of them. In proportion to the space over which gradation extends, and to its invisible subtlety, is its grandeur; and in proportion to its narrow limits and violent degrees, its vulgarity. In Correggio, it is morbid in spite of its refinement of execution, because the eye is drawn to it, and it is made the most observable character of the picture; whereas natural gradation is for ever escaping observation to that degree that the greater part of artists in working from nature see it not, but either lay down such continuous lines and colours as are both disagreeable and impossible; or, receiving the necessity of gradation as a principle instead of a fact, use it in violently exaggerated measure: and so lose both the dignity of their own work, and, by the constant dwelling of their eyes upon exaggerations, their sensibility to that of the natural forms. So that we find the majority of painters divided between the two evil extremes of insufficiency and affectation; and only the greatest men capable of making gradation continuous and yet extended over enormous spaces and within degrees of narrow difference, as in the body of a strong light.

How

necessary in

From the necessity of gradation results what is commonly given as § 18. a rule of art, though its authority as a rule obtains only from its being Art. a fact of nature, that the extremes of high light and pure colour can exist only in points. The common rules respecting sixths and eighths, held concerning light and shade, are entirely absurd and conventional; according to the subject and the effect of light, the greater part of the picture will be, or ought to be, light or dark; but that principle which is not conventional, is that of all light, however high, there is some part that is higher than the rest; and that of all colour, however pure, there is some part that is purer than the rest; and that generally of all shade, however deep, there is some part deeper than the rest, though this last fact is frequently sacrificed in art, owing to the narrowness of its means. But on the right gradation or focussing of light and colour depends, in great measure, the value of both. Of this, I have spoken sufficiently in pointing out the singular constancy of it in the works of Turner. (Part II. Sect. II. Chap. II. § 17.) And it is generally to be observed that even raw and valueless colour, if rightly and subtlely gradated, will, in some measure, stand for light; and that the most transparent and perfect hue will be, in some measure, unsatisfactory if entirely unvaried. I believe the early skies of Raphael owe their luminousness more to

ness.

their untraceable and subtle gradation than to inherent quality of hue.

§ 19. Infinity Such are the expressions of infinity which we find in creation, of not rightly im.. plied by vast- which the importance is to be estimated, rather by their frequency than their distinctness. Let, however, the reader bear constantly in mind that I insist not on his accepting any interpretation of mine, but only on his dwelling so long on those objects, which he perceives to be beautiful, as to determine whether the qualities to which I trace their beauty, be necessarily there or not. Farther expressions of infinity there are in the mystery of nature, and, in some measure, in her vastness; but these are dependent on our own imperfections, and therefore, though they produce sublimity, they are unconnected with beauty. For that which we foolishly call vastness is, rightly considered, not more wonderful, not more impressive, than that which we insolently call littleness; and the infinity of God is not mysterious; it is only unfathomable; not concealed, but incomprehensible; it is a clear infinity, the darkness of the pure unsearchable sea.

CHAPTER VI.

OF UNITY, OR THE TYPE OF THE DIVINE COMPREHENSIVENESS.

"ALL things," says Hooker, " (God only excepted) besides the nature § 1. The general conception which they have in themselves, receive externally some perfection from of divine Unity. other things." Hence the appearance of separation or isolation in anything, and of self-dependence, is an appearance of imperfection: and all appearances of connection and brotherhood are pleasant and right, both as significative of perfection in the things united, and as typical of that Unity which we attribute to God, and of which our true conception is rightly explained and limited by Dr. Brown in his XCII. lecture; that Unity which consists not in his own singleness or separation, but in the necessity of his inherence in all things that be, without which no creature of any kind could hold existence for a moment. Which necessity of divine essence I think it better to speak of as Comprehensiveness, than as Unity; because Unity is often understood in the sense of Oneness or Singleness, instead of Universality; whereas the only Unity which by any means can become grateful or an object of hope to men, and whose types therefore in material things can be beautiful, is that on which turned the last words and prayer of Christ before his crossing of the Kidron brook. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee."

