lecting those which, either in themselves, or by reason of their relation to the arts and to human conduct, appear to be most interesting and important, we shall begin with emotions of Beauty.-We have already had occasion to remark, that all emotions are undefinable. This remark is applicable to those under consideration as well as othOf the emotions of beauty it will be as difficult to give a definition, so as to make them clearer to any one's comprehension than they already are, as to define the simple sensations of colour, sound, or taste. We find in them, however, these two marks or characteristics.

ers.

(1.) The emotion of beauty, in the first place, is always a pleasing one. We never give the name to one which is painful, or to any feeling of disgust. Whenever, therefore, we speak of an emotion of beauty, we imply, in the use of the terms, some degree of satisfaction or pleasure. All persons, the illiterate as well as the scientific, use the phrase with this import.-(2.) We never speak of emotions of beauty, to whatever degree may be our experience of inward satisfaction, without referring such emotions to something external. The same emotion, which is called satisfaction or delight of mind when it is wholly and exclusively internal, we find to be termed an emotion of beauty if we are able to refer it to something without, and to spread its charms around any external object.

§ 253. Of what is meant by beautiful objects.

There are many objects which excite the emotion of beauty; that is, when the objects are presented, this emotion, in a greater or less degree, immediately exists. These objects we call beautiful.-There are other objects which, so far from exciting pleasant emotions within us, are either indifferent, or cause feelings of a decidedly opposite character; so that we speak of them as deformed or disgusting. If there were no emotions, pleasant or unpleasant, excited by either of these classes, or if the emotions which they cause were of the same kind, we should apply to them the same epithets. So that the ground of distinction, which, in speaking of these different objects, we never fail to make, appears to exist in our own feel.

ings. In other words, we call an object BEAUTIFUL, because it excites within us pleasant emotions, which, in the circumstances of the case, we cannot well ascribe to any other cause. And when we prefer to say, in other terms, that an object has beauty, we obviously mean the same thing, viz., that the object has a trait or quality (perhaps we may find it difficult to explain precisely what it is which causes these emotions.

254. Of the distinction between beautiful and other objects

In view of what has been said, we may venture to make two remarks.-(1.) Every beautiful object has something in itself which truly discriminates it from all other objects. This something, this peculiar trait, whatever it is, lays the foundation for those results in the human mind, which, on being experienced, authorize us to speak of the object as beautiful. This is clear, not only from what, on a careful examination, we shall frequently find in the objects themselves, but also from the fact, that the operations of the mind always have their appropriate causes. If the mind experiences a pleasant emotion in view of a certain object, it is because there is something in the object which has a determinate and permanent relation to that particular mental state which distinguishes it from other objects. If it were not for that distinctive trait in the object, the human mind is so constituted that it could not have experienced the corresponding emotion

(II.) Beautiful objects are distinguished from all others, not only by something in themselves, certain original and inherent traits characteristic of them, but also, and perhaps still more, by a superadded trait, a species of borrowed effulgence, derived and reflected back from the mind itself. When we contemplate a beautiful object, we are pleased; we are more or less happy. We naturally connect this emotion of pleasure with the object which is its cause; and we have been in the habit of doing this, no doubt in most instances unconsciously to ourselves, from early life. The consequence is, the association between the inward delight and the outward cause becomes so strong, that we are unable to separate them: and the objects, additional to their own proper qualities

appear to be surrounded, and to beam out with an effulgence which comes from the mind.

§ 255. Grounds or occasions of emotions of beauty various. The next remark which we have to make on the subject of Beauty is, that the objects by which it is occasioned are not always the same, but are very various; differing from each other not only in their general nature, but also in their subordinate incidents. Accordingly, we may with propriety regard the term BEAUTY not so much a particular as a general or common name, expressive of numerous emotions, which always possess the characteristic of being pleasant, and are in every respect always the same in nature, but which may differ from each other both in the occasions of their origin, and also in the degree or intensity in which they exist.

