,transcriber's ,note3        ,every     
effort has been made to replicate this  
text as faithfully as      possible4    
,italic text has been marked with       
underscores4          ,beauty and the   
,beast              ,,cambridge         
,,university ,,press        ,c4 ,f4     
,,clay1 ,,manager        ,,london3      
,,fetter ,,lane1 ,e4,c4 #d              
,illustration        ,,new ,,york3 ,,the
 ,,macmillan ,,co4        ,,bombay      
,,calcutta  ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41    
,,ltd4      ,,madras                    
,,toronto3 ,,the ,,macmillan ,,co4      
,,of ,,canada1 ,,ltd4        ,,tokyo3   
,,maruzen-,,kabushiki-,,kaisha          
,,all ,,rights ,,reserved               
,beauty and the ,beast                  
,,an ,,essay                            
,,in                                    
,,evolutionary ,,aesthetic              
,,by                           ,,stewart
 ,a4 ,mc,d,o,w,a,l,l1 ,b4,d4            
,chaplain and ,assistant ,master at     
,winchester ,college                    

,author of ,evolution and the ,need of  
,atonement1               ,evolution and
 ,spiritual ,life1 ,evolution and       
the ,doctrine of the ,trinity1 etc4     
,,cambridge                             
,,at ,,the ,,university ,,press         
#aibj          ,for verily all men by   
nature were but vain who had no         
perception      of ,god1 and from the   
good things that are seen they gained   
not      power to know him that is1     
neither by giving heed to the works     
did they recognise the artificer2 but   
either fire1 or wind1 or      swift air1
 or circling stars1 or raging water1 or 
luminaries of      heaven1 they thought 
to be gods that rule the world4 ,and if 
it was      through delight in their    
beauty that they took them to be gods1  
let them know how much better than these
 is their ,sovereign ,lord2      for the
 first author of beauty created them3   
but if it was through      astonishment 
at their power and influence1 let them  
understand from      them how much more 

powerful is he that formed them2 for    
from the      greatness of the beauty   
even of created things in like          
proportion      does man form the image 
of their first maker4 ,but yet for these
      men there is but small blame1 for 
they too peradventure do but go         
astray while they are seeking ,god and  
desiring to find him4 ,for      living  
among his works they make diligent      
search1 and they yield      themselves  
up to sight1 because the things that    
they look upon are      beautiful4 ,but 
again even they are not to be excused4  
,for if they      had power to know so  
much1 that they should be able to       
explore      the course of things1 how  
is it that they did not sooner find the 
,sovereign ,lord of these his works8    
,wisdom xiii4 #a-i4          ,,preface  
,i wish to take this opportunity of     
expressing my gratitude to ,mrs ,r4  ,b4
 ,goodden and ,mr ,r4 ,m4 ,y4 ,gleadowe 
for the help they have given me  in     
writing this book4 ,with ,mrs ,goodden  

the theory was discussed point  by      
point1 and her criticisms and           
suggestions are largely responsible  for
 the final shaping of the argument1 as  
well as for an important  development of
 the theory4 ,to ,mr ,gleadowe ,i am    
indebted for some useful  hints1 which  
led to a partial rearrangement of the   
material1 by which  the form of the book
 has been greatly improved4             
,s4 ,a4 ,,mcd4      ,,winton1           
,october #aiai4          ,,contents     
,,page        ,,introduction            
#a        ,,part ,i4 ,,the ,,theory     
#ag        ,,part ,,ii4 ,,beauty ,,in   
,,evolution            #ea              
,,conclusion                            
#fe        ,,appendix4 ,,art ,,forms    
,,in ,,development      #ga             
,,introduction      ,are we to look at  
the ,beautiful with our feet firmly     
planted on  the ,natural1 or are we to  
look at the ,natural from the apparently
  precarious height of the ,beautiful8  
,this1 after all1 is the dilemma  of    

aesthetic1 slow though men have been to 
realise it4 ,as we read the  history of 
,aesthetic ,theory we are puzzled by the
 tentativeness and the  uncertainty even
 of those philosophers who played the   
greatest part in  moulding human        
thought1 until it dawns on us that1     
idealist though they  might be in all   
else1 in this they were unconsciously   
disloyal to their  own systems1 being in
 some measure materialist4    ,an       
attempt to form a philosophy of religion
 which should start from  the generally 
accepted facts of biological science and
 pass1 through  the common experiences  
of personal relationship1 to the        
ultimate  problems of ,godhead and      
manhood1 left at the close a keen sense 
of  something lacking--something more   
than the lack of unity and balance      
inevitable in work written and published
 step by step4 ,i had tried to  find in 
,love1 which is the very nature of      
,godhead1 an essential impulse  towards 
creation4 ,it was clear that this       

creation must be the creation  of       
something new1 if it were to be         
justified2 and the conclusion  which    
forced itself upon me was that the      
creation of personal beings  fulfilled  
this demand4    ,yet an unsatisfied     
sense remained either that even the     
experience of  love reciprocated by     
fresh personal beings could not be new  
for ,god  with that utter newness which 
belief in ,him as ,transcendent and     
,perfect  required1 or else that ,his   
experience was not always perfect4 ,at  
any  rate something that would make this
 newness self-evident was missing4      
,something vital had clearly been left  
out4 ,the one thing of which no  account
 had been taken was ,beauty2 and ,i     
began to consider whether this  missing 
something1 all-pervading yet intangible1
 was not ,beauty itself4  ,and in       
,beauty ,i seemed to find what ,i had   
missed4    ,to ,aesthetic has generally 
been assigned the fate of ,cinderella4  
,her  uglier sisters1 ,epistemology and 

,metaphysic1 have monopolised the court 
invitations1 for the most part4 ,might  
she not1 after all1 be destined  to     
marry the ,prince8 ,a little thought    
made it clear that1 properly  arrayed1  
she would bid fair to outshine the      
others4 ,this book is not an  effort to 
dress her in a new fashion4 ,fairy      
godmother ,i cannot claim to  be1 nor   
have ,i a magic wand4 ,i shall only try 
to strip off some of the  rags1 leaving 
her1 like ,psyche1 to proclaim her own  
loveliness4    ,it is not my intention  
to give a systematic account of the     
development  of aesthetic theory4 ,such 
books as ,dr ,bosanquet's ,history of   
,aesthetic1 and the historical portion  
of ,croce's ,aesthetic1 from  which     
works the following summary is chiefly  
derived1 fortunately  make the task     
unnecessary4 ,nor does any detailed     
criticism of the  work of others fall   
within the scope of the present essay4  
,my aim is  merely to suggest an idea1  
avoiding technicalities as far as ,i    

may1  and then to link it up with the   
,christian idea of ,god on the one hand1
  and with the development of the human 
soul on the other4 ,the very  briefest  
note on the course of speculation       
concerning ,art and ,beauty  will       
suffice to introduce the point of view  
that ,i wish to suggest1  which is that 
,beauty must be a first and not a last  
consideration for  metaphysic4 ,to      
advocate this is to turn his own weapon 
against ,croce2  but that is inevitable4
 ,croce claims that ,beauty is the      
expression  of that intuition of        
,reality which constitutes the first    
stage of  knowledge2 but the philosophy 
of ,croce is anti-metaphysical4 ,since  
many1 while agreeing with the great and 
original discovery involved in  his     
affirmation1 must disagree profoundly   
with his negation1 it follows  of       
necessity that sooner or later they will
 endeavour to hoist him with  his own   
petard4    ,aesthetic theories show a   
steady and yet very remarkable change in

  the views of philosophers concerning  
,art and even ,beauty itself4 ,the      
,greeks tended1 on the whole1 to regard 
,art as mere imitation4 ,thus1 at  best1
 the beauty produced by artistic        
creation was inferior1 because          
second-hand2 in fact1 as ,plato argued1 
the artist's representation  was really 
third-hand1 for there is first the idea1
 then the concrete  individual object1  
then the representation4 ,stress was    
laid on  harmony1 rhythm1 order1 as     
being indicative of the homogeneity of  
an ideal world and therefore admirable4 
,but1 being an incomplete  reproduction 
of nature#a1 art could have no primary  
importance4 ,it  might be evil or good1 
in its own degree2 and from the moral   
standpoint  it might be judged1 for the 
beautiful and the good are not          
completely  distinguished4 ,being so    
judged1 it was found wanting4 ,it is one
 of the  tragedies of thought that the  
beauty-loving ,plato should have been   
driven to formulate a theory which is   

the negation of art1 because it  seemed 
to him that art was simply the false    
endeavouring to masquerade  as the true4
 ,in ,aristotle we find the beginnings  
of a freer idea4  ,symbolism in art is  
implicitly recognised1 and there is some
 escape1  though not much1 from the     
moralistic bond2 some dawning           
conception1  though not much1 of the    
concrete expressiveness of artistic     
creation4  ,in the ,middle ,ages the    
mystical symbolic conception1           
characteristic  of ,plotinus1 was       
developed4 ,symmetry and rhythm are     
beautiful because  they symbolise reason
 and divinity1 and relate the human     
soul1 through  the perception of order1 
to the divine which created that order4 
,st  ,thomas ,aquinas even goes so far  
as to say that in beauty desire is      
quieted#b--presumably because satisfied4
 ,we shall be led to disagree           
profoundly with this statement4    ,of  
,vico 7#agbe71 to whom ,croce           
acknowledges so great a debt1 we will   

only here say that he was the discoverer
 of the creative intuition1  and this   
discovery entitles him to the honourable
 position of first  founder of a        
coherent theory of aesthetic4 ,vico was 
primarily concerned  with the nature of 
poetry4 ,he showed that poetry was a    
#8moment' of the  spiritual             
consciousness1 by which a man was       
brought into contact with  reality--that
 it represented a stage of knowledge    
before reflection  7and was therefore an
 intuition7 and that it expressed this  
knowledge  7and was therefore creative72
 while it was distinct from feeling1 and
  therefore free from the stigma which  
,plato attached to it1 and which  led to
 his banishing it from his ,republic4   
,men first feel without being aware2    
they then become aware      with        
troubled and affected soul2 finally they
 reflect with pure      mind4 ,this     
dignity is the ,principle of the        
poetical feelings1      which are formed
 by the senses of passions and of       

affections1      as distinct from the   
philosophical feelings1 which are formed
      from reflection by reasoning4     
,hence the philosophical feelings       
approach more to truth1 the more they   
rise to universals2 the      poetical   
feelings are more certain the more they 
approach to      particulars#c4         
,poetry is thus placed on the           
imaginative plane1 says ,professor      
,wildon  ,carr1 as distinct from the    
intellective1 and this imaginative      
plane1 or  as ,croce calls it1 degree1  
is furnished with positive value4    ,by
 ,kant we first find the problem of     
aesthetic faced boldly and at  close    
quarters4 ,kant's thought had led him to
 the formulation of two  ,critiques1 the
 one dealing with the world of abstract 
reason1 the other  with the world of    
concrete1 practical experience2 and no  
systematic  bond yet existed between    
them4 ,the unity of life itself made    
such a  dualism intolerable1 and ,kant  
sought the unifying medium in aesthetic 

judgment1 for judgment is pre-eminently 
a synthesis4 ,the domain of  aesthetic  
consciousness1 if purely subjective by  
,kant's interpretation1  is yet clearly 
determined4 ,it furnishes decisions on  
the quality1  the quantity and the      
relation of those objects with which    
practical  experience makes us          
acquainted1 and with whose existence the
 intellect  is occupied4 ,yet beauty is 
for ,kant subjective1 devoid of abstract
  conceptions1 pleasing without         
interest1 destitute of content2 though  
he  fails in achieving more than a      
verbal consistency in this matter#d4    
,subjective or not1 however1 it is      
symbolic of the moral order1 and owes   
its apparent rationality to the ,order  
which it symbolises4 ,no doubt  it is   
through the doctrine of symbolism that  
,kant is led on to his  discussion of   
the sublime as another species of the   
aesthetic judgment1  yet more           
subjective1 yet more abstract4    ,with 
,schelling we reach the stage of        

philosophical appreciation of the       
objectivity of beauty2 and1 with this   
objectivity1 of the relation  of beauty 
to historical continuity1 both in its   
own expression in  the mind of man1 and 
in the sequence of objective episodes4  
,the  artist recognises the eternal idea
 in an individual1 and expresses  it    
outwardly1 transforming the individual  
into a world apart1 into a  species1    
into an eternal idea#e4 ,the divine1    
successively expressing  itself through 
man1 gives a unity and absoluteness to  
all reality2 and  reality is the object 
of the aesthetic judgment4    ,we have  
not stayed to discuss1 or even state1   
the many definitions  of the ,beautiful 
that have been given4 ,neither have we  
attempted to  represent the contribution
 of countless writers to the problem4   
,our  only object in this brief page of 
summary has been to indicate the        
changing trend of thought4    ,the      
,greeks reared their philosophic system 
on an unstable foundation1  because they

 looked on ,beauty as mere imitation4   
,for them ,art mimics  life as crudely  
as a company of strolling players at a  
country fair  mimics the doings of the  
great4 ,art is dramatic rather than     
true4    ,but with less rigorous and    
honest minds than ,plato's the          
instinctive  love of beauty weighed more
 strongly4 ,beauty was1 at highest1 too 
ennobling to be wholly false2 it must at
 least symbolise the true4 ,and  when a 
more disciplined thought was once more  
turned upon ,reality1  without beauty   
the world seemed dual--hard and cold1   
with theory and  practice divorced4 ,the
 only bond appeared to lie in the region
 of  the judgment of values1 itself     
essentially aesthetic4 ,men born out  of
 due time there were who showed here and
 there flashes of deeper  insight before
 ,kant's systematisation was effected1  
but to them  came only sporadic glimpses
 of the truth4 ,these for the most part 
were men deeply versed in the life and  
soul of man--the ,dantes1 the           

,shakespeares1 the ,goethes4 ,only one  
was pre-eminent in the realm of  pure   
thought--,giambattista ,vico4 ,with     
other thinkers the tide rose and  fell  
alternately1 yet always moved from the  
neap of ,platonism towards  the spring4 
,then1 at the end1 in our own time1     
,benedetto ,croce set himself to        
formulate the first adequate theory of  
the ,aesthetic4    ,the importance of   
,beauty to any system of philosophy that
 could pretend  to completeness had been
 more and more recognised4 ,it was left 
for  ,croce to grasp the truth that     
,beauty is not judgment1 but expression3
  the expression of the intuition which 
is our first contact with  ,reality2 and
 that ,aesthetic is the science of      
expressive activity4  ,given this first 
movement of the spirit1 the other modes 
of approach  to ,reality follow--or     
rather are involved1 since no temporal  
series is  concerned4    ,croce's       
philosophy as a whole1 and especially   
his extension of the  logical a priori  

synthesis on which it is founded1 is    
difficult to  grasp2 and for the sake of
 those who may not have made            
acquaintance  with his own exposition or
 with ,professor ,wildon ,carr's        
summary1 a  brief discussion of one or  
two salient points may be forgiven4 ,it 
is  only fair to state1 however1 that it
 is not possible to give a really  short
 and clear rsum that will do justice to 
the most interesting  and elusive of    
modern philosophies4    ,we may begin by
 explaining what ,croce means by an     
intuition1 what he  means by the a      
priori synthesis1 and what part the     
relation of the  double degree plays in 
his system4    ,when you perceive an    
object1 already you are using two mental
  processes1 which cannot in fact be    
separated1 or exist the one without  the
 other4 ,in the first place there is    
simple awareness of a reality4  ,you    
objectify an impression without arguing 
as to its reality at all1  or relating  
it to yourself or anything else4 ,you   

merely characterise  the thing1 and are 
aware of it as concrete and individual4 
,this is the  ,pure ,intuition4 ,it has 
no admixture of intellectual process4   
,and its  salient characteristic is that
 it is made or expressed by the mind1   
and is indeed identical with this       
expression4 ,you cannot separate the    
intuition from its expression4 ,moreover
 it is aesthetic in nature4 ,its        
character is identical with the         
character of the mind-process which     
makes the vision of the artist and the  
poet4    ,but this intuition is at once 
generalised1 and related4 ,the process  
of  generalisation is the formation of  
the ,concept1 and is characteristic  of 
the logical or intellectual activity4   
,moreover the ,pure ,concept is         
universal1 and expressive1 belonging to 
all individuals2 concrete1 and          
therefore real4 ,pseudo-concepts1 which 
fail either in universality1            
expressiveness or concreteness1 do exist
 and are of great value1 but  this value

 belongs not to the theoretical1 but to 
the practical1  activity4 #8,evolution' 
is a pure concept1 #8chair' a           
pseudo-concept4 ,for  our purpose it is 
not necessary to elaborate this point4  
,what does interest us is the relation  
between the two theoretical  activities 
of the spirit--,intuition and ,concept4 
,they are #8moments in  the unity of a  
single process4' ,neither takes a prior 
place4 8,we cannot  think without       
universalising1 and we cannot have an   
intuition without  thinking#f40 ,in     
other words1 they are related in a      
synthesis that is  a priori4 ,this means
 that the intellectual activity which   
relates  and generalises the intuitions 
or presentations does not depend upon   
them1 but is as much a condition of     
experience as are the presentations     
themselves4 ,each of the two things1 the
 intuition and the concept1 is          
essential to knowledge2 the concept is  
empty of content without the  intuition1
 but you cannot have an intuition       

without thinking it4 ,the  two form an  
indivisible1 organic unity2 neither able
 to exist without  the other4 ,you      
cannot think without universalising1 nor
 intuit without  thinking4 ,this is the 
logical a priori synthesis discovered by
 ,kant4  ,but ,croce proceeds to use it 
in a wider sense1 as we shall see4      
,these two elements then1 the           
intuitional and the conceptual1 together
  constitute the whole theoretic        
activity of knowing4    ,now the first  
of these elements1 the intuition1 is    
expression of a  reality to the self4   
,it is essentially aesthetic1 for       
aesthetic is the  science of expressive 
activity4 ,in forming an intuition1 and 
expressing  it1 we compass ,beauty1 for 
,beauty is expression4    ,but there is 
another side to the activity of the     
spirit4 ,thinking and  doing1 willing   
and acting1 go hand in hand4    ,the    
,practical ,activity begins as          
,economic1 directed towards  particular 
ends4 ,there is individual action2 but  

