There are some parts of the human body that are observed to hold certain proportions to each other; but before it can be proved that the efficient cause of beauty lies in these, it must be shown that, wherever these are found exact, the person to whom they belong is beautiful: I mean in the effect produced on the view, either of any member distinctly considered, or of the whole body together. It must be likewise shown, that these parts stand in such a relation to each other, that the comparison between them may be easily made, and that the affection of the mind may naturally result from it. For my part, I have at several times very carefully examined many of those proportions, and found them hold very nearly, or altogether alike in many subjects, which were not only very different from one another, but where one has been very beautiful, and the other very remote from beauty. With regard to the parts which are found so proportioned, they are often so remote from each other, in situation, nature, and office, that I cannot see how they admit of any comparison, nor consequently how any effect owing to proportion can result from them. The neck, say they, in beautiful bodies, should measure with the calf2 of the leg; it should likewise be twice the circumference3 of the wrist. And an infinity4 of observations of this kind are to be found in the writings and conversations of many. But what relation has the calf of the leg to the neck; or either of these parts to the wrist? These proportions are certainly to be found in handsome bodies. They are as certainly in ugly ones; as any who will take the pains to try may find. Nay5, I do not know but they may be least perfect in some of the most beautiful. You may assign any proportions you please to every part of the human body; and I undertake that a painter shall religiously observe them all, and notwithstanding produce, if he pleases, a very ugly figure. The same painter shall considerably6 deviate7 from these proportions, and produce a very beautiful one. And, indeed, it may be observed in the masterpieces of the ancient and modern statuary, that several of them differ very widely from the proportions of others, in parts very conspicuous8 and of great consideration; and that they differ no less from the proportions we find in living men, of forms extremely striking and agreeable. And after all, how are the partisans9 of proportional beauty agreed amongst themselves about the proportions of the human body? Some hold it to be seven heads; some make it eight; whilst others extend it even to ten: a vast difference in such a small number of divisions! Others take other methods of estimating the proportions, and all with equal success. But are these proportions exactly the same in all handsome men? or are they at all the proportions found in beautiful women? Nobody will say that they are; yet both sexes are undoubtedly10 capable of beauty, and the female of the greatest; which advantage I believe will hardly be attributed to the superior exactness of proportion in the fair sex. Let us rest a moment on this point; and consider how much difference there is between the measures that prevail in many similar parts of the body, in the two sexes of this single species only. If you assign any determinate proportions to the limbs of a man, and if you limit human beauty to these proportions, when you find a woman who differs in the make and measures of almost every part, you must conclude her not to be beautiful, in spite of the suggestions of your imagination; or, in obedience11 to your imagination, you must renounce12 your rules; you must lay by the scale and compass, and look out for some other cause of beauty. For if beauty be attached to certain measures which operate from a principle in nature, why should similar parts with different measures of proportion be found to have beauty, and this too in the very same species? But to open our view a little, it is worth observing, that almost all animals have parts of very much the same nature, and destined13 nearly to the same purposes; a head, neck, body, feet, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; yet Providence14, to provide in the best manner for their several wants, and to display the riches of his wisdom and goodness in his creation, has worked out of these few and similar organs, and members, a diversity hardly short of infinite in their disposition15, measures and relation. But, as we have before observed, amidst this infinite diversity, one particular is common to many species: several of the individuals which compose them are capable of affecting us with a sense of loveliness: and whilst they agree in producing this effect, they differ extremely in the relative measures of those parts which have produced it. These considerations were sufficient to induce me to reject the notion of any particular proportions that operated by nature to produce a pleasing effect; but those who will agree with me with regard to a particular proportion, are strongly prepossessed in favor of one more indefinite. They imagine, that although beauty in general is annexed16 to no certain measures common to the several kinds of pleasing plants and animals; yet that there is a certain proportion in each species absolutely essential to the beauty of that particular kind. If we consider the animal world in general, we find beauty confined to no certain measures; but as some peculiar17 measure and relation of parts is what distinguishes each peculiar class of animals, it must of necessity be, that the beautiful in each kind will be found in the measures and proportions of that kind; for otherwise it would deviate from its proper species, and become in some sort monstrous18: however, no species is so strictly19 confined to any certain proportions, that there is not a considerable variation amongst the individuals; and as it has been shown of the human, so it may be shown of the brute20 kinds, that beauty is found indifferently in all the proportions which each kind can admit, without quitting its common form; and it is this idea of a common form that makes the proportion of parts at all regarded, and not the operation of any natural cause: indeed a little consideration will make it appear, that it is not measure, but manner, that creates all the beauty which belongs to shape. What light do we borrow from these boasted proportions, when we study ornamental21 design? It seems amazing to me, that artists, if they were as well convinced as they pretend to be, that proportion is a principal cause of beauty, have not by them at all times accurate measurements