Clio

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: caufe they are employed on objects of greater importance; but in polite nations, tafte is often more irretrievable, becaufe, when a mixed tafte has got pofTeffion of the mind, the natural fenfe of beauty is deceived, and feeks for no other object. Having anfwered the objections ufually brought againft a...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: caufe they are employed on objects of greater importance; but in polite nations, tafte is often more irretrievable, becaufe, when a mixed tafte has got pofTeffion of the mind, the natural fenfe of beauty is deceived, and feeks for no other object. Having anfwered the objections ufually brought againft a permanent fenfe of beauty, let us now proceed to fingle out the particular fpecies or kinds of beauty; and begin with elegance oT perfon, L that fo wonderfully elevates ths human ' character. Elegance, the moft undoubted off- -p fpring and vifible image of fine tafte, ' the moment it appears, is univerfally ad- mired: 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 rrioft 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 fecret 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 love- lieft appearances; and while I write for you, it is impoffible not to feel their influence. l Perfonal Elegance, for that is the ob- jeQ. of our prefent enquiry, may be de-; fined the image and reflection of the gran- i deur and Jieauty of the invifible foul. -Grandeur and beauty Tn the foul itfelf, are not objects of fenfe; colours cannot paint them, but they are united to.fetui- ments that appear vifible; they beftow a noble meaning and importanc...