pleafing, for an obvious reafon. But elegance cannot exist in either alone, without a mixture of the other; for majefty without the beautiful, would be haughty and difgufting; and eafy acceffible beauty would lofe the idea of elegance, and become an object of contempt. The grandeur and beauty of the foul charm us univerfally, who have all of us implanted in our bofoms, even in the midft of mifery, paffions of high defcent, immenfe ambition, and romantic hopes. You may conceive an imprifoned bird, whofe wild notes, prompted by the approach of fpring, gave her a confufed notion of joy, although fhe has no diftinct idea of airy flights and fummer groves; fo when man emerging from wretchednefs affumes a nobler character, and the elevation of the human genius appears openly, we view, with fecret joy and delightful amazement, the fure evidence and pledge of our dignity: the mind catches fire by a train that lies within itself, and expands with confcious pride and merit, like à generous youth over the images of his country's heroes. Of the foftened and engaging part of elegance, I fhall have occafion to fpeak at large hereafter. Perfonal elegance or grace is a fugitive luftre, that never fettles in any part of the body, you fee it glance and difappear in the features and motions of a graceful perfon; it ftrikes your view; it hines like an exhalation: but the moment you follow it, the wandering flame vanishes, and immediately lights up in fomething else you may as well think of fixing the pleafing delufion of your dreams, or the colours of a diffolving rainbow. You have arisen early at times, in the fummer season, to take the advantage of the cool of the morning, to ride abroad. Let us fuppofe you have mistaken an hour or two, and just got out a few minutes before the rifing of the fun. You fee the fields and woods that lay the night before in obfcurity, attiring themfelves in beauty and verdure; you fee. a profufion of brilliants fhining in the dew; you fee the ftream gradually admitting the light into its pure bofom; aird you hear the birds, which are awakened by a rapture, that comes upon them from the morning. If the eaftern fky be clear, you fee it glow with the promife of a Hame that has not yet appeared; and if it be overcaft with clouds, you fee thofe clouds ftained by a bright red, bordered with gold or filver, that by the changes. appear volatile, and ready to vanish. How various and beautiful are thofe appearances, which are not the fun, but the diftant effects of it over different objects! In like manner the foul flings inexpreffible charms over the human perfon, and actions; but then the caufe is lefs known, because the foul for ever fhines behind a cloud, and is always retired from our fenfes. You conceive why elegance is of a fugitive nature, and exifts chiefly in motion: as it is communicated by the principle of action that governs the whole perfon, it is found over the whole body, and is fixed no where. The curious eye. with eagerness purfues the wandering. beauty, which it fees with furprize at every turn, but is never able to overtake. It is a waving flame, that, like the reflection of the fun from water, never fettles; it glances on you in every motion and difpofition of the body: its different powers through attitude and motion feem to be collected in dancing, wherein it plays over the arms, the legs, the breaft, the neck, and in fhort the whole frame: but if grace has any fixed throne, it is, in the face, the refidence of the foul, where you think a thousand times it is juft iffuing into view. Elegance aflumes to itself an empire equal to that of the foul; it rules and infpires every part of the body, and makes. ufe of all the human powers; but it par: ticularly takes the paffions under its charge and direction, and turns them into a kind of artillery, with which it does in finite execution. The paffions that are favourites with the graces are modefty, good nature, particularly when it is heightened by a fmall colouring of affection into sweetness, and that fine languor which feems to be formed of a mixture of ftill joy and hope. Surprize, fhame, and even grief and anger, have appeared pleafing under proper reftrictions; for it must be observed, that all excels is fhocking and difagreeabie; and that even the most pleafing paffions appear to moft advantage when the tincture they caft over the counte nance is enfeebled and gentle. The paffions that are enemies to the graces are, impudence, afectation, ftrong and harsh degrees of pride, malice, and aufterity. There ple adapt to the import of their own gef tures, without knowing how. AND There is an union of the fine paffions, but fo delicate that you cannot conceive any one of them feparate from the reft, called fenfibility, which is requifite in an elegant deportment; it chiefly refides in the eye, which is indeed the feat of the paffions. I have spoken of the paffions only as they are fubfervient to grace, which is the object of our prefent attention. The face is the mother-country, if I may call it fo, or the habitation of grace; and it, vifits the other parts of the body only as diftant provinces, with fome little partiality to the neck, and the fine bafis that fupports it; but the countenance is the very palace in which it takes up its refidence; it is there it revels through its various apartments :-you fee it wrapped in clouded majefty upon the brow; you difcover it about the lips hardly rifing to a fmile, and vanishing in a moment, when it is rather perceived than feen; and then by the most engaging viciffitudes, it enlivens, flames, and diffolves in the eye. You have, I fuppofe, all along obferved, that I am not treating of beauty, which depends on different principles, but of that elegance which is the effect of a delicate