e raised a great dust, because he stood upon the
chariot that really raised it. The stomach, the lungs, the liver, as
well as other parts, are incomparably well adapted to their purposes;
yet they are far from having any beauty. Again, many things are very
beautiful, in which it is impossible to discern any idea of use. And I
appeal to the first and most natural feelings of mankind, whether on
beholding a beautiful eye, or a well-fashioned mouth, or a well-turned
leg, any ideas of their being well fitted for seeing, eating, or
running, ever present themselves. What idea of use is it that flowers
excite, the most beautiful part of the vegetable world? It is true that
the infinitely wise and good Creator has, of his bounty, frequently
joined beauty to those things which he has made useful to us; but this
does not prove that an idea of use and beauty are the same thing, or
that they are any way dependent on each other.

SECTION VII.

THE REAL EFFECTS OF FITNESS.

When I excluded proportion and fitness from any share in beauty, I did
not by any means intend to say that they were of no value, or that they
ought to be disregarded in works of art. Works of art are the proper
sphere of their power; and here it is that they have their full effect.
Whenever the wisdom of our Creator intended that we should be affected
with anything, he did not confide the execution of his design to the
languid and precarious operation of our reason; but he endued it with
powers and properties that prevent the understanding, and even the will;
which, seizing upon the senses and imagination, captivate the soul,
before the understanding is ready either to join with them, or to
oppose them. It is by a long deduction, and much study, that we discover
the adorable wisdom of God in his works: when we discover it the effect
is very different, not only in the manner of acquiring it, but in its
own nature, from that which strikes us without any preparation from the
sublime or the beautiful. How different is the satisfaction of an
anatomist, who discovers the use of the muscles and of the skin, the
excellent contrivance of the one for the various movements of the body,
and the wonderful texture of the other, at once a general covering, and
at once a general outlet as well as inlet; how different is this from
the affection which possesses an ordinary man at the sight of a
delicate, smooth skin, and all the other parts of beauty, which require
no investi