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the monarch's lovely mistress, or the irregular looks of the parson's blooming daughter, may Of Imaginahave been very charming to those, who were predisposed by other charming qualities of tint, form, or expression, to be pleased with them; and as these irregular charms belong neither to the sublime nor the beautiful, my friend, consistently with his system, seeks for them in his general intermediate repository of the picturesque; though they are not at all after the manner of painting. Other philosophers have sought for them in the minds of the spectators, where, I believe, all the charm will ultimately be found.

But, though all these distinctions be but mental or ideal modifications for different classes of visible objects, which cannot be classed by any characteristic distinctions inherent in themselves, I am not aware that any thing, that I have ever written or said on the subject, can fairly be construed to imply that I ever considered the words beautiful and picturesque to be synonymous or convertible terms, as has been supposed. In the "Essays on the Picturesque," indeed, it is merely stated that there are persons, who, in reality, hold the two words to be synonymous; though they do not say so in express terms; and others, who allow that the words have a different meaning, but that there is no distinct character of the

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picturesque*. Of this latter sect I have always meant to profess myself; and even if I have expressed that meaning so ill, as to give just cause for being placed in the other, I cannot but think that the interlocutor in the dialogue, who makes me, in express terms, say that' there is no distinction between them: in other words, that they are, in respect to visible objects, synonymous, adopts rather an inquisitorial mode of proceeding; which howsoever sanctioned by authority in the trials of heretics, has not yet been acknowledged in the courts of philosophy, or by the judicature of common

sense.

82. To express that perfect serenity of mind, which was attributed to deities, and deified personages, the ancient artists exhibited the features perfectly regular; and made one side of the face an exact counterpart of the other: but, where passion or affection is expressed, they are always varied, as in nature. In the infancy of art, the figure was always represented with its weight equally poised upon both legs; so that its position was regularly and rigidly erect. The Egyptians, with that superstitious reverence for established customs, which distinguished them in every thing, adhered to this mode down to the latest times; but the

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Greeks departed from it, even in the figures of their deities, as early as the age of Polycletus*, Of Imaginaand probably much earlier in subjects, which allowed the artists more liberty.

Then the

weight of the body, in standing figures, was thrown almost entirely upon one leg, by which means the muscles were, in some parts dilated, and in others, contracted; and the whole outline of the figure became loose and irregular.

83. Hence arose that ease, grace, elegance, and dignity of attitude and gesture, which we so much admire in the Greek statues: not that these qualities consist in any lines of beauty, or depend upon the impressions, which any specific forms make on the organs of sight. On the contrary, they arise wholly from mental sympathies and the association of ideas wherefore the forms which appear easy, graceful, elegant, or dignified in a horse, are totally different from those which appear so in a man; and even; in the same individual man or woman, the forms, presented to the eye, vary with every change in the fashion of dress: but nevertheless a graceful, easy, elegant, and dignified actor or actress,

He says generally

* Plin. lib. xxxiv. c. viii. ፡፡ proprium ejusdem, ut uno crure insisterent signa, excogitasse." But from figures upon coins I cannot but think that this style of composition prevailed long before the eighty-seventh Olympiad, the time when Polycletus flourished,

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will still seem so; whatever be the dress, which the custom of the stage may oblige them to assume.-Not, indeed, that they will appear equally so in all: for some modes of dress show the person to advantage and others to disadvantage; but still we find no difficulty in distinguishing the easy and graceful, from the stiff and awkward, through every disguise or concealment of the natural form.

84. The case is, that there are certain postures, in which the body naturally throws itself, and certain gestures, which it naturally displays, when under the influence of certain passions and dispositions of mind; so that, from our own internal feelings and sentiments, we learn to associate the ideas or notions of certain tempers and characters of mind, with those of certain attitudes and modes of carriage of the body; which are, therefore, said to express those tempers and characters; as the features of the face do more immediately and unequivocally: for the communication of sentiments from one person to another by the expression of the features, as well as by the tones of the voice, is, as before observed, by a natural and instinctive sympathy, anterior to, and, in a great measure, independent of the association of ideas.

85. Upon this principle, dignity of attitude is that disposition of the limbs and person, which, from habitual observation of ourselves

or others, we have learned to consider as expressive of a dignified and elevated mind; while grace and elegance of form are those dispositions and combinations of it, which, upon the same principle, seem to express refinement of intellect, polish of manners, or pleasantness of temper.: for, though we apply the words grace and elegance to inanimate objects, it is always metaphorically and by analogy; as we talk of lightness and heaviness of form, at the same. time that we know that gravitation has nothing to do with form, but depends entirely on sub

stance.

86. Hence it is, that while our ideas of dignity of attitude and gesture have always continued nearly the same, those of grace and elegance have been in a perpetual state of change and fluctuation: for our notions of what is mean, and what is elevated, depend upon the natural and permanent sentiments of the soul; but those of what is refined or polished; and pleasant, or the contrary, depend much upon artificial manners, which are incessantly varying. Not, however, that I would infer that there are no certain and natural principles of grace and elegance: for there are, unquestionably, certain and natural principles of good. manners, arising from natural mildness, amenity, and pleasantness of disposition, which some particular attitudes and gestures of the

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