which poffibly may give its greatest Force and Pleafingness.

Whatever are the Caufes of it, this is certain, that Grace is the chief of all the conftituent Parts of Beauty; and so much so, that it seems to be the only one which is abfolutely and univerfally aḍmired: All the reft are only relative. Qne likes a brunette Beauty better than a fair one; I may love a little Woman, and you a large one, best; a Perfon of a mild Temper will be fond of the gentler Paffions in the Face, and one of a bolder Cast may choose to have more Vivacity and more vigorous Paffions expreffed there: But Grace is found in few, and is pleasing to all.

Grace, like Poetry, must be born with a Perfon; and is never, wholly, to be acquired by Art.

The most celebrated of all the ancient Painters, was pelles; and the most celebrated of all the Modern, Raphael: And it is remarkable, that the distinguifhing Character of each of them was Grace. Indeed, that alone could have given them so high a Pre-eminence over all their other Competitors.

Grace has nothing to do with the lowest Part of Beauty, or Color; very little with Shape, and very much with the Paffions"; for it is the who gives their highest Zeft, and the most delicious Part of their Pleafingness to the Expreffions of each of them.

All

All the other Parts of Beauty are pleasing in some Degree, but Grace is Pleafingness itself; and the old Romans in general seem to have had this Notion of it; as may be inferred from the original Import [b] of the Names which they used for this Part of Beauty.

The Greeks, as well as the Romans, must have been of this Opinion; when, in fettling their Mythology, they made the Graces the conftant Attendants of Venus, or the Caufe of Love; and, in Fact, there is nothing caufes Love fo generally, and fo irrefiftibly, as Grace. 'Tis like the Ceftus of the fame Goddefs, which was fuppofed to comprehend [i]

[b] Gratia, from gratus, or pleafing; and decor, from decens, or becoming;

[1] Η, κι από σήθεσφιν ελυσαίο κεσον ίμανία
Ποικιλοι" ενθα δε οἱ θελκτήρια παντα πολυκλα
Ενθ' ει μεν Φιλότης, εν δ' Ιμερος, εν δ' Οαριους»
Παρφασις, ἡ τ' έκλεψε τον συκα περ φρονέοντων
Τον ρα οἱ εμβαλε χερσιν, έπος τ' εφ77, εκ τ' ονομάζει
Τη νυν τουλον ἱμανία, τεῳ δ' εγκαλύεο κολπα,
Ποικιλον, ώ ενι πανία τετυκχαται· ουδέ σε φημι
Απρακίου με νειιτι, ό, τι άρεσε σησι μενοινας.

Ως φαλο, με δησεν δε βοωπις πολνια Ηρη
Μειδήσασα δ' επειτα έω εγκα7θείο κολπῳ.

Hom. II. §. 214.

She faid; with Awe divine, the Queen of Love
Obey'd the Sifter and the Wife of Jove:
And from her fragrant Breaft the Zone unbrac'd,
With various Skill and high Embroidery grac'd,
In this was ev'ry Art, and ev'ry Charm,
To win the wifeft, and the coldeft warm:
Fond Love, the gentle Vow, the gay Defire,
The kind Deceit, the ftill reviving Fire.

every thing that was winning and engaging in it; and befide all, to oblige the Heart to Love, by a fecret and inexplicable Force, like that of fome magic Charm.

t:

AS CRITO paufed here, both MILESIUS and TIMANTHES thanked him for his Account of a Thing, which they had never heard fo far accounted for before; and the latter added, that in his Divifion of the Parts which conftitute Beauty, he, at first, thought him guilty of an Omiffion, in not adding a Fifth, that of Motion. CRITO faid, that

Perfuafive Speech, and more perfuafive Sighs,
Silence that fpoke, and Eloquence of Eyes.
This on her Hand the Cyprian Goddess laid;
Take this, and with it all thy Wish, she said:

With Smiles fhe took the Charm; and fmiling pref

The pow'rful Ceffus to her fnowy breast.

