he was interred with the utmoft pri: "Son Esprit et par tout, mais, fon ven; but of those of a pi&ure, ftatue,. or building; and even of the actions, characters, or thoughts of men. In the greater part of these there may be almoft as many falfe beauties as there are real; according to the different taftes of nations,and men ; fo that if any one was to confider beauty in its fullest extent, it could not be done without the greatest confufion, I fhall therefore confine my fubject to visible beauty; and of that, to fuch only as may be called perfonal, or human beauty; and that again to fuch as is natural or real, and not fuch as is only national or cuftomary; for I would not have you, imagine that I would have anything to do with the beautiful thick lips of the good people of Bantam, or the exceffive fmall feet of the ladies of quality in China. I am apt to think, that every thing belonging to beauty (by which I need not repeat to you at every turn, that I mean, real perfonal beauty) would fall under one or other of these four heads; Colour, Form, Expreffion, and Grace. The two former of We would, caft a fhade over his vices, which were ftriking; let that defpotic jealouly which could bear no rival in literary fame; let that malignant irritability that made him impatient of all contradiction and criticism; let that ungenerous bigotry which made him perfevere in, and even repeat,his errors, when they had been palpably expofed; let all thefe be contemplated. with compat. fion, if they cannot be entirely buried in oblivion. He now refs from his labours of animofity and contention; and we can only hope that his works, in this part of his career, may not follow him! We fhall not enter into a circumftantial detail of his charac-which I fhould look, upon as the boter and conduct with refpe&t to religi on and morals, We fhall only observe, that his opposition to chriftianity was not only indecent and difio genuous, but was moreover, carried on with a degree of acrimony, fpite, bitterness and bigotry, which has not been perceivable in the writings of any deift, known to us, in the prefent age. In natural religion, though he feemed fometimes wavering, unde termined and inconfiftent, yet he never appears to have contracted the Aupid frenzy of atheism. dy, and the two latter as the foul of beauty: Though colour be the lowest of all the constituent parts of beauty, yet the moft obferved. For which there it is vulgarly the most striking, and is a very obvious reafon to be given, that every body can fee, and very few can judge;" the beauties of colour requiring mach lefs judgment than either of the other three, I fhall therefore have much less to say of it, than of each of the others; and shall only give you two or three observations relating to it. As to the colour of the body in ge>neral, the moft heautiful perhaps that ever was imagined, was that which Apelles expreffed in his famous Venus; and which, though the pia ure itself be loft, Cicero has in fome degree preferved to us in his excellent defcription of it. It was (as we learn from him) a fine red, beautifully intermixed and incorporated with white; and diffufed, in its due proportions, through each part of the body. Such are the defcriptions of a moft beauti. ful skin, in feveral of the Roman poets; and fuch often is the colouring of of Titian, and particularly in his fleep. Ing Venus, or whatever other beauty that charming piece was meant to teprefent. The reafon why thefe colours please fo much is, not only their natural fivelinefs,nor the much greater charms they obtain from their being properly blended together; but is alfo ow ing, in fome degree, to the idea they carry with them of good health; without which all beauty grows languid and lefs engaging; and with which it always recovers an additional life and luftre. As to the colour of the face, in particular, a great deal of its beauty is owing (befide the caules I have alrea dy mentioned) to variety, that being defigned by nature for the greaten concourfe of different colours of any part in the human body. Colours pleafe by oppofition, and it is in the face that they are the most diverfified, and the most opposed. You would laugh out, perhaps, if I was to tell you, that the fame thing which makes a fine evening, makes a fine face (I mean as to the particular part of beauty I am now fpeaking of) and yet this, I believe, is very true. The beauty of an evening fky, about the letting of the fun, is owing to the variety of colours that are fcattered along the face of the heavens. It is the fine red clouds, intermixed with white, and fometimes darker ones, with the azare bottom appearing here and there between them, which makes all that beautiful Icompofition that delights the eye fo noch and gives fuch a ferene pleafure to the heart. In the fame man-ner, if you confider fome beautiful