Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1859-09-10

4 No one can nave falieu to observe that clean
illness and neatness go hand in hand. A We
man who is careless of the form and becom
ingness of her dress, is always an economs
i'll soap and water, il in nothing else and
slattern-a despiser of the virtue of beauty
is as bad as psstilenee at the iresde Sh
cannot be careless of her dress and person
without becoming careless of her husband
children, household and generally of all he
moral duties. In the present day, more es
pecially there is no excuse for inelegance il
dress, nature and simplicity being the rule o
rule of fashion. ''We are inclined TO think. Z
says the Quarterly Review on this subject
" that the female attire of the present day is
upon the whole, in as favorable state as The
most vehement advocates for what is called
nature and simplicity could desire. Ii is q
custome in which they cam dress quickly.
walk ninbly, eat plentifully, stoop easily loll
gracefully, and, in Short perform all the
duties Of life without let or hindemnce. The
head is left to its natural size-the skin to its
native purity-the waist at its proper region
the heels at their real level. The dress is
calculated to bring out the natural beauties oil
the person, and each of them has, MS far as
we see, fair play" Such being the female Gus
tome, peasant may exercise as much taste
i'll regard to it as peeress; and as for colors,
thanks to the perfection of our manufactures,
the two parties are pretty nearly equal.
There is nothing that shows more complete
I Ix bo 4
ternal beauty, than the impressions we receive
from the human face and form. lIabitual bad
temper gives the effect of uglincss to the love
lest features; and habtual good temper rem
ders the plainest agreeable and attractive
And these be it observed, are the qualities of
the TEXTURES themselves, and do not depend
as is the ease with those of mn inanimate Oh
iect, when change takes place inthe impress
sions we receive, from it--upon the mood Of
mind of the observer. The handsome features
are admitted to be correctly chselled, and the
plain features to be irregular, if not grotes-
que; but the character Of both is changed by
something we call expression. This expression
is the spiritual part of beauty. An inanimate
d.
ing to the state of mind in which we view it
but, strictly speaking, it has in itself only one
expression, one form and degree of beauty;
while in human being, in whom spirit dom
mates over matter, the physical part takes its
character almost exclusively from the mind
within.
The contempt which some people affect for
physical beauty Of face and FORM is not only
irrational, but in certain degree. impious.
Such beauty is of a higher kind than that Of
a flower, on which even the most stolid think
it decorous to bestow their admiration; and
when sanctiiied and sublimed by the holy
light from within, it is undoubtedly the most
admirable of til the works of God. But the
pleasure it gives is entirely dependent on the
kind and degree of this intermixture of tile
esoteric and exoterc; a fact which may be
placed in sufficiently obvious light, by sup
posing face of absolute perfection in the
mould of the features, yet destitute of one
ray of intelligence-the face of an idiot. This
face excites horror instead of admiration.
The deprivation of moral beauty has similar
effect to that of intellectual beauty and in
less extreme eases than those of utter fatuitv
or depravity, while fully admitting the pllysi-
cal advantages that may be possessed by the
features. the pleasure We derive from them is
IN exact proportion to that more ethereal
loveliness perceived by the mind. like all its
other ideas, through impressions made upon
the senses.
Upon these principles might he explained
and reconcled certain varieties in love which /
are usually treated at least by the grave. MS
or ridiculous. The love of a child
has no reference to form or feature. It selects |
its object by means of an instinct which pene I
trates beyond the surface, and finds no difficult I
ty in doing upon age, ugliness, and disease.- +
The youth gradually forsakes the idols of his /
infancy as he grows up; and the young man,
whose natural perceptions are entirely oblter-
ated in the school of the world. attaches
himself franticaly to mere physical beauty.
In the course of years-pellnps not till many /
years-a change ensues. He finds that he
has been worshiping phantom, grasping ut
a shadow-that his love was a mere delusion.
and his happiness or misery nothing more
than feversh dream. Then comes the
triumph Of mind over matter. Then do Tho
plainest features become luminous with love
in the eyes of the 1Use man af the world. L.
But Judging no mora by tile unerring instinct
OF childhood he is frequently deceived and
on such occasions he feels pang for more ter
F!ble than that with which he had started from
the golden visions of youth. But all is at
length past-nstinct obliterated, the lessons
Of experience forgotten; and the old man re-
turns, with imbecile energy, to the illusions Of
early lire, to dote once more upon physical
beauty.
We have now run through u few of the COM
non forms of the beautiful: hut the catalogue
capable of almost infinite extension, and
night be crowded with such homogeneous i'm
lges as are heaped together by a modern
french poet, in his definition of the kindred
word charm 81
Z" charnlt 1t is a vision wove
BY passion-an enchantment deep !
The first sweet kiss of bashful love-
The smile that lights All infants sliced: !
II is yellow leaf the wind :
Bears wildly from the withered DOUGH In
The calnness Of the thoughtful mind ]
The paleness of the thoughtful hrow-''
And so on through Multitude of things, all /
istinct from each other but all adapted to t
Scite emotions of pleasure or admiration. II