CHARACTER

(Or. ^«*a«er»jj.) In the Fine Arts, a distinctive property or mark by which any object is separated from another. In physics as in morals, and also in the fine arts, there are three species of character; E ential, Distinctive or Accidental, and Relative. E ential character is that type stamped by nature on all her worts; that great indication observable in the general divisions of the three kingdoms of nature v those distinctions of different cla es of beings, of sexes and ages; in short, of all those great external marks which prevent the confusion of one species with another.. Distinctive or accidental character is that dependent on particular circumstances; on all those varieties of development which a vast number of visible or invisible causes stamp 214 CHARCOAL. on the same species, according to the difference of their position; as on individuals of tlie same species, according to the dilference of the elements which modify their forms and the influences which some actions may have upon them. Relative character is a more particular indication of certain faculties relative to the different properties with which nature has endowed certain species or individuals, in which may be recognized the purposes to which they are more especially destined. In morals e ential character consists in that uniformity of general habits which forms the peculiar instinct of each species of beings, and which indicates uniformly their inclinations, their predominating tastes, and those propensities which can never be changed by accidental causes^ Distinctive character is that which peculiar habits of organization, circumstances, social institutions, and all those exceptions which in the very order of nature become suitable to an individual or one of the same species, being in fact but a modification of e ential character. Relative character is the impre ion or development in a particular manner of certain qualities suited to a certain end, or to a certain mode of existence, indicating to what purposes the beings in question are suited, and manifesting a co-relation between what the species appears and that for which it is adapted. The arts are and indeed can be but the result of nature in all countries, of the nations that inhabit them, and of the individuals of which a nation is composed. Nature influences nations, nations men, and men the arts. These are governed either mediately or immediately by an influence more or le dependent on the great natural causes of climate, government, and education, which constitute the e ential character of every country; on secondary and political causes, in which nations differ; and on particular causes, which modify individuals. The arts do but imitate this proce : according to the particular spot in which they spring up, their imitation embraces either nature in general or parts of nature; either material forms and the sensible images of things, or the moral affections and intellectual ideas of things; but of whatever kind the imitation be, to whatever object it may be directed, the arts are but the faithful mirrors which reflect in every country the phj's icai and moral qualities of nature, of nations, and of the individuals of which the latter are composed. Before judging, therefore, of the imitation, it becomes nece ary to judge of the model; and before we can ascertain in what the character of the arts consists, we must know on what its character depends in nature. We have been thus particular in giving some general notions of character, which must be felt before we can be qualified to judge of the character of the arts in any country. The character peculiar to himself which an artist imparts to his work is but a modification of the foregoing principles: more easily, perhaps, may be understood that distinctive character which a work of art requires that it may seem proper and suitable to its end. That character which marks species was well understood by the ancients; and if we may trust Martial, Phidias excelled in catching it. Of his fishes the poet says, " Adde aquam, natabunt." CHARACTERISTIC OF A [s. 227]