THIRD SPECIES OF BEAUTY--BEAUTY OF THE THINKING SYSTEM.
In woman, the organs of sense are proportionally larger, and the
sensibility is more quick and delicate than in man.
Hence, also, the mental quickness and delicacy of woman are greater. Her
perceptions succeed with rapidity and intenseness; and the last of them
generally predominates. In well-organized women, accordingly, the forehead
and the observing faculties are peculiarly developed.
The general nervous system of woman is likewise far more mobile than that
of man.
Beauty of the thinking system in woman depends especially upon these
fundamental facts, and those tendencies of structure, which thus
distinguish her from man.
In the woman possessing THIS SPECIES of beauty, accordingly, the greater
development of its upper part gives to the head, in every view, a pyriform
appearance;--the face is generally oval;--the high and pale forehead
announces the excellence of the observing faculties;--the intensely
expressive eye is full of sensibility;--in the lower features, modesty and
dignity are often united;--she has not the expanded bosom, the general
plumpness, or the beautiful complexion, of the second species of
beauty;--and she boasts easy and graceful motion, rather than the elegant
proportion of the first.--The whole figure is characterized by
intellectuality and grace.
This species of beauty is less proper to woman, less feminine, than the
preceding. It is not the intellectual system, but the vital one, which is,
and ought to be most developed in woman.
_First Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty._
In woman, the nervous extremities appear to be larger than in man; a pulpy
appearance is more remarkable in them; and the papillæ in which they
terminate, appear to have less rigidity.
The organs of sense are proportionally larger, and more delicately
outlined. There is indeed in woman more development in the organs of
sensation, than in that of understanding, reasoning, and judging; while
the contrary is the case in man. The sensations, accordingly, are in woman
more acute, and their minute differences are more easily discerned. Man
reflects more than he feels: woman always feels more than she reflects.
The FIRST MODIFICATION, therefore, of this species of beauty, is that in
which the development of the organs of sense is proportionally large, and
the sensibility greater.
It ought to be observed, that though, in woman, when well organized, the
whole head is proportionally less than in man, yet, the organs of sense
will be found to be proportionally larger. This sufficiently indicates the
importance of such proportional development. Upon it, indeed, depend that
increased sensibility and quickness of observation, which are essential to
the female character.
_Second Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty._
Of all parts of the brain in woman, when well formed, the forehead,
especially, is found to be large. Without this, she would have sensibility
without observation, a most unhappy condition of the nervous system.
In woman, the brain partakes of the softness of all the other parts of her
structure. The cellular tissue which covers it, and which descends between
its convolutions, is more abundant, mucous, and loose.
The mind, correspondingly, is more impressed by any new object of thought;
the whole nervous system is more extensively affected by impressions on
the brain; the propensity to emotion is stronger, and women are more
habitually under its influence.
The intimate connexion of the thinking, with a peculiar modification of
the reproductive faculties, inspires in woman the want of maternity, which
is more powerful than life, and which renders her capable of every
sacrifice. Associated with this, are her affection, tenderness, and
compassion.
Upon the whole, sensibility in woman is greater than understanding; the
involuntary play of the imagination, more active than its regulated
combinations; and passion, generally of the gentler kind, predominates
rather than resolve or determination. She has, therefore, more finesse and
activity, than depth or force of thought; and her nervous system is also
more frequently deranged by accidents unknown to man.
The extent of the brain, anteriorly, is measured by the different degrees
of the opening of an angle, which Camper has called the facial angle; and
so far it is favorable to woman well conformed; but it gives no notion of
the magnitude of the brain superiorly, posteriorly, or laterally.[38]
The brain of woman, however, in general, extends a good deal posteriorly
as well as anteriorly, though it narrows in the former of these
directions; and, to the proportional length thus acquired, is owing that
intensity in her functions, which I have just described. Superiorly,
centrally, and laterally, the brain of woman is generally much less than
that of man; and hence the want of elevation, depth, and endurance, in her
mental faculties.[39]
Upon the whole, the brain of woman is less than that of man, and it is
especially less in its superior, central, and, intellectually considered,
more important portions.
The SECOND MODIFICATION, therefore, of this species of beauty, is that in
which the development of the brain is proportionally small. This is an
evident corollary from what we have just stated as to the first
modification of this species; for it is not possible that the organs of
sense should be proportionally large, without the rest of the head being
proportionally small.
This is not quite conformable with the wishes of phrenology; but we must
leave any dispute between that art and nature to its own issue. A Venus,
moreover, with a small, yet beautifully proportioned head, is often seen
to be the mother of a boy who has a large head; the difference of sex
causing a vast modification and difference of development.
