 
 this middle or intermediate part of the face, and 
 shows that the Greeks, in beings of the highest 
 character, desired the gradual predominance of 
 emotion over passion, and of ideas or intellect 
 over emotion. 
 
 A vague feeling of the curious fact I have here 
 explained, Alison, as a man of taste, had, when he 
 said, “ Apply, however, this beautiful form to the 
 countenance of the warrior, the bandit, the mar¬ 
 tyr, &c , or to any countenance which is meant to 
 express deep or powerful passion, and the most 
 vulgar spectator would be sensible of dissatisfac¬ 
 tion, if not disgust.” 
 
 In endeavouring to assign a reason for the con¬ 
 figuration which I have just explained, Winckel- 
 mann, in ascribing it to the mere production of 
 effect, is driven into a ridiculous inconsistency. 
 He thinks that for large statues seen at a distance, 
 it was necessary, and so came to be used for small 
 medals seen near, for which it was not necessary ! 
 
 “ In the heads of statues, and particularly in 
 ideal heads, the eyes are deeper set: the bulb re¬ 
 mains more deep than is usual in nature, in which 
 sunken eyes render the countenance austere and 
 cunning instead of calm and joyful. In this re¬ 
 spect, art has departed with reason from nature ; 
 for in figures placed to be seen at a distance, if 
 the bulb of the eye were level with the edge of 
 
332 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 the orbit, there would be no effect produced of 
 light and shade ; and the eye itself, placed under 
 the eyebrows which do not project, would be dull 
 and inexpressive. This maxim, adopted for large 
 statues, became in time universal; so that it may 
 be observed even on medals, not only in ideal 
 heads but in portraits.”* And elsewhere he says, 
 “ Art subsequently established it is as a rule to 
 give this form to the eyes even in small figures, as 
 may be seen in the heads on coins.”f 
 
 Thus Winckelmann’s reason avowedly explains 
 only the half of that to which it is applied, and in 
 reality explains nothing, because it leaves a gross in¬ 
 consistency, of which Greek genius was incapable. 
 
 * “ Gli occhj sono piu internati nelle teste delle statue, e 
 particolarmente nelle teste ideali, nelle quali il bulbo rimane 
 piu in dentro di quel che soglia essere nella natura, in cui gli 
 occhj ritirati e depressi non rendono il sembiante sereno ed 
 ilare, ma piuttosto austero e cupo. Quanto a cio 1’ arte si e 
 discostata non senza ragione dal naturale ; imperocche nelle 
 figure collocate in sito rimoto dalla vista, se il bulbo dell’ oe- 
 chio fosse stato a livello dell’ incassatura, non vi sarebbe pro- 
 dotto effetto alcuno di luce e d’orabra; e 1’occhio stesso 
 situate sotto le ciglia, le quali non si sporgono, sarebbe poco 
 significante e quasi stupido. Questa massima adottata per le 
 statue grandi, col tempo divenne universale; talehe vedesi 
 osservata anche nelle medaglie, rispetto non solo alle teste 
 ideali, ma anche ai ritratti .”—Monumenti Inediti. 
 
 f “ L’ arte stabili in seguito una regola di dare all’ occhio 
 tal forma, eziandio nelle piccole figure ; e diffatti cosi incas- 
 sato vedesi anche sulle teste delle monete .”—Storia delle Arti. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 333 
 
 Of the general outline thus formed of the face, 
 Winckelmann more truly says, “ In the forma¬ 
 tion of the face, the Greek profile is the principal 
 characteristic of sublime beauty. This profile is 
 produced by the straight line, or the line but very 
 slightly indented, which the forehead and nose 
 form in youthful faces, especially female ones. 
 Nature seems less disposed to accord this form 
 to the face in cold than in mild and temperate 
 climes ; but wherever this profile is found, it is 
 always beautiful. The straight full line expresses 
 a kind of greatness, and, gently curved, it presents 
 the idea of agreeable delicacy. That in these 
 profiles exists one cause of beauty is proved by the 
 character of the opposite line ; for the greater the 
 inflection of the nose, the less beautiful is the 
 face; and if, when seen sideways, it presents a bad 
 profile, it is useless to look for beauty in any other 
 view.”* 
 
 * “ Nella forma del volto il profilo greco e il principal ca- 
 raltere d’ una bellezza sublime. Vien formato questo profilo 
 da una linea retta, o almeno dolcemente piegata, che descrivon 
 la fronte e’l naso sulle figure giovanili, e principalmente delle 
 donne. La natura sembra compiacersi meno a dare tal forma 
 ai volti ne’ climi aspri, che sotto un cielo temperato e dolce; 
 ma ovunque questa s’ incontra, suole il volto sempre esser 
 bello. La linea retta e compiuta esprime un non so che di 
 grande, e la linea dolcemente incurvata ci presenta un’ idea 
 di piacevole delicatezza. Che in tali profili siavi una delle 
 ragioni della bellezza lo dimostra 1’ opposto; imperocche 
 
334 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 A third rule of the Greek artists, in heads of the 
 highest character, is greatly illustrated by the 
 new views just stated. If, in these, they desired to 
 render ideas and intellect more dominant than 
 emotions of pleasure or pain, and emotions more 
 dominant than passion, it becomes evident why 
 they equally sought to avoid the convulsions of 
 impassioned expression. 
 
 A very beautiful object of this, is mistaken by 
 Winckelmann. I quote his words. 
 
 ££ Taken in either sense [of action or of passion], 
 expression,” says Winckelmann, ££ changes the 
 features of the face, and the disposition of the 
 body, and consequently the forms which consti¬ 
 tute beauty; and the greater the change, the 
 greater the loss of beauty. Therefore, the state of 
 tranquillity and repose was considered as a funda¬ 
 mental point in the art. Tranquillity is the state 
 proper to beauty.* 
 
 quanto maggiore e 1’ incavamento del naso, tanto piu il volto 
 dalla bella forma s’allontana; e ove questo lateralmente 
 guardato presenta un cattivo profilo, non e sperabile di vederlo 
 bello in niun aspetto.”— Ibid. 
 
 * “ L’ espressione presa in amendue i sensi altera i tratti del 
 volto, il contegno del corpo, e con essi le forme che costituis- 
 cono la belta ; e quanto maggiore e questa alterazione, tanto 
 piu di bellezza si perde. Percio lo stato di tranquillita e di 
 riposo, veniva nelle arti considerato come un punto fondamen- 
 tale. La tranquillita e lo stato proprio della bellezza .”—Storia 
 delle Arti. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 335 
 
 “ The handsomest men are generally the most 
 mild and the best disposed.* 
 
 “ Besides, tranquillity and repose, both in men 
 and animals, is the state which allows ‘us best 
 to examine and represent their nature and quali¬ 
 ties ; as we can see the bottom of the sea or rivers 
 only when the waves are tranquil and the stream 
 runs smoothly.f 
 
 “ Therefore the Grecian artists, wishing to de¬ 
 pict, in their representations of their deities, the 
 perfection of human beauty, strove to produce, in 
 theii countenances and actions, a certain placidity 
 without the slightest change or perturbation, 
 which, according to their philosophy, was at va¬ 
 riance with the nature and character of the gods. 
 The figures produced in this state of repose ex¬ 
 pressed a perfect equilibrium of feeling.j 
 
 * “ Gli uomini piu belli sono eziandio per 1’ ordinario i piu 
 tranquilli e di miglior indole.”— Ibid. 
 
 + In oltre la tranquillita e 1 riposo si degli uomini che 
 degli animali e quello stato, in cui meglio possiamo conoscerne 
 e rappresentarne 1 indole e le proprieta, come il fondo del mare 
 e de’ fiumi allor solo scopriamo che tranquille sono o placide 
 scorron 1’ onde.”— Ibid. 
 
 t “ P erc 'o gli artefici greci, volendo giugnere a ritrarre nelle 
 immagini ch’ ei chiamavano di questa e quella divinita, il com- 
 pimento dell’ umana bellezza, cercarono d’ accordare col volto 
 e con gli atti di esse una placidezza che non avesse il minimo 
 che d’ alterazione e di perturbazione, che secondo la filosofia, 
 era anche impropria della natura e dello stato delle stesse 
 
336 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 ‘‘But as complete tranquillity and repose can¬ 
 not exist in figures in action, and even the gods 
 are represented in human form, and subject to 
 human affections, we must not always expect to 
 find in them the most sublime idea of beauty. 
 This is then compensated for by expression. The 
 ancient artists, however, never lost sight of it: 
 it was always their principal object, to which ex¬ 
 pression was in some sort made subservient.* 
 
 “ Beauty without expression would be insigni¬ 
 ficant, and expression without beauty would be 
 unpleasing; but from their influence over each 
 other, from combining together their apparently 
 discordant qualities, results an eloquent, persua¬ 
 sive and interesting beauty.”f 
 
 Divinita. Le figure fatte con una tal compostezza esprime- 
 vano un equilibrio perfetto di sensazione .—Monumenti Inediti. 
 
 * “ Ma poiche nelle azioni la piena tranquillita e 1’ indiffe- 
 renza non hanno luogo, e le stesse figure divine vengono rap- 
 presentate sotto uraane forme e cogli umani affetti; quindi e 
 che non sempre dee cercarsi in loro la piu sublime idea della 
 belta. Questa allora vien compensata dall’ espressione. Gli 
 antichi artisti pero non la perdevano mai di mira: anzi era 
 sempre lo scopo loro prineipale a cui 1’espressione doveva in 
 qualche modo servire .”—Storia delle Arti. 
 
 t “ La belta, senza 1’ espressione, insignificante sarebbe, e 
 1’ espressione senza la belta sarebbe spiacevole ; ma influendo 
 1’ una sull’ altra, e combinandosi insieme le loro qualita che 
 sembrano distruggersi a vicenda, ne risulta una parlante, per- 
 suasiva, ed attraente bellezza.”— Ibid. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 337 
 
 Some of these remarks are true and beautiful; 
 but the great object of the Greeks in suppressing 
 the convulsions of impassioned expression, was the 
 bestowal of grace, the highest quality in ’ all re¬ 
 presentation. It is surprising that this should have 
 been so universally overlooked, that, even among 
 artists, nothing is more common than to hear 
 regrets that the Greeks gave so little expression 
 to their figures! Let the reader now peruse 
 again Dr. Smith’s and Mr. Alison’s account of 
 giace, and if he is acquainted with the produc¬ 
 tions of ancient art, he will see that the Greeks 
 suppressed impassioned expression only to bestow 
 the highest degree of grace. Those, therefore, who 
 complain of this, show themselves ignorant of the 
 best object of their art. 
 
 If the explanation of this great purpose be 
 clearly borne in mind, the remaining observations 
 of Winckelmann will receive a better application 
 than that to which he limited them. 
 
