VII. On Beauty

"La beaute' pour moi c'est la divinite' visible, c'est le bonheur
palpable, c'est le ciel descendu sur terre."
--Theophile Gautier


Beauty, they say, is but skin-deep. That is quite deep enough to enslave
mankind. As a matter of fact, it is much deeper: for, to say nothing of
health and good-spirits,

Beneath true beauty lies an admirable or a loveable character. And
yet--or, perhaps, and therefore--

If by some mischance beauty should arouse our resentment, with what
different eyes we regard it!

* * *

The feeling for beauty is probably more highly developed in man than in
woman. (N. B. Perhaps this is the source of the beauty of women.)
Nevertheless,

It is a question that perhaps will never be settled, how much value
should be placed upon mere beauty. For