and awakened taste, and in every kind of form is the enchantment that attracts and pleases univerfally, even without the affiftance of any other charm; whereas without it no degree of beauty is charming. You have undoubtedly feen women lovely without much beauty, and handsome without being lovely; it is gracefulness caufes this variation, and throws a luftre over difagreeable features, as the fun paints a fhowery cloud with the colours of the rainbow. I before remarked, that the grace of every elegant perfon is varied agreeable to the character and difpofition of the perfon it beautifies; I am fenfible you readily conceive the reafon. Elegance is the natural habit and image of the foul beaming forth in action; it must therefore be expreffed by the peculiar features, air, and difpofition of the perfon; it muft arife from nature, and flow with cafe and a propriety that distinguishes it. imitation of any particular perfon, however graceful, is dangerous, left the affectation appear; but the unftudied elegance of nature is acquired by the example and converfation of feveral elegant perfons of different characters, which peo The It is alfo becaufe elegance is the reflection of the foul appearing in action, that good ftatues, and pictures drawn from life, are laid before the eye in motion. If you look at the old Gothic churches built in barbarous ages, you will fee the ftatues reared up dead and inanimate against the walls. I faid, at the beginning of this little difcourfe, that the beauty of drefs refults from mode or fashion, and it certainly does fo in a great measure; but I must limit that affertion by the following obfervation, that there is alfo a real beauty in attire that does not depend on the mode: those robes which leave the whole perfon at liberty in its motions, and that give to the imagination the natural proportions and fymmetry of the body, are always more becoming than fuch as reftrain any part of the body, or in which it is loft or disfigured. You may eafily imagine how a pair of ftays laced tightly about the Minerva we admired, would opprefs the fublime beauty of her comportment and figure. Since perfons of rank cannot chufe their own drefs, but muft run along with the prefent fashion, the fecret of dreffing gracefully must confift in the flender variations that cannot be obferved to defert the fashion, and yet approach nigher to the complexion and import of the countenance, and that at the fame time allows to the whole body the greateft poffible freedom, eafe, and imagery: by imagery I mean, that as a good painter will fhew the effect of the muscles that do not appear to the eye, so a perfon skilful in drefs will difplay the elegance of the form, though it be covered and out of view. As the tafte of drefs approaches to perfection ail art disappears, and it feems the effect of negligence and inftinctive inattention; for this reafon its beauties arife from the manner and general air rather than from the richness, which laft, when it becomes too grofs and oppreffive, deftroys the elegance. A brilliancy and parade in drefs is therefore the infallible fign of bad taste, that in this contraband manner endeavours to maké amends for the want of true elegance, and bears a relation to the heaps of ornament that encumbered the Gothic buildings, Apelles obferving an Helen painted by one of his scholars, that was overcharged with a rich dress, "I find, young man," faid he, "not being able to paint her beautiful, you have made her fine." Harsh and violent motions are always unbecoming. Milton attributes the fame kind of motion to his angels that the Heathens did to their deities, foft, fliding with out ftep. It is impoffible to preferve the attractions in a country dance that attend on a minuet; as the ftep quickens, the moft delicate of the graces retire. The rule holds univerfally through all action, whether quick or flow; it thould always partake of the fame polished and foftened motion, particularly in the tranfitions of the countenance, where the genius of the perfon feems to hover and refide. The degrees run very high upon the fcale of elegance, and probably few have arrived near the highest pitch; but it is certain, that the idea of furprising beauty, that was familiar in Greece, has been hardly conceived by the moderns: many of their ftatues remain the objects of our admiration, but wholly fuperior to imitation; their pictures, that have funk in the wreck of time, appear in the defcriptions made of them to have equal imagination with the flatues; and their poetry abounds with the fame celeftial imagery. But what puts this matter out of doubt is, that their celebrated beauties were the models of their artists, and it is known, that the elegancies of Thais and Phryne were copied by the famous painters of Greece, and configned to canvass and marble to aftonish and charm diftant ages. Perfonal elegance, in which tafte affumes the most confpicuous and noble appearance, confufes us in our enquiries after it, by the quickness and variety of its changes, as well as by a complication that is not eafily unravelled. I defined it to be the image and reflection of a great and beautiful foul; let us feparate the diftinct parts of this variety; when they appear afunder you will find them perfectly familiar and intelligible. The firft, and moft refpectable part, that enters into the compofition of elegance, is the lofty confcioufnefs of worth or virtue, which fsustains an habitual decency, and becoming pride. The fecond, and moft pleafing part, is a difplay of good-nature approaching to affection,,of gentle affability, and, in general, of the pleafing paffions. It feems difficult to reconcile thefe two parts, and in fact it is fo; but when they unite, then they appear like a referved and virgin