there is also action  universalised3    
directed to general ends3 and this      
action is ,ethical4  ,utility passes    
over into goodness3 there is no good    
action which is not  in some way useful1
 there is no useful action which is not 
in some way  good4    ,here again1 then1
 we have two inseparable activities1    
related1 as  are the theoretic          
activities1 as a first and second       
degree1 yet each  involving the other4  
,the relation is identical with that of 
the a  priori synthesis1 and the term   
may be extended to cover this relation  
also4    ,finally1 the two sides of the 
activity of the spirit1 the theoretic   
and  the practical1 are themselves      
related in this same double degree by a 
relation of synthesis that we may again 
term a priori4 ,the theoretic  activity 
cannot exist apart from the practical1  
nor the practical  apart from the       
theoretic4 ,the relation is again the   
same as that which  obtains for the     
relation of the elements constituting   

each pair of the  four #8moments1' and  
for the pairs themselves4 ,the a priori 
synthesis  is extended to cover all     
these relations4    ,with ,croce's      
theory of ,beauty we have already made  
acquaintance4 ,as  we have seen1 ,kant  
laid the foundations by his discussion  
of the  judgment of taste2 ,vico1 by    
distinguishing the imaginative from the 
intellectual plane1 had supplied the    
basal idea2 but it was left to  ,croce  
to see that ,beauty is expression1 or   
the form given by the spirit  to its    
intuitions1 through which it makes      
contact with ,reality4 ,it  must1       
however1 be borne in mind that ,croce   
draws an absolutely definite  line      
between the expression1 which belongs to
 the ,theoretic ,activity1  and the     
technical embodiment of that expression1
 which belongs to the  domain of the    
,practical4 ,the work of art affords    
simply the stimulus  which enables us to
 recreate the artist's expression2 and  
it is the  expression1 not the work of  

art1 that is beautiful4 ,the ,beautiful 
is a distinct concept2 the ,ugly is ugly
 in so far as it fails in  distinctness1
 through failure to express4 ,beauty is 
simply aesthetic  value--the value of   
the expressed intuition2 ugliness the   
lack of  aesthetic value1 through lack  
of clarity in intuition and expression4 
,it is needless for us to follow out the
 rest of ,croce's system4 ,the  chief   
point that remains is his identification
 of ,philosophy with  ,history--the     
thought about the presentation of       
,reality 7,philosophy7  with that       
presentation itself as an unfolding of  
immanent life  7,history74 ,this        
identification really follows from the  
relation of the  double degree between  
the theoretic and the practical4 ,in    
thinking  past history you bring it into
 the present as a practical issue2 and  
you introduce the logical element in    
thinking it1 but you could not  do so if
 there were not an intuitive element in 
it intrinsically4  ,philosophy is       

historically conditioned2 without       
philosophy there could  be no history4  
,with this line of argument1 whose      
affinities with  the philosophy of      
,bergson are obvious1 ,croce rounds off 
his system1  completing his             
demonstration that the only ,reality is 
living ,spirit1  immanent and unfolding4
    ,thus1 according to ,croce1 the     
expressive nature of the ,intuition1 as 
it  objectifies itself1 and so          
differentiates itself from mere         
sensation1  is appreciated by the mind1 
and serves as the first step in the     
formation of the ,concept or judgment of
 definition4 ,for the ,concept  is      
expressive1 universal1 and concrete4    
,through the ,concept we arrive  at     
knowledge of ,reality2 and this ,concept
 reacts upon the ,intuition1  giving    
rise to the individual judgment4 ,croce 
shows1 by demonstrating  that analysis  
apart from synthesis1 and equally       
synthesis apart from  analysis1 in any  
act of thought1 is inconceivable1 that  

one must1 by an  extension of the       
logical a priori synthesis1 identify the
 judgment of  definition and the        
individual judgment4 ,you cannot1 like  
the idealists1  separate the concept    
from the facts1 nor1 like the           
empiricists1 the  facts from the        
concept4 ,but neither in the realm of   
aesthetic interest  can you separate the
 fact from its expressive intuition1 or 
vice  versa4 ,the whole of ,croce's     
system is1 as he says1 a philosophy of  
the spirit1 which is itself all         
,reality4 ,the activity of the spirit is
  twofold4 ,in its theoretic activity   
there are two stages1 ,aesthetic and    
,logic1 each involving the other1 yet   
the first in a sense independent        
because primary1 the second dependent on
 the first4 ,in its practical  activity 
there are also two degrees1 the         
,economic and the ,ethic1  related to   
each other in the same way4 ,yet of     
these two activities1  theoretic and    
practical1 each involves the other1 and 

in an a priori  synthesis each          
substantiates the other4    ,it is not  
our purpose to examine the philosophy of
 ,croce as a whole4  ,some points of    
disagreement with him will become       
manifest as we proceed  to develop our  
discussion of the nature of beauty4     
,notably1 we shall  disagree with his   
rejection of a metaphysic and his denial
 of a ,god2  since their inclusion is   
not really so inimical to his system as 
he  supposes1 their rejection by him    
would seem to be in a measure an        
accident of his circumstances1 while    
their omission leaves the why8 of       
spiritual and personal being unanswered4
 ,for the moment all we need  is his    
discovery that ,beauty is ,expression1  
,aesthetic the ,science of  ,expression2
 that to appreciate a work of art is to 
create it yourself  by entering into the
 mind1 and following the same path1 as  
the original  creator of it2 and1 first 
and most important of all1 that our     
knowledge  of the ,real owes its        

possibility and its first beginnings to 
the  movement of aesthetic intuition4   
,it is a far cry from ,plato to ,croce4 
,if the fine arts be utterly distinct1  
having nothing in common save  a        
background of emotion1 this ,essay is a 
meaningless attempt to  express         
something which does not exist4 ,it     
stands condemned2 and  this condemnation
 it shares with many nobler works4 ,but 
if1 as ,croce  urges1 each art aims at  
presenting1 through the practise of its 
own  conventions1 aspects of ,truth     
which are suitable to that special      
medium1 no effort to find a highest     
common factor of all arts is            
necessarily doomed to failure4          
,,part ,i    ,,the ,,theory      ,what  
is ,beauty8 ,many have asked it1 and    
could find no answer because  they      
understood their question no more than  
jesting ,pilate understood  his #8,what 
is ,truth8' ,but many beside have asked 
it with at least a real  desire to      
understand4 ,it was already in the mind 

of the prehistoric  artist who was the  
first to draw a pattern or to sketch the
 mammoth1  though no doubt he did not   
put the question to himself4 ,it has    
been  there1 expressed or unexpressed1  
wherever a man has had vision enough  to
 find his spirit stirred by a flower or 
a cathedral2 a fabric or the  low       
,october sun upon a sheet of gossamer2  
wherever a man has tried  to reproduce  
nature on canvas or pour out his longing
 and triumph in  sound or written words4
 ,he has cried out that beauty dwells   
only in his  own spirit1 for there have 
been moods and days when he could see no
  beauty in that which at other times   
moved him deeply4 ,yet the agreement  of
 civilised mankind1 at all events1 that 
this or that particular is  beautiful is
 so widely diffused that he cannot but  
admit that something  in the object     
itself must suggest the idea of beauty4 
,taste may change1  but the sunset and  
the rose are universally acclaimed by   
all who have  any aesthetic perception  

at all4 ,on the other hand1 faced with  
the  vagaries of artistic fashion a man 
finds no absolute beauty1 and is  driven
 to a subjective theory1 for he cannot  
admire the protruding1  distorted lip so
 persuasive to certain savages4 ,but no 
sooner is  this theory constructed than 
he is brought up once more against the  
difficulty that an object is required   
before the sense of beauty is  aroused1 
and that men do agree in attributing    
beauty to many things4    ,because the  
perception of beauty involves a judgment
 7which really  belongs to the          
intellectual process1 and not properly  
to the  aesthetic71 beauty itself seems 
too elusive for definition4 ,it has been
  left1 as we have said1 for ,croce to  
formulate the first satisfactory        
concept of beauty4 ,he saw what no one  
else had seen--that man's first  contact
 with the ,real1 the first movement of  
the spirit that stretched  beyond a mere
 sensation1 was a creative act1 an      
intuition not a  judgment1 expressing   

the reality to himself4 ,beauty1 says   
,croce1 is  expression4 ,afterwards the 
man might give his expression objective 
form through some technique4 ,hence     
derive pictures1 sculpture1 music1      
dancing1 poetry1 drama1 architecture1   
language itself2 all the arts4  ,or the 
expression of his intuition may remain  
simply as a formative  agent of his     
spirit4 ,there are many mute inglorious 
,miltons4 ,but he  has expressed his    
intuition to himself1 and it has formed 
a new  material for his conceptual      
activity1 whether or no he brings it far
  into the domain of the practical1     
through technique1 in order that it  may
 subserve some economic or moral        
function for himself and other  men4    
,that he must bring it into the         
practical in some measure1 whether  he  
does or does not give it technical form1
 is clear to anyone who  has grasped    
,croce's main thought4 ,the aesthetic   
intuition is for the  individual1 but he
 is driven to universalise it by thought

 7i4e4  logic74 ,it is of practical     
value to himself 7economic motive7 and  
it is  capable of being made of use to  
others 7ethical motive74 ,theoretic and 
practical cannot be isolated from one   
another4    ,as aesthetic is to logic1  
so is economic to ethic1 and so is      
theoretic  to practical2 it is the      
relation of the double degree4    ,a    
priori synthesis unites each of the     
theoretic and of the practical          
activities with the other1 and the same 
a priori synthesis unites the  theoretic
 and the practical themselves1 of which 
neither exclusively  precedes the other 
in the circle of ,real ,being4 ,this is 
the life of  the spirit4    ,now in     
considering this theory of ,croce's we  
notice at once that mind  or spirit is  
for him a datum1 and that he assumes    
further that spirit  is active and is   
definable only by its activity4 ,he     
gives no reason  for this activity4 ,the
 cause of this is not far to seek1 for  
his whole  system is confessedly        

anti-metaphysical1 and so1 of necessity1
 stops  short of ultimate things4 ,life1
 spirit1 is for him the true mystery1   
and this is immanent4 ,there is no room 
for transcendence4 ,all he can  say is  
that no philosophical system is definite
 because ,life itself is  never         
definite#g4        ,truth is always     
surrounded with mystery1 an ascending to
 ever      higher heights1 which are    
without a summit1 as ,life is without a 
summit#h4        ,the spirit1 which is  
infinite possibility passing into       
infinite      actuality1 has drawn and  
draws at every moment the cosmos from   
chaos1 has collected diffused life into 
the concentrated life of      the organ1
 has achieved the passage from animal to
 human life1 has      created and       
creates modes of life ever more lofty4  
,the work of the      spirit is not     
finished and never will be finished4    
,our yearning      for something higher 
is not vain4 ,the very yearning1 the    
infinity      of our desire1 is proof of

 the infinity of that process4 ,the     
plant      dreams of the animal1 the    
animal of man1 man of superman2 for     
this1      too1 is a reality1 if it be  
reality that with every historical      
movement man surpasses himself4 ,the    
time will come when the great      deeds
 and the great works now our memory and 
our boast will be      forgotten1 as we 
have forgotten the works and the deeds1 
no less      great1 of those beings of  
supreme genius who created what we call 
human life and seem to us now to have   
been savages of the lowest      grade1  
almost men-monkeys4 ,they will be       
forgotten for the document      of      
progress is in forgetting2 that is1 in  
the fact being entirely      absorbed in
 the new fact1 in which1 and not in     
itself1 it has      value4 ,but we      
cannot know what the future states of   
,reality will      be1 in their         
determined physiognomy and succession1  
owing to the      #8dignity' established
 in the ,philosophy of the ,practical1  

by which      the knowledge of the      
action and of the deed follows and does 
not      precede the action and the     
deed4 ,mystery is just the infinity of  
evolution2 were this not so1 that       
concept would not arise in the      mind
 of man1 nor would it be possible to    
abuse it1 as it has been      abused by 
being transported out of its place1 that
 is to say1 into      the consciousness 
of itself1 which the spiritual activity 
should      have and has to the fullest 
degree1 that is1 the consciousness of   
its eternal categories4        ,the     
neglect of the moment of mystery is the 
true reason of the      error known as  
the ,philosophy of ,history1 which      
undertakes      to portray the plan of  
,providence and to determine the formula
      of progress4 ,in this attempt     
7when it does not affirm mere           
philosophemes1 as has very often        
happened71 it makes the effort      to  
enclose the infinite in the finite and  
capriciously to decree      concluded   

that evolution which the universal      
spirit itself cannot      conclude1 for 
it would thus come to deny itself4 ,in  
logic that      error has been          
gnoseologically defined as the          
pretension of      treating the         
individual as though it were the        
universal1 making      the universal    
individual2 here it is to be defined in 
other words      as the pretension of   
treating the finite as though it were   
the      infinite1 of making the        
infinite finite4        ,but the        
unjustified transportation of the       
concept of mystery from      history1   
where it indicates the future that the  
past prepares      and does not know1   
into philosophy1 causes to be pointed as
      mysteries which give rise to      
probabilities and conjectures1          
problems that consist of philosophical  
terms1 and should therefore      be     
philosophically solved4 ,but if the     
infinite progress and the      infinite 
perfectibility of man is to be affirmed1

 although we do      not know the       
concrete forms that progress and        
perfectibility will      assume 7not    
knowing them1 because now it imports not
 to know1 but      to do them71 then    
there is no meaning in positing as a    
mystery      the immortality of the     
individual soul1 or the existence of    
,god2      for these are not facts that 
may or may not happen sooner or         
later1 but concepts that must be proved 
to be in themselves      thinkable and  
not contradictory4 ,their thinkability  
will indeed be      a mystery1 but of   
the kind that it is a duty to make      
clear1 because      synonymous with     
obscurity or mental confusion4 ,what has
 so far been      demonstrated has been 
their unthinkability in the traditional 
form4      ,nor is it true that they    
correspond to profound demands of the   
human soul4 ,man does not seek a god    
external to himself and almost      a   
despot1 who commands and benefits him   
capriciously1 nor does he      aspire to

 an immortality of insipid ease2 but he 
seeks for that ,god      which he has in
 himself1 and aspires to that activity  
which is both      ,life and ,death#i4  
,thus ,croce affirms that evolution1    
development1 is demanded by the  very   
nature of spirit4 ,in spirit the problem
 of the one and the  many is solved4    
,the yearnings of man towards something 
higher1 and  towards a unity that shall 
lie behind and stabilise all thought1   
are  but expressions of the nature of   
,life4 ,the dissatisfaction of such  a  
thought is due to psychological         
illusion1 comparable to a 8dream  of an 
art so sublime that every work of art   
really existing would by  comparison    
appear contemptible40 ,there is no      
intuition that cannot  be clearly       
expressed2 vague dreams of the ,madonna 
of the ,future end  inevitably in an    
empty canvas4 ,so too1 according to     
,croce1 is a dream  of transcendence    
empty of content1 because inexpressible2
 based on no  clear intuition1 but on a 

confusion between the historical        
judgment and  some vague conception of  
the transcendental4 ,and thus the life  
of the  spirit is left a mystery4    ,we
 will not attempt any discussion of     
,croce's fundamental pantheism1  neither
 will we as yet criticise his definition
 of ,beauty4 ,instead1  we will begin   
our constructive work by considering the
 psychological  accompaniment of a      
perception of beauty and from that      
starting-point  try to reach a          
conception and a definition that will   
carry us beyond  ,croce's into a region 
less empty of love1 a region that shines
 with a  light of its own4 ,dead moons  
are lovely1 but they owe their          
loveliness  to living light4 ,cold      
philosophies too are only beautiful when
 a  beautiful spirit makes them seem to 
live4    ,let us1 then1 turn to the     
psychological effects of that which     
appeals  as beautiful to some individual
 mind1 leaving on one side1 for the     
time1 all consideration of the reason   

why a particular object should  rouse a 
sense of beauty in a particular mind4   
,now unquestionably the beauty we       
perceive is never satisfying1 or  if it 
satisfies at all it does so but for a   
moment4 ,almost at once  dissatisfaction
 follows1 or rather unsatisfaction4     
,there is a yearning for something1 a   
sense of something lacking4  ,it is     
vague--so vague that the only           
representation of it that has  ever     
adequately expressed at once its        
aspirations1 its lack and its           
indeterminateness1 is ,blake's drawing  
8,i want--,i want40 ,of these three     
things it is compounded1 of lack1 of    
aspiration1 and of self-ignorance  that 
knows neither what it lacks nor what it 
desires2 and these three  determine its 
salient character--that of an impulse4  
,that it is really  an impulse becomes  
clear directly we examine its effects4  
,it produces  a desire to create4 ,in   
the young1 the uncontrolled1 the        
illiterate1  the creative impulse may be

 definitely sexual4 ,passion is         
undoubtedly  stimulated in simple       
natures by the beautiful1 and we shall  
see when we  come to discuss the        
evolution of aesthetic sensibility that 
this fact  is of the profoundest        
spiritual import4 ,for the moment we    
need only  note that this sex-impulse is
 creative4 ,in natures artistically more
  developed yet not truly originative1  
the creative impulse is a desire  to    
repeat the thing that has given this    
sense of beauty--to paint the  sunset1  
to play the sonata1 to declaim the poem4
 ,yet even here we must  note the germ  
of originality4 ,the repetition is no   
mere reproduction4  ,elimination and    
emphasis make it in some measure a new  
creation4 ,this  is obvious in the less 
rigid arts1 painting and music2 but it  
is  present even where the form is      
definite4 ,hear two different people1 or
  the same person in two different      
moods1 read the same poem1 and see  how 
different a thing it can be6 ,in more   

artistic natures still1 truly  original1
 the desire to create is conscious1 the 
desire to reproduce  less4 ,the thing   
created need not1 probably will not1 be 
of the same  kind4 ,the moon-glade on   
the sea enriching by contrast the       
blackness of  the rocky headland1 will  
inspire the musician to write1 not a    
moonlight  sonata1 for true music is    
free from sensuous symbolism1 but a pure
  rhythm of sound4 ,to suggest visual   
symbols in sound is to prostitute       
music1 to drive it back into the        
sensationalism from which it has freed  
itself4 ,it is1 further1 to confuse the 
mind by attempting to combine  two      
incompatible media of technical         
expression4 ,as animal passion is to    
love1 so is ,carrier's 8,la ,chasse0 to 
a ,bach prelude#aj4    ,we see1 then1   
that the psychological effect of the    
beautiful is to  produce a creative     
impulse1 based on the lack and the      
aspiration  which give rise to a sense  
of yearning desire4 ,we see that it is  

indeterminate1 for it attempts to       
satisfy itself in very various  ways4   
,we see that in so far as it creates    
successfully1 it finds some             
satisfaction4    ,now all this fits     
admirably with ,croce's theory of       
beauty4 ,beauty is  for us the          
expression of that of which we have     
intuition4 ,in realising  the beauty of 
a symphony or picture we have ourselves 
re-created the  intuition of the artist4
 ,in realising the beauty of a natural  
scene  we have expressed an intuition of
 the reality that lies behind that      
scene2 a creative act4 ,we shall later  
go beyond ,croce in this matter1        
referring our creative act to a         
re-creation of the intuition of ,god1   
and this will lead us to consider the   
aesthetic meaning of ,god's  creation2  
but for the time we need not pursue this
 thought4    ,our next business is1     
clearly1 to analyse the yearning which  
precedes  the creative act4 ,we have    
said that this originates in            

dissatisfaction4  ,what is this         
dissatisfaction8 ,one other thing       
produces a feeling that  is not merely  
analogous1 but absolutely identical4    
,when you love a  person intensely and  
are uncertain if it is reciprocated1    
because  no sign1 or no sufficient sign1
 is given1 you experience the same      
dissatisfaction1 the same yearning and  
the same creative impulse4 ,in          
primitive natures the impulse may fulfil
 itself in sexual excitement2  in higher
 ones it is expressed in art4 ,it is a  
commonplace to say that  some of the    
world's greatest creative work is done  
under the stimulus  of love4 ,the poems 
of lovers furnish the most prominent    
example1 not  only their love poems1 but
 the poems inspired by their love1 like 
the  ,divina ,commedia2 but we need not 
seek far for examples in the other      
arts4 ,beethoven's ,fourth ,symphony was
 inspired by his love for the  ,countess
 ,theresa von ,brunswick4 ,tchaikovsky  
found inspiration in his  ,platonic love

 for ,nadejda von ,meck1 whom he had    
never seen4 ,his sad1  abnormal         
friendships were an inspiration to      
,michael ,angelo4    ,now in both cases1
 paradoxical as it may seem1 the        
dissatisfaction  is due to receiving    
without giving4 ,at first sight this    
seems to be  exactly the opposite of the
 truth4 ,surely a man is pouring out his
  love1 and receiving no return1 one is 
inclined to say4 ,but a moment's        
thought will convince us that the first 
statement is the true one4  ,all the    
beauty1 all the grace1 all the interest 
and the charms of the  loved one are    
given to us in unstinted measure1 and we
 can give nothing  in return4 ,we may   
not even express our love1 our desire to
 serve1  but in the trivial services    
that convention allows4 ,yet how we     
prize  these little services that we can
 render6 ,how we seek out opportunity   
of rendering them6 ,we receive2 we can  
give no adequate return4 ,it is  that   
which determines our dissatisfaction4   

