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 _colored_ 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.[26] 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 neighboring 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 neighboring 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.