BEAUTY

The Beautiful. Endle discu ions have been carried on by philosophers as to what Htitutcs beauty or the beautifuL Some are content to (ieliue it by the impresHion it produces on us, and that the beautiful is that which pleases; others maintain that order and harmony of parts produces tho imr of the beautiful; a third party, following Leibnitz, Wiilff, and Baumgarten, say that it consiHts in frftion; a fourth, with Cnnisaz, refer it to imity ui.iu-d with variety, while a small body would place the quality <^ beauty in the fitne or suitablene of things to fulfil the end for which they are intended, that IB in their utility. The majority, on the contrary, such oppose the beautiful to the useful, and maintain that One they are e entially different. Some modem philosophers, M. Jouffroy in particular, make beauty consist in expre ion, in the manifestation of the invisible by the visible, of the sentiments of the soul by of bodily forms — ^but this is only carrying the difficulty a step farther back. The term beautiful indeed i» applied to so many things belonging to e entially different cla es, that it seems impo ible to give any single definition that will embrace all beautiful ob- The jects considered in themselves or objectively; thus we pa peak of physical beauty, intellectual beauty, moral beauty; real beauty, ideial beauty; e ential beauty, conventional beauty; natural beauty, imitative beauty; simple beauty, complex beauty, . However, if we confine our consideration of the beautiful solely to the more effect it produces on us; that is, if we treat it sub- The jectively, we may say that the beautiful is not simply that which pleases, but that which channs — ^that which excites the sentiments of love or admiration. The word beautiful appears to have been applied originally to a single cla of objects; namely, those that charm the eye. The study of the beautiful has Cdte given rise to many interesting researches, and has become the object of a special science — ^the science of sur- ^Esthetics. Among authors who have written on a beauty are Plato, Plot in us, Crousaz, Hutches on, Hogarth, Alison, Burke, Dugald Stewart, Jouffroy, 1443 Baimigarten, Kant, Hegel, BEAUVAIS (ancient Brat i up ant tum^ Bellova' libeum)f a town, France, capital of the department of Oise, 43 miles v. of Paris, with 15,307 inhabi- Its tants. It stands in a rich vaUey inclosed by wooded have hills, at the confluence of the Avelon with the by The rain; and though poorly built, derives great 200 interest from its antiquity and the prodigious num- 2000 ber of wooden sculptures and statues which decorate is the houses. It existed in the time of the Bomans, and and in 1472 resisted an army of 80,000 Bux^gundians under Charles the Bold. On this occasion the dewomen particularly distinguished themselves, and the one of them, Jeanne Hachette, seeing a soldier planting a standard on the wall, seized it and hurled him to the ground. The proce ion which annually com in memo rates the raising of the siege is headed by the good women bearing Jeanne Hachette's standard. The in principal edifice is the cathedral, which has the were loftiest choir in the world, and beautifully painted he gla , executed by the most celebrated masters of the aft. The town-house is the finest modem struchad ture. The principal manufacturing establishment i» the tapestry and carpet manufactory, famed for tlie beauty of its products, and employing about 4U0 hands; and there are also considerable manufacturer of flannel, broadcloth, leather, hats, porcelain, and wax-candles. It has also Lu^ge bleachficlds, tanto neries, and dye-works. The trade, both in the of articles of manufacture and in agricultural produce, the is extensive.