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THE 
 
 ANALYSIS 
 
 O F 
 
 BEAUTY. 
 
 Written with a view of fixing the flu&uating Ideas of 
 
 TASTE. 
 
 BY WILLIAM HOGARTH. 
 
 So vary'd he, and of his tortuous train 
 
 Cur I'd many a wanton wreath, in fight of Eve t 
 
 'To lure her eye. Milton. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by J. REEVES for the AUTHOR, 
 And Sold by him at his Houfe in Leicester-fields.. 
 
 MDCCLIII. 
 
- 
 
 
 
 
. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IF a preface was ever neceflary, it may very likely 
 be thought fo to the following work; the title of 
 
 which (in the propofals publifh'd fome time jfince) 
 hath much amufed, and raifed the expectation of the 
 curious, though not without a mixture of doubt, that 
 its purport could ever be fatisfactorily anfwered. For 
 though beauty is feen -and confefled by all, yet, from 
 the many fruitlefs attempts to account for the caufe of 
 its being fo, enquiries on this head have almoft been 
 given up; and the fubjec"t generally thought to be a 
 matter of too high and too delicate a nature to admit of 
 any true or intelligible difcuilion. Something therefore 
 introductory ought to be faid at the prefenting a work 
 with a face fo entirely new; eipecially as it will na- 
 turally encounter with, and perhaps may overthrow, 
 feveral long received and thorough eftablifh'd opinions : 
 and lince controversies may arife how far, and after 
 what manner this fubjecl: hath hitherto been confider'd 
 and treated, it will alfo be proper to lay before the 
 reader, what may be gathered concerning it, from the 
 works of the ancient and modern writers and painters. 
 
 It is no wonder this fubjecl; mould have fo long 
 been thought inexplicable, fince the nature of many 
 parts of it cannot poilibry come within the reach of 
 mere men of letters; otherwife thofe ingenious gentle- 
 
 A 2 ' men 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 men who have lately publifhed treatifes upon it (and 
 who have written much more learnedly than can be 
 expected from one who never took up the pen before) 
 would not fo loon have been bewilder'd in their ac- 
 counts of it, and obliged fo fuddenly to turn into the 
 broad, and more beaten path of moral beauty ; in order 
 to extricate themfelves out of the difficulties they feem 
 to have met with in this: and withal forced for the 
 fame reafons to amufe their readers with amazing (but 
 often mifapplied) encomiums on deceafed painters and 
 their performances; wherein they are continually dif- 
 courfing of effects inftead of developing caufes; and 
 after many prettineffes, in very pleafing language, do 
 fairly fet you down juft where they firft took you up; 
 honeftly confeiTmg that as to grace, the main point in 
 queftion, they do not even pretend to know any thing 
 of the matter. And indeed how mould they ? when it 
 actually requires a practical knowledge of the whole art 
 of painting (fculpture alone not being fufficient) and 
 that too to fome degree of eminence, in order to enable 
 any one to purfue the chain of this enquiry through all 
 its parts: which I hope will be made to appear in the 
 following work. 
 
 It will then naturally be afked, why the bell painters 
 within thefe two centuries, who by their works appear 
 to have excelled in grace and beauty, mould have been 
 fo iilent in an affair of fuch feeming importance to the 
 imitative arts and their own honour ? to which I an- 
 
 fwer, 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 fwer, that it is probable, they arrived at that excellence 
 in their works, by the mere dint of imitating with great 
 exaclnefs the beauties of nature, and by often copying 
 and retaining ftrong ideas of graceful antique ftatues; 
 which might fufficiently ferve their purpofes as painters, 
 without their troubling themfelves with a farther en- 
 quiry into the particular caufes of the effects before 
 them. It is not indeed a little flrange, that the great 
 Leonardo da Vinci (amongft the many philofophical 
 precepts which he hath at random laid down in his 
 treatife on painting) mould not have given the leaft hint 
 of any thing tending to a fyflem of this kind; efpecially, 
 as he was cotemporary with Michael Angel o, who is 
 faid to have difcover'd a certain principle in the trunk 
 only of an antique ftatue, (well known from this cir- 
 cumftance by the name of Michael Angelo's Torfo, or 
 Back, fig. *) which principle gave his works a grandeur * Fi g- 6 4> 
 of gufto equal to the bed antiques. Relative to which 
 tradition, Lamozzo who wrote about painting at the 
 fame time, hath this remarkable paflage, vol. i. book i. 
 And becaufe in this place there falleth out a cer- 
 taine precept of Michael Angelo much for our pur- 
 pofe, I wil not conceale it, leaving the farther inter- 
 " pretation and vnderftanding thereof to the iudicious 
 " reader. It is reported then that Michael Angelo vp- 
 " on a time gaue this obfervation to the Painter Mar- 
 " cus de Sciena his fcholler; that he-.jh.auld a/waies make 
 " a figure Pyramidally Serpent like , and multiplied by orie 
 
 " tW9 
 
 
cc 
 
 cc 
 cc 
 cc 
 cc 
 cc 
 
 vi PREFACE, 
 
 " two and three. In which precept (in mine opinion) 
 " the whole myfterie of the arte confifleth. For the 
 (i greateft grace and life that a picture can haue, is, 
 that it expreffe Motion: which the Painters call the 
 : ' fpi r it e °f a picture: Nowe there is no forme fo fitte 
 to expreffe this motion, as that of the flame of fire, 
 which according to Ariflotle and the other Philofo- 
 phers, is an elemente moff adliue of all others: be- 
 caufe the forme of the flame thereof is moft apt for 
 motion: for it hath a Conns or fharpe pointe where- 
 " with it feemeth to divide the aire, that fo it may af- 
 " cende to his proper fphere. So that a picture having 
 " this forme will bee moil beautilull." * 
 
 Many writers fince Lamozzo have in the fame words 
 recommended the obferving this rule alfo ; without com- 
 prehending the meaning of it : for unlefs it were known 
 fyflematically, the whole bufmefs of grace could not 
 be underftood. 
 
 Du Frefnoy, in his art of painting, fays " large flow- 
 ing, gliding outlines which are in waves, give not 
 only a grace to the part, but to the whole body; as 
 " we fee in the Antinous, and in many other of the an- 
 " tique figures: a fine figure and its parts ought always 
 u to have a ferpent-like and flaming form: naturally 
 
 " thofe 
 
 * See Haydocks's tranflation printed at Oxford, 1598. 
 
 ■f See Dryden's tranflation of his latin poem on Painting, verfe 28, 
 and the remarks on thefe very lines, page 155, which run thus, " It is 
 " difficult to fay what this grace of painting is, it is to be conceiv'd, 
 
 " and 
 
 cc 
 cc 
 
PRE F A C & vii 
 
 H thofe fort of lines have I know not what of life and 
 " feeming motion in them, which very much refembles 
 " the activity of the flame and of the ferpent." Now 
 if he had understood what he had laid, he could not, 
 fpeaking of grace, have exprefled himfeli in the follow- 
 ing contradictory manner. — " But to fay the truth, this 
 (( is a difficult undertaking, and a rare prefent, which 
 u the artift rather receives from the hand of heaven 
 " than from his own induftry and ftudies -f." But De 
 Piles, in his lives of the painters, is flill more contradic- 
 tory, where he fays ? " that a painter can only have it 
 
 (meaning grace) from nature, and doth not know 
 
 that he hath it, nor in what degree, nor how he 
 " communicates it to his works : and that grace and 
 " beauty are two different things; beauty pleales by 
 a the rules, and grace without them." 
 
 All the Englifh writers on this fubjed: have echo'd 
 thefe paflages ; hence Je ne fqai quoi^ is become a fa- 
 fhionable phrafe for grace. 
 
 By this it is plain, that this precept which Michael 
 Angelo deliver'd fo long ago in an oracle-like manner, 
 hath remain'd myfterious down to this time, for ought 
 that has appear'd to the contrary. The wonder that it - 
 mould do fo will in fome meafure leflen when we come 
 to conlider that it muft all along have appeared as full 
 
 of 
 
 " and underftood much more eafy than to be exprefled by words ; k pro- 
 
 " ceeds from the illuminations of an excellent mind, (but not to be ac- 
 
 " quired) by which we give a certain turn to things, which makes them 
 
 " pleafing." 
 
 (C 
 vC 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 of contradiction as the moft obfcure quibble ever deli- 
 ver'd at Delphos, becaufe, winding lines are as often the 
 caufe of deformity as of grace ', the folution of which, in 
 this place, would be an anticipation of what the reader 
 will find at large in the body of the work. 
 
 There are alfo ftrong prejudices in favour of ftraight 
 lines, as conftituting true beauty in the human form, 
 where they never mould appear. A middling connoiffeur 
 thinks no profile has beauty without a very ftraight nofe, 
 and if the forehead be continued ftraight with it, he thinks 
 it is ftill more fublime. I have feen miferable fcratches 
 with the pen, fell at a confiderable rate for only having 
 in them a fide face or two, like that between fig. 22, 
 and fig. 105, plate 1, which was made, and any one 
 might do the fame, with the eyes fhut. The common 
 notion that a perfon fhould be ftraight as an arrow, and 
 perfectly erect is of this kind. If a dancing-mafter were 
 to fee his fcholar in the eafy and gracefully-turned atti- 
 tude of the Antinous (fig. 6, plate 1,) he would cry 
 fhame on him, and tell him he looked as crooked as a 
 ram's horn, and bid him hold up his head as he himfelf 
 did. See fig. 7, plate 1. 
 
 The painters, in like manner, by their works, feem 
 to be no lefs divided upon the fubject than the authors. 
 The French, except fuch as have imitated the antique, 
 or the Italian fchool, feem to have ftudioufly avoided 
 the ferpentine line in all their pictures, efpecially An- 
 thony Coypel, hiftory painter, and Rigaud, principal 
 portrait painter to Lewis the 14th. Rubens, 
 
PREFACE. .he 
 
 Rubens, whofe manner of deHgning was quite origi- 
 nal, made ufe of a large flowing line as a principle, 
 which runs through all his works, and gives a noble 
 Ipirit to them; but he did not feem to be acquainted 
 with what we call the precife line ; which hereafter we 
 mall be very particular upon, and which gives the deli- 
 cacy we fee in the beft Italian mafters ; but he rather 
 charged his contours in general with too bold and S-like 
 fwellings. 
 
 Raphael, from a ftraight and ftifT manner, on a fudden 
 changed his tafte of lines at fight of Michael Angelo's 
 works, and the antique ftatues; and fo fond was he of 
 the ferpentine line, that he carried it into a ridiculous 
 excefs, particularly in his draperies: though his great 
 obfervance of nature fuffer'd him not long to continue 
 in this miffcake. 
 
 Peter de Cor tone form'd a fine manner in his drape- 
 ries of this line. 
 
 We lee this principle no where better understood than 
 in fome pictures of Corregio, particularly his Juno and 
 Ixion: yet the proportions of his figures are fometimes 
 fuch as might be corrected by a common fign painter. 
 
 Whilft Albert Durer, who drew mathematically, 
 never fo much as deviated into grace, which he mull 
 lometimes have done in copying the life, if he had not 
 been fetter'd with his own impracticable rules of pro- 
 portion. 
 
 a But 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 But that which may have puzzled this matter molt., 
 may be, that Vandyke, one of the beft portrait painters 
 in inoft refpects ever known, plainly appears not to have 
 had a thought of this kind. For there feems not to be 
 the leaft grace in his pictures more than what the life 
 chanced to bring before him. There is a print of the 
 Dutchefs of Wharton (fig. 52, plate 2,) engraved by 
 Van Gunft, from a true picture by him, which is tho- 
 roughly diverted of every elegance. Now, had he known 
 this line as a principle, he could no more have drawn 
 all the parts of this picture fo contrary to it, than Mr. 
 Addifon could have wrote a whole fpectator in falfe 
 grammar; unlefs it were done on purpofe. However, 
 on account of his other great excellencies, painters 
 chufe to ftile this want of grace in his attitudes, &c, 
 f^nplicity, and indeed they do often very juftly merit 
 that epithet. 
 
 Nor have the painters of the prefent times been lefs 
 uncertain and contradictory to each other, than the 
 mailers already mentioned, whatever they may pretend 
 to the contrary : of this I had a mind to be certain, and 
 therefore, in the year 1745, published a frontifpiece to 
 my engraved works, in which I drew a ferpentine line 
 lying on a painter's pallet, with thefe words under it, 
 the line of beauty. The bait foon took; and no 
 Egyptian hierogliphic ever amufed more than it did for 
 a time, painters and fculptors came to me to know the 
 
 meaning 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 meaning of it, being as much puzzled with it as other 
 people, till it came to have fome explanation; then 
 indeed, but not till then, fome found it out to be 
 an old acquaintance of theirs, tho' the account they 
 could give of its properties was very near as fatisfactory 
 as that which a day-labourer who conftantly ufes the 
 leaver, could give of that machine as a mechanical 
 power. 
 
 Others, as common face painters and copiers of pic- 
 tures, denied that there could be fuch a rule either in 
 art or nature, and afierted it was all fluff and madnefs ; 
 but no wonder that thefe gentlemen mould not be 
 ready in comprehending a thing they have little or no 
 bufinefs with. For though the piEiure copier may fome- 
 times to a common eye feem to vye with the original 
 he copies, the artifl himfelf requires no more ability, 
 genius, or knowledge of nature, than a journeyman- 
 weaver at the goblins, who in working after a piece of 
 painting, bit by bit, fcarcely knows what he is about, 
 whether he is weaving a man or a horfe, yet at laff 
 almoft infenfibly turns out of his loom a fine piece of 
 tapeftry, reprefenting, it may be, one of Alexander's 
 battles painted by Le Brun. 
 
 As the above-mention' d print thus involved me in 
 frequent difputes by explaining the qualities of the 
 Jine, I was extremely glad to find it (which I had 
 conceiv'd as only part of a fyftem in my mind) fo well 
 
 a 2 fup- 
 
 XI 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 fupported by the above precept of Michael Angelo: 
 which was firfl pointed out to me by Dr. Kennedy, a 
 learned antiquarian and connoifTeur, of whom I after- 
 wards purchafed the tranflation, from which I have 
 taken feveral paffages to my purpofe. 
 
 Let us now endeavour to dilcover what light anti- 
 quity throws upon the fubjecl in queftion. 
 
 Egypt firfl:, and afterward Greece, have manifefted 
 by their works their great fkill in arts and fciences, and 
 among the reft painting, and fculpture, all which are 
 thought to have iffued from their great fchools of phi- 
 lofophy. Pythagoras, Socrates, and Ariflotle, feem to 
 have pointed out the right road in nature for the fludy 
 of the painters and fculptors of thofe times (which they 
 in all probability afterwards followed through thofe 
 nicer paths that their particular profeflions required 
 them to purfue) as may be reafonably collected from the 
 anfwers given by Socrates to Ariftippus his difciple, and 
 Parrhafius the painter, concerning fitness, the firft 
 fundamental law in nature with regard to beauty. 
 
 I am in fome meafure faved the trouble of colle&inp- 
 an hiftorical account of thefe arts among the ancients, 
 by accidentally meeting with a preface to a tradr, call'd 
 the Beau Ideal: this treatife * was written by Lambert 
 Hermanfon Ten Kate, in French, and tranflated into 
 Englifh by James Chriflopher le Blon; who in that 
 preface fays, fpeaking of the Author, " His fuperior 
 
 " know- 
 * Publifli'd in 1732, and fold by A. Millar. 
 
u 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 PREFACE. xm 
 
 " knowledge that I am now publishing, is the product 
 of the Analogy of the ancient Greeks; or the true 
 key for finding all harmonious proportions in paint- 
 ing, fculpture, architecture, mufick, &c. brought 
 " home to Greece by Pythagoras. For after this great 
 " philofopher had travell'd into Phoenicia, Egypt and 
 " Chaldea, where he convers'd with the learned; he 
 " return'd into Greece about Anno Mundi 3484. Be- 
 " fore the christian asra 520, and brought with him 
 " many excellent difcoveries and improvements for the 
 " good of his countrymen, among which the Analogy 
 " was one of the moft considerable and ufeful. 
 
 " After him the Grecians, by the help of this Ana- 
 " ^°g7> began (and not before) to excel other nations 
 " in fciences and arts; for whereas before this time 
 " they reprefented their Divinities in plain human fi- 
 11 gures, the Grecians now began to enter into the Beau 
 " Ideal; and Pamphilus, (who flouriih'd A. M. 3641, 
 " before the chriftian sera 363, who taught, that no man 
 " could excel in painting without mathematicks) the 
 " fcholar of Paufias and rnafter of Apelles, was the firft 
 <c who artfully apply'd the faid Analogy to the art of 
 " painting; as much about the fame time the fculp- 
 " turers, the architects, &c. began to apply it to their 
 " feveral arts, without which fcience, the Grecians had 
 " remain'd as ignorant as their forefathers. 
 
 " They 
 
xvi PREFACE. 
 
 " conformable, with refpecT: to each different fubjecT:, 
 
 (I 
 
 a 
 c,< 
 
 fo that all the attitude, and all the adjuftment of the 
 draperies of each figure ought to anfvver or corre- 
 fpond to the fubjecT: chofen. Brief!)', it is a true de- 
 corum, a bienfeance or a congruent difpoiition of 
 " ideas, as well for the face and ftature, as for the 
 " attitudes. A bright genius, in my opinion, who 
 afpires to excel in the ideal, mould propofe this to 
 himfeli, as what has been the principal ftudy of the 
 moft famous artifts. 'Tis in this part that the great 
 mafters cannot be imitated or copied but by them- 
 felves, or by thofe that are advanced in the know- 
 ledge of the ideal, and who are as knowing as thofe 
 mafters in the rules or laws of the pittorefque and 
 poetical nature, altho' inferior to the mafters in the 
 high fpirit of invention." 
 The words in this quotation " It is alfo an infinite 
 variety of parts ," feem at firft to have fome meaning in 
 them, but it is entirely deftroy'd by the reft of the pa- 
 ragraph, and all the other pages are filled, according to 
 cuftom, with defcriptions of pi&ures. 
 
 Now, as every one has a right to conjecture what 
 this difcovery of the ancients might be, it mall be my 
 bufinefs to fhew it was a key to the thorough know- 
 ledge of variety both in form, and movement. Shake- 
 fpear, who had the deepeft penetration into nature, has 
 fum'd up all the charms of beauty in two words, 
 
 INFINITE 
 
 <c 
 (( 
 u 
 
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 (( 
 (( 
 it 
 
 <c 
 
P R E F A G E. 
 
 infinite variety ; where, fpeaking of Cleopatra's 
 power over Anthony, he fays, 
 
 Nor cuftom ftale 
 
 Her infinite variety: Act 2. Scene 3. 
 
 It has been ever obferved, that the ancients made 
 their doctrines myfterious to the vulgar, and kept them 
 fecret from thofe who were not of their particular fects, 
 and focieties, by means of fymbols, and hieroglyphics. 
 Lamozzo fays, chap. 29, book 1. " The Grecians in 
 " imitation of antiquity fearched out the truly re- 
 " nowned proportion, wherein the exact perfection of 
 moft exquifite beauty and fweetnefs appeareth; de- 
 dicating the fame in a triangular glafs unto Venus 
 u the goddefs of divine beauty, from whence all- the 
 " beauty of inferior things is derived." 
 
 If we fuppofe this paffage to be authentic, may we 
 not alfo imagine it probable, that the fymbol in the 
 triangular glafs, might be flmilar to the line Michael 
 Angelo recommended; efpecially, if it can be proved, 
 that the triangular form of the glafs, and the ferpentine 
 line itfelf, are the two moft expreffive figures that can 
 be thought of to fignify not only beauty and grace, but 
 the whole order of form. 
 
 There is a circumftance in the account Pliny gives 
 of Apelles's vilit to Protogenes, which ftrengchens this 
 fuppofition. I hope I may have leave to repeat the itory. 
 Apelles having heard of the fame of Protogenes, went 
 
 b to 
 
 xvn 
 
 
xviii P- R E F- A- C Er 
 
 to Rhodes to pay him a vifit, but not finding him at 
 home afked for a board," on which he drew a fate, telling 
 the fervant maid, that line would fignify to her mafter 
 who had been to fee him ; we are not clearly told what 
 fort of a line it was that could fo particularly fignify 
 one of the firft of his profefiion : if it was only a ftroke 
 (tho' as fine as a hair as Pliny feems to think) it could 
 not poflibly, by any means, denote the abilities of a great 
 painter. But if we fuppofe it to be a line of fome 
 extraordinary quality, fuch as the ferpentine line will 
 appear to be, Apelles could not have left a more fatis- 
 fa&ory fignature of the complement he had paid him. 
 Protogenes when he came home took the hint, and 
 drew a finer or rather more exprejfive line within it, to 
 fhew Apelles if he came again, that he understood his 
 meaning. He, foon returning, was well-pleafed with the 
 anfwer Protogenes had left for him, by which he was 
 convinced that fame had done him jufiice, and fo cor- 
 recting the line again, perhaps by making it more pre- 
 cifely elegant, he took his leave. The ftory thus may 
 be reconcil'd to common fenfe, which, as it has been 
 generally receiv'd, could never be underftood but as a 
 ridiculous tale. 
 
 Let us add to this, that there is fcarce an Egyptian, 
 Greek, or Roman deity, but hath a twifted ferpent, 
 twifted cornucopia, or fome fymbol winding in this 
 manner to accompany it. The two fmall heads (over the 
 
 bufto 
 
P R E F A C E. 
 
 budo of the Hercules, fig. 4, in plate 1.) of the goddefs 
 Ilis, one crowned with a globe between two horns, the 
 other with a lily *, are of this kind. Harpocrates, the 
 god of filence, is flill more remarkably fo, having a larr e 
 twilled horn growing out of the fide of his head, cue 
 cornucopia in his hand, and another at his feet, with 
 his finger placed on his lips, indicating fecrecy : (feeMont- 
 faucon's antiquities) and it is as remarkable, that the 
 deities of barbarous and gothic nations never had, nor 
 have to this day, any of thefe elegant forms belonging 
 to them. How abfolutely void of thefe turns are the 
 pagods of China, and what a mean tafte runs through 
 moft of their attempts in painting and fculpture, not- 
 withstanding they finifh with fuch excefllve neatnefs ; 
 the whole nation in thefe matters feem to have but one 
 eye: this mifchief naturally follows from the prejudices 
 they imbibe by copying one anothers works, which. the 
 ancients feem feldom to have done. 
 
 Upon the whole, it is evident, that the ancients flu- 
 died thefe arts very differently from the moderns : La- 
 mozzo feems to be partly aware of this, by what he 
 fays in the divifion of his work, page 9, " There is a 
 " two-folde proceeding in all artes and fciences: the 
 " one is called the order of nature, and the other of 
 
 * The leaves of this flower as they grow, twift tliemfelves various way 1 . 
 in a pleafing manner, as may be better feen by figure 43, in plate 1, but 
 there is a curious little flower called the Autumn Syclamen, fig. 47, the 
 leaves of which elegantly twift one way only. 
 
 b 2 " teaching. 
 
 xix 
 
xx PR E F A C E. 
 
 " teaching. Nature proceedeth ordinarily, beginning 
 with the unperfect, as the particulars, and ending with 
 the perfect, as the univerfals. Now if in fearching 
 out the nature of things, our underftanding fhall 
 proceede ,after that order, by which they are brought 
 forth by nature, doubtleffe it will be the moft abfo- 
 lute and ready method that can bee imagined. For 
 we beginne to know things by their hrit and imme- 
 diate principles, &e. and this is not only mine opi- 
 nion but Ariftotles alfo," yet, miftaking Ariftotle's 
 meaning, and abfolutely deviating from his advice, he 
 afterwards fays, " all which if we could comprehend 
 within our underftanding, we mould be moft wife ; 
 but it is impojfible," and after having given fome dark 
 reafons why he thinks fo, he tells you " he refolves to 
 " follow the order of teaching," which all the writers 
 on painting have in like manner ftnce done. 
 
