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to mention juft now would, perhaps, appear far from being unintelligible to you. To own the

Truth, I have thought on this Subject (which is ufually rather viewed with too much Pleasure, than confidered with any thing of Judgment) more gravely at least, I dare fay, than ever you have: And if you were to provoke me a little farther, I do not know whether I could not lay down to you a fort of Scheme on it; which might go a good Way not only toward clearing up this, but moft of the other Difficulties that fo often occur in talking of it."-I fhould as foon think of diffecting a Rainbow, fays MILESIUS, as of forming grave and pun&ual Notions of Beauty. Who, for Heaven's Sake, can reduce to Rules, what is fo quick, and io variable, as to be shifting its Appearances every Moment, on the most delightful Faces?""And why are thofe Faces the most delightful, in which that happens?" fays CRITO. -Nay, that is one of the very things I could leaft pretend to account for, replied MILESIUS. I am fatisfied with feeing that they are fo; 'tis a Subject that I never yet had a fingle Defire to reafon upon; and I can very willingly leave it to you, to be a Philosopher in Love.-But seriously, interpofed TIMANTHES, turning toward CRITO, if you have ever found Leifure and Calmness enough to think steadily on fo uncertain, and fo engaging a Subject; why should not you oblige us with the Refult of your Thoughts upon it? Let me beg it of you, as a Favour to both of us; for I am fure it will be agreeable to both: And if you refufe me, I am refolved to join with MILESIUS in believing,

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lieving, that it is incapable of having any thing faid fyftematically, or even regularly, about it.” "You know, fays CRITO, how little I love to have all the Talk to myself; and what you propofe may take me up an Hour, or Two: But if I must launch out into fo wide a Subject, it will be very necessary, that I fhould begin with telling you what I chiefly propofe to confider, and what

not,

EVERY Object that is pleafing to the Eye,

when looked upon, or delightful to the Mind, on Recollection, may be called beautiful; fo that Beauty, in general, may stretch as wide as the visible Creation, or even as far as the Imagination can go; which is a fort of new or secondary Creation. Thus we fpeak not only of the Beauties of an engaging Prospect, of the rifing or setting Sun, or of a fine ftarry Heaven; but of thofe of a Picture, Statue, or Building; and even of the Actions, Characters, or Thoughts of Men. In the greater Part of thefe, there may be almost 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 Subject 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 customary; for I would not have you imagine, that I would

have

have any thing 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.

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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 thefe ¡Four Heads; Color, Form, Expreffion, and Grace. The Two former of which I fhall look upon as the Body, and the Two latter as the Soul, of Beauty.

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THO' Color be the lowest of all the conftituent Parts of Beauty, yet it is vulgarly the most ftriking, and the moft obferved. For which there is a very obvious Reason to be given; that "every Body can fee, and very few can judge;" the Beauties of Color requiring much lefs of Judgment, than, either of the other Three. I fhall therefore have much lefs to fay of it, than of each of the others; and fhall only give you Two or Three Obfervations, relating to it.

As to the Color of the Body in general, the most beautiful perhaps that ever was imagined, was that which Apelles expreffed in his famous Venus; and which, though the Picture itfelf be loft, Cicero has, in fome Degree preferved to us, in his [a] excellent Defcription of it. It was

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[a] Illud video pugnare te, fpecies ut quædam fit Deorum; quæ nihil concerti habeat, nihil folidi, nihil expreffi, nihil eminentis: fitque pura, levis, perlucida. Dicemus ergo idem, quod in Venere Coâ; corpus non eft, fed fimile corpori: nec ille fufus et candore mixtus

rubor

(as we learn from him) a fine Red, beautifully intermixed and incorporated with White; and diffused, in its due Proportions, through each Part of the Body. Such are the Descriptions of a most beautiful Skin, in [b] several of the Roman Poets; and fuch often is the Coloring of Titian, and particularly, in his fleeping Venus, or whatever other Beauty that charming Piece was meant to represent.

The Reason why thefe Colors please so much is not only their natural Livelinefs, nor the much greater Charms they obtain from their being properly blended together, but is alfo owing in some Degree to the Idea they carry with them of good Health [c]; without which, all Beauty grows

rubor fanguis eft, fed quædam fanguinis fimilitudo. Cicero de Naturâ Deor. lib. i.

[b] Thus Virgil, in the Blush of his Lavinia ; Accepit vocem lacrymis Lavinia matris, Flagrantes perfufa genas; cui plurimus ignem Subjecit rubor, & calefaca per ora cucurrit: Indum fanguineo veluti violaverit oftro Si quis ebur, aut mixta rubent ubi lilia multâ Alba rofa; tales virgo dabat ore colores. Æn. xii. 69. Guid, in his Narciffus ;

Impubefque genas, et eburnea colla, decufque

Oris; & in niveo mittum candore ruborem. Met. iii.

And Tibullus, in his Apollo ;

Candor erat, qualem præfert Latonia luna;

Et color in niveo corpore purpureus.

Ut juveni primum virgo deducta marito
Inficitur teneras ore rubente genas;

Ut quum contexunt amaranthis alba puellæ
Lilia; & autumno candida mala rubent.

[423.

Lib. ii.

[El. 3. 11.

[c] Venuftas et pulchritudo corporis fecerni non poteft à valetudine. Cicero de Officiis, lb. i. $95.

languid

languid and lefs engaging; and with which it always recovers an additional Life and Lustre.

As to the Color of the Face in particular, a great deal of its Beauty is owing (befide the Caufes I have already mentioned) to Variety; that being defigned by Nature for the greatest Concourse of different Colors, of any Part in the human Body. Colors please by Opposition; and it is in the Face, that they are the most diversified, 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 speaking of;) and yet this, I believe, is very true.

The Beauty of an Evening Sky, about the Setting of the Sun, is owing to the Variety of Colors that are scattered along the Face of the Heavens. It is the fine red Clouds, intermixed with white, and fometimes darker ones, with the azure Bottom appearing here and there between them, which make all that beautiful Compofition, that delights the Eye so much, and gives such a ferene Pleasure to the Heart. In the fame Manner, if you confider fome beautiful Faces, you may observe, that it is much the fame Variety of Colors, which gives them that pleafing Lock; which is so apt to attract the Eye, and but too often to engage the Heart. For all this Sort of Beauty is refolvable into a proper Variation of Flesh Color and Red, with the clear Blueness of the Veins, pleasingly intermixed about the Temples

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