DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0092
73
BEAUTY.
to all. It is a natural endowment, and never wholly to be acquired, though it may be improved.
It is the distinguishing character of the works of the most celebrated of the ancient and modern
artists, viz. the inimitable Apelles, and the divine Raphael.
The poets, as well as the artists, of both Greece and Rome, were so sensible of its charms, that
they made the Graces the constant attendants of Venus, whom they designed for a model of per-
fect beauty, and the irresistible cause of love. In a word, it is like the cestm of the same goddess,
which comprehended every attracting charm, and by a secret but powerful force, engaged the
heart of every beholder :
She said with awe divine, the Queen of Love
Obey'd the sister and the wife of Jove ;
And from her fragrant breast the zone unbrac'd,
With various skill and high embroideiy grac'd.
In this was every art, and every charm,
To win the wisest, and the coldest warm :
Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire,
The kind deceit, the still reviving fire.
Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs,
Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes:
This on her hand the Cyprian goddess laid ;
Take this, and with it all thy wish, she said :
With smiles she took the charm, and smiling, press'd
The powerful ceslus to her snowy breast.
Pope, II. 14.
Notwithstanding mankind are more universally agreed with regard to beauty, than they are on
any other subject, yet a great diversity of opinions on this point still remains. Many causes
conspire to mislead our judgment; and in this, as in other cases, we are too much inclined to
give way to prejudice. Among the variety of causes that create this difference of opinion, we
may reckon principally three :—a partiality for some particular object; a high opinion of our-
selves; and the prevailing force of fashions and national custom.
When the affections of a person are entirely engaged by any one object, he is ready to admit
that his favourite possesses every perfection; and if he admires others, it is generally in propor-
tion to his opinion of their resemblance to the person who thus possesses his esteem. Most peo-
ple also entertain a favourable opinion of their own persons or tempers; and wherever they see
a similitude to either, in another, it always attracts their admiration, though they be foibles :
from hence it is, that a man of mild temper is pleased with the expression of the gentler passions
in the face of his mistress; but he who possesses a lively turn of mind, admires that countenance
which displays more spirit and vivacity : for the same reason little people generally prefer pretty-
beauties, and larger people majestic ones. This falling in love with ourselves, at second hand,
(if it may be so called) generally makes the most plain, and sometimes disagreeable things appear
amiable. But the greatest and most powerful misleaders of our judgment, in regard to beauty,
are custom and the different national tastes, in this particular, which generally terminate in the
two
BEAUTY.
to all. It is a natural endowment, and never wholly to be acquired, though it may be improved.
It is the distinguishing character of the works of the most celebrated of the ancient and modern
artists, viz. the inimitable Apelles, and the divine Raphael.
The poets, as well as the artists, of both Greece and Rome, were so sensible of its charms, that
they made the Graces the constant attendants of Venus, whom they designed for a model of per-
fect beauty, and the irresistible cause of love. In a word, it is like the cestm of the same goddess,
which comprehended every attracting charm, and by a secret but powerful force, engaged the
heart of every beholder :
She said with awe divine, the Queen of Love
Obey'd the sister and the wife of Jove ;
And from her fragrant breast the zone unbrac'd,
With various skill and high embroideiy grac'd.
In this was every art, and every charm,
To win the wisest, and the coldest warm :
Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire,
The kind deceit, the still reviving fire.
Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs,
Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes:
This on her hand the Cyprian goddess laid ;
Take this, and with it all thy wish, she said :
With smiles she took the charm, and smiling, press'd
The powerful ceslus to her snowy breast.
Pope, II. 14.
Notwithstanding mankind are more universally agreed with regard to beauty, than they are on
any other subject, yet a great diversity of opinions on this point still remains. Many causes
conspire to mislead our judgment; and in this, as in other cases, we are too much inclined to
give way to prejudice. Among the variety of causes that create this difference of opinion, we
may reckon principally three :—a partiality for some particular object; a high opinion of our-
selves; and the prevailing force of fashions and national custom.
When the affections of a person are entirely engaged by any one object, he is ready to admit
that his favourite possesses every perfection; and if he admires others, it is generally in propor-
tion to his opinion of their resemblance to the person who thus possesses his esteem. Most peo-
ple also entertain a favourable opinion of their own persons or tempers; and wherever they see
a similitude to either, in another, it always attracts their admiration, though they be foibles :
from hence it is, that a man of mild temper is pleased with the expression of the gentler passions
in the face of his mistress; but he who possesses a lively turn of mind, admires that countenance
which displays more spirit and vivacity : for the same reason little people generally prefer pretty-
beauties, and larger people majestic ones. This falling in love with ourselves, at second hand,
(if it may be so called) generally makes the most plain, and sometimes disagreeable things appear
amiable. But the greatest and most powerful misleaders of our judgment, in regard to beauty,
are custom and the different national tastes, in this particular, which generally terminate in the
two