 Had I obferved the foregoing paffage, before I un- 
 dertook this eflay, it probably would have put me to a 
 ftand, and deterred me from venturing upon what Le- 
 mozzo calls an impoilible talk: but obferving in the 
 foremention'd controverfies that the torrent generally 
 ran againft me; and that feveral of my opponents had 
 turn'd my arguments into ridicule, yet were daily avail- 
 ing themfelves of their ufe, and venting them even to 
 my face as their own; I began to wifh the publication, 
 of fomething on this fubjed; and accordingly applied 
 
 myfelf 
 
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 u 
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 a 
 cc 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 myfelf to ieveral of my friends, whom I thought capable 
 of taking up the pen for me, offering to furnifh them 
 with materials by word of mouth : but finding this me- 
 thod not practicable, from the difficulty of one man's 
 exprefling the ideas of another, efpecially on a fubjeclt 
 which he was either unacquainted with, or was new in 
 its kind, I was therefore reduced to an attempt of find- 
 ing fuch words as would bed anfwer my own ideas, 
 being now too far engaged to drop the defign. Here- 
 upon, having digested the matter as well as I could, 
 and thrown it into the form of a book, I fubmitted it 
 to the judgment of fuch friends whofe fincerity and 
 abilities I could beft rely on, determining on their ap- 
 probation or diflike to publifh or deftroy it: but their 
 favourable opinion of the manufcript being publicly 
 known, it gave fuch a credit to the undertaking, as 
 foon changed the countenances of thofe, who had a 
 better opinion of my pencil, than my peri, and turn'd 
 their fneers into expectation : efpecially when the fame 
 friends had kindly made me an offer of conducting the 
 work through the prefs. And here I muft acknowledge 
 myfelf particularly indebted to one gentleman for his 
 correclions and amendment of at leaft a third part of 
 the wording. Through his abfence and avocations, 
 feveral meets went to the prefs without any affiftance, 
 and the reft had the occafional infpeclion of one or two 
 other friends. If any inaccuracies mail be found in 
 
 the 
 
 XXi 
 
xxii P R E F A C E, 
 
 the writing, I mail readily acknowledge them all my 
 own, and am, I confefs, under no great concern about 
 them, provided the matter in general may be found 
 ufeful and anfvverable in the application of it to truth 
 and nature; in which material points, if the reader 
 fhall think fit to re&ify any miftakes, it will giv r e me a 
 feniible pleafure, and be doing great honour to the 
 work. 
 
 AD VERTISEMENT. 
 
 For the more eafy finding the figures referred to in the 
 
 tWO prints belonging to this ivork^ t?jc references are for 
 
 the mojl part placed in the margin. Fig. T. p. i . figni- 
 fies the top of plate I. L. p. i. the left fide. R. p. i. 
 the right fide. B. p. I. the bottom. And where a figure is 
 referred to in the ?niddle of either print l , // is only marlid 
 thus, fig. p. i. or fig. p. 2. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction. The ufe and advantage of conji-~\ 
 
 dering folid objects as only thin Jhelh compofed of lines, I page i 
 like the outer-coat of an onion. J 
 
 CHAPTER I. Of Fitness, p. 13 
 
 CHAP. II. Qf Variety, p. 16 
 
 CHAP. III. Of Uniformity, Regularity, or\ q 
 Symmetry, ■>"' 
 
 CHAP. IV. 0/"Simplicity, 07- Distinctness, p. 21 
 
 CHAP. V. Of Intricacy, p. 24 
 
 CHAP. VI. Of Quantity, p. 29 
 
 CHAPTER VII. Of Lines, p. 37 
 
 CHAP. VIII. Of what fort of parts and how pleasing \ 
 
 forms are compofed, jr* 3y 
 
 CHAP. IX. Of Compositions with the waving line, p. 48 
 CHAP. X. Of Compositions with the serpentine) 
 
 line, 5 P' 5° 
 
 CHAP. XL Of Proportion, p. 67 
 
 CHAP. XII. Of Light and Shade, and the manner \ 
 
 in which objects are explained to the eye by them, J "" "' 
 
 CHAP. XIII- Q/"Cor>-irusi rj.UN with regard to Light, 7 , 
 
 Shade, and Colours, jP* io 
 
 CHAP. XIV. Of Colouring, p. 113 
 
 CHAP. XV. Of the Face. 1. In the highef tap, and 
 the reverfe. 2. As to character and exprefjion. 3. Of( 
 the manner in which the lines of the Face alter from! 
 infancy upwards, and few the different Ages, 
 CHAP. XVI. Of Attitude, p. 135 
 
 CHAP. XVII. Of Action, i. A new method of ac- 
 quiring an eafy and graceful movement of the hand and t 
 arms. 2. Of 'the head, &c. 3. Of dancing, particularly f^. 138 
 the minuet, 4. Of country-dancing, and, laftly, offtage- 
 attion. 
 
 122 
 
 HI TJJ 
 
ERRATA.. 
 
 Page 15, line 25, the reference to fig. 4. p. 1. omitted. 
 17, line 11, for 87 read 47, and add plate I. 
 27, line 5, for circumference read circularity. 
 31, margin line 3, the reference to fig. 16. plate 1. omitted. 
 31, line 11, dele T. in the margin. 
 44, margin line 8, for fig. 40. reader. 41. 
 ditto line 22, for fig. 41. read fig. 40. 
 56, for then is the human body compofed, read then are the mufcles and hones 
 60, line 14, for fig. 60. read fig. 65. plate 1. 
 
 of the human body cotnpofed. 
 84, line 7, for as the brightejl yelloiu, read as for example, the hrightejl yel- 
 low. 
 86, line 15, for apartment read palace. 
 91, line 14, for Jpoie read fpoken, 
 94, line 14, read fuccedaneum. 
 in, line 7, to y?i\ 86. read alfo fig. 92, and 93. 
 112, line 21, for the objeel read //;* //§•/;< and fhade. 
 124, line 9, after 97 read 5. />. 1. 
 
 133, after line 3, read figure 1 15, T. p. 1. which reprefents three diffe- 
 rent fizes of the pupil of the eye ; the leaft, was exacUy taken from the eye of a large- 
 featur'd man, aged 105, the biggeft, from one of twenty, who had this part larger 
 than ordinary, and the other is the common fize. If this part of the eye in the 
 pictures of Charles II. and James II. painted by Vandyke at Kenfington, were to 
 be meafured with a pair of compafles, and compared with their pictures painted by 
 Lilly when they were men, the diameters would be found in both pictures reflectively . 
 the fame. 
 
 Page 137, line 27, for fig. 79. read 75, and (or p. x. read/. 2. 
 150, line 25, fox anfwer read anfwers. 
 
INTRODUCTI 
 
 NOW offer to the public a fhort effay, accom- 
 panied with two explanatory prints, in which I 
 fhall endeavour to fhew what the principles are in 
 nature, by which we are directed to call the forms of 
 fome bodies beautiful, others ugly ; fome graceful, and 
 others the reverfe ; by considering more minutely than 
 has hitherto been done, the nature of thofe lines, and 
 their different combinations, which ferve to raife in 
 the mind the ideas of all the variety of forms imagina- 
 ble. At firft, pcrlaapo, tlic -wkolc design, as well as the 
 
 prints, may feem rather intended to trifle and con- 
 found, than to entertain and inform : but I am per- 
 fuaded that when the examples in nature, referr'd to in 
 this effay, are duly coniider'd and examined upon the 
 principles laid down in it, it will be thought worthy of a 
 careful and attentive perufal : and the prints themfelves 
 too will, I make no doubt, be examined as attentively, 
 when it is found, that almoft eveiy figure in them (how 
 odly foever they may feem to be group'd together) is 
 referr'd to fmgly in the effay, in order to ailift tjie 
 
 B reader's 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 reader's imagination, when the original examples in art, 
 or nature, are not themfelves before him. 
 
 And in this light I hope my prints will be con- 
 fider'd, and that the figures referr'd to in them will 
 never be imagined to be placed there by me as exam- 
 ples themfelves, of beauty or grace, but only to point 
 out to the reader what forts of objects he is to look for 
 and examine in nature, or in the works of the greateft 
 matters. My figures, therefore, are to be confider'd in 
 the fame light, with thofe a mathematician makes 
 with his pen, which may convey the idea of his de- 
 monstration, tho' not a line in them is either perfectly 
 ftraight, or of that peculiar curvature he is treating of. 
 Nay, fo far was I from aiming at grace, that I pur- 
 pofely chofe to be leaft accurate, where moft beauty 
 might be expected, that no ftrefs might be laid on the 
 figures to the prejudice of the work itfelf. For I muft 
 confefs, I have bur litrle hopes of having a favourable 
 attention given to my defign in general, by thofe who 
 have already had a more fafhionable introduction into 
 the myfteries of the arts of painting, and fbulpture. 
 Much lefs do I expect, or in truth defire, the counte- 
 nance of that fet of people, who have an intereft in 
 exploding any kind of doctrine, that may teach us to 
 fee with our own eyes. 
 
 It may be needlefs to obferve, that fbme of the laft- 
 mention'd, are not only the dependents on, but often 
 the only instructors and leaders of the former; but in 
 
 what 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 what light they are fo confider'd abroad, may be partly 
 feen by f a burlefque reprefentation of them, taken ^ Fig t '• 
 from a print publifh'd by Mr. Pond, defign'd by Cav r . 
 Ghezzi at Rome. 
 
 To thofe, then, whole judgments are unprejudiced, this 
 little work is fubmitted with moft pleafure; becaufe it 
 is from fuch that I have hitherto received the moft obli- 
 gations, and now have reafon to expecl: moft candour. 
 
 Therefore I would fain have fuch of my readers be 
 allured, that however they may have been aw'd, and 
 over-born by pompous terms of art, hard names, and 
 the parade of leemingly magnificent collections of pic- 
 tures and ftatues ; they are in a much fairer way, ladies, 
 as well as gentlemen, of gaining a perfedt knowledge of 
 the elegant and beautiful in artificial, as well as natural 
 forms, by confidering them in a fyftematical, but at 
 the fame time familiar way, than thofe who have 
 
 been prepoffefs'cL hy dogmatic rules, taken from the 
 
 performances of art only : nay, I will venture to fay, 
 fooner, and more rationally, than even a tolerable 
 painter, who has imbibed the fame prejudices. 
 
 The more prevailing the notion may be, that painters 
 and connoifleurs are the only competent judges of things 
 of this fort ; the more it becomes neceflary to clear up 
 and confirm, as much as poffible, what has only been 
 aflerted in the foregoing paragraph : that no one may 
 be deterr'd, by the want of fuch previous knowledge, 
 from entring into this enquiry. 
 
 B 2 The 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The reafon why gentlemen, who have been inqui- 
 sitive after knowledge in pictures, have their eyes lefs 
 qualified for our purpofe, than others, is becaufe their 
 thoughts have been entirely and continually employ' d 
 and incumber'd with considering and retaining the va- 
 rious manners in which pictures are painted, the hifto- 
 ries, names, and characters of the mailers, together 
 with many other little circumftances belonging to the 
 mechanical part of the art ; and little or no time has 
 been given for perfecting the ideas they ought to have 
 in their minds, of the objedts themfelves in nature: for 
 by having thus efpoufed and adopted their firft notions 
 from nothing but imitations ^ and becoming too often 
 as bigotted to their faults, as their beauties, they at 
 length, in a manner, totally neglect, or at leaft difregard 
 the works of nature, merely becaufe they do . not tally 
 with what their minds are fo ftfongly prepofTefs'd with. 
 
 Were not this a true ftatc yjC tKc cafe, many a re- 
 puted capital picture, that now adorns the cabinets of 
 the curious in all countries, would long ago have been 
 committed to the flames : nor would it have been pof- 
 fible for the Venus and Cupid, reprefented by the fl- 
 t Under gure -f-, to have made its way into the principal apart- 
 t % t 9 ' ment of a palace. t* 
 
 It is alfo evident that the painter's eye may not be a 
 bit better fitted to receive thefe new impreflions, who 
 is in like manner too much captivated with the works 
 of art ; for he alfo is apt to purfue the fhadow, and drop 
 
 the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the fubftance. This miftake happens chiefly to thofe 
 .who '"go. to Rome for the accomplifhment of their Stu- 
 dies^ as they naturally will, without the utmoft, care, 
 take the infectious turn of the connoifleur, inftead of the 
 painter:: and in proportion as they turn by thofe means 
 bad proficients in their own arts, they become the more 
 considerable in that of a connoifleur. As a confirma- 
 tion of this feeming paradox, it has ever been obferv'd 
 at all auctions of pictures, that the very worft painters 
 -fit as the molt profound judges, and are trufted only, I 
 fuppofe, on account of their difinterejiedmfs. 
 - 1 apprehend a good deal of this will look more like 
 refentment, and a deiign to invalidate the objections of 
 fuch as are not likely to fet the faults of this work in the 
 moff favourable light; than merely for the encourage- 
 ment, as was faid above, of fuch of my readers, as are 
 neither painters, nor connoiffeurs : and I will be inge- 
 nuous enough tn mnfeGi fomethmg of- this may be 
 true ; but, at the fame time, I cannot allow that this 
 alone would have been a fuf&cient motive to have made 
 me rifk giving offence to any; had not another con- 
 sideration, befides that already alledg ? d, of more confe- 
 quence to the purpofe in hand, made it neceffary. I 
 mean the fetting forth, in the itrongeft colours, the mr- 
 priling alterations objects leemingly undergo tlirough 
 •the prepofleffions and prejudices contracted by the mind. 
 
 Fallacies, Strongly to be guarded againft by fuch as 
 
 would learn to fee objects truly ! 
 
 Altno' 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Altho' the inftances already given are pretty flagrant, 
 yet it is certainly true, (as a farther confirmation of this, 
 and for the confolation of thofe, who may be a little 
 piqued at what has been faid) that painters of every 
 condition are ftronger inftances of the almoft unavoid- 
 able power of prejudice, than any people whatever. 
 
 What are all the manners, as they are call'd, of even 
 the greateft mafters, which are known to differ fo 
 much from one another, and all of them from nature, 
 but fo many ftrong proofs of their inviolable attach- 
 ment to falihood, converted into eftablifh'd truth in their 
 own eyes, by felf-opinion? Rubens would, in all proba- 
 bility, have been as much difgufted at the dry manner 
 of Pouflin, as Pouftm was at the extravagant of Rubens. 
 The prejudices of inferior proficients in favour of the 
 imperfections of their own performances, is ftill more 
 
 amazing. Their eyes are fo quick in difcerning 
 
 the faults of others, at the fame time they are fo to- 
 tally blind to their own ! Indeed it would be well for 
 us all, if one of Gulliver's flappers could be placed at 
 our elbows to remind us at every ftroke how much pre- 
 judice and felf-opinion perverts our fight. 
 
 From what has been faid, I hope it appears that thofe, 
 who have no bias of any kind, either from their own 
 pra&ice, or the leflbns of others, are fitteft to examine 
 into the truth of the principles laid down in the fol- 
 lowing pages. But as every one may not have had an 
 opportunity of being fufficiently acquainted with the 
 
 inftances 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 instances, that have been given : I will offer one of a 
 familiar kind, which may be a hint for their obferving 
 a thoufand more. How gradually does the eye grow 
 reconciled even to a difagreeable drefs, as it becomes 
 more and more the fafhion, and how foon return to its 
 diflike of it, when it is left off", and a new one has 
 taken pofTeflion of the mind ? — fo vague is tafte, when 
 it has no folid principles for its foundation. ! 
 
 Notwithftanding I have told you my defign of 
 confidering minutely the variety of lines, which ferve to 
 raife the ideas of bodies in the mind, and which are 
 undoubtedly to be confider'd as drawn on the fur- 
 faces only of folid or opake bodies : yet the endea- 
 vouring to conceive, as accurate an idea as is poflible, 
 of the injide of thofe furfaces, if I may be allow'd the 
 expreflion, will be a great afliftance to us in the pur- 
 suance of our prefent enquiry. 
 
 In order to my being well underftood, let every object, 
 under our consideration, be imagined to have its in- 
 ward contents fcoop'd out fo nicely, as to have nothing 
 of it left but a thin fhell, exadtly correfponding both in 
 its inner and outer furface, to the fhape of the object 
 itfelf : and let us likewife fuppofe this thin fhell to be 
 made up of very fine threads, clofely connected toge- 
 ther, and equally perceptible, whether the eye is fup- 
 pofed to obferve them from without, or within ; and 
 we fhall find the ideas of the two furfaces of this fhell 
 will naturally coincide. The very word, fhell, makes 
 us feem to fee both furfaces alike. But 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The ufe of this conceit, as it may be call'd by 
 fome, will be feen to be very great, in the procefs of this 
 work : and the oftner we think of objects in this fhell- 
 like manner, we mail facilitate and ftrengthen our con- 
 ception of any particular part of the furface of an ob- 
 ject we are viewing, by acquiring thereby a more per- 
 fect knowledge of the whole, to which it belongs : be- 
 caufe the imagination will naturally enter into the vacant 
 fpace within this fhell, and there at once, as from a 
 center, view the whole form within, and mark the op- 
 pofite correfponding parts fo ftrongly, as to retain the 
 idea of the whole, and make us matters of the mean- 
 ing of every view of the object:, as we walk round it, 
 and view it from without. 
 
 Thus the moil perfect idea we can poilibly acquire of 
 a fphere, is by conceiving an infinite number of ftraight 
 rays of equal lengths, ifiuing from the center, as from 
 the eye, Spreading every way alike ; and circumfcribed 
 or wound about at their other extremities with clofe 
 connected circular threads, or lines, forming a true 
 fpherical fhell. 
 
 But in the common way of taking the view of any 
 opake object, that part of its furface, which fronts the 
 eye, is apt to occupy the mind alone, and the oppofite, 
 nay even every other part of it whatever, is left un- 
 thought of at that time : and the lean: motion we make 
 to reconnoitre any other fide of the object, confounds 
 pur firlt idea, for want of the connexion of the two 
 
 ideas, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ideas, which the complete knowledge of the whole 
 would naturally have given us, if we had confidered it 
 in the other way before. 
 
 Another advantage of confidering objects thus merely 
 as fhells compofed of lines, is, that by thefe means we 
 obtain : the true and full idea of what is call'd the out- 
 lines of a figure, which has been confin'd within too 
 narrow limits, by taking it only from drawings on paper; 
 for in the example of the fphere given above, every 
 one of the imaginary circular threads has a right to be 
 confider'd as an out-line of the fphere, as well as thole 
 which divide the half, that is feen, from that which is not 
 feen ; and if the eye be fuppoied to move regularly round 
 it, thefe threads will each of them as regularly fucceed 
 one another in the office of out-lines, (in the narrow 
 and limited fenfe of the word :) and the inftant any one 
 of thefe threads, during this motion of the eye, comes 
 into fight on one fide, its oppofite thread is loft, and 
 dilappears on the other. He who will thus take the 
 pains of acquiring perfect, ideas of the distances, bearings, 
 and oppositions of feveral material points and lines in 
 the furfaces of even the moft irregular figures, will gra- 
 dually arrive at the knack of recalling them into his 
 mind when the objects themfelves are not before him : 
 and they will be as Strong and perfect as thofe of the 
 moft plain and regular forms, fuch as cubes and fpheres ; 
 and will be of infinite fervice to thofe who invent and 
 draw from fancy, as well as enable thofe to be more 
 correct who" draw from the life. 
 
 C In 
 
io INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In this manner, therefore, I would defire the reader 
 to ailift his imagination as much as poflible, in confi- 
 dering every objed, as if his eye were placed within it. 
 As Straight lines are eafily conceiv'd, the difficulty of 
 following this method in the moft Simple and regular 
 forms will be lefs than may be firft imagined ; and its 
 ufe in the more compounded will be greater : as will be 
 more fully fhewn when we come to fpeak of com- 
 position. 
 
 i p' S i'. 2 * But as ^S* "J* ma y ^ e °*" ^ n g u l ar ufe to young de- 
 signers in the ftudy of the human form, the moft 
 complex and beautiful of all, in mewing them a me- 
 chanical way of gaining the opposite points in its fur- 
 face, which never can be feen in one and the fame view; 
 it will be proper to explain the defign of it in this place, 
 as it may at the fame time add fome weight to what 
 has been already faid. 
 
 It represents the trunk of a figure cafl in Soft wax, 
 
 with one wire pafs'd perpendicularly through its center, 
 another perpendicularly to the firft, going in before and 
 coming out in the middle of the back, and as many 
 more as may be thought neceflary, parallel to and at 
 equal diftances from theSe, and each other ; as is mark'd 
 by the feveral dots in the figure. — Let thele wires be 
 fo loofe as to be taken out at pleafure, but not before 
 all the parts of them, which appear out of the wax, 
 are carefully painted clofe up to the wax, of a different 
 colour from thofe, that lie within it. By thefe means 
 
 the 
 
INTRODUCTION". n 
 
 the horizontal and perpendicular contents of thefe parts 
 of the body (by which I mean the diftances of oppofite 
 points in the fiirface of thefe parts) through which the 
 wires have pafs'd, may be exactly known and compared 
 with each other ; and the little holes, where the wires 
 have pierced the wax, remaining on its fiirface, will 
 mark out the corresponding oppofite points on the ex- 
 ternal mufbles of the body ; as well as aflift and guide 
 lis to a readier conception of all the intervening parts* 
 Thefe points may be mark'd upon a marble figure with 
 calibers properly ufed. 
 
 The known method, many years made ufe of, for 
 the more exactly and expeditioufly reducing drawings 
 from large pictures, for engravings 5 or for enlarging de- 
 iigns, for painting cielings and cupolas, (by ffcriking 
 lines perpendicular to each other, lb as to make an equal 
 number of fquares on the paper defign'dfor the copy, that 
 hath been firft made on the original ; by which means, 
 the fituation of every part of the picture is mechanically 
 feen, and eafily transferred) may truly be faid to be 
 fomewhat of the fame kind with what has been here 
 propofed, but that one is done upon a flat furface, the 
 other upon a folid ; and that the new fcheme differs in 
 its application, and may be of a much more ufeful and 
 extenfive nature than the old one. 
 
 But it is time now to have done with the intro- 
 duction : and I fhall proceed to confider the funda- 
 mental principles, which are generally allowed to give 
 
 C 2 elegance 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 elegance and beauty, when duly blended together, to 
 compoiitions of all kinds whatever; and point out to my 
 readers, the particular force of each, in thofe compo- 
 fitions in nature and art, which feem mof} to pleafe and 
 entertain the eye, and give that grace and beauty, which 
 is the fubjecT: of this enquiry. The. principles I mean, 
 
 are FIT NE S S, VARIETY, UNIFORMITY, SIMPLICITY, 
 
 intricacy, and quantity; all which co-operate i?i 
 
 the production of beauty, mutually correcting and re- 
 training each other occaJio?ially. 
 
 THE 
 
iwiii mrnVSm 
 
 __ - -- 
 
ANALYSIS of f BEAUT Y. Plate R 
 
 l; 
 
 r,>. ..,.,„,./ £ynu*d .„>./ -^i,/-/,^;/ /y 0fy£aart&.<. Hare* J* , 7M ,aunHy/i, -tetrdffltr&tmenii. 
 
THE 
 
 T ' ■ A tt ■•tt.':. /-^ T 
 
 T Y S I 
 
 OF 
 
 B E A U T Y. 
 
 i Lionel : , 
 
 , i : i , 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of FITNESS. 
 
 FITNES-0 of tko parto to the dcilgn for ! whicli 
 every individual thing is form'd, either by art or 
 nature, is firft to be connder'd, as it is of the 
 greateft confequence to the beauty of the whole. This 
 is fo evident, that even the fenfe of feeing, the great 
 inlet of beauty, is itfelf fo ftrongly bias'd by it, that if 
 the mind, on account of this kind of value in a form, 
 efteerri it beautiful, tho' on all' other considerations it be 
 not fo ; the eye grows infenlible of its want -of beauty, 
 and even begins to be pleas'd, especially after it has been 
 a considerable time acquainted with it. 
 
