That it is only in consequence of the expression of delicacy, that the winding form is esteemed beau tiful, may be inferred from this, that when this ex pression or association is destroyed, the form imme diately loses its beauty. It is possible, by mechani cal means, to bend bars of metal into waving lines ; but the effect is far from pleasing, because instead of delicacy, it becomes expressive of force and con straint; and if in any case such forms exhibited,in metal are pleasing, it is when the material is brought to a very line texture, as in the imitation of delicate shrubs ; or when the workmanship is ,so exquisite, as to bestow cn the subject a character of delicacy, which does not properly belong to it. Neither is the crooked or curvilinear form pleasing in the stems or branches of trees, or in the more robust plants ; because here, instead of being expressive o ease, it rather denotes force and constraint.
But,again, angular forms themselves beautiful, when expressive of fineness, tenderness,, or delicacy. " The myrtle, for instance," says Mr Alison, " generally reckoned a beautiful form, yet the growth of its stem is perpendicular, the junctions of its branches form 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, prevails over the general ex pression of the form, and gives it the same beauty which we generally find in of a contrary kind. How much more beautiful is the rose tree when its buds begin to blow, than afterwards when its flowers are full, and in their greatest perfection : yet in this first situation, its form has much less winding sur face, 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 de scribes the easiest and most varied curves. The cir cumstance of its youth, a circumstance in all cases so affecting ; the delicacy of its blossom, so well ex pressed by the care which Nature has taken in sur rounding the opening bud with leaves, prevail so 'much upon our imagination, that we behold the form itself with more delight in this situation, than after wards, when it assumes the more general form of de licacy. It is on a similar account, that the leaves of vegetables form a very coinmon and a very beautiful decoration, though they are less distinguished by winding lines, than almost any other part of the plants. There are an infinite number of the feebler vegetables, and many of the common grasses, the forms of which are altogether distinguished by an gles and straight. lines, and where there is not a sin gle curvature through the whole, yet all of which are beautiful, and of which also some are imitated in different ornamental forms with excellent effect, mere ly from the fineness and delicacy of their texture, which is so very striking, that they never fail, when we attend to them, to afford us that sentiment of in terest and tenderness, which in general we receive from the opposite form. There are few things in the vegetable world 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 deli cacy of the vegetable. Such observations, with re gard to flowers or plants, every person has it in his power to pursue. There is not, perhaps, any indi vidual of the vegetable kingdom, which, if it is re markable for its delicacy or tenderness, is not also con sidered as beautiful in its form, whether that form be winding or angular."
In many of those arts, where the beauty of form is chiefly consulted, the curvilinear form being less expressive of delicacy than the angular, has no place. In most of the ornamehtal manufactures of metal, as in that of cut or polished steel, the expression of delicacy requires that the bulk of the material should be as much reduced as possible ; and hence the predominence of sharp angles and plane facets. A sword hilt, or a watch chain, are infinitely finer and more beautiful, when they are composed of an gular forms, than when they are composed of curves. In the forms which are given to jewels, the same rule universally obtains ; the same is true of the ma nufacturer of glass for ornamental purposes. The delicacy of such subjects is in their brilliancy ; and the form which displays that quality is the only one 1 that is beautiful in them. In the articles of our ` household furniture, also, the same regard to light ness and delicacy of structure may be traced in ma ny of the prevailing angular forms. " Strong and massy furniture," observes Mr Alison, " is every where vulgar and unpleasing; and though, in point of utility, we pardon it in general use, yet wherever we expect elegance or beauty, we naturally look for fineness and delicacy in it. The actual progress of taste, in this article, is from strength to delicacy. The first articles of furniture, in every country, are strong and substantial. As taste improves, and as it is found that beauty, as well as utility; may be con sulted in such subjects, their strength and solidity are gradually diminished, until, at last, by succes sive improvement, the progress terminates in that last degree of delicacy, and even of frugality, which is consistent either with the nature of the workman ship, or the preservation of the subject."' if this doctrine, concerning the beauty of form, be just, it should follow, that in those forms, which are of a very compound nature, the beauty does not arise so much from a certain mixture of variety and uniformity, as from a certain characteristic expres sion belonging to the whole. And this is perfectly consistent with the common language of men, who, when describing such complex objects, as a garden, or particular scene of nature, uniformly speak of them as expressive of greatness, wildness, gaiety, tran quillity, melancholy, or some other affecting quality. With respect to the artificial composition of complex beautiful forms, Mr Alison declares the total insuffi ciency of Mr Hogarth's rule, viz. " To make choice of a variety of lines, and vary their situations with each other, by all the different ways that can be conceived, and, at the same time, (if a solid figure be the subject of the composition), the contents or space that is to be enclosed within those lines, must be duly considered, and varied too as much as poSsi ble with propriety." Instead of this, Mr Alison proposes, that some characteristic or expressive form should be selected, and that the variations, whether in the form, number, or the proportion of the parts, should be adapted to the peculiar nature of this ex pression, or of that emotion which it is fitted to ex cite in the mind of the spectator. Essay sect. I. part 3.