(I.) In regard to the occasions on which they arise, we may remark more particularly, that emotions of beauty are felt, and frequently in a very high degree, in the contemplation of material objects that are addressed to the sense of sight, such as woods, waters, cultivated fields,. and the visible firmament. We look abroad upon nature, in the infinite variety of her works, as she is exhibited in the depths below and in the heights above, in her shells and minerals, in her plants, and flowers, and trees, in her waters, and her stars, and suns; and we find the mind kindling at the sight; fountains of pleasure are suddenly opened within us; and we should do violence to our mental structure if we did not pronounce them beautiful.

(II.) Again, emotions of beauty are felt in the contemplation of intellectual and moral objects. In other words, mind, as well as matter, furnishes the occasion on which they arise. Whenever we discover intelligence, wisdom, truth, honour, magnanimity, benevolence, justice, or other traits of a mind acting as it was created and designed to act, we have a foundation laid for emotions of beauty.The human countenance, considered merely as a material object, and as presenting nothing more than outline and colour, is undoubtedly beautiful; but becomes more sa when it distinctly indicates to us intelligence and amia bility.

(III.) But emotions of beauty are not exlusively limted to these occasions. Feelings, which not only bear the same name, but are truly analogous in kind, exist also on the contemplation of many other things.--The sentiment or feeling of beauty exists, for instance, when we are following out a happy train of reasoning; and hence the mathematician, who certainly has a delightful feeling analogous to what we experience in contemplating many works of nature, speaks of a beautiful theorem. -The connoisseur in music applies the term beautiful to a favourite air; the lover of poetry speaks of a beautiful song; and the painter discovers beauty in the design and in the colouring of his pictures. We also apply the term beauty to experiments in the different departments of physics; especially when the experiment is simple, and results in deciding a point which has occasioned doubt and dispute. We speak of it, and, as we suppose, with a degree of propriety, as a beautiful experiment.

So that all nature, taking the word in a wide sense, is the province of beauty; the intellectual and the sensitive, as well as the material world. We do not, however, mean by this to descend into particulars, and to say that everything which exists within the range of these departments is beautiful; but merely that from none of the great departments of nature are the elements of beauty excluded.

§ 256. All objects not equally fitted to cause these emotions.

From what has been said, it must be evident that there is a correspondence between the mind and the outward objects which are addressed to it. This has already been clearly seen in respect to the sensations and external perceptions; and it is not less evident in respect to that part of our nature which we are now attending to. The mind, and the external world, and the external circumstances of our situation, are reciprocally suited to each other. Hence, when we ascribe the quality of beauty to any ob ject, we have reference to this mutual adaptation. An object is ordinarily called beautiful when it has agreeable qualities; in other words, when it is the cause or antecedent of the emotion of beauty However it might

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appear to other beings, it would not have the character of beauty to us, if there were not a sort of correspondence, an adaptedness to each other, between our mental constitution and such outward object.

But no one can be ignorant that not all objects cause the emotions in question; and of those which possess this power, some have it in a greater, and some in a less degree. This brings us to a very important inquiry. It is no unreasonable curiosity which wishes to know, Why the effect is so limited, and why all objects are not embraced in it? Why different objects cause the same emotion in different degrees? And why the same objects produce a diversity of emotions in different individuals, and even in the same individual at different times?

257. A susceptibility of emotions of beauty an ultimate principle of

our mental constitution.

In answering these questions, something must be taken for granted; there must be some starting point, otherwise all that can be said will be involved in inextricable confusion. That is, we must take for granted that the mind has an original susceptibility of such emotions. Nor can we suppose there can be any objection to a concession which is warranted by the most general experience. We all know that we are created with this susceptibility, because we are all conscious of having had those emotions which are attributed to it. And if we are asked how or why it is that the susceptibility at the bottom of these feelings exists, we can only say that such was the will of the Being who created the mind, and that this is one of the original or ultimate elements of our nature.

Although the mind, therefore, is originally susceptible of emotions of beauty, as every one knows; still it is no less evident, from the general arrangements we behold, both in physical and in intellectual nature, that these emotions have their fixed causes or antecedents. We have seen that these causes are not limited to one class or kind, but are to be found under various circumstances; in the exercises of reasoning, in the fanciful creations of poetry, in musical airs, in the experiments of physics, in the forms of material existence, and the like. Perhaps