_Third Variety or Modification of this Species of Beauty._
From what has been already said, it may be concluded that, in action or
conduct, women are less guided by intellect, and are more biased by
feeling and emotion; and it may also be concluded, that all their
movements to fulfil the purposes of feeling and emotion, are made in a
manner more easy and more prompt, though less sustained. This is increased
by the ready obedience of the muscular fibre, and the relative shortness
of the stature.
This more easy and less forcible action is perfectly conformable
physically with the small and elongated form of the cerebel, or organ of
the will, in woman; as it is morally with the part which woman performs in
life, and her desire to please, while it is that of man to protect and to
defend.
Conformably with the smaller size of the cerebel, and especially with its
smaller breadth (the influence of which is explained in the work last
referred to), the disposition of woman to sustained exertion, whether
mental or bodily, is much less; and hence the character "_varium et
mutabile semper foemina_."
It is, then, the prompt and easily-affected sensibility of woman, not her
understanding or force of mind, which renders her so eminently fit to be
interested in infancy, which enables her to surmount maternal pains by the
sentiment of affection and pity, and which makes agreeable to her the
cares and the details of housekeeping; and it is this which sometimes
renders nothing too irksome or too painful for a mother, a wife, or a
mistress, to endure.
Hence, the constitution of woman is perfectly adapted to these functions;
hence, her existence is more sedentary than man's; hence, she has more
gentleness of character than he; and hence, she is less acquainted with
great crimes.
The THIRD MODIFICATION, therefore, of this species of beauty, is that in
which the development of the cerebel or organ of the will, as well as the
muscles which it actuates, is proportionally small.
The situation of this considerable organ is in the back and lower part of
the head, and may be pretty accurately indicated by saying, that a line
passing through it would complete, posteriorly, a longer line passing
backward from the nose through the lower part of the ear.
When this organ, which is that of the will, is high, and more especially
when it is large, a determination and force seem to be given by it to the
character, which render it the reverse of feminine.
Having spoken here of the ready exercise of the will in woman, and its
adaptation to her wish to please, it seems to be here that some
circumstances dependant on these should be noticed.
With this ready exercise of the will and desire to please, are evidently
connected the light carelessness, the graceful ease, and the gentle
softness, which add so much to the power of beauty. Hence, artists give to
woman the bending form which associates so well with all her
characteristics; for all feel with Hogarth that undulating lines are more
or less formed in all movements executed with the intention of expressing
sentiments of courtesy, respect, benevolence, or love.
But it is grace that we must especially consider here--grace which
directly emanates from this ready exercise of the will and desire to
please, especially when combined with observing faculties so perfect and
so perpetually active as those of woman.
"Gracefulness," says Burke, "is an idea not very different from beauty; it
consists in much the same thing.... Gracefulness is an idea belonging to
posture and motion. In both these, to be graceful, it is requisite that
there be no appearance of difficulty; there is required a small inflexion
of the body; and a composure of the parts in such a manner, as not to
encumber each other, nor to appear divided by sharp and sudden angles. In
this ease, this roundness, this delicacy of attitude and motion, it is
that all the magic of grace consists, and what is called '_je ne scais
quoi_.'"
It is not in these mere physical qualities, that all the magic of grace
consists, which, in the state of Burke's knowledge, he might indeed well
call "_je ne scais quoi_!" Let the reader hear what is said on this
subject by a man who could look a little deeper than Burke, and who owed
no fame to the little art of substituting a flash of words for depth of
thought, and serving by it a venal purpose as little as the art itself.
"What grace," says Smith, "what noble propriety do we not feel in the
conduct of those who exert that recollection and self-command which
constitute the dignity of every passion, and which bring it down to what
others can enter into! We are disgusted with that clamorous grief, which,
without any delicacy, calls upon our compassion with sighs and tears, and
importunate lamentation. But we reverence that reserved, that silent and
majestic sorrow, which discovers itself only in the swelling of the eyes,
in the quivering of the lips and cheeks, and in the distant, but affecting
address of the whole behavior. It imposes the like silence upon us; we
regard it with respectful attention, and watch over our whole behavior,
lest, by any impropriety, we should disturb that concerted tranquillity
which it requires so great an effort to support." This is eloquence,
indeed.
Alison duly appreciates this earliest definition of grace. "It is," he
says, "this 'recollection and self-command,' which in such scenes
constitute what even in common language is called the graceful in behavior
or deportment; and it is the expression of the same qualities in the
attitude and gesture, which constitutes, in my apprehension, the grace of
such gestures or attitudes.... Wherever, in the movements of the form,
self-command or self-possession is expressed, some degree of grace, at
least, is always produced.... Whenever in such motions grace is actually
perceived, I think it will always be found to be in slow, and, if I may
use the expression, in restrained or measured motions.
