far, as to the Flowing of the Hair; and [y] Tibullus, even to the Drefs of his Miftrefs; but then he affigns it more to her Manner of putting on, and appearing in whatever the wears, than to the Drefs itself. It is true, there is another wicked Poet, who has faid (with much less Decency,) "that Dress is the better [z] Half of the Wo"man." There are Two very diftin&t (and, as it were, oppofite) Sorts of Grace; the Majeftic, and the Familiar; I fhould 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 exprefs 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 defcribes as moving on to that young Hero, with [y] Seu folvit crines, fufis decet effe capillis; [x]Pars minima eft ipfa puella fui. Ovid. the the majestic Sort of Grace; and the latter, with the familiar. Graceful, yet each with different Grace they move; This ftriking facred Awe,that fofter winning Love[a]. The strongest Examples of each kind that I ever remember to have feen, was Lady S ***, for the majestic Sort of Grace; Lady_R * * *, for the familiar; and Mrs. B*** for each, at different Times; and sometimes for both of them united and blended together. 2 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 particularly, in that Sort of Dances which are meant to exprefs Characters and Paffions; and in which you may eafily recollect how much Comargo excelled, for the nobler Sort of Grace; and Foffanine, for the more tender and pathetic. There is no Poet I have ever read, who feems to me to understand this Part of Beauty fo well as our own Milton. He fpeaks of these Two Sorts of Grace very diftinctly; and gives the Majestic [] to his Adam, and both the Familiar and Majestic [a] Choice of Hercules, ftan. iii. bj Two of far nobler Shape, erect and tall, Truth jestic to Eve; but the latter in a less Degree than the former: In doing which he might either be led by his own excellent Judgment, or poffibly might have an Eye to what is faid by [c] Cicero, in speaking on this Subject. Though Grace is fo difficult to be accounted for in general; yet I have obferv'd Two particular Things, which (I think) hold univerfally in relation to it. Truth, Wifdom, Sanctitude fevere and pure; Milton's Parad Loft. B. iv. 298. I efpy'd thee, fair indeed and tall, Under a Plantain; yet methought less fair, Than that fmooth watry Image. (Eve, of Adam and herself.) lb. ver. 480. Her heav'nly Form Angelic, but more foft and feminine Her graceful Innocence; her ev'ry Air B. ix. 461. Grace was in all her Steps: Heav'nin her Eye; B. viii. 489. Speaking, or mute, all Comelinefs and Grace 16.223. It is obfervable, that in each of the Three laft Paffages, Milton feems to have had thofe Lines of Tibullus in his Thoughts: Illam, quicquid agit, quoquò veftigia vertit, Componit furtim fubfequiturque decor. [c]Venuftatem, muliebrem ducere debemus; dignitatem, virilem Cicero de Offic. lib. i, 130. 1 The The First is: "That there is no Grace, with, "out Motion;" by which I mean, without fome genteel or pleasing Motion, either of the whole Body, or of fome Limb, or at leaft, of fome Feature. And it may be hence, that Lord Bacon (and, perhaps, Horace,) [d] call Grace, by the Name of decent Motion; just as if they were equivalent Terms. Virgil in one Place points out the Majesty of Juno, and in another the graceful Air of Apollo [e], by only faying, that they move; and poffibly he means no more, when he makes the Motion of Venus [f] the principal thing, by which Eneas difcovers her under all her Difguife; though the Commentators, as usual, would fain find out a more dark and mysterious Meaning for it. All the best Statues are reprefented as in fome Action, or Motion; and the most graceful Statue in the World (the Apollo Belvedere) is so much so, [d] In Beauty, that of Favour is more than that of Colour; and that of gracious and decent Motion, more than that of Favour. Lord Bacon's Works, vol iii. p. 362. Quo fugit Venus, heu ! quove color? Decens to Colour) En. i. 46. En. iv. 147 (For fo, I think, this Paffage fhould be read; because the Epithet of graceful, cannot belong -Horace, lib. iv. Od. 13. 18. [e] Aft ego, quæ divûm incedo regina Ipfe jugis Cynthi graditur.--[f] Dixit ; & avertens rofeâ cervice refulfit; Ambrofiæque comæ divinum vertice odorem. Spiravere pedes veftis defluxit ad imos ; Et vera inceffu patuit Dea. Ille ubi matrem Agnovit, &c. En. i. 406. that that when one faces it at a little Distance, one is almost apt to imagine, that he is actually going to move on toward you. All graceful Heads, even in the Portraits of the best Painters, are in Motion; and very ftrongly in those of Guide in particular; which, as you may remember, are all either cafting their Looks up toward Heaven, or down toward the Ground, or fide-way, as regarding fome Object. A Head that is quite unactive, and flung flat upon the Canvas (like the Faces on Medals after the Fall of the Roman Empire, or the Gothic Heads before the Revival of the Arts) will be fo far from having any Grace, that it will not even have any Life in it. The Second Observation is: "That there can "be no Grace, with Impropriety;" or, in other Words, that nothing can be graceful, that is not adapted to the Characters of the Person. The Graces of a little lively Beauty would become ungraceful in a Character of Majesty; as the majestic Airs of an Emprefs would quite des ftroy the Prettiness of the former. The Vivacity that adds a Grace to Beauty in Youth, would give an additional Deformity to old Age; and the very fame Airs, which would be charming on fome Occafions, may be quite shocking when extremely mis-timed, or extremely mifplaced. This infeparable Union of Propriety and Grace feems to have been the general. Senfe of Mankind; as |