,if the gift of our love is  refused1   
dissatisfaction is most poignant4       
,commonly we say that the  beloved      
refuses to give anything in such a case4
 ,exactly the reverse  is true4 ,the    
beloved gives1 and cannot avoid giving1 
but will receive  nothing from us4      
,now think of a perfect marriage or a   
perfect friendship4 ,there is  little   
trace of dissatisfaction there2 only    
rest and happiness4 ,we  receive1 but we
 give again1 and our gift may be given  
without measure2  may equal1 or nearly  
equal what we receive2 may at least be  
all that we  can give4 ,there is perfect
 reciprocity1 and in reciprocity we find
 rest4    ,the creative impulse does not
 cease1 service and gifts do not cease1 
but the spirit is free from longing     
dissatisfaction4    ,turn now to the    
dissatisfaction produced by appreciation
 of the  beautiful4 ,we receive         
everything1 we can give nothing at all  
7to the  beautiful thing72 and so       
dissatisfaction is at its highest4 ,we  

love  the thing in which we find beauty1
 but the love is one-sided4 ,the  cases 
are identical4 ,it is no mere phrase    
when we speak of the love of  beauty and
 the beauty of love4 ,unwittingly we    
express the truth of an  absolute       
interdependence4 ,love is relationship1 
beauty the expression  of relationship4 
,in this sentence lies our thesis4      
,croce calls ,beauty  the expression of 
an ,intuition2 we shall define that     
intuition as  the intuition of          
,relationship1 ,love being the          
relationship itself1  intuitively known2
 known1 that is1 as ,reality--as the    
fundamental  quality of ,personal       
,being1 which is the only ultimate      
,reality4 ,because  the intuition of    
,love is expressed1 it enters           
immediately the domain  of ,aesthetic4  
,doubtless it is conceptualised2 and    
hand in hand with  this theoretic       
activity of the spirit goes the         
practical4 ,love is  essentially        
practical1 and1 as ,croce says1 you can 

never separate or  give priority to     
either the theoretic or the practical   
activity4 ,the  difference1 then1       
between beauty and love that is returned
 lies in the  fact that in the second   
there is reciprocity4 ,you give1 as well
 as  receiving4 ,in all love there is   
some reciprocity2 the loved one cannot  
help being conscious of1 and receiving1 
something of the spirit that  moves out 
in such wise4 ,the love of a being seen 
but once is purely  aesthetic4 ,only    
this corresponds to the aesthetic       
appreciation of a  scene1 and even this 
not exactly2 for the being is           
potentially capable  of receiving1 the  
scene is not4    ,it is worth noticing  
at this point that1 though ,greek       
thought arrived  at no adequate idea of 
beauty1 ,greek ,mythology did arrive at 
complete  understanding4 ,and this gives
 little cause for wonder1 considering to
  what a level the love of the beautiful
 developed in ancient ,greece1  and     
considering too how myth represents the 

unreasoned1 intuitive  wishes and ideas 
of an infantile age#aa4 ,we often wonder
 at the depths  which mythology plumbs4 
,accepting ,croce's scheme1 it is the   
more easy  to understand4 ,the myth of  
,pygmalion is subtly suggestive4        
,pygmalion  created beauty1 and longed  
for it to reciprocate his love1 and out 
of  his longing life and love were born4
 ,beauty was for him one-sided love2    
hence his yearning and his              
dissatisfaction4    ,but we are not     
,pygmalions4 ,our ,galatea never comes  
to life4 ,why  then should we strive    
still to create8 ,why like the man in   
the old  play1 should we proceed with an
 endless task3 8,when will you finish   
,campaspe80 8,never finish1 for always  
in absolute beauty there is  somewhat   
above art#ab40 ,croce simply takes      
activity as the character  of spirit and
 leaves it at that1 admitting1 but not  
really explaining1  the fact that men   
are dissatisfied with the mystery of it 
all4 ,we1  approaching with a different 

presupposition1 accepting ,god and not  
rejecting metaphysic1 may hope to find  
some fuller explanation4 ,we  do in fact
 go on creating something that cannot   
reciprocate4 ,why8  ,first of all1 by   
our creative act we learn more of the   
meaning of the  ,reality that is around 
us1 and the ,reality that is ourself4   
,we find the  creative godhead of our   
personality1 we exercise our self in its
 true  function of godhead4 ,moreover1  
we create a gift to other men1 whether  
technically or otherwise4 ,if we cannot 
give to nature1 we can at least  give   
our understanding of nature to our      
fellows3        ,better to sit at the   
water's birth      ,than a sea of waves 
to win1      ,to live in the love that  
floweth forth      ,than the love that  
floweth in4        ,be thy heart a well 
of love1 my child1      ,flowing1 and   
free1 and sure1      ,for a cistern of  
love1 though undefiled      ,keeps not  
the spirit pure#ac4    ,and neither does
 the spirit that is a cistern of beauty 

fulfil itself1  nor remain pure4    ,our
 aesthetic activity is1 then1 our first 
contact with ,reality1  paving the way  
to an understanding of the meaning of   
that ,reality4  ,in spite of ,croce1 we 
cannot agree that a full appreciation of
  this meaning could be considered as   
achieved if the end is simply           
longing--dissatisfaction4 ,in the very  
fact that beauty produces in us  a      
yearning1 that issues in a creative     
activity which does not1 and  cannot1   
satisfy the yearning1 we have evidence  
that the solution is not  found4 ,in the
 identity of psychological content      
produced by beauty and  by unrequited   
love we find the clue we seek4 ,in the  
restfulness of a  perfect friendship1 of
 an intercourse which knows no subject  
that must  not be touched upon1 fears no
 jarring note1 whatever matter comes    
upon  the scene1 can give all the keys  
in perfect trust1 knowing that trust    
will never be regretted1 and hold the   
other's keys knowing there is the  same 

confidence on that side2 that can see   
with the other's eyes1 and  never fear  
to be itself misunderstood2 in that     
restfulness the problems  of beauty1 of 
life1 of ,reality itself find answer4   
,let us repeat4 ,the unsatisfyingness of
 beauty is due to the fact that  you are
 taking and not giving4 ,in order to    
give something1 to others1  though not  
to the object that roused in you the    
sense of beauty1 you  create by some    
technique4 ,what is it you are          
receiving8 ,an intuition1  which you    
express to yourself creatively and to   
others through its  effect on your      
character2--to which further1 if you are
 an artist1  you give external1         
technical expression4 ,this intuition   
which you  receive is the first stage of
 knowledge--of the knowledge of         
,reality4  ,so far1 agreeing with       
,croce1 we agree with ,bergson2 and     
moreover we  leave room for mysticism1  
since mysticism becomes the appreciation
 of  relationship1 and logic paves the  

way for suitable activity to develop    
our side of the relationship4 ,the      
meaning of this becomes clearer when  we
 consider ,croce's explanation of the   
process of perceiving beauty  in the    
work of an artist1 be it picture1       
symphony1 or poem4 ,he points  out that 
in appreciating a work of art you enter 
into the mind of the  creator1 follow   
his intuition1 and create the expression
 afresh for  yourself4 ,on the degree in
 which you can do this depends the      
fullness  of your appreciation of the   
work4    ,but when you see beauty in a  
natural object the matter is less clear4
  ,croce would say that you are in the  
first stage of knowing that object1  and
 he is unquestionably right so far4 ,but
 can we not1 using the  analogy of the  
picture or the poem1 go on to say that  
you are following  out the idea of the  
creator of the natural object--that you 
are in  touch with the ,cosmic ,idea1   
which is the ,idea of a ,personal ,god8 
,if so1  there is indeed room for       

mysticism1 for mysticism becomes simply 
the  realisation that you are in fact   
doing this4 ,moreover1 ,beauty and ,love
  at once fall into relation4 ,beauty is
 not simply expression1 but the         
expression of a relation1 and it is     
incomplete because the relation is  not 
yet reciprocal4 ,love is that relation  
itself4    ,in another aspect1 beauty is
 seen as the meeting-place for love1    
since  it is the expression of an       
intuition of ,reality1 and ,reality is  
rooted  and grounded in love4 ,where    
there is limitation either of one or    
both  of two persons1 expression is     
needed to provide a                     
meeting-place--speech  or sign for the  
lesser artist1 music1 poetry1 or picture
 for the  greater4 ,each expression is a
 symbol of the reality it incarnates2   
in so far as it reaches out beyond its  
own immediate apprehension of  that     
reality4 ,all expression1 all art1 is   
symbolic and has a mystical  aspect1    
else it would be either complete and    

all-embracing or devoid of  real        
content4 ,so far the symbolists are     
right4    ,but this opens up a wide     
problem4 ,if ,beauty be the formulated  
intuition  of ,reality1 which1 because  
of its incompleteness1 represents in    
symbols  things that are beyond its     
immediate purview1 and if ,reality be1  
as  we have elsewhere argued#ad1        
grounded on ,personal ,relationship1 the
  self-expression of ,love1 does beauty 
cease when personal relations  become   
perfect8 ,for we have argued that a     
symbol belongs to the domain  of the    
imperfect1 not the perfect#ae4 ,if so1  
has beauty any meaning  for ,god8 ,at   
this point we clearly come into contact 
with the problem of  ,god's creative    
activity4 ,we have said#af that the     
creation of ,god must  be the creation  
of something new4 ,we have said that    
,love1 of its own  nature1 demands      
expansion1 is centrifugal as well as    
centripetal1 and  in this centrifugality
 of love we sought the ,divine ,impulse 

to create  new personalities4 ,but      
behind lurked always the question 8,how 
could  a ,god whose experience was      
perfect and embraced already all        
,reality1  create anything that was     
new80 ,the reciprocity of perfected love
 would  be new for the personal beings  
,he had created2 but ,his               
self-limitation  which the freedom of   
those beings necessitated would not be  
new for  ,him1 for self-abnegation is an
 eternal part of love1 since love is    
substantiated as itself by creative     
self-surrender1 transcendence by        
immanence4 ,would the result of ,his    
self-limitation be new for ,him1        
implicit as it is in ,his ,being as     
,love8 ,would the experience of the     
reciprocal love of ,his children be a   
new thing for ,him8    ,no doubt the    
problem1 as belonging to the domain of  
the ,transcendent1  is not soluble for  
us1 whose transcendence1 whose intuition
 of the  ,real1 is so incomplete4 ,but  
because in such measure as we do know   

the  ,real we are ourselves             
transcendent1 we can at least hope to   
touch the  fringe of ,his garment2 and  
,croce's proof that pure                
intuition--which  ,bergson also urges to
 be our point d'appui with the          
,real--belongs to  the domain of        
aesthetic1 gives us a fresh clue in our 
investigation4    ,beauty is expression4
 ,this is ,croce's statement2 and in it 
we find  what we need1 provided that we 
expand the definition into #8the        
expression of ,relation4' ,if there be a
 ,personal ,god as we believe1  whose   
experience is ,reality1 ,he must always 
be expressing that ,reality4  ,there is 
no consciousness without expression4    
,but the expression  of knowledge of the
 ,real is ,beauty4 ,god's ,being must be
 full of an  overwhelming ,beauty4 ,but 
part of ,his ,nature1 as ,love1 is      
centrifugal4  ,that centrifugal part    
must also be expressed4 ,the artist     
follows his  expression by technical    
application2 he paints for eye or ear1  

to  satisfy himself and to communicate  
his intuition4 ,in so far as he  fails  
in his expression1 the result is ugly4  
,in so far1 also1 as ,god's  creation   
fails1 through its own inevitable       
condition of the freedom  of man1 the   
result is ugly4 ,ugliness is the        
aesthetic1 or theoretical  aspect of    
sin2 in its practical aspect sin is     
uneconomic1 un-moral4    ,now if one    
thing is more certain than another1 it  
is that ,beauty is  for ever new4 ,each 
sense of beauty is a new creation1 a    
fresh activity  of the spirit1 be it    
inspired never so often by the same     
object4 ,and  this means that to know   
the ,real is for ever a new thing4      
,god's love  is always new for ,himself4
 ,his self-knowledge is creation        
perpetually  renewed4 ,it follows1 a    
fortiori1 that ,his knowledge of the    
beings ,he  creates and is creating is  
each moment new4 ,because knowledge is  
in its  first movement ,beauty1 there   
can be no stagnancy in ,eternal ,being1 

no  dead level of satiety in ,eternal   
,life4    ,beauty is expression4 ,for   
,god it is the expression of ,his       
relation to  ,himself as transcendent1  
and of the substantiation of ,his       
transcendence  through ,his relation to 
others as immanent1 in the first stage  
of  the movement of that relation       
towards and into transcendence4 ,beauty 
is the expression of a relation1 and is 
ever new4 ,but the relation  itself is  
,love4 ,god is ,love2 that love is      
expressed as ,beauty2 and  ,beauty is   
necessarily eternal1 because it is the  
knowledge of ,reality4  ,god is ,love4  
,this is to say that ,god ,,is because  
,he is a relation1  to ,himself and to  
others4 ,here is the inmost heart of    
,trinitarian  ,doctrine1 as we have     
seen#ag4 ,because ,he is ,love1 ,he     
expresses that  ,reality in activity4   
,but activity has two sides1 the        
theoretical and  the practical4 ,his    
expression is1 on the theoretic side1   
,beauty1 and  is hence for ever new for 

,him4 ,he is for ,himself a ,relation1  
known  intuitively and expressed as     
,beauty1 and ,his intuition of this     
,reality  is ever new4 ,on the practical
 side it is ,creation1 full of purpose  
7economic aspect7 and of goodness 7moral
 aspect72 new for us1 ,his  creatures1  
but only achieving1 for us even1 its    
full newness as we come  to know the    
,reality which is the experience of the 
,love that is perfect  in ,him alone2   
only achieving its full newness as we   
begin ourselves to  know1 to express1   
and to create3 as we become gods        
ourselves4 ,and what  ,he creates is    
real1 beautiful1 and new4    ,beauty is 
eternal4 ,it is the meeting-place of    
personal beings for ever2  but it is a  
symbol only so long as these personal   
beings are imperfect1  and their        
knowledge incomplete4 ,beauty and       
knowledge become coextensive  as        
immediate intuition extends its         
boundaries till logic has no more  a    
place1 or rather till logic and         

intuition cover the same ground4 ,so    
too with the practical2 the useful      
extends its boundaries till it is       
coextensive with the good1 and the two  
become one and the same4 ,the  activity 
that remains is as ,god's activity4     
,love is itself because it  is both     
knowing and doing2 absolute ,being is   
the circle of these two  inseparables4  
,before we proceed it will be as well to
 remind ourselves once more of  the     
psychological fact that has caused us to
 modify ,croce's definition  of beauty  
by introducing the idea of relation4    
,this characteristic  consequence of a  
vision of the beautiful is the sense of 
longing1 akin  to the longing of        
unreciprocated love1 which issues in    
some creative  act4 ,this act may be a  
conscious attempt to produce something  
of  aesthetic value--a work of art--or  
it may simply be an attempt to make  our
 milieu harmonious4 ,the housewife may  
be stimulated to re-cover  the cushions1
 to tidy the house1 or to re-arrange the

 room2 the mother  may try to make her  
children happier2 the selfish man or the
 fractious  child may try to make life  
more complete and harmonious by loving  
deeds1 however short-lived4 ,the most   
commonplace mind may feel a  religious  
impulse2 a sense of wonder and          
reverence4 ,men have always  been       
perplexed by the apparently close       
connection between the beautiful  and   
the good1 between the beautiful and the 
sublime4 ,this connection  becomes clear
 in the light of our definition4 ,beauty
 is seen as the  first step towards an  
understanding of ,reality1 and that     
,reality is  ,love1 personal            
relationship1 reciprocity4 ,relationship
 between finite  persons first 7yet not 
transient even here1 because personality
 is  essentially infinite1 and persons  
are only limited in so far as they  have
 failed as yet to achieve personality71 
but relationship that finds  its origin 
and explanation in the personal1        
creative1 ,triune ,being of  ,god#ah4   