of all sorts of beautiful animals to help them to proper proportions, when they would contrive22 anything elegant; especially as they frequently assert that it is from an observation of the beautiful in nature they direct their practice. I know that it has been said long since, and echoed backward and forward from one writer to another a thousand times, that the proportions of building have been taken from those of the human body. To make this forced analogy complete, they represent a man with his arms raised and extended at full length, and then describe a sort of square, as it is formed by passing lines along the extremities23 of this strange figure. But it appears very clearly to me that the human figure never supplied the architect with any of his ideas. For, in the first place, men are very rarely seen in this strained posture24; it is not natural to them; neither is it at all becoming. Secondly25, the view of the human figure so disposed, does not naturally suggest the idea of a square, but rather of a cross; as that large space be tween the arms and the ground must be filled with something before it can make anybody think of a square. Thirdly, several buildings are by no means of the form of that particular square, which are notwithstanding planned by the best architects, and produce an effect altogether as good, and perhaps a better. And certainly nothing could he more unaccountably whimsical, than for an architect to model his performance by the human figure, since no two things can have less resemblance or analogy, than a man, and a house or temple: do we need to observe that their purposes are entirely26 different? What I am apt to suspect is this: that these analogies were devised to give a credit to the works of art, by showing a conformity27 between them and the noblest works in nature; not that the latter served at all to supply hints for the perfection of the former. And I am the more fully1 convinced, that the patrons of proportion have transferred their artificial ideas to nature, and not borrowed from thence the proportions they use in works of art; because in any discussion of this subject they always quit as soon as possible the open field of natural beauties, the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and fortify28 themselves within the artificial lines and angles of architecture. For there is in mankind an unfortunate propensity29 to make themselves, their views, and their works, the measure of excellence30 in everything whatsoever31. Therefore having observed that their dwellings32 were most commodious33 and firm when they were thrown into regular figures, with parts answerable to each other; they transferred these ideas to their gardens; they turned their trees into pillars, pyramids, and obelisks34; they formed their hedges into so many green walls, and fashioned their walks into squares, triangles, and other mathematical figures, with exactness and symmetry; and they thought, if they were not imitating, they were at least improving nature, and teaching her to know her business. But nature has at last escaped from their discipline and their fetters35; and our gardens, if nothing else, declare, we begin to feel that mathematical ideas are not the true measures of beauty. And surely they are full as little so in the animal as the vegetable world. For is it not extraordinary, that in these fine descriptive pieces, these innumerable odes and elegies36 which are in the mouths of all the world, and many of which have been the entertainment of ages, that in these pieces which describe love with such a passionate37 energy, and represent its object in such an infinite variety of lights, not one word is said of proportion, if it be, what some insist it is, the principal component38 of beauty; whilst, at the same time, several other qualities are very frequently and warmly mentioned? But if proportion has not this power, it may appear odd how men came originally to be so prepossessed in its favor. It arose, I imagine, from the fondness I have just mentioned, which men bear so remarkably39 to their own works and notions; it arose from false reasonings on the effects of the customary figure of animals; it arose from the Platonic40 theory of fitness and aptitude41. For which reason, in the next section, I shall consider the effects of custom in the figure of animals; and afterwards the idea of fitness: since if proportion does not operate by a natural power attending some measures, it must be either by custom, or the idea of utility; there is no other way.
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1
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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deviate
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| v.(from)背离，偏离 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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partisans
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| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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annexed
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| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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23
extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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28
fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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29
propensity
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| n.倾向；习性 | |
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30
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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32
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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obelisks
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| n.方尖石塔，短剑号，疑问记号( obelisk的名词复数 ) | |
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35
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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36
elegies
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| n.哀歌，挽歌( elegy的名词复数 ) | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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38
component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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40
platonic
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| adj.精神的；柏拉图（哲学）的 | |
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41
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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