 It 
 
i 4 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 It is well known on the other hand, that forms of 
 great elegance often difguft the eye by being improperly 
 applied. Thus twifted columns are undoubtedly orna- 
 mental ; but as they convey an idea of weaknefs, they 
 always difpleafe, when they are improperly made ufe of 
 as fupports to any thing that is bulky, or appears 
 heavy. 
 
 The bulks and proportions of obje&s are govern'd by 
 fitnefs and propriety. It is this that has eftablifh'd the 
 fize and proportion of chairs, tables, and all forts of 
 utenfils and furniture. It is this that has fix'd the di- 
 mensions of pillars, arches, &c. for the fupport of great 
 weight, and fo regulated all the orders in architecture, 
 as well as the fizes of windows and doors, 8cc. Thus 
 though a building were ever fb large, the fteps of the 
 flairs, the feats in the windows muft be continued of their 
 ufual heights, or they would lofe their beauty with their 
 
 fitnefs : and in fhip-bnilrlmg fine rlimerifions of every 
 
 part are confin'd and regulated by fitnefs for failing. 
 When a veffel fails well, the failors always call her a 
 beauty ; the two ideas have fuch a connexion ! 
 
 The general dimenfions of the parts of the human 
 body are adapted thus to the ufes they are defign'd for. 
 The trunk is the moft capacious on account of the 
 quantity of its contents, and the thigh is larger than the 
 leg, becaufe it has both the leg and foot to move, the 
 leg only the foot, &c. 
 
 Fitnefs 
 
ANALYSIS <?/ BEAUTY. i 5 
 
 Fitnefs of parts alfb conftitutes and diftinguifhes in a 
 great meafure the chara&eriftics of obje&s ; as for ex- 
 ample, the race-horfe differs as much in quality, or cha- 
 racter, from the war-horfe, as to its figure, as the Her- 
 cules from the Mercury. 
 
 The race-horfe, having all its parts of fuch dimen- 
 sions as beft fit the purpofes of fpeed, acquires on that 
 account a confident character of one fort of beauty. 
 To illuftrate this, fuppofe the beautiful head and grace- 
 fully-turn'd neck of the war-horfe were placed on the 
 moulders of the race-horfe, inftead of his own aukward 
 ftraight one : it would difguft, and deform, inftead of 
 adding beauty j became the judgment would condemn 
 it as unfit. 
 
 The Hercules, by Glicon -f, hath all its parts finely t Fig. 3 . 
 fitted for the purpofes of the utmoft ftrength, the tex- 
 ture of the human form will bear. The back, breaft 
 and moulders bavp Kngp tones, and mxifclea adequate 
 to the mppofed active flrength of its upper parts; but 
 as lefs ftrength was required for the lower parts, the ju- 
 dicious fculptor, contrary to all modern rule of enlarg- 
 ing every part in proportion, leflen'd the fize of the 
 mufcles gradually down towards the feet j and for the 
 fame reafbn made the neck larger in circumference than 
 any part of the head ;**~otherwife the figure would have \ , 
 been burden'd with an unneceflary weight, which would 
 have been a draw-back from his ftrength, and in con- 
 fequence of that, from its characteriftic beauty. 
 
 Thefe 
 
 p- 
 
 r 
 
16 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 Thefe feeming faults, which fhew the fuperior ana- 
 tomical knowledge as well as judgment of the ancients, 
 are not to be found in the leaden imitations of it near 
 Hyde-park. Thefe faturnine genius's imagin'd they 
 knew how to correct fuch apparent dif proportions. 
 
 Thefe few examples may be fufficient to give an idea 
 of what I mean, (and would have underftood) by the 
 beauty of fitnefs, or propriety. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 of v a r IE rr. 
 
 T_T O W great a fhare variety has in producing beauty 
 
 may be feen in the ornamental part of nature. 
 
 The fhapes and colours of plants, flowers, leaves, the 
 
 paintings in butterflies wings, fhells, &c. leem of little 
 
 other intended ufe, than that of entertaining the eye 
 
 with the pleamre of variety 
 
 All the fenfes delight in it, and equally are averfe to 
 famenefs. The ear is as much offended with one even 
 continued note, as the eye is with being flx'd to a point, 
 or to the view of a dead wall. 
 
 Yet when the eye is glutted with a fucceilion of va- 
 riety, it finds relief in a certain degree of famenefs ; and 
 even plain fpace becomes agreeable, and properly intro- 
 duced, and contrafted with variety, adds to it more 
 variety. 
 
 I mean 
 
ANALYSIS ^/BEAUTY. i 7 
 
 I mean here, and every where indeed, a compofed 
 variety ; for variety uncompofed, and without defign, 
 is confufion and deformity. 
 
 Obferve, that a gradual leflening is a kind of varying 
 that gives beauty. The pyramid diminifhing from its 
 bans to its point, and the Icroll or voluta, gradually 
 lefiening to its center, are beautiful forms. So alfo ob- 
 jects that only feem to do fo, though in facl they do 
 not, have equal beauty : thus perfpe&ive views, and 
 particularly thofe of buildings, are always pleafing to 
 the eye. v ^ ,. 
 
 The litde fhip, between figure J^ and 88,.fuppos'd 
 moving along the more even with the eye, might have 
 its top and bottom bounded by two lines at equal dif- 
 tances all the way, as A; but if the fhip puts out to 
 fea, thefe lines at top and bottom would feem to vary 
 and meet each other by degrees, as B, in the point C, 
 which is in the line where the flcy and water meets, 
 call'd the horizon. Thus much of the manner of per- 
 ipe&ives adding beauty, by feemingly varying other- 
 wife unvaried forms, I thought, might be acceptable 
 to thofe, who have not learnt perfpe&ive. 
 
 D CHAP. 
 
18 ANALYSI So/ BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of Uniformity, Regularity, or Symmetry. 
 
 [ T may be imagined that the greateft part of the ef- 
 fects of beauty refults from the fymmetry of parts 
 in the object, which is beautiful : but I am very well 
 perfuaded, this prevailing notion will foon appear to- 
 have little or no foundation. 
 
 It may indeed have properties of greater confequence, 
 fuch as propriety, fitnefs, and ule; and yet but little 
 ferve the purpofes of pleafing the eye, merely on the 
 fcore of beauty. 
 
 We have, indeed, in our nature a love of imitation 
 from our infancy, and the eye is often entertained, as 
 well as furprifed, with mimicry, and delighted with 
 the exactnefs of counterparts : but then this always 
 
 gives way to its fuperior love of Trariety, and foon gTOWS 
 
 tirefom. 
 
 If the uniformity of figures, parts, or lines were truly 
 the chief caufe of beauty, the more exactly uniform 
 their appearances were kept, the more pleafure the eye 
 would receive : but this is fo far from being the cafe, 
 that when the mind has been once fatisfied, that the 
 parts anfwer one another, with fo exact an uniformity, 
 as to preferve to the whole the character of fitnefs to 
 fland, to move, to fink, to fvvim, to fly, &c. without 
 loiing the balance : the eye is rejoiced to fee the object 
 
 turn'd, 
 
ANALYSIS gf. BEAUTY. 19 
 
 turn'd, and fhifted, To as to vary thefe uniform ap- 
 pearances.' 
 
 Thus the profile of moft obje&s, as well as faces, 
 are rather more pleafing than their full fronts. 
 
 Whence it is clear, the pleafure does not arife from 
 feeing the exa6t refemblancej which one fide bears the 
 other, but from the knowledge that they do fo on ac- 
 count of fitnefs, with deflgn, and for ufe. For when 
 the head of a fine woman is turn'd a little to one fide, 
 which takes off from the exa& fimilarityof the two halves 
 of the face, and fomewhat reclining, fo varying ftill 
 more from the ftraight and parallel lines of a formal 
 front face : it is always look'd upon as moft pleafing. 
 This is accordingly faid to be a graceful air of the 
 head. 
 
 It is a conftant rule in composition in painting to 
 avoid regularity. When we view a building, or any 
 other object in life, we have it in our power, by {Lift- 
 ing the ground, to take that view of it which pleafes 
 us beft; and in confequence of this, the painter if he is 
 left to his choice, takes it on the angle rather than in 
 front, as moft agreeable to the eye ; becaufe the regu- j 
 larity of the lines is taken away by their running into 
 perfpedlive, without loiing the idea of fitnefs : and 
 when he is of neceffity obliged to give the front of a j 
 building, with all its equalities and parallelifms, he ge- 
 nerally breaks (as it is term'd) fuch difagreeable appear- 
 ances, by throwing a tree before it, or the fhadow of an 
 
 D 2 ima- ' 
 
20 A N A L Y S I S of B E A U T Y. 
 
 imaginary cloud, or fome other object that may anfwer 
 the fame purpofe of adding variety, which is the fame 
 with taking away uniformity. 
 
 If uniform objects were agreeable, why is there fuch 
 care taken to contraft, and vary all the limbs of a ftatue ? 
 1 Fig. 72. -phe picture of Henry the eighth -f- , would be pre- 
 ferable to the finely contrafted figures of Guido or Cor- 
 p. 1. reggio ; and the Antinous's eafy fway % y muft fubmit to 
 * Fi g' 7- the ftiif and ftraight figure of the dancing mailer * ; 
 
 p. 1. D & © ' 
 
 I Fig. 55 . and the uniform out-lines of the mufcles in the || figure 
 r '" taken from Albert Durar's book of proportions, would 
 have more tafte in them than thofe in the famous part 
 i Fig. 54. of an antique § figure from which Michael Angelo ac- 
 quired fo much of his fkill in grace. 
 
 In fhort, whatever appears to be fit, and proper to an- 
 fwer great purpofes, ever fatisfies the mind, and pleafes 
 on that account. Uniformity is of this kind. We find it 
 necefTary, in fome degree, to give the idea of reft and 
 motion, without the pofiibility of failing. But when any 
 fuch purpofes can be as well effected by more irregular 
 parts, the eye is always better pleafed on the account of 
 variety. 
 
 How pleafingly is the idea of firmnefs in Handing 
 convey' d to the eye by the three elegant claws of a table, 
 the three feet of a tea-lamp, or the celebrated tripod of 
 the ancients? 
 
 Thus you fee regularity, uniformity, or fymmetry, 
 pleafe only as they ferve to give the idea of fitnefs. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
A N A LY S I S of B E A U T Y. 21 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Of Simplicity, or Distinctness. 
 
 Complicity, without variety, is wholly infipid, and at 
 
 beft does only not difpleafe ; but when variety is 
 join'd to it, then it pleafes, becaufe it enhances the 
 pleafure of variety, by giving the eye the power of en- 
 joying it with eafe. 
 
 There is no object compofed of ftraight lines, that 
 has fo much variety, with fo few parts, as the pyramid : 
 and it is its conftantly varying from its bafe gradually up- 
 wards .in every fituation of the eye, (without giving the 
 idea of famenefs, as the eye moves round it) that has 
 made it been efteem'd in all ages, in preference to the 
 cone, which in all views appears nearly the fame, being 
 varied only by light and made. 
 
 Steeples, monuments, and moft compositions in paint- 
 ing and fculpture are kept within the form of the cone 
 or pyramid, as the moft eligible boundary on account 
 of their Simplicity and variety. For the lame reafon 
 equeftrian ftatues pleafe more than the lingle figures. 
 
 The authors (for there were three concern d in the 
 work) of as fine a group of figures in fculpture, as ever 
 was made, either by ancients or moderns, (I mean Lao- 
 coon and his two fons) chofe to be guilty of the ah- 
 furdity of making the fons of half the father's fize, tho' 
 
 they 
 
22 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 they have every other mark of being defign'd for men, 
 rather than not bring their compofition within the 
 +,r ; g 9- boundary of a pyramid f. Thus if a judicious work- 
 man were employ' d to make a cafe of wood, for pre- 
 ferving it from the injuries of the weather, or for the 
 convenience of carriage ; he would foon find by his eye, 
 the whole compofition would readily fit and be eafily 
 pack'd up, in one of a pyramidal form. 
 
 Steeples, &c. have generally been varied from the 
 cone, to take off from their too great Simplicity, and in- 
 stead of their circular bafes, polygons of different, but 
 even numbers of fides, have been fubftituted, I fuppole 
 for the fake of uniformity. Thefe forms however may be 
 faid to have been chofen by the architect, with a view 
 to the cone, as the whole compofitions might be bounded 
 by it. 
 
 Yet, in my mind, odd numbers have the advantage 
 over the even ones, as variety is more pleafing than uni- 
 formity, where the fame end is anfwer'd by both ; as in 
 this cafe, where both polygons may be circumfcrib'd by 
 the fame circle, or in other words, both compofitions 
 bounded by the fame cone. 
 
 And I can't help obferving, that nature in all her 
 works of fancy, if I may be allow'd the expreflion, 
 where it.feems immaterial whether even or odd numbers 
 of divifions were prefer'd, moft frequently employs the 
 odd; as for example, in the indenting of leaves, flowers, 
 bloffoms, &c. 
 
 The 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 23 
 
 The oval alfo, on account of its variety with fimpli- 
 city, is as much to be prefer'd to the circle, as the 
 triangle to the fquare, or the pyramid to the cube ; and 
 this figure lefTen'd at one end, like the egg, thereby 
 being more varied, is fingled out by the author of all 
 variety, to bound the features of a beautiful face. 
 
 When the oval has a little more of the cone added 
 to it than the egg has, it becomes more diftinclily a 
 compound of thofe two mofl fimple varied figures. 
 This is the fhape of the pine-apple -f- , which nature has t Fig. to, 
 particularly diftinguifh'd by bellowing ornaments of p 
 rich mofaic upon it, compofed of contrafted ferpentine 
 lines, and the pips J, as the gardiners call them, are ftill tFig.n, 
 varied by two cavities and one round eminence in each. T ? l - 
 
 Could a more elegant fimple form than this have 
 been found ; it is probable that judicious architect, Sir 
 Chriftopher Wren, would not have chofen the pine- 
 apples for the two term^atlotxo of the fides of the front 
 of St. Paul's : and perhaps the globe and crofs, tho' a 
 finely varied figure, which terminates the dome, would 
 not have had the preference of fituation, if a religious 
 motive had not been the occafion. 
 
 Thus we fee fimplicity gives beauty even to variety, 
 as it makes it more eafily underftood, and fhould be^ever 
 ftudied in the works of art, as it ferves to prevent per- 
 plexity in forms of elegance \ , as will be fhewn in the 
 next chapter* 
 
 I \^> XT-E A. X a 
 
2+ ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Of INTRICACY. 
 
 T I y H E active mind is ever bent to be employ 'd. Pur- 
 iuing is the buhnefs of our lives ; and even ab- 
 ftracted from any other view, gives pleafure. Every 
 anting difficulty, that for a while attends and interrupts 
 the purfuit, gives a fort of fpring to the mind, enhances 
 the pleafure, and makes what would elfe be toil and 
 labour, become fport and recreation. 
 
 Wherein would coniift the joys of hunting, mooting, 
 hilling, and many other favourite diverfions, without 
 the frequent turns and difficulties, and difappointments, 
 
 that are daily met with in the purfuit? how joylefs 
 
 does the fportfman return when the hare has not had 
 fair play ? how lively, and in fpirits, even when an old 
 cunning one has baffled, and m it-run the dogs ! 
 
 This love of purfuit, merely as purfuit, is implanted 
 in our natures, and defign'd, no doubt, for necelTary, 
 and ufeful purpofes. Animals have it evidently by in- 
 ftinct. The hound diilikes the game he fo eagerly pur- 
 fues; and even cats will riik the lofing of their prey to 
 chafe it over again. It is a pleafing labour of the mind 
 to folve the molt difficult problems ; allegories and 
 riddles, trifling as they are, afford the mind amufe- 
 ment : and with what delight does it follow the well- 
 connected thread of a play, or novel, which ever in- 
 
 creafes, 
 
AN ALYSIS ^/BEAUTY. 25 
 
 creafes as the plot thickens, and ends, moft: pleas'd, 
 when that is moft: diftin&ly unravell'd ? 
 
 The eye hath this fort of enjoyment in winding 
 walks, and ferpentine rivers, and all forts of objects, 
 whofe forms, as we mall fee hereafter, are compofed 
 principally of what, I call, the waving and ferpentine 
 lines. 
 
 Intricacy in form, therefore, I mall define to be that 
 peculiarity in the lines, which compofe it, that leads 
 the eye a wanton kind of chace^ and from the pleafure 
 that gives the mind, intitles it to the name of beautiful : 
 and it may be juftly faid, that the caufe of the idea 
 of grace more immediately refides in this principle, 
 than in the other five, except variety; which indeed 
 includes this, and all the others. 
 
 That this obfervation may appear to have a real 
 foundation in nature, every help will be requir'd, which 
 the reader hinuelf can call to his afllftance, as well as 
 what will here be fuggefted to him. 
 
 To fet this matter in fomewhat a clearer light, the 
 familiar inftance of a common jack, with a circular fly, 
 may ferve our purpofe better than a more elegant form : 
 preparatory to which, let the f figure be coniider'd, tn g .i 4 . 
 which reprefents the eye, at a common reading diftance 
 viewing a row of letters, but flx'd with moft attention 
 to the middle letter A. 
 
 Now as we read, a ray may be fuppofed to be drawn 
 from the center of the eye to that letter it looks at fTrft, 
 
 E and 
 
 Tpi. 
 
26 ANALYSIS.?/ BEAUTY. 
 
 and to move fucceffively with it from letter to letter, 
 trie whole length of the line : but if the eye flops at 
 any particular letter, A, to obferve it more than the 
 reft, thefe other letters will grow more and more im- 
 perfeft to the fight, the farther they are fituated on 
 either fide of A, as is exprefs'd in the figure: and 
 when we endeavour to fee all the letters in a line equally 
 perfect at one view, as it were, this imaginary ray muft 
 courfe it to and fro with great celerity. Thus though 
 the eye, ftridtly fpeaking, can only pay due attention to 
 thefe letters in fucceflion, yet the amazing eafe and 
 fwiftnefs, with which it performs this tafk, enables us 
 to fee considerable fpaces with fufricient fatisfadlion at 
 one fudden view. 
 
 Hence, we mall always fuppofe fome fuch principal 
 ray moving along with the eye, and tracing out the 
 parts of every form, we mean to examine in the moft 
 perfect manner : and when we would follow with ex- 
 a&nefs the courfe any body takes, that is in motion, 
 this ray is always to be fuppofed to move with the 
 body. 
 
 In this manner of attending to forms, they will be 
 found whether at reft, or in motion, to give movement 
 to this imaginary ray; or, more properly fpeaking, to 
 the eye itfelf, affecting it thereby more or lefs pleafingly, 
 according to their different Jhapes- and motions. Thus r 
 for example, in the infbnce of the jack, whether the 
 eye (with this imaginary ray) moves ilowly down the 
 
 line, 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 27 
 
 line, to which the weight is fix'd, or attends to the flow 
 motion of the weight itfelf, the mind is equally fa- 
 tigu'd : and whether it fwiftly courfes round the circu- 
 lar rim of the flyer, when the jack ftands ; or nimbly 
 follows one point in its circumference whilft it is whirl- 
 ing about, we are almoft equally made giddy by it. 
 But our fenfation differs much from either of thefe un- 
 pleafant ones, when we obferve the curling worm, into 
 which the worm-wheel is fixt -f : for this, is always *L Fis ' ,s ^ 
 pleaiing, either at reft or in motion, and whether that 
 motion is flow or quick. 
 
 That it is accounted fo, when it is at reft^ appears by 
 the ribbon, twilled round a ftick (reprefented on one 
 fide of this figure) which has been a long-eftablifh'd 
 ornament in the carvings of frames, chimney-pieces, 
 and door-cafes ; and call'd by the carvers, the ftick and 
 ribbon ornament : and when the ftick, through the 
 middle is omitted, it is call'd the ribbon edge ; both to 
 be feen in almoit every houfe of fafhion. 
 
 But the pleafure it gives the eye is ftill more lively 
 when in motion. I never can forget my frequent ftrong 
 attention to it, when I was very young, and that its be- 
 guiling movement gave me the fame kind of fenfation 
 then, which I fince have felt at feeing a country-dance 5 
 tho' perhaps the latter might be fomewhat more en- 
 gaging; particularly when my eye eagerly purfued a 
 favourite dancer, through all the windings of the figure, 
 who then was bewitching to the fight, as the imaginary 
 
 E 2 ray, 
 
^8 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 ray, we were fpeaking of, was dancing with her all 
 the time. 
 
 This Single example might be Sufficient to explain 
 what I mean by the beauty of a compofed intricacy of 
 form ; and how it may be faid, with propriety, to lead 
 the eye a hind of chace. 
 
 But the hair of the head is another very obvious in- 
 stance, which, being dengn'd chiefly as an ornament, 
 proves more or lefs fo, according to the form it natu- 
 rally takes, or is put into by art. The molt amiable in 
 itfelf is the flowing curl ; and the many waving and 
 contrafted turns of naturally intermingling locks ravifh 
 the eye with the pleafure of the purfuit, especially 
 when they are put in motion by a gentle breeze. 
 The poet knows it, as well as the painter, and has de- 
 fcribed the wanton ringlets waving in the wind. 
 
 And yet to fhew how excefs ought to be avoided in 
 intricacy, as well as in every other principle, the very 
 fame head of hair, wifp'd, and matted together, would 
 make the moft difagreeable figure; becaufe the eye 
 would be perplex'd, and at a fault, and unable to trace 
 fuch a confufed number of uncompofed and entangled 
 lines ; and yet notwithstanding this, the prefent faShion 
 the ladies have gone into, of wearing a part of the hair 
 of their heads braided together from behind, like inter- 
 twifted ferpents, ariSing thickeft from the bottom, lef- 
 fening as it is brought forward, and naturally con- 
 forming 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 29 
 
 forming to the fhape of the reft of the hair it is pin'd 
 over, is extremely pidurelque. Their thus interlacing 
 the hair in diftind varied quantities is an artful way of 
 preferving as much of intricacy, as is beautiful. . 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 of %jj a n r 1 rr. 
 
 T^ORMS of magnitude, although ill-fhaped, will 
 however, on account of their vaftnefs, draw our 
 attention and raife our admiration. 
 
 Huge jfhapelefs rocks have a pleafing kind of horror 
 in them, and the wide ocean awes us with its vaft 
 contents ; but when forms of beauty are prefented to 
 the eye in large quantities, the pleasure increafes on the 
 mind, and horror is foften'd into reverence. 
 
 How iblemn and pleafing are groves of high grown 
 trees, great churches, and palaces ? has not even a fingle 
 fpreading oak, grown to maturity, acquir'd the character 
 of the venerable oak ? 
 
 Windfor caftle is a noble inftance of the effed of 
 quantity. The hugenefs of its few diftind: parts ftrikes 
 the eye with uncommon grandeur at a diftance, as well 
 as nigh. It is quantity, with Simplicity, which makes 
 it one of the flneft objeds in the kingdom, tho' void 
 of any regular order of architedure. 
 
 The 
 
3 o ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 The Facade of the old Louvre at Paris is alfo re- 
 markable for its quantity. This fragment is allow'd to 
 be the fineft piece of building in France, tho' there are 
 many equal, if not fuperior, to it in all other refpecls, 
 except that of quantity. 
 
 Who does not feel -a pleafure when he pictures in his 
 mind the immenfe buildings which once adorn'd the 
 lower Egypt, by imagining the whole complete, and 
 ornamented with coloflal ftatues ? 
 
 Elephants and whales pleafe us with their unwieldy 
 greatnefs. Even large perfonages, merely for being fo, 
 command refpect : nay, quantity is an addition to the 
 perfon which often fupplies a deficiency in his figure. 
 
 The robes of ftate are always made large and full, 
 becaufe they give a grandeur of appearance, fuitable to 
 the offices of the greater!: diftin&ion. The judge's robes 
 have an awful dignity given them by the quantity of 
 their contents, and when the train is held up, there is 
 a noble waving line defcending from the moulders of 
 the judge to the hand of his train-bearer. So when the 
 train is gently thrown afide, it generally falls into a great 
 variety of folds, which again employ the eye, and fix 
 its attention. 
 