,the perception of beauty is accompanied
 by emotion2 free1 as  emotion is in    
itself1 though aroused by external      
conditioning#ai2  yet unsatisfied1      
thwarted1 and so with a vein of sadness 
in its joy4  ,its joy is the joy of     
beginning to understand4 ,all           
understanding is  pleasure4 ,one smiled 
with pleasure when one first grasped    
,euclid's  forty-seventh proposition1   
even4 ,but here we understand the beauty
 as  a symbol and a meeting-place4 ,it  
makes us feel less lonely and less      
isolated4 ,its sadness is the sadness of
 an incomplete understanding4  ,we see  
in a beautiful thing a thing that can   
receive nothing from us1  while it gives
 much to us4 ,yet the very fact that    
beauty does make us  #8feel religious'  
shows that somehow we do realise that we
 can give  something to ,god1 and find a
 little satisfaction in doing so2 that  
even  nature is not so impersonal as we 
were inclined to think4 ,our desire to  
create beautiful things is a sign that  

we understand our self also1 our        
destined godhead1 and that we too wish  
to reveal our self by creating  for     
others1 and giving to others4 ,it is a  
sign that we understand that  our       
relations with ,god and with our fellows
 are reciprocal4    ,croce gives the    
clue when he shows that aesthetic is the
 first stage of  the spirit's activity4 
,bergson strikes a note that wakes an   
answering  harmony when he urges that   
intuition brings us nearer to ,reality  
than  does intellect directed toward    
practical aims1 even though some of his 
deductions displease2 ,kant and ,hegel  
indicate the eternal value of  aesthetic
 when they urge that it belongs to the  
highest and last stage4  ,but ,croce    
gives no reason for the longing that    
beauty forces upon us2  nor indeed for  
the activity of spirit at all2 he merely
 assumes spirit  as a datum1 and is     
defined by its activity4    ,but if we  
regard beauty as the expression of a    
perceived relationship1  almost as      

one-sided love1 the whole falls into    
place4 ,through beauty we  get into     
touch with ,reality1 which ,reality is1 
in its completeness1  the mutual        
activity of ,love4 ,the basis of ,love's
 activity is ,love's  freedom1 even its 
freedom to limit itself4 ,mankind is    
winning freedom  out of determined      
conditions2 which conditions are the    
creation1 the  expression1 of ,god's    
love1 through self-limitation4 ,because 
they are  the expression of ,god's      
knowledge of the ,reality of ,love1 they
 are  beautiful4 ,the winning of freedom
 by man is achieved through adaptative  
relation to the environment4 ,as this   
adaptation becomes conscious--as  we    
gain intuitive knowledge of the         
environment--the sense of beauty is     
born1 for we express our knowledge of   
this relation to ourselves2 and  make   
efforts towards further adaptation4     
,these efforts are creative2  and as we 
progress our creation becomes more and  
more altruistic2 a  creation for others 

with our relationship to them held      
consciously  before us4 ,these few words
 will suffice to show how perfectly our 
thesis fits in with the evolutionary    
views we have previously  enunciated4   
,the development of this side of the    
argument may be left  for the present4  
,one other matter requires a brief      
consideration1 and then we can  leave   
the general outline of our theory and   
proceed to a more  detailed treatment of
 certain parts of it4 ,this is the old1 
unsolved  problem whether beauty is     
subjective or objective2 whether a thing
 is  beautiful in itself1 or whether it 
is only our thinking that makes it  so4 
,croce has made it perfectly clear that 
the thing or the scene  which we        
erroneously call beautiful1 meaning that
 it is beautiful in  itself1 physically 
beautiful1 is simply the 8stimulus to   
aesthetic  reproduction1 which          
presupposes previous production4        
,without preceding  aesthetic intuitions
 of the imagination1 nature cannot      

arouse any at  all40 ,perhaps ,croce's  
own thesis would gain in clearness and  
coherence  if1 starting from the sense  
of beauty aroused by a work of art as   
the  re-creation of the artist's        
intuition by the spectator1 he had      
accepted  the religious implication1 and
 argued that appreciation of so-called  
natural beauty1 was the re-creation by  
man of ,god's intuition4 ,but1  with his
 prejudice against religion1 he         
naturally could not boldly  accept ,god 
as the ,primal ,artist1 even though to  
do so would have made  his theory far   
more complete1 and would have saved him 
from relegating  the chief factor of    
man's life to the realm of psychological
 illusion4    ,to return to the         
immediate question1 there can1 of       
course1 be no doubt  that since beauty  
is an activity of the spirit1 the       
expression of an  intuition1 beauty     
itself must be purely subjective4       
,equally1 there  can be no doubt that   
without the objective ,reality the      

intuition  could never be called into   
being4 7,we call it definitely objective
  for man1 since all our argument in    
previous works has driven us to  the    
conclusion that there is a necessary    
dualism for man as long as  freedom is  
incomplete1 love imperfect2 as long1    
that is1 as man is  becoming47    ,this 
grows more and more clear as one        
analyses the things that have  roused in
 oneself the keenest sense of beauty4 ,i
 think of a copse  starred with         
snowdrops and aconite amid bare trunks  
under a steel-grey  sky--a day in late  
autumn in water-meadows2 emerald        
peacock-tails of  weed in the river1 and
 lights of madder and old gold--blue sea
 covered  with pearly ,portuguese       
men-o'-war and white surf breaking on   
black lava  rocks--perhaps a dozen such 
landmarks1 to me a priceless possession1
  to another about as interesting as an 
album of picture-postcards from         
somebody else's travels4 ,in mercy      
partly1 partly in self-defence1 one     

withholds these things from all but the 
few who care to understand4  ,let each  
fill in his own2 for there are in every 
life such moments1  when one is in touch
 with a larger life1 and it is these    
moments which  make a man1 as ,masefield
 has wonderfully shown in his poem      
,biography4  ,then there are the hours  
when human triumphs rouse in us the same
  ecstasy4 ,bach preludes and fugues1   
with their palaces reared by perfect    
stone added architecturally to perfect  
stone2 the dainty certainties  of       
,mozart2 the sad gaiety and foreboding  
meditations of ,chopin2  the delicate   
cadences of ,swinburne2 the lusty1      
open-air searchings  of ,masefield1     
saddened by the obsession of sunset     
transience2 the  gentle longing of the  
refrain of the ,earthly ,paradise2 the  
massive synthesis of the ,dynasts2 the  
sorrow of ,deirdre and  ,violaine2 the  
ethereal atmosphere of ,a ,midsummer    
,night's ,dream2                        
pictures--architecture--it is all       

endless4 ,now the first thing we  notice
 is that if we are in the wrong mood    
these things may have  little or no     
appeal4 ,i may walk in ,water-meads and 
feel nothing of  their charm4 ,bach may 
be mere noise1 if ,i want to think of   
something  else4 ,again the ,madonna of 
the ,magnificat may leave me unmoved1 if
 my  attention is on other matters4     
,those whose sense of beauty is really  
keen can never be unstirred by the      
beautiful1 unless their attention  is so
 rivetted on other things that they do  
not observe it at all1 but  most of us  
are of commoner clay2 we can notice a   
thing yet hardly be  aware of its       
beauty4    ,here1 in either case1 our   
ordinary speech hits the nail exactly on
  the head3 8,i am not in a receptive   
mood10 we say4 ,i do not receive  what  
these things have to give4 ,in an       
appreciative mood ,i take  something    
from the thing that seems to me         
beautiful--this act is my               
intuition--and use it as the basis of my

 creative work--my expression4  ,i need 
the presentation of an external object1 
or its memory1 for that  creation4 ,now1
 as we have just seen1 a host of very   
different objects  excite in an         
individual emotion of beauty in a       
pre-eminent degree1  while if we reckon 
the objects which excite it in a less   
acute form1  the tale is endless2 yet   
the emotion all excite is sufficiently  
the same in content1 in spite of its    
multiplicity of form1 to be  expressed  
by the single term beauty4 ,one is      
tempted to speak loosely  of this effect
 of the beautiful on us as an emotion1  
though clearly  it is not one1 since it 
is expression4 ,an emotion may be       
beautiful  immediately it is known and  
expressed in this act of knowing1 but   
the  emotion is not beautiful any more  
than any other object is beautiful4     
,nevertheless1 this loose usage of the  
term has one advantage4 ,it draws  our  
attention to the close relationship that
 binds together beauty and  emotion4 ,we

 have seen elsewhere that in the realm  
of emotion exists  the freedom that lies
 between the incoming perception and the
 outgoing  activity1 forming the bond   
between the first and last1 and         
determining  the form of the response to
 the stimulus#bj4 ,in the recognition of
  beauty there is freedom and emotion1  
as there is in every creative  act4 ,but
 the activity is dependent on stimulus1 
and every stimulus is  primarily        
perceptual1 though not necessarily in   
the strict sense of  being perceived by 
an organ of sense4 ,the perception may  
be wholly  internal1 the self being its 
own object in introspection#ba2 the     
intuition may be the intuition of love  
itself4 ,here we see the origin  of the 
common1 yet ,i believe erroneous1       
statement that 8beauty1 as we           
understand it1 is only for sense and for
 sensuous imagination#bb40 ,if  ,beauty 
be the expression of an intuition of    
,reality1 as ,croce says1 and  ,reality 
be ultimately the activity of ,personal 

,being1 which activity  is relationship1
 as we have seen reason to claim#bc1    
,beauty is not  dependent on sense      
perception alone4 ,further1 because the 
activity of  personal relation is ,love1
 we see in ,beauty the creative         
knowledge of  love1 which is necessarily
 linked in closest intimacy with freedom
  and emotion4 ,love is not beautiful2  
it is simply the activity of            
relationship4 ,the knowledge of love is 
,beauty's very self4 ,the world  is not 
beautiful1 but knowledge of the world as
 the expression of  a part of           
,reality--of that portion of ,reality   
which is limited and  determined by the 
self-abnegation of ,god's love--is      
,beauty4 ,in so  far as we merely       
perceive matter the aesthetic side is in
 abeyance4  ,at this moment we know1 not
 ,reality1 but ,appearance4 ,our        
unaesthetic  moods are determined by our
 more or less complete practical concern
  with ,appearance1 our more or less    
complete blindness to ,reality4  ,we    

have gone back to a lower1 more         
primitive stage4 ,in our limited  and   
still largely determined existence we   
are bound to be occupied  in a great    
measure with appearance4 ,the practical 
must dominate the  theoretic activity2  
the spirit must be unbalanced1          
asymmetrical4 ,even  in our moments of  
greatest symmetry our apprehension of   
the ,real is  largely at second hand4   
,pace1 ,croce1 we would say--as we have 
said  already#bd--that the ,immanent    
cannot have immediate contact with the  
,real2 man's intuitions belong to his   
transcendence where they deal  with the 
absolutely ,real4 ,man immanent and     
limited is immediately in  contact with 
,god immanent and self-limited2 only in 
so far as man is  transcendent is he in 
contact with ,god ,transcendent1 and so 
in touch  with the ,whole4 ,in his      
immanence man lives by symbols1 which   
are  sacraments2 and here we find the   
symbolic aspect of ,beauty4 ,it is the  
material basis of this symbolic side of 

,beauty1 rather than ,beauty  absolute1 
that has of necessity received most     
attention hitherto2  and the puzzles of 
rival theories have arisen through      
failure to  realise that a symbol is a  
partial expression of a reality1 and    
that  it can only be fully grasped when 
the reality which it symbolises is      
understood4 ,a symbol has something of  
the reality itself1 or it would  not be 
a symbol1 but it does not represent that
 reality adequately1 or  it would be    
co-extensive with it2 would be the      
reality itself4 ,beauty  is thus        
subjective1 in so far as it is          
necessarily the work of the  spirit4    
,but it is objective in so far as the   
reality of which it is the  knowledge is
 personal and external to the self1 and 
will always remain  external1 however   
complete the interpenetration of        
personalities1 since  personalities     
cannot be merged and lost in each other1
 but remain  eternally in their         
self-identity#be4    ,a natural object  

per se is not beautiful2 only so far as 
it is  understood as a partial          
representation of ,reality1 a symbol1 is
 it  beautiful4    ,naturally1 this     
statement arouses the objection that to 
most people  the music of ,grieg1 if not
 of ,bach1 the pictures of ,leighton1 if
 not  of ,utamaro1 are beautiful2 and   
that there is a general consensus of    
opinion that the view over the ,severn  
from the ,windcliff1 or the view  of    
,lisbon from the harbour is more        
beautiful than ,wormwood ,scrubbs4  ,the
 answer to the first part of this       
objection is obvious4 ,in music1        
painting1 verse1 we are re-creating for 
ourselves the artist's  intuition4 ,we  
know that he found beauty1 and he has   
abstracted in his  art in such a way as 
to render the beauty more easily        
recaptured4 ,the  artist is then our    
guide4 ,he was an artist because his    
spirit was more  sensitive to the       
reality than ours1 and we follow him4   
,but in natural beauty1 too1 is not this

 true8 ,primitive peoples who  live amid
 the most lovely scenery have little or 
no perception of it4  ,but there are    
places and scenes where nature seems to 
have performed  a sort of process of    
abstraction for us4 ,the elements are   
simplified  and harmonious1 and there is
 little to distract the attention from  
certain main features4 ,a comparatively 
large number of people will  have a     
sufficiently developed spirit to get    
into touch with something  beyond the   
mere object at such places4 ,more       
education in abstraction  and intuition 
is required to perceive some kinds of   
beauty2 we see the  same thing even in  
the artistic creation of men4           
,mendelssohn appeals to  far more than  
,bach2 ,leader to far more than         
,botticelli4 ,moreover1 the  more       
obvious kinds of natural beauty1 as we  
may loosely term them1 will  appeal to  
many lesser artists1 who will give      
technical expression to  them4 ,we shall
 be thus familiarised with these        

representations1 through  pianolas and  
art-magazines and penny readings1 or    
through concerts  and picture galleries 
and study2 and shall be the more        
prepared to  intuit for ourselves when  
we meet with objective elements of a    
somewhat  similar type4 ,and we have    
further argued that even in natural     
beauty we  are really following the     
intuition of ,creative ,mind4    ,one   
other point is perhaps worthy of remark4
 ,natural science appears  to compass a 
very large achievement in knowledge1 and
 to express this  knowledge with        
singular felicity2 yet in science there 
is little that  can be called beautiful1
 except in a highly metaphorical sense4 
,the  explanation of this anomaly is    
clear and incontrovertible4 ,the work of
  theoretical science is essentially    
abstract1 and is concerned wholly  with 
,appearance1 not ,reality1 except where 
it impinges upon the domain  of         
philosophy4 ,the intuition of ,beauty is
 an intuition of ,reality4    ,we may   

now put down our conclusions in a brief 
and more regular form3    7#a7 ,external
 things are required to rouse in me a   
sense of beauty1 but  they are not in   
themselves beautiful4    7#b7 ,i create 
their beauty1 by understanding them as  
parts of a ,whole  which is ,reality4   
7#c7 ,beauty is expression2 ,i must     
therefore form a clear intuition and    
express it to myself4 ,this is my       
creative act2 to which ,i may1 or may   
not1 give a technical embodiment4       
7#d7 ,but ,i am not merely creating a   
photographic image1 an imitation4 ,i  am
 getting into a certain receptive       
condition in which ,i can abstract  from
 what ,i see its essence and fit this   
into my knowledge of ,reality4  ,i      
cannot see a thing as beautiful unless  
in some degree it gives me  this        
impression of relatedness to ,reality   
and to myself--linking me  with the     
,reality of which ,i am a part4 ,beauty 
thus comes to be a felt  relationship4  
,my creation is the creation of a fuller

 understanding of  relatedness4    7#e7 
,i am always dissatisfied with ,beauty1 
which wakes in me a sense of  longing   
exactly the same as the longing of an   
unreciprocated love4 ,i  receive and    
cannot give4 ,yet in this beauty and    
this love there is joy  as well as      
sorrow4    7#f7 ,my life is part of an  
organic ,whole whose ultimate meaning   
and  purpose is personal                
relationship--interpenetration4 ,the    
dissatisfaction  is due to a sense of   
imperfect interpenetration4 ,what is    
needed1 and  is felt to be needed1 is   
equal give and take--reciprocal creative
  activity4 ,dissatisfaction comes when 
giving and taking are not balanced4     
7#g7 ,beauty is eternal1 since the      
creative expression of ,love  is        
eternal1 and ,love knows eternally what 
it is--is eternally  self-conscious4    
,love is relation1 beauty the expression
 of the  immediate knowledge of that    
relation4    7#h7 ,this knowledge is    
always a new1 creative act4 ,god must   

continually  express ,his ,being as     
,love else ,he would cease to be ,love  
and so to be  at all4 ,in ,creative     
,expression ,he renews ,himself4 ,he is 
for ,himself  ever new4 ,and1 because   
,love is centrifugal as well as         
centripetal1 ,he  must for ever express 
,himself outwards1 so to speak1 in the  
creation  of other beings1 and this ,his
 work of self-abnegation is new and     
beautiful4    7#i7 ,we have hardly      
touched on the problem of the ugly4 ,we 
have little  to add to ,croce's         
explanation of it as the failure of     
expression--as  the failure to express  
coherent unity--which involves the      
failure of  intuition4 ,we shall just   
touch upon it hereafter2 at the moment  
all we  need do is to remind ourselves  
that the ugliest thing in the world is  
sin1 because it is the failure to       
understand the whole1 and to express    
the fullest1 greatest beauty4           
,,part ,,ii    ,,beauty ,,in ,,evolution
      ,theories of aesthetic1 so far1   

have paid little attention to the       
development of the sense of beauty1     
except perhaps in the individual4  ,this
 was natural enough so long as the idea 
of evolution was  unformulated1 or1 if  
touched upon speculatively1 played      
little part in  men's general attitude  
to life2 and since the doctrine of      
evolution  came to its own1 little      
original work1 beyond that of ,croce1   
has been  done in this region4 ,croce   
touches the evolutionary aspect but     
lightly1  though it is implicit in his  
identification of ,history with         
,philosophy3        8,since all the     
characteristics assigned to ,philosophy 
are verbal      variants of its unique  
character1 which is the pure concept1 so
 all      the characteristics of        
,history can be reduced to the          
definition      and identification of   
,history with the individual            
judgment#bf40      8,if ,history is     
impossible without the logical1 that is1
 the      philosophical1 element1       

