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identity of mind between the creature workers of China, ancient Egypt, and our own country; seeing that their works are identical,-must we not also infer, on the same principle, that He possesses in the aesthetic department a certain identity with them also? True, this region of the beautiful, ever surrounded by an atmosphere of obscure, ill-settled metaphysics, is greatly less clear than that mechanical province, of whose various machines, whether of divine or human contrivance, it can be at least affirmed that machines they are, and that they effect their purposes by contrivances of the same or resembling kinds. And yet the appearance in Nature, age after age, of the same forms and colours of beauty, which man, in gratifying his taste for the lovely in form and hue, is ever reproducing for himself, does seem to justify an inference of an identity of mind in this province also.

"The colours of the old geologic organisms, like those of the paintings of ancient Egypt, are greatly faded. A few, however, of the Secondary, and even Palæozoic, shells still retain the rich prismatic hues of the original nacre.* Many of the Tertiary division still bear the distinctive painted spots. Some of the later fishes, when first laid open in the rock, exhibit the pearly gleam that must have lighted the green depths of the water as they darted through. Not a

* "Palæozoic, from raλaios and wov, ancient living creatures or animals. In Geology, a term applied to the lowest fossiliferous strata; and also to the earliest forms of life."-Webster.

"Nacre, a beautiful iridescent substance, which lines the interior of some shells, and is most perfect in the mother-of pearl." Webster.

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few of the fossil corals preserve enough of their former colour to impart much delicacy of tint to the marbles in which they occur. But it is chiefly in form, not in shade, or hue, that we find in the organisms of the geologic ages examples of that beauty in which man delights, and which he is ever reproducing for himself. There is scarce an architectural ornament of the Gothic or Grecian styles, which may not be found as fossils existing in the rocks."*

It is further stated, that some of the celebrated Manchester prints, which have been the most popular and remunerative, have been close imitations of fossil forms and colours.

Early education, association, and fashion give rise to an accidental kind of beauty. This we see in the desire for furniture of a peculiar and fantastic kind: some is made in the Chinese fashion, because it is supposed to represent to the minds of the wealthy images of Eastern magnificence and splendour. It does not necessarily follow that those who have the most money to spend have the best taste; nor is the general taste always in agreement with the lines of beauty. "I speak from experience: I know what it is to live in a cottage with a deal floor and roof, and a hearth of mica slate; and I know it to be in many respects healthier and happier than living between a Turkey carpet and gilded ceiling, beside a steel grate and polished fender. I do not say that such things have not their place and pro

* Miller's "Tes. Rocks." p. 237.

priety; but I say this, emphatically, that the tenth part of the expense which is sacrificed in domestic vanities if not absolutely and meaninglessly lost in domestic discomforts and incumbrances, would, if collectively offered and wisely employed, build a marble church for every town in England; such a church as it should be a joy and a blessing even to pass near in our daily ways and walks, and as it would bring light into the eyes to see from afar, lifting its fair height above the purple crowd of humble roofs."-RUSKIN.

The fashions of ladies' dress form a peculiar system of metaphysics, and tend very much, from their chameleon character, to unsettle our notions of what is really beautiful in form and colour; for we naturally come to like the shapes and colours worn by those we love, how extravagant soever they may be. We rebel at first; but we have to give in to the strange spell exercised over us.

*

If we may give a hint to our fair friends with reference to dress, we would say: Let there be adaptation to the use designed, and propriety in relation to our social position, with neatness and simplicity of style; not regarding so much the height of fashion in the selection of apparel as that which is naturally pleasing to the eye. Gaudy colours are always inconsistent with feminine grace and loveliness.

* Some years ago, when dresses were extreme in the circle they formed, polite men of England had to step off the path into the mud of the streets, but as a compensation they were driven into the practice of the beautiful, for they described curves and crescents instead of moving in straight lines.

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CHAPTER V.

SOUND, OR MELODY.

AVING considered the beauty of Form and Colour, we now advert to that of Sound. The former are pleasing objects to the eye, the latter to the ear; and our allusions will be chiefly to the notes. of birds, the tones of the human voice, and the echoes of the mountains. We can all recall pleasant sounds made sweeter by companionship; as when we heard a waterfall in a wood,—the ripple of a rivulet,—the soft blending of human voices in a dell, or even the tinkling of sheep-bells amid the heather on the hills. There is no doubt that these pleasant sounds are always heightened by cherished associations; as when we hear a shepherd playing his lute, or the plaintive song of a blind girl. We cannot deny that some sounds are more naturally beautiful than others; nor can we agree with Alison, who says, that sounds have no beauty, except from association.*

Shakspeare says of soft melody :

"That strain again ;-it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing and giving odour."

And Milton, in one of his early poems, says :

* Alison "On Taste," pp. 152, 174.

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"And ever against eating cares,
Lap me in soft Lydian airs,
Married to immortal verse,

Such as the melting soul may pierce
In notes, with many a winding bout
Of linked sweetness long drawn out,
With wanton heed and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie

The hidden soul of harmony."

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Music is the living voice of the beautiful, and tends to soothe and melt, to cheer and animate. Martin Luther said, "Music and singing is a glorious art; the notes make the words living, and chase away the spirit of melancholy. Music is the art of prophets."† .

The mountains have a singular power in softening harsh sounds and evoking from them the most delicious melody. A loud blast from a rude horn amid the Alpine solitudes of Switzerland, is wondrously softened and made surpassingly sweet in its echoes. "At our next halting-place," says an intelligent tourist, "we found a peasant stationed with an Alpine horn, a rude tube of wood about six or eight feet long. He sounded one or two notes,in a few seconds we were charmed with strains of all but unearthly sweetness. The echoes of the vast cliff of the Wetterhorn caught up, refined, subdued, and then returned, in most enchanting harmony, the rough notes of the primitive instrument. Warbling' seems the only word to express the silvery softness with which those grim, ice-bound, * "L'Allegro," pp. 135, 144. "Leaders of the Reformation," p. 40.

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