faces, you may oblerve, that it is as much the fame variety of colours which gives them that pleasing look which is fo apt to attract the eye, and, but too often to engage the heart; for all this fort of beauty is refolvable into a proper variation of Beth-colour and red, with the clear bluenels of the veins pleasingly intermixed about the temples, and the going off of the cheeks, and let off by the mhades of full eye brows; and of the hair, when it falls in a proper manner round the face. It is for much the fame reafon that, the best landscape-painters have been generally obferved to choose the autumnal part of the year for their pieces, rather than the fpring. They prefer the variety of fhades and cofours, though in their decline, to all their freshnels and verdure in their infancy; and think all the charms and livelinefs,even of the fpring, more than compenfated by the choice oppofition, and richness of colours, that appear on almoft every tree in the autumn. Though one's judgment is fo apt to be guided by fome particular attachments (and that more, perhaps,in this part of beauty than any other) yet I am a good deal perfuaded that a complete brown beauty is really preferable to a perfect fair one, the bright brown giving a luftre to all the other colours,a vivacity to the eyes, and a richnefs to the whole look, which one feeks in vain in the whiteft and moft tranfparent skins. Raphael's moft charming Madonna is a brunett beauty; and his earlier Madonna's (thofe I mean of his middie ftile) are generally of a lighter and lefs taking complexion. All the beft artifs in the nobleft age of painting, about Leo the tenth's time, used this deeper and richer kind of colour. ing; and fear one might add, that the glaring lights introduced by Guido, went a great way toward the declenfion of that art; as the enfeebling of the colours by Carlo Marat (or, if you please, by his followers) hath fince almoft completed the fall of itin Italy. I have but one thing more to mention, before I quit this head; that I fhould chufe to comprehend fome things under this article of colour which are not perhaps commonly meant by that name. As that appearing foftnefs or filkinefs of fome fkins; that Magdalen look in fome fine faces after weeping that brightnefs, as well as tmi of the hair; that luftre of health, which fhines forth upon the features that luminoufnels which appears in fome eyes, and that fluid fire, or glistening, in others: fome of which are of a nature fo much fuperior to the common beauties of colour, that they make it doubtful whe ther they should not have been ranked under a higher clafs; and referved for the expreffion of the paffions: but but I would willingly give every thing its due, and therefore mention them here; because I think even the moft doubtful of them belong partly to this head, as well as partly to the other. FORM takes in the turn of each párt, as well as the symmetry of the whole body; even to the turn of an eye-brow, or the falling of the hair. Ifhould think too, that the attitude, while fixt, ought to be reckoned under this article: by which I do not only mean the pofture of the perfon, but the pofition of each part, as the turning of the neck, the extending of the hand, the placing of a foot; and fo on to the moft minute particulars. The general caufe of beauty, in the form or fhape, in both fexes, is proportion; or an union and harmony, in all the parts of the body. The diftinguishing character of beauty in the female form, is delicacy and foftnefs; and in the male, either apparent frength, or agility. The fineft exemplers, that can be feen for the former, is the Venus of Medici; and for the two latter, the Hercules, Farnese, and the Apollo Belvidere." There is one thing indeed in the Jaft of thefe figures, which exceeds the bounds of our prefent enquiry which I have heard an Italian artift call, Il fovra umano; and what we may call the tranfcendant,or celeftial. It is fomething diftinct from all human beauty, and of a nature greatly fuperior to it: fomething that feems like an air of divinity; which is expreft, or at leaft is to be traced out in but very few works of the artift; and of which scarce any of the poets have caught any ray in their deIcriptions (or perhaps even in their imaginations) except Homer and Vir gil, amongst the ancients; and our Shakefpear, and Milton, among the moderns. The beauty of the mere human form is much fuperior to that of colour; and it may be partly for this reafon, that when one is obferving the fineft works of the artifs at Rome (where there is fill the nobleft collection of any in the world) one feels the mind more ftruck,and more charmed with the capital ftatues, than with the pictures of the greatest mifters: one of the old Roman poets,in speaking of a very handsome man who was a candidate for the prize in fome of the