 The grandeur of the Eaftern drefs, which fo far fur- 
 pafTes the European, depends as much on quantity as on 
 coftlinefs. 
 
 In a word, it is quantity which adds greatnefs to grace. 
 But then excefs is to be avoided, or quantity will become 
 clumfy, heavy, or ridiculous. The 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 31 
 
 The full-bottom wig, like the lion's mane, hath 
 fomething noble in it, and adds not only dignity, but 
 iagacity to the countenance : but were it to be worn 
 as large again, it would become a Lurlefque; or was an 
 improper perfon to put it on, it would then too be 
 ridiculous. 
 
 When improper, or incompatible excehes meet, they 
 always excite laughter; more especially when the forms 
 of thole excefles are inelegant, that is, when they are 
 compofed of unvaried lines. 
 
 For example, the figure refer'd to in the margin -f, ^.p S i. 17 * 
 reprefents a fat grown face of a man, with an infant's 
 cap on, and the reft of the child's drefs ftuff'd, and fa 
 well placed under his chin, as to feem to belong to that 
 face. This is a contrivance I have feen at Bartholomew- 
 fair, and always occafion'd a roar of laughter. The 
 next % is of the fame kind, a child with a man's wig. t Fi s- l8 ° 
 and cap on. In thefe you fee the ideas of youth and 
 age jumbled together, in forms without beauty. 
 
 So a Roman general *, drefs'd by a modern tailor and * FI s- r 9> 
 
 ■ ~x p 1. 
 
 peruke-maker, for tragedy, is a comic figure. —The 
 drefles of the times are mix'd, and the lines whieh com- 
 pofe them are ftralght or only rounds 
 
 Dancing-mafters, reprefenting deities, in their grand 
 ballets on the ftage,Vare no lefs ridiculous. See the 
 Jupiter §. 4K*". 
 
 Neverthelefs cuftom and fafliion will, in length of 
 time, reconcile armor!: every abrurdky whatever, to the 
 eye, or make it over-look'd. It 
 
32 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 It is from the fame joining of oppoiite ideas that 
 makes us laugh at the owl and the afs, for under their 
 aukward forms, they feem to be gravely muling and 
 meditating, as if they had the fenfe of human beings. 
 
 A monkey too whofe figure, as well as moll of his 
 a&ions, fo odly refembles the human, is alfo very co- 
 mical ; and he becomes more fo when a coat is put on 
 him, as he then becomes a greater burlefque on the 
 man. 
 
 There is fomething extremely odd and comical in 
 the rough fhock dog. The ideas here connected are 
 the inelegant and inanimate figure of a thrum mop, or 
 muff, and that of a feniible, friendly animal ; which 
 is as much a burlefque of the dog, as the monkey when 
 his coat is on, is of the man. 
 
 What can it be but this inelegance of the figure, 
 join'd with impropriety, that makes a whole audience 
 burft into laughter, when they fee the miller's fack, in 
 Dr. Fauftus, jumping crofs the itage? was a well-fhap'd 
 vafe to do the fame, it would equally furprife, but not 
 make every body laugh, becaufe the elegance of the 
 form would prevent it. 
 
 For when the forms, thus join'd together, are each 
 of them elegant, and compofed of agreeable lines, they 
 will be fo far from making us laugh, that they will be- 
 come entertaining to the imagination, as well as pleaf- 
 ing to the eye. The fphinx and firen have been ad- 
 mired and accounted ornamental in all ages. The 
 
 former 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 33 
 
 former reprefents ftrength and beauty join'd ; the 
 latter, beauty and fwiftnefs, in pleallng and graceful 
 forms. 
 
 The griffin, a modern hieroglyphic, fignifying ftrength 
 and fwiftnefs, united in the two noble forms of the lion 
 and eagle, is a grand 'object. So the antique centaur 
 hath a favage greatnefs as well as beauty. 
 
 Thefe may be faid to be monfters, it's true, but then 
 they convey fuch noble ideas, and have luch elegance 
 in their forms as greatly compenfates for their, being un- 
 naturally join'd together. 
 
 I fhall mention but one more inftance of this fort, 
 and that the moft extraordinary of all, which is an in- 
 fant's head of about two years old, with a pair of duck's- 
 wings placed under its chin, fuppofed always to be fly- 
 ing about, and finging pfalms' f. R F p S n 2 ' 
 
 A painter's reprefentation of heaven would be nothing 
 without fwarms of thefe little inconfiftent objects, flying 
 about, or perching on the clouds ; and yet there is fome- 
 thing fo agreeable in their form, that the eye is recon- 
 ciled and overlooks the abfurdity, and we find them in 
 the carving and painting of almoft every church. St. 
 Paul's is full of them. 
 
 As the foregoing principles are the very ground work 
 of what is to follow; we will, in order to make them 
 the more familiar to us, juft fpeak of them in the way 
 they are daily put in practice, and may be feen, in every 
 
 F drefs 
 
34 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 drefs that is worn ; and we {hall find not only that ladies 
 of fafhion, but that women of every rank, who are faid 
 to drefs prettily, have known their force, without con- 
 sidering them as principles. 
 
 Fitnefs is firft confidered by them, as knowing that 
 their dreffes mould be ufeful, commodious, and fitted to 
 their different ages; or rich, airy, and loofe, agreeable 
 to the character they would give out to the public by 
 their drefs. 
 
 II. Uniformity is chiefly complied with in drefs on 
 account of fitnefs, and feems to be extended not much 
 farther than drefling both arms alike, and having the 
 fhoes of the fame colour. For when any part of drefs 
 has not the excufe of fitnefs or propriety for its uniform 
 mity of parts, the ladies always call it formal. 
 
 For which reafon, when they are at liberty to make 
 what fhapes they pleafe in ornamenting their perfons, 
 thole of the beft tafte choofe the irregular as the more 
 engaging; for example, no two patches are ever chofen 
 of the fame fize, or placed at the fame height ; nor a 
 {Ingle one in the middle of a feature, unlefs it be to hide 
 a blemifh. So a fingle feather, flower, or jewel is ge- 
 nerally placed on one fide of the head ; or if ever put in 
 front, it is turn'd awry to avoid formality. 
 
 It was once the fafhion to have two curls of equal fize, 
 ftuck at- the lame height clofe upon the forehead, which 
 
 pro- 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY* 3.j 
 
 probably took its rife from feeing the pretty effect of 
 curls falling loofely over the face. 
 
 A lock of hair falling thus crofs the temples, and by 
 that means breaking the regularity of the oval, has an 
 effect too alluring to be ftrictly decent, as is very well 
 known to the loofe and loweft clafs of women : but be- 
 ing pair'd in fo ftiff a manner, as they formerly were, 
 they loft the delired effect, and ill deferv'd the name of 
 favourites. 
 
 III. Variety in drefs, both as to colour and form, is 
 the conftant fludy of the young and gay— -But then, 
 
 IV. That taudrinefs may not deftroy the proper 
 effect of variety, iimplicity is call'd in to reftrain its 
 fuperfluities, and is often very artfully made ufe of 
 to fet native beauty off to more advantage. I have 
 not known any fet of people, that have more excell'd 
 in this principle of iimplicity, or plainnefs, than the 
 Quakers. 
 
 V. Quantity, or fulnefs in drefs has ever been a darling 
 principle; fo that fometimes thofe parts of drefs, which 
 would properly admit of being extended to a great de- 
 gree, have been carried into fuch ftrange exceffes, that in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth a law was made to put a 
 ftop to the growth of ruffs : nor is the enormous fize of 
 
 ni"^~the hoops at prefent, a lefs fufficient proof of the extra- 
 
 F 2 or- 
 
p 
 
 36 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 ordinary love of quantity in drefs, beyond that of conve- 
 nience or elegance. 
 
 VI. The beauty of intricacy lies in contriving wind- 
 ing fhapes, fiich as the antique lappets belonging to the 
 • F 'g- 2 «- head of the fphinx *, or as the modern lappet when it 
 is brought before. Every part of drefs, that will admit 
 of the application of this principle, has an air (as it is 
 term'd) given to it thereby; and altho' it requires dex- 
 terity and a tafte to execute thefe windings well, we find 
 them daily praclifed with fuccefs. 
 
 This principle alfo recommends modefty in drefs, to 
 keep up our expectations, and not fuffer them to be too 
 foon gratified. Therefore the body and limbs mould 
 all be cover'd, and little more than certain hints be 
 given of them thro' the cloathing. 
 
 The face indeed will bear a conftant view, yet always 
 entertain and keep our curiofity awake, without the 
 afiiftance either of a mafk, or veil; becaufe vaft variety 
 of changing circumftances keeps the eye and the mind 
 in conftant play, in following the numberlefs turns of 
 expreffion it is capable of. How foon does a face that 
 wants exprefiion, grow infipid, tho' it be ever fo pretty ? 
 — The reft of the body, not having thefe advantages in 
 common with the face, would foon fatiate the eye, were 
 it to be as conftantly expofed, nor would it have more 
 efTecl: than a marble ftatue. But when it is artfully 
 cloath'd and decorated, the mind at every turn refumes 
 
 its 
 
ANALYS IS of BEAUTY. 37 
 
 its imaginary purfuits concerning it. Thus, if I may 
 be allow'd a fimile, the angler choofes not to fee the fifh 
 he angles for, until it is fairly caught. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Of LINES. 
 
 I 
 
 T may be remember'd that in the introduction, the 
 reader is delired to consider the furfaces of objects 
 as fo many fhells of lines, clofely connected together, 
 which idea of them it will now be proper to call to 
 mind, for the better comprehending not only this, but 
 all the following chapters on composition. 
 
 The conflant ufe made of lines by mathematicians, 
 as well as painters, in defcribing things upon paper, hath 
 eftablifh'd a conception of them, as if actually exifting 
 on the real forms themfelves. This likewife we fuppofe, 
 and fhall fet out with faying in general— That theflraight 
 line^ and the circular ltne y together with their different 
 combinations, and variations, &c. bound, and circum- 
 fcribe all vifible objects whatfoever, thereby producing 
 fuch endlefs variety of forms, as lays us under the ne- 
 ceflity of dividing, and diftinguifhing them into general 
 claffes ; leaving the intervening mixtures of appearances 
 to the reader's own farther obfervation. 
 
 Firft, * objects compofed of ftraight lines only, as the *f%-23- 
 cube, or of circular lines, as the fphere, or of both to- 
 gether, as cylinders and cones, &c. 
 
 Secondly, 
 
3.8 ANALYSIS <?/ BEAUTY. 
 
 + Fig- 2 4- Secondly, f thofe compofed of ftraight lines, circular 
 lines, and of lines partly ftraight, and partly circular, as 
 the capitals of columns, and vafes, &c. 
 t F 'g 2 s- Thirdly, X thofe compofed of all the former together 
 with an addition of the waving line, which is a line 
 more productive of beauty than any of the former, as in 
 flowers, and other forms of the ornamental kind: for 
 which reafon we fhall call it the line of beauty. 
 | Fig. 26. Fourthly, || thofe compofed of all the former together 
 with the ferpentine line, as the human form, which 
 line hath the power of mper-adding grace to beauty. 
 Note, forms of moft grace have leaft of the ftraight line 
 in them. 
 
 It is to be obferved, that ftraight lines vary only in 
 length, and therefore are leaft ornamental. 
 
 That curved lines as they can be varied in their de- 
 grees of curvature as well as in their lengths, begin on 
 that account to be ornamental. 
 
 That ftraight and curv'd lines jom'd, being a com- 
 pound line, vary more than curves alone, and fo become 
 fomewhat more ornamental. 
 
 That the waving line, or line of beauty, varying ftill 
 more, being compofed of two curves contrafted, be- 
 comes ftill more ornamental and pleailng, infomuch 
 that the hand takes a lively movement in making it 
 with pen or pencil. 
 
 And that the ferpentine line, by its waving and wind- 
 ing at the fame time different ways, leads the eye in a 
 
 pleafing 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 39 
 
 pleafing manner along the continuity of its variety, if I 
 may be allowed the expreflion; and which by its twitt- 
 ing fo many different ways, may be faid to inclofe (tho' 
 but a fingle line) varied contents; and therefore all its 
 variety cannot be exprefs'd on paper by one continued 
 line, without the afliftance of the imagination, or the 
 help of a figure; fee * where that fort of proportion'd, * Fi s- 2 ^. 
 winding line, which will hereafter be call'd the precife 
 terpentine line, or line of grace, is reprefented by a fine 
 wire, properly twifted round the elegant and varied 
 figure of a cone. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Of what fort of Pa rt s, and how pleasing Forms are 
 
 compofed. 
 
 * I A HUS far having endeavoured to open as large an 
 idea as poflible of the power of variety, by having 
 partly fhewn that thofe lines which have moffc variety 
 in themfelves, contribute moft towards the production 
 of beauty; we will next fhew how lines may be put 
 together, fo as to make pleafing figures or compofitions* 
 In order to be as clear as poflible, we will give a few 
 examples of the moft familiar and eafy fort, and let 
 them ferve as a clue to be purfued in the imagination; 
 I fay in the imagination chiefly, for the following me- 
 thod is not meant always to be put in practice, or fol- 
 low'd in every cafe, for indeed that could hardly be, 
 
 and 
 
40 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 and in fome it would be ridiculouSly loSing time if it 
 
 could Yet there may be cafes where it may be nc- 
 
 ceffary to follow this method minutely ; as for example, 
 in architedture. 
 
 I am thoroughly convinc'd in myfelf, however it may 
 Startle fome, that a completely new and harmonious 
 order of architecture in all its parts, might be produced 
 by the following method of compoSing, but hardly with 
 certainty without it; and this I am the more apt to be- 
 lieve, as upon the Sf.ri6t.eST. examination, thofe four orders 
 of the ancients, which are fo well eStabliShed for beauty 
 and true proportion, perfectly agree with the fcheme we 
 mall now lay down. 
 
 This way of compofing pleafing forms, is to be ac- 
 complifhed by making choice of variety of lines, as to 
 their fhapes and dimensions ; and then again by varying 
 their Situations with each other, by all the different ways 
 that can be conceived : and at the fame time (if a folid 
 figure be the lubjecl; of the compoiiuon) the contents or 
 fpace that is to be inclofed within thofe lines, muff be 
 duly confider'd and vary'd too, as much as poilible, 
 with propriety. In a word, it may be faid, the art of 
 compofing well is the art of varying well. It is not 
 expedted that this Should at firSt be perfectly compre- 
 hended, yet I believe it will be made fuSficiently clear 
 by the help of the examples following. 
 * Fig. 29. The figure -j- , reprefents the Simple and pleafing figure 
 of a bell ; this Shell, as we may call it, is compofed of 
 
 waving 
 
ANALYSIS <?/ BEAUTY. 41 
 
 waving lines, encx>mpaffing, or bounding within it, the va^ 
 ried {pace marked with dotted lines : here you lee the va- 
 riety of the fpace within is equal to the beauty of its form 
 without, and if the fpace, or contents, were to be more 
 varied, the outward form would have frill more beauty. 
 As a proof, fee a compofition of more parts, and a 
 way by which thole parts may be put together by a 
 certain method of varying : i. e. how the one half of the 
 focket of the candleftick A *, may be varied as the other * T Fi &*°* 
 half B. Let a convenient and fit height be firft given 
 for a candleftick, as f, then let the neceffary fize of the ^ Fl | '\]' 
 focket be determined, as at (a) % after which, in order j Fig. 32. 
 to give it a better form, let every dijiance or length of 
 divifions differ from the length of the focket, as alio vary 
 in their diftances from each other, as is feen by the 
 points on the line under the focket (a) ; that is let any 
 two points, Jignifying difiance^ be plac'd fartheft from 
 any other two near points, observing always that there 
 mould be one diftance or part larger than all the reft; 
 and you will readily fee that variety could not be fo 
 complete without it.~In like manner, let the horizontal 
 diftances (always keeping within the bounds of fitnefs) 
 be varied both as to diftances and fituations, as on the 
 oppofite fide of the fame figure (b) ; then unite and join 
 all the feveral diftances into a complete fhell, by apply- 
 ing feveral parts of curves and ftraight lines; varying 
 them alfo by making them of different fizes, as:(c) : and 
 apply them as at (d) in the fame figure, and you have 
 
 G the 
 
t Fig. 34 
 T.p. i. 
 
 • -i • 
 
 42 ANALYSISc/BEAUTY. 
 
 * Fi g 33- the candleftick *, and with ftill more variations on the 
 
 1 . p. 1. * 
 
 other fide. If you divide the candleftick into many more 
 parts, it will appear crouded, as -j- it will want diftincl:- 
 nefs of form on a near view, and lofe the effect, of va- 
 riety at a diftance : this the eye will eafily diftinguim on 
 removing pretty far from it. 
 
 Simplicity in compofition, or diflinctnefs of parts, is 
 ever to be attended to, as it is one part of beauty, as 
 has been already faid : but that what I mean by diftind- 
 nefs of parts in this place, may be better underftood, it 
 will be proper to explain it by an example. 
 
 When you would compofe an object of a great variety 
 of parts, let feveral of thofe parts be diftinguifti'd by 
 themfelves, by their remarkable difference from the next 
 adjoining, fo as to make each of them, as it were, one 
 well-fhap'd quantity or part, as is marked by the dotted 
 
 t %• 35- lines in figure J (thefe are like what they call pafTages 
 in mufic, and in. writing paragraphs) by which means, 
 not only the whole, but even every part, will be better 
 underftood by the eye: for confufion will hereby be 
 avoided when the objedl is feen near, and the fhapes will 
 feem well varied, tho' fewer in number, at a diftance; 
 
 I F ; g- 36. as figure || fuppofed to be the fame as the former, but 
 removed fo far off that the eye lofes light of the fmaller 
 members. 
 
 * Fig. 37. The parfley-leaf §, in like manner, from whence a 
 beautiful foliage in ornament was originally taken, is di- 
 vided into three diftincl paffages; which are again divided 
 
 into 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 43 
 
 into other odd numbers ; and this method is obferv'd, 
 for the generality, in the leaves of all plants and flowers, 
 the moff. fimple of which are the trefoil and cinquefoil. 
 
 Light and made, and colours, alfo mull have their 
 diftinctnefs to make objects completely beautiful; but 
 
 of thefe in their proper places only I will give you 
 
 a general idea of what is here meant by the beauty 
 of diftindtnefs of forms, lights, fhades, and colours, by 
 putting you in mind of the reverfe effects in all them 
 together. 
 
 Obferve the well-compofed nofegay how it lofes all 
 its diftindtnefs when it dies; each leaf and flower then 
 ihrivels and lofes its diftinct fhape ; and the firm colours 
 fade into a kind of fkmenefs : fo that the whole gradually 
 becomes a confufed heap. 
 
 If the general parts of objects are preferv'd large at 
 firft, they will always admit of farther enrichments of a 
 finall kind, but then they muft be fo fmall as not to 
 confound the general maffw or quantities. — thus you 
 fee variety is a check upon itfelf when overdone, which 
 of courfe begets what is call'd a petit tafte and a confur- 
 fion to the eye. 
 
 It will not be amifs next to mew what effects an ob- 
 ject or two will have that are put together without, or 
 contrary to theie rules of compofing variety. Figure *, *Fig. 3 ?. 
 is taken from one of thofe branches fixt to the fides of ' p * 
 common old-fafhion'd ftove-grates by way of ornament i 
 wherein you fee how the parts have been varied by 
 
 G 2 fancy 
 
 
44 ANALYSIS-?/ BEAUTY. 
 
 * F«g- 39- fancy only, and yet pretty well: clofe to which * is 
 
 another, with about the like number of parts ; but as the 
 
 fhapes, neither are enough varied as to their contents, 
 
 nor in their Situations with each other, but one fhape 
 
 follows its exact, likenefs : it is therefore a difagreeable 
 
 and taftelefs figure, and for the fame reafon the candle- 
 
 tF'g-4°- (tick, fig. -f- is ffill worfe, as there is lefs variety in it. 
 
 tFig.4f. Nay, it would be better to be quite plain, as figure %, 
 
 p '" than with fuch poor attempts at ornament. 
 
 Thefe few examples, well underftood, will, I imagine, 
 be fufficient to put what was faid at die beginning of 
 this chapter out of all doubt, viz. that the art of com- 
 pojing well is no more than the art of varying well; and 
 to fhew, that the method which has been, here explain' d, 
 muft confequently produce a pleafing proportion amongft 
 the parts ; as well as that all deviations from it will pro- 
 duce the contrary. Yet to ftrengthen this latter afler- 
 tion, let the following figures, taken from the life, be 
 examin'd by the above rulca for rompofing, and it will 
 K Fig. 4«- be found that the indian-fig or torch- thiftle, figure ||, as 
 ' p ' well as all that tribe of uncouth fhaped exotics, have the 
 fame reafons for being ugly, as the candleflick, fig. 40; 
 S Fig- 43- as alfo that the beauties of the Lily § and the calcidonian 
 
 T. p. 1. ... 
 
 4. Fig. 44. I vls 4- proceeds from their being compofed with great 
 
 T - p- »• variety, and that the lofs of variety, to a certain degree, 
 
 in the imitations of thofe flowers underneath them (fig. 
 
 45 and 46) is the caufe of the meannefs of their fhapes, 
 
 tho* they retain enough to be call'd by the fame names. 
 
 Hitherto 
 
AN ALYS I S of B EAUTY. 45 
 
 Hitherto, with regard to Compofition, little elfe but 
 fbfjffis made tip of ftraight and curv'd lines have been 
 jfpoken of, and though thefe lines have but little variety 
 in themfelves, yet by reafon of the great diverlifications 
 that they are capable of in being join'd with one ano- 
 ther; great variety of beauty of the more ufeful fort is 
 produced by them, as in neceflary uteniils and building : 
 but in my opinion, buildings as I before hinted, might 
 be much more varied than they are, for after jitnefs. hath 
 been frrictly and .mechanically complied with, any addi- 
 tional ornamental members, or parts, may, by the fore- 
 going rules, be varied with equal elegance; nor can I 
 help thinking, but that churches, palaces, hofpitals, 
 prifbns, common houfes and fummer hou/cs, might be 
 built more in diftinct. characters than they are, by con- 
 triving orders fuitable to each; whereas were a modern 
 architedl to build a palace in Lapland, or the Weft-In- 
 dies, Paladio muft be his guide, nor would he dare to 
 ftir a ftep without his book. 
 
 Have not many gothic buildings a great deal of con- 
 fident beauty in them? perhaps acquired by a feries of 
 improvements made from time to time by the natural 
 perfuafion of the eye, which often very near anfwers the 
 end of working by principles; and fometimes begets 
 them. There is at prefent fuch a thirft after variety, that 
 even paltry imitations of Chinefe buildings have a kind 
 of vogue, chiefly on account of their novelty : but not 
 only thefe, but any other new-invented characters of 
 
 building 
 
46 A N A L Y S I S of B E A U T Y. 
 
 building might be regulated by proper principles. The 
 mere ornaments of buildings, to he fure, at leaft might 
 be allovv'd a greater latitude than they are at prefent ; 
 as capitals, frizes, &c. in order to increafe the beauty 
 of variety. 
 
 Nature, in fhells and flowers, &c. affords an infinite 
 choice of elegant hints for this purpofe ; as the original 
 of the Corinthian capital was taken from nothing more, 
 as is faid, than fome dock-leaves growing up againft a 
 bafket. Even a capital compofed of the aukward and 
 t Fig. 4 8. confln'd forms of hats and periwigs, as fig. f in a 
 fkilful hand might be made to have fome beauty. 
 
