Beautiful

Full of beauty; lovely; fair; handsome; elegant; having the qualities that constitute beauty. "And both were young, and one was beautiful. " -Byron. See BEAUTY Beautifully, adv. In a beautiful manner. "Fine by degrees, and beautifully le ."-Prior. Beautifulne , n. Beauty; quality or state of being beautiful. Beau'tify, v. a. [ Beauty , and Lat. facio , to make.] To make or render beautiful; to adorn; to grace; to deck; to embellish. "And the one serves to heighten and beautify the other." Atterbury. -v. i. To become beautiful; to advance in beauty. 'It must be a prospect pleasing to God himself, to see his creation for ever beautifying in his eyes."-Aadison. Beau'tile , a. Without, or destitute of beauty. Beauty, ( bū'ty .) n. [Fr. beauté , from beau, belle; Lat. bell us , contracted from benalus , from ben us , bonus , beautiful, good, pleasant.) The quality of being pretty, hand some, fine, lovely; an a emblage of graces, or proportion of parts, which pleases the senses, particularly the eye or the ear; symmetry or harmony of parts; elegance; grace; loveline ; fairne ; gracefulne . - By modern acceptation, beauty expre es, in the higher sense, the character of what is naturally, personally, or artistically exquisite or fair. The word beauty was first applied to objects perceptible by the sight and by an easy transition, it has been extended to objects perceptible by the sense of hearing; as when we speak of beautiful music, a beautiful tune, voice, . The instances of words which properly signify an impre ion on one sense being used to signify an impre ion on another sense are very numerous; thus we sometimes pa from the sight to the touch, as when we speak of lightne or heavine of form and of color; from the touch to the hearing, as a sharp, piercing, thrilling, penetrating, or heavy sound; from the touch to the smell, as a pungent smell; from the touch to the sight, as harsh and soft coloring; from the hearing to the sight, as monotony of color, tone of a picture, harmony of colors; from the taste to the sight, as mellow coloring; from the taste to the hearing, as sweet music. This pronene to transfer words from one object of sense to another does not, however, explain why the term beauty should be extended only to agreeable sounds, and not to agreeable tastes or odors . That, however, there is a closer affinity between the perceptions of sight and hearing than between those of sight and any other sense, it is not difficult to perceive; and the fact may be satisfactorily attributed to the following causes:-1. The picturesque effect which custom, in many instances, gives to sounds; as when a tune calls up the image of a person's home or the haunts of his childhood. 2. The expre ive power of sounds, as in the case of the human voice, when the expre ion of the countenance corresponds with the tones of the voice and the meaning of the words which it utters. 3. The significant power of sounds, in consequence of conventional speech. In this way they every moment present pictures to the imagination; and we apply to the description as to the thing described (with hardly any consciousne of speaking figuratively) such words as lively , glowing , splendid , lu mino us , picturesque. To these considerations should be added, as a cause conspiring powerfully to the same end, the intimate a ociation which in our apprehension is formed between the eye and the ear, as the great inlets of our acquired knowledge, as the only media by which different minds can communicate together, and as the organs by which we receive from the material world the two cla es of pleasures which, while they surpa all the rest in variety and duration, are the most completely removed from the gro ne of animal indulgence, and the most nearly allied to the enjoyments of the intellect. The unconsciousne we have in both these senses of any local impre ion on our bodily frame may perhaps help to explain the peculiar facility with which their perceptions blend themselves with other pleasures of a rank still nobler and more refined. - But although the epithet beautiful is never applied to the perceptions of any sense except those of seeing and hearing, yet it is extended to the results of some intellectual proce es, as when we speak of a beautiful chain of reasoning, a beautiful poem, a beautiful metaphor, a beautiful language, a beautiful machine, a beautiful contrivance of nature, . When the word beauty is thus employed, it is merely a vague term of praise, and is nearly synonymous with admirable . The word beauty is often applied to a syllogism or a problem; but then it means clearne , point, or precision, or whatever else be the characteristic excellence of that to which it is applied . As the effect of beauty in visible objects is to produce admiration, all beautiful objects are also admirable; and thence it was an easy step to apply the epithet beautiful to things which produce admiration, although this feeling did not arise from the cause which produces it in the contemplation of visible objects. Similar transfers may be observed in other words; thus the word law properly signifies a general command given by one intelligent being to another; but because the effect of such a command is to produce an uniformity of conduct in the persons to whom it is addre ed, the term law has been extended to those operations of nature in which an uniformity of phenomena prevails, although the cause of the uniformity is altogether different. In the following remarks on the nature and causes of beauty, we shall limit ourselves to the original and appropriate meaning of the word in question, viz., the beauty of visible objects. The beauty of visible objects consists of two parts, viz., the beauty of color and the beauty of form , which, although closely connected with each other, arise from different sources, and from sources of a different character, inasmuch as the one appears to be, in most cases, a simple emotion, and therefore an ultimate fact, of which no explanation can be given, while the other is a pleasure derived from a ociation, which is susceptible of analysis. There cannot, in our opinion, be any doubt that certain colors, and certain arrangements of colors, are naturally, and in themselves, pleasing to the eye. Children are observed to take delight in brilliant colors before they have learned to connect any agreeable ideas with them. The analogy of the other senses would, à prior i , lead to this conclusion: for as there are certain odors, tastes, and sounds which are naturally pleasing or displeasing to the nose, the tongue, and the ear, so it may be presumed that there are certain colors, and combinations of colors, which are naturally pleasing or displeasing to the eye. Although one branch of beauty is entirely founded on a ociation, the feeling of beauty cannot be derived from a ociation alone . It is the province of a ociation to impart to one thing the agreeable or disagreeable effect of another; but a ociation can never account for the origin of a cla of pleasures different in kind from alt the others we know. If there was nothing