public games, fays, that he was much expected, and much admired by all fpectators at his firft appearance; but that, when he flung off his robes, and difcovered the whole beauty of his fhape all together, it was fa fuperiory that it quite extinguished the beauties they had before fo much admired in his face. I have often felt much the fẩme effect in viewing the Venus of Medici. If you observe the face only, it appears extremely beautiful; but if you confider all the other elegancie of her make, the beauty of her face becomes lefs friking, and is almost loft in fuch a multiplicity of charms. Whoever would learn what makes the beauty of each part of the human body, may find it laid down, pretty much at large, by Felibien; or may In his Enlecliens, vol. II. page 14, 45. The chief of what he there fays on the beauty of the different parts of the female form, is as follows That the head should be well rounded; and look rather inclining to fmall than large. The forehead white,fmooth,and open (not with the hair growing down too deep upon it) neither flat nor prominent, but like the head, well rounded; and rather fmall in proportion than large. The hair, either bright black, or brown; not thin, but full and waving; and if it falls in moderate curls, the better. The black is particularly ufe ful for fetting off the whiteness of the neck and skin. The eyes black, chefnut or blue? clear, bright, and lively and rather large, in proportion, than fmall. The eye-brows, well divided, rather full than thin; femi-circular,and broader in the middle than at the ends; of a neat turn, but not format. The cheeks fhould not be wide; but should have a degree of plumpnefs, with the red and white finely blended together; and fhould look firm and foft. The ear fhould be rather fmall than large; well-folded, and with an agreable tinge of red. The may ftudy it with more pleafure to himself, in the finest pictures and fla. tues: and I am forced to have recourfe to them so often, becaufe in life we commonly fee but afmall part of the human body; most of it being either difguifed, or altered, by what we call drels. I was acquainted, for fome years, with a lady who has as pretty a made bead and neck as can be conceived, and never knew any thing of the matter till I happened one morning to catch her at her toilet, before she had deformed herself by putting on her head cloaths.. If a beautiful round-oak, with fo ine and frait a body, had a tent, or floping, building, coming down from the top of its trunk to the ground, all round it, and two or three sheets flung over the greatest part of its head, we should fcarce be able to know whether it was a beautiful tree or not: = The note Thould be placed To as to divide the face into two equal parts; fhould be of a moderate lize, fragt, and well fquared: Though fometimes a little rifing in the nofe, which is but juft perceivable, may give a very graceful look to it. The mouth fhould be fmall; and the lips, nor of equal thickness: they fhould be well-turned, fmall, rather than grofs; foft, even to the eye; and with a living red in them. A truly pretty mouth is like a rofebud that is beginning to blow. The teeth fhould be middle fized; white, well ranged, and even. The chin, of a moderate fize, white, foft, and agreably rounded. The neck hould be white, ftrait, and of a foft, eafy, and flexible make, rather long than fhort; lefs above, and encreasing gently towards the foul. ders. The whitenefs and delicacy of its skin should be continued, or rather go on improving to the bofom. The skin in general should be white, properly tinged with red; with an apparent foftnefs, and a look of thriving health in it. The thoulders fhould be white, gently fpread, and with a much fofter appearance of frength, than in those of men. and fuch is the circling hoop, that the women wear in fome countries, and the vaft wad of linnen that they carry upon their head, in others. The old Heathens used to cover the fineft ftatues of their Gods all over. with long robes on their greates feftivals: what a figure would the Venus of Medici, or the Apollo Belvedere make, in fuch a drefs. I do not, to this day,know whether. the famous lady of Loretto be well of ill fhaped; for,though I have feen her feveral times, I have never feen her without a fort of hoop petticoat, very much ftiffened with pearls and jewels, and reaching all down her body, quite from her neck to her feet. Queen Elizabeth might have been weil fhaped to as little purpose, or ill fhaped with as much fecurity in the vast fardingal, and puffed robes, that we ge nerally fee her (welled out with, in her pictures. (To be continued.) The arms fhould be white, round, firm, and folt; and more particularly fo from the elbow to the hands. The hand should un te infensibly with the arm; just as it does in the Ratue of the Venus of Medici. They