 However, tho' the moderns have not made many 
 additions to the art of building, with refpe<£t to mere 
 beauty or ornament, yet it muft be confefs'd, they have 
 carried fimplicity, convenience, and neatnefs of work- 
 manfhip, to a very great degree of perfection, particu- 
 larly in England ; where plain good fenfe hath prefer' d 
 thefe more neceflary parte of beauty, which every body 
 can underftand, to that richnefs of tafte which is fb 
 much to be feen in other countries, and fo often fub- 
 ftituted in their room, 
 
 St. Paul's cathedral is one of the nobleft inftances 
 that can be produced of the moft judicious application 
 of every principle that has been fpoken of. There you 
 may fee the utmoft variety without confufion, fimpli- 
 city without nakednefs, richnefs without taudrinefs, dif- 
 tin&nefs without hardnefs, and quantity without ex-> 
 
 cefs. 
 
ANAL Y S I 3 fBEAUTY. 47 
 
 ce&. . .Whence the eye k" entertain d throughout with 
 theciarniinigTariety'of 1 ^!! 'its; parts together^ the noble 
 proje<ftihg quantity of a certain number of them, which 
 presents bold and diftincr. parts at a diftance, when the 
 lefler parts within them difappear ; and the grand few, 
 but remarkably well-varied parts that continue to pleafe 
 the eye as long as the object, is difcernable, are evident 
 proofs of the fuperior iHll of Sir Chriftopher Wren, fo 
 juftly eftcem d the . prince of architects. 
 
 Jtt;will fcafcely admit of a dilpute, that the out- 
 fide of this building is much more perfe£fc than that of 
 St. Peter's at Rome : but the infide, though as fine and 
 noble, as the fpace it ftands on, and our religion will 
 allow orV.murr. give way to -the Iplendor, fhew, and 
 magnificence o£ that of St. Peter's, on account of the 
 fculptures and paintings, as well as the greater magni-e 
 tude of the whole, which makes it excel as to quantity. 
 
 There are many other churches of great beauty, the 
 work of the iame architect, which are hid in the heart 
 of the city, whofe fteeples and fpires are raifed higher 
 than ordinary, that they may be feen at a diftance above 
 the other buildings; *and r the great number of them 
 difpers'd about the whole city, adorn the profpecr. of it, 
 and give it an air of opulency and magnificence : on 
 which account their fhapes will be found to be parti- 
 cularly beautiful. Of thefe, and perhaps of any in 
 Europe, St. Mary-le-bow is the moft elegantly varied, 
 St. Bride's in Fleet-ftreet diminifhes fiveetly by elegant 
 
 degrees^ 
 
48 A N A L Y S I S of B E A U T Y. 
 
 degrees, but its variations, tho' very curious when you 
 are near them, not being quite lb bold, and diftinc~t, as 
 thofe of Bow, it too foon loofes variety at a diftance. 
 Some gothic fpires are finely and artfully varied, parti- 
 cularly the famous fteeple of Strafburg. 
 
 Weftminfter- Abbey is a good contrail to St. Paul's, 
 with regard to nmplicity and diftin&nefs, the great 
 number of its fllligrean ornaments, and fmall divided and 
 fubdivided parts appear confufed when nigh, and are 
 totally loft at a. moderate diftance; yet there is never- 
 thelefs fuch a confiftency of mrts altogether in a good 
 gothic tafte, and fuch propriety relative to the gloomy 
 ideas, they were then calculated to convey, that they 
 have at length aqquir'd an eftablifh'd and difrinct cha- 
 racter in building. It would be look'd upon as an im- 
 propriety and as a kind of profanation to build places 
 for mirth and entertainment in the fame tafte. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Of Composition with the Wav i n g-L i n e. 
 
 'TpHERE is fcarce a room in any houfe whatever, 
 where one does not fee the waving-line employ'd in 
 fome way or other. How inelegant would the fhapes 
 of all our moveables be without it ? how very plain and 
 unornamental the mouldings of cornices, and chimney- 
 pieces, without the variety introduced by the ogee mem- 
 ber, which is entirely compofed of waving-lines. 
 
 Though 
 
rY. Plate I. 
 
 MHBflH 
 
Analysis .,)' t BJaity. llau- 1 
 
 C'1,j,j„.J r'>i./rui;J .I'l./lAM.'/i./ /r//l r!H.y,tr//,, /far. 4j*/-.ij ,ama/m.,/r. M./ -iAir/i<im,iit . . 
 
ANA LY S I S of B E A U T Y. 49 
 
 Though all forts of waving-lines are ornamental, 
 when properly applied; yet, flri&ly fpeaking, there is 
 but one precife line, properly to be called the line of 
 beauty, which in the fcale of them * is number 4 : the * Fi s- 49- 
 
 , T. p. i, 
 
 Enes 5, 6, 7, by their bulging too much in their curva- 
 ture becoming grofs and clumfy; and, on the contrary, 
 3, 2, 1, as they flraighten, becoming mean and poor; as 
 will appear in the next figure + where they are applied ^ Fl ^; 1°' 
 to the legs of chairs. 
 
 A flill more perfect idea of the effects of the precife 
 waving-line, and of thofe lines that deviate from it, may 
 be conceived by the row of flays, figure %, where num- t Fig- 53. 
 ber 4 is compofed of precife waving-lines, and is there- 
 fore the befl fhaped flay. Every whale-bone of a 
 good flay muft be made to bend in this manner: for 
 the whole flay, when put clofe together behind, is truly 
 a fhell of well- varied contents, and its furface of courfe . 
 a fine form; fo that if a line, or the lace were to be 
 drawn, or brought from the top of the lacing of the flay 
 behind, round the body, and down to the bottom peak 
 of the flomacher ; it would form fuch a perfect, precife, 
 ferpentine-line, as has been fhewn, round the cone, 
 
 figure 26 in plate 1. For this reafon all ornaments 
 
 obliquely contrafling the body in this manner, as the 
 ribbons worn by the knights of the garter, are both 
 genteel and graceful. The numbers 5, 6, 7, arid 3, 
 2, 1, are deviations into fliffnefs and lneannefs on one 
 hand, and clumfinefs and deformity on the other. The 
 
 H reafbns 
 
50 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 reafons for which difagreeable effects, after what has been 
 already faid, will be evident to the meaneft capacity. 
 
 It may be worth our notice however, that the flay, 
 number 2, would better fit a well-fhaped man than 
 number 4 ; and that number 4, would better fit a well- 
 form' d woman, than number 2 ; and when on consider- 
 ing them, merely as to their forms, and comparing them 
 together as you would do two vafes, it has been fhewn 
 by our principles, how much finer and more beautiful 
 number 4 is, than number 2 : does not this our deter- 
 mination enhance the merit of thefe principles, as it 
 proves at the fame time how much the form of a wo- 
 man's body furpafies in beauty that of a man ? 
 
 From the examples that have been given, enough 
 may be gathered to carry on our obfervations from them 
 to any other objects that may chance to come in our 
 way, either animate or inanimate ; fo that we may not 
 only lineally account for the uglinefs of the toad, the 
 hog, the bear and the fpider, which are totally void of 
 this waving-line, but alfo for the different degrees of 
 beauty belonging to thofe objects that poffefs it. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Of Compositions with the Serpentin e-L i n e. 
 
 HP HE very great difficulty there is in defcribing this 
 
 line, either in words, or by the pencil (as was hinted 
 
 before, when I firft mention'd it) will make it neceflary 
 
 for 
 
* Fig. 57' 
 B. p. 2, 
 
 ANALYSIS*/ BEAUTY. 51 
 
 for me to proceed very flowly in what I have to fay in 
 this chapter, and to beg the reader's patience whilft 
 I lead him ftep by flep into the knowledge of what I 
 think the fublime in form, fo remarkably difplay'd in 
 the human body; in which, I believe, when he is once 
 acquainted with the idea of them, he will find this fpe- 
 cies of lines to be principally concern'd. 
 
 Firft, then, let him confider fig. f, which reprefents a + Fi s-5 6 - 
 ftraight horn, with its contents, and he will find, as it 
 varies like the cone, it is a form of fome beauty, merely 
 on that account. 
 
 Next let him obferve in what manner, and in what 
 degree the beauty of this horn is increas'd, in fig. * 
 where it is fuppofed to be bent two different ways. 
 
 And laftly, let him attend to the vaft increafe of 
 beauty, even to grace and elegance, in the lame horn, 
 fig. J* where it is fuppofed to have been twilled round, tftg-s%- 
 at the iame time, that it was bent two different ways, ' P ' 
 (as in the laft figure.) 
 
 In the firft of thele figures, the dotted line down the 
 middle exprefies the ftraight lines of which it is com- 
 pofed ; which, without the afliftance of curve lines, 
 or light and made, would hardly fhew it to have 
 contents. 
 
 The fame is true of the fecond, tho' by the bending 
 of the horn, the ftraight dotted line is changed into the 
 beautiful waving-line. 
 
 H 2 But 
 
52 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 But in the laft, this dotted line, by the twilling as 
 well as the bending of the horn, is changed from the 
 waving into the ferpentine-line ; which, as it dips 
 out of fight behind the horn in the middle, and returns 
 again at the fmaller end, not only gives play to the ima- 
 gination, and delights the eye, on that account ; but 
 informs it like wife of the quantity and variety of the 
 contents. 
 
 I have chofen this fimple example, as the eafieft way 
 of giving a plain and general idea of the peculiar qua- 
 lities of thefe ferpentiiie-lines, and the advantages of 
 bringing them into compofitions, where the contents 
 you are to exprefs, admit of grace and elegance. 
 
 And I beg the fame things may be underftood of 
 thefe ferpentine-lines, that I have faid before of the 
 waving-lines. For as among the vaft variety of waving- 
 lines that may be conceiv'd, there is but one that truly 
 deferves the name of the line of beauty, fo there is 
 only one precife ferpentine-line that I call the line of 
 grace. Yet, even when they are made too bulging, or 
 too tapering, though they certainly lofe of their beauty 
 and grace, they do not become fo wholly void of it, 
 as not to be of excellent fervice in compofitions, where 
 beauty and grace are not particularly defign'd to be ex- 
 prefs'd in their greateft perfection. 
 
 Though I have diftinguifh'd thefe lines fo particularly 
 as to give them the titles of the lines of beauty and grace, 
 I mean that the ufe and application of them mould ftill 
 
 be 
 
ANALYSISc/BEAUTY. 53 
 
 be confined by the principles I have laid down for com- 
 
 pofition in general ; and that they fhould be judicioufly 
 
 inixt and combined with one another, and even with 
 
 thofe I may term plain lines, (in oppofition to thefe) as 
 
 the fubjecT: in hand requires. Thus the cornu-copia, 
 
 fig. f, is twifted and bent after the fame manner, as the \ v f^ 9 ' 
 
 laft figure of the horn; but more ornamented, and with 
 
 a greater number of other lines of the fame twifted 
 
 kind, winding round it with as quick returns as thofe 
 
 of a fcrew. 
 
 This fort of form may be feen with yet more varia- 
 tions, (and therefore more beautiful) in the goat's horn, 
 from which, in all probability, the ancients originally 
 took the extreme elegant forms they have given their 
 cornu-copias. 
 
 There is another way of confidering this laft figure 
 of the horn I would recommend to my reader, in order 
 to give him a clearer idea of the ufe both of the waving 
 and ferpentine-lines in compofition. 
 
 This is to imagine the horn, thus bent and twifted, 
 to be cut length-ways by a very fine faw into two equal 
 parts ; and to obferve one of thele in the fame poft- 
 tion the whole horn is reprefented in ; and thefe two 
 obfervations will naturally occur to him. Firft, that 
 the edge of the faw muft run from one end to the other 
 of the horn in the line of beauty ; fo that the edges of 
 this half of the horn will have a beautiful fhape : and, 
 fecondly, that wherever the dotted ferpentine-line on the 
 
 furface 
 
5+ ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 furface of the whole horn dips behind, and is loft to 
 the eye, it immediately comes into fight on the hollow 
 furface of the divided horn. 
 
 The ufe I mail make of thefe obfervations will appear 
 very considerable in the application of them to the hu- 
 man form, which we are next to attempt. 
 
 It will be fufficient, therefore, at prefent only to ob- 
 ferve, firft, that the whole horn acquires a beauty by its 
 being thus genteely bent two different ways ; fecondly, 
 that whatever lines are drawn on its external furface be- 
 come graceful, as they muft all of them, from the twift 
 that is given the horn, partake in fome degree or other, 
 of the fhape of the ferpentine-line : and, laftly, when 
 the horn is Iplit, and the inner, as well as the outward 
 furface of its fhell-like form is expofed, the eye is pecu- 
 liarly entertained and relieved in the purfuit of thefe 
 ferpentine-lines, as in their twiftings their concavities 
 and convexities are alternately offer'd to its view. Hol- 
 low forms, therefore, compofed of fuch lines are ex- 
 tremely beautiful and pleafing to the eye; in many cafes 
 more fb, than thofe of folid bodies. 
 
 Almoft all the mufcles, and bones, of which the hu- 
 man form is compofed, have more, or lefs of thefe kind 
 of twifts in them ; and give in a lefs degree, the fame 
 kind of appearance to the parts which cover them, and 
 are the immediate object of the eye : and for this reafbn 
 it is that I have been fo particular in defcribing thefe 
 forms of the bent, and twifted, and ornamented horn. 
 
 There 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 55 
 
 There is fcarce a Straight bone in the whole body. 
 Almoft all of them are not only bent different ways, 
 but have a kind of twift, which in fome of them is very 
 graceful; and the mufcles annex'd to them, tho' they 
 are of various fhapes, appropriated to their particular 
 ufes, generally have their component fibres running in 
 thefe ferpentine- lines, furrounding and conforming 
 themselves to the varied fhape of the bones they belong 
 to: more especially in the limbs. Anatomifts are fo 
 Satisfied of this, that they take a pleafure in distinguish- 
 ing their feveral beauties. I Shall only inftance in the 
 thigh-bone, and thoSe about the hips. 
 
 The thigh-bone fig. *, has the waving and twiSted * Fi s- 62 - 
 turn of the horn, 58 : but the beautiful bones adjoining, 
 call'd the oSla innominata J, have, with greater variety, % Fig. 60. 
 the fame turns and twiSls of that horn when it is cut ; ' p ' 2 
 and its inner and outward furfaces are expofed to the 
 eye. 
 
 How ornamental theSe bones appear, when the pre- 
 judice we conceive againft them, as being part of a Ske- 
 leton, is taken off, by adding a little foliage to them, 
 
 may be feen in fig. || fuch Shell-like winding forms, \ *% 6:. 
 
 mixt with foliage, twifting about them, are made ufe 
 of in all ornaments; a kind of composition calculated 
 merely to pleale the eye. Divefl thefe of their ferpentine 
 twinings and they immediately lole all grace, and return 
 to the poor gothic tafte they were in an hundred years 
 ago §. [Kg. 63, 
 
 & s B. p. 2. 
 
 Fig. 
 
5 6 A N A LY S I S of B E A U T Y. 
 
 * Fig. 64. Fig.* is meant to reprefent the manner, in which 
 
 moft of the mufcles, (thofe of the limbs in particular) are 
 twifted round the bones, and conform themfelves to their 
 length and fhape; but with no anatomical exactnefs. 
 As to the running of their fibres, fome anatomifts have 
 compared them to fkains of thread, loofe in the middle, 
 and tight at each end, which, when they are thus confi- 
 der'd as twifted contrary ways round the bone, gives the 
 ftrongeft idea poflible of a composition of ferpentine- 
 lines. 
 
 Of thefe fine winding forms then is the human body 
 compofed, and which, by their varied fituations with each 
 other, become more intricately pleafing, and form a con- 
 tinued waving of winding forms from one into the other, 
 as may be beft feen by examining a good anatomical 
 figure, part of which you have here reprefented, in the 
 
 * Fig. 65. mufcular leg and thigh, fig. \ : which fhews the ferpen- 
 
 tine forms and varied fituations of the mufcles, as they 
 appear when the fkin is taken off. It was drawn from 
 a pi after of paris figure caft off nature, the original of 
 which was prepared for the mould by Cowper, the famous 
 anatomift. In this laft figure, as the fkin is taken off 
 the parts are too diftindtly traced by the eye, for that 
 intricate delicacy which is neceffary to the utmoft 
 beauty; yet the winding figures of the mufcles, with 
 the variety of their fituations, muff, always be ailow'd 
 elegant forms : however, they lofe in the imagination 
 fome of the beauty, which they really have, by the idea 
 
 of 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 57 
 
 of their being flayed ; neverthelefs, by what has already 
 been fhewn both of them and the bones, the human 
 frame hath more of its parts compofed of ferpentine- 
 lines than any other object in nature; which is a proof 
 both of its fuperior beauty to all others, and, at the 
 fame time, that its beauty proceeds from thole lines : 
 for although they may be required fbmetimes to be 
 bulging in their twifts, as in the thick {welling mufcles 
 of the Hercules, yet elegance and greatnefs of tafte is 
 ftill preferved; but when thele lines lofe fo much of 
 their twifts as to become almoft ftraight, all elegance 
 of tafte vanifhes. 
 
 Thus fig. *, was alfo taken from nature, and drawn p. If 
 in the fame pofition, but treated in a more dry, ftiff, 
 and what the painters call, Jikky manner ', than the nature 
 of flefh is ever capable of appearing in, unlefs when its 
 moifture is dryed away : it muft be allowed, that the 
 parts of this figure are of as right dimenfions, and as 
 truly fituated, as in the former ; it wants only the true 
 twift of the lines to give it tafte. 
 
 To prove this further, and to put the mean effect 
 of thefe plain or unvaried lines in a ftronger light, fee t Fig. 67. 
 fig« fy where, by the uniform, unvaried fhapes and fitu- 
 ation of the mufcles, without fo much as a waving-line 
 in them, it becomes fo wooden a form, that he that 
 can fafhion the leg of a joint-ftool may carve this figure 
 as well as the belt fculptor. In the , fame manner, 
 diveft one of the belt antique ftatues of all its 
 Terpentine winding parts, and it becomes from an 
 
 I ex- 
 
 p. 
 
5 8 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 exquiiite piece of art, a figure of fuch ordinary lines 
 and unvaried contents, that a common ftone-mafon or 
 carpenter, with the help of his rule, calipers, and 
 compafies, might carve out an exadt imitation of it : 
 and were it not for thefe lines a turner, in his lathe, 
 might turn a much finer neck than that of the grecian 
 Venus, as according to the common notion of a 
 beautiful neck, it would be more truly round. For 
 the fame reafon, legs much fwoln with difeafe, are as 
 cafy to imitate as a poft, having loft their drawhig^ as 
 the painters call it ; that is, having their ferpentine-lines 
 all effaced, by the fkin's being equally puffed up, as 
 ♦Fig. 68. figure *. 
 
 If in comparing thefe three figures one with another, 
 the reader, notwithstanding the prejudice his imagina- 
 tion may have conceiv'd againft them, as anatomical 
 figures, has been enabled only to perceive that one of 
 them is not fo difagreeable as the others ; he will eafily 
 be led to fee further, that this tendency to beauty in 
 one, is not owing to any greater degree of exactnefs in 
 the proportions of its parts, but merely to the more 
 pleafing turnsy and intertwijiings of the lines ^ which com- 
 pofe its external form ; for in all the three figures the 
 fame proportions have been obferv'd, and, on that ac- . 
 count, they have all an equal claim to beauty. 
 
 And if he purfues this anatomical enquiry but a very 
 little further, juft to form a true idea of the elegant 
 ufe that is made of the &in and fat beneath it, to con- 
 ceal 
 
ANALYSIS ^/BEAUTY. 59 
 
 ceal from the eye all that is hard and difagreeable, and 
 at the fame time to preferve to it whatever is neceffary 
 in the fhapes of the parts beneath, to give grace and 
 beauty to the whole limb: he will find himfelf infen- 
 fibly led into the principles of that grace and beauty 
 which is to be found in well-turn'd limbs, in fine, ele- 
 gant, healthy life, or in thofe of the beft antique fta- 
 tues ; as well as into the reafbn why his eye has fo often 
 unknowingly been pleafed and delighted with them. 
 
 Thus, in all other parts of the body, as well as thefe, 
 wherever, for the fake of the neceflary motion of the 
 parts, with proper ftrength and agility, the infertions 
 of the mufcles are too hard and hidden, their fwellings 
 too bold, or the hollows between them too deep, for 
 their out-lines to be beautiful j nature moft judicioufly 
 fbftens thefe hardnefles, and plumps up thefe vacancies 
 with a- proper fupply of fat, and covers the whole with 
 the foft, fmooth, fpringy, and, in delicate life, almoft 
 tranfparent fkin, which, conforming itfelf to the ex- 
 ternal fhape of all the parts beneath, exprefles to the 
 eye the idea of its contents with the utmoft delicacy of 
 beauty and grace. 
 
 The fkin, therefore, thus tenderly embracing, and' 
 gently conforming itfelf to the varied fhapes of every 
 one of the outward mufcles of the body, foften'd under- 
 neath by the fat, where, otherwife, the fame hard lines 
 and furrows would appear, as we find come on with 
 age in the face, and with labour, in the limbs, is evi- 
 
 I 2 dently 
 
60 ANALYSISe/BEAUTY. 
 
 dently a £hell-like furface (to keep up the idea I fet out 
 with) form'd with the utmoft delicacy in nature ; and 
 therefore the moft proper fubject of the ftudy of every 
 one, who deiires to imitate the works of nature, as a 
 mafter Jhould do, or to judge of the performances of 
 others as a real connoijjeur ought. 
 
 I cannot be too long, I think, on this fubjecl:, as fb 
 much will be found to depend upon it ; and therefore 
 fhall endeavour to give a clear idea of the different ef- 
 fect fuch anatomical figures have on the eye, from what 
 the fame parts have, when cover' d by the fat and fkin; 
 by fuppofing a fmall wire (that has loft its fpring and lb 
 will retain every fhape it is twifted into) to be held faft 
 to the out- fide of the hip (figure 60) and thence brought 
 down the other fide of the thigh obliquely over the calf 
 of the leg, down to the outward ancle (all the while 
 prefs'd fo clofe as to touch and conform itfelf to the 
 fhape of every mufcle it pafles over) and then to be taken 
 off. If this wire be now examined it will be found that 
 the general uninterrupted flowing twift, which the wind- 
 ing round the limbs would otherwife have given to it > 
 is broke into little better than fo many feparate plain 
 curves, by the fharp indentures it every where has re- 
 ceiv'd on being clofely prefs'd in between the mufcles. 
 
 Suppofe, in the next place, fuch a wire was in the 
 fame manner twifted round a living well-fhaped leg 
 and thigh, or thofe of a fine ftatue ; when you take it 
 off you will find no fuch fharp indentures, nor any of 
 
 thofe 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 61 
 
 thofe regular engralings (as the heralds exprefs it) which 
 difpleafed the eye before. On the contrary, you will 
 fee how gradually the changes in its fhape are pro- 
 duced ; how imperceptibly the different curvatures run 
 into each other, and how eafily the eye glides along 
 the varied wavings of its fweep. To enforce this ftill 
 further, if a line was to be drawn by a pencil exactly 
 where thefe wires have been fuppofed to pafs, the point 
 of the pencil, in the mufcular leg and thigh, would per- 
 petually meet with ftops and rubs, whilft in the others 
 it would flow from mufcle to mufcle along the elaftic 
 fkin, as pleafantly as the lighted fkiff dances over the 
 
 gentleft wave. 
 
 This idea of the wire, retaining thus the ihape of the 
 parts it paries over, feems of fo much confequence, that 
 I would by no means have it forgot ; as it may properly 
 be confider'd as one of the threads (or outlines) of the 
 fhell (or external furface) of the human form : and the 
 frequently recurring to it will ailift the imagination in 
 its conceptions of thofe parts of it, whofe fhapes are 
 mofl intricately varied: for the fame fort of obferva- 
 tions may be made, with equal juffice, on the fhapes of 
 ever fo many luch wires twitted in the fame manner in 
 ever fo many directions over every part of a well made 
 man, woman, or ftatue. 
 
