to them is that they are mental, and will not, therefore, apply unconditionally in a theory from which we set out by abstracting association. Nor can we go so far as to carry this idea of "life" into the theory of colour. "Colour," says Mr Eastlake, "viewed under the ordinary effects of light and atmosphere, may be considered according to the same general principles. It is first to be observed that, like forms, they may or may not be characteristic, and that no object would be improved by means, however intrinsically agreeable, which are never its own. Next, as to the idea of life creatures exhibit the hues with which nature has clothed them in greatest brilliancy during the period of consummate life and health. Bright red, which, by universal consent, represents the idea of life, (perhaps from its identity with the hue of the blood,) is the colour which most stimulates the organs of sight." We doubt if any one colour, as we doubted of any one line, is the colour of beauty; and as to red representing life, possibly by resemblance to blood, speaking to the eye of Art, we should not say that redness is the best exponent of the beautiful flesh of human life. If so, it is most seen in earliest infancy, when it positively displeases. The young bird and young mouse create even disgust from this too vis ible blood-redness. What is beauty? is quite another question from that of whether there is a line of beauty. Lines may be pleasing or displeasing, in a degree independent of the objects in which they happen to be. Lines that correspond in symmetry, as well as colours which agree in harmony, may exist in disagreeable objects, leaving yet the question of beauty to be answered; though beauty, whatever it is, may require this correspondence of parts, this order, this sympathy in symmetry. Burke has separated the sublime from the beautiful. Mr Eastlake has, we suppose intentionally, with a view to his ulterior object, in this fragment omitted any such distinction. may be the more judicious in this, as Burke admits ugliness into his Sublime. He It has been supposed that the an cient artists studied the forms of inferior animals for the purpose of embellishing the human. The bull and lion have been recognised in the heads of Jupiter and Hercules. Mr Eastlake lays stress upon the necessity in avoiding, in representing the human, every characteristic of the brute; and quotes Sir Charles Bell, who says, "I hold it to be an inevitable consequence of such a comparison, that they should discover that the perfection of the human form was to be attained by avoiding what was characteristic of the inferior animals, and increasing the proportions of those features which belong to man." there is an extraordinary fact that This is doubtless well put; but seems to remove this characteristic peculiarity from the idea of beauty, however it may add it to the idea of perfection. Man is the only risible animal risibility may be said, therefore, to be his distinguishing mark. If so, far from attributing any beauty to it, even when we admit its agreeability, we deny its beauty, we even see in it distortion. Painters universally avoid representing it. They prefer the "Santo, onesto, e grave ciglio." Some have thought the smile, so successfully rendered by Correggio, the letting down of beauty into an inferior grace. Perhaps the sum of the view taken by Mr Eastlake may be best shown by a quotation : "We have now briefly considered the principal æsthetic attributes of the organic and inorganic world. We have traced the influence of two leading princharacter in form, and the visible eviciples of beauty-the visible evidence of dence of the higher character of life. We have endeavoured to separate these from other auxiliary sources of agreeable impressions—such as the effect of colours, and the influences derived from the memory of the other senses. Lastly, all these elements have been kept independent of accidental and remote associations, since a reference to such sources of inte rest could only serve to complicate the question; and render the interpretation of nature less possible. A third criterion remains; it is applicable to human beings, and to them only. Human beauty is then most complete, when it not only conforms to the arche typal standard of its species, when it not only exhibits in the greatest perfection the attributes of life, but when it most bears the impress of mind, controlling and spiritualising both." "The conclusion which the foregoing considerations appear to warrant, may be now briefly stated as follows:-Character is relative beauty-Life is the highest character-Mind is the highest life." We confess, in conclusion, that we are not yet disposed to admit, from any thing we have read, that Burke's "Sublime and Beautiful" is superseded. We can as readily believe that the sublime and beautiful may be reunited in one view, as that it is optional to separate them. The sublime and the beautiful both belong to us as human beings, making their sensible impressions all sources of pleasure, greatly differing in kind. It is inseparable from our condition to have a sense of a being vastly superior to ourselves: sublimity has a reference to that superior power over us, and to ourselves, as subject to it: while it renders us inferior, it lifts our minds to the knowledge of the greater. Beauty, on the contrary, seems to look up to us for aid, support, or sympathy. It thus flatters while it pleases, and, in contradiction to the subduing influence of the sublime, it makes