apprehended fall. Hence we desire all things about us to fulfil the requirements that our experience has shown to be needful for their stable footing. A firm foundation, a broad base, a tenacious and solid framework,—are known to be the only safeguards against a crushing gravitation, and it is distressing to witness any deficiency in those respects. The pyramid is the form that most completely fulfils these conditions. The sloping wall lowers the centre of gravity, and makes an erection exceedingly difficult to turn over. The upright wall is less stable, and demands expedients not necessary in the other; we must not carry it too high, there must be sufficient thickness, strength, and tenacity of material to make up for narrowness of base. The walls of a house,

connected by girders and a roof, are differently situated; the entire bulk of the building is as one mass, and the stability is then very great. A similar effect is produced, when a row of pillars is joined together by lintels and a pediment.

22. While massive and well-founded edifices satisfy the mind, and give the agreeable feeling of sufficiency, or even superfluity of resistance to gravitating pressure which would otherwise crush and destroy, there is another motive that comes into play to modify the forms of solid erections, namely, the desire to see great effects produced with the smallest expenditure of means, and the appearance of Ease on the part of the agent. This is an aspect of the love of power, which is gratified when small efforts operate large changes, or great effects. The pyramid we are apt to account gross, heavy, awkward, clumsy, when used merely to support its own mass. We feel in that case that a very large amount of material and of space has been used up for a disproportionate end; (as a sea-wall, or a fortification to resist cannon, the case is otherwise). We are greatly pleased if an object can be raised aloft to a great elevation without such expenditure of material, and such amplitude of base; we being at the same time assured that the support is adequate. The obelisk is, in this respect, a grand refinement upon the massive pyramid. The column is a still higher effort, inasmuch as its lofty summit is

capable of being crowned with a mass to be sustained by it. The devices that reconcile us to this bold proceeding are principally a widening of the foundation, and an expansion of the summit in the lightest way, that is, with the least material that will answer the purpose. Thus the column has the slightly expanded base, and the spreading capital for receiving the superincumbent weight of the architrave and frieze. The pilaster is lightened by being cut away at the lower part, reserving breadth of base as being the primary element of stability. A slender stem, on an expanded base, may thus prove an efficient support, and gratify the mind. with a large effect produced at a small outlay. All our graceful forms in objects that give support, such as vases, drinking-cups, and table ware in general, proceed upon these principles, giving at the same time the additional pleasure of curved forms, which is not dependent upon any association. The noble tree with its slender and yet adequate stem, its spreading roots and ample base, supporting a voluminous and expanded foliage-is a telling example of the reconciliation of adequate sustaining power with small outlay of material, and a striking contrast to the grossness of the pyramid.*

23. Symmetry is a demand in some cases for mere proportion, and at other times for support. There is a disagreeable effect of violated proportions when the two halves of a human face are not alike; a wasted, or unequal limb maims

*The light tripos is a good amelioration of the heavy solidity of the pyramidal mass.

The artist judges how far it is safe to go in reducing grossness of dimen sions, without detracting from the appearance of adequate support.

Strict adherence to the perpendicular in a wall owes its urgency to the sentiment now discussed. A tall object declining to one side gives the painful impression of an expected fall. The leaning tower of Pisa is said to be quite stable, from having the centre of gravity within the base, but such a declension from the perpendicular is disagreeable to contemplate.

It was formerly remarked (Contiguity, 2 30), that the Architectural proportions that satisfy the mind must differ according to the material; beauty of design is very different in stone, in wood, and in iron.

the prop of the figure. A tree with the foliage grown to one side is unsymmetrical in both respects.

24. Beauty of Movement grows out of the cases now considered, in conjunction with the primary susceptibility of the mind to moving objects as seen by the eye. The curved and straight outlines respectively suggest the same emotions in still forms, and in the tracks of moving bodies. A curvilineal movement, as the flight of a projectile, or a bird, or the strides of a graceful dancer, is intrinsically pleasing; straight movements are rendered artistic only by associations of power, regularity, fitness, or some other circumstance that commends them to our regards. An upward flight is the analogy to support in still life-the putting forth of a power to counteract gravity,—and by giving us an idea of great propulsive energy, becomes a striking spectacle. Much illustration might be given of this class of effects, but we have no space for more than the bare enunciation of principles.