philosophy is not possible without the  
intuitive1 or historical element#bg40   
8,philosophy1 then1 is      neither     
beyond1 nor at the beginning1 nor at the
 end of history1      nor is it achieved
 in a moment or in any single moment of 
history4      ,it is achieved at every  
moment and is always completely united  
to facts and conditioned by historical  
knowledge4--,the a priori               
synthesis1 which is the reality of the  
individual judgment and of      the     
definition1 is also the reality of      
philosophy and of history4      ,it is  
the formula of thought which by         
constituting itself qualifies           
intuition and constitutes history4      
,history does not precede               
philosophy1 nor philosophy history2 both
 are born at one birth#bh40    ,this    
view1 however interesting and suggestive
 it may be in the realm  of pure        
thought1 for the simple reason that it  
does not boldly grapple  with the fact  
of practical dualism1 is difficult of   

application to  the process of the dawn 
of consciousness4 ,croce's whole        
philosophy  is directed to the denial of
 dualism2 it is a new form of idealistic
  monism4 ,we have been led in our      
earlier reasonings to deny an ultimate  
dualism#bi1 but we have also been led to
 affirm dualism as existent  in ,time1  
through the self-limitation and         
immanence of ,eternal ,spirit4  ,on this
 basis1 at which we arrived through a   
detailed consideration of  the process  
of inorganic and organic evolution1 we  
reared our whole  superstructure4 ,on   
this same basis1 then1 we will attempt  
to reason  out a view of the evolution  
of beauty that shall be in harmony both 
with the facts of evolution and with the
 theocentric system that issued  from   
our discussion as apparently the only   
possible explanation of the  universe1  
so far1 at least1 as its broad outline  
was concerned4    ,if beauty be the     
expression of an intuition1 and if1     
further1 the  intuition required        

involves a sense of relation1 there can 
be no  true perception of beauty until  
self-consciousness arises4 ,broadly     
speaking1 this is to say there can be no
 sense of beauty except in man4    ,but 
here at once we are brought up against  
the fact of sexual  selection4 ,surely  
the posturings of spiders1 the dance of 
the ruff1  the display of the peacock   
and the ,bird of ,paradise1 the song of 
the  warbler 7if indeed this be a       
courting and hymeneal song7 do imply    
some aesthetic preference in the mate8  
,still more does the elaborate          
performance of the ,bower-bird1 with its
 love-chase through the gay  parterres  
of its carefully decked garden and in   
and out of the  double-doored bower1    
suggest some sense of beauty4    ,this  
fact1 which at first sight seems fatal  
to our whole theory1 really  supplies us
 with the clue we lacked4    ,perhaps1  
even at this moment of courting1 there  
is no true  self-consciousness4 ,our    
previous discussions have led us to     

question  whether this exists at all in 
animals1 except possibly in a few  of   
those most developed through contact    
with man4 ,but there is  unquestionably 
a sense of relation4 ,the male and      
female are urged to  love-play by the   
sexual impulse1 and this necessarily    
involves a sense  of inter-relatedness4 
,it may not be--probably is             
not--sufficiently  conscious of the self
 and the other to be termed love4 ,it is
 a mere  sense of the necessity of the  
other for fulfilling a need as urgent   
and  as little understood as hunger4    
,but in the sex-impulse we find a       
beginning of the fact of                
inter-relation2 and this is the         
foundation we require4 ,the elaborate   
instances we have mentioned go a step   
farther than the simple  sex-need4      
,there is a definite attempt to make    
that need reciprocal by  stimulating the
 dormant sense of relation in the mate  
through the use  of objects to which a  
meaning is given through emphasis or    

through  arrangement and juxtaposition4 
,and this meaning is recognised1 though 
perhaps not as beauty exactly2 that     
would imply the expression of  the      
meaning to the self1 and it is doubtful 
if the self yet exists4  ,but it is very
 hard to draw any line4 ,at all events  
we can say that  here there is          
relation--and self-conscious relation is
 love2 and  that here is expression of a
 meaning and a need--and a recognised   
meaning1 or intuition1 when expressed to
 the self is beauty4 ,we are  on the    
confines of aesthetic4 ,now at first    
sight this idea may raise  a feeling of 
antagonism1 almost of disgust4 ,we seem 
to have reduced  beauty to terms of the 
sexual impulse4 ,further consideration  
will serve  to dispel this sense of a   
derogation of beauty1 and will even give
  to the sex-impulse itself a nobler    
significance1 making it appear as  the  
first stage in the emergence of ,love   
and ,beauty2 rendering to it  the honour
 due from an understanding of the end   

which it subserves4  ,there can be      
little doubt that in man the perception 
of beauty in  the opposite sex--not as  
beauty perhaps1 but as simple attraction
  to a beautiful person--does very      
generally precede that of more          
impersonal forms of beauty4 ,amid savage
 races this is unquestionably  the case4
 ,the strange decoration of the body and
 other rites in the  initiation of the  
adolescent1 are undoubtedly expressions 
connected  with sex-relations4 ,to us   
they are ugly because they fail to      
express  our fuller understanding2 to   
the savage they are beautiful4 ,and ,i  
believe that in the children of a highly
 developed artistic race it  is true    
also in some measure4 ,the              
love-admiration of boys and girls       
begins at a very tender age2 and the    
psychoanalytic work of ,freud and  ,jung
 gives a significance1 no doubt often   
exaggerated1 to acts and  thoughts and  
dreams of children which1 if not        
strictly sexual in the  common sense1   

are yet connected with the              
impulse--called by ,jung the            
libido--that underlies the evolution of 
the race4 ,if we employ the  terminology
 of ,bergson and ,driesch1 we may say   
that the lan vital1  or entelechy1 is   
the libido of ,jung2 that1 as the animal
 progresses  along the path of          
evolution1 it becomes the sexual impulse
 in the  wider sense given to the term  
by ,freud2 and that in one aspect it    
finally becomes the sexual impulse in   
the sense in which the term is  commonly
 understood1 while it achieves          
infinitely higher levels in the         
direction of spiritual progress at the  
same time4 ,but observe what this       
implies4 ,we have just noticed the      
obvious fact that the sex-impulse       
involves a sense of relation4 ,it is    
probable that the first dawnings  of    
relationship1 albeit in a primitive1    
almost sensational form1 arise  here4   
,the using of inanimate objects as tools
 is probably evolved later  than        

conjugation1 even in the protozoa4      
,difflugia may make use of  grains of   
sand to form its test1 but all protozoa 
conjugate4 ,anyhow1  this is a minor    
matter4 ,the important point is that in 
the sex-impulse  arises first the sense 
of a relation between individuals1 which
 is  destined1 far later1 to grow into  
the first stages of love2 and in the    
development of the child we find traces 
of this origin1 distorted and           
chronologically misplaced1 exactly as   
one would expect from the ,law of       
,recapitulation4    ,another point of   
interest arises here4 ,many             
psychoanalysts1 and notably  ,jung#cj1  
have shown that mythology has an        
overwhelmingly sexual  content4         
,further1 ,rivers#ca1 and others1 have  
extended the conception  of the         
primitive1 or infantile1 character of   
myth in relation to the  primitive or   
infantile character of dreams1 showing  
that both belong  to a lower level of   
culture than does the waking self4 ,as  

time goes  on more and more1 not only of
 the minor activities of the individual1
  but of the earlier activities of the  
race1 are relegated to the  unconscious4
 ,psychologists have long recognised    
this fact in dealing  with              
habit-formation1 but these recent       
writers have given it a deeper          
significance4 ,the spirit uses the past 
as something on which to build  the     
future4 ,in old days1 and among         
primitive peoples still to-day1 the     
explanation of life was sought in a very
 childish manner4 ,the impulse  of sex  
was not understood1 its relation to     
procreation was largely  hidden1 as     
witness the ceremonies of ,intichiuma1  
and many others  that1 by symbolic      
magic1 should confer fertility4 ,it was 
mysterious1  yet immensely powerful4 ,it
 had some sort of relation to the birth 
of  children and animals4 ,the creation 
of all things was mysterious1 but  since
 the new was born these two mysteries   
must be connected4 ,hence  the sexual   

symbolism of myths that were            
predominantly aetiological in           
character--that were predominantly      
attempts to answer the great ,why8 of   
the universe4    ,in the present        
connection1 then1 the chief interest of 
the work of  ,freud and ,jung on        
infantile phenomena associated with sex1
 in so far  as it is not exaggerated1   
lies in the fact that here too we have  
an  instance of the working of von      
,baer's ,law of ,recapitulation4 ,in the
  animal the sense of relation begins   
with sex2 in the child we have  strange1
 fragmentary primitive sex-phenomena 7if
 these psychoanalysts  be right71       
dissociated from many of their natural  
concomitants2  phenomena suggesting some
 close analogy with the temporary       
appearance  in the embryo of structures 
that disappear again1 having lost their 
significance4 ,can it be that the purely
 animal basis on which man's  great     
structure of relationship is raised1 is 
merely a foundation1  becoming gradually

 hidden1 covered up8    ,love is1 no    
doubt1 in origin an impulse of sex4 ,yet
 the highest love  we know and          
experience in ourselves has nothing     
sexual in it4 ,when a  man and a maid   
fall in love there is no thought of such
 things in the  mind of either4         
,primarily1 true love is utterly pure   
from admixture  with animal instincts1  
though it may be1 and is1 founded on    
them in the  evolutionary sense1 and    
though they still play a vastly         
important part1  made beautiful by the  
love they subserve4 ,but the love that  
begins  as conscious sex-instinct is no 
love at all4 ,there is love between  men
 and women1 even young men and women1 as
 well as between those of  the same sex1
 that is either utterly free from all   
sexual content1  or in which that       
content is so trivial in amount1 and so 
completely  dismissed from attention1   
that it is practically non-existent4 ,if
  one is conscious of it at any moment1 
one is so by a definite effort  of the  

mind1 and for the specific purpose of   
bringing before oneself  the wonderful  
emergence of the purest and highest     
activity of the  spirit from so lowly   
and physical an origin4 ,such love is   
far higher  than the love between       
husband and wife often is1 where the    
sexual  side is primary as well as      
primitive1 and friendship secondary4    
,only  when husband and wife are first  
friends1 and then1 after that1 live     
together with a full realisation of the 
sacramental meaning of sex as  the      
foundation on which the eternal temple  
of love has been and is  being built1   
can their union approach the highest    
level4 ,then it is  indeed the best of  
all in this life4 ,it takes them closer 
to the heart  of things than mere       
friendship would1 and enables them to   
make their  other friendships perfect   
through the understanding which it      
brings4  ,the physical subserves the    
spiritual1 and even in the physical the 
two  are united4 ,the physical and the  

spiritual are for them one--parts of a  
whole4 ,their own friendship is perfect 
as far as anything human can be         
perfect1 and by it their friendships    
with others are made perfect4    ,we    
see1 then1 in the founding and          
development of the sexual impulse the   
first movement of the lan vital along   
its true path of evolution4  ,the lan   
vital determines progress2 it is the    
unrest1 the divine  discontent of spirit
 creating itself in matter#cb4 ,it      
progresses along  various roads1 but the
 road that leads it to its own          
fulfilment lies  through sex4 ,the lan  
vital becomes libido in an even narrower
  sense than that1 almost co-extensive  
with ,bergson's term1 which ,jung  gives
 to the word4 ,for through sex the sense
 of individual1 and  subsequently       
personal1 inter-relationship comes into 
being#cc4 ,with  the arousing of        
self-consciousness we find the dawn of  
love4 ,this  is the beginning of        
understanding4 ,in the intuition of love

 is born  the knowledge of ,reality4    
,faint1 partial1 obscured by the        
sex-basis  on which it is built up1 it  
is yet the key to the mystery of being4 
,gradually1 slowly1 amid disappointing  
foulness and blind passion1 it  still   
grows4 ,in its insistence on            
relationship it is manifested as the    
human aspect of religion4 ,side by side 
with it grows the knowledge  and love of
 ,god4 ,this is the divine aspect of    
religion1 and the two  together make the
 world and the activity of the spirit an
 intelligible  whole4 ,the 8,what is    
,truth0 of jesting ,pilate finds here   
its answer4 ,all  truth1 all life1 all  
process1 in short ,reality itself1 is   
known in the  knowledge of the creative 
love which is the activity of spirit4   
,we see  sex growing to greater and     
greater importance until we reach man4  
,then  self-consciousness intervenes2   
the ideas of relation and of fellowship 
dawn2 love finds a beginning1 and then  
sex begins to lose its  privileged      

place4 ,from pre-eminence it sinks to a 
secondary position4  ,its spiritual part
 is nearly played1 and something higher 
carries on  the work4 ,love is more than
 passion4 ,sex must continue to         
function1  for man has still a physical 
body2 but its spiritual significance is 
understood1 and that is a thing far     
greater than itself4 ,as love grows1    
passion sinks and sinks from its first  
prominence1 till love is all4  8,they   
neither marry nor are given in marriage1
 but are as the angels40  ,if this means
 anything at all1 it means that in the  
end the physical  body will have played 
its noble part and pass away1 with its  
passions  and its failures2 while the   
life goes on1 revealed in a body        
spiritual4    ,in the light of this     
understanding nothing is left unclean4  
,even in  the work of ,freud1 in so far 
as it is true1 and not coloured by the  
overstrained interpretations of a       
pathologist1 there is nothing to  shock1
 though much to sadden us4 ,where in man

 there is over-emphasis  of sex there is
 a return to the lower1 animal stage4   
,men are  regarding life in terms of    
what has been1 and not of what shall be4
  ,they are falling short of their own  
possibilities4 ,in what degree  this    
phenomenon is pathological1 due to some 
neurosis or psychosis1  we may not judge
 them2 in what degree their             
over-concentration on  animal passion1  
to the exclusion of true spiritual      
activity1 is  under the control of the  
will we are in presence of sin4 ,for1   
from  the evolutionary point of view1   
sin is the refusal to live up to the    
standard that is at present possible1   
the acquiescence in a standard  that    
belongs properly to a stage outgrown2   
lower2 more animal1 less  divine4 ,it is
 content with an anachronism2 the       
willing acceptance1  the welcome of     
failure to progress--and this means     
refusal to  progress#cd4    ,but to see 
in the sex-impulse the explanation of   
love is to fall into  the same error as 

do the materialists1 though the error   
has assumed a  new and more subtle      
guise4 ,you can no more explain love by 
sex than you  can explain mind by       
matter4 ,in both cases you are using    
terms to which  you can attach no       
meaning4 ,ultimately ,i cannot think of 
matter and yet  exclude mind2 ,i cannot 
think of sex and yet exclude relation1  
and so1  ultimately1 love4 ,for         
scientific purposes no doubt ,i can do  
both1 for  science is a process of      
abstraction in which we disregard       
everything  that is not relevant to an  
immediate and narrow purpose4 ,but      
philosophy  may not abstract4 ,she deals
 with the concrete and the real4    ,we 
have apparently lost sight of the       
question of beauty2 but those who  have 
followed the thought of the first       
chapter will realise that we  have not  
in fact gone far afield4 ,upon the      
foundation of sex1 as we  have seen1 the
 sexless activity of love is being      
slowly reared2 and  love is             

relation--relation is the reciprocal1   
creative activity which  is spirit1 and 
spirit is ,reality4 ,god is ,love2 men  
perfected are1  or will be1 love4 ,the  
being of ,god and men alike is the      
activity of  personal relationship1 made
 perfect in union while yet each retains
  his self-identity#ce4 ,the knowledge  
of this relation1 the expression  of it1
 is ,beauty2 and in ,beauty the whole   
theoretic activity is  comprehended in  
the ultimate resort1 when intuition1 the
 immediate  contact1 and logic1 the     
mediate contact1 are made one through   
perfect  knowledge4    ,since then1 the 
first origin of the realisation of      
relationship is  born in the            
sex-impulse1 here the beginnings of     
beauty must be sought4  ,but to search  
for them in any developed form--to      
search for what we  understand by       
beauty--in the animal consciousness is  
vain4 ,there can  exist in it only some 
dim fore-shadowing1 some preference4    
,not until  true self-consciousness     

arises can there be any real sense of   
beauty1  if beauty be the intuition of a
 relation expressed to the self and  to 
others4 ,and arguing from the           
psychological effect of beauty upon     
ourselves--the longing it produces1 and 
the creative impulse--we have  been     
driven to define beauty as the          
expression of a relation4 ,the  germ    
from which love and beauty will spring  
is already there in the  relation       
between animals1 but who would guess    
that from the least of  seeds should be 
born so great and noble a tree8    ,many
 have sought the origin of the sense of 
beauty in the attraction  of sex1 and   
have then hanged ,beauty under this bad 
name4 ,to do this  is to proclaim       
oneself a materialist4 ,our idea is far 
different4  ,reasoning from the         
standpoint to which we are driven by an 
examination  of evolution that does not 
neglect the phenomenon of personality2  
finding the only explanation of         
evolution itself in free personal       

relationship2 we see in sex the         
primitive ground-work of that           
relationship4 ,physically1 the sex      
relation subserves many purposes2  it   
provides a chief mode of introducing    
variation1 it blindly helps  on the     
evolutionary process through selective  
mating1 it provides the  chemical       
stimulus to the development of a new    
organism from the gamete  or sex cell4  
,but it does more4 ,in the light of the 
end we see in sex  a far nobler         
function2 of a significance not         
transient but abiding4  ,in the great   
adventure of ,creative ,love1 to sex is 
given the task of  bringing about those 
relations which constitute the          
ground-work of the  personal union which
 is ,love4 ,of the understanding and the
 expression  of this relation is born   
the sense of beauty1 destined gradually 
to  transfigure the world for man1 as he
 learns to see order and purpose  and   
significant relation in the whole1 and  
to endure eternal and yet  always new4  

,,conclusion      ,throughout this      
essay1 in our quest for the meaning of  
,beauty we  have been driven to reject  
the ground of the ,natural as the proper
  standpoint for viewing the ,beautiful4
 ,rather1 in ,nature regarded from  the 
point of view of ultimate ,reality1 we  
have found a value only  through        
relation2 and it is the intuition of    
this relation1 expressed  to conscious  
mind1 that constitutes ,beauty4 ,no     
relation is1 however1  satisfying but   
one which is mutual4 ,there is beauty in
 all expressed  relations1 even those of
 mathematics and physics1 but because   
these  relations are primarily expressed
 for the purpose of the science as      
between thing and thing1 and their      
relation to the perceiving mind is      
relegated to the background1 the sense  
of beauty is not roused in any  great   
degree4 ,by scenery a far more vivid    
sense of beauty is kindled1  and hand in
 hand with this goes a keener sense of  
dissatisfaction and  creative longing4  