 “ Repose and tranquillity may be regarded as 
 the effect of that composed manner which the 
 Grecians studied to show in their actions and 
 gestures. Amongst them, a hurried gait was re¬ 
 garded as contrary to the idea of decent de¬ 
 portment, and partaking somewhat of expressive 
 boldness. . . . Whilst on the other hand, slow and 
 
 z 
 
338 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 regulated motions of the body were proofs amongst 
 the ancients of a great mind.* 
 
 “The highest idea of tranquillity and composure 
 is found expressed in the representations of the 
 divinities; so that from the father of the gods to 
 the inferior deities, their figures appear free from 
 the influence of any affection. The greatest of 
 the poets thus describes Jupiter as making all 
 Olympus tremble by merely moving his eyebrow 
 or shaking his locks. . . . All the figures of Jupiter 
 are not however made in the same style.f 
 
 “ The Vatican Apollo represents this god quiet 
 and tranquil after the death of the serpent Python, 
 which he had slain with a dart, and should also 
 express a certain contempt for a victory so easy 
 
 * “ II riposo e la tranquiliita denno considerarsi come un 
 effetto di quella compostezza che i Greei studiavansi di mostrare 
 nell’ azione e ne’ gesti. Presso di loro un passeggiar affrettato 
 teneasi in certo modo come contrario all’ idea d’ un modesto 
 contegno, e vi trovavano un non so che di arditezza sover- 
 chia . . . Cosi per 1’ opposto i lenti gravi movimenti del corpo 
 indizio erano presso gli antichi d’ un’ anima grande.”— Ibid. 
 
 f “ La phi alta idea della tranquiliita e della compostezza si 
 trova espressa nelle figure delle divinita; cosicche, cominciando 
 dal padre de’ numi sino agli dei subalterni, le figure loro non 
 sembrano mosse da nessun affetto. Percio il piu grande fra 
 i poeti ci descrive il suo Giove che, col solo mover le ciglia o 
 scuotere il crine, tutto mette in moto 1’ Olimpo . . . Non si 
 creda pero che in simil guisa formate siano tutte le figure di 
 Giove.”— Ibid. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 339 
 
 to him. The skilful artist, who wished to embody 
 the most beautiful of the gods, has depicted anger 
 in the nose, which according to the most ancient 
 poets was the seat of it, and contempt in the lips : 
 contempt is expressed by the drawing up of the 
 under lip, and anger by the expansion of the 
 nostrils.* 
 
 “The expression of the passions in the face 
 should accord with the attitude and gestures of 
 the body; and the latter should be suitable to the 
 dignity ol the gods in their statues and figures : 
 from this results its propriety. 
 
 “In representing the figures of heroes, the 
 ancient artist exercised equal care and judgment; 
 and expressed only those human affections which 
 are suitable for a wise man, who represses the vio¬ 
 lence of his passions, and scarcely allows a spark 
 of the internal flame to be seen, so as to leave to 
 those who are desirous of it, the trouble of finding 
 out what remains concealed. 
 
 We have examples of this in two of the most 
 
 * “ L Apollo del Vaticano dovea rappresentare questo dio 
 cheto e tranquillo sopra il morto drago Pitone da lui ucciso con 
 un dardo, e dovea insieme esprimere certo disprezzo per una 
 vittoria che era si piccola cosa per lui. II saggio artista, che 
 voleva effigiare il piu bello degli dei, gli colloco sdegno nel 
 naso, che n e la sede, secondo i piu antichi poeti, e 1’ disprezzo 
 sidle labbra : questo ha espresso col tirargli alquanto in su il 
 labbro inferiore, e quello coll’ avergli dilatate le narici.”— Ibid. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 beautiful works of antiquity, one of w 7 hich is the 
 image of the fear of certain death, the other of 
 suffering exceeding anguish. 
 
 Niobe and her daughters, against whom Diana 
 shot her fatal arrows, are represented as seized 
 with terror and horror, in that state of indescribable 
 anguish, when the sight of instant and inevit¬ 
 able death deprives the mind of the power of 
 thought. Of this state of stupor and insensibility, 
 the fable gives us an idea in the metamorphosis of 
 Niobe into a stone; and hence ^Eschylus intro¬ 
 duces her in his tragedy as stunned and speech¬ 
 less. In such a moment, when all thought and 
 feeling cease, in a state bordering upon insensi¬ 
 bility, the appearance is not altered, nor any fea¬ 
 ture of the face disturbed, and the mighty artist 
 could here depict the most sublime beauty, and 
 has indeed done so. Niobe and her daughters 
 are, and ever will be, the most perfect models of 
 beauty. 
 
 “ Laocoon is the image of the most acute grief, 
 that puts the nerves, the muscles, and the veins in 
 action. His blood is in a state of extreme agi¬ 
 tation from the venomous bite of the serpents; 
 every part of his body evinces pain and suffering; 
 and the artist has put in motion, so to speak, all 
 the springs of nature, and thus made known the 
 extent of his art and the depth of his knowledge. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 341 
 
 In the representation, however, of this excessive 
 torment, we can still recognise the conduct of a 
 brave man struggling against his misfortunes, 
 stifling the emotions of his anguish, and. striving 
 to repress them.”* 
 
 * “ L’ espressione delle passioni sul volto dev’ accordarsi colla 
 positura e cogli atteggiamenti del corpo: e questi denno con- 
 venire alia dignita degli dei nelle loro statue e figure; quindi 
 ne risulta la compostezza. 
 
 Egual cura e avvedutezza usarono gli antichi artisti nel rap- 
 presentare le figure degli eroi; e que’ soli umani affetti espres- 
 sero che convengono an un uomo savio, il quale reprime il 
 bollore delle passioni, fa appena vedere qualche scintilla dell’ 
 interno suo fuoco, per lasciare a chi ne e bramoso la cura di 
 scoprire quel che in loro rimane ascosto. 
 
 Abbiamo di cio esempi in due de’ piii bei lavori dell’ anti- 
 chita de’ quali uno e 1’ immagine del terrore, che ne da la 
 morte imminente, e 1’ altro del patimento de’ dolori pi a atroci. 
 
 Niobe e le sue figlie, alle quali Diana vibra mortali saette, 
 veggonsi rappresentate, comprese da terrore e da raccapriccio, 
 in quello stato d’ inesprimibile angoscia, in cui 1’ aspetto della 
 morte presente inevitabile toglie per sin all’ anima la facolta 
 di pensare. Di tale stato di stupore e d’ insensibilita ci da 
 un’ idea la favola nella metamorfosi di Niobe in sasso; e quindi 
 Eschilo la introduce nella sua tragedia come interdetta e muta. 
 In tal momento, in cui cessa ogni riflessione, ogni sentimento, 
 e che si avvicina all’ insensibilita, non si alterano punto le 
 sembianze, e nessun tratto del volto si scompone; onde il 
 grande artista potea qui effigiare la piu sublime bellezza, e ve 
 1’ ha scolpita diffatti. Niobe e le sue figlie sono e sempre 
 saranno i piu perfetti modelli di belta. 
 
 Laocoonte e 1’ immagine del piu vivo dolore, che tutti mette 
 in azione i muscoli, i nervi, e le vene. Il sangue suo e nella 
 piu forte agitazione pel velenoso morso de’ serpenti: tutte le 
 
342 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 “ The ancient artists have preserved this air of 
 composure even in their dancing figures, except 
 the Bacchanals; and thus an opinion obtained 
 that the action of their figures should be modelled 
 on the manners adopted in their ancient dances, 
 and therefore, in their later dances, the ancient 
 figures served as a model to the performers to 
 prevent their overstepping the bounds of a modest 
 deportment: 
 
 Molli diducunt Candida gestu 
 Brachia. Propert. 
 
 “No immoderate or violent passions are ever 
 found expressed in the public works of the an¬ 
 cients, f 
 
 parti del suo corpo esprimono tormento e violenza; e I’ artista 
 ha messo in moto tutte, a cosi dire, le suste della natura, facendo 
 in tal modo conoscere 1’ arte sua e le sue profonde cognizioni. 
 Nella rappresentazione pero di questo eccessivo tormento pur 
 vi si riconosce il contegno d’ un uomo grande, che contro i 
 mali suoi combatte, affrena i moti della sensibilita, e vuole 
 comprimerli.”— Ibid. 
 
 * “Tal compostezza hanno portata gli antichi artefici per sin 
 nelle figure delle danzatrici, tranne pero le Baccanti; e siccome 
 era una massima ricevuta, che nelle figure 1’ azione confor- 
 marsi dovesse alle maniere usate ne’ piu antichi balli; cosi 
 ne’ balli seguenti le figure antiche servirono di modello alle 
 saltatrici, affinche non uscissero dai limiti d’un modesto con¬ 
 tegno.”— Ibid. 
 
 f “ Nelle opere pubbliche degli antichi non veggonsi mai 
 espresse passioni smoderate e violente.”— Ibid. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 343 
 
 “ The knowledge of the ancients cannot be 
 better known than by comparing their perform¬ 
 ances with the majority of those of the moderns, 
 in which a little is expressed by much, instead ot 
 much by a little. This is what the Greeks call 
 TrapvS^o-o; ; a word that aptly expresses the de¬ 
 fect produced by too much expression in modern 
 artists. Their figures resemble in action the 
 comedians of the ancient theatre, who, to render 
 themselves visible even to the most distant portion 
 of the audience, were compelled to exceed the 
 limits of nature and truth ; and the faces of mo¬ 
 dern figures are like the ancient masks, which for 
 the same reason, the increase of expression, be¬ 
 came hideous. 
 
 “This excess of expression is taught in a book 
 which goes into the hands of all young artists, a 
 Treatise on the Passions, by Carlo Le Brun, and 
 in the annexed drawings, not only is the highest 
 degree of passion expressed on the face, but in 
 some even to madness.”* 
 
 * “ II saper degli antichi non si puo meglio conoscere che nel 
 confrontar i loro colla maggior parte de’ moderni lavori, ne’ 
 quali non molto con poco, ma bens'i poco con molto vedesi 
 espresso. Questo dai Greci detto sarebbesi iraperdvpcrog ; voce 
 atta ad esprimere il difetto che v’ e per lo piu nell’ espressione 
 de’ recenti artefici. Le figure loro sono per 1’ atteggiamento 
 simili ai comici dell’ antico teatro, i quali per esser ben visibili, 
 eziandio al piu minuto popolo che stava all’ estremita, doveano 
 
344 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 Hence we may say with Azara, that “ The 
 Greeks possessed that art in such perfection, that 
 in their statues, one scarcely discovers that they 
 had thought of expression, and nevertheless each 
 says that which it ought to say. They are in a 
 repose which shows all the beauty without any 
 alteration; and a soft and sweet motion, of the 
 mouth, the eyes, or the mere action, expresses 
 the effect, enchanting at once the mind and the 
 senses.”* 
 
 In the inferior beings, however, when passion 
 is expressed, the features are varied by the Greek 
 artists as they are in nature. 
 
