n and consumption confers, or to
the obloquy which it wards off.

Apart from their serviceability in other respects, these objects are
beautiful and have a utility as such; they are valuable on this account
if they can be appropriated or monopolized; they are, therefore, coveted
as valuable possessions, and their exclusive enjoyment gratifies the
possessor's sense of pecuniary superiority at the same time that their
contemplation gratifies his sense of beauty. But their beauty, in the
naive sense of the word, is the occasion rather than the ground of their
monopolization or of their commercial value. "Great as is the sensuous
beauty of gems, their rarity and price adds an expression of distinction
to them, which they would never have if they were cheap." There is,
indeed, in the common run of cases under this head, relatively little
incentive to the exclusive possession and use of these beautiful
things, except on the ground of their honorific character as items of
conspicuous waste. Most objects of this general class, with the partial
exception of articles of personal adornment, would serve all other
purposes than the honorific one equally well, whether owned by the
person viewing them or not; and even as regards personal ornaments it is
to be added that their chief purpose is to lend eclat to the person
of their wearer (or owner) by comparison with other persons who are
compelled to do without. The aesthetic serviceability of objects of
beauty is not greatly nor universally heightened by possession.

The generalization for which the discussion so far affords ground is
that any valuable object in order to appeal to our sense of beauty must
conform to the requirements of beauty and of expensiveness both. But
this is not all. Beyond this the canon of expensiveness also affects
our tastes in such a way as to inextricably blend the marks of
expensiveness, in our appreciation, with the beautiful features of
the object, and to subsume the resultant effect under the head of an
appreciation of beauty simply. The marks of expensiveness come to be
accepted as beautiful features of the expensive articles. They are
pleasing as being marks of honorific costliness, and the pleasure which
they afford on this score blends with that afforded by the beautiful
form and color of the object; so that we often declare that an article
of apparel, for instance, is "perfectly lovely," when pretty much all
that an analysis of the aesthetic valu