,by pictures and the like we are brought
 into touch  with the mind of the       
artist2 he has felt a relation and given
 to it  technical expression1 and we    
follow anew his creative intuition4 ,in 
doing so we get in some degree into     
relation with his mind as well as  with 
the thing in which he saw beauty2 and we
 derive additional joy  from this       
personal relation1 mediate though it be4
 ,but still there is  dissatisfaction1  
as well as creative desire4 ,this       
longing is identical  with the longing  
of one-sided love4 ,we receive and      
cannot give4 ,only in  perfectly        
reciprocal love is the longing absent1  
while yet the creative  aspect is most  
vividly present4    ,the study of       
,philosophy irradiates the world for us1
 increasing our  sense of the beauty    
that is in it4 ,we understand more2 the 
world's  relation to us is more real1   
deeper1 wider4 ,religion has the same   
effect1 though in so far as it sometimes
 belittles the world it tends  also to  

deaden our understanding of the world's 
beauty4 ,but if our  philosophy         
coincides with our religion and our     
scientific theory is a  part of both1   
,beauty has a chance of winning her     
proper position4 ,if  this philosophy   
and this religion find their ultimate   
,reality in the  personal relationship  
we call love2 if in their #8science' the
 creative  process of that love's       
activity in self-limitation stands      
revealed2  ,beauty indeed comes to her  
own4 ,in our intuition of the world's   
beauty  we are in touch with the        
creative idea of the ,master ,mind4     
,only a  philosophy and a religion that 
are rooted and grounded in the ,god  who
 is ,love1 yet take the fullest account 
of the time-processes of  love which we 
call evolution1 can reveal the fulness  
of ,beauty4 ,then  ,beauty is seen as   
,spirit's grasp upon the relation       
between all the  parts of the whole--a  
relation that is not yet complete1 and  
can only  be complete when the sole     

relation is that of love between        
personal  beings1 of whom ,god is the   
first in timeless ,being4 ,then1 when   
matter  is seen as the expression of    
,god's self-limitation for the sake of  
,his  people's freedom1 realisation     
dawns that matter is instinct with      
beauty  for the understanding mind4     
,aesthetic becomes the link that binds  
all  our theoretic knowledge together1  
making it one--serviceable as an  equal 
partner with the practical activity4 ,in
 this partnership the  activity of the  
spirit is perfected#cf4 ,the beauty of  
relationship is  always new1 just as    
love is always new4 ,our creation is our
 expression  of our personal being in   
relationship1 which is ultimately love4 
,god's  creation is the expression of   
,his ,personal ,being in relationship4  
,without relationship ,he would not be  
personal2 but more is implied in  this  
statement than merely internal          
relations4 ,personality1 the   of 1 is  
centrifugally creative1 as we have seen 

elsewhere1  and the thing created1      
because it is a relationship1 is        
beautiful1  and is new4 ,in the         
perennial newness of beauty we find the 
key to  ,god's creative activity4 ,he   
creates new persons1 because ,his       
relation  to them is new and beautiful4 
,just because ,his experience is the    
experience of ,perfect ,personality new 
things are perpetually added4  ,without 
this activity ,his ,being would not be  
perfect4 ,its perfection  is            
substantiated by its power of finding   
beauty new4 ,only the inactive  dullard 
fails to see beauty and is bored1 and in
 his very dulness he  loses the         
prerogative of personality4    ,from the
 height of such a conception1 standing  
upon ultimate ,reality1  we have looked 
down upon the humble beginnings of the  
intuition of  relation1 or of beauty4   
,these we found pre-eminently in sex1   
and so  far we were in accord with the  
psychoanalytic schools of ,vienna and   
of ,zurich4 ,but we saw sex transformed 

and made beautiful1 because our  eyes   
were fixed1 not on low1 immediate       
purposes1 but on the wonderful  things  
that were to come4 ,mainly out of the   
relationship of sex spring  music1 art1 
literature--all the beauty that is so   
far removed from  its physical          
origin--and it is in these things of    
eternal value that  we find the true    
purpose of sex1 as opposed to its       
immediate physical  meaning4 ,in music1 
art1 literature we see the expression of
 growing  understanding4 ,the ,reality  
is brought nearer and nearer to man4    
,could ,philosophy but bring our thought
 in closer contact with  ,aesthetic1 as 
,croce has nobly endeavoured to bring   
it1 understanding  would quicken        
marvellously4 ,could religion embrace   
the arts and use  them1 the world would 
move ,godward with fresh inspiration2   
the arts  themselves would be enriched1 
coming into their true heritage4 ,croce 
has paved the way to understanding1 but 
he missed the goal because he  did not  

perceive that the content of ,reality is
 relationship4 ,this  essay attempts to 
indicate how much is lost by his        
omission4 ,god is  ,love2 ,reality is   
,love4 ,love is relationship4 ,beauty is
 the expression  of our understanding of
 that relationship4 ,the ,good1 the     
,true1 the  ,beautiful are seen as      
different aspects of the same ,reality2 
each  definable only in terms of        
another2 each involving1 and indeed     
being1  the same system of relations    
seen from a different angle4 ,goodness  
is  the relation of spirit to spirit1   
,truth the relation of part to part  and
 part to whole1 ,beauty the expression  
of the spirit's knowledge  of the       
relations that make up ,reality4 ,our   
understanding of these  relations--yes1 
and ,god's understanding--is perpetually
 creative1 and  its creation is a new   
thing for ,perfect ,being2 for the      
,perfection  of ,being is only          
substantiated by its power to create the
 new1 the  beautiful1 the related4      

,matter is beautiful because it is      
understood  as the expression of the    
infinite activity of the spirit of love4
 ,as  ,personal ,being is the one thing 
that lasts beyond ,time1 and carries in 
itself the character of absoluteness1 so
 it appears that ,beauty1 the  knowledge
 and expression of the relationship of  
,personal ,being1 is also  eternal4     
,beauty can never cease1 for it is a    
necessary part of ,god's  experience and
 ours4          ,,appendix    ,,art     
,,forms ,,in ,,development              
,although any detailed treatment of the 
concrete forms of art is  entirely      
foreign to the intention of this essay1 
it is desirable that  we should devote a
 little consideration to the way in     
which these  technical expressions arise
 and to the psychological effects they  
produce4 ,in doing this we shall refer  
to the work of various artists1  but    
only for purposes of illustration4 ,the 
part of the art critic is as            
unnecessary to our purpose as it is     

beyond our powers4    ,to omit all      
reference to concrete matters seemed    
undesirable1 as  leaving the theory     
rather in the air4 ,on the other hand   
any detailed  discussion of the theory  
as applied to the development of        
concrete  art-forms must necessarily    
introduce debatable propositions1 and   
must  be tentative4 ,it therefore seemed
 desirable to relegate the discussion   
of concrete matters to an ,appendix1 and
 to state clearly that what was  there  
said was meant rather to suggest ideas  
than to lay down definite  principles4  
,applications that may be open to       
question do not invalidate  a theory1   
while they do make for clear            
understanding of it4    ,the question   
whether beauty itself is a universal or 
a particular  has already found implicit
 answer4 ,since beauty is the expression
  of a relation that is understood as an
 essential determination of  ,reality1  
the concept of beauty is a pure concept4
 ,it is expressive1  it is concrete1 it 

is universal4 ,it is clearly expressed  
to the self  as a cognitive product1    
expressible in words 7definition7 and   
symbols  7technique74 ,it answers to    
,croce's test that though 8universal and
  transcendent in relation to the single
 representation1 it is yet  immanent in 
the single1 and therefore in all        
representations10 and is  therefore     
concrete4 ,it also transcends the single
 representations1 8so  that no single   
representation1 and no number of them   
can be equivalent  to the concept0 and  
so is universal4    ,but the foundation 
of every universal concept exists in an 
intuition  of the particular4 ,the      
intuition and its expression to the self
 come  first1 then follows the extension
 of the theoretic activity in logic4    
,the concept of beauty must1 then1 have 
arisen1 and at every fresh  realisation 
must still arise1 like all concepts1    
from an intuition of  ,reality as       
existent in a particular2 and we must   
therefore seek its  origin in specific  

individual cases4    ,now we have argued
 that beauty is most probably associated
 initially  with sex1 since with sex the
 idea of personal relationship first    
arises4 ,our main thesis would not      
however be invalidated if it could be   
shown that a vague intuition of relation
 with inorganic or non-personal  objects
 arose first4 ,the intuition of relation
 may well have several  separate        
starting points4 ,only1 in this case1   
the reciprocal element  would be absent 
7though its lack might not be felt      
except as a vague  dissatisfaction7 and 
could only arise when the sex-relation  
was the  subject of a similar intuition4
 ,but most likely the intuition of      
relation did arise with sex1 and1 since 
our argument is concerned to  show that 
ultimately the intuition of beauty leads
 to the expression  of mutual           
relationship--love--and finds there the 
explanation both of  its peculiar       
quality1 and of the creative longing it 
produces1 we will  confine our argument 

mainly to this aspect4    ,now if this  
be so1 the sense of beauty is likely to 
be associated in  its earliest stages   
with sight1 and only in a secondary     
degree with  sound1 in the mating-call  
and in the beginnings of language4 ,this
 is  borne out by the fact that music   
usually lags behind1 and is more        
primitive in expression than the visual 
arts--personal ornamentation  and even  
decoration of objects4 ,true1 the first 
formal expression  is likely to be in   
sound--in the beginnings of language4   
,the dynamic  relation between persons  
maybe accompanied and expressed         
throughout by  speech4 ,but at this     
primitive level it will be a very       
limited intuition  or understanding that
 is expressed1 and moreover1 an         
intuition that  is based on visual      
stimuli4 ,we may therefore leave the    
question of  language for the present4  
,its importance in the earlier stages is
  mainly practical4 ,through sight 7when
 the stage of simple chemiotaxis  is    

passed7 arises the perception of        
desirability in the opposite  sex#cg1   
which is the animal starting-point from 
which love is evolved4  ,this           
desirability and this relation are      
expressed to the self1 and  this        
expression is beauty in its humblest    
beginning4 ,then1 later1 the  creative  
aspect enters into consciousness4 ,at   
first it was satisfied1  unconsciously1 
in mating2 but soon this unconscious    
satisfaction is  felt to be inadequate4 
,the representative process begins4     
,now here we find a difficulty4         
,according to our theory1 the earliest  
attempts at the pictorial art should be 
pictures of men and women1  but this is 
not1 ,i believe1 the case#ch4 ,we must1 
however1 remember  that the idea of     
symbolic magic arises very early4 ,this 
is natural4  ,the representation of a   
thing is that thing in some degree4 ,you
 have  power over your representations1 
therefore you have power over the       
thing4 ,the use of such power has an    

anti-social aspect1 which forbids  its  
common or public use except in the form1
 of a magico-religious  ceremony4 ,it is
 unlikely1 therefore1 that if such      
representations were  made1 they should 
have come down to us4 ,moreover1 it is  
unnecessary  that the magic object      
should bear any superficial resemblance 
to the  thing it symbolises2 indeed it  
is undesirable that it should be        
recognisable by others1 since the       
practice for which it is destined  is   
nefarious and illicit4 ,an esoteric     
significance is enough4 ,there  is a    
very close connection between primitive 
art and religion4 ,thus  the            
,palaeolithic drawings of animals in the
 dark caves of ,prigord and  ,altamira1 
are undoubtedly connected with          
magico-religious ceremonies  to give    
power over the beasts4 ,for this reason 
then--the acquiring  of a prise over the
 object represented--we should hardly   
expect to  find many early drawings of  
men and women1 other than divinities4   

,even to-day many savages evince the    
greatest fear of having their  likeness 
drawn4 ,nevertheless1 these ,neolithic  
drawings do exist1  proving that there  
was no universal tabu on such           
representations4  ,moreover such        
drawings as those of the ,bushmen show  
that primitive  art at times uses       
drawings to record historical events1   
such as raids  by other tribes4 ,the    
comparative scarcity of primitive       
drawings is1  however1 easily explicable
 when we take the fact of magical       
beliefs  into account4 ,and there are   
sufficiently numerous examples of       
drawings  of animals--bear1 rhinoceros1 
lion1 mammoth1 bison1 reindeer1 to show 
that prehistoric man did have an        
intuition of his relation to other      
creatures4 ,furthermore1 since the      
creative impulse does receive some1  if 
unconscious1 satisfaction in            
sex-relationship1 expressed in word and 
action1 there is the less need for      
technical expression in the early       

stages4 ,we find at all events enough   
prehistoric drawings to show the        
recognition of relation1 and the        
expressive activity1 and these are the  
desiderata for an aesthetic fact4       
,leaving the most primitive level1 we   
find the development of  decoration4    
,pottery is shaped with some regard to  
form and symmetry1  and simple ornament 
of a geometric character makes its      
appearance#ci4  ,much might be said on  
this subject1 but we will confine       
ourselves to a  few fundamental         
considerations4    ,in the first place  
we notice that here man's art is        
practically  unfettered by religious and
 magical inhibitions4 ,geometric forms  
do  not generally represent any person  
or power#dj4 ,artistic creation         
therefore can move freely4 ,next1 we    
observe that the art is reaching  a     
higher level1 and that consciously4     
,there is conscious elimination  and    
abstraction at work in the construction 
of patterns made of simple  lines and   

curves4 ,we find also the rudiments of  
an endeavour to find a  harmony and     
rhythm that may give a sense of         
satisfied understanding4  ,men are      
beginning to feel the need of unity and 
harmony and order1  and in so far as    
geometric ornament gives the feeling of 
these and  of purpose1 it is beautiful1 
for it expresses their intuition of an  
ordered reality4    ,it is unnecessary  
for us to discuss the intrinsic beauty  
of curves1 or  the mental satisfaction  
afforded by the golden section4 ,the    
,greeks1  and later writers such as     
,fechner1 have expended much ingenuity  
in  doing this4 ,but their conclusions  
amounted to little more than that  the  
aesthetic pleasure given by geometric   
form was due to the sense  of symmetry  
and order and unity that were brought   
about by elaborate  differentiation of  
detail subordinated to a single idea4   
,as we have  just said1 ,geometric      
ornament expresses man's intuition of an
 ordered  relation and interdependence  

in ,reality4    ,we have introduced the 
ideas of elimination and abstraction4   
,these  are present in all artistic     
representation1 and probably in all     
artistic perception4 ,because the power 
is rare in any high degree of           
development1 artistic genius is rare4   
,moreover it frequently happens  in     
ordinary people that the perception of  
beauty is first aroused  consciously by 
pictures rather than by natural scenes4 
,a flower is  simple enough for a child 
to understand1 and we find that in many 
children1 especially artistic ones1 the 
perception of beauty is first  awakened 
by flowers4 ,the elements of a sunset1  
or a moonlight scene  with clear tones  
and silhouetted outlines1 are simple    
enough for the  untrained mind to       
appreciate4 ,but it requires an artistic
 genius to see  the beauty of a complex 
landscape4 ,in representing this        
technically  he simplifies1 emphasises1 
eliminates and abstracts4 ,the man who  
looks at his picture follows the        

creative process of his mind1 and1  the 
elimination being already done for him1 
is able to appreciate4  ,moreover he    
receives training in the process1 and is
 the more ready  to eliminate for       
himself2 to appreciate natural beauty of
 a complex  order4 ,even if our artistic
 development is not high1 we love       
pictures  because in looking at them and
 understanding them we perform a        
creative  act ourselves2 but it is the  
artist who has made it possible for us  
to  perform the act by his              
simplification of the problem4 ,browning
 clearly  understood this1 for he wrote3
        ,we're made so that we love     
,first1 when we see them painted1 things
 we have passed      ,perhaps a hundred 
times nor cared to see#da4    ,sometimes
 the artist achieves his emphasis by    
means not wholly  agreeable to the      
medium which he is using4 ,many artists 
of  great technical ability link human  
sympathies with an admirably            
interpretative mise-en-scne which       

carries out their vision4  ,nevertheless
 the picture that tells a story calls in
 adventitious aid4  ,it is like the     
illustrated reading book of a child2 by 
the child mind  it is created1 and to   
the child mind it appeals4 ,it cannot   
express a  clear intuition by a simple  
representation in a single medium1 but  
uses two1 appealing not only in         
pictorial symbols1 but in dramatic as   
well1 and the intuition itself is       
obscured by the process4 ,owing to  this
 confusion of media and of intuition the
 result is unsatisfactory  to minds more
 developed aesthetically1 for reasons   
that we shall adduce  later1 while yet  
the double appeal makes the meaning more
 evident to  the beginner4 ,again       
certain landscape artists of the second 
rank by  insistence on simple elements  
of natural beauty1 by emphasis1 and by  
elimination of distracting ideas1 open a
 new vision to minds hardly  prepared   
yet for such intuition in face of the   
natural object4 ,add to  this the half  

conscious yet acutely pleasurable       
process of following  out the technical 
means by which the artist has impressed 
his intuition  upon canvas1 and we can  
understand the joy of looking at their  
pictures4    ,but where the artist's    
vision goes deeper1 where the reality is
  more clearly seen1 and where in order 
to express this intuition1 to  represent
 it1 and to bring out its less obvious  
harmony and order1  a more sweeping     
process of elimination and abstraction  
is needed1  the simple mind is unable to
 follow4 ,not everyone is at the stage  
to  appreciate the subtle symphonies of 
,whistler1 the bare simplicity of  ,d4  
,y4 ,cameron1 the rigorous certainty of 
,botticelli4 ,the conventions  and      
purposeful line of an early ,japanese   
print2 the vibrant light  of the        
post-impressionist landscape artists2   
the wilful1 obtrusive1  almost harsh    
insistence of the cubist that you shall 
turn your mind  away from curves that   
hitherto you have deemed essential1 in  

order to  grasp other truths1 not only  
seem ugly--that is to say1              
meaningless--to  the mind whose artistic
 perception is little developed1 but may
 even  distract it1 in rebellious       
protest1 from the truth the artist      
wishes  to proclaim1 though others      
further advanced find in some of their  
work  a very high type of beauty4 ,and1 
be it added1 the artist himself fails   
in his expression if he overdoes the    
emphasis in such a way that his         
representation of the ,reality becomes  
lopsided and inharmonious1 as is  too   
often the case4 ,further where he is not
 a creative artist at all1  but a       
slavish imitator of a method not really 
his own1 we are presented  with the     
meaningless monstrosities that here and 
there defile the  ,salon des            
,indpendants--and other less catholic   
exhibitions6 ,in some1  too1 the animal 
basis is the only intuition expressed1  
and art gobbles  greedily at its mess of
 pottage4    ,yet as a whole we have    

moved a long way from the animal        
expression of  a need of its            
complementary animal4 ,the whole world  
is related to us1  and in that relation 
we find beauty4 ,and beautiful as it is 
we find it  very lovable1 even though we
 cannot but feel that our love can never
 be  satisfied since we can give nothing
 back4    ,yet something we can give1   
though not to it--something that makes  
things clearer4 ,in our minds we can    
give to this world a meaning1 as  itself
 subordinate1 yet the necessary means of
 our self-realisation1  and we can share
 this meaning with others4 ,we find a   
meaning in life1  and that meaning is   
fellowship4 ,we find a meaning in       
nature1 and that  meaning dwells in the 
,creative ,being of the ,god who is     
,love4 ,beauty1  more clearly day by    
day1 becomes for us the expression of   
,reality1 and  that ,reality is the     
reciprocal relationship of persons4     
,religion gives  one pathway of         
approach1 ,beauty another1 but both join

 to form the  highway of our ,god4      
,there is more than room for beauty in  
religion2  there is more than room for  
aesthetic in theology2 there is an      
absolute  need1 if they are not to be in
 a measure inexpressive1 lopsided1 and  
therefore ugly4 ,our concept of ,reality
 must be symmetrical1 or fail of        
adequacy4    ,what is true of pictorial 
art is equally true of other forms4     
,style--the higher art of               
language--demands education before it   
can be  appreciated4 ,in literature     
again1 the general public prefers       
,longfellow  to ,keats1 ,the ,passing of
 ,arthur to ,a ,death in the ,desert1   
,ella  ,wheeler ,willcox to the ,divina 
,commedia4 ,henry ,james demands a more 
intimate appreciation of the spirit of  
man than does ,dickens4 ,in all  these  
there is beauty--the expression of an   
intuition--but those who  see furthest  
and most clearly have the smallest      
public4 ,most men cannot  even follow   
where they lead1 and few indeed are the 

pioneers4    ,before we leave the       
question of literature and language1 we 
may just  glance at its development4    
,this is comparatively an easy matter   
to understand4 ,the warning1 the        
expression of satisfaction1 the         
mating-call are common among animals4   
,the powers of communication and  of    
speech develop with the development of  
self-consciousness4 ,they are           
expressions of the relation between the 
self and its #8others1' and  especially 
of the relation between the self and    
other selves4 ,they  carry the germs of 
understanding1 and as they lead from the
 particular  to the more general they   
bear in them the quality of the         
beautiful4  ,the relations between the  
self and the other selves1 and between  
the  self and the environment1 become   
more and more universalised4 ,in speech 
they are communicated1 but speech is    
transient4 ,a more permanent  record is 
required1 and here again resort is had  
to symbolism1 less  generally           

intelligible1 more esoteric1 than the   
pictorial symbol1  since there is no one
 universal language2 the symbolism of   
written  speech4 ,speech1 however1 is   
episodic and dramatic4 ,it moves along  
with  the march of events4 ,so too with 
literature1 for the most part4 ,the     
,pictorial and ,plastic arts represent  
beauty as static2 yet they are  not     
lifeless4 ,activity1 movement1 is       
implicit in them1 while yet the  beauty 
they express is restful1 and has in it  
something of the quality  of            
absoluteness and transcendence4         
,language1 literature1 drama are        
dynamic4 ,in them beauty moves2 immanent
 and unquiet at first sight2 yet  here  
too there is something that expresses   
the eternal meaning4 ,purpose  moves to 
its fulfilment1 and1 while it moves1 the
 end is in view4  ,nevertheless in      
pictorial art the static side is the    
most prominent1 in  linguistic the      
dynamic side4 ,we may observe1 however1 
that in order to  counteract the        

transitoriness of purely episodic       
speech1 recourse is  had to visual      
symbolism as well4 ,the graphic art aims
 at perpetuating  the episode1 and by   
doing so renders possible the           
development to which  we shall          
immediately draw attention4    ,now the 
untrained mind appreciates the dynamic  
aspect of literature1  whether it be the
 originative mind or the mind of the    
reader4 ,this  explains the output and  
the popularity of the thrilling tale of 
adventure4 ,at its lowest we find the   
,penny ,dreadful4 ,through ,stanley     
,weyman and ,dumas we move towards      
,conrad and ,meredith and ,hardy1 where 
the dynamic element is thrillingly      
present 7as present it must be  indeed  
even in the most quiet essays7 but where
 it is subordinated to  a clear vision  
of the permanent and eternal which we   
have mis-termed  static4 ,in poetry this
 truth is obvious4 ,even in drama1      
though our  attention is distracted by  
the action1 it is the chief quality if  

the  drama is really great4 ,in         
,sophocles1 in ,euripides1 in           
,shakespeare2  perhaps almost too       
consciously in ,galsworthy1 and ,paul   
,claudel and  ,synge1 for conscious art 
loses the sincerity of a first vision2  
it is  not the episodic sequence that   
interests us1 except from the point  of 
view of technique4 ,our attention is    
focussed upon the motive1  the          
fundamental intuition to which the      
dramatist is trying to give  technical  
expression4 ,moreover in all the        
infinite variety of literary  art the   
motive is the same4 ,one definite       
intuition is expressed--that  of        
relationship2 relation between person   
and person1 relation between  person and
 machine1 relation between person and   
some ever-ruling  ,order1 be it ,fate1  
,chance1 or ,god also personal4 ,it is  
the reality  of personal                
inter-relationship that underlies all   
literature1 be it  love-poem1 novel1 or 
some drama of ,fate in which personal   

relationship  is overshadowed by the    
impersonal1 or at least the             
unsympathetic2  or else it is the       
one-sided relation of a person to a     
thing1 as in  descriptive science1 which
 has only the beauty of order4 ,but can 
we  say that the intuition which the    
pictorial artist represents is the  same
 as this8 ,hardly1 unless the picture   
tells a story2 and in so far  as it does
 this we feel that the realm of         
pictorial art is invaded by  an alien   
influence4 ,it may at first sight seem  
surprising that art  should not gain by 
the introduction of various intuitions  
of relation2  that it does not1 as a    
rule1 is certain4 ,all the arts overlap2
 we shall  see the most marked example  
of this when we come to consider music  
and  deal further with this point2 but  
intrinsically each is peculiar in its   
scope and method4    ,now it is worth   
while to observe that the longing       
aroused by the beauty  of literature is 
rather different from that induced by   

pictures4 ,it is  less vague4 ,because  
literature deals with the relation      
between persons  our attention is       
directed towards the persons we         
know--our longings  and aspirations     
reach out consciously towards them and  
towards ,god4  ,we think of particular  
people and our relation to them4 ,our   
creative  longing is directed towards   
them1 in active relation1 or towards    
creative literary work of which1 more or
 less consciously to ourselves  they are
 the background4 ,moreover we always    
identify ourselves1 in a  greater or    
less degree1 with one or more of the    
protagonists of the  story2 in them we  
suffer1 we love1 we adventure at        
second-hand4 ,this  phenomenon of       
identification1 closely allied as it is 
to day-dreaming1  has of late come much 
under the attention of psychoanalysts   
under the  title of phantasy2 a term    
covering all attempts to achieve through
  the imagination the satisfaction      
denied to us in actual life4 ,for our   

present purpose this is only noteworthy 
as confirming the truth of our          
observation that in literary creation1  
whether at first or second hand1  it is 
human relation--the relation of         
ourselves and others--that lies  behind 
our intuition and its expression4    ,in
 some pictorial art this relation       
between persons1 this personal  touch1  
does not obtain4 ,in landscape the      
artist's intuition obviously  deals with
 the relation of things to men--a       
relation much more  onesided4           
,correspondent to this1 we find our     
intuition and our longing  far more     
vague1 far more dissatisfied4 ,there    
needs a higher knowledge  of ,reality to
 understand how man has relation to     
things4 ,the intuition  of this relation
 is generally expressed with far less   
understanding4  ,human relations may    
intrude1 and we get the story-picture   
and the  problem-picture4 ,moral        
relations may intrude1 and we get the   
symbolic  picture1 such as those of     

,watts and ,blake4 ,drama1 myth and     
legend may  intrude and we get the      
,ladies of ,shallot1 the ,ledas1 and the
 ,calumnies  of ,apelles4    ,but       
pictorial art reaches its highest plane 
in the religious picture  and the       
portrait4 ,have we not1 here1 the       
intrusion of the story in the  first    
case2 and in the second have we not the 
purely human relations  between artist  
and sitter8    ,i think it is just to   
say that the religious picture is not   
episodic4  ,it represents what1 for want
 of a better word1 we have termed a     
static  intuition4 ,in the greatest     
,madonnas1 even those of the beginning  
of the  decadence1 such as ,raphael's1  
all the birth-pangs1 all the pain1 and  
all the achievement of life at its      
highest go to make up the intuition  of 
the artist4 ,i venture to think that in 
one picture at least1 the  ,madonna of  
the ,magnificat1 the artist even hints  
subtly that he is  expressing in an     
image the whole meaning of the world1 by

 distorting  his figures and modifying  
his lights as they would be distorted   
and  modified when reflected in a convex
 mirror4   is for all  art1 but the fact
 is not evident to him who only glances4
 ,the artist's  intuition must be       
understood1 by a mind that follows it   
creatively2  even if its creation be at 
times over-ingenious4    ,the religious 
picture1 no doubt1 could not have been  
painted but  for the historic episode   
which it represents4 ,but there is a    
strong  presumption that it does not owe
 its intuition to one episode1 nor even 
to the whole history of a life2 though a
 ,crucifixion1 an ,entombment1  and     
indeed a ,madonna1 would only be        
intelligible in their fulness to  one   
who knew the life of ,christ4 ,it is the
 relation of a whole ,life1  ,divine yet
 ,human1 to the life of each one of us  
that lies at the bottom  of the artist's
 vision4 ,only a great ,christian can   
paint a great  ,madonna1 however        
sin-stained he may be4 ,magdalene1 who  

loved much1  could see deeper than      
jesting ,pilate1 deeper than the        
self-righteous  ,pharisee4    ,there is 
here no intrusion of an alien element2 a
 vision of ,reality  is represented in  
one medium4 ,the episode no doubt is    
there1 but it  is incidental1 and does  
not constitute the vision4 ,episode is  
always  there1 even in a landscape2 the 
question is whether the appeal--the     
original intuition--is episodic or      
universal4 ,but no doubt the human      
relation is emphasised2 and in this     
respect we have moved far away from     
landscape4 ,the relation of man to      
inanimate nature is however included    
and interpreted in the artist's vision4 
,i think that the half-conscious        
perception of this lies behind the      
frequent introduction of landscape  in  
such pictures4 ,it may be said that     
these simply help to complete  the      
composition1 but to say this is to beg  
the question4 ,why do they  complete the
 composition8 ,why do they satisfy us8  

,is it not that they  form an intrinsic 
part of the artist's intuition2 that in 
the harmony  of figures and landscape he
 symbolises1 and we after him1 the      
universal  harmony which he has seen8   
,in a portrait1 too1 we read not only   
the relation between sitter and  artist1
 which must be a relation of deep       
sympathy and understanding if  the      
portrait is to be anything but an       
imitation1 but also the relation  of the
 sitter to all the events of his life4  
,think of ,raeburn's  portrait of ,james
 ,wardrop4 ,the strength1 the           
kindliness1 the rugged  purpose1 the    
humour with which the old man faced his 
life all through  are there4 ,it is the 
face of a man who has fought and won1   
and in  fighting and winning has learned
 much wisdom4 ,think of ,giorgione's    
,portrait of a ,gentleman1 with its     
wealth of refinement2 with its          
conviction that 8manners makyth man10   
sustained with gentleness already  many 
times when courtesy and calm were not   

easy4 ,yet here too there is  no        
representation of episode4 ,the         
painter's art is faithful to itself  and
 allows no alien intrusion4 ,the        
harmony1 the unity of a man's life1     
compounded though that life be of       
sequent episodes1 makes the artist's    
intuition4 ,history has become          
philosophy4 ,an absolute thing1 an      
aspect  of ,reality1 is presented1 and  
we feel somehow that it is not set      
against the world but includes the      
world4    ,the same kind of thing may be
 said of lapidary art1 and we will not  
dwell on it in detail4 ,the sculptor    
sees beauty in the human or  animal form
 and in three dimensional representation
 generalises from  it1 whether his work 
represent an individual or an ideal2 for
 the  individual is used to express an  
ideal1 the ideal is localised in an     
individual4 ,the problem of the         
architect is somewhat different1 being  
on the theoretic side the attempt to    
portray in three dimensions that  which 

the designer of geometric patterns      
expresses in two--rhythm and  order2    
multiplicity that establishes a unity2  
unity that interprets  a multiplicity4  
,but here1 more than in other arts1 the 
practical has  to be kept in mind1 and a
 harmony preserved between the economic 
and  the theoretic activities4          
,generally one or other predominates1 no
 one  clear idea is expressed1 and in   
consequence1 much modern architecture1  
especially domestic and civic           
architecture1 is unpleasing4 ,to build  
a house is harder than to paint a       
picture1 because men have to live  in a 
house2 and in a contention between two  
ideas the artistic side  is overbalanced
 by the practical4 ,moreover the idea of
 relationship  is comparatively         
subordinate here just because two ideas 
are set over  against one another4 ,the 
relationship of a thing to a man is in  
view4  ,the aim is primarily economic1  
and beauty takes a second place because 
the intuition of harmony is vague and   

its expression imperfect4    ,if1       
however1 a house is built1 as some      
,tudor and ,georgian houses were1  with 
an eye to simple proportion which must  
not be violated1 but  otherwise with the
 realisation that it had to be lived in1
 and that it  must be designed solely   
with this end in view1 the result is    
eminently  pleasing4 ,there is no       
falsity1 no attempt to mingle           
irreconcileables1  no striving after a  
beauty that cannot be achieved because  
it is  without meaning in such a        
connection4    ,we may now turn to      
music1 in some ways the most difficult  
of all4  ,beginning with the            
evolutionary aspect1 as with linguistic 
art we find  its origin in the relation 
of beasts to each other and to the      
world4  ,the mating-call1 the crooning  
of passion and of satisfied well-being1 
the warning of danger1 the hunting call1
 the sound of the wind1 the  sea1 the   
river1 the 8going in the tops of the    
trees10 provide the  ground-work of     

both1 expressing the relation of beast  
to beast1 and  beast to thing4 ,but1 as 
we have seen1 such calls1 such sounds1  
and the  language to which they give    
rise1 are episodic4 ,the sense of unity 
and  endurance is lost4 ,just as1 over  
against the visual symbols of episode   
which constitute the beginnings of      
literature we find the visual  symbols  
of unity and static endurance which     
characterise pictorial art1  so too we  
find the auditory symbols of episode    
that make speech1 and  the auditory     
symbols of unity that make music4 ,we   
saw that1 to preserve  the episode of   
speech1 visual symbolism is eventually  
called in4 ,even  to-day the untrained  
reader has to form the sound with his   
lips as he  reads2 for the more expert  
the visual symbol definitely represents 
the sound3 the written symbols have     
their own timbre4 ,so too with  music4  
,to preserve the unity from being lost1 
it comes at last to be  symbolised      
visually1 and there are many who can    

hear the music as they  read the score4 
,both the letter on the page and the    
notes on the stave  are symbols of the  
second degree--symbols of symbols--for  
what they  symbolise is in itself the   
symbol of the artist's intuition of a   
unity  in multiplicity4 ,this in        
parenthesis4    ,we have said that in   
purely episodic sound such as the       
danger-call  and the mating-call the    
sense of unity is absent4 ,doubtless no 
call  is really and wholly episodic1 in 
man at any rate1 but it cannot be       
questioned that the episode is          
predominant4 ,the sense of relation is  
transient2 the economic need is all     
important4    ,but the theoretic        
activity cannot be left out of account  
for long4  ,the man of to-day1 when he  
feels his whole being in harmony1 his   
body tingling from the cold bath1 sings 
lustily4 ,when we are well and  cheerful
 we sing4 ,so too when a bird is well   
and cheerful1 with all his  bodily needs
 satisfied or soon to be satisfied--so  

readily satisfied  as to be themselves a
 pleasure of anticipation--he sings4 ,no
 doubt the  cave-mother sang to her baby
 in quiet murmurs2 no doubt the         
cave-father  hummed as he lolled in the 
cave-mouth after dinner1 idly binding an
  arrow-head upon the shaft4 ,somehow1  
in a rhythmic sequence of sound  the    
satisfaction of a body in harmonious    
rhythm with itself and its  surroundings
 is expressed4 ,then1 we may imagine1   
the singer becomes  aware of his song1  
and begins to think about it4 ,the      
beauty of the song  as a whole1 the     
beauty of a sequence in sound that makes
 a unity1 is  consciously perceived1 and
 a new art dawns4 ,it is an art very    
similar  to that of the designer of     
geometric patterns4 ,unity is           
established  through infinite           
multiplicity of details1 in forming no  
one of which  is the unity forgotten4   
,the music mirrors an intuition of      
harmony in a  ,reality that owes its    
unity to its multiplicity and its       

multiplicity to  its unity2 a ,reality  
that is based on relationship of parts4 
,in music1 then1 we find rhythm1 order1 
sequence4 ,it is both episodic  and     
static1 though episode and unity are in 
symbolic form4 ,in the  individual      
sequences1 the internal multiplicity1   
the episode is given2  in the whole1 the
 unity of ,reality1 the static1 or      
better1 the absolute  element4          
,because in good music these two aspects
 must of necessity be perfectly         
balanced1 music can rouse the keenest1  
highest sense of beauty in a  greater   
degree than any other of the arts4      
,but often music falls short of this4   
,mendelssohn for instance1 too  often   
sacrifices everything to prettiness4    
,the individual sequences are  trivial  
and empty4 ,multiplicity of episode is  
lost sight of in a rather  petty unity2 
the two are not balanced4 ,the fourth   
sound is simply a  fourth note1 not a   
star4 ,not only is the intuition        
limited1 but the  balance is not        

preserved between the notes and the     
whole in its  expression4 ,bach owes his
 pre-eminence to the perfect balance    
between  attention to detailed sequence 
and expression of a great intuition4    
,future musicians may see further than  
he did1 but unless they can  achieve his
 perfect balance they will fail to      
express what they see1  and in so far as
 they fail they will be rewarded with   
ugliness4    ,the music-hall tune has   
but a very paltry vision to express2    
generally  the relationship it portrays 
is one of vulgar intrigue or animal     
desire1 at best one of elementary       
aspiration2 and its notes have  a purely
 subordinate and utilitarian rle4 ,if it
 is pretty or  ingenious it has got far 
beyond the average4 ,generally1         
moreover1  it is constrained by         
considerations alien to music4 ,the     
words are  written1 and the tune has to 
illustrate them4 ,in this it differs    
from folk-tunes1 where words and music  
grow together1 each shaping1  moulding1 

modifying the other1 till the song is   
one thing4    ,this brings us back to a 
question which we have several times    
touched  upon1 and as often shelved--the
 question of the overlapping of         
different arts4 ,opera1 oratorio1 and   
ballet give us excellent examples1  and 
from them we will draw the material of  
our brief discussion4    ,in ,opera we  
have drama1 episode expressed in        
language1 set in a more or  less        
accordant scene with histrionic         
accompaniment1 and woven in with  a     
musical interpretation4 ,in ,oratorio we
 have the same thing without  the       
scenery and the histrionics4 ,in        
,ballet--and of this art the ,russian   
,ballet is especially in my mind--we    
have the drama1 the scene1 the          
histrionic accompaniment in choregraphic
 form1 and the music4    ,let us take   
,opera first4 ,there are two appeals to 
the ear and two  to the eye4 ,the music 
and the words2 the acting and the       
scenery4  ,the scenery1 if subdued and  

perfectly in accord with the action1    
does not much distract the attention1   
for it is purely a pictorial  setting4  
,nevertheless a sense is growing that in
 drama it ought to  be so much          
subordinated that it does not distract  
the attention at  all1 being confined to
 a few patterns that help in our        
understanding  of the motive1 or to     
simple draperies4 ,as far as ,i am aware
 this has  not yet been attempted in    
opera#db1 but opera is such a jumble of 
incongruities that it can never be an   
artistic whole1 much as we may  rejoice 
in individual parts of it4 ,the words1  
however1 do constrain  the music in a   
manner thoroughly unjustifiable3 8,in   
composing an opera  the stage should be 
the musician's first thought1 he must   
not abuse  the confidence of the        
theatre-goer who comes to see as well as
 to  hear4444 ,the stage often paralyses
 a composer's inspiration1 that  is why 
symphonic and chamber music are so far  
superior to opera4 ,a  symphony or a    

sonata imposes no limitations1 but in   
opera1 the first  necessity is to speak 
the musical language of the great       
public#dc40  ,moreover the action and   
the music are so incompatible that we   
are  forced to leave our sense of humour
 outside the theatre door4 ,when  the   
hero explains for ten minutes that the  
heroine is in acute danger  and that    
therefore he must hurry away2 when      
,tristan and ,isolde sing  their passion
 with complete detachment for more than 
half an hour2 we  cannot feel that the  
action helps the music or the music the 
action4 ,in  ,oratorio1 since action is 
absent1 we feel this particular         
incongruity  less1 for we manage        
mentally to eliminate time2 but few will
 be found  to defend the oratorio as a  
form of aesthetic expression4 ,it is the
  anthem prolonged into a 8useless      
,alexandrine10 8which like a wounded    
snake drags its slow length along40 ,the
 fatal fact about opera and  oratorio is
 that the music is constrained to do    

something that is alien  to itself4 ,it 
is interpretive of episode1 and the     
episode forces it  into shape4 ,it is   
not free4 ,this is the root trouble     
always when two  arts overlap4 ,art must
 be completely free to express its      
intuition  technically1 subject only to 
the inevitable restrictions of the      
technique proper to it4 ,from these     
restrictions it even gains1 since  the  
lines of simplification are to some     
extent determined1 and this  very       
determination helps the artist towards  
clear expression of a clear  intuition4 
,it would1 of course1 be absurd to say  
that music does not  express definite   
intuitions that are expressible through 
other media as  well4 8,i do not in the 
least agree with you that music cannot  
interpret  the universal nature of      
love10 writes ,tchaikovsky to ,nadejda  
von ,meck4  8,on the contrary1 ,i think 
only music is capable of doing so4 ,you 
say  words are necessary4 ,o no6 ,this  
is just where words are not needed1 and 

where they have no power2 a more        
eloquent language comes in1 which is    
music4 ,look at the poetical forms to   
which poets have recourse in order  to  
sing of love2 they simply usurp the     
spheres which belong inseparably  to    
music4 ,words clothed in poetical forms 
cease to be mere words2 they  become    
partly music#dd40 ,but if there is a    
restriction alien to the  art and       
imposed from without1 which prevents    
full expression in that  medium1 the    
result is bound to be more or less a    
failure4 ,the dramatic  episode and the 
verbal form in opera constitute such a  
restriction1  introducing a vein of     
unreality that is fatal to aesthetic    
expression4  ,in oratorio1 where the    
words demand a representation they do   
not get1  and where yet the music is    
bound by the words1 we feel the same    
thing4  ,even to take a poem and set it 
to music is almost bound to lead to     
aesthetic disappointment4 ,the intuition
 of the artist is not single  nor free4 

,the writer of the melody may recreate  
the intuition of the  poet1 he may try  
to express the same intuition in his    
setting1 but the  setting is none the   
less constrained by the words4 ,the     
musician is not  at liberty to form one 
clear intuition and give it free        
play#de4 ,the  form of the expression is
 already fixed in part1 and the         
knowledge  of this fixation forms a     
second intuition which generally        
obscures  and confuses the main one4    
,moreover both expressions appeal to the
  same sense1 that of hearing1 and this1
 apparently1 produces greater           
confusion1 more lack of clarity1 in the 
auditor4 ,the same fact accounts  for   
the unsatisfactoriness of music which   
moves out of its proper  sphere and     
endeavours to tell a definite story or  
paint a definite  scene4 ,the #ahab     
,overture1 fine though it is1 can never 
be said to be  pre-eminent as music2 nor
 can ,haydn's ,creation1 nor any of the 
music  that1 intentionally or           

unintentionally1 is not single-hearted1 
but  calls up visual images as well as  
depending on them4 ,this statement  does
 not constitute an indictment of        
programme-music4 ,the ,adagio  of       
,beethoven's ,fourth ,symphony cannot be
 thus lightly dismissed#df4  ,in        
,tchaikovsky's introspective letters we 
find most interesting  accounts of the  
inspiration from which he worked1 and an
 eloquent  defence of programme-music in
 general1 and his own ,fourth ,symphony 
in  particular#dg4 ,to ,n4 ,f4 von ,meck
 he writes#dh3 8,laroche is entirely    
opposed to a programme4 ,he thinks the  
composer should leave the hearer  to    
interpret the meaning of the work as he 
pleases2 that the programme  limits his 
freedom2 that music is incapable of     
expressing the concrete  phenomena of   
the physical and mental world4444 ,if   
you care to hear my  opinion on the     
subject1 ,i will give it in a few       
words4444 ,i think the  inspiration of a
 symphonic work can be of two kinds3    

subjective or  objective4 ,in the first 
instance it expresses the personal      
emotion of  joy or sorrow1 as when a    
lyric poet lets his soul flow out in    
verse4  ,here a programme is not only   
unnecessary1 but impossible4 ,it is very
  different when the composer's         
inspiration is stirred by the perusal of
  some poem1 or by the sight of a fine  
landscape1 and he endeavours to  express
 his impressions in musical forms4 ,in  
this case a programme is                
indispensable4444 ,to my mind1 both     
kinds of music have their raison  d'tre1
 and ,i cannot understand those who will
 only admit one of these  styles4 ,of   
course every subject is not equally     
suitable for a symphony1  any more than 
for an opera2 but1 all the same1        
programme-music can and  must exist4    
,who would insist1 in literature1 upon  
ignoring the epic and  admitting only   
the lyric element80    ,tchaikovsky     
seems to me to ignore the deepest side  
of music1 however2  that intuition of an

 ordered1 universal harmony which gives 
to ,bach his  pre-eminence4             
,programme-music1 then1 is not          
necessarily limited to any  great extent
 by that which it represents1 provided  
the representation  is sufficiently     
generalised to allow the music free     
scope4 ,but it is  always in danger of  
losing touch with the universal in      
over-emphasis of  the particular1       
becoming constrained by its subject4    
,moreover it loses  something of the    
freedom1 and independence of phenomenal 
existence1  which is the peculiar       
privilege of music and its unique       
prerogative  among the arts1 taking on  
something that belongs to painting or   
language4 ,in so far as the wrong       
technical medium is used1 just so far   
aesthetic expression fails4    ,these   
strictures do not apparently apply1 at  
any rate in the same  degree1 where two 
media appealing to two different senses 
are used  simultaneously4 ,we are       
accustomed to correlate sight and       

hearing  and to form through them a     
single intuition4 ,this may explain the 
extraordinary satisfyingness of the     
,russian ,ballet1 in spite of its       
frequent artificiality and the perverted
 themes and imagery that pass  unnoticed
 by the more healthy-minded public of   
,england4 ,the episodic  side1 made     
rhythmical and ordered in its           
choregraphic presentation1  parallels1  
but does not constrain in any great     
degree1 the musical  side4 ,in ,les     
,sylphides especially the same intuition
 is expressed in  two media4 ,the       
choregraphic artist has studied and     
followed out the  intuition of ,chopin1 
and has expressed it in a different     
medium4 ,but  music and dancing have    
much ground in common1 and consequently 
both  are capable of serving as the     
technical medium for one or the same    
intuition4 ,therefore ,les ,sylphides#di
 is more of an artistic whole  than     
almost any other compound aesthetic     
expression4 ,art must be free1  and if  

it use two media1 both must express the 
same intuition--this is  the root of the
 matter4 ,you may appeal simultaneously 
to two senses1  but you must do so in   
the medium proper to each sense and the 
intuition  must be capable of expression
 in those media4 ,to appeal to one sense
  through the medium proper to another  
is to court disaster4 ,we see that  this
 must be so if1 as is the case1 the     
aesthetic intuition has to  be founded  
on the particular before it can move out
 to discover the  universal2 and the    
particular cannot be faithfully         
represented if the  representation is   
not as clear-cut as the intuition and   
the reality  intuited4 ,art must be     
free1 for it is the intuition of a      
relation free  on one side at least1 and
 not finally satisfied till it finds    
rest  in mutuality1 love1 free on both  
sides4 ,it is the expression of our     
growing understanding of the meaning of 
,reality4    ,no doubt music1 like all  
other arts1 has been transformed from   

its  original character4 ,it is no      
longer imitative1 though it may have    
been  first roused by imitative         
attempts2 it is no longer dependent on  
the  harmony of bodily well-being1      
though it may first have expressed such 
harmony4 ,in it spirit calls to spirit1 
no longer body to body4 ,but this  need 
not surprise us4 ,the foundations       
contribute nothing to the beauty  of a  
building1 though upon them the building 
is reared4 ,all that is  greatest in man
 had a very humble beginning4 ,even his 
limbs and lungs  had a plebeian         
ancestry4    ,we have said nothing of   
the aesthetic problem of simple tone and
  colour4 ,though ,plato1 and even      
,hegel1 discussed these1 it is generally
  accepted to-day that they do not in   
fact exist in isolation from other      
suggestions4 ,they always derive a value
 from their suggested relations  and    
cannot be conceived apart from these4   
,such aesthetic value as  clear tones   
and colours have is due to the fact that

 the elements they  suggest and imply   
are few1 like a sunset sky1 and         
therefore they do not  demand any great 
degree of elimination in the mind of the
 observer4    ,neither have we dealt    
with the problem of the relative        
importance of  colour and form1 except  
implicitly4 ,the essential factor here  
is1 of  course1 that colour does not    
exist per se4 ,you cannot isolate a     
thing  from its colour1 in aesthetic    
intuition4 ,to begin with1 colour is the
  basis of visual perception1 for the   
light by means of which the eye         
perceives an object must be of some     
definite series of wave-lengths of      
certain amplitudes balanced against one 
another in some definite manner  through
 the selective absorption of that       
object1 and wave-length is the  physical
 basis of colour4 ,then1 secondly1      
colour belongs to1 and is  an integral  
part of form4 ,form is not mere shape2  
it is determined by  tone 7or           
wave-amplitude7 and colour 7or          

wave-frequency7 as well as by  outline2 
and these are essential factors in the  
unity and order of the  whole1 and so   
are essential factors of the intuition4 
,what we have said1 then1 of symmetry   
and geometric form1 and of  clearness of
 expression1 together with what we have 
said of the  elimination that is        
involved in aesthetic intuition1 really 
covers the  problem4    ,together1 yet  
each in its own way1 colour and form    
arouse in us the  sense of unity and    
appeal to us as being in harmony with   
the intuition  derived from other       
particulars2 that in the world1 under   
all its  apparent multiplicity1 there   
subsists a unity which relates all      
things  together4      ,,cambridge3     
,,printed ,,by ,j4 ,b4 ,,peace1 ,m4,a41 
,,at ,,the ,,university ,,press4        
,,footnotes3    #a ,bosanquet1 ,hist4   
,aesth4 p4 #ah4    #b ,ibid4 p4 #adh4   
#c ,g4 ,vico1 ,scienza nuova seconda1   
,elementi liii1 quoted in ,croce's      
,aesthetic4    #d ,bosanquet1 ,hist4    

,aesth4 p4 #bfg1 seq4    #e ,croce1     
,aesthetic1 trs4 ,ainslie1 p4 #cjc4     
#f ,wildon ,carr1 ,the ,philosophy of   
,croce1 p4 #ig4    #g ,the clearest     
summary of ,croce's position is to be   
found in the  brief third section of the
 first part of his ,philosophy of the   
,practical4 ,prof4 ,wildon ,carr also   
has given a very clear account  of      
,croce's philosophy as a whole in his   
book on ,the ,philosophy of  ,benedetto 
,croce4    #h ,philosophy of the        
,practical1 p4 #eia4    #i ,philosophy  
of the ,practical1 pp4 #beh-bfa4    #aj 
,this is not to condemn programme music 
altogether1 for much of the  best       
programme music does not attempt to     
paint a scene in such a way as  to call 
up visual images4 ,vide infra4    #aa   
,cf4 the work of the psychoanalytic     
school1 especially ,jung's  ,psychology 
of the ,unconscious and ,rivers' ,dreams
 and ,primitive  ,culture4    #ab       
,lyly's ,campaspe4    #ac ,g4           
,macdonald1 ,phantastes4    #ad         

,evolution and ,spiritual ,life and     
,evolution and the ,doctrine of  the    
,trinity4    #ae ,evolution and         
,spiritual ,life4    #af ,opp4 citt4    
passim4    #ag ,evolution and the       
,doctrine of the ,trinity4    #ah ,i    
make no apology for not entering here on
 any discussion of how  ,god can be     
,love4 ,i have endeavoured to offer     
suggestions on this matter  in my       
earlier books1 and especially in        
,evolution and the ,doctrine of  the    
,trinity4    #ai ,evolution and the     
,doctrine of the ,trinity1 ch4 ,,iii4   
#bj ,evolution and the ,doctrine of the 
,trinity1 ch4 ,,iii4    #ba ,ibid4 ,see 
also ,strong1 ,the ,origin of           
,consciousness4    #bb ,bosanquet1      
,history of ,aesthetic1 p4 #cg4    #bc  
,mc,dowall1 opp4 citt4    #bd ,evolution
 and ,spiritual ,life4    #be ,evolution
 and ,spiritual ,life1 ch4 ,,vi1 and    
,evolution and the  ,doctrine of the    
,trinity1 ch4 ,,vi4    #bf ,croce1      
,logic1 p4 #bgi4    #bg ,ibid4 p4 #caj4 

#bh ,croce1 ,logic1 pp4 #cbd-cbe4    #bi
 ,mc,dowall1 opp4 citt4    #cj ,the     
,psychology of the ,unconscious4    #ca 
,dreams and ,primitive ,culture4    #cb 
,for the exact sense in which these     
words are used1 and for their           
implications in regard to ,god's        
creative activity1 see ,evolution and   
the ,need of ,atonement4    #cc ,a word 
may be said concerning the personal     
relationship of fear  and hate4 ,here in
 self-defence the #8other' is not       
regarded as in  personal relation to the
 person threatened1 at all events in    
early  stages of development2 he is as  
external as a flood or a precipice4     
,nevertheless in fear and hate1 when    
they have reached a high stage of       
development1 there is a feeling of      
personal relation4 ,but only in one     
sense can this relation be termed       
personal2 the #8other' is recognised  as
 a person1 but in concentrating our     
attention on the things in him we  fear 
and hate we concentrate it on his       

#8otherness'--on his lack of any  but an
 external relation to us4 ,there is     
nothing reciprocal2 we refuse  to give  
or receive4 ,it is this externality of  
relation that makes hate  and fear so   
poignant and so bitter4    #cd ,cf4     
,evolution and the ,need of ,atonement1 
ch4 ,,iv4 et passim4    #ce ,mc,dowall1 
opp4 citt4 passim4    #cf ,for detailed 
consideration of the nature of          
evolutionary process  in material       
conditions reference may be made to my  
earlier works1 to  which the present    
essay constitutes a postscript4    #cg  
,even though there may be a mating-call4
    #ch ,i believe that ,i am right in  
saying that it is not until the         
,neolithic period that human 7female7   
images are found1 and some of  these are
 probably divinities1 though ,dr ,a4 ,c4
 ,haddon informs me that  there are     
,neolithic paintings of human beings on 
rocks in ,spain which  presumably do not
 represent divinities4    #ci ,really1  
geometric art seems to have arisen      

nearly contemporaneously  with          
representative art1 for patterns of     
considerable complexity and  symmetry   
are found in the later palaeolithic     
period4    #dj ,though the              
representation of an eye is frequently  
included in  the pattern as a           
counter-charm1 and indeed many of the   
patterns may  originally have had a     
magical significance1 though most seem  
to be  merely inspired by woven         
basket-work and the like4    #da ,fra   
,lippo ,lippi4    #db ,i understand that
 ,purcell's ,fairy ,queen has just been 
played at  ,cambridge with draped scenes
 only4    #dc ,tchaikovsky1 letter to   
,n4 ,f4 von ,meck1 ,nov4 #bgth1 #ahgi4  
#dd ,tchaikovsky1 letter to ,n4 ,f4 von 
,meck1 ,feb4 #ith1 #ahgh4    #de        
,tchaikovsky's letters to ,n4 ,f4 von   
,meck give an interesting  insight into 
the process by which the intuition comes
 to the composer1  and his method of    
working it out4 ,see especially the     
letters of ,feb4  #agth1 ,march #eth1   

and ,june #bdth1 #ahgh4    #df ,if one  
can say that it has a programme and not 
simply an  inspiration4    #dg ,letter  
to ,taneiev1 ,march #bgth1 #ahgh4    #dh
 ,dec4 #eth1 #ahgh4    #di ,petrouchka  
is said to be equally homogeneous1 but  
,i have not seen  it1 and ,carnaval     
approaches this level4