The complex harmonies brought out in the decorative arts, where colour is suited to form, and both to movement, would be exceedingly difficult to reduce to laws, although attempts are sometimes made with that view.*

* I doubt whether any laws of harmony exist between colours and forms in general, such as obtain between colours themselves, and between the different notes of the musical scale. We cannot say that red suits straight forms, or green rounded ones; or that white intrinsically harmonizes with quick movements, and black with slow. In the circumstances of each particular case, we can assign a propriety in the adjusting of particular colours and forms, from there being a common æsthetic character in the two elements for the time being. On an occasion of stately solemnity we can make all the decorations suit the main purpose-bright colours, stately motions, and upright and imposing objects. So in a ballet divertissement, the stage master knows how to adjust scenes, dresses, and motions to one pervading character attaching to the piece. Music may be chosen so as to chime in with other effects, without supposing any fundamental concord between certain sounds, colours, forms, and movements. Thus we have the two conspicuous varieties of composition, marking on the one hand the solemn, grave, or melancholy, and on the other the gay or sprightly; to attempt more minute subdivisions leads into the regions where no agreement of individual tastes is to be found. There is in one respect a deep concord among widely different effects, arising in virtue of the common presence of the muscular element with its charac

BEAUTY IN MACHINERY.

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25. Fitness, the Esthetic of Utility.—The case of Support just discussed is really a case of the fitting of machinery to a mechanical end, namely, the counteraction of gravity. So much pleasure do we derive from this being effectually, and yet, as it appears to us, lightly done, that we set up structures for the mere sake of seeing them so supported. But all the machinery of human industry is capable of appealing to the same sentiment of power, in the production of effects with a

teristic sensibility. To this I attribute the similarity of effect between the dying fall in music and the waving curve in vision; and the harmony between the pace of music, movements seen, and one's own movements, as in the dance. Moreover, there are analogous modes of striking the different senses; the distinction between acute or pungent, and the massive or voluminous, reigns throughout. The voluminous sound of the ocean fills the ear in the same way that a wide expanse fills the eye, whence a certain concord may be imagined between the two.

In the arts of decoration and design, the suiting of colour to form must be governed by the taste, fancy, or caprice of the individual. There may be in this, as in many other situations, nothing more than the mere cumulation of pleasing effects, neither lending support to each other, nor introducing discord.

Among the susceptibilities touched by artistic arrangements may be noticed the sense of Unity in multitude, arising when a great number of things are brought under a comprehensive design, as when a row of pillars is crowned by a pediment. This simplification of the mind's grasp is one of the lightening effects, so often alluded to as a prime source of pleasure. The use of simple figures-the triangle, square, circle, &c.—for enclosing and arraying a host of individuals, has this tendency to make an easily apprehended unity out of a numerous host of particulars. In all great works abounding in detail, we crave for some comprehensive plan that enables us to seize the whole, as well as to survey the parts. A poem, a history, a dissertation in science, a lecture, or speech, should have a discernible principle of order throughout

Variety has likewise to be studied as a means of gratification of the æsthetic species. Uniformity is the highest virtue of what we use as means -in the arrangement of tools and apparatus, but in things enjoyed as ends, we get satiated by the continuance of the same sights and sounds.

Some minds (those of high intellectual susceptibility) feel strongly the ennui from repetition, while others lean to Custom, and prefer the appearances they have been habituated to; suffering no tedium from iteration, and enjoying the ease that flows from working in a beaten track. Both principles have their influence in determining men's minds in the estimation of objects and in the ascription of beauty or the opposite.

small expenditure of toil, A workman, combining great strength with great skill, will execute with ease what another man finds difficult, and the beholder derives a sympathetic pleasure from his power. The possession of superior tools gives the same agreeable distinction. In consequence of the gratification so derived, an actor on the stage feels bound to suppress all the appearances of labour and fatigue, and to put out of sight as much as possible the mechanism of the scenes. In machinery, we desiderate a clean polish and a noiseless action, because rust and noise suggest harsh obstruction and laborious effort. We personify the powers of nature, and sympathize with the apparently easy or difficult attainment of ends. The gentle breeze, giving motion to a huge mass of solid material, affects us with the delightful sentiment of a light finger impelling a heavy body. The noisy thunder, on the other hand, is thought to labour in accomplishing its work. A gunpowder explosion would be grander without the uproar; stillness, or a quiet action, having so much to do with our sentiment of exerted power, unless when the noise is itself a token of the power. The presence of the scaffolding whereby a great work has been reared, takes off from the pleasure of the work itself, by introducing the unacceptable association of painful and protracted labour. Hence the art of concealing art, so long ago announced as a critical maxim. We love to have removed from our sight every aspect of suffering, and none more so than the suffering of toil; and cherish, on the other hand, every appearance, however illusive, that suggests the easy attainment of the ends of toil.

26. There are certain things, subordinate to the successful prosecution of work, that have an interest to the spectator. We have seen already that regularity and proportion appeal to a primary sensibility of the mind. They come also to be valued, and greatly extended, from considerations of utility. Under the general name Order, we include all the precision, regularity, and suitability, in the array of separate objects, so eminently favourable to the march of industrial operations. The agreeable sentiment that fills the mind of the mere