ourselves in some respects the superior, and puts us in good humour both with the object and ourselves. We are loath to quit this most interesting subject. We thank Mr Eastlake for bringing it so charmingly before us. We feel that our remarks have been very inadequate, both with regard to the nature of the subject, and as "The Philosophy of the Fine Arts" may seem to demand. But we are aware that to do both justice would require larger space than can be here allowed, and an abler pen than we can command. We almost fear a complete elucidation of beauty is not within the scope of the human mind. It may be to us not from earth, but from above; and we are not prepared to receive its whole truth. Burke somewhere observes that "The waters must be troubled ere they will give out their virtues." The allusion is admirable, and justifies disturbing discussions. On such a subject, where the root of the matter grows not on earth, it may be added, in further allusion, that the stirring hand should be that of an angel. INDEX TO VOL. LXIV. Acting in China, 89. Agriculture of France and England, com- Alain family, the, extracts from, 560. American war, caricatures illustrating Anne, queen, character of, 327. Aristocracy, necessity of a, to Britain, 14. Art-unions, results of, 146. Ashley, lord, on the juvenile population, Ateliers Nationaux, sketches of the, 249. Australia, importance of, 66-demand for Austria, the revolution in, 519. Baikal, the lake, 88. Balloons, rage for, 554. Balzac, M. de, 572. Banking act, suspension of the, 262, 263 Barnard's cruise, &c., review of, 158. Basil, letter to, 31. Baston, Robert, 222, 223. Bavaria, the revolution in, 518. Beggar's Opera, origin of the, 336. Bentinck, lord George, death of, 632. Byron's address to the ocean, on, 499. Caricatures of the 18th century, the, 543. Cavaignac, general, 259. Caxtons, the, Part IV. chap. ix., 40- - Part VI. chap. xviii., 315-chap. 269. Chartist demonstration, feeling regarding, Chartists, sympathy between, and the Chaucer as laureate, 224. Cheremisses, the, 87. Chesterfield, lord, 334. China, Erman's travels in, 88. Chuvasses, the, 87. Cibber, Colley, 230. Cinque Cento, the, 145. Cleghorn's ancient and modern art, re- view of, 145. Erman's Siberia, review of, 76. Ernest, letter from, 31. European revolutions, American thoughts Eusden, Lawrence, 229. Eusebius, letter to, on novels, 459. Commercial classes, rise of, to power, Exports, diminution of, 274. Fashions in the 18th century, the, 554. Feudal law of succession, the, 5. Few words about novels, a, 459. Constitution of the United States, the, Financial measures, recent, 263. Continental revolutions-Irish rebellion -English distress, 475. Cossacks, the, 81. Cottier system, the, 423. Cotton manufactures, growth of, 409. Crown security bill for Ireland, the, 283. Da Vinci, Leonardo, 76 0. Danube and the Euxine, the, 608. Devonshire, the duke of, 329. Doomster's first-born, the, chap. I., The Dryden as laureate, 228. Dudevant, madame, and her works, 568. Findhorn river, the, 96. Fine arts commission, the, 148-East- lake's literature of the, 753. Fishing in Russia, 83. Fitzgerald, lord Edward, 615, 616. Fleming on the papacy, notice of, 710. Fo, temple of, 89. Foote, Samuel, 550. Forty shilling franchise in Ireland, the, Fox, caricatures of, 553. France, agriculture of, compared with François le Champi, notices of, 568. -the insurrection in, 541-parliament, Free trade, progress of, 114-its influence Eastern life, Miss Martineau's, reviewed, French actors, riots against, in London, Eastlake's literature of the fine arts, re- view of, 753. Economists, rise and doctrines of the, 408. Electric telegraph in America, the, 31. England, necessity of an aristocracy to, 221. 1755, 549-literature, recent, 557- Fur trade of Siberia, the, 84. George II., life and times of, 327-his George III., caricatures of, 552. rapid progress of the movement, 518-objects of the demo- cratic party, 536-state of the coun- Gillray the caricaturist, 544, 553. Glass, painting on, 156. Kaffirland, 158. Glimpse at Germany and its parliament, a, Kames, lord, on the law of entail, 3. 515. Godwin's novels, on, 466. Goethe's Theory of Colours, 759. Gothic architecture, rise of, 145. Gower the poet, 224. Grattan, close of the career of, 620. Great Britain, importance of Australia to, Greek sculpture, on, 154-romances, 472. Gulielmus, the first English laureate, Habeas corpus act, suspension of the, in Harrington, lord, 341. Harrowby, lord, notices of Castlereagh Heidelberg, first revolutionary assembly Hervey's life and times of George II., Heywood the poet, 226. Karr, M., and his writings, 560. Kosacks of the Ural, the, 81. Last Constantine, Mrs Hemans', 652. Lays of the Deer Forest, review of, 92. Letter to Eusebius, a, on novels, 459. 591. London, state of, under George I., 545. Highway robbery, prevalence of, in 1720, Londonderry, lord, memoirs of Lord 546. Hoadley, bishop, 342. Hogarth as a painter, 153-his first cari- Intestacy, law of succession in, 5. in, 12-amount of immigration from, 261 Italy, Whig policy toward, 286-present Jacobitism, prevalence of, under George Jahn, professor, 531. Jane Eyre, remarks on, 473. VOL. LXIV.-NO. CCCXCVIII. Castlereagh by, reviewed, 610. Louis Philippe, American estimation of, 32. Lyons, state of, 59. Macculloch on the succession to property Manufactures, state of exports and im- Mariage de Paris, notice of the, 565. Mississippi scheme, the, 546. Mitchell, trial and condemnation of, 283. Molesworth, Sir William, 271. 3 D |