 And if the reader will follow in his imagination the 
 moft exquifite turns of the chiffel in the hands of a 
 mailer, when he is putting the flnifhing touches to a 
 
 ftatue ; 
 
62 ANALYSISo/BEAUTY. 
 
 ftatue ; he will foon be led to under/land what it is 
 the real judges expect from the hand of fuch a mailer, 
 which the Italians call, the little more, II poco piu, and 
 which in reality diftinguifhes the original mafter-pieces 
 at Rome from even the beft copies of them. 
 
 An example or two will fufnciently explain what is 
 here meant ; for as thefe exquifite turns are to be found, 
 in fome degree of beauty or other, all over the whole 
 furface of the body and limbs : we may by taking any 
 one part of a fine figure (though fo fmall a one that 
 only a few mufcles are exprefs'd in it) explain the 
 manner in which fo much beauty and grace has been 
 given to them, as to convince a fkilful artift, almoft at 
 light, that it muft have been the work of a mafter. 
 I have chofen, for this purpofe, a fmall piece of the 
 
 T\ l }.'l. ' body of a ftatue, fig. *, reprefenting part of the left 
 fide under the arm, together with a little of the breaft, 
 (including a very particular mufcle, which, from the 
 likenefs its edges bear to the teeth of a law, is, if con- 
 fider'd by itfelf, void of beauty) as moft proper to the 
 point in hand, becaufe this its regular fhape more pe- 
 culiarly requires the fkill of the artift to give it a little 
 more variety than it generally has, even in nature. 
 Firft, then, I will give you a reprefentation of this 
 
 + Fig- ii- part of the body, from an anatomical figure -f-, to fhow 
 what a famenefs there is in the fhapes of all the teeth- 
 like infertions of this mufcle ; and how regularly the 
 fibres, wliich compofe it, follow the almoft parallel out- 
 lines of the ribs they partly cover. From 
 
ANALYST S of BEAUTY. 63 
 
 From what has been faid before of the ufe of the 
 natural covering of the fkin, 6cc. the next figure * will , Fi & 
 eafily be underftood to mean fo tame a reprefentation T - p- 2 - 
 of the fame part of the body, that tho' the hard and ftiff 
 appearance of the edges of this mufcle is taken off by 
 that covering, yet enough of its regularity and fame- 
 nefs remains to render it difagreeable. 
 
 Now as regularity and famenefs^ according to our 
 doclrine, is want of elegance and true tafte, we mall 
 endeavour in the next place to mow how this very part 
 (in which the mufcles take fo very regular a form) may 
 be brought to have as much variety as any other part 
 of the body whatever. In order to this, though fome 
 alteration muft be made in almofb every part of it, yet 
 it mould be fo inconfiderable in each, that no remarka- 
 ble change may appear in the fhape and fituation of 
 any. 
 
 Thus, let the parts mark'd 1, 2, 3, 4, (which ap- 
 pear fo exactly fimilar in fhape, and parallel in fituation 
 in the the mufoular figure 77) and not much mended 
 in fig. 78, be firft varied in their fizes, but not gra- 
 dually from the uppermost to the loweft, as in fig. J, i Fig. 79. 
 nor alternately one long and one mort, as in fig. §, for § Fig. 80. 
 in either of thefe cafes there would ftill remain too great T ' r ' 2 ' 
 a - formality. We mould therefore endeavour, in the 
 next place, to vary them every way in our power, with- 
 out lofing entirely the true idea of the parts them- 
 felves. Suppofe them then to have changed their fitua- 
 
 tions 
 
64 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 tions a little, and flip'd befide each other irregularly, 
 F; 8i (fome how as is reprefented in fig. §, merely with re- 
 t. p. 2. gard to their fituation) and the external appearance of 
 the whole piece of the body, now under our confidera- 
 tion, will affume the more varied and pleafing form, 
 reprefented in fig. 76 ; eafily to be difcern'd by com- 
 paring the three figures 76, 77, 78, one with another; 
 and it will as eafily be feen, that were lines to be drawn, 
 or wires to be bent, over thefe mufcles, from one to the 
 other, and fo on to the adjoining parts ; they would 
 have a continued waving flow, let them pafs in any 
 dire£tion whatever. 
 
 The unfkilful, in drawing thefe parts after the life, as 
 their regularities are much more eafily feen and copied 
 than their fine variations, feldom fail of making them 
 more regular and poor than they really appear even in 
 a confumptive perfon. 
 
 The difference will appear evident by comparing 
 
 fig. 78, purpofely drawn in this taftelefs manner, with 
 
 fig. 76. But will be more perfectly underftood by ex- 
 
 t Fig. 54- amining this part in the Torfo of Michael Angelo f, 
 
 whence this figure was taken. 
 
 Note, there are cafts of a fmall copy of that famous 
 trunk of a body to be had at almofr, every plafter-figure 
 makers, wherein what has been here defcribed may be 
 fufficiently feen, not only in. the part which figure 76 
 was taken from, but all oyer that curious piece of an- 
 tiquity. 
 
 I 
 
ANALYSISo/BEAUTY. 65 
 
 I mufr. here again prefs my reader to a particular 
 attention to the windings of thefe fuperficial lines, even 
 in their palling over every joint, what alterations fo- 
 ever may be made in the furface of the fkin by the va- 
 rious bendings of the limbs : and tho' the fpace allow'd 
 for it, juft in the joints, be ever fo fmall, and confe- 
 quently the lines ever fo fhort, the application of this 
 principle of varying thefe lines, as far as their lengths 
 will admit of, will be found to have its efTe6t as grace- 
 fully as in the more lengthen'd mufcles of the body. 
 
 It mould be obferv'd in the fingers, where the joints 
 are but fhort, and the tendons ftraight ; and where 
 beauty feems to fubmit, in fome degree, to ufe, yet not 
 fo much but you trace in a full-grown taper finger, 
 thefe little winding lines among the wrinkles, or in 
 (what is more pretty becaufe more fimple) the dimples 
 of the nuckles. As we always diftinguifh things beft 
 by feeing their reverie fet in oppofition with them ; if 
 fig. *, by the ftraightnefs of its lines, fhews fig. f, to ^ Fig ^ Si 
 have fome little tafte in it, tho' it is fo nightly fketch'd; + Fi s- S 3« 
 the difference will more evidently appear when you in 
 like manner compare a ftraight coarfe finger in common 
 life with the taper dimpled one of a fine lady. 
 
 There is an elegant degree of plumpnefs peculiar to 
 the fkin of the fofter fex, that occasions thefe delicate 
 dimplings in all their other joints, as well as thefe of 
 the fingers ; which fo perfectly diftinguifhes them from 
 thofe even of a graceful man ; and which, aflifted by 
 
 K the 
 
p. I 
 
 p. I 
 
 66 ANALYSIS <?/ BEAUTY. 
 
 the more foften'd fhapes of the mufcles underneath, 1 
 prefents to the eye all the varieties in the whole figure 
 of the body, with gentler and fewer parts more fweetly 
 connected together, and with fuch a fine fimplicity as 
 will always give the turn of the female frame, repre- 
 t Fig. 13. fented in the Venus -f, the preference to that of the 
 Fig. 12. Apollo *. 
 
 Now whoever can conceive lines thus conftantly flow- 
 ing, and delicately varying over every part of the body 
 even to the fingers ends, and will call to his remem- 
 brance what led us to this laft defcription of what the 
 Italians call, II poco piu [the little more that is expected 
 from the hand of a matter) will, in my mind, want 
 .very little more than what his own obfervation on the 
 works of art and nature will lead him to, to acquire 
 a true idea of the word Tajle, when applied to form ; 
 however inexplicable this word may hitherto have been 
 imagined. 
 
 We have all along had recourfe chiefly to the works 
 of the ancients, not becaufe the moderns have not pro- 
 duced fome as excellent ; but becaufe the works of 
 the former are more generally known : nor would we 
 have it thought, that either of them have ever yet 
 come up to the utmoft beauty ol nature. Who but a 
 bigot, even to the antiques, will fay that he has not 
 feen faces and necks, hands and arms in living women, 
 that even the Grecian Venus doth but coarfely imi- 
 tate ? 
 
 And 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 67 
 
 And what fufficient reafon can be given why the 
 fame may not be faid of the reft of the body ? 
 
 C H A P. XI. 
 Of PRO P OR no N. 
 
 T F any one fhould aflc, what it is that conftitutes a 
 fine-proportion' d human figure? how ready and 
 feemingly decifive is the common anfwer : a jufk fym- 
 metry and harmony of parts with refpeEl to the whole. 
 But as probably this vague anfwer took its rife from 
 doctrines not belonging to form, or idle fchemes built 
 on them, I apprehend it will ceafe to be thought much 
 to the purpofe after a proper enquiry has been made. 
 
 Preparatory to which, it becomes necefiary in this 
 place, to mention one reafon more which may be added 
 to thole given in the introduction, for my having per- 
 fuaded the reader to confider objects fcoop'd out like 
 thin fhells ; which is, that partly by this conception, he 
 may be the better able to feparate and keep afunder 
 the two following general ideas^ as we will call them> 
 belonging to form; which are apt to coincide and mix 
 with each other in the mind, and which it is necefiary 
 (for the fake of making each more fully and particu- 
 larly clear) mould be kept apart, and confider'd fingly. 
 
 Firft, the general ideas of what hath already been dif- 
 cufled in the foregoing chapters, which only compre- 
 hends the furface of form, viewing it in no other light 
 than merely as being ornamental or not. 
 
 K 2 Secondly, 
 
68 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 Secondly, that gc?ieral idea, now to be difcufied, which 
 we commonly have of form altogether, as ariiing chiefly 
 from a fitnefs to fome delign'd purpofe or ufe. 
 
 Hitherto our main drift hath been to eftablifh and 
 illuftrate the firft idea only, by fhewing, firft the nature 
 of variety, and then its effects on the mind ; with the 
 manner how fuch impreflions are made by means of the 
 different feelings given to the eye, from its movements 
 in tracing and courfing l over furfaces of all kinds. 
 
 The furface of a piece of ornament, that hath every 
 turn in it that lines are capable of moving into, and at 
 the fame time no way applied, nor of any manner of 
 ufe, but merely to entertain the eye, would be fuch an 
 object as would anfwer to this firft idea alone. 
 
 The figure like a leaf, at the bottom of plate i, near 
 to fig. 67, is fomething of this kind ; it was taken from 
 an afh-tree, and was a fort of Lufus naturae, growing 
 only like an excreffence, but fo beautiful in the lines of 
 its fhell-like windings, as would have been above the 
 power of a Gibbons to have equalled, even in its own 
 materials ; nor could the graver of an Edlinck, or Dre- 
 vet, have done it juftice on copper. 
 
 Note, the prefent tafte of ornaments feems to have 
 been partly taken from productions of this fort, which 
 ■are to be found about autumn among plants, particu- 
 larly afparagus, when it is running to feed. 
 
 » See Chap. 5. page 25. 
 
ANALYS IS of BEAUTY. 
 
 I mall now endeavour to explain what is included in, 
 what I have called for diftinclion fake, the fecond gene- 
 ral idea of form, in a much fuller manner than was 
 done in chapter I. of Fitnefs. And begin with obferving, 
 that though furfaces will unavoidably be Hill included, 
 yet we muft no longer confine ourfelves to the particu- 
 lar notice of them as furfaces only, as we heretofore 
 have done ; we muft now open our view to general, as 
 well as particular bulk and folidity; and alfo look into 
 what may have filled up, or given rife thereto, fuch as 
 certain given quantities and dimenfions of parts, for in- 
 clofing any fubftance, or for performing of motion, pur- 
 chafe, Jiedfaflnefs , and other matters of ufe to living 
 beings, which, I apprehend, at length, will bring us to 
 a tolerable conception of the word proportion. 
 
 As to thefe joint-fenfations of bulk and motion, do 
 we not at firft fight almoft, even without making trial, 
 feem to feel when a leaver of any kind is too weak, or 
 not long enough to make fuch or fuch a purchafe? or 
 when a fpring is not fufHcient? and don't we find by 
 experience what weight, or dimension fhould be given, 
 or taken away, on this or that account? if fo, as the 
 general as well as particular bulks of form, are made up 
 of materials moulded together under mechanical direct 
 tions, for fome known purpofe or other ; how naturally, 
 from thefe eonliderations, fhall we fall into a judgment 
 of ft proportion ; which is one part of beauty to the 
 mind tho' not always fo to the eye. 
 
 Our 
 
7 o ANALYSIS <?/ BEAUTY. 
 
 Our necefiities have taught us to mould matter into 
 various fhapes, and to give them fit proportions 
 for particular ufes, as bottles, glaffes, knives, dimes, 
 &c. Hath not offence given rife to the form of the 
 fword, and defence to that of the fhield? And what 
 elfe but proper fitnefs of parts hath fix'd the different 
 dimenfions of piftols, mufkets, great guns, fowling- 
 pieces and blunderbuffes ; which differences as to figure, 
 may as properly be called the different characters of fire- 
 arms, as the different fhapes of men are called characters 
 of men. 
 
 We find alfo that the profufe variety of fhapes, which 
 prefent themfelves from the whole animal creation, arife 
 chiefly from the nice fitnefs of their parts, defigned for 
 accomplishing the peculiar movements of each. 
 
 And here I think will be the proper place to fpeak 
 of a moft curious difference between the living ma- 
 chines of nature, in refpect of fitnefs, and fuch poor ones, 
 in comparifon with them, as men are only capable of 
 making ; by means of which diftinction, I am in hopes 
 of mewing what particularly constitutes the utmoft 
 beauty of proportion in the human figure. 
 
 A clock, by the government's order, has been made, 
 and another now making, by Mr. Harrifon, for the keep- 
 ing of true time at fea ; which perhaps is one of the moft 
 exquifite movements ever made. Happy the ingenious 
 contriver ! although the form of the whole, or of every 
 part of this curious machine, mould be ever fb confufed, 
 
 or 
 
.ANALYSIS*/ BEAUTY. 71 
 
 or diipleafingly maped to the eye ; and although even 
 its movements mould be difagreeable to look at, pro- 
 vided it anfwers the end propofed. An ornamental com- 
 pofition was no part of his fcheme, otherwife than as a 
 pollifh might be neceffary. If ornaments are required to 
 be added to mend its fhape, care muff, be taken that 
 they are no obftfucliion to the movement itfelf, and the 
 more as they would be fuperfluous, as to the main de- 
 sign. — But in nature's machines, how wonderfully do 
 we fee beauty and ufe go hand in hand ! 
 
 Had a machine for this purpofe been nature's work, 
 the whole and every individual part would have had 
 exquiiite beauty of form without danger of deftroying 
 the exquifitenefs of its motion, even as if ornament had 
 been the fole aim; its movements too would have been 
 graceful, without one fuperfluous tittle added for either 
 of thefe lovely purpofes. — Now this is that curious dif- 
 ference between the fitnefs of nature's machines (one of 
 which is man) and thofe made by mortal hands : which 
 diftindtion is to lead us to our main point propofed ; I 
 mean, to the mewing what conftitutes the utmoft beautv 
 of proportion. 
 
 There was brought from France fome years ago, a 
 little clock-work machine, with a duck's head and legs 
 fixt to it, which was fo contrived as to have fome refem- 
 blance of that animal ftanding upon one foot, and 
 ftretching back its leg, turning its head, opening and 
 fhutting its bill, moving its wings, and making its tail ; 
 
 all 
 
7 2 ANALYSIS <?/ BEAUTY. 
 
 all of them the plaineft and eafieft directions in living 
 movements : yet for the poorly performing of thefe few 
 morions, this filly, but much extoll'd machine, being un- 
 cover'd, appeared a moft complicated, confufed and dis- 
 agreeable object: nor would its being covered with a 
 fkin clofely adhering to its parts, as that of a real duck's 
 doth, have much mended its figure; at befl, a bag of 
 hob-nails, broken hinges, and patten-rings, would have 
 looked as well, unlefs by other means it had been fluffed 
 out to bring it into form. 
 
 Thus again you fee, the more variety we pretend to 
 give to our trifling movements, the more confufed and 
 unornamental the forms become; nay chance but fel- 
 dom helps them. — How much the reverfe are nature's! 
 the greater the variety her movements have, the more 
 beautiful are the parts that caufe them. 
 
 The finny race of animals, as they have fewer motions 
 than other creatures, fo are their forms lefs remark- 
 able for beauty. It is alfo to be noted of every fpecies, 
 that the handfomeft of each move befl: birds of a 
 clumfy make feldom fly well, nor do lumpy fifh glide 
 fo well through the water as thofe of a neater make; 
 and beafts of the moft elegant form, always excel in 
 fpeed; of this, the horfe and greyhound are beautiful 
 examples: and even among themfelves, the moft ele- 
 gantly made feldom fail of being the fwifteft. 
 
 The war-horfe is more equally made for ftrength 
 than the race-horfe, which furplus of power in the 
 
 former, 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 73 
 
 former, if {iippos'd added to the latter, as it would throw 
 more weight into improper parts for the bufinefs of mere 
 fpeed, fo of courfe it would leflen, in fome degree, that 
 admirable quality, and partly deflroy that delicate fit- 
 nefs of his make ; but then a quality in movement, fu- 
 perior to that of fpeed, would be given to him by the 
 addition, as he would be render'd thereby more fit to 
 move with eafe in fuch varied, or graceful dire&ions, as 
 are fo delightful to the eye in the carriage of the fine 
 manag'd war-horfe; and as at the lame time, fomething 
 {lately and graceful would be added to his figure, which 
 before could only be faid to have an elegant neatnefs. 
 This noble creature Hands foremof 1 amongft brutes ; and 
 it is but confiftent with, nature's propriety, that the moff. 
 ufeful animal in the brute-creation, fhould be thus figna- „ 
 lized alfo for the molt beauty. 
 
 Yet, properly fpeaking, no living creatures are capable 
 of moving in fuch truly varied and graceful directions, 
 as the human Ipecies ; and it would be needlefs to fay 
 how much fuperior in beauty their forms and textures 
 likewife are. And furely alfo after what has been faid 
 relating to figure and motion, it is plain and evident 
 that nature has thought fit to make beauty of proportion, 
 and beauty of movement, necelTary to each other : fo 
 that the obfervation before made on animals, will hold 
 equally good with regard to man : i. e. that he who is 
 moll exquifitely well-proportion'd is moll capable of 
 exquifite movements, fuch as eafe and grace in deport- 
 menty or in dancing. L It 
 
74 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 It may be a fort of collateral confirmation of what 
 has been faid of this method of nature's working, as 
 well as otherwife worth our notice, that when any parts 
 belonging to the human body are conceal' d, and not im- 
 mediately concern'd in movement, all fuch ornamental 
 fhapes, as evidently appear in the mufcles and bones \ 
 are totally neglected as unneceflary, for nature doth no- 
 thing in vain ! this is plainly the cafe of the interlines, 
 none of them having the leaft beauty, as to form, ex- 
 cept the heart ; which noble part, and indeed kind of 
 flrft mover, is a fimple and well-varied figure ; con- 
 formable to which, fome of the moft elegant Roman 
 urns and vafes have been falhion'd. 
 
 Now, thus much being kept in remembrance, our 
 next ftep will be to fpeak of, firfr, general meafure- 
 ments ; fuch as the whole height of the body to its 
 breadth, or the length of a limb to its thicknefs : and, 
 fecondly, of luch appearances of dimenfions as are too 
 intricately varied to admit of a defcription by lines. 
 
 The former will be confined to a very few ftraight 
 lines, crofling each other, which will eauly be under- 
 stood by every one; but the latter will require lome- 
 what more attention, becaufe it will extend to the pre- 
 cifion of every modification, bound, or limit, of the 
 human figure. 
 
 To be fomewhat more explicit. As to the firft part, 
 I mail begin with mewing what practicable fort of mea- 
 
 * See chap. ix. on Compofitions with the Serpentine-line, 
 
 furing 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 75 
 
 faring may be ufed in order to produce the moft proper 
 variety in the proportions of the parts of any body. I 
 fay, praSlkabh) becaufe the vaft variety of intricately 
 fituated parts, belonging to the human form, will not 
 admit of measuring the diftances of one part by another, 
 by lines or points, beyond a certain degree or number, 
 without great perplexity in the operation itfelf, or con- 
 fufion to the imagination. For inftance, fay, a line re- 
 prefenting one breadth and an half of the wrift, would 
 be equal to the true breadth of the thicker!: part of the 
 arm above the elbow ; may it not then be ajfk'd, what 
 part of the wrift is meant ? for if you place a pair of 
 calipers a little nearer or further from the hand, the 
 diftance of the points will differ, and fo they will if they 
 are moved clofe to the wrift all round, becaufe it is 
 flatter one way than the other ; but fuppofe, for argu- 
 ment fake, one certain diameter fhould be fix'd upon; 
 may it not again be afk'd, how is it to be apply'd, if 
 to the flatteft fide of the arm or the roundeft, and how 
 far from the elbow, and muft it be when the arm is ex- 
 tended or when it is bent ? for this alfo will make a 
 fenfible difference, becaufe in the latter polition, the 
 mufcle, call'd the biceps, in the front of that part of 
 the arm, fwells up like a ball one way, and narrows it- 
 felf another ; nay all the mufcles jfhift their appearances 
 in different movements, fo that whatever may have been 
 pretended by fome authors, no exad: mathematical 
 measurements by lines, can be given for the true propor- 
 tion of a human body, L 2 It 
 
76 A N A L Y S I S of B E A U T Y. 
 
 It comes then to this, that no longer than whilft we 
 fuppofe all the lengths and breadths of the body, or 
 limbs, to be as regular figures as cylinders, or as the leg, 
 figure 6 8 in plate i , which is as round as a rolling-ftone, 
 are the meafures of lengths to breadths practicable, or 
 of any ufe to the knowledge of proportion : fo that as 
 all mathematical fchemes are foreign to this purpofe, we 
 will endeavour to root them quite out of our way: 
 therefore I muft not omit taking notice, that Albert 
 |* 55- Durer, Lamozzo, (fee two taftelefs figures taken from 
 their books of proportion) and fome others, have not 
 only puzzled mankind with a heap of minute unnecef- 
 fary divifions, but alfo with a ftrange notion that thofe 
 
 divifions arc govern' d by the laws of mufic ; which mif- 
 
 take they feem to have been led into, by having {cen 
 certain uniform and confonant divifions upon one firing 
 produce harmony to the ear, and by perfuading them- 
 felves, that fimilar diftances in lines belonging to form, 
 would, in like manner, delight the eye. The very re- 
 verfe of which has been fhewn to be true, in chap. 3, 
 on Uniformity. " The length of the foot, fay they, in 
 " refpeft to the breadth, makes a double fitprabipartie?it y 
 " a dlapafon and a diatejferon l :" which, in my opinion, 
 would have been full as applicable to the ear, or to a 
 
 plant, 
 
 J Note, thefe authors aflure you, that this curious method of mea- 
 furing, will produce beauty far beyond any nature doth afford. Lamozzo, 
 recommends alfo another fcheme, with a triangle, to correct the poverty 
 of nature^ as they exprefs themfelves. Thefe nature-menders put one in 
 
 mind 
 
ANALYSIS of BE A U T Y. 77 
 
 plant, or to a tree, or any other form whatsoever ; yet 
 thefe fort of notions have fo far prevail'd by time, that 
 the words, harmony of parts, feem as applicable to form, 
 as to mufic. 
 
 Notwithstanding the abfurdity of the above fchemes, 
 fuch meafures as are to be taken from antique ftatues, 
 may be of fome fervice to painters and fculptors, efpe- 
 cially to young beginners, but nothing nigh of fuch 
 ufe to them, as the meafures, taken the fame way, from 
 ancient buildings, have been, and are, to architects and 
 builders ; becaufe the latter have to do with little elfe 
 but plain geometrical figures : which meafures, however, 
 ferve only in copying what has been done before. 
 