Pope, Il. xiv. 256.

La Motte's Imitation of the fame Paffage is extremely good

too; though he adds a French Flourish at the End of it.

Ce tiffu, le fimbole & la caufe à la fois

Du pouvoir de l'amour, du charme de fes loix.
Elle enflamme les yeux, de cet ardeur qui touche;
D'un fourire enchanteur, elle anime la bouche:
Paffionne la voix, en adoucit les fons :

Prête ces tours heureux, plus forts que les raifons:
Infpire, pour toucher, ces tendres ftratagêmes;
Ces refus attirans, l'ecueil des fages mêmes:
Et la nature enfin

Tout ce qui perfuade,

voulut renfermer

En prenant ce tisïu,

& ce qui fait aimer.

que Venus lui prefente,

Junon n'étoit que belle, elle devient charmante.
Les graces, & les ris, les plaifirs, & les jeux,
Surpris cherchent Venus; doutent qui l'eft des deux
L' Amour même trompé, trouve Junon plus belle ;
Et, fon arc à la main, deja vole après elle.

he had not forgot that, but thought it was comprehended under the other Heads. For all genteel Motion (fays he) as I have been fo lately mentioning, falls under the Article of Grace; whence Horace calls it by it's true Name of graceful Motion; and common Motions are only fo many Variations of the Attitude, or Pofition of the particular Parts of the Body, and Features of the Face: The more fignificant of which, belong to the Article of the Paffions; and the lefs fignificant, may be comprehended under that of mere Form or Figure. And now I mention Horace, added he, it is obfervable enough, that he, and the other Roman Authors, have diftinct Names for each of my Four conftituent Parts of Beauty, which the Commentators and Dictionary-writers have been sometimes too apt to mistake for Names of Beauty in general. Thus for the First they use the Word Color; for the Second, Forma; for the Third, they seem to have had several distinct Names, according to the different Sorts of Paffions whofe Delightfulness they spoke of; for the Fourth, they ufed Gratia and Decor, when they spoke of it in general; and Venuftas or Dignitas, when they had a mind to be more particular. Their Word Nitor too [k], and fome others of a like Import, which feem fometimes to be used in general for Beauty,

[k]

Liparæi nitor Hebri. Horat. Lib. iii. Od. xii. 6.

Urit me Glyceræ nitor

Splendentis Pario marmore purius.

Id. Lib. i. Od. xix. 6.

The Epithets marmoreus, eburneus, and candidus, are all applied to Beauties by the Roman Poets; fometimes as to their Shape, and fomenes as to the Shiningness here spoken of.

belong

belong more properly to that fuperficial Sort of Beauty, which I mentioned in part under the First Head, in fpeaking of the filky Appearance of the Skin, and the Luminoufnefs in fome Eyes. But to talk of Things rather than Words; I fhould be willing to add fome general Obfervations that I have made, at Times, in thinking on this Subject.

It has been obferved by fome Writers, that there is naturally a great deal of Propriety in Pleasure; or, in other Words, that Pleasure is annexed by Nature to fuch Things as are proper for our Prefervation, and Pain to fuch as would be deftructive to

Thus Pleafure, for Example, is annexed to Food and Exercife; and Pain, to fuch Degrees of Abftinence and Indolence as would be hurtful. The fame may be obferved in the different Sort of Pleafures, adapted to each Stage of human Life. Thus in Infancy, when Growth is as neceffary as Support, we have more frequent Returns of Appetite, and more Pleasure in Feeding; and as frequent Feeding requires the more Exercife, the chief Pleafure of that Age confifts in the Love of Motion, and in a Series of little fportive Exercife. The fame is carried on in other Pleasures, equally adapted to the middle and latter Stages of Life; fo far, that wherever Nature has affixed a Pleasure, she feems to lead and conduct us toward fome Duty or other; either for the Prefervation of the Individual, or the Continuance of the Species.

There is a great deal of the fame Propriety to be -observed, in the Dispensation of Beauty and Deförmity.