There was in this confolation fomething philofophical and pleafing. And yet perhaps it is a higher philofophy (could we attain it) not to forget the paft, but in contemplation of the past to view the future; fo that we may fay, on the worst profpects, with a becoming refignation, what Eneas faid of old to the Cumean Prophetess,

--Virgin, no fcenes of ill To me, or new, or unexpected rise;' I've feen 'em all; have feen, and long before Within myfelf revolv'd 'em in my mind. En. VI. 103, 104, 105.

In fuch a conduct, if well founded, there is not only fortitude, but piety: Fortitude, which never finks, from a confcious integrity; and Piety, which never refifts, by referring all to the Divine Will.

Harris.

§ 216. The Character of the Man of Bufinefs often united with, and adorned by that of the Scholar and Philofopher,

Philofophy, taking its name from the love of wildom, and having for its end the investigation of truth, has an equal regard both to practice and fpeculation, in as much as truth of every kind is fimilar and congenial. Hence we find that fome of the most illuftrious actors upon the great theatre of the world have been engaged at times in philofophical fpeculation. Pericles, who governed Athens, was the difciple of Anaxagoras; Epaminondas spent his youth in the Pythagorean fchool; Alexander the Great had Ariftotle for his preceptor; and Scipio made Polybius his companion and friend. Why need I mention Cicero, or Cato, or Brutus? The orations, the epift'es, and the philofophical works of the firft, fhew him fufficiently converfant both in action and contemplation. So eager was Cato for knowledge, even when furrounded with bufinefs, that he used to read philofophy in the fenatehoufe, while the fenate was affembling; and as for the patriot Brutus, though his life was a continual fcene of the most important actions, he found time not only to study, but to compose a Treatise upon

Virtue.

When thefe were gone, and the worst of times fucceeded, Thrafea Pætus, and Helvidius Prifcus, were at the fame period both fenators and philofophers; and appear to have fupported the fevereft trials of ty

rannic oppreffion, by the manly system of the Stoic moral. The best emperor whom the Romans, or perhaps any nation, ever knew, Marcus Antoninus, was involved during his whole life in business of the laft confequence; fometimes confpiracies forming, which he was obliged to diffipate; formidable wars arifing at other times, when he was obliged to take the field. Yet during none of thefe periods did he forfake philofophy, but ftill perfifted in meditation, and in committing his thoughts to writing, during moments, gained by ftealth from the hurry of courts and campaigns.

If we defcend to later ages, and fearch our own country, we fhall find Sir Thomas

More, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Milton, Algernon Sidney, Sir William Temple, and many others, to have been all of them eminent in public life, and yet at the fame time confpicuous for their fpeculations and literature. If we look abroad, examples of like characters will occur in other countries. Grotius, the poet, the critic, the philofopher, and the divine, was employed by the court of Sweden as ambaffador to France; and De Witt, that acute but unfortunate ftatefman, that pattern of parfimony and political accomplishments, was an able mathematician, wrote upon the Elements of Curves, and applied his algebra with accuracy to the trade and commerce of his country.

And so much in defence of Philofophy, against thofe who may poffibly undervalue her, because they have fucceeded without her; thofe I mean (and it must be confeft they are many) who, having fpent their whole lives in what Milton calls the "bufy hum of men," have acquired to themselves habits of amazing efficacy, unaffifted by the helps of fcience and erudition. To fuch the retired itudent may appear an awkward being, becaufe they want a juft ftandard to meafare his merit. But let them recur to the bright examples before alledged; let them remember that there were eminent in their own way; were men of action and bufinefs; men of the world; and yet did they not difdain to cultivate philofophy, nay, were many of them perhaps indebted to her for the fplendor of their active character.

This reafoning has a farther end. It juftifies me in the addrefs of thefe philofophical arrangements, as your Lord

fhip has been diftinguished in either character, I mean in your public one, as well as in your private. Thofe who know the history of our foreign tranfactions, know the reputation that you acquired in Germany, by negociations of the laft importance: and thofe who are honoured with your nearer friendship, know that you can fpeculate as well as act, and can employ your pen both with elegance and inftruction.

It may not perhaps be unentertaining to your Lordship to fee in what manner the Preceptor of Alexander the Great arranged his pupil's ideas, fo that they might not caufe confufion, for want of accurate difpofition.' It may be thought also a fact worthy your notice, that he became acquainted with this method from the venerable Pythagoras, who, unless he drew it from remoter fources, to us unknown, was, perhaps, himself its inventor and original teacher.

Harris.

$217. The Progreffions of Art difgufful, the Completion beautiful.

Fables relate that Venus was wedded to Vulcan, the goddefs of beauty to the god of deformity. The tale, as fome explain it, gives a double reprefentation of art; Vulcan fhewing us the progreffions of art, and Venus the completions. The progreffions, fuch as the hewing of ftone, the grinding of colours, the fufion of metals, thefe all of them are laborious, and many times difguftful: the completions, fuch as the temple, the palace, the picture, the ftatue, thefe all of them are beauties, and justly call for admiration.