 Such are the great ideal rules with regard to 
 the head and the functions of thought. 
 
 oltrepassare i limiti della naturalezza a del vero ; e i volti delle 
 figure moderne sono simili alle antiche maschere, che per la me- 
 desima ragione, affin d’ essere raolto espressive, erano sformate. 
 
 “ Questa espressione eccessiva vien insegnata in un libro che 
 va per le mani di tutt’ i giovani artisti, cioe nel Trattato delle 
 passioni di Carlo Le-Brun; e negli aggiuntivi disegni non solo 
 vedesi espresso sul volto il pin alto grado delle passioni, ma in 
 alcuni vanno queste sino al furore.’’— Ibid. 
 
 * “ I Greci possederono quest’ arte a tal segno, che nelle 
 loro statue appena si scorge, ch’ eglino abbiano pensato all’ 
 espressione, e nondimeno cadauna dice quel, che deve dire. 
 Stanno in un riposo, che mostrano tutta la bellezza senza alcuna 
 alterazioue; ed un soave, e dolce movimento della bocca, degli 
 occhi, o la sola azione esprime 1’ effetto, incantando e 1’ anima, 
 e i sensi.” 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 345 
 
 With regard to the body and the nutritive 
 system, the Greeks similarly idealized. u Seek¬ 
 ing for images of worship, consequently of a nature 
 superior to our own, so that they might-awaken 
 in the mind veneration and love, they thought 
 that the representations most worthy of the Di¬ 
 vinity, and most likely to attract the attention of 
 man, would be those expressing the continuance 
 of the gods in eternal youth and in the prime of 
 life.* 
 
 “ To the idea derived from the poets, of the 
 eternal youth of the deities, whether male or fe¬ 
 male, was added another by which they supposed 
 the female divinities should have all the appear¬ 
 ance of virgins.f 
 
 “ The form of the breast in the figures of the 
 divinities, is like that of a virgin, which, to be 
 beautiful, must possess a moderate fulness. $ 
 
 * “ Costoro volendo proporci delle immagini da venerarsi, e 
 percio di natura superiore alia nostra, sicche n’ eccitassero 
 nella mente la venerazione e 1’ amore, s’ idearono che i simu- 
 lacri piu degni della divinita e pin atti ad attrarsi la fantasia 
 dell’ uomo, fossero quelli che n’ esprimessero la perinanenza 
 degli Dei in una eterna gioventu e primavera di vita, allusiva 
 all’ immutability dell’ Esser supremo .”—Monumenti lnediti. 
 
 -j- “ All’ idea datane da’ poeti delle Divinita sempre giovani, 
 o maschili o femminili ch’ elle si fossero, fu aggiunta 1’ altra per 
 cui un si supponesse che le femminili avessero tutte 1’ appa- 
 renza di vergini.”— Ibid. 
 
 | “ La forma del petto nelle figure divine e simile al verginale, 
 
346 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 This was particularly shown in the breasts, which 
 the artists represented without nipples, like those 
 of young girls, whose cincture, in the poet’s phrase, 
 Lucina has not yet undone.”* 
 
 On their treatment of the limbs and locomotive 
 system, Hogarth throws light; and, as I am not 
 aware that he was anticipated in this respect, I 
 quote him. 
 
 “ May be,” he says, “ I cannot throw a 
 stronger light on what has been hitherto said of 
 proportion, than by animadverting on a remark¬ 
 able beauty in the Apollo Belvidere, which hath 
 given it the preference even to the Antinous: I 
 mean a super-addition of greatness, to at least 
 as much beauty and grace as is found in the 
 latter. 
 
 “ These two masterpieces of art are seen toge¬ 
 ther in the same apartment at Rome, where the 
 Antinous fills the spectator with admiration only, 
 whilst the Apollo strikes him with surprise, and, 
 as travellers express themselves, with an ap¬ 
 pearance of something more than human; which 
 
 che per esser bello aver deve una moderata pienezza .”—Storia 
 delle Arti. 
 
 * “ La quale si ravvisasse specialmente nelle mammelle, rap- 
 presentateci percio dagli artefici senza capezzuoli, e simili a 
 quelle delle fanciulle, alle quali, secondo la frase de’ poeti, 
 Lucina non ha sciolto ancor la cintura..” — Monumenti 
 Inediti. 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 347 
 
 they of course are always at a loss to describe : and, 
 this effect, they say, is the more astonishing, as 
 upon examination, its disproportion is evident even 
 to a common eye. One of the best sculptors we 
 have in England, who lately went to see them, 
 confirmed to me what has been now said, paiti- 
 cularly as to the legs and thighs being too long, 
 and too large for the upper parts. 
 
 “ Although in very great works, we often see an 
 inferior part neglected, yet here it cannot be the 
 case, because in a fine statue, just proportion is 
 one of its essential beauties: therefore it stands 
 to reason, that these limbs must have been length¬ 
 ened on purpose, otherwise it might have been 
 easily avoided. 
 
 “ So that if we examine the beauties of this 
 figure thoroughly, we may reasonably conclude, 
 that what has been hitherto thought so unac¬ 
 countably excellent in its general appearance, hath 
 been owing to what hath seemed a blemish in a part 
 of it: but let us endeavour to make this matter as 
 clear as possible, as it may add more force to what 
 has been said. 
 
 “ Statues, by being bigger than life (as this one 
 is, and larger than the Antinous) always gain some 
 nobleness in effect, according to the principle of 
 quantity, but this alone is not sufficient to give 
 what is properly to be called greatness in propor- 
 
348 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 tion. . . Greatness of proportion must be consi¬ 
 dered as depending on the application of quantity 
 to those parts of the body where it can give more 
 scope to its grace in movement, as to the neck for 
 the larger and swan-like turns of the head, and to 
 the legs and thighs, for the more ample sway of 
 all the upper parts together. 
 
 “ By which we find that the Antinous’s being 
 equally magnified to the Apollo’s height, would 
 not sufficiently produce that superiority of effect, 
 as to greatness, so evidently seen in the latter. 
 The additions necessary to the production of this 
 greatness in proportion, as it there appears added 
 to grace, must then be, by the proper application 
 of them to the parts mentioned only. 
 
 “ I know not how further to prove this matter 
 than by appealing to the reader’s eye, and com¬ 
 mon observation, as before. . . The Antinous being 
 allowed to have the justest proportion possible, let 
 us see what addition, upon the principle of quantity, 
 can be made to it, without taking away any of its 
 beauty. 
 
 “ If we imagine an addition of dimensions to 
 the head, we shall immediately conceive it would 
 only deform,—if to the hands or feet, we are sen¬ 
 sible of something gross and ungenteel, — if to 
 the whole lengths of the arms, we feel they would 
 be dangling and awkward,—if by an addition of 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 349 
 
 length or breadth to the body, we know it would 
 appear heavy and clumsy—there remains then 
 only the- neck, with the legs and thighs to speak 
 of; but to these we find, that not only, certain 
 additions may be admitted without causing any 
 disagreeable effect, but that thereby greatness, 
 the last perfection as to the proportion, is given 
 to the human form, as is evidently expressed in the 
 Apollo.” 
 
 This is well done by Hogarth. It required but 
 a little anatomical knowledge to see the reason of 
 this. The length of the neck, by which the head 
 is further detached from the trunk, shows the in¬ 
 dependence of the higher intellectual system upon 
 the lower one of mere nutrition ; and the length 
 of limbs shows that the mind had already obedi¬ 
 ence in locomotive power. 
 
 I have now to obviate some objections to the 
 existence of simple, pure, high and perfect ideal 
 beauty, objections, which writers on this subject 
 have hitherto neglected. 
 
 Alison says, “ The proportions of the form of 
 the infant are very different from those of youth ; 
 these again from those of manhood; and these 
 again perhaps still more from those of old age and 
 decay. . . Yet every one knows, not only that each 
 of these periods is susceptible of beautiful form, 
 hut, what is much more, that the actual beauty 
 
350 
 
 THE GREER IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 in 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.” 
 
 But the beauty of the infant is not perfect 
 beauty: it is that, on the contrary, of mere pro¬ 
 mise, not that of fulfilment. So also the beauty of 
 old age is not perfect beauty: it is that, on the 
 contrary, which affects and interests us chiefly by 
 the regret we feel that its perfection has passed, or 
 is gradually vanishing. 
 
 “ The same observation,” says Alison, “ is yet 
 still more obvious with regard to the difference of 
 sex. In every part of the form, the proportions 
 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 everywhere felt as 
 painful and disgusting.” So also says Burke. 
 “ Let us rest a moment on this point; and con¬ 
 sider how much difference there is between the 
 measures that prevail in many similar parts of the 
 body, in the two sexes of this single species only. 
 If you assign any determinate proportions to the 
 limbs of man, and if you limit human beauty to 
 these proportions, when you find a woman who 
 differs in the make and measure of almost every 
 part, you must conclude her not to be beautiful in 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 351 
 
 spite of the suggestions of your imagination ; or in 
 obedience to your imagination you must renounce 
 your rules; you must lay by the scale and com¬ 
 pass, and look out for some other cause of beauty. 
 For if beauty be attached to certain measures 
 which operate from a principle in nature, why 
 should similar parts with different measures of 
 proportion be found to have beauty, and this too 
 in the very same species ?” 
 
 To this I might say the beauty of woman is not 
 the highest beauty: it is beauty of the nutritive 
 more than of the higher thinking system. But 
 there is another and a better answer: the differ¬ 
 ence of sex which affects all the higher animals is 
 a greater difference than that which subsists be¬ 
 tween some of their varieties or even of their 
 species; and the same laws of ideal beauty are 
 as inapplicable to different sexes as to different 
 species. 
 
 “ We see, every day, around us,” says Alison, 
 “ some forms of our species which affect us with 
 sentiments of beauty. In our own sex, we see 
 the forms of the legislator, the man of rank, the 
 general, the man of science, the private soldier, 
 the sailor, the labourer, the beggar, &c. In the 
 other sex, we see the forms of the matron, the 
 widow, the young woman, the nurse, the domestic 
 servant, &c. . . We expect different proportions 
 
352 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 of form from the painter, in his representation of 
 a warrior and a shepherd, of a senator and of a 
 peasant, of a wrestler and a boatman, of a savage 
 and of a man of cultivated manners. . . We ex¬ 
 pect, in the same manner, from the statuary, very 
 different proportions in the forms of Jove and of 
 Apollo [this should have been excepted], of Her¬ 
 cules and of Antinous, of a Grace and of Andro¬ 
 mache, of a Bacchanal and of Minerva,” &c. 
 
