DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18825#0346
lec. ix.] character of the figure. 233
found, which colour Nature hath chosen for the vest-
ment of the earth, and with the beauty of which the
eye is never tired.
C( From the order of the ideas which the descrip-
tion of the above three figures may have raised in
the mind, we may easily compose between them va-
rious other proportions,"—as so many mixtures of
colours.
Quitting these ideal personages for the humbler
station of mankind ;—we observe that, as human life
advances, character assumes other distinctions
of appearance : our composition, intended for a
limited duration, falls gradually to decay ; the spirit
and firmness of maturity decrease to inactivity, and
indecision. Having strength to spare, youth may
stand on one leg, yet sustain itself well; age requires
always two, and sometimes calls in additional sup-
port, in conformity to the riddle which represented
man as " a creature of four legs in the morning;, two
at noon, and three at night."
t( To represent an old man standing," says Leo-
nardo da Vinci, " you must give him a dulj,
indolent attitude, with slow motions, his knees a
little bent, his feet straddling, his back crooked,
his head stooping forwards, and his arms rather
folded than spread too wide."
Age being deficient in strength, exerts the whole
body, to perform what at the noon of life would
have required only a part, or a single member.
The imbecility of age is exquisitely drawn by
the Royal Author, on whose words, were I to en-
large, I might comment,, thus: " Remember now
Edit. 7. H h thy
found, which colour Nature hath chosen for the vest-
ment of the earth, and with the beauty of which the
eye is never tired.
C( From the order of the ideas which the descrip-
tion of the above three figures may have raised in
the mind, we may easily compose between them va-
rious other proportions,"—as so many mixtures of
colours.
Quitting these ideal personages for the humbler
station of mankind ;—we observe that, as human life
advances, character assumes other distinctions
of appearance : our composition, intended for a
limited duration, falls gradually to decay ; the spirit
and firmness of maturity decrease to inactivity, and
indecision. Having strength to spare, youth may
stand on one leg, yet sustain itself well; age requires
always two, and sometimes calls in additional sup-
port, in conformity to the riddle which represented
man as " a creature of four legs in the morning;, two
at noon, and three at night."
t( To represent an old man standing," says Leo-
nardo da Vinci, " you must give him a dulj,
indolent attitude, with slow motions, his knees a
little bent, his feet straddling, his back crooked,
his head stooping forwards, and his arms rather
folded than spread too wide."
Age being deficient in strength, exerts the whole
body, to perform what at the noon of life would
have required only a part, or a single member.
The imbecility of age is exquisitely drawn by
the Royal Author, on whose words, were I to en-
large, I might comment,, thus: " Remember now
Edit. 7. H h thy