 The few meafures I fhall ipeak of, for the letting 
 out the general dimenfions of a figure, fhall be taken 
 by Straight lines only, for the more eafy conception of 
 what may indeed be properly call'd, gaging the contents 
 of the body, fuppofing it folid like a marble flatue, as 
 the wires were defcribed to do -f in the introduction : t Fig 
 by which plain method, clear ideas may be acquir'd of 
 what alone feem to me to require meafuring, of what 
 certain lengths to what breadths make the 1110ft eligible 
 proportions in general. 
 
 The moft general dimenfions, of a body, or limbs, 
 are lengths, breadths or thickneffes : now the whole 
 
 gentility 
 
 mind of Gulliver's tailor at Laputa, who, having taken meafure of 
 him for a fuit of clothes, with a rule, quadrant and compafTes, after a 
 confiderable time fpent, brought them home ill made. 
 
 P. 
 
R 
 
 P- 
 
 78 A N A L Y S I S of B E A U T Y. 
 
 gentility of a figure, according to its character, depends 
 upon the firft proportioning thefe lines or wires (which 
 are its meafures) properly one to another ; and the more 
 varied thefe lines are, with refpect to each other, the 
 more may the future divifions be varied likewife, that 
 are to be made on them; and of courfe the lefs varied 
 thefe lines are, the parts influenced by them, as they 
 muft conform themfelves to them, muft have lefs variety- 
 Fig. 69. too. For example, the exact crofs * of two equal lines, 
 cutting each other in the middle, would confine the 
 figure of a man, drawn conformable to them, to the 
 difagreeable character of his being as broad as he is long. 
 And the two lines crofting each other, to make the 
 height and breadth of a figure, will want variety a con- 
 trary way, by one line being very fhort in proportion to 
 the other, and therefore, alfo incapable of producing a 
 figure of tolerable variety. To prove this, it will be very 
 eafy for the reader to make the experiment, by draw- 
 ing a figure or two (tho' ever £0 imperfectly) confin'd 
 within fuch limits. 
 
 There is a medium between thefe, proper for every 
 character, which the eye will eafily and accurately de- 
 termine, 
 t Fig. 7c; Thus, if the lines, fig. f , were to be the meafure of 
 the extreme length and breadth, fet out either for the 
 figure of a man or a vafe, the eye foon fees the longeft 
 of thefe is not quite fufiiciently fo, in proportion to the 
 other, for a genteel man ; and yet it would make a vafe 
 
 too 
 
 R. p. 2. 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 79 
 
 too taper to be elegant; no rule or compaffes "would 
 decide this matter either fo quickly or fo precifely as a 
 good eye. It may be obferved, that minute differences 
 in great lengths, are of little or no confequence as to 
 proportion, becaufe they are not to be difcerned; for a 
 man is half an inch fhorter when he goes to bed at 
 night, than when he rifes in the morning, without the 
 poflibility of its being perceived. In cafe of a wager 
 the application of a rule or compafTes may be neceflary, 
 but feldom on any other occasion. 
 
 Thus much I apprehend is fufficient for the conn- 
 deration of general lengths to breadths. Where, by the 
 way, I apprehend I have plainly (hewn, that there is 
 no practicable rule, by lines, for minutely fetting out 
 proportions for the human body, and if there were, the 
 eye alone muft determine us in our choice of what is 
 moft pleafing to itfelf. 
 
 Thus having difpatch'd general dimenfion, which we 
 may fay is almoft as much of proportion, as is to be 
 feen when we have our cloaths on : I mall in the fecond, 
 and more extenfive method propofed for considering it, 
 fet out in the familiar path of common obfervation, 
 and appeal as I go on to our ufual feeling, or joint- 
 fenfation, of figure and motion. 
 
 Perhaps by mentioning two or three known inftances it 
 will be found that almoft every one is farther advanced in 
 the knowledge of this fpeculative part of proportion than 
 he imagines; efpecially he who hath been ufed to obferve 
 
 naked 
 
8o ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 naked figures doing bodily exercife, and more efpecially 
 if he be any way interefted in the fuccefs of them ; and 
 the better he is acquainted with the nature of the exer- 
 cife itfelf, ftill the better judge he becomes of the figure 
 that is to perform it. For this reafon, no fooner are two 
 boxers ftript to fight, but even a butcher, thus fkill'd, 
 mews himfelf a considerable critic in proportion; and 
 on this fort of judgment, often gives, or takes the odds, 
 at bare fight only of the combatants. I have heard a 
 blackfmith harangue like an anatomift, or fculptor, on the 
 beauty of a boxer's figure, tho' not perhaps in the fame 
 terms; and I firmly believe, that one of our common 
 proficients in the athletic art, would be able to inflruct 
 and direct the beft fculptor living, (who hath not feen, 
 or is wholly ignorant of this exercife) in what would 
 give the ftatue of an Englifh-boxer, a much better pro- 
 portion, as to character, than is to be feen, even in the 
 famous group of antique boxers, (or as fome call them, 
 Roman wreftlers) fb much admired to this day. 
 
 Indeed, as many parts of the body are fo conflantly 
 kept cover'd, the proportion of the whole cannot be 
 equally known; but as {lockings are fo clofe and thin a 
 covering, every one judges of the different fliapes and 
 proportions of legs with great accuracy. The ladies 
 always fpeak fkilfully of necks, hands and arms; and 
 often will point out fuch particular beauties or defects 
 in their make, as might eafily efcape the obfervation of 
 a man of fcience. 
 
 Surely 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. Si 
 
 Surety, fuch determinations could not be made and 
 pronounced with fuch critical truth, if the eye were not 
 capable of meafuring or judging of thickneffes by 
 lengths, with great precifenefs. Nay more, in order to 
 determine fo nicely as they often do, it muft alfo at 
 the lame time, trace with fome fkill thofe delicate 
 windings upon the furface which have been defcribed 
 in page 64 and 65, which altogether may be obferv'd 
 to include the two general ideas mention'd at the be- 
 ginning of this chapter. 
 
 If fo, certainly it is in the power of a man of fcience, 
 with as obferving an eye, to go (till further, and con- 
 ceive, with a very little turn of thought, many other 
 neceflary circumftances concerning proportion, as of 
 what fize and in what manner the bones help to make 
 up the bulk, and fupport the other parts; as well as 
 what certain weights or dimenfions of mufcles are pro- 
 per (according to the principle of the fteelyard) to move 
 fuch or fuch a length of arm with this or that degree 
 of fwiftnefs or force. 
 
 But though much of this matter, may be ealily un- 
 derftood by common obfervation, affifled by fcience, 
 frill I fear it will be difficult to raife a very clear idea 
 of what conftitutes, or compofes the utmofi beauty of 
 proportion ; fuch as is feen in the Antinous ; which is 
 allowed to be the moft perfect in this refpecl, of any of 
 the antique ftatues ; and tho' the lovely likewife feems 
 to have been as much the fculptor's aim, as in the Venus ; 
 
 M yet 
 
82 ANALYSISc/BEAUTY. 
 
 yet a manly ftrength in its proportion is equally ex- 
 prefs'd from head to foot in it. 
 
 Let us try, however, and as this mafter-piece of art 
 is fo well known, we will fet it up before us as a pat- 
 tern, and endeavour to fabricate, or put together in the 
 mind, fuch kind of parts as mall feem to build another 
 figure like it. In doing which, we fhall foon find that 
 it is chiefly to be effected by means of the nice fenfation 
 we naturally have of what certain quantities or dimen- 
 fions of parts, are fitteft to produce the utmoft ftrength 
 for moving, or fupporting great weights ; and of what 
 are moft fit for the utmoft light agility, as alfo for every 
 degree, between thefe two extremes. 
 
 He who hath beft perfected his ideas of thefe matters 
 by common obfervations, and by the afliftance of arts 
 relative thereto, will probably be moft precifely juft and 
 clear, in conceiving the application of the various parts 
 and dimenfions, that will occur to him, in the follow- 
 ing descriptive manner of difpofing of them, in order 
 to form the idea of a fine-proportion'd figure. 
 
 Having fet up the Antinous as our pattern, we will 
 fuppofe there were placed on one fide of it, the un- 
 wieldy elephant-like figure of an Atlas, made up of 
 fuch thick bones and mufcles, as would beft fit him for 
 fupporting a vaft weight, according to his character of 
 
 ex- 
 
 1 If the fcale of either of thefe proportions were to exceed fix foot in 
 the life, the quality of ftrength in one, and agility in the other, would 
 gradually decreafe, the larger the perfon grew. There are fufficient proofs 
 of this, both from mechanical reafonings and common obfervation. 
 
ANALYSIS 0/ BEAUTY. $3 
 
 extreme heavy ftrength. And, on the other fide, imagine 
 the flim figure of a Mercury, every where neatly formed 
 for the utmoft light agility, with flender bones and taper 
 mufcles fit for his nimble bounding from the ground. 
 — Both thefe figures muft be fuppofed of equal height, 
 and not exceeding fix foot *.; 
 
 Our extremes thus placed, now imagine the Atlas 
 throwing off by degrees, certain portions of bone and 
 mufcle, proper for the attainment of light agility, as if 
 aiming at the Mercury's airy form and quality, whilff. 
 on the other hand, fee the Mercury augmenting his ta- 
 per figure by equal degrees, and growing towards an 
 Atlas in equal time, by receiving to the like places from 
 whence they came, the very quantities that the other 
 had been cafting off, when, as they approach each other 
 in weight, their forms of courfe may be imagined to 
 grow more and more alike, till at a certain point of 
 time, they meet in jufl fimilitude ; which being an ex- 
 act medium between the two extremes, we may thence 
 conclude it to be the precife form of exact proportion, 
 fitefl for perfect active ftrength or graceful movement; 
 fuch as the Antinous we propofed to imitate and figure 
 in the mind 2 . 
 
 1 am apprehenfive that this part of my fcheme, for 
 explaining exact proportion, may not be thought fo 
 
 fuffi- 
 
 2 The jocky who knows to an ounce what flefh or bone in a horfe is 
 fitefl for fpeed or ftrength, will as eafily conceive the like procefs be- 
 tween the ftrongeft dray-horfe and the fleeteft racer, and foon conclude, 
 that the fine war-horfe muft be the medium between the two extremes. 
 
 M 2 
 
84 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 Sufficiently determinate as could be wifhed: be this as 
 it will, I rauft fubmit it to the reader, as my beft re- 
 fource in fo difficult a cafe: and mall therefore beg 
 leave to try to illuftrate it a little more, by obferving, 
 that, in like manner, any two opponte colours in the 
 rainbow, form a third between them, by thus imparting 
 to each other their peculiar qualities ; as the brighter!: 
 yellow, and the lively blue that is placed at fome dis- 
 tance from it, vifibly approach, and blend by inter- 
 changable degrees, and, as above, temper rather than 
 deftroy each other's vigour, till they meet in one firm 
 compound; whence, at a certain point, the fight of 
 what they were originally, is quite loft; but in their 
 ftead, a moft pleafing green is found, which colour 
 nature hath chofe for the veftment of the earth, and 
 with the beauty of which the eye is never tired. 
 
 From the order of the ideas which the defcription 
 of the above three figures may have raifed in the mind, 
 we may ealily compofe between them, various other 
 proportions. And as the painter, by means of a certain 
 order in the arrangement of the colours upon his pallet, 
 readily mixes up what kind of tint he pleafes, fo may 
 we mix up and compound in the imagination fuch fit 
 parts as will be confiftent with this or that particular 
 character, or at leaft be able thereby to difcover how 
 fuch characters are compofed when we fee them either 
 in art or nature. 
 
 But 
 
ANALYSIS ^/BEAUTY. S 5 
 
 But perhaps even trie word charatler, as it relates to 
 form, may not be quite underftaod by every one, tho' 
 it is fo frequently ufed j nor do I remember to have feen 
 it explained any where. Therefore on this account — 
 and alfo as it will farther fhew the ufe of thinking of 
 form and motion together, it will not be improper to 
 obferve,— that notwithftanding a character, in this fenfe, 
 chiefly depends on a figure being remarkable as to its 
 form, either in fome particular part, or altogether; yet 
 furely no figure, be it ever fo lingular, can be perfectly 
 conceived as a character, till we find it connected with 
 fome remarkable circumftance or caufe, for fuch par- 
 ticularity of appearance ; for inftance, a fat bloted per- 
 ion doth not call to mind the character of a Silenus, 
 till we have joined the idea of voluptuoufnefs with it ; 
 fo likewile frrength to fupport, and clumflnefs of figure, 
 are united, as well in the chara&er of an Atlas as in a 
 porter. 
 
 When we confider the great weight chairmen often 
 have to carry, do we not readily confent that there is a 
 propriety and fitnefs in the tufcan order of their legs, 
 by which they properly become characters as to figure ? 
 
 Watermen too, are of a diftinct caft, or character, 
 whofe legs are no lefs remarkable for their fmallnefs: 
 for as there is naturally the greateft call for nutriment 
 to the parts that are moff. exercifed, fo of courfe thefe 
 that lye fo much ftretched out, are apt to dwindle, or 
 not grow to their full fize. There is fcarcely a water- 
 man 
 
86 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 man that rows upon the Thames, whofe figure doth 
 not confirm this obfervation. Therefore were I to paint 
 the character of a Charon, I would thus diftinguim his 
 make from that of a common man's; and, in fpite of 
 the word low> venture to give him a broad pair of moul- 
 ders, and fpindle fhanks, whether I had the authority 
 of an antique ftatue, or bafTo-relievo, for it or not. 
 
 May be, I cannot throw a ftronger light on what has 
 been hitherto faid of proportion, than by animadverting 
 on a remarkable beauty in the Apollo-belvedere ; which 
 hath given it the preference even to the Antinous : I 
 mean a fuper-addition of greatnefs> to at leaft as much 
 beauty and grace, as is found in the latter. 
 
 Thefe two mafter-pieces of art, are feen together in 
 the fame apartment at Rome, where the Antinous fills 
 the fpeclator with admiration only, whilft the Apollo 
 ftrikes him with furprife, and, as travellers exprefs them- 
 felves, with an appearance of fomething more than hu- 
 man ; which they of courfe are always at a lofs to de- 
 fcribe : and, this effecl:, they fay, is the more aftoniih- 
 ing, as upon examination its difproportion is evident 
 even to a common eye. One of the beft fculptors we 
 have in England, who lately went to fee them, confirm'd 
 to me what has been now faid, particularly as to the 
 legs and thighs being too long, and too large for the 
 upper parts. And Andrea Sacchi, one of the great Italian 
 painters, feems to have been of the fame opinion, or he 
 would hardly have given his Apollo, crowning Pafquilini 
 
 the 
 
ANALYSIS.?/ BEAUTY. 87 
 
 the mufician, the exact, proportion of the Antinous 3 (in 
 a famous picture of his now in England) as otherwife 
 it feems to be a direct copy from the Apollo. 
 
 Although in very great works we often fee an inferior 
 part neglected, yet here it cannot be the cafe, becaufe 
 in a fine ftatue, juft proportion is one of its eflential 
 beauties: therefore it ftands to reafon, that thefe limbs 
 muft have been lengthened on purpofe, otherwife it 
 might eafily have been avoided. 
 
 So that if we examine the beauties of this figure 
 thoroughly, we may reafonably conclude, that what 
 has been hitherto thought fo unaccountably excellent in 
 its general appearance, hath been owing to what hath 
 feem'd a blemijh in a part of it: but let us endeavour 
 to make this matter as clear as pollible, as it may add 
 more force to what has been faid. 
 
 Statues by being bigger than life (as this is one, and 
 larger than the Antinous) always gain fome noblenefs in 
 effect, according to the principle of quantity * but this 
 alone is not fufficient to give what is properly to be 
 called, greatnefs in proportion \ for were figures 1 7 and 
 18, in plate 1, to be drawn or carved by a Icale of ten 
 feet high, they would Hill be but pigmy proportions, 
 as, on the other hand, a figure of but two inches, may 
 reprefent a gigantic height. 
 
 Therefore greatnefs of proportion muft be confidered, 
 as depending on the application of qua?ttity to thofe 
 parts of the body where it can give more fcope to its 
 
 1 See chap. 6, o 
 
88 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 grace in movement, as to the neck for the larger and 
 fwan-like turns of the head, and to the legs and thighs, 
 for the more ample fway of all the upper parts to- 
 gether. 
 
 By which we find that the Antinous's being equally 
 magnified to the Apollo's height, would not fufficiently 
 produce that fuperiority of effect, as to greatnefs, fo 
 evidently feen in the latter. The additions neceflary to 
 the production of this greatnefs in proportion, as it there 
 appears added to grace, muft then be, by the proper 
 application of them, to the parts mention' d only. 
 
 I know not how further to prove this matter than 
 by appealing to the reader's eye, and common obferva- 
 tion, as before. 
 
 The Antinous being allowed to have the jufteft pro- 
 portion pofiible, let us fee what addition, upon the prin- 
 ciple of quantity, can be made to it, without taking 
 away any of its beauty. 
 
 If we imagine an addition of dimenfions to the head, 
 we fhall immediately conceive it would only deform — 
 if to the hands or feet, we are fenfible of fomething grofs 
 
 and ungenteel, if to the whole lengths of the arms, 
 
 we feel they would be dangling and aukward if by 
 
 an addition of length or breadth to the body, we know 
 it would appear heavy and clumfy — there remains then 
 only the neck, with the legs and thighs to fpeak of; but, 
 to thefe we find, that not only certain additions may 
 be admitted without caufing any difagreeable effect, 
 
 but 
 
ANALYS ISfl/B EAUTY. 89 
 
 but that thereby greatnefs ^ the laffc perfection as to pro- 
 portion, is given to the human form ; as is evidently 
 exprefs'd in the Apollo : and may ftill be further con- 
 firmed by examining the drawings of Parmigiano, where 
 thefe particulars are feen in excefs; yet on this account 
 his works are faid, by all true connoifieurs, to have an 
 inexpreilible greatnefs of tafte in them, though other- 
 wife very incorredl. 
 
 Let us now return to the two general ideas we fat 
 out with at the beginning of this chapter, and recoiled: 
 that under the firft, on furface, I have fhewn in what 
 manner, and how far human proportion is meamreable, 
 by varying the contents of the body, conformable to the 
 given proportion of two lines. And that under the Se- 
 cond and more extenfive general idea of form, as ariiing 
 from fitnefs for movement, &c. I have endeavour'd to 
 explain, by every means I could devife, that every par- 
 ticular and minute dimenfion of the body, mould con- 
 form to fuch purpofes o£ movement, &c. as have been 
 firft properly confidered and determined : on which con- 
 junctively, the true proportion of every character muft 
 depend ; and is found fo to do, by our joint-fenfation of 
 bulk and motion. Which account of the proportion of 
 the human body, however imperfect, may poffibly fland 
 its ground, till one more plauiible mail be given. 
 
 As the Apollo * has been only mention'd on account 
 of the greatnefs of its proportion, I think in juftice to p - 
 fo fine a performance ; and alfo as it is not foreign to 
 
 N the 
 
 Fig. 1; 
 
9 o ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 the point we have been upon, we may fubjoin an Ob- 
 fervation or two on its perfections. 
 
 Befides, what is commonly allow'd, if we confider it 
 by the rules here given for constituting or composing 
 character, it will difcover the author's great fagacity, in 
 choofing a proportion for this deity, which has ferved 
 two noble purpofes at once; in that thefe very dimen- 
 sions which appear to have given it fo much dignity, 
 are the fame that are beft fitted to produce the utmoft 
 fpeed. And what could characterife the god of day, 
 either fo strongly or elegantly, to be expreflive in a fta- 
 tue, as fuperior fvviftnefs, and beauty dignify' d? and how 
 poetically doth the action it is put into, carry on the 
 allusion to fpeed, J as he is lightly stepping forward, 
 and feeming to (hoot his arrows from him ; if the ar- 
 rows may be allowed to fignify the fun's rays ? This at 
 least may as well be fuppofed as the common iurmife, 
 that he is killing the dragon, Python; which certainly 
 is very inconsistent with fo erect an attitude, and benign 
 an afpect 2 . 
 
 Nor are the inferior parts neglected : the drapery alfb 
 that depends from his moulders, and folds over his ex- 
 tended arm, hath its treble office. As first, it aflists in 
 keeping the general appearance within the boundary of 
 a pyramid, which being inverted, is, for a fingle figure, 
 
 rather 
 
 i the fun: which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his 
 
 chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his courfe. Pfalm xix. 5. 
 
 2 The accounts given, in relation to this ftatue, make it fo highly 
 probable that it was the great Apollo of Delphos, that, for my own part, 
 
 I make no manner of doubt of its being fo 
 
A N A L Y S I S of B E A U T Y. 91 
 
 rather more natural and genteel than one upon its bails. 
 Secondly, it fills up the vacant angle under the arm, and 
 takes off the ftaaightnefs of the lines the arm neceffarily 
 makes with the body in fuch an action; and, laftly, 
 fpreading as it doth, in pleafing folds, it helps to fatisfy 
 the eye with a noble quantity in the compoiition alto- 
 gether, without depriving the beholder of any part of 
 the beauties of the naked: in fhort, this figure might 
 ferve, were a lecture to be read over it, to exemplify 
 every principle that hath been hitherto advanced. We 
 fhall therefore clofe not only all we have to fay on pro- 
 portion with it, but our whole lineal account of form, 
 except what we have particularly to offer as to the face ; 
 which it will be proper to defer, till we have fpoke of 
 light and Jhade and colour. 
 
 As fome of the ancient flatues have been of fuch fin- 
 gular ufe to me, I fhall beg leave to conclude this chap- 
 ter with an obfervation or two on them in general. 
 
 It is allowed by the moft fkilful in the imitative arts, 
 that tho' there are many of the remains of antiquity) 
 that have great excellencies about them ; yet there 
 are not, moderately (peaking, above twenty that may 
 be juftly called capital. There is one reafon, never- 
 theless, befides the blind veneration that generally is 
 paid to antiquity, for holding even many very imperfect 
 pieces in fome degree of eitimation : I mean tinzx. pecu- 
 liar tafle of elegance which fo vifibly runs through them 
 all, down to the moft incorrect of their baflb-relievos : 
 
 ■ N 2 which 
 
92 A N A LY S I S of B E A U T Y. 
 
 which tajie y I am perfuaded, my reader will now con- 
 ceive to have been entirely owing to the perfect, know- 
 ledge the ancients muft have had of the ufe of the pre- 
 cife ferpentine-line. 
 
 But this caufe of elegance not having been fince fuf- 
 ficiently underftood, no wonder fuch effects mould have 
 appear'd myfterious, and have drawn mankind into a 
 fort of religious efteem, and even bigotry, to the works 
 of antiquity. 
 
 Nor have there been wanting of artful people, who 
 have made good profit of thofe whofe unbounded ad- 
 miration hath run them into enthuliafm. Nay there are, 
 I believe, fome who ftill carry on a comfortable trade 
 in fuch originals as have been fo defaced and maimed 
 by time, that it would be impoflible, without a pair of 
 double - ground connohTeur - fpeclacles, to fee whether 
 they have ever been good or bad: they deal alio in 
 cook'd-up copies, which they are very apt to put off for 
 originals. And whoever dares be bold enough to detecl 
 fuch impofitions, finds himfelf immediately branded, 
 and given out as one of low ideas, ignorant of the true 
 fublime, felf-conceited, envious, 8tc. 
 
 But as there are a great part of mankind that delight 
 moft in what they leaft underftand ; for ought I know, 
 the emolument may be equal between the bubler and 
 the bubled : at leaft this feems to have been Butler's 
 opinion : 
 
 Doubtlefs the pleafure is as great 
 
 In being cheated, as to cheat. CHAP. 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 93 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Of L 1 6 h t and Shade, and the manner in which 
 objects are explained to the eye by them. 
 
 A LT HOUGH both this and the next chapter may 
 feem more particularly relative to the art of paint- 
 ing, than any of the foregoing ; yet, as hitherto, I have 
 endeavour'd to be underftood by every reader , fo here 
 alfo I mail avoid, as much as the fubject will permit, 
 ipeaking of what would only be well-conceived by 
 painters. 
 
