the face and its different features; the fifth and sixth chapters are bestowed upon. the nose, and contain philosophy enough to have satiated Mr. Shandy himself.

There is a very curious speculation in the chapter on the Dignity of the Face, medically considered, which the learned reader will not be displeased to see, and which, I hope, he will keep to himself. "Agam saltem id, ut perspecto situ membrorum genitalium, quanta ratio habita fuerit excellentiæ faciei atque nobilitatis, quodque membra hæc justissimo architecti consilio, non exiguo interstitio inter se dirempta sint, exacte cognoscamus. Nam cum cerebri sit propago quædam facies, ad quam sensuum omnium organa deflectant, quo in loco animæ virtus divinas suas vires exerat, quid inconvenientius fuisset, & protoplasta indignius, quam membra illa pecuina et abjecta, cum partibus adeo nobilibus et divinis confundere? Hoc enim dominum esset cum mancipio eodem loco ponere. NamVOL. I.

L

que munia sensuum turbaret talis constitutio, mentis aciem obtunderet, & rationis imperium everteret. Innata enim hominibus cupiditas, levi etiam de causa instigata, ac indomita bestia multoties in rectorem suum insiliret, & habenis excussis, de sede sua eum dejiceret. Non dicam quantum obfuturum sit decori & venustati. quantaque loci fuerit iniquitas, & laboris dispendium, si omnino membra illa eo locari debuissent. Quare ea procul hinc abrepta, natura sapiens discrevit, & faciem alta in sede & conspicua collocari, membra vero genitalia, instar vile pecus in stabula, locum vilem, & depressum detrudi jussit."*

In the fifth chapter, which treats of the dignity of noses, we meet with a laboured description of the deformity resulting from the mutilation of this

*It is extremely curious, that the famous Madlle de Bourignon has actually supposed the noses of the first Pair, before their transgression, to have been constituted in the manner which Tahacotius has so eloquently described. See Bayle.

important feature. When the nose is cut off, we are told, that the gulphs and recesses of the inward parts are disclosed; vast vacuities open, and caverns dark as the cave of Trophonius; to the dismay and terror of the beholders.*

"There is besides," says Taliacotius, "something august and regal in the nose, either because it is the sign of corporeal beauty and mental perfection, or because it denotes some peculiar aptness and wisdom in governing. So the Persians admire an aquiline nose in their king: sq in the Old Testament, those who had too small, or too large, or a distorted nose, were excluded from the priesthood, and the sacrifices. Such is the dignity attributed to the nose, that those who are deprived of it are not admitted to the functions of government:" which he

* Etenim narium apice abscisso, panduntur sinus & partium internarum recessus, vasti patent hiatus, & cavernæ, instar antri Trophonii obscuræ; horrendum certe & abominandum aspicientibus spectaculum,

Lib. i. chap. a..

confirms by historical examples, from the dismal narratives of Josephus. "The nose, therefore, is of such estimation," he concludes, "that upon the beauty and configuration thereof depend the highest ecclesiastical dignities, the noblest governments, and the most extensive kingdoms. Besides, the nose chiefly distinguishes one individual from another; wherefore Æneas could hardly recognize Deïphobus,, when he encountered him in the shades without his nose," which he had lost, like many of Taliacotius's friends, by means of his Helen; as Cassandra complains in Seneca ;

-incertos geris

Deïphobe vultus, conjugis munus novæ.

He then shews, that the threat of cutting off the noses and ears of sinners

Nasus ergo tante est estimationis, ut ex ejus decore, ornatuque, summa Sacerdotia, amplissima imperia, et regna latissima pendere videantur.

Ibid.

is used in scripture, to denote the utmost degree of desolation and infamy, and he touches slightly on the doctrine of the Pythagoreans respecting the nose; that nature has expressed in the formation of this feature, the Monade and the Dyade, by connecting the two nostrils by a common bridge; an observation from which those pompous triflers draw fantastical ideas of the power of certain numbers. We are next told, that the Egyptians used the nose as a hieroglyphic to signify a wise man; after which follow the Latin phrases, which depend on this figure. The chapter is concluded by the physiognomonic doctrine of the nose, on which Mr. Lavater has left nothing unsaid.

The obscurity under which Taliacotius's brilliant discoveries on the union of living parts have remained, is not more remarkable than its cause: it was occasioned by the jest of a Dutchman. The contemptible story which Butler has versi