time, make all matter gay. Even the corpse has
its own beauty. But besides this general grace
diffused over nature, almost all the individual
forms are agreeable to the eye, as is proved by
our endless imitations of some of them, as the
acorn, the grape, the pine-cone, the wheat-ear, the
egg, the wings and forms of most birds, the lion's
claw, the serpent, the butterfly, sea-shells, flames,
clouds, buds, leaves, and the forms of many trees,
as the palm.

For better consideration, we may distribute the
aspects of Beauty in a threefold manner.

1. First, the simple perception of natural forms
is a delight. The influence of the forms and ac-
tions in nature is so needful to man, that, in its
lowest functions, it seems to lie on the confines of
commodity and beauty. To the body and mind
which have been cramped by noxious work or
company, nature is medicinal and restores their
tone. The tradesman, the attorney comes out of
the din and craft of the street and sees the sky
and the woods, and is a man again. In their eter-
nal calm, he finds himself. The health of the eye
seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired,
so long as we can see far enough.

But in other hours, Nature satisfies by its loveli-
ness, and without any mixture of corporeal benefit.
I see the spectacle of morning from the hill-top

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