The Eye I HAVE hitherto purposely omitted to speak of the eye, which has so
great a share in the beauty of the animal creation, as it did not fall
so easily under the foregoing heads, though in fact it is reducible
to the same principles. I think, then, that the beauty of the eye consists,
first, in its clearness; what coloured eye shall
please most, depends a good deal on particular fancies; but none are
pleased with an eye whose
water (to use that term) is dull and muddy. [1] We are pleased with
the eye in this view, on the principle upon which we like diamonds,
clear
water, glass, and such like transparent substances. Secondly, the motion
of the eye contributes to its beauty, by continually shifting its direction;
but a slow and languid motion is more beautiful than a brisk one; the
latter is enlivening; the former lovely. Thirdly, with regard to the
union of the eye with the neighbouring parts, it is to hold the same
rule that is given of other beautiful ones; it is not to make a strong
deviation from the line of the neighbouring parts; nor to verge into
any exact geometrical figure. Besides all this, the eye affects, as
it is expressive of some qualities of the mind, and its principal power
generally arises from this; so that what we have just said of the physiognomy
is applicable here. |
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