"The motions of the horse, when wild in the pasture, are beautiful; when
urged to his speed, and straining for victory, they may be felt as
sublime; but it is chiefly in movements of a different kind that we feel
them as graceful, when, in the impatience of the field, or in the
curvetting of the manege, he seems to be conscious of all the powers with
which he is animated, and yet to restrain them, from some principle of
beneficence or of dignity. Every movement of the stag almost is beautiful,
from the fineness of his form and the ease of his gestures; yet it is not
in these or in the heat of the chase that he is graceful: it is when he
pauses upon some eminence in the pursuit, when he erects his crested head,
and when, looking with disdain upon the enemy who follows, he bounds to
the freedom of his hills. It is not, in the same manner, in the rapid
speed of the eagle when he darts upon his prey, that we perceive the
grace of which his motions are capable. It is when he soars slowly upward
to the sun, or when he wheels with easy and continuous motion in airy
circles in the sky.
"In the personification which we naturally give to all inanimate objects
which are susceptible of movement, we may easily perceive the influence of
the same association. We speak commonly, for instance, of the graceful
motions of trees, and of the graceful movements of a river. It is never,
however, when these motions are violent or extreme, that we apply to them
the term of grace. It is the gentle waving of the tree in slow and
measured cadence which is graceful, not the tossing of its branches amid
the storm. It is the slow and easy winding which is graceful in the
movements of the river, and not the burst of the cataract, or the fury of
the torrent.
"It is only in the perfection of the human system, in the age when the
form has assumed all its powers, and the mind is awake to the
consciousness of all the capacities it possesses, and the lofty
obligations they impose, that the reign of physical grace commences; and
that the form is capable of expressing, under the dominion of every
passion or emotion, the high and habitual superiority which it possesses,
either to the allurements of pleasure or the apprehensions of pain. It is
this age, accordingly, which the artists of antiquity have uniformly
represented, when they sought to display the perfection of grace, and when
they succeeded in leaving their compositions as models of this perfection
to every succeeding age."
* * * * *
It is evidently the UNION of all that is good in the varieties now
described which renders beauty, in the thinking system, perfect.
This is well illustrated in the Minerva of the Giustiniani gallery, which,
in this respect, is scarcely the less valuable because it is draped, for
it is the head that ever bears the greatest impress of intellectuality.
This union is by no means perfect in the English female head, although,
from the considerable development of the forehead and the moderate one of
the backhead, the general form of that head is beautiful. As to the French
female head, a Frenchman, writing under the name of Count Stendhal,
scruples not to say: "The form of the head in Paris is ugly; the cranium
approaches to that of the ape; and this occasions the women to have the
appearance of age very early in life." The women of Paris differ not, in
this respect, from those of France generally. Nearly all have the
character here described.
* * * * *
It is under this species that the _nervous temperament_ falls, which is
constituted by great sensibility and corresponding mobility, and therefore
belongs to the _first and the last of those varieties_; a temperament
chiefly to be found among women.
This temperament scarcely exists in the athletic, is weak in the
phlegmatic, is moderate in the sanguine, and is rather active in the
bilious.
It is characterized by the smallness and the emaciation of the muscles,
the quickness and intensity of the sensations, and the suddenness and
fickleness of the determinations.
It is seldom natural, but commonly depends on a sedentary and inactive
life, on a diseased condition of the brain produced by reading works of
imagination, and on habits of sensual indulgence. In confirmation of this,
we are told that the Roman ladies became subject to nervous affections
only in consequence of those depraved manners which marked the decline of
the empire; and that these affections were extremely common in France in
the licentious times preceding the fall of the corrupt and corrupting
monarchy.
Another partial view falling under this species, and properly under the
_second variety_, is the _cerebral temperament_, which results from the
energy and influence of the brain.
This temperament, being thus determined by an excess in the power of the
brain, has been called the temperament of genius. When it is increased by
education and habits, the other organs are generally more feeble.
In woman, the cerebral temperament is more particularly characterized by a
predominance of imagination, which is evidently dependant on the
organization which has already been described.
It has been truly observed, that to contribute to the perfection of reason
as well as to the preservation of health, the brain ought to be exercised
and developed in every direction; that the mere exercise of memory
carried too far renders persons foolish; that the predominance of
imagination disposes to nervous affections, and even to alienation; that
meditation alters the digestive functions; and that the dry and minute
contention which business requires, disposes, when joined to a defect of
exercise (and I may add the vinous excesses in which men of business
indulge), to apoplexy and to paralysis.