I obferved, near the beginning of this difcourfe, in anfwer to an objection you made, that the mind has always a taste for truth, for gratitude, for generofity, and greatness of foul: thefe, which are peculiarly called fentiments, ftamp upon the human spirit a dignity and worth not to be found in any other animated being. However great and furprising the most glorious objects in nature be, the heaving ocean, the moon that guides it, and cafts a foftened luftre over the night, the starry firmament, or the fun itself; yet their beauty and grandeur inftantly appear of an inferior kind, beyond all comparison, to this of the foul of man. Thefe fentiments are united under the general name of virtue; and fuch are the embellishments they diffuse over the mind, that Plato, a very polite philofopher, fays finely, "If Virtue was to appear in a visible shape, all men would be enamoured of her." Virtue and truth are infeparable, and take their flight together. A mind devoid of truth is a frightful wreck; it is like a great city in ruins, whofe mouldering towers, juft bring to the imagination the mirth and life that once were there, and is now no more. Trath is the genius of tafte, and enters into the effence of fimple beauty, in wit, in writing, and throughout the fine arts. Generofity covers almoft all other defects, and raifes a blaze around them in which they difappear and are loft: like fovereign beauty, it makes a fhort cut to our affections; it wins our hearts without refiftance or delay, and unites all the world to favour and fupport its defigns. Grandeur of foul, fortitude, and a refolution that haughtily struggles with despair, and will neither yield to, nor make terms with misfortunes; which, through every fituation, repofes a noble confidence in itfelf, and has an immoveable view to future glory and honour, aftonishes the world with admiration and delight. We, as it were, lean forward with furprife and trembling joy to behold the human foul collecting its ftrength ftrength, and afferting a right to fuperior fates. When you leave man out of your account, and view the whole vifible creation befide, you indeed fee several traces of grandeur and unspeakable power, and the intermixture of a rich fcenery of beauty; yet ftill the whole appears to be but a foJemn abfurdity, and to have a littleness and infignificancy. But when you reftore man to profpect, and put him at the head of it, endued with genius and an immortal foul; when you give him a paffion for truth, boundless views that spread along through eternity, and a fortitude that ftruggles with fate, and yields not to misfortunes, then the fkies, the occan, and the earth, take the ftamp of worth and dignity from the noble inhabitant whofe purposes they ferve. A mind fraught with the virtues is the natural foil of elegance. Unaffected truth, generofity, and grandeur of foul, for ever please and charm: even when they break from the common forms, and appear wild and unmethodized by education, they are ftill beautiful. On the contrary, as foon as we discover that outward elegance, which is formed by the mode, to want truth, generofity, or grandeur of foul, it inftantly finks in our esteem like counterfeit coin, and we are fenfible of a reluctant difappointment, like that of the lover in the epigram, who became enamoured with the lady's voice and the foftness of her hand in the dark, but was cured of his paffion as foon as he had light to view her. Let us now pals on to the most pleafing part of elegance, an habitual difplay of the kind and gentle paffions. We are naturally inclined to love thofe who bear an affection to us; and we are charmed with the homage that is paid to our merit: by thefe weakneffes politenefs attacks us. The well-bred gentleman always in his behaviour infinuates a regard to others, tempered with refpect. His attention to please confeffes plainly his kindnefs to you, and the high esteem he holds you in. The affiduous prevention of our withes, and that yielding fwectnefs complaifance puts on for our fake, are irrefiftible; and although we know this kind of flattery to be prostitute and habitual, yet it is not indifferent to us; we receive it in a manner that shows how much it gratifies us. The defire of being agreeable, finds out the art of being fo without ftudy or labour. Ruftics who fall in love, grow unufually polite and engaging. This new charm, that has altered their natures, and fuddenly endued them with the powers of pleafing, is nothing more than an enlivened attention to please, that has taken poffeffion of their minds, and tinctured their actions. We ought not to wonder that love is thus enchanting: its tender affiduity is but the natural addrefs of the pallion; politeness borrows the flattering form of affection, and becomes agreeable by the appearance of kindness. What pleases us generally appears beautiful. Complaifance, that is fo engaging, gives an agreeableness to the whole perfon, and creates a beauty that nature gave not to the features; it fubmits, it promises,it applauds in the countenance; the heart lays itself in fmiles at your feet, and a voice that is indulgent and tender, is always heard with pleasure. The laft conftituent part of elegance is the picture of a tranquil foul, that appears in foftening the actions and emotions, exhibits a retired profpect of happiness and innocence. and A calm of mind that is feen in graceful eafy action, and in the enfeeblement of our paffions, gives us an idea of the golden age, when human nature, adorned with innocence, and the peace that attends it, repofed in the arms of content. This ferene profpect of human nature always pleases us; and although the content, whofe image it is, be vifionary in this world, and we cannot arrive at it, yet it is the point in imagination