measure, the Rule of their Beauty; almoft as far as Moderation in Actions is the Rule of Virtue.

Thus an exceffive Joy may be too boisterous in the Face to be pleasing; and a Degree of Grief, in fome Faces, and on fome Occafions, may be extremely beautiful.

Some Degrees of Anger, Shame, Surprize, Fear, and Concern, are beautiful; but all Excess is hurtful, and all Excess ugly,

Dulness, Aufterity, Impudence, Pride, Affectation, Malice, and Envy, are, I believe, always ugly.

The finest Union of Paffions, that I have ever obferved in any Face, confifted of a just Mixture of Modefty, Senfibility, and Sweetness; each of which, when taken fingly, is very pleafing; but when they are all blended together, in fuch a Manner as either to enliven or correct each other, they give almost as much Attraction, as the Paffions are capable of adding to a very pretty Face.

The prevailing Paffion in the Venus of Medici is Modefty: It is expreft by each of her Hands, in her Looks, and in the Turn of her Head. And by the way, I queftion whether one of the chief Reasons, why Side-faces please one more than Full ones, may not be from the former having more of the Air of Modefty than the latter. However that be, this is certain, that the best Artists usually chufe

to

to give a Side-face, rather than a Full one; in which Attitude, the Turn of the Neck too has more Beauty, and the Paffions more Activity and Force. Thus, as to Hatred and Affection in particular, the Look that was formerly supposed to carry an Infection with it from malignant Eyes, was a flanting Regard; like that which Milton gives to Satan [a], when he is viewing the Happiness of our first Parents in Paradise ; and the Fascination, or Stroke of Love, is most ufually, I believe, conveyed, at first, in a Side-glance.

It is owing to the great Force of Pleafingness, which attends all the kinder Paffions; "That Lovers do not only feem, but are really more beautiful to each other, than they are to the reft of the World;" because, when they are together, the moft pleafing Paffions are more frequently exerted in each of their Faces, than they are in either before the reft of the World. There is then (as a certain French Writer very well expreffes it) "A Soul upon their Countenances," which does not appear when they are absent from each other; or even when they are together, converfing with other Perfons, that are indifferent to them, or rather lay a Restraint upon their Features.

I dare fay you begin to fee the Preference, that the Beauty of the Paffions has over the Two Parts of Beauty firft-mentioned; and if any one was not thoroughly convinced of it, I should beg him to con

[•] - Afide the Devil turn'd For Envy; yet, with jealous Leer malign, Ey'd them afkance,

Paradife Loft, Book iv. 504.

fider

fider a little the following Particulars; of which every body must have met with several Instances, in their Life-time.

That there is a great deal of Difference in the fame Face, according as the Perfon is in a better or worse Humour, or in a greater or less Degree of Livelinefs.

That the best Complexion, the finest Features, and the exacteft Shape, without any thing of the Mind expreffed on the Face, is as infipid and unmoving, as the waxen Figure of the fine Duchefs of Richmond in Weftminster Abbey.

That a Face without any good Feature in it, and with a very indifferent Complexion, shall have a very taking Air; from the Sensibility of the Eyes, the general good-humoured Turn of the Look, and perhaps a little agreeable Smile about the Mouth. And thefe Three Things, I believe, would go a great way toward accounting 'for the Je ne sçai quoi, or that inexplicable Pleasingness of the Face (as they choose to call it,) which is fo often talked of, and fo little understood; as the greater Part, and perhaps all the reft of it, would fall under the laft Article, that of Grace.

I once knew a very fine Woman, who was admired by every body that faw her, and fcarce loved by any body. This Ineffectualnefs of all her Beauties was occafioned by a Want of the pleafing Paffi

ons

ons in her Face, an an Appearance of the difpleafing ones; particularly, thofe of Pride and Ill-nature. Nero, of old, feems [p] to have had this unpleafing Sort of Handfomeness, and probably from much the fame Cause; the Goodness of his Features being overlaid by the Uglinefs of the Paffions that appeared on his Face.

The fineft Eyes in the World, with an Excefs of Malice or Rage in them, will grow as fhocking as they are in that fine Face of Medusa, on the famous Seal in the Strozzi Family at Rome.

Thus you fee, that the Paffions can give Beauty, without the Affiftance of Color or Form; and take it away, where they have united the moft ftrongly to give it: And it was this that made me affert, at first, that this Part of Beauty was fo extremely fuperior to the other Two.

This, by the way, may help us to account for the Juftness of what Pliny afferts in fpeaking of the famous Statue of Laocoon, and his Two Sons: He fays, It was the finest Piece of Art in Rome; and [9] to be preferred to all the other Statues and Pictures, of which they had fo noble a Collection in his

[p] Suetonius, in his Life of that Emperor, fays, "That he had a "Look which might rather be called handfome than pleafing:" Vultu, pulchro magis quàm venufto. Cap. li.

[9] Sicut in Laocoonte, qui eft in Titi Imperatoris domo; opus, omnibus et picturæ et ftatuariæ artis præferendum. Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. xxxvi, cap. 5.

4

time.

time. It had no Beauties of Color, to vie with the Paintings; and other Statues there (as the Apollo Belvedere, and the Venus of Medici, in particular) were as finely proportioned as the Laocoon: But this had a much greater Variety of Expreffion, even than those fine ones; and it must be on that Account alone, that it could have been preferable to them, and all the rest.

Before I quit this Head, I would just remind you of Two Things that I have mentioned before: That the chief Rule of the Beauty of the Paffions, is Moderation; and that the Part in which they appear moft ftrongly, is the Eyes. It is there that Love holds all his tendereft Language: It is there that Virtue commands, Modefty charms, Joy enlivens, Sorrow engages, and Inclination fires the Hearts of the Beholders: It is there that even Fear, and Anger, and Confufion, can be charming. But all thefe, to be charming, muft be kept within their due Bounds and Limits; for too fullen an Appearance of Virtue, a violent and prostitute Swell of Paffion, a ruftic and overwhelming Modefty, a deep Sadness, or too wild and impetuous a Joy, become all either oppreffive or difagreeable.

The laft finishing and nobleft Part of Beauty is Grace; which every body is accustomed to speak of as a Thing [r] inexplicable; and, in a great Mea

[] Decorum quoddam arcanum, atque felicitas; cujus effectum in multis videmus quotidie; caufam verò reddere nemo poteft. Erafmus in his Philodoxus.

fure,