Now if logic be one of those_arts, which help to improve human reafon, it muft neceffarily be an art of the progreffive character; an art which, not ending with itfelf, has a view to fomething farther. If then, in the fpeculations upon it, it should appear dry rather than elegant, fevere rather than pleafing, let it plead, by way of defence, that, though its importance may be great, it partakes from its very nature (which cannot be changed) more of the deformed god, than of the beautiful goddess.

Ibid.

$218. Thoughts on Elegance. Having anfwered the objections ufually

Addreffed to the right honourable Thomas Lord Hyde, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, &c,

brought against a permanent fenfe of beauty, let us now proceed to fingle out the particular fpecies or kinds of beauty; and begin with elegance of perfon, that fo wonderfully elevates the human character.

Elegance, the most undoubted offspring and vifible image of fine tafte, the moment it appears, is univerfally admired: men difagree about the other conftituent parts of beauty, but they all unite without hefitation to acknowledge the power of elegance.

The general opinion is, that this moft confpicuous part of beauty, that is perceived and acknowledged by every body, is yet utterly inexplicable, and retires from our fearch when we would difcover what it is. Where fhall I find the fecrez retreat of the graces, to explain to me the elegance they dictate, and to paint in vifible colours the fugitive and varying enchantment that hovers round a graceful perfon, yet leaves us for ever in agreeable fufpence and confufion? I need not feek for them, madam; the graces are but emblems of the human mind, in its lovelieft appearances; and while I write for you, it is impoffible not to feel their influence.

Perfonal elegance, for that is the object of our prefent enquiry, may be defined the image and reflection of the grandeur and beauty of the invifible foul. Grandeur and beauty in the foul itself are not objects of fenfe; colours cannot paint them, but they are united to fentiments that appear vifible; they beftow a noble meaning and importance of attitude, and diffufe inexpreffible lovelinefs over the perfon.

When two or more paffions or fentiments unite, they are not fo readily dif tinguished, as if they had appeared feparate; however, it is eafy to obferve, that the complacency and admiration we feel in the prefence of elegant perfons, is made up of refpect and affection; and that we are difappointed when we fee fuch perfons act a base or indecent part. Thefe fymptoms plainly fhew, that perfonal elegance appears to us to be the image and reflection of an elevated and beautiful mind. In fome characters, the grandeur of foul is predominant; in whom beauty is majestic and awful. In this file is Mifs F. In other characters, a foft and attracting grace is more confpicuous: this latter kind is more

pleafing,

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 eharm us univerfally, who have all of us implanted in our bofoms, even in the midit of mifery, paffions of high defcent, immense ambition, and romantic hopes. You may conceive an imprisoned bird, whose wild notes, prompted by the approach of fpring, gave her a confufed notion of joy, although the 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 a generous youth over the images of his country's heroes. Of the foftened and engaging part of elegance, I fhall have occafion to speak 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 arifen early at times, in the fummer feafon, to take the advantage of the cool of the morning, to ride abroad. Let us fuppofe you have mistaken an hour or two, and juft 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 stream gradually admitting the light into its pure bofom; and 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 fame that has not yet appeared; and if 4

it be overcaft with clouds, you fee thofe clouds stained 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 seem 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 affumes 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 particularly 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 fweetness, 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 excefs is fhocking and disagreeable, and that even the most pleasing paflions appear to most advantage when the tincture they caft over the countenance iş enfeebled and gentle. The paffions that are enemies to the graces are, impudence, affectation, ftrong and harsh degrees of pride, malice, and austerity.

There

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 paflions.

I have fpoken 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 majesty 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 observed, 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 pleafes 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 handfome 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 ariíe from nature, and flow with ease and a propriety that diftinguishes it.

The

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 perions of different characters, which peo

ple adapt to the import of their own geftures, without knowing how.

It is also because elegance is the reflection of the foul appearing in action, that good ftatues, and pictures drawn from life, are laid before the eye in mo tion. 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 dress results from mode or fashion, and it certainly does fo in a great measure; but I muft limit that affertion by the following observation, that there is also a real beauty in attire that does not depend on the mode: thofe 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 easily 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 dress, but muft run along with the prefent fashion, the fecret of dreffing gracefully must confift in the flender va riations 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 greatest poffible freedom, eafe, and imagery: by imagery I mean, that as a good painter will thew the effect of the muscles that do not appear to the eye, fo a perfon skilful in drefs will difplay the elegance of the form, though it be covered and out of view. As the taste of dress approaches to perfection all 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 tafte, that in this contraband manner endeavours to make 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 fcholars, that was overcharged with a rich dreís, "I find, young man,