 There is fuch a liibtile variety in the nature of ap- 
 pearances, that probably we fhal] not be able to gain 
 much ground by this enquiry, unlefs we exert and ap- 
 ply the full ufe of every fenle, that will convey to us 
 any information concerning them. 
 
 So far as we have already gone, the fenfe of feeling, 
 as well as that of feeing, hath been apply'd to ; fo that 
 perhaps a man born blind, may, by his better touch 
 than is common to thofe who have their fight, together 
 with the regular procefs that has been here given of 
 lines, fo feel out the nature of forms, as to make a to- 
 lerable judgment of what is beautiful to fight. 
 
 Here again our other fenfes muft. aflift us, notwith- 
 ftanding in this chapter we fhall be more confined to 
 what is communicated to the eye by rays of light; and 
 tho' things muft now be confider'd as appearances only ; 
 
 pro- 
 
94 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 produced and made out merely by means of lights y 
 Jhaciesj and colours. 
 
 By the various circumftances of which, every one 
 knows we have reprefented on the flat furface of the 
 looking-glafs, pictures equal to the originals reflected by 
 it. The painter too, by proper difpofitions of lights, 
 fhades, and colours on his canvas, will raife the like 
 ideas. Even prints, by means of lights and fhades alone, 
 will perfectly inform the eye of every fhape and diftance 
 whatfoever, in which even lines muft be confider'd as 
 narrow parts of fhade, a number of them, drawn or 
 engrav'd neatly fide by fide, called hatchmg^ ferve as 
 fhades in prints, and when they are artfully managed, 
 are a kind of pleafing fuccedci7iium to the delicacy of 
 nature's. 
 
 Could mezzo-tinto prints be wrought as accurately 
 as thofe with the graver, they would come neareft to 
 nature, becaufe they are done without ftrokes or lines. 
 
 I have often thought that a landfkip, in the procefs 
 of this way of reprefenting it, doth a little refemble the 
 nrft coming on of day. The copper-plate it is done 
 upon, when the artift firft. takes it into hand, is wrought 
 all over with an edg'd-tool, fo as to make it print one 
 even black, like night : and his whole work after this, is 
 merely introducing the lights into it ; which he does by 
 fcraping off the rough grain according to his defign, 
 artfully fmoothing it moft where light is moft required : 
 but as he proceeds in burnifhing the lights, and clear- 
 
 ing 
 
ANALYSIS o/BEAUTY. 95 
 
 ing up the fhades, he is obliged to take off frequent 
 impreflions to prove the progrefs of the work, fo that 
 each proof appears like the different times of a foggy- 
 morning, till one becomes fo finifh'd as to be diftincl: 
 and clear enough to imitate a day-light piece. I have 
 given this defcription becaufe I think the whole opera- 
 tion, in the iimpleft manner, fhews what lights and 
 fhades alone will do. 
 
 As light muft always be fuppofed, I need only fpeak 
 of fuch privations of it as are called fhades or fhadows, 
 wherein I mail endeavour to point. out and regularly 
 defcribe a certain order and arrangement in their ap- 
 pearance, in which order we may conceive different 
 kinds of foftnings and modulations of the rays of light 
 which are faid to fall upon the eye from every object it 
 fees, and to caufe thofe more or lefs-pleafing vibrations 
 of the optic nerves, which ferve to inform the mind 
 concerning every different fhape or figure that prefents 
 itfelf. 
 
 The belt light for feeing the fhadows of objedts truly, 
 is, that which comes in at a common fized window, 
 where the fun doth not mine; I fhall therefore fpeak 
 of their order as feen by this kind of light : and fhall 
 take the liberty in the prefent and following chapter, to 
 conlider colours but as variegated fhades, which toge- 
 ther with common fhades, will now . be divided into 
 two general parts or branches. 
 
 The 
 
96 ANALYSIS */ BEAUTY. 
 
 The firft we fhall call prime tints, by which is 
 meant any colour or colours on the furfaces of objects; 
 and the ufe we mall make of thefe different hues will 
 be to consider them as fhades to one another. Thus 
 gold is a made to filver, &c. exclufive of thofe addi- 
 tional fhades which may be made in any degree by the 
 privation of light. 
 
 The fecond branch may be called retiring shades, 
 
 tfjfi 4 " which gradate or go off by degrees, as fig. *. Thefe 
 
 fhades, as they vary more or lefs, produce beauty, 
 
 whether they are occasioned by the privation of light, 
 
 or made by the pencilings of art or nature. 
 
 When I come to treat of colouring, I fhall particu- 
 larly fhew in what manner the gradating of prime tints 
 ferve to the making a beautiful complexion; in this 
 place we fhall only obferve how nature hath by thefe 
 gradating fhades ornamented the furfaces of animals; 
 fifh generally have this kind of fhade from their backs 
 downward; birds have their feathers enriched with it; 
 and many flowers, particularly the rofe, fhew it by the 
 gradually-increafing colours of their leaves. 
 
 The fky always gradates one way or other, and the 
 rifing or fetting fun exhibits it in great perfection, the 
 imitating of which was Claud, de Lorain's peculiar ex- 
 cellence, and is now Mr. Lambert's: there is fo much 
 of what is called harmony to the eye to be produced 
 by this made, that I believe we may venture to fay, 
 
 in 
 
ANALYSIS c/ BEAUTY. 97- 
 
 In art it is the painter's gamut, which nature has 
 iweetly pointed out to us in what we call the eyes of a 
 peacock's tail: and the nicer! needle-workers are taught 
 to weave it into every flower and leaf, right or wrong, 
 as if it was as conftantly to be obferved as it is feen in 
 flames of fire; becaufe it is always found to entertain 
 the eye. There is a fort of needle-work called Irifh- 
 ftitch, done in thefe fhades only ; which pleafes frill, 
 tho' it has long been out of fafhion. 
 
 There is fo find: an analogy between fhade and found, 
 that they may well ferve to illufbrate each other's qua- 
 lities : for as founds gradually decreafing and increafing 
 give the idea of progreflion from, or to the ear, juft fo 
 do retiring fhades fhew progreflion, by figuring it to the 
 eye. Thus, as by objects growing ftill fainter, we 
 judge of diftances in profpe&s, fo by the decreafing 
 noife of thunder, we form the idea of its moving further 
 from us. And, with regard to their fimilitude in beauty, 
 like as the gradating fhade pleafes the eye, fo the in- 
 creafing, or fwelling note, delights the ear. 
 
 I have call'd it the retiring fhade, becaufe by the 
 fucceflive, or continual change in its appearance, it is 
 equally inftrumental with converging lines J, in fhewing 
 how much objects, or any parts of them, retire or re- 
 cede from the eye ; without which, a floor, or hori- 
 zontal-plane, would often feem to ftand upright like 
 
 1 See p. 7. The two converging lines from the Ihip, to the point C, 
 under fig. 47, plate 1 . 
 
 O a 
 
98 ANALYS I S of BEAUTY. 
 
 a wall. And notwithstanding all the other ways by 
 which we learn to know at what distances things 
 are from us, frequent deceptions happen to the eye 
 on account of deficiencies in this Shade : for if the 
 light chances to be fo difpofed on objects as not to give 
 this made its true gradating appearance, not only fpaces 
 are confounded, but round things appear flat, and flat 
 ones round. 
 
 But although the retiring made hath this property, 
 when feen with converging lines, yet if it defcribes no 
 particular form, as none of thofe do in fig. 94, on top of 
 plate 2, it can only appear as a flat-pencil'd made; but 
 being inclofed within fome known boundary or out-line, 
 filch as may Signify a wall, a road, a globe, or any other 
 form in perfpe&ive where the parts retire, it will then 
 Shew its retiring quality : as for example, the retiring 
 made on the floor, in plate 2, which gradates from the 
 dog's feet to thofe of the dancer's, mews, that by this 
 means a level appearance is given to the ground : fo when 
 a cube is put into true perfpective on paper, with lines 
 only, which do but barely hint the directions every face 
 of it is meant to take, thefe Shades make them feem to 
 retire juft as the perfpeclive lines direct; thus mutually 
 compleating the idea of thofe receilions which neither 
 of them alone could do. 
 
 Moreover, the out-line of a globe is but a circle on 
 the paper; yet, according to the manner of filling up 
 the fpace within it, with this made, it may be made 
 
 to 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 99 
 
 to appear either flat, globular, or concave, in any of its 
 portions with the eye; and as each manner of filling 
 up the circle for thofe purpofes muft be very different, 
 it evidently fhews the neceflity of diflinguifhing this 
 fhade into as many Ipecies or kinds, as there are clailes 
 or Ipecies of lines, with which they may have a cor- 
 relpondence. 
 
 In doing which, it will be found, that, by their 
 correspondency with, and conformity to objects, either 
 compofed of ftraight, curved, waving, or ferpentine 
 lines, they of courfe take fuch appearances of variety as 
 are adequate to the variety made by thofe lines ; and 
 by this conformity of fhades we have the fame ideas 
 of any of the objects compofed of the above lines in their 
 front afpecls, as we have of them by their profiles; 
 which otherwife could not be without feeling them. 
 
 Now inftead of giving engraved examples of each 
 fpecies of fhade, as I have done of lines, I have found 
 that they may be more fatisfa6torily pointed out and 
 defcribed by having recourfe to the life. 
 
 But in order to the better and more precifely fixing 
 upon -what may be there feen, as the diffcincl: Ipecies, of 
 which all the fhades of the retiring kind in nature par- 
 take, in fome degree or other, the following fcheme is 
 offered, and intended as an additional means of making 
 fuch fimple impreffions in the mind, as may be thought 
 adequate to the four fpecies of lines defcribed in chapter 
 27. Wherein we are to fuppofe imperceptible degrees of 
 
 O 2 fhade 
 
ioo ANALYSIS 0/ BEAUTY, 
 
 made gradating from one figure to another. The firfl 
 
 fpecies to be reprefented by, 1, 2, 3,4, 5. 
 
 the fecond by, 5,4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3,4, 5. 
 
 and the third by, 5,4>3> 2 > T > 2 >3>4-> 5> 4>3> 2 > J > 2,3,4,5. 
 
 • • • 
 
 gradating from the dots underneath, repeated either 
 way. 
 
 As the firft fpecies varies or gradates but one way, it 
 is therefore leaft ornamental, and equal only to ftraight 
 lines. 
 
 The fecond gradating contrary ways, doubling the 
 others variety, is confequently twice as pleafmg, and 
 thereby equal to curved lines. 
 
 The third fpecies gradating doubly contrary ways, is 
 thereby ftill more pleafing in proportion to that qua- 
 druple variety which makes it become capable of con- 
 veying to the mind an equivalent in made, which ex- 
 preifes the beauty of the waving line, when it cannot be 
 feen as a line. 
 
 The retiring made, adequate to the ferpentine line, 
 now mould follow ; but as the line itfelf could not be 
 •1-SeeFig. expreffed on paper, without the figure of a cone -f, 
 fo neither can this fhade be defcribed without the aflif- 
 tance of a proper form, and therefore muft be deferred 
 a little longer. 
 
 When only the ornamental quality of fhades is fpoken 
 of, for the fake of diftinguifhing them from retiring 
 fhades, let them be confidered as pencilings only ; 
 whence another advantage will arife, which is, that then 
 
 all 
 
 26. p. 1. 
 
ANALYSIS p/BEAUTY. iox 
 
 all the intervening mixtures, with their degrees of beauty 
 between each fpecies, may be as eafily conceived, as 
 thofe have been between each clafs of lines. 
 
 And now let us have recourfe to the experiments 
 in life, for fuch examples as may explain the retiring 
 power of each fpecies ; fince, as has been before ob- 
 ferved, they muft be conlidered together with their 
 proper forms, or elfe their properties cannot be well 
 diftinguifhed. 
 
 All the degrees of obliquity that planes, or flat fur- 
 faces are capable of moving into, have their appearances 
 of receilion perfected by the firft fpecies of retiring 
 fhades, which may evidently be feen by fetting opposite 
 a door, as it is opening outwards from, the eye, and 
 fronting one light. 
 
 But it will be proper to premife, that when it is quite 
 fhut, and flat or parallel to the eye and window, it will 
 only have a penciling fhade gradating upon it, and 
 Spreading all around from the middle, but which will 
 not have the power of giving the idea of receilion any 
 way, as when it opens, and the lines run in perfpective 
 to a point ; becaufe the fquare figure or parallel lines of 
 the door, do not correipond with fuch fhade ; but let a 
 door be circular in the fame fituation, and all without 
 fide, or round about it, painted of any other colour, to 
 make its figure more diftinclly feen, and it will immedi- 
 ately appear concave like a bafon, the fhade continually 
 retiring ; becaufe this circular fpecies of fhade would 
 
 then 
 
102 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 then be accompanied by its correfponding form, a 
 circle *; 
 
 But to return ; we obferv'd that all the degrees of 
 obliquity in the moving of planes or flat furfaces, have 
 the appearances of their receffion perfected to the eye 
 by the firft fpecies of retiring made. For example, then ; 
 when the door opens, and goes from its parallel fitua- 
 tion with the eye, the made laft fpoken of, may be ob- 
 ferved to alter and change its round gradating appear- 
 ance, into that of gradating one way only ; as when a 
 ftanding water takes a current upon the leaft power 
 given it to defcend. 
 
 Note, if the light mould come in at the door- way, in- 
 ftead of the window, the gradation then would be re- 
 verfed, but ftill the effect of receflion would be juft the 
 fame, as this made ever complies with the perfpective 
 lines. 
 
 In the next place, let us obferve the ovo/o, or quarter- 
 round in a cornice, fronting the eye in like manner, by 
 which may be feen an example of the fecond fpecies ; 
 where, on its moft projecting part, a line of light is 
 feen, from whence thefe fhades retire contrary ways, 
 by which the curvature is underftood. 
 
 And, perhaps, in the very fame cornice may be feen an 
 example of the third fpecies, in that ornamental member 
 
 called 
 
 1 Note, if the light were to come in at a very little hole not far 
 from the door, fo as to make the gradation fudden and ftrong, like 
 what may be made with a fmall candle held near a wall or a wainfcot, 
 the bafon would appear the deeper for it. 
 
 Note 
 
ANALYSIS c/BEAUTY. 103 
 
 called by the architects cyma reSia^ or talon, which 
 indeed is no more than a larger fort of waving or ogee 
 moulding ; wherein, by the convex parts gently gliding 
 into the concave, you may fee four contrafted grada- 
 ting {hades, fhewing fo many varied receilions from the 
 eye ; by which we are made as fenfible of its waving 
 form as if we faw the profile out-line of fome corner of 
 it, where it is miter'd, as the joiners term it. Note, 
 when thefe objects have a little glofs on them thefe ap- 
 pearances are mofl diftindt. 
 
 Laftly, the ferpentine fhade may be feen (light and 
 iituation as before) by the help of the following figure, 
 as thus; imagine the horn, figure $7, plate 2, to be of 
 fo foft a nature, that with the fingers only, it might be 
 prefTed into any fhape ; then beginning gently from the 
 middle of the dotted line, but prefimg harder and harder 
 all the way up the lefTer end, by fuch prefiure there 
 would be as much concave above, as would remain 
 convex below, which would bring it equal in variety or 
 beauty to the ogee moulding ; but after this, by giving 
 the whole atwifr., like figure 58, thefe fhades muft un- 
 avoidably change their appearances, and in fome mea- 
 fure, twift about as the concave and convex parts 
 are twilled, and confequently thereby add that variety, 
 
 which 
 
 Note alfo, that when planes are feen parallel to the eye in open day- 
 light, they have fcarce any round gradating or penciling lhade at all, 
 but appear merely as uniform prime tints, becaufe the rays of light are 
 equally diffufed upon them. Neverthelefs, give them but obliquity, 
 they will more or lefs exhibit the retiring fhade. 
 
io 4 ANALYSIS c/ BEAUTY. 
 
 which of courfe will give this fpecies of fhade, as much 
 the preference to the foregoing, as forms compofed of 
 ferpentine lines have, to thofe compofed only of the 
 waving. See chap. 9. and chap. 10. 
 
 I mould not have given my reader the trouble of 
 compleating, by the help of his imagination, the fore- 
 going figure, but as it may contribute to the more ready 
 and particular conception of that intricate variety which 
 twirled figures give to this fpecies of fhade, and to faci- 
 litate his underflanding the caufe of its beauty, wherever 
 it may be feen on furfaces of ornament, when it will be 
 found no where more confpicuous than in a fine face, 
 as will be feen upon further enquiry. 
 tFig. 57. The dotted line f, which begins from the concave 
 part, under the arch of the brow, near the nofe, and from 
 thence winding down by the corner of the eye, and there 
 turning obliquely with the round of the cheek, fhews 
 the courfe of that twift of fhades in a face, which was 
 before defcribed by the horn ; and which may be moft 
 perfe&ly feen in the life, or in a marble buffo, together 
 with the following additional circumftances ftill remain- 
 ing to be defcribed. 
 
 As a face is for the moft part round, it is therefore 
 apt to receive reflected light on its fhadowy fide J , which 
 
 1 Note, though I have advifed the obferving objects by a front light, 
 for the fake of the better diftinguifhing our four fundamental fpecies of 
 fhades, yet objects in general are more advantagioufly, and agreeably feen 
 by light coming fide-ways upon them, and therefore generally chofe 
 in paintings ; as it gives an additional refk&ed foftnefs, not unlike the 
 gentle tone of an echo in mufic. 
 
 not 
 
 B.P 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 1 105 
 
 not only adds more beauty by another pleafing tender 
 gradation, but alfo ferves to diftinguim the roundnefs 
 of the cheeks, &c. from fuch parts as fink and fall in : 
 becaufe concavities do not admit of reflections, as con- 
 vex forms do 2 . 
 
 I have now only to add, that as before obferved> 
 chap. 4, page 23, that the oval hath a noble iimplicity 
 in it, more equal to its variety than any other object 
 in nature ; and of which the general form of a face is 
 compofed ; therefore, from what has been now fhewn, 
 the general gradation-fhade belonging to it, mult con- 
 fequently be adequate thereto, and which evidently 
 gives a delicate foftnefs to the whole composition of a 
 face; infomuch that every little dent, crack, or fcratch, 
 the form receives, its fhadows alfo fuffer with it, and 
 help to mew the blemifh. Even the leaft roughnefs 
 interrupts and damages that foft gradating play of 
 fhades which fall upon it. Mr. Dryden, defcribing the 
 light and fhades of a face, in his epiflle to Sir Godfrey 
 Kneller the portrait painter, feems, by the penetration 
 of his incomparable genius, to have underflood that 
 language in the works of nature, which the latter, by 
 means of an exact eye and a ftrict obeying hand, could 
 only faithfully tranfcribe; when he fays, 
 
 2 As an inftance that convex and concave would appear the fame, if 
 the former were to have no reflection thrown upon, obferve the ovolo and 
 cavetto, or channel, in a cornice, placed near together, and feen by a 
 front light, when they will each of them, by turns, appear either concave, 
 or convex, as fancy fhall direct. 
 
 P Where 
 
io6 ANALYSIS ^/BEAUTY. 
 
 Where light to {hades defcending, plays, not Strives, \ 
 Dies by degrees, and by degrees revives. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Of Composition with regard to Light, Shade 
 
 and Colours. 
 
 TTNDER this head I Shall attempt Shewing what it 
 is that gives the appearance of that hollow or 
 vacant fpace in which all things move fo freely; and in 
 what manner light, made and colours, mark or point 
 out the distances of one object from another, and oc- 
 casion an agreeable play upon the eye, called by the 
 painters a fine keeping, and pleafing composition of 
 light and made. Herein my defign is to conSider this 
 matter as a performance of nature without, or before 
 the eye ; I mean, as if the objects with their Shades, &c. 
 were in fact circumStanced as they appear, and as the 
 unfkill'd in optics take them to be. And let it be re- 
 marked throughout this chapter, that the pleafure ariSing 
 from compofition, as in a fine landSkip, &c. is chiefly 
 owing to the difpoSitions and affemblages of light and 
 Shades, which are fo order' d by the principles called 
 opposition, breadth and SIMPLICITY, as to produce 
 a juft and diftinct. perception of the objects before us. 
 
 Experience teaches us that the eye may be fubdued 
 and forced into forming and diSpoSing of objects even 
 quite contrary to what it would naturally fee them, by 
 
 the 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 107 
 
 the prejudgment of the mind from the better autho- 
 rity of feeling, or fome other perfuafive motive. But 
 furely this extraordinary perverfion of the light would 
 not have been fuffer'd, did it not tend to great and ne- 
 cefiary purpofes, in re&ifying fome deficiences which it 
 would otherwife be fubject to (tho' we muft own at the 
 fame time, that the mind itfelf may be fb impofed 
 upon as to make the eye fee falfely as well as truly) for 
 example, were it not for this controul over the light, 
 it is well known, that we Ihould not only fee things 
 double, but.uplide down, as they are painted upon the 
 retina, and as each eye has a diftinct light. And then 
 as to diftances ; a fly upon a pane of glafs is fometimes 
 imagined a crow, or larger bird afar off, till fome cir- 
 cumftance hath rectified the miftake, and convinced us 
 of its real lize and place. 
 
 Hence I would infer, that the eye generally gives its 
 aflent to luch fpace and diftances as have been flrfl 
 meafured by the feeling, or otherwife calculated in 
 the mind: which meafurements and calculations are 
 equally, if not more, in the power of a blind man, as 
 was fully experienced by that incomparable mathemati- 
 cian and wonder of his age, the late profeflbr Sanderfon. 
 
 By purfuing this obfervation on the faculties of the 
 mind, an idea may be formed of the means by which 
 we attain to the perception or appearance of an im- 
 menfe fpace furrounding us ; which cavity, being fubjecl; 
 to divifions and fubdivifions in the mind, is afterwards 
 
 P 2 falhioned 
 
108 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 fafhioned by the limited power of the eye, firft into a 
 hemifphere, and then into the appearance of different 
 diftances, which are pictured to it by means of fuch dif- 
 pofitions of light and made as mail next be defcribed. 
 And thele I now defire may be looked upon, but as fo 
 many marks or types fet upon thefe diftances, and 
 which are remember'd and learnt by degrees, and when 
 learnt, are recurred to upon all occasions. 
 
 If permitted then to confider light and fhades as 
 types of ' diflin&ion, they become, as it were, our mate- 
 rials, of which prime tints are the principal ; by thele, 
 I mean the fixed and permanent colours of each object, 
 as the green of trees, &c. which ferve the purpofes of 
 feparating and relieving the feveral objects by the diffe- 
 rent ftrengths or fhades of them being oppofed to each 
 * Fig. 86. other *. 
 
 T, p. 2. 
 
 The other fhades that have been before fpoken of, 
 ferve and help to the like purpofes when properly op- 
 pofed ; but as in nature they are continually fleeting and 
 changing their appearances, either by our or their fltua- 
 tions, they fbmetimes oppofe and relieve, and fometimes 
 not, as for inftance; I once obferved the tower-part of 
 a fteeple fo exactly the colour of a light cloud behind 
 it, that, at the diftance I flood, there was not the leaft 
 diftinction to be made, fo that the fpire (of a lead- 
 colour) feemed fuipended in the air; but had a cloud of 
 the like tint with the fteeple, fupplied the place of the 
 white one, the tower would then have been relieved 
 
 and 
 
A N A LY S I S of B E A U T Y. 109 
 
 and diftinct, when the fpire would have been loft to 
 the view. 
 
 Nor is it fufficient that objects are of different co- 
 lours or fhades, to fhew their distances from the eye, if 
 one does not in part hide or lay over the other, as in 
 % 86. 
 
 For as fig. * the two equal balls, tho' one were black ^ Fig -9®- 
 and the other white, placed on the feparate walls, fup- 
 pofed diftant from each other twenty or thirty feet, ne- 
 verthelefs, may feem both to reft upon one, if the tops 
 of the walls are level with the eye; but when one ball 
 hides part of the other, as in the fame figure, we begin 
 to apprehend they are upon different walls, which is 
 determin'd by the perfpeclive x : hence you will fee the 
 reafon, why the fteeple of Bloