| T
H E
ANALYSIS
O F
BEAUTY
C H A P T E R __I
Of __F
I T N E S S.
FITNESS
of the parts to the design for which
every individual thing is form'd, either by art or
nature, is first to be consider'd, as it is of the
greatest consequence to the beauty of the whole. This
is so evident, that even the sense of seeing, the
great
inlet of beauty, is itself so strongly bias'd by it,
that if
the mind, on account of this kind of value in a form,
esteem it beautiful, tho' on all other considerations
it be
not so; the eye grows insensible of its want of beauty,
and even begins to be pleas'd, especially after it
has been
a considerable time acquainted with it.
It
[14]
It is well known
on the other hand, that forms of
great elegance often disgust the eye by being improperly
applied. Thus twisted columns are undoubtedly orna-
mental; but as they convey an idea of weakness, they
always displease, when they are improperly made use
of
as supports to any thing that is bulky, or appears
heavy.
The bulks and proportions of objects are govern'd
by
fitness and propriety. It is this that has establish'd
the
size and proportion of chairs, tables, and all sorts
of
utensils and furniture. It is this that has fix'd
the di-
mensions of pillars, arches, &c. for the support
of great
weight, and so regulated all the orders in architecture,
as well as the sizes of windows and doors, &c.
Thus
though a building were ever so large, the steps of
the
stairs, the seats in the windows must be continued
of their
usual heights, or they would lose their beauty with
their
fitness: and in ship-building the dimensions of every
part are confin'd and regulated by fitness for sailing.
When a vessel sails well, the sailors always call
her a
beauty; the two ideas have such a connexion!
The general dimensions of the parts of the human
body are adapted thus to the uses they are design'd
for.
The trunk is the most capacious on account of the
quantity of its contents, and the thigh is larger
than the
leg, because it has both the leg and the foot to move,
the
leg only the foot &c.
Fitness
[15]
Fitness of parts
also constitutes and distinguishes in a
great measure the characteristics of objects; as
for ex-
ample, the race-horse differs as much in quality,
or cha-
racter, from the war-horse, as to its figure, as
the Her-
cules from the Mercury.
The race-horse, having all its parts of such dimen-
sions as best fit the purposes of speed, acquires
on that
account a consistent character of one sort of beauty.
To illustrate this, suppose the beautiful head and
grace-
fully-turn'd neck of the war-horse were placed on
the
shoulders of the race-horse, instead of his own
aukward
straight one: it would disgust, and deform, instead
of
adding beauty; because the judgement would condemn
it as unfit.
The Hercules, by Glicon †, hath all its parts
finely
fitted for the purposes of the utmost strength,
the tex-
ture of the human form will bear. The back, breast
and shoulders have huge bones, and muscles adequate
to the supposed active strength of its upper parts;
but
as less strength was required for the lower parts,
the ju-
dicious sculptor, contrary to all modern rule of
enlarg-
ing every part in proportion, lessen'd the size
of the
muscles gradually down towards the feet; and for
the
same reason made the neck larger in circumference
than
any part of the head; otherwise the figure would
have
been burden'd with an unnecessary weight, which
would
have been a draw-back from his strength, and in
con-
sequence of that, from its characteristic beauty.
These seeming faults, which
shew the superior ana-
tomical knowledge as well as judgements of the ancients,
are not to be found in the leaden imitations of it
near
Hyde-park. These saturnine genius's imagin'd they
knew how to correct such apparent disproportions.
These few examples may be sufficient to give an idea
of what I mean, (and would have understood) by the
beauty of fitness, or propriety.
I
mean
|
