tions may be, we are conscious of an emotion of dissatisfaction and discontent. The most obvious illustration of the dependence of the beauty of proportion, on this species of utility, may be taken from the common system that natural taste has dictated in the proportion of different apartments in great houses. The hall, the saloon, the anti-chamber, the drawing-room, the diningroom, the bed-chamber, the dressing room, the library, the chapel, &c. have all different forms and different proportions. Change these proportions; give to the dining-room the proportions of the saloon, to the dressingroom those of the library, to the chapel the proportions of the anti-chamber, or to the drawing-room those of the hall, &c. and every one will consider them as unpleasing and defective forms, because they are unfitted to the ends they are destined to serve.

The observations which I have now offered on the beauty of the internal proportions of architecture, seem to afford sufficient evidence for concluding in general,

That the beauty of these proportions is not original and independent, but that it arises in all cases from the expression of some species of FITNESS.

The fitness, however, which such proportions may express, is of different kinds; and the reader who will pursue the slight hints that I have suggested upon the subject, may perhaps agree with me in the following conclusions:

1. That one beauty of these proportions arises from their expression of fitness for the support of the weight imposed.

2. That a second source of their beauty consists in their expression of fitness for the preservation of the character of the apartment.

3. That a third source of their beauty consists in

their expression of fitness, in the general form, for its peculiar purpose or end.

The two first expressions constitute the PERMANENT beauty, and the third the ACCIDENTAL beauty of an apartment.

In every beautiful apartment the two first expressions must be united. An apartment, of which the propor tions express the most perfect fitness for the support of the roof, but which is itself expressive of no character, is beheld rather with satisfaction than delight, and is never remarked as beautiful. The beauty of character on the other hand, is neglected, if the proportions of the apart ment are such as to indicate insufficiency or insecurity. The first constitutes what may be called the negative, and the second the positive beauty of an apartment; and ev ery apartment (considered only in relation to its propor. tions, and without any respect to its end) will be beautiful in the same degree in which these expressions are united, or in which the same proportions that produce the appearance of perfect sufficiency, agree also in maintaining the general character of the apartment.

this end.

When, however, the apartment is considered in relation to its end, the beauty of its proportions is determined in a great measure by their expression of fitness for To this, as to every other species of apart ment, the expression of security is necessary, and such an apartment will accordingly be beautiful, when these expressions coincide.

The most perfect beauty that the proportions of an apartment can exhibit, will be when all these expressions unite; or when the same relations of dimension which are productive of the expression of sufficiency, agree also in the preservation of character, and in the indication of use.

PART III.

Of the Influence of Utility upon the Beauty of Forms.

THE third source of the RELATIVE beauty of forms, is UTILITY. That the expression of this quality is sufficient to give beauty to forms, and that forms of the most different and opposite kinds become beautiful from this expression, are facts which have often been observed, and which are within the reach of every person's ob servation. I shall not therefore presume to add any illustrations on a subject, which has already been so beautifully illustrated by Mr. Smith, in the most eloquent work* on the subject of MORALS, that modern Europe has produced.

SECTION III.

Of the Accidental Beauty of Forms.

BESIDE the expressions that have now been enumerated, and which constitute the two great and permanent sources of the beauty of forms, there are others of a casual or accidental kind, which have a very observable effect in producing the same emotion in our minds, and which constitute what may be called the ACCIDENTAL beauty of forms. Such associations, instead of being common to all mankind, are peculiar to the individual, They take their rise from education, from peculiar hab. its of thought, from situation, from profession; and the beauty they produce is felt only by those whom similar causes have led to the formation of similar associations. There are few men who have not associations of this kind, with particular forms, from their being familiar to them from their infancy, and thus connected with the • Theory of Moral Sentiments.

gay and pleasing imagery of that period of life; from their connexion with scenes to which they look back with pleasure; or people whose memories they love: and such forms, from this accidental connexion, are never seen, without being in some measure the signs of all those affecting and endearing recollections. When such associations are of a more general kind, and are common to many individuals, they sometimes acquire a superiority over the more permanent principles of beauty, and determine even for a time the taste of nations. The admiration which is paid to the forms of architecture, of furniture, of ornament, which we derive from antiquity, though undoubtedly very justly due to these forms themselves, originates, in the greater part of mankind, from the associations which they connect with these forms. These associations, however, are merely accidental; and were these forms much inferior in point of beauty, the admiration which modern Europe bestows on them would not be less enthusiastic than it is now. There are even cases, where in a few years, the taste of a nation, in such respects, undergoes an absolute change, from associations of a different kind becoming general or fash ionable; and where the beautiful form is always found to correspond to the prevailing association. They who are learned in the history of dress, will recollect many instances of this kind. In every other species of ornament it is also observable. A single instance will be sufficient.

. In the succession of fashions which have taken place in the article of ornamental furniture, within these few years, every one must have observed how much their beauty has been determined by accidental associations of this kind, and how little the real and permanent beauty of such forms has been regarded. Some years ago, evarticle of this kind was made in what was called the ery

CHINESE taste, and however fantastic and uncouth the forms in reality were, they were yet universally admired, because they brought to mind those images of eastern magnificence and splendour, of which we have heard so much, and which we are always willing to believe, because they are distant. To this succeeded the GOTHIC

taste.

Every thing was now made in imitation, not indeed of Gothic furniture, but in imitation of the forms and ornament of Gothic halls and cathedrals. This slight association, however, was sufficient to give beauty to such forms, because it led to ideas of Gothic manners and adventure, which had become fashionable in the world from many beautiful compositions both in prose

and verse.

ANTIQUE.

The taste which now reigns is that of the Every thing we now use, is made in imitation of those models which have been lately discovered in Italy; and they serve in the same manner to occupy our imagination, by leading to those recollections of Grecian or Roman taste, which have so much the possession of our minds, from the studies and amusements of our youth.

I shall only further observe upon this subject, that all such instances of the effect of accidental expression, in bestowing a temporary beauty upon forms, conclude immediately against the doctrine of their absolute or independent beauty; and that they afford a very strong presumption, if not a direct proof, that their permanent beauty arises also from the expressions they permanently convey to us.

From the illustrations that I have offered in this long chapter, on the beauty of FORMS, we seem to have sufficient reason for concluding in general, that no forms, or