fure, I believe, it is fo. We know that the Soul is, but we scarce know what it is; every Judge of Beauty can point out Grace; but no one that I know of has ever yet fixt upon a Definition for it. Grace often depends on fome very little Incidents in a fine Face; and in Actions, it confifts more in the Manner of doing Things, than in the things themselves. It is perpetually varying its Appearan→ ces, and is therefore much more difficult to be confidered, than any thing fixt and steady. While you look upon one, it steals from under the Eye of the Obferver; and is fucceeded perhaps by another, that flits away as foon, and as imperceptibly. It is on this Account that Grace is better to be ftudied in Corregio's, Guido's, and Raphael's Pictures, than in real Life. Thus, for Inftance, if I wanted to discover what it is that makes Anger graceful, in a Sett of Features full of the greatest Sweetness; I fhould rather endeavour to find it out in Guido's St. Michael, than in Mrs. P**t's Face, if that ever had any Anger in it; because, in the pictured Angel, one has full Leifure to confider it; but, in the living one, it would be too tranfient and changeable to be the Subject of any fteady Obfervation. Horace thought it fo far from being explicable, that he does not even venture to give it any Name, in fome very pretty Lines of his on this Subject. Quò fugit Venus, heu ! quòve Color? Decens Quò motus? Quid habes illius, illius, Quæ fpirabat amores, Quæ me furpuerat mihi ? - Lib. iv, Od. 13. 20. But But though one cannot punctually fay what Grace is, we may point out the Parts and Things in which it is most apt to appear. The chief Dwelling-place of Grace is about the Mouth; though, at Times, it may vifit every Limb or Part of the Body. But the Mouth is the chief Seat of Grace [s]; as much as the chief Seat for the Beauty of the Paffions is in the Eyes. In a very graceful Face, by which I do not fo much mean a majestic, as a soft and pleafing one, there is now-and-then (for no Part of Beauty is either fo engaging, or fo uncommon) a certain Delicioufness that almost always lives about the Mouth, in fomething not quite enough to be called a Smile, but rather an Approach toward one; which varies gently about the different Lines there, like a little fluttering Cupid; and, perhaps, fometimes difcovers a little Dimple, that after juft lightening upon you disappears, and appears again by Fits. This I take to be one of the moft pleafing Sorts of Grace of any; but you will understand what I mean by your own Memory, better than by any Expreffions I could poffibly use to defcribe it. The Grace of Attitudes may belong to the Pofition of each Part, as well as to the Carriage or Dif [s] Thus when the French use the Expreffion of une bouche fort gracieufe, they mean it properly of Grace; but when they fay, des yeux tres gracieux, it then falls to the Share of the Paffions; and means kind or favourable. pofition pofition of the whole Body; but how much more it belongs to the Head, than to any other Part, may be seen in the Pieces of the most celebrated Painters; and particularly, in thofe of Guido; who has been rather too lavish in beftowing this Beauty on almost all his fine Women, whereas Nature has given it in fo high a Degree but to very few. The Turns of the Neck are extremely capable of Grace; and are very easy to be observed, and very difficult to be accounted for. How much of this Grace may belong to the Arms and Feet, as well as to the Neck and Head, may be seen in dancing; but it is not only in genteel Motions, that a very pretty Woman will be graceful; and Ovid (who was so great a Master in all the Parts of Beauty) had very good Reason for faying [t], That when Venus, to please her Gallant, imitated the hobbling Gait of her Husband, her very Lamenefs had a great deal of Prettiness and Grace in it. "Every [u] Motion of a graceful Woman (fays another Writer of the fame Age) is full of Grace." [] Nec Venus oranti (neque enim Dea mollior ulla eft) Ruftica Gradivo difficilifve fuit; Ah quoties lafciva pedes rififfe mariti Dicitur, & duras arte vel igne manus ! Marte palam, fimulat Vulcanum: imitata decebat ; Ovid. de Arte Amandi, 2. 570. [u] Illam, quicquid agit, quoquò vestigia vertit, Componit furtim fubfequiturque decor. She defigns nothing by it perhaps, and may even not be fenfible of it herself; and indeed she should not be fo too much ; for the Moment that any Gesture or Action appears to be affected, it ceases to be graceful. Horace [x] and Virgil feem to extend Grace fo far, as to the Flowing of the Hair; and [y] Tibullus, even to the Dress of his Mistress; but then he affigns it more to her Manner of putting on, and appearing in whatever she wears, than to the Drefs itfelf. It is true, there is another wicked Poet, who has faid (with much lefs Decency,) "that Dress is the "better [z] Half of the Woman." There are Two very diftinét (and, as it were, oppofite) Sorts of Grace; the Majeftic, and the Fa [x] Crine decorum. Horace, lib. i. Od. 32. 12. Intonfofque agitaret Apollinis aura capillos. Id. Epod. 15. 9. Ipfe jugis Cynthi graditur ; mollique fluentem Fronde premit crinem fingens, atque implicat auro: Tela fonant humeris. Haud illo fegnior ibat Æneas; tantum egregio decus enitet ore. Virgil. Æn. iv. 150. And again of the fame : Os humerofque Deo fimilis: namque ipfe decoram Cæfariem nato genetrix, lumenque juventæ Purpureum, & lætos oculis afflârat honores. Æn. i. 591. [y] Seu folvit crines, fufis decet effe capillis Talis in eterno felix Vertumnus Olympo Tibullus, lib. iv. El. 2. 14. [x] Pars minima eft ipfa puella fui. Ovid. miliar; miliar; I should have called the latter by the Name of Pleafing, had not I been afraid of a Tautology; for Grace is Pleafingness itself: The former belongs chiefly to the very fine Women; and the latter, to the very pretty ones; That is the more commanding, and This the more delightful and engaging. The Grecian Painters and Sculptors used to express the former most strongly in the Looks and Attitudes of their Minerva's; and the latter, in thofe of Venus. Xenophon, in his Choice of Hercules (or, at least, the excellent Tranflator of that Piece) has made juft the fame Diftinction in the Perfonages of Wifdom and Pleasure; the former of which he describes as moving on to that young Hero, with the majestic Sort of Grace; and the latter, with the familiar. Graceful, yet each with different Grace they move; for the for the The strongest Examples of each kind that I ever remember to have feen, was Lady S * * majestic Sort of Grace; Lady R*** familiar; and Mrs. B ***, for each, at different Times; and sometimes for both of them united and blended together. But not to have you imagine, that I am inclined to confine this Part of Beauty only to Perfons of Quality and Diftinction; I fhall just add, that we meet it, not unfrequently, even on the Stage; and [a] Choice of Hercules, stan. iii. D VOL. I. particu |