we have finally in view, in all the puriuits of life, and the native home for which we do not ceafe to languish. The hut of The fentiment of tranquility particularly beautifies paftoral poetry. The images of calm and happy quiet that appear in fhaded groves, in filent vales, and flumbers by falling ftreams, invite the poet to indulge his genius in rural fcenes. The mufic that lulls and compofes the mind, at the fame time enchants it. this beautcous eafe, caft over the human actions and emotions, forms a very delightful part of elegance, and gives the other conftituent parts an appearance of nature and truth: for in a tranquil ftate of mind, undisturbed by wants or fears, the views of men are generous and elevated. From the combination of these fine parts, grandeur of foul, complacency, and cafe, arife the enchantments of elegance; but the appearance of the two laft are oftener found together, and then they form Politen f. When we take a view of the feparate LI parts parts that conftitute perfonal elegance, we immediately know the feeds that are proper to be cherished in the infant mind, to bring forth the beauteous production. The virtues should be cultivated early with facred care. Good-nature, modefty, affability, and a kind concern for others, fhould be carefully inculcated; and an eafy unconftrained dominion acquired by habit over the paffions. A mind thus finely prepared, is capable of the highest luftre of elegance; which is afterwards attained with as little labour as our firft language, by only affociating with graceful people of different characters, from whom an habitual gracefulness will be acquired, that will bear the natural unaffected stamp of our own minds; in fhort, it will be our own character and genius ftripped of its native rudeness, and enriched with beauty and attraction. Nature, that bestows her favours with out respect of perfons, often denies to the great the capacity of diftinguished elegance, and flings it away in obfcure villages. You fometimes fee it at a country fair spread an amiableness over a fun-burnt girl, like the light of the moon through a mift; but fuch, madam, is the neceffity of habitual elegance acquired by education and converfe, that if even-you were born in that low clafs, you could be no more than the fairest damfel at the may-pole, and the object of the hope and jealousy of a few ruftics. ftrength of the petite talents of mimicry and the brifk tartness that ill-nature never fails to fupply. From what I have faid it appears, that a fenfe of elegance is a fenfe of dignity, of virtue, and innocence, united. Is it not natural then to expect, that in the courfe of a liberal education, men should cultivate the generous qualities they approve and affume? But inftead of them, men only aim at the appearances, which require no felfdenial; and thus, without acquiring the virtues, they facrifice their honesty and fincerity: whence it comes to pass, that there is often the least virtue, where there is the greatest appearance of it; and that the polifhed part of mankind only arrive at the fubtile corruption, of uniting vice with the drefs and complexion of virtue. I have dwelt on perfonal elegance, becaufe the ideas and principles in this part of good tafte are more familiar to you. We may then take them for a foundation, in our future obfervations, fince the fame principles of eafy grace and fimple grandeur, will animate our ideas with an unftudied propriety, and enlighten our judg ments in beauty, in literature, in fculpture, painting, and the other departments of fine taste. Ufber. $219. On Perfonal Beauty. I fhall but flightly touch on our taste of perfonal beauty, because it requires no directions to be known. To ask what is beauty, fays a philofopher, is the queftion of a blind man. I thall therefore only make a few reflections on this head, that lie out of the common track. But, prior to what I have to fay, it is neceflary to make fome obfervations on phyfiognomy. There is an obvious relation between the People are rendered totally incapable of elegance by the want of good-nature, and the other gentle paffions; by the want of modesty and fenfibility; and by a want of that noble pride, which arifes from a confcioufnefs of lofty and generous fentiments. The abfence of these native charms is generally fupplied by a brifk ftupidity, an impudence unconscious of defect, a caft of mind and the turn of the features, so well malice, and an uncommon tendency to ri- known by instinct, that every one is more dicule; as if nature had given thefe her or lefs expert at reading the countenance ftep-children an inftinctive intelligence, We look as well as speak our minds; and that they can rife out of contempt only by amongst people of little experience, the the depreffion of others. For the fame look is generally most fincere. This is fo reafon it is, that perfons of true and finifh- well understood, that it is become a part of cd tafte feldom affect ridicule, because they education to learn to disguife the counteare conscious of their own fuperior merit. nance, which yet requires a habit from Pride is the cause of ridicule in the one, as early youth, and the continual practice of it is of candour in the other; but the ef- hypocrify, to deceive an intelligent eye. fects differ as the studied parade of pover- The natural virtues and vices not only have ty does from the negligent grandeur of their places in the afpect, even acquired riches. You will fee nothing more com- habits that much affect the mind fettle there; mon in the world, than for people, who by contemplation, in length of time, gives flupidity and infenfibility are incapable of a caft of thought on the countenance. the graces, to commence wits on the 2 Now to come back to our fubje&t. The afiemblage |