of all things is

And so there is not any matter, nor any spirit, nor any creature, but § 2. The glory it is capable of an unity of some kind with other creatures; and in that their Unity. Unity is its perfection and theirs, and a pleasure also for the beholding of all other creatures that can behold. So the Unity of Spirits is partly

§ 3. The several kinds of

in their sympathy, and partly in their giving and taking, and always in their love and these are their delight and their strength; for their strength is in their co-working and army fellowship, and their delight is in the giving and receiving of alternate and perpetual good; their inseparable dependency on each other's being, and their essential and perfect depending on their Creator's: and so the Unity of earthly creatures is their power and their peace; not like the dead and cold peace of undisturbed stones and solitary mountains; but the living peace of trust, and the living power of support; of hands that hold each other and are still and so the unity of matter is, in its noblest form, the organization of it which builds it up into temples for the spirit; and in its lower form, the sweet and strange affinity, which gives to it the glory of its orderly elements, and the fair variety of change and assimilation that turns the dust into the crystal, and separates the waters that be above the firmament from the waters that be beneath: and in its lowest form, it is the working and walking and clinging together that gives their power to the winds, and its syllables and soundings to the air, and their weight to the waves, and their burning to the sunbeams, and their stability to the mountains, and to every creature whatsoever operation is for its glory and for others' good.

all

Now of that which is thus necessary to the perfection of all things, appearance, sign, type, or suggestion must be beautiful, in whatever matter it may appear. The appearance of some species of Unity is, in the most determined sense of the word, essential to the perfection of beauty in lines, colours, or forms.

But of the appearances of Unity, as of Unity itself, there are several Unity. Subjec. kinds which it will be found hereafter convenient to consider separately. tional. Origi- Thus there is the unity of different and separate things, subjected to quence, and of one and the same influence, which may be called subjectional Unity;

nal. Of Se

Membership. and this is the Unity of the clouds, as they are driven by the parallel

winds, or as they are ordered by the electric currents; this the unity of the sea waves, this of the bending and undulation of the forest masses; and in Creatures capable of will it is the Unity of Will or of Impulse. And there is Unity of Origin, which we may call Original Unity, which is of things arising from one spring and source, and speaking always of this their brotherhood: and this in matter is the Unity of the branches of the trees, and of the petals and starry rays of flowers, and of the

beams of light; and in spiritual creatures it is their filial relation to Him from whom they have their being. And there is Unity of Sequence, which is that of things that form links in chains, and steps in ascents, and stages in journeys; and this, in matter, is the unity of communicable forces in their continuance from one thing to another; and it is the passing upwards and downwards of beneficent effects among all things, the melody of sounds, the continuity of lines, and the orderly succession of motions and times. And in spiritual creatures it is their own constant building up, by true knowledge and continuous reasoning, to higher perfection, and the singleness and straight-forwardness of their tendencies to more complete communion with God. And there is the Unity of Membership, which we may call Essential Unity, which is the Unity of things separately imperfect into a perfect whole; and this is the great Unity of which other unities are but parts and means: it is in matter the harmony of sounds and consistency of bodies, and among spiritual creatures, their love and happiness and very life in God

Now of the nature of this last kind of unity, the most important § 4. Unity of whether in moral or in those material things with which we are at pre- How secured. Membership.

sent concerned, there is this necessary to be observed; that it cannot exist between things similar to each other. Two or more equal and like things cannot be members one of another, nor can they form one, or a whole thing. Two they must remain, both in nature and in our conception, so long as they remain alike, unless they are united by a third different from both. Thus the arms, which are like each other, remain two arms in our conception. They could not be united by a third arm; they must be united by something which is not an arm, and which, imperfect without them as they without it, shall form one perfect body; nor is unity even thus accomplished, without a difference and opposition of direction in the setting on of the like members. Therefore among all things, which are to have unity of membership one with another, there must be difference or variety; and though it is possible that many like things may be made members of one body, yet it is remarkable that this structure appears characteristic of the lower creatures, rather than the higher, as the many legs of the caterpillar, and the many arms and suckers of the radiata; and that, as we rise in order of being, the number of similar members becomes less, and their struc