fhould be long and delicate; and even the joints and nervous parts of them fhould be without either any hardness or drynefs. The fingers should be fine, long, round, and foft; fmall, leffening towards the tips of them: and the nails long, rounded at the ends, and transparent. The bofom fhould be white, and charming and the breafts equal in roundnefs, whitenefs, and firmnels; neither too elevated, nor too much depreffed; rifing gently, and very diftinctly feperated: in one word, juft like thofe of the Venus of Medici. The fides fhould be long and the hips wider than the fhoulders: and fhould turn off as they do in the fame Venus and go down rounding, and leffening gradually to the knee. The knee fhould be even, and well rounded; the legs ftrait, but varied by a proper rounding of the more fleshy part of them; and the feet finely turned, white and little. The The WILL. A Grecian Story, tranflated. A The pun&tually difcharged the duties of a good citizen. His fortune was below mediocrity. A fmall patrimony had fcarcely fufficed for the expences of his education. His fidelity to his friends, his tenderness to his parents, his tale for the sciences, his genius and ftriét integrity merited and acquired him the love and refpect of all his fellow citizens. While young, he had given falutary coun. fels to his country, and had served it with diftin&tion in its wars. different fects of philofophers contended amongst themselves for the honour of having him for a disciple. Athendorus refused to make a choice. Perhaps he was detered by their perpetual difputes. It may be he was afraid that by joining one fe&t, he would give offence to another; or perhaps he was contented to conduc himself through life like a true philofopher without being ambitious of the title. The wealthieft citizens of Athens were his friends. They were in vain defirous of making him amends for the injuftice of fortune. Philocles was the only perfon from whom he would receive the smalleft favour, even when strugling with extreme penury. Monimia, a young Athenian, indigent, but beautiful, gentle, modeft and virtuous, touched his heart. She was equally charmed with him. The horrors of poverty did not terrify them, and they were determined to join their hands. Content with little, honeft industry (upplied all their wants. They found a thousand pleafing means of rendering their burthen more light; and they mutually aided each other in fupport of it. The current of their days glided unruffled on, in the bofom of innocence and peace. They were happy. Happiness fo pure,would never have fuffered abatement; but death, cruel death! fnatched Athendorus from the arms of his inconfola. ble wife. He left her as a pledge of love, a daughter too young as yet to be fenfible of her misfortune, and for a jointure--a Will. Monimia, Aza her head covered with a veil which hardly concealed the excefs of her grief, holding her daughter in one hand, and the will of her departed hufband in the other, was conducted before the affembly of the Areopagus in the prefence of a multitude of ci tizens, anxious to hear read the will of a philofopher who had nothing to bequeath. They opened it, and found therein thefe words: "I demife to Philocles, the deareft of my friends, my wife and daughter, and defire he may marry the one, and portion the other." So fingular a will---a legacy fo little calculated to enrich the legatee, occafioned many pointed pleafantries. The Athenians, vivacious and fatirical, exercifed that poignant wit fo peculiar to them in ridiculing the memory of Athendorus. But their mirth was interrupt ed by the arrival of Pailocles, who eagerly breaking through the crowd, prefented himself before the judges. His temples crowned with flowers, and bearing in his hand the cup of libation. "O Athenians, cried he, "penetrated with grief for the death "of Athendorus, I went to his "tomb, I ornamented it with thofe "funeral gifts with which we deco"rate the fepulchres of those who "are immaturely torn from us. In "the fulness of my ferrow, prof"trate on the tomb of my friend, "I bathed it with my tears, I utter"ed groans and fighs. All the fa"culties of my foul were fufpended, " nay there were fome moments "when I imagined that my fpirit "was going to follow that of him "whom I lamented. Suddenly I "heard a fecret voice at the bottom "of my heart which faid to me, Is "it by cries, groans, tears, and un"availing forrow, thou meaneft to "honour the afhes of thy friend. "Athendorus was beniga, he feared "the gods, avoided the wicked, ef"chewed evil, and acted uprightly. "His virtues have entitled him to "the reward defined for the juft. "His fool at this moment actually "enjoys the pureft pleasures of Ely"fum. And thinkeft thou that in "thofe manfions of unclouded blifs "his gentle fpirit can feel a wish to "Doft difturb the quiet of his friend. |