 That, in all these cases, the beauty is partial, is 
 evident from the circumstance that what is found 
 in one is wanting in another; and partial beauty 
 is not perfect beauty. But this last point has 
 been well stated by Reynolds and Barry. 
 
 “ To the principle I have laid down,” says 
 Reynolds, £c that the idea of beauty in each species 
 of being is an invariable one, it may be objected, 
 that in every particular species there are various 
 central forms, which are separate and distinct from 
 each other, and yet are undeniably beautiful; that 
 in the human figure, for instance, the beauty of 
 Hercules is one, of the Gladiator another, of the 
 Apollo another [again the same error]; which 
 makes so many different ideas of beauty. . . It is 
 true indeed, that these figures are each perfect in 
 their kind, though of different character and pro¬ 
 portions ; but still none of them is the representa¬ 
 tion of an individual, but of a class. And as there 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 353 
 
 is one general form, which, as I have said, belongs 
 to the human kind at large, so in each of these 
 classes there is one common idea and central form, 
 which is the abstract of the various individual 
 forms belonging to that class. Thus, though the 
 forms of childhood and age differ exceedingly, 
 there is a common form in childhood, and a com¬ 
 mon form in age, which is the more perfect, as it 
 is more remote from all peculiarities. But I must 
 add further, that though the most perfect forms of 
 each of the general divisions of the human figure 
 are ideal, and superior to any individual form of 
 that class, yet the highest perfection of the human 
 figure is not to be found in any one of them. It 
 is not in the Hercules, nor in the Gladiator, nor in 
 the Apollo, but in that form which is taken from 
 all, and which partakes equally of the activity of 
 the Gladiator, of the delicacy of the Apollo, and of 
 the muscular strength of the Hercules. For per¬ 
 fect beauty in any species must combine all the 
 characters which are beautiful in that species. 
 It cannot consist in any one to the exclusion of 
 the rest ; no one, therefore, must be predominant, 
 that no one may be deficient.” 
 
 “ A high degree of particular character,” says 
 Barry, “ cannot be superinduced upon pure or 
 simple beauty without altering its constituent 
 
 A A 
 
354 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 parts ; this is peculiar to grace only ; for particular 
 characters consist, as has been observed before, 
 in those deviations from the general standard for 
 the better purpose of effecting utility and power, 
 and become so many species of a higher order ; 
 where nature is elevated into grandeur, majesty, 
 and sublimity.” 
 
 There is an ideal in attitude as well as in 
 the form of the head and body. 
 
 This ideal is exactly opposed to the academical 
 rule mentioned by Dufresnoy, Reynolds, and others, 
 namely, that the right leg and left arm, or the left 
 leg and right arm, should be advanced or with¬ 
 drawn together. These are the mere attitudes of 
 progression, not those of expression; and the 
 academical rule is only an academical blunder. 
 To anything but walking—to the free and un¬ 
 embarrassed expressions of the body, it is indeed 
 quite inapplicable, and could produce only con¬ 
 tortion. 
 
 The rule of ideal attitude, which I long ago 
 deduced both from physiological principles, and 
 from the practice of the Greek artists, is that all 
 the parts of one side of the body should be ad¬ 
 vanced or withdrawn together; that when one 
 side is advanced, the other should be withdrawn; 
 and that when the right arm is elevated, extended 
 
THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 355 
 
 or bent forward, the left leg should be elevated, 
 extended or bent backward—in all respects the 
 reverse of the academical rule, so complacently 
 mentioned by Dufresnoy, Reynolds, &c. * 
 
 The foundation of this rule in the necessary 
 balance of the body, and that distribution of mo¬ 
 tion which equally animates every part, must be 
 obvious to every one. It is illustrated by the 
 finest statues of the Greeks, wherever the expres¬ 
 sion intended was free and unembarrassed, and 
 even in those, as the Laocoon and his sons, where, 
 tfiough the action was constrained and convulsive, 
 the sculptor was yet at liberty to employ the most 
 beautiful attitude. It is abandoned in these great 
 works, when either action embarrassed by pur¬ 
 pose, or clownishness, as in the Dancing Faun, 
 are expressed.* 
 
 I have now only to add, with Moreau, that in¬ 
 dividual beauty, the most perfect, differs always 
 greatly from the ideal, and that which is least re¬ 
 moved from it, is very difficult to be found. Hence 
 
 * This rule is well explained, and variously illustrated by 
 Donald Walker, in his work, equally philosophical, instructive 
 and amusing, entitled “ Exercises for Ladies,” a knowledge of 
 which, and the practice of its principles, would render beauty, 
 and especially beauty of the shoulders and arms, far more 
 common in every family. 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 
 
 THE GREEK IDEAL BEAUTY. 
 
 in all languages, the epithet rare is attached to 
 beauty: and the Italians even call it pellegrina, 
 foreign, to indicate that they have not frequently 
 an opportunity of seeing it: they speak of “ bel- 
 lezze pellegrine,” “leggiadria singolare e pelle¬ 
 grina.” 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 “ Hominum divomque voluptas, alma Venus.” 
 
 Of this, the most perfect models have been cre¬ 
 ated by Grecian art. Few, we are told, were the 
 living beauties, from whom such ideal model could 
 be framed. The difficulty of finding these among 
 the women of Greece must have been consider¬ 
 able, when Praxiteles and Apelles were obliged 
 to have recourse, in a greater or less degree, to 
 the same person, for the beauties of the Venus of 
 Cnidos, executed in white marble, and the Venus 
 of Cos, painted in colours. It is asserted by 
 Athenseus, that both these productions were, in 
 some measure, taken from Pheryne of Thespia, in 
 Boeotia, then a courtezan at Athens. 
 
 Both productions are said to have represented 
 Phryne coming out of the sea, on the beach of 
 Sciron, in the Saronic Gulf, between Athens and 
 Eleusis, where she was wont to bathe. 
 
358 THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 It is said, that there, at the feast of Nep¬ 
 tune, Phryne, in the presence of the people of 
 Eleusis, having cast aside her dress, and allowing 
 her long hair to fall over her shoulders, plunged 
 into the sea, and sported long amidst its waves. 
 An immense number of spectators covered the 
 shore; and when she came out of it, all exclaimed, 
 “It is Venus who rises from the waters !” The 
 people would actually have taken her for the 
 goddess, it she had not been well known to 
 them. 
 
 Apelles and Praxiteles, we are told, were both 
 upon the shore ; and both resolved to represent 
 the birth of Venus according to the beautiful 
 model which they had just beheld. 
 
 Such is said to have been the origin of two of 
 the greatest works of antiquity. The work of 
 Apelles, known under the name of Venus Anady- 
 omene, was placed by Cmsar in the temple of 
 Venus Genitrix, after the conquest of Greece. 
 An idea of the sculpture of Praxiteles is supposed 
 to have been imperfectly preserved to modern 
 times in the Venus de Medici. 
 
 We are further told, that, after having studied 
 several attitudes, Phryne fancied to have dis¬ 
 covered one more favourable than the rest for dis¬ 
 playing all her perfections ; and that both painter 
 and sculptor were obliged to adopt her favourite 
 
359 
 
 the ideal of female beauty. 
 
 posture. From this cause, the Venus of Guidos, 
 and the Venus of Cos, were so perfectly alike, 
 that it was impossible to remark any difference in 
 their features, contour, or more particularly in 
 their attitude. 
 
 The painting of Apelles, it is added, was far 
 from exciting so much enthusiasm among the 
 Greeks, as the sculpture of Praxiteles. They 
 fancied that the marble moved; that it seemed 
 to speak ; and their illusion, says Lucian, was so 
 great, that they ended by applying their lips to 
 those of the goddess.* 
 
 “ Praxiteles,” says Flaxman, “ excelled in the 
 highest graces of youth and beauty. He is said 
 to have excelled not only other sculptors, but him¬ 
 self, by his marble statues in the Ceramicus of 
 Athens ; but his Venus was preferable to all others 
 in the world, and many sailed to Cnidos for the 
 purpose of seeing it. This sculptor having made 
 
 * It was at the extremity of the modern Cape Cno, an¬ 
 ciently Triopium, a promontory of Doris, a province of 
 Caria, that was built the celebrated city of C nidos. Here 
 Venus was worshipped: here was seen this statue of that go - 
 dess, the most beautiful of the works of Praxiteles. A temple, 
 far from spacious, and open on all sides, contained it, without 
 concealing it from view ; and in whatever point of view it was 
 examined, it excited equal admiration. No drapery veiled its 
 charms ; and so uncommon was its beauty, that it inflamci 
 with a violent passion another Pygmalion. 
 
360 
 
 THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 two statues of Venus, one with drapery, the other 
 without, the Coans preferred the clothed figure, 
 on account of its severe modesty, the same price 
 being set upon each. The citizens of Cnidos took 
 the rejected statue, and afterwards refused it to 
 king Nicomedes, who would have forgiven them 
 an immense debt in return; but they were re¬ 
 solved to suffer anything so long as this statue by 
 Praxiteles ennobled Cnidos . . . This figure is 
 known by the descriptions of Lucian and Cedre- 
 nus, and it is represented on a medal of Caracalla 
 and Plautilla, in the imperial cabinet of France. 
 
 I his Venus was still in Cnidos during the reign of 
 the emperor Arcadius, about 400 years after 
 Christ. This statue seems to offer the first idea 
 of the Venus de Medicis, which is likely to be 
 the repetition of another Venus, the work of this 
 artist.” He elsewhere says of the Venus of 
 f raxiteles, it was “ The most admired female 
 statue of all antiquity, whose beauty is as perfect 
 as it is elevated, and as innocent as perfect; from 
 
 which the Medicean Venus seems but a deterior¬ 
 ated variety.” 
 
 FI ax man states that he himself had seen, in the 
 stables of the Braschi palace, a statue which he 
 supposed might be the original work of Praxiteles. 
 Strange to tell, nothing is now known of its fate! 
 
 A supposed cast from this, or from a copy of it, 
 
THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. S61 
 
 conforming to the figure on the mouel of Caracalla, 
 is to be seen at the Royal Academy. 
 
 Of the Venus de Medici, Flaxman says, it 
 “ was go m uch a favourite of the Greeks and 
 Romans, that a hundred ancient repetitions of this 
 statue have been noticed by travellers. The indi¬ 
 vidual figure is said to have been found in the 
 forum of Octavia. The style of sculpture seems to 
 have been later than Alexander the Great. 
 
 Let us now briefly examine this Model of Female 
 Beauty represented in our Frontispiece. 
 