originally and intrinsically pleasing or beautiful, the a ociating principle would have no materials on which it could operate. This origin of the feeling of beauty appears to us to consist in the pleasure derived from the contemplation of colors, and is such that the mind dwells on it with pleasure. Hence the form of the antelope, the swan, or the tiger, is considered beautiful, because we take a satisfaction in contemplating the movements which those forms are admirably fitted to produce; but the form of the pig's snout is not considered beautiful, because the mind flies with disgust from the filthy purposes for which that animal employs it. So, likewise, we call the outward form of the arms, legs, neck, . of the human figure, beautiful, when their form is suited to their respective uses; but no one finds any beauty in the form of the human stomach, or intestines or liver, though equally well fitted for their several ends, because they suggest the notion of proce es which men do not willingly contemplate. Perhaps, in strictne , it might be thought that the simple emotion derived from the color of objects, is alone properly entitled to be considered as the feeling of beauty; and that the beauty of form in any object, derived from a sense of its fitne to its end, is only a pleasing a ociation, allied indeed to the feeling of beauty by a close analogy, but still distinct from it. This question (which in fact is merely verbal), we have not sufficient space to discu at length: neverthele , it appears to us that all ages and nations have agreed in speaking of the beauty of form , as well as of color , and that we are justified in considering as included in the feeling of beauty those emotions which are susceptible of analysis, as well as those which are not. A certain degree of cultivation is nece ary to the perception of beauty. Savage nations appear to be nearly or quite destitute of any notion of it, in the works both of nature and art, or at least their admiration, as in children, is confined to gaudy and shining trinkets, and ornaments of the person. The practice of tattooing, however, is doubtle founded on notions of beauty, more mistaken even than those which formerly led the ladies of Europe to cover their hair with powder and pomatum; or, as it seems now to be the growing fashion, to disguise the natural beauty of their hair with yellowish, red, or golden preparations. In the lower orders of civilized nations, the same indifference to beauty may be generally observed, in proportion to their coarsene and ignorance. The early development of the sense of beauty among the Greeks, which is so strikingly shown both in their mythology and poetry, and in their works of art, is a proof of their early culture and of their great superiority, even in a half savage state, to the barbarous nations by which they were surrounded. Another thing e ential to the perception of beauty, is sensibility of mind , arising from the development of the social affections, and the cultivation of the benevolent feelings. The custom, prevalent in some countries, of planting flowers on graves, and of offering nosegays to the images of saints or of the Virgin, is a mark at once of a feeling of beauty and of sensibility of mind. On the other hand, persons of a sour, phlegmatic, morose, and misanthropic temperament, are little alive to the beauty of outward objects or works of art. It was, doubtle , from a sense of the incompatibility of a feeling for beauty, with absence of all social and benevolent sympathies, that Milton represents the Devil as insensible to the beauties of Paradise: "The Fiend Saw undelighted all delight, all kind Of living creatures, new to sight and strange." As on the one hand, all the antisocial pa ions, as anger, jealousy, envy, fear, ., are inconsistent with the perception of beauty; so the social pa ions sharpen and facilitate it, as love and pity, which, as Dryden says, "melts the mind to love." Hence, loveline in the human race is intimately connected with beauty, as the desire of sex is heightened and stimulated by the beauty of form, color, and expre ion; but it is not identical with it, for lovers are often not only blind to the defects of their mistre es, but sometimes even admire them on that very account; whence love is proverbially said to be blind. A third requisite to the perception of beauty is serenity and cheerfulne of mind , and the absence of overpowering care or affliction, which engro es the faculties and prevents them from taking pleasure in the relations of outward objects. This inconsistency is well illustrated by the reflections of Hamlet, when he is oppre ed with a sense of the painful task imposed upon him by his father's spirit. ( Act II. sc. 2.) - On the relation of the beauty of outward objects to the beauty of works of art, we can only observe, that of the three arts of design, viz., architecture, sculpture, and painting, the two last are purely representative arts, while the first alone creates objects which have a use beyond the mere gratification of the taste. The beauty of buildings therefore belongs to the cla of objects which we have been above examining; while the beauty of pictures and statues, though closely connected with the same range of ideas, yet forms a cla apart, and requires the consideration of additional elements peculiar to itself. These are derived in great measure from the capabilities of the respective arts, as dependent on the materials which they work with and the effects which they are thus able to produce. There are many objects beautiful in nature which cannot be represented with advantage by the painter or sculptor; on the other hand, there are many objects disagreeable in nature which are beautiful in a picture, because a picture is an abstraction, a representation of the color and outline of an object, without any of those accompanying circumstances which in the reality may cause disgust to the other senses, and thus prevent the mind from enjoying that pleasure which it might otherwise derive through the organ of sight alone. Hence those things in nature which are peculiarly fitted to be subjects for the painter, are properly said to have picturesque beauty , as those forms and postures which would appear to most advantage in marble, might, as has been truly remarked, be said to have sculpturesque beauty. There are certain general characteristics of these two arts, as, that, while painting best represents expre ion, sculpture best represents character; and while painting embraces a vast variety of subjects, sculpture confines itself almost exclusively to the human figure and some of the nobler animals, which may be here pointed out; but to determine the peculiar provinces of these two arts, respectively, requires a separate investigation, with reference not to the general subject of beauty, but to the capabilities and advantages of each, and would be materially a isted by a knowledge of those mechanical proce es and mysteries of art which the profe ed sculptor or painter can themselves alone po e . See ÆSTHETICS; IDEAL; SUBLIMITY. IMG:content-0569.png:[graphic]