BEAUTY, a general term for whatever excites in us pleasing sensations, or an idea of approbation.
Hence the notion annexed to beauty may be distinguished into ideas and sen sations ; the former of which occupy the mind ; the latter affect the heart ; thus, an object may please the understanding without interesting the sense ; and on the other hand, we perceive agreeable sen sations, excited by some objects, whose ideas are no way related to any thing that is praise-worthy.
It is on account of these distinctions, that the difficulty lies of fixing an univer sal characteristic of beauty, in regard that the persons vary, according to their dif ferent turns of mind, and habitudes of bo dy ; and consequently the relations of ob jects to those ideas and sensations do in like manner vary ; whence arise the dif ferent opinions of beauty in painting, wo men, &c.
Beauty, in its most extensive sense, may perhaps be properly defined, that quality or union of qualities in the ob jects of perception, whether they be ma terial, intellectual, or moral, which is best calculated to excite emotions of pleasure in the minds of intelligent creatures. We say calculated to produce these effects in the minds of intelligent creatures, be cause, although beauty is, like truth, un changeable in itself, it is only in propor tion to the measure of our intelligence that we are capable of perceiving and en joying it. Hence the distinction between beauty and taste ; the former, the object, ever existing, ever the same ; the latter, the power of perception, fluctuating and changing, in proportion to the perfection of our organs of sense and the improve. ment of our reasoning faculties. That the organs of sense vary in their degrees of perfection in different men, experience every day demonstrates : that the eye of one, the ear of another, the palate, the smell, or the touch of a third, is by nature formed with more exquisite workman ship than in others, no one can doubt ; and that these organs of sense can be again rendered still more correct by their particular education or frequent prac tice, is equally certain. Thus the man,
whose eye has been long accustomed to measure distances, shall seldom be under the necessity of recurring to the rule ; the accomplished artist shall in a moment discover the various colours, and the proportions of each required to produce any complex tint, or, like Apelles, draw the line marking the scarcely perceptible distinction between excellence and per fection.
Beauty, as opposed to deformity, is as goodness to evil, as truth to falsehood, or as right to wrong, and may therefore be considered as an outward demonstration vouchsafed by the Almighty, to bring us, by analogy, to the contemplation of those divine attributes by which we are bound to regulate our lives in this material world, that we may be fitted for that state of purity and happiness which we are promised in the world Of spiritual exist ence. If this conclusion be admitted, it is no longer a question why beauty gives us pleasure ; it is sufficient that it does so.
But if mankind are not by nature equal ly endowed with the powers of discri minating or judging of beauty, what is the standard or rule by which we are to as certain what is really beautiful, much less the different degrees of beauty which any given object presents ? for will not each man say, my judgment is right ; yours, inasmuch as you differ from me, wrong ? To this, and similar objections, we should not hesitate to reply thus : Al though no individual can properly be con sidered a competent and unerring judge, mankind, in the aggregate, may : and we can therefore safely rest satisfied, that what the wisest, the most virtuous, and the most contemplative men, of all ages, have agreed to sanction by their approval, is right. Taste may be, for a time, per verted by fashion, meretricious charms may usurp the rank of beauty, ostentation may personate virtue ; but truth and jus tice will at length prevail, whilst the fri volity or caprice of a day will be soon forgotten.