 The Venus de Medici represents woman at 
 that age when every beauty has just been per¬ 
 fected. “ The Venus de Medici at Florence,” 
 says Winckelmann, “ is like a rose which, after a 
 beautiful day-break, expands its leaves to the first 
 ray of the sun, and represents that age when the 
 limbs assume a more finished form and the breast 
 begins to develope itself. 
 
 The size of the head is sufficiently small to 
 leave that predominance to the vital organs in the 
 chest, which, as already said, makes the nutritive 
 system peculiarly that of woman. This is the 
 
 * “ La Venere de’ Medici a Firenze e simile alia rosa, die 
 esce fuor dalla buccia al primo apparir del sole dopo ana bella 
 aurora; e par che senta quell’ eta, in cui le membra prendon 
 una piu compiuta forma, e comincia il seno a sollevarsi. ’— 
 Storia delle Arti. 
 
362 
 
 THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 first and most striking proof of the profound 
 knowledge of the artist, the principles of whose 
 art taught him that the vast head, on the con¬ 
 trary, was the characteristic of a very different 
 female personage.*-—In mentioning the head, it 
 is scarcely possible to avoid noticing the rich curls 
 of the hair. 
 
 'I he eyes next fix our attention by their soft, 
 sweet, and glad expression. This is produced 
 with exquisite art. To give softness, the ridges 
 of the eyebrows are rounded. To give sweetness 
 the under eyelid, which I would call the expressive 
 one, is slightly raised. “The eyes of Venus,” 
 says Winckelmann, “are smaller, and the slight 
 elevation of the lower eyelid produces that lan¬ 
 guishing look called by the Greeks ty p ' n .”f To 
 
 * The phrenologists have told us that the head of this Venus 
 is too small. They might as well have said, that the head of 
 the Minerva, or of the Jupiter, is too large, or a hundred other 
 ignorant inapplicabilities, and ridiculous pedantries. But to 
 set aside ideal forms, I may observe, that sex makes a vast dif¬ 
 ference in the head, and a woman with a small head often pro¬ 
 duces a son with a large one. 
 
 f “ Nelle Veneri gli occhi sono piu piccoli, e la palpebra 
 infeiiore alquanto alzata forma in esse quel desio anelante detto 
 da Grecie vypov.” He adds, “ Gli occhj cosi formati distinguono 
 la Venere celeste da Giunone; e questa Venere della quale e 
 pioprio il diadema di quella regina delle dee, viene percio 
 piesa pei Giunone da coloro i quali non lianno considerato piu 
 addentio la bellezza delle statue antiche .”—Alonumenti Inediti. 
 
THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 363 
 
 give the expression of gladness or of pleasure, the 
 opening of the eyelids is diminished, in order to 
 diminish, or partially to exclude, the excess of 
 those impressions, which make even* pleasure 
 painful. Other exquisite details about those eyes, 
 confer on them unparalleled beauty. Still, as 
 observed by the same writer, this look is far from 
 those traits indicative of lasciviousness, with which 
 some modern artists have thought to characterize 
 their Venuses. Love was considered by the 
 ancient masters, as by the wise philosophers of 
 those times, to use the expression of Euripides, as 
 the counsellor of wisdom : ttj <ro<p/a 7Ta<3i%8r egar as-. 
 One thing must be observed : there is not here, 
 as in some less happy representations of Venus, 
 any downcast look, but that aspect of which Me- 
 tastasio, in his Inno a Venere, says: 
 
 Tu colie lucide 
 Pupille chiare, 
 
 Fai lieta e fertile 
 La terra e’l mare. 
 
 And again: 
 
 Presso a tuoi placidi 
 Astri ridenti, 
 
 Le nubi fuggono, 
 
 Fuggono i venti.* 
 
 * This is beautiful, but is evidently borrowed from the great 
 philosophical poet's 
 
 Te, Dea, te fugiunt ventei, te nubila coeli, 
 Adventumcjue tuum. 
 
364 
 
 THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 Art still profounder was perhaps shown in the 
 configuration of the nose. The peculiar connexion 
 of this sense with love was evidently well under¬ 
 stood by the great artist; and it is only gross 
 ignorance that has made some persons question 
 the appropriateness of that development of the 
 organ which is here represented. Not only is 
 smell peculiarly associated with love, in all the 
 higher animals, but it is associated with repro¬ 
 duction in plants, the majority of which evolve 
 delicious odours only when their flowers or organs 
 of fructification are displayed.* — Connected, in¬ 
 deed, with the capacity of the nose, and the cavi¬ 
 ties which open into it, is the projection of the 
 whole middle part of the face. 
 
 In the mouth, also, is transcendent art dis¬ 
 played. It is rendered sweet and delicate by the 
 lips being undeveloped at their angles,! and by 
 the upper lip continuing so, for a considerable 
 portion of its length. It expresses love of plea¬ 
 sure by the central development of both lips, and 
 active love by the especial development of the 
 
 That, in plants, these odours are even necessary to their 
 reproduction, is proved by their uniform existence at that 
 period. And if being affected by odours implies a sense of 
 smell, or some modification of it, then must plants possess it. 
 
 t In all grossly sensual nations and individuals, the lips are 
 everted even at the angles. 
 
THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 365 
 
 lower lip.* By the slight opening of the lips, it 
 expresses desire.f 
 
 These exquisite details, and the omission of 
 nothing intellectually expressive that nature pre¬ 
 sents, have led some to imagine the Venus de 
 Medici to be a portrait. In doing so, however, 
 they see not the profound calculation required 
 for nearly every feature thus embodied. More 
 strangely still, they forget the ideal character ot 
 the whole: the notion of this ideal head being 
 too small is especially opposed to such an opi¬ 
 nion. If more is wanting, it will surely be enough 
 that the other works which we are supposed to 
 possess of Praxiteles, the Faun and the Cupid, 
 present similar fine details.^ 
 
 * See this explained in “ Physiognomy.” 
 t “ Venere suol tenere alquanto aperte le labbra, come per 
 indicare un languido desiderio ed amore .”—Storia delle Arti. 
 
 ^ In the Cupid, the form of the head is godlike. The hair 
 not only curls with all the vigour of early years, but, with 
 perfect knowledge of nature’s tendency, is bent into a ridge 
 along the middle of the upper head. The brow, full, open, 
 and charmingly rounded, is the evident throne of young obser¬ 
 vation, and it flows with such beauty into the parts behind, as 
 if it actually said its purpose was to fling its observations back 
 on thought and will. Its beginnings at the eye-brows display 
 exquisite knowledge : the bony ridge is admirably shown to be 
 yet unformed; and while its outer extremity forms but the 
 orbital convexity, or shell for the globe of the eye, the inner 
 extremity of the eye-brow is with infinite art drawn over soft 
 
366 
 
 THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 Withal, the look is amorous and languishing, 
 without being lascivious, and is as powerfully 
 marked by gay coquetry, as by charming inno¬ 
 cence. 
 
 The young neck is exquisitely formed. Its beau- 
 tiful curves show a thousand capabilities of motion ; 
 and its admirably calculated swell over the organ 
 of voice, results from, and marks, the struggling 
 expression of still mysterious love. 
 
 In short, I know no antique figure that displays 
 such profound knowledge, both physiological and 
 physiognomical, even in the most minute details; 
 and all who are capable of appreciating these 
 things, may well smile at those who pretend to 
 compare with this any other head of Venus, now 
 known to us. 
 
 With regard to the rest of the figure, the admi¬ 
 rable form of the mammae, which, without being 
 too large, occupy the bosom, rise from it with 
 various curves on every side, and all terminate in 
 their apices, leaving the inferior part in each pre¬ 
 cisely as pendent as gravity demands; the flexile 
 waist gently tapering little further than the middle 
 
 and hollow space, as if the few hairs that composed it made 
 there its only convexity. In short, in every part of the face, 
 fine and faint as is every youthful feature, no detail is lost; 
 and this, added to the pointed chin and upper lip, declare the 
 purpose of the little god. 
 
THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 367 
 
 of the trunk; the lower portion of it beginning 
 gradually to swell out higher even than the umbi¬ 
 licus ; the gradual expansion of the haunches, 
 those expressive characteristics of the female, in¬ 
 dicating at once her fitness for the office of gener¬ 
 ation and that of parturition — expansions which 
 increase till they reach their greatest extent at the 
 superior part of the thighs; the fulness behind 
 their upper part, and on each side of the lower 
 part of the spine, commencing as high as the 
 waist, and terminating in the still greater swell of 
 the distinctly separated hips; the flat expanse be¬ 
 tween these, and immediately over the fissure of 
 the hips, relieved by a considerable dimple on 
 each side, and caused by the elevation of all the 
 surrounding parts; the fine swell of the broad 
 abdomen which, soon reaching its greatest height, 
 immediately under the umbilicus, slopes gently to 
 the mons veneris, but, narrow at its upper part, 
 expands more widely as it descends, while, 
 throughout, it is laterally distinguished by a gentle 
 depression from the more muscular parts on the 
 sides of the pelvis; the beautiful elevation of the 
 mons veneris ; the contiguous elevation of the 
 thighs which, almost at their commencement, rise 
 as high as it does ; the admirable expansion of 
 these bodies inward, or toward each other, by 
 which they almost seem to intrude upon each 
 
368 
 
 TIIE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 other, and to exclude each from its respective 
 place; the general narrowness of the upper, and 
 the unembraceable expansion of the lower part 
 thus exquisitely formed; —all these admirable 
 characteristics of female form, the mere existence 
 of which in woman must, one is tempted to ima¬ 
 gine, be, even to herself, a source of ineffable 
 pleasure—these constitute a being worthy, as 
 the personification of beauty, of occupying the 
 temples of Greece; present an object finer, alas! 
 than nature seems even capable of producing ; and 
 
 offer to all nations and ages a theme of admiration 
 and delight. 
 
 Well might Thomson say : — 
 
 “ So stands the statue that enchants the world, 
 
 So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,’ 
 
 The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.” 
 
 And Byron, in yet higher strain :_ 
 
 “ There, too, the Goddess loves in stone, and fills 
 The air around with beauty; 
 
 within the pale 
 
 We stand, and in that form and face behold 
 
 \v hat Mind can make, when Nature’s self would fail • 
 
 And to the fond idolaters of old 
 Envy the innate flesh which such a soul could mould : 
 
 We gaze and turn away, and know not where, 
 
 Dazzled and drunk with beauty, till the heart 
 Reels with its fulness ; there—for ever there— 
 
 Chained to the chariot of triumphal Art, 
 
 We stand as captives, and would not depart.” 
 
THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 369 
 
 Proportions of the Venus de Medici. 
 
 Has seven heads, seven parts, and three minutes in height. 
 
 From the top of the head to the root of the hair, three parts. 
 
 From the root of the hair to the eyebrows, three parts. 
 
 From the eyebrows to the bottom of the nose, three parts. 
 
 From the bottom of the nose to that of the chin, three parts. 
 
 From the bottom of the chin to the depression between the 
 clavicles, four parts, three minutes and a half. 
 
 From the depression between the clavicles to the lowest part of 
 the breast, ten parts, five minutes. 
 
 From the lowest part of the breast to the middle of the navel, 
 eight parts, three minutes. 
 
 From the middle of the navel to the base of the belly and be¬ 
 ginning of the thighs, eleven parts, four min. and a half. 
 
 From the bottom of the belly to the middle of the knee-pan, 
 eighteen parts, two minutes. 
 
 From the middle of the knee-pan to the beginning of the flank, 
 twenty-seven parts, three minutes. 
 
 From the middle of the knee-pan to the ground, twenty-five 
 parts, three minutes. 
 
 The greatest height of the foot, three parts, five min. and a half. 
 
 From the neck of the leg to the end of the toes, nine parts and 
 half a minute. 
 
 From the commencement of the humerus to the elbow, twenty 
 parts, two minutes. 
 
 From the elbow to the beginning of the hand, fourteen parts. 
 
 The greatest breadth of the fore-arm, five parts. 
 
 The greatest breadth of the arm, four parts, five minutes. 
 
 From the depression between the clavicles to the beginning of 
 the deltoid, six parts, four minutes. 
 
 From the depression between the clavicles to the point of the 
 nipple, ten parts and half a minute. 
 
 Between the points of the nipples, eleven parts, two minutes. 
 
 The breadth of the torso, at the level of the lowest part of the 
 breast, fifteen parts, four minutes and a half. 
 
 B B 
 
r> " TriE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 
 
 The least breadth of the torso, at the commencement of the 
 flanks, fourteen parts, one minute. 
 
 The greatest breadth of the torso, at the bottom of the flanks, 
 seventeen parts, five minutes. 
 
 Hie breadth from the trochanter of one thigh to that of the 
 other, nineteen parts, three minutes. 
 
 The greatest breadth of the thigh, nine parts, five minutes. 
 
 The greatest breadth of the knee, six parts. 
 
 The greatest breadth of the calf of the leg, six parts, three 
 minutes and a half. 
 
 The breadth from one ancle to another, four parts. 
 
 The least breadth of the foot, three parts, three min. and a half. 
 
 The greatest breadth of the foot, five parts and one minute. 
 
 The arms of the Venus de Medici, it should be 
 observed, are of modem construction, and un¬ 
 worthy of the figure. 
 
 The Venus of Naples is of altogether a dif¬ 
 ferent species of beauty. 
 
 That figure represents an ample and rather vo¬ 
 luptuous matron, in an attitude of scarcely sur- 
 passable grace. The character of the face is beau¬ 
 tiful, in profile especially, and its expression is 
 grave. The mouth has much of nature about it, 
 resembling greatly in character that feature as seen 
 in Southern Europe; but its expression, though 
 tender, is somewhat serious or fretful. 
 
 It presents, however, many faults. The head is 
 monstrous. The neck is equally so, as well as 
 coarse. The forehead, eyes, nose and cheeks 
 

THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 371 
 
 present none of the finely calculated details, which 
 surprise and delight us in the Venus de Medici. 
 The mammae are not true.* 
 
 After these, the androgynous being, called the 
 Venus of Arles, is scarcely worthy of being men¬ 
 tioned. She derives some grandeur from antique 
 character and symmetry, and some from her mas¬ 
 culine features. The head is monstrous ; the neck 
 horrid; the nose, heavy ; the mouth contemptuous. 
 
 Upon the whole, neither the graceful matron of 
 Naples, nor the manlike woman of the Louvre, can 
 he brought into competition with the Venus de 
 Medici. 
 
 In contrast with beauty unaltered by the natural 
 events of life, Plate XVIII. exhibits the effects of 
 gestation, parturition, and lactation. 
 
 * I know not if it is of this statue that Winckelmann speaks 
 in the following passage : “ Venere celeste, quella cioe che di 
 Giove e del! Armonia e figlia, diversa dal! altra che da Dione 
 nacque, distinguesi per un diadema simile a quello, cli’ e pro- 
 prio a Giunone. Porta pure questo diadema Venere Vittrice, 
 di cui una statua, che posa un piede su un elmo, fu disotter- 
 rata nel teatro dell’ antica citta di Capua, e sta ora nel real 
 palazzo di Caserta ; essa e bellessima, se non che le mancano 
 le braccia .”—Storia delle Arti. 
 
 B B 2 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 DEFECTS OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 1. If the whole figure be either too broad or too 
 tall; because, the first is inelegant, and the last 
 unfeminine. See Plate XIX-Persons who are too 
 tall are generally ill at ease and destitute of grace, 
 
 a greater misfortune to a woman than to a man._ 
 
 Too low a stature is a defect less disagreeable, es¬ 
 pecially for women. If, however, on the one side, 
 it gives prettmess, on the other, it deprives of all 
 imposing appearance. 
 
 2. If the bones, except those of the pelvis, be 
 not proportionally small; because, in woman, this 
 portion of the locomotive system ought to be com¬ 
 pletely subordinate to the vital. 
 
 3. If the ligaments, and the articulations they 
 form, be not proportionally small; because, in 
 woman, this portion of the locomotive system oueht 
 also to be completely subordinate to the vital. 
 
XIX 
 
* 
 
 (' 
 
 i 
 
DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 373 
 
 Either of the last two defects will produce what 
 is termed clumsiness. 
 
 4. If the muscles, generally more slender, feeble, 
 soft and yielding than in man, be not large around 
 the pelvis, and delicate elsewhere; because, this is 
 necessary, for reasons which will be afterwards 
 assigned, as well as to permit the ease and supple¬ 
 ness of the movements. 
 
 5. If, in a mature female, the length of the neck, 
 compared with the trunk, be not proportionally 
 somewhat less than in the male ; because, in her, 
 the subordination of the locomotive system, the 
 predominance of the vital, and the dependence of 
 the mental, are naturally connected with the shorter 
 vertebrae and shorter course of the vessels of the 
 neck. 
 
 (The following defects, from 6 to 15 inclusive, 
 have necessarily a reference also to the vital 
 system; because, the form and capacity of the 
 cavities here spoken of, as formed by the osseous 
 frame of the locomotive system, have an obvious 
 relation to the vital organs, which these cavities are 
 destined to contain.) 
 
 6. If the upper part of the body (exclusive of the 
 bosom) be proportionally more, and the low 7 er part 
 of the body less, prominent, than in man, so that, 
 when she stands perfectly upright or lies on the 
 
374 
 
 DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 back, the space between the breasts is more promi¬ 
 nent than the mons veneris; because, such con¬ 
 formation is injurious to impregnation, gestation, 
 and parturition. 
 
 7. If the shoulders seem wider than the haunches; 
 because, this appearance generally arises from the 
 narrowness of the pelvis, and its consequent unfit¬ 
 ness for gestation and parturition. 
 
 8. If, on the contrary, the shoulders be much 
 narrower than the pelvis ; because, this indicates 
 extreme weakness of the locomotive system. 
 
 9. If the shoulders do not slope from the lower 
 part of the neck; because, this shows that the 
 upper part of the chest is not sufficiently wide of 
 itself, but is rendered angular by the muscularity, 
 &c. of the shoulders. 
 
 10. If the upper part of the chest be not re¬ 
 latively short and wide, and if it owe not its width 
 rather to itself than to the size of the shoulders; 
 because, this shows that the vital organs contained 
 in the chest are not sufficiently expanded. 
 
 11. If, in youth, the upper part of the trunk, 
 including the muscles moving the shoulders, do 
 not form an inverted cone, whose apex is the waist; 
 because, in that case, the lightness and beauty of 
 the locomotive system is destroyed by the unre¬ 
 strained expansion of the vital. 
 
 12. It the loins be not extended at the expense 
 
defects of beauty. 
 
 375 
 
 of the chest above and of the limbs below; because, 
 on this depends their capacity to receive organs 
 enlarged or displaced during gestation. 
 
 13. If the back be not hollow ; because, this 
 shows that the pelvis is not sufficiently deep to 
 project posteriorly, nor consequently of sufficient 
 capacity for gestation and parturition. 
 
 14. If the haunches be not widely expanded 
 (as already implied in speaking of the shoulders) ; 
 because, the interior cavity of the pelvis is then 
 insufficient for gestation and parturition. 
 
 15. If, in consequence of the form of the pelvis, 
 and the arch of the pubis being larger, the mons 
 veneris be not more prominent than the chest; 
 because, the pelvic cavity is then also insufficient 
 for gestation and parturition. 
 
 16. If the thighs of woman be not wider than 
 those of man ; because the width of the female 
 pelvis, and the purposes which it serves, require 
 this. 
 
 17. If the size of the thighs be not large, the 
 haunches as it were increasing till they reach their 
 greatest extent at the upper part of the thigh, 
 which anteriorly rises as high as the mons veneris, 
 and if the knees do not approximate; because, a 
 disagreeable vacuity is then left between the thighs, 
 and it is unfavourable to sexual purposes. 
 
376 
 
 DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 18. If the arms and the limbs be not relatively 
 short, if they do not taper greatly as they recede 
 from the trunk, and if the hands and feet be not 
 small; because, it is the vital system and the 
 trunk, which is by far the most important part in 
 the female. 
 
 19. If the larynx or flute part of the throat be 
 not small; because their magnitude indicates a 
 masculine character. 
 
 DEFECTS OF THE VITAL SYSTEM. 
 
 (Defects of the contained vital parts, which have 
 been already implied in enumerating those of the 
 containing locomotive parts, are not again men¬ 
 tioned here, as the intelligent reader can easily 
 supply these and similar omissions). 
 
 1. If, in consequence of marriage taking place 
 before their full growth, women remain always of 
 diminished stature, weak and pale. 
 
 2. If the digestive organs being large rather than 
 active, is inconsistent with the greater activity and 
 less permanence of all the other functions, secre¬ 
 tion, gestation, &c. excepted. 
 
 3. If the absorbing vessels, being inactive, are 
 insufficient for large secretions. 
 
 4. If the circulating vessels, being inactive and 
 imperfectly ramified, leave the skin cold, opaque, 
 and destitute of complexion. 
 
DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 377 
 
 5. If the secreting vessels, being inactive, fur¬ 
 nish neither the plumpness necessary to beauty, 
 nor those ovarian, uterine, and mammary excre¬ 
 tions on which progeny is dependent' 
 
 6. If the neck form not an insensible transition 
 between the body and head, being sufficiently full 
 to conceal the muscles of the neck and the fiute 
 part of the throat. 
 
 7. If, in a young woman, the mammae, without 
 being too large, do not occupy the bosom, and 
 rise from it with nearly equal curves on every side, 
 which similarly terminate in their apices; or if, in 
 the mature woman, they do not, when supported, 
 seem laterally to protrude somewhat on the space 
 occupied by the arms; because, these show that 
 this important part of the vital system is insuffi¬ 
 ciently developed. 
 
 8. If the waist, tapering little further than the 
 middle of the trunk, and being sufficiently marked, 
 especially in the back and loins, by the approxima¬ 
 tion of the expanded pelvis, be not also slightly 
 encroached on by the plumpness of all the con¬ 
 tiguous parts, without however destroying its ele¬ 
 gance, softness and flexibility; because, this simi¬ 
 larly shows feebleness in a portion of that system, 
 which is by far the most important to woman.— 
 See Plate XX. 
 
 9. If the waist be broader than the upper part 
 
378 
 
 DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 of the trunk, including the muscles moving the 
 shoulders; because, this indicates that expansion 
 of the stomach, liver and other glands which is 
 generally the result of their excessive use or ex¬ 
 citement. It is attended with a common look and 
 an inelegant appearance. 
 
 10. If the abdomen be not moderately expanded, 
 its upper portion beginning to swell out, higher 
 even than the umbilicus, and its greatest projec¬ 
 tion being almost immediately under that point; 
 because, this shows a weakness of the vital system, 
 and a disproportion to the parts immediately above. 
 
 11. If the abdomen, which should be highest 
 immediately under the umbilicus, slope not gently 
 towards the mons veneris, and be more prominent 
 elsewhere ; because, this is the result of that ex¬ 
 cessive expansion which takes place during partu¬ 
 rition. 
 
 12. If the abdomen, which, as well as being 
 elevated, should be narrow at its upper part, be¬ 
 come as broad there as below, and lose that gentle 
 lateral depression by which it is distinguished 
 from the more muscular parts on the sides of the 
 pelvis ; because, this indicates the operation of the 
 causes mentioned in the preceding paragraph. 
 
 13. If a remarkable fulness exist not behind the 
 upper part of the haunches, and on each side of 
 the lower part of the spine, commencing as high 
 
DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 379 
 
 as the waist, and terminating in the still greater 
 swell of the distinctly separated hips; the flat 
 expanse between these and immediately over the 
 fissure of the hips, being relieved by a consider¬ 
 able dimple on each side, caused by the elevation 
 of all the surrounding parts ; because, it indicates 
 feebleness in that system which is most essential to 
 woman. 
 
 14. If the cellular tissue and the plumpness 
 which is connected with it, do not predominate, 
 so as to obliterate all distinct projection of the 
 muscles : because, this likewise shows that an im¬ 
 portant portion of the vital system is feeble, and it 
 deprives woman of the forms which are necessary 
 to love.—See Plate XXI.—Nothing can completely 
 compensate, in woman, for the absolute want of 
 plumpness. The features of meagre persons are 
 hard ; they have a dry and arid physiognomy ; the 
 mouth is without charm ; the colour is without 
 freshness ; their limbs seem ill united with their 
 body; and all their movements are abrupt and 
 coarse. 
 
 15. If plumpness be too predominant; because, 
 it then destroys the distinctness of parts, and con¬ 
 stitutes an excess productive of inconvenience. 
 
 16. If that excessive plumpness be broken, as 
 it were, into masses ; because, it constitutes coarse¬ 
 ness of the vital system. 
 
380 
 
 DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 17. If former plumpness have left the pre¬ 
 viously filled cellular tissue and expanded integu¬ 
 ments enfeebled; because, that constitutes flacci- 
 dity.—See Plate XXII. 
 
 18. If the almost entire absorption of adipose 
 substance have finally left the bones angular, the 
 muscles and other parts permanently rigid, and the 
 skin dry ; because, that indicates decay of the vital 
 system, and characterizes age.—See Plate IV. 
 
 19. If the skin be not fine, soft and white, deli¬ 
 cate, thin and transparent, fresh and animated, if 
 the complexion be not pure and vivid, if the hair 
 be not fine, soft and luxuriant, and if the nails 
 be not smooth, transparent and rose-coloured; 
 because, these likewise show the feebleness of that 
 system which is most important to woman. 
 
 DEFECTS OF THE MENTAL SYSTEM. 
 
 1. If the head, compared with the trunk, be 
 not less than that of the male; because, the men¬ 
 tal system, in the female, ought to be subordinate 
 to the vital, and the reverse is inconsistent with 
 the healthful and happy exercise of her faculties as 
 woman. 
 
 2. If the organs of sense be not proportionally 
 larger, -when compared with the brain, and more 
 delicately outlined than in the male; because, 
 

 XZ1I. 
 

DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 381 
 
 sensibility should exceed reasoning power in the 
 female. 
 
 3. If the brain (in other words) be not propor¬ 
 tionally smaller, when compared with the organs of 
 sense, than in the male; because, reasoning power 
 should be subordinate to sensibility in the female. 
 
 4. If the cerebel be not proportionally smaller, 
 when compared with the organs of sense, than in 
 the male ; because, voluntary power should also 
 be subordinate to sensibility, in the female. 
 
 5. If the cerebel be not narrow and pointed pos¬ 
 teriorly, that is, long rather than broad (its general 
 form in woman) ; because, the volitions of woman 
 should be intense, not permanent. 
 
 6. If the forehead be not large in proportion to 
 the backhead, but on the contrary low, or very 
 narrow; because, the former being the seat of ob¬ 
 servation, if the organ be small, the function must 
 be correspondingly so, and in that case passion will 
 probably predominate. 
 
 7. If the delicacy of the skin permit not to the 
 touch of woman corresponding delicacy. 
 
 8. If the mouth be not small, or extend much 
 beyond the nostrils, and if the lips be not delicately 
 outlined and of vermillion hue. 
 
 9. If the nose be not nearly in the same direction 
 with the forehead, or if more than a slight inflexion 
 is to be seen. 
 
382 
 
 DEFECTS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 10. If the eyes be not relatively large and per¬ 
 fectly clear in every part. 
 
 11. If the eyelids, instead of an oblong, form 
 nearly a circular, aperture, resembling somewhat 
 the eye of monkeys, cats or birds ; because, this 
 round eye, when large, and especially when dark, 
 is always indicative of a bold, and, when small, of a 
 pert insensibility of character. 
 
 12. If the eyelashes be not long and silky, and 
 if the eyebrows be not furnished with fine hairs, 
 and be not arched and distinctly separated. 
 
 13. If the ears be prominent, so as to alter the 
 regularity of the oval of the head, or surcharge its 
 outline with prominences. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS; OR ART OF DETERMINING THE 
 PRECISE FIGURE, THE DEGREE OF BEAUTY, THE MIND, 
 THE HABITS, AND THE AGE OF WOMEN, NOTWITH¬ 
 STANDING THE AIDS AND DISGUISES OF DRESS. 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS OF FIGURE. 
 
 External indications as to figure, are required 
 chiefly as to the limbs, which are concealed by 
 drapery. Such indications are afforded by the 
 walk to every careful observer. 
 
 In considering the proportion of the limbs to the 
 body, —if, even in a young woman, the walk, 
 though otherwise good, be heavy, or the fall on 
 each foot alternately be sudden, and rather upon 
 the heel, the limbs, though well formed, will be 
 found to be slender, compared with the body. 
 
 This conformation accompanies any great pro¬ 
 portional development of the vital system ; and it. 
 is frequently observable in the women of the Saxon 
 population of England, as in the counties of Norfolk, 
 Suffolk, &c. 
 
384 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS. 
 
 In women of this conformation, moreover, the 
 slightest indisposition or debility is indicated by a 
 slight vibration of the shoulders, and upper part of 
 the chest, at every step, in walking. 
 
 In considering the line or direction of the limbs, 
 — if, viewed behind, the feet, at every step, are 
 thrown out backward, and somewhat laterally, the 
 knees are certainly much inclined inward. 
 
 If, viewed in front, the dress, at every step, is 
 as it were, gathered toward the front, and then 
 tossed more or less to the opposite side, the knees 
 are certainly too much inclined. 
 
 In considering the relative size of each portion 
 of the limbs, —if, in the walk, there be a greater 
 or less approach to the marching pace, the hip is 
 large; for we naturally employ the joint which is 
 surrounded with the most powerful muscles, and, 
 in any approach to the march, it is the hip-joint 
 which is used, and the knee and ancle joint which 
 remain proportionally unemployed. 
 
 If, in the walk, the tripping pace be used, as in 
 an approach to walking on tiptoes, the calf is large; 
 for it is only by the power of its muscles that, 
 under the weight of the whole body, the foot can 
 be extended for this purpose. 
 
 If, in the walk, the foot be raised in a slovenly 
 manner, and the heel be seen, at each step, to 
 lift the bottom of the dress upward and back- 
 
AS TO FIGURE. 
 
 385 
 
 ward, neither the hip nor the calf are well de¬ 
 veloped. 
 
 Even with regard to the parts of the figure 
 which are more exposed to observation by the 
 closer adaptation of dress, much deception occurs. 
 It is, therefore, necessary to understand the arts 
 employed for this purpose, at least by skilful 
 women. 
 
 A person having a narrow face, wears a bonnet 
 with wide front, exposing the lower part of the 
 cheeks.—One having a broad face, wears a closer 
 front; and, if the jaw be wide, it is in appearance 
 diminished, by bringing the corners of the bonnet 
 sloping to the point of the chin. 
 
 A person having a long neck has the neck of the 
 bonnet descending, the neck of the dress rising, 
 and filling more or less of the intermediate space. 
 One having a short neck has the whole bonnet 
 short and close in the perpendicular direction, and 
 the neck of the dress neither high nor wide. 
 
 Persons with narrow shoulders have the shoul¬ 
 ders or epaulettes of the dress, formed on the 
 outer edge of the natural shoulder, very full, and 
 both the bosom and back of the dress running in 
 oblique folds, from the point of the shoulder to the 
 middle of the bust. 
 
 Persons with waists too large, render them less 
 before by a stomacher, or something equivalent* 
 
 c c 
 
386 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS 
 
 and behind by a corresponding form of the dress, 
 making the top of the dress smooth across the 
 shoulders, and drawing it in plaits to a narrow 
 point at the bottom of the waist. 
 
 Those who have the bosom too small, enlarge it 
 by the oblique folds of the dress being gathered 
 above, and by other means. 
 
 Those who have the lower posterior part of the 
 body too flat, elevate it by the top of the skirt 
 being gathered behind, and by other less skilful 
 adjustments, which though hid, are easily detected. 
 
 Those who have the lower part of the body too 
 prominent anteriorly, render it less apparent by 
 shortening the -waist, by a corresponding projec¬ 
 tion behind, arid by increasing the bosom above. 
 
 Those who have the haunches too narrow, take 
 care not to have the bottom of the dress too wide. 
 
 Tall women have a wide skirt, or several flounces, 
 or both of these : shorter women, a moderate one, 
 but as long as can be conveniently worn, with the 
 flounces, &c. as low as possible. 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Additional indications as to beauty are required 
 chiefly where the woman observed precedes the 
 observer, and may, by her figure, naturally and 
 reasonably excite his interest, while at the same 
 
AS TO BEAUTY. 
 
 387 
 
 time it would be rude to turn and look in her face 
 on passing. 
 
 There can, therefore, be no impropriety in ob¬ 
 serving, that the conduct of those who may happen 
 to meet the woman thus preceding, will differ 
 according to the sex of the persons who meet 
 her.—If the person meeting her be a man, and 
 the lady observed be beautiful, he will not only 
 look with an expression of pleasure at her coun¬ 
 tenance, but will afterwards turn more or less 
 completely to survey her from behind. — It the 
 person meeting her be a woman, the case becomes 
 more complex. If both be either ugly or beautiful, 
 or if the person meeting her be beautiful and the 
 lady observed be ugly, then it is probable, that 
 the approaching person may pass by inattentively, 
 casting merely an indifferent glance:' if, on the 
 contrary, the woman meeting her be ugly, and 
 the lady observed be beautiful, then the former 
 will examine the latter with the severest scrutiny, 
 and if she sees features and shape without defect, she 
 will instantly fix her eyes on the head-dress or gown, 
 in order to find some object for censure of the beau¬ 
 tiful woman, and for consolation in her own ugliness. 
 
 Thus he who happens to follow a female may 
 be aided in determining whether it is worth his 
 while to glance at her face in passing, or to devise 
 other means of seeing it. 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS 
 
 Even when the face is seen, as in meeting in the 
 streets or elsewhere, infinite deception occurs as to 
 the degree of beauty. This operates so powerfully, 
 that a correct estimate of beauty is perhaps never 
 formed at first. This depends on the forms and 
 still more on the colours of dress in relation to the 
 face. For this reason, it is necessary to under¬ 
 stand the principles according to which colours are 
 employed, at least by skilful women.* 
 
 When it is the fault of a face to contain too 
 much yellow, then yellow around the face is used 
 to remove it by contrast, and to cause the red and 
 blue to predominate. 
 
 When it is the fault of a face to contain too 
 much red, then red around the face is used to re¬ 
 move it by contrast, and to cause the yellow and 
 blue to predominate. 
 
 When it is the fault of a face to contain too 
 much blue, then blue around the face is used to 
 remove it by contrast, and to cause the yellow and 
 red to predominate. 
 
 When it is the fault of a face to contain too 
 much yellow and red, then orange is used. 
 
 When it is the fault of a face to contain too 
 much red and blue, then purple is used. 
 
 * I speak not of paint here. It is now used only by mere¬ 
 tricious persons and by those harridans of higher rank who 
 resemble them in every respect, except that the former are 
 ashamed of their profession, and the latter advertise it. 
 
AS TO BEAUTY. 
 
 389 
 
 When it is the fault of a face to contain too 
 much blue and yellow, then green is used. 
 
 It is necessary to observe that the linings ol 
 bonnets reflect their colour on the face, and trans¬ 
 parent bonnets transmit that colour, and equally 
 tinse it. In both these cases, the colour employed 
 is no longer that which is placed around the face, 
 and which acts on it by contrast, but the opposite. 
 As green around the face heightens a faint red in 
 the cheeks by contrast, so the pink lining of the 
 bonnet aids it by reflection. 
 
 Hence linings which reflect, are generally ot 
 the tint which is wanted in the face ; and care 
 is then taken that these linings do not come into 
 the direct view of the observer, and operate pre¬ 
 judicially on the face by contrast, overpowering 
 the little colour which by reflection they should 
 heighten. The fronts of bonnets so lined, there¬ 
 fore, do not widen greatly forward, and bring their 
 colour into contrast. 
 
 When bonnets do widen, the proper contrast is 
 used as a lining ; but then it has not a surface 
 much adapted for reflection, otherwise it may per¬ 
 form that office, and injure the complexion. 
 
 Understanding then, the application ot these 
 colours in a general way, it may be noticed, that 
 fair faces are by contrast best acted on by light 
 colours, and dark faces by darker colours. 
 
390 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS 
 
 Dark faces are best affected by darker colours, 
 evidently because they tend to render the com¬ 
 plexion fairer; and fair faces do not require dark 
 colours, because the opposition would be too 
 strong. 
 
 Objects which constitute a background to the 
 face, or which, on the contrary, reflect their hues 
 upon it. always either improve or injure the com¬ 
 plexion. For this and some other reasons, many 
 persons look better at home in their apartments 
 than in the streets. Apartments may, indeed, be 
 peculiarly calculated to improve individual com¬ 
 plexions. 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS OF MIND. 
 
 External indications as to mind may be derived 
 from figure, from gait, and from dress. 
 
 As to figure, a certain symmetry or dispro¬ 
 portion of parts (either of which depends im¬ 
 mediately upon the locomotive system),—or a 
 certain softness or hardness of form (which be¬ 
 longs exclusively to the vital system), — or a 
 certain delicacy or coarseness of outline (which 
 belongs exclusively to the mental system)—these 
 reciprocally denote a locomotive symmetry or dis¬ 
 proportion,—or a vital softness or hardness,—or 
 a mental delicacy or coarseness, which will be 
 found also indicated by the features of the face. 
 
AS TO MIND. 
 
 391 
 
 These qualities are marked in pairs, as each 
 belonging to its respective system; for, with¬ 
 out this, there can be no accurate or useful ob¬ 
 servation. 
 
 As to gait, that progression which advances, 
 unmodified by any lateral movement of the body, 
 or any perpendicular rising of the head, and which 
 belongs exclusively to the locomotive system,— 
 or that soft lateral rolling of the body, which 
 belongs exclusively to the vital system, or that 
 perpendicular rising or falling of the head at every 
 impulse to step, which belongs exclusively to the 
 mental system, — these reciprocally indicate a 
 corresponding locomotive, or vital, or mental cha¬ 
 racter, which will be found also indicated by the 
 features of the face. 
 
 To put to the test the utility of these elements 
 of observation and indication, let us take a few 
 instances. — If in any individual, locomotive 
 symmetry of figure is combined with direct and 
 linear gait, a character of mind and countenance 
 not absolutely repulsive, but cold and insipid, is 
 indicated.—If vital softness of figure is combined 
 with a gentle lateral rolling of the body in its 
 gait, voluptuous character and expression of coun¬ 
 tenance are indicated.— If delicacy of outline in 
 the figure be combined with perpendicular rising 
 of the head, levity, perhaps vanity, is indicated.— 
 
392 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS 
 
 But there are innumerable combinations and 
 modifications of the elements which we have just 
 described. Expressions of pride, determination, 
 obstinacy, &c., are all observable. 
 
 The gait, however, is often formed, in a great 
 measure, by local or other circumstances, by which 
 it is necessary that the observer should avoid being 
 misled. 
 
 Dress, as affording indications, though less to 
 be relied on than the preceding, is not without 
 its value. The woman who possesses a cultivated 
 taste, and a corresponding expression of coun¬ 
 tenance, will generally be tastefully dressed ; and 
 the vulgar woman, with features correspondingly 
 iude, will easily be seen through the inappropriate 
 mask in which her milliner or dress-maker may 
 have invested her. 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS OF HABITS. 
 
 External indications as to the personal habits of 
 women are both numerous and interesting. 
 
 The habit of child-bearing is indicated by a 
 hatter breast, a broader back, and thicker carti¬ 
 lages of the bones of the pubis, necessarily widen¬ 
 ing the pelvis. 
 
 .The same habit is also indicated by a high rise 
 of the nape of the neck, so that the neck from 
 that point bends considerably forward, and by an 
 
AS TO HABITS. 
 
 393 
 
 elevation which is diffused between the neck and 
 shoulders. These all arise from temporary dis¬ 
 tentions of the trunk in women whose secretions 
 are powerful, from the habit of throwing the 
 shoulders backward during pregnancy, and the 
 head again forward, to balance the abdominal 
 weight; and thev bestow a character of vitality 
 peculiarly expressive. 
 
 The same habit is likewise indicated by an ex¬ 
 cess of that lateral rolling of the body in walking, 
 which was already described as connected with 
 voluptuous character. This is a very certain in¬ 
 dication, as it arises from temporary distentions of 
 the pelvis, which nothing else can occasion. As 
 in consequence of this lateral rolling of the body, 
 and of the weight of the body being much thrown 
 forward in gestation, the toes are turned somewhat 
 inward, they aid in the indication. 
 
 Other effects of child-bearing are indicated ad¬ 
 mirably in Plate XVIII. 
 
 The habit of nursing children is indicated, both 
 in mothers and nursery maids, by the right 
 shoulder being larger and more elevated than the 
 left. 
 
 The habits of the sempstress are indicated by 
 the neck suddenly bending forward, and the arms 
 being, even in walking, considerably bent forward 
 or folded more or less upward from the elbows. 
 
394 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS 
 
 Habits of labour are indicated by a considerable 
 thickness of the shoulders below, where they form 
 an angle with the inner part of the arm; and, 
 where these habits are of the lowest menial kind, 
 the elbows are turned outward and the palms of the 
 hands backward. 
 
 The habits of many of the inferior female pro¬ 
 fessions might easily be indicated ; but they would 
 be unsuitable to a work like this. 
 
 EXTERNAL INDICATIONS OF AGE. 
 
 External indications of age are required chiefly 
 where the face is veiled, or where the woman ob¬ 
 served precedes the observer and may reasonably 
 excite his interest. 
 
 In either of these cases, if the foot and ankle 
 have lost a certain moderate plumpness, and as¬ 
 sumed a certain sinewy or bony appearance, the 
 woman has generally passed the period of youth. 
 
 If in walking, instead of the ball or outer edge 
 of the foot first striking the ground, it is the heel 
 which does so, then has the woman in general 
 passed the meridian of life.—Unlike the last in¬ 
 dication, this is apparent, however the foot and 
 ankle may be clothed. The reason of this indi¬ 
 cation is the decrease of power which unfits the 
 muscles to receive the weight of the body by 
 maintaining the extension of the ankle joint. 
 
AS TO AGE. 
 
 395 
 
 Exceptions to this last indication are to be 
 found chiefly in women in whom the developments 
 of the body are proportionally much greater, 
 either from a temporary or a permanent cause, 
 than those of the limbs, the muscles of which are 
 consequently incapable of receiving the weight 
 of the body by maintaining the extension of the 
 ankle joint. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 T. C. SaviH, Printer, 4, Chandos-street, Covent-garden. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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