Beauty First published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, December 1823: signed ‘A’. Reprinted in Solitary Hours, 1826, pp. 82-95. This is the version followed here. This oddly vitriolic little essay caught the eye of Sara Coleridge, who wrote (but did not publish) a riposte in 1826. O n the disadvantages resulting from the possession of beauty’ is printed as part of an Appen­ dix (The essays of Sara Coleridge’) in Bradford Keyes Mudge (1989), Sara Coleridge} a Victorian Daughter: her Life and Essays, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, pp. 187-200. Mudge believes, wrongly, that the ‘sprightly morceau’ by Caroline Bowles referred to by Coleridge is Chapter 3 of Chapters on Churchyards; the context of her reference makes it quite clear that ‘Beauty’ was the piece.

doi:10.4324/9780429459375-98

Chapter

Beauty First published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, December 1823: signed ‘A’. Reprinted in Solitary Hours, 1826, pp. 82-95. This is the version followed here. This oddly vitriolic little essay caught the eye of Sara Coleridge, who wrote (but did not publish) a riposte in 1826. O n the disadvantages resulting from the possession of beauty’ is printed as part of an Appen dix (The essays of Sara Coleridge’) in Bradford Keyes Mudge (1989), Sara Coleridge} a Victorian Daughter: her Life and Essays, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, pp. 187-200. Mudge believes, wrongly, that the ‘sprightly morceau’ by Caroline Bowles referred to by Coleridge is Chapter 3 of Chapters on Churchyards; the context of her reference makes it quite clear that ‘Beauty’ was the piece.

Chapter

Beauty First published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, December 1823: signed ‘A’. Reprinted in Solitary Hours, 1826, pp. 82-95. This is the version followed here. This oddly vitriolic little essay caught the eye of Sara Coleridge, who wrote (but did not publish) a riposte in 1826. O n the disadvantages resulting from the possession of beauty’ is printed as part of an Appen dix (The essays of Sara Coleridge’) in Bradford Keyes Mudge (1989), Sara Coleridge} a Victorian Daughter: her Life and Essays, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, pp. 187-200. Mudge believes, wrongly, that the ‘sprightly morceau’ by Caroline Bowles referred to by Coleridge is Chapter 3 of Chapters on Churchyards; the context of her reference makes it quite clear that ‘Beauty’ was the piece.

ABSTRACT

Let us take a fair sample of this genera - not a perfect specimen; the botanist may select such a one for his herbal, but it would not so well answer our purpose in exemplifying human varieties. Let us suppose a child endowed with moderate abilities, an amiable dis position, and a decent share of beauty, and other children of the same family gifted in an equal proportion with mental qualifica tions, but wholly destitute of external charms, will not the fair attractive child be the most favoured, the best beloved, generally speaking, even of those parents who endeavour to be, and honestly believe they are, most conscientiously impartial? The same anxious cares may, it is true, be equally bestowed upon all - the same

tender and endearing epithets be applied to all - but the eye will linger longest on the sweet countenance of the lovely little one, the parental kiss will dwell more fondly on its rosy lip, and the voice, in speaking to it, will be involuntarily modulated to softer and more tender tones. I am not arguing that this preference, however involuntary it may be, is even then wholly defensible, or that, if knowingly, weakly yielded to, it is not in the highest degree cruel and inexcusable. I only assert, that it is in human nature; and waiving that side of the question, which, if analyzed, would involve a long moral discussion not necessarily connected with the present subject, I would simply observe, that if this unconscious, irresistible preference frequently influences even the fondest parents, how far more unrestrainedly does it manifest itself in the circle of friends, guests, relations, and casual visitors! How many indulgences and gratifications are obtained for the irresistible pleader! How many petitions granted for the remuneration of a kiss! How tenderly are the tears of contrition wiped away from eyes that look so beautifully remorseful! And all this, I firmly believe, if restrained by right feeling and firm principle from reach ing a blameable excess, is productive of good results only in the young mind, and that children thus happily constituted, thrive best (even in a moral sense) in that atmosphere of tender indulgence, and become eventually more amiable and equable, least selfish and exacting, in all the various circumstances and relations of life.