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say, to use one metaphorically for the other, it is a pretty clear proof that these two feelings do very strongly re

semble each other.

First, it is necessary to observe that the term beauty, to whatever object it is applied, is applied only to that which is very superior to other objects of the same species. Suppose an average appearance in human countenances, the term beauty is applied only where that average is very far exceeded: it is as emphatical on one side of the middle point, as ugly is on the other, — both point at extremes. So in poetry; a beautiful poem is one very superior to the common merit of poetry: a beautiful invention in mechanics is one in which much more than ordinary ingenuity is displayed. It is always a term of the superlative degree, implying comparison, and an opinion of pre-eminence, the result of that comparison.

I shall set out, after these premises, with reasserting my opinion, advanced in the last lecture, that beauty is an original quality of matter: not that all matter has it, any more than all matter has hardness; but that some matter has it, as some matter has hardness. As I said a great deal about it in my last lecture, I shall not expatiate further on this subject at present, but assume the principle, and reason upon it.

Though I contend that there is an original beauty of matter, I do not by any means lay much stress upon it, or compare it with that feeling of the beautiful which matter excites when associated with some agreeable quality of mind. I believe a clear red, passing through a beautiful white colour, is of itself beautiful; but it is certainly more beautiful when it becomes the sign of health, and we learn habitually to consider it as such. The lively green that the herbage assumes after rain, is of itself agreeable to the eye, but it is infinitely more agreeable when that colour becomes the sign of plenty, of freshness, of liberty, of boundless range, and of inno

cent enjoyment, and all the pleasures of mind we associate with the idea of the country.

"For what are all

The forms which brute, unconscious matter wears,-
Greatness of bulk, or symmetry of parts?
Not reaching to the heart, soon feeble grows
The superficial impulse; dull their charms,
And satiate soon, and pall the languid eye.
Not so the moral species, nor the powers
Of genius and design; the ambitious mind
There sees herself: by these congenial forms
Touch'd and awaken'd, with intenser act

She bends each nerve, and meditates well pleas'd
Her features in the mirror. For, of all

The inhabitants of earth, to man alone
Creative Wisdom gave to lift his eye

To Truth's eternal measures; thence to frame
The sacred laws of action and of will,
Discerning justice from unequal deeds,
And temperance from folly.""

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I shall begin the analysis of the beautiful with music, a subject which I cannot pass over, but in which I must beg for great indulgence, because it is impossible for any one to be more completely ignorant of that art than I

am.

Let us take the plainest instance, simple melody, or an air sung by the human voice; why do we call this combination of sounds beautiful, and what is the cause of the striking and beautiful emotion we derive from it? In the first place, because each single sound of which the air is composed is beautiful,- that is, it is beautiful if the voice be good; for I should suppose that any air sung by a wretched voice, or performed upon such an instrument as the bagpipe, could not with any propriety be denominated beautiful; it may become so from association, but it requires the aid of association to make it So. We may say this air, sung by a good voice, or performed upon a good instrument, would be beautiful; but this is only describing what other sounds would be,

* Akenside, p. 526.

not saying what these are. Therefore, a simple air, sung by a good voice, is beautiful for one reason, because each particular sound of which it is composed is beautiful; and the pleasure is of course immensely increased, from the variation and contrast of these sounds.

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Melody is not only beautiful from its variety of originally beautiful sounds, but from its originally beautiful combinations. Some two notes joined together are naturally agreeable, others naturally disagreeable: at least, it is the commonly received opinion that concords are pleasant, discords unpleasant, from the constitution of our organs of hearing. Whether this be the fact, and whether concords here are concords the world through, I cannot take upon me to determine; but, however this be, the fact is indisputable, that very unpractised ears, are delighted with some combinations of sounds, and that this pleasure must be considered as another additional cause of the beauty of music. Rhythm, or number in music, is a copious source of variety and uniformity; every piece of regular music is, as every one knows, supposed to be divided into small portions, separated in writing by a cross line, called a bar, which, whether they contain more or fewer sounds, are all equal in respect of time. In this way the rhythm is a source of uniformity, which pleases by suggesting the agreeable ideas of regularity, and, still more, by rendering the music intelligible. But the principal cause of the beauty of music is, that it can be translated into feelings of the mind. Let a simple air be sung by

a pleasing voice, not in words, but in articulate sounds, -as it is quick, or as it is solemn, as it is high or low, we immediately connect it with some feeling; because experience has taught us that some of our passions are expressed in a solemn measure and low tone, others in quick measure and with an elevation of voice. If any one were for the first time to hear the tune of "Farewell to Lochaber," without words, there could, I should think, be little doubt but that he would associate it with some calm, melancholy emotion: nor could any person imagine that such a tune as that of "Dainty Davy," was intended to express profound and inconsolable grief. In these airs, we immediately associate with them some feeling of mind, and from this association. their beauty is principally derived. "The objects, "therefore, which produce such sensations, though in "themselves not the immediate signs of such interesting "or affecting qualities, yet, in consequence of this resem"blance, become gradually expressive of them; and, if "not always, yet at those times, at least, when we are "under the dominion of any emotion, serve to bring to "our minds the images of all those affecting or interesting "qualities, which we have been accustomed to suppose "they resemble. How extensive this source of association is, may easily be observed in the extent of such "kinds of figurative expression in every language.” *

66

Nothing can be more just and philosophical than these opinions of 'Mr. Alison and Dr. Beattie. Music itself can express only classes of feelings; it can express only melancholy, not any particular instance or action of melancholy. The tune of "Lochaber," which I have before alluded to, expresses the pathetic in general; language only can tell us that it is that particular instance of the pathetic, where a poor soldier takes leave of his native land, Lochaber, and his wife Jean, with a feeling that he shall see them no more: ·

* Alison, p. 185.

N

"Borne on rough seas to a far distant shore,
I'll maybe return to Lochaber no more!"

Therefore, the principal cause of the beauty of melody, is, that as we hear the air, we not only translate it into human feelings, but, remembering the words connected with it, we summon up the particular exemplification of that feeling; we think of the poor soldier who is never to see again his wife and his children in Lochaber; we love his affection for that spot where he has spent many blithesome days, and we are touched with his misery. Whenever we hear an air to which we know no words, it can inspire only general emotion, and the comparative effect is feeble; when poetry applies the general emotion to particular instances, musical expression has attained its maximum of effect. It is said that the "Pastorale" of Corelli was intended for an imitation of the song of angels hovering above the fields of Bethlehem, and gradually soaring up to heaven: it is impossible, however, that the music itself can convey any such expression,-it can convey only the feelings of solemnity, of rapture, of enthusiasm; imagination must do the rest. If another name were given to this piece of music, and it were supposed to relate to a much less awful event, its effects, though still powerful, would be very considerably diminished.

Such appear to me to be the causes of that feeling of the beautiful excited by simple melody. The more complicated beauty of harmony is easiest explained by denying that it has any beauty; the music often praised by professors and connoisseurs, has often no other merit than that of difficulty overcome, which excites the feeling of wonder, not of beauty: the mass of hearers, who cannot estimate the difficulty, cannot participate in the admiration; they can derive no other gratification from it than the mere animal pleasure of beautiful sounds, which, when they are devoid of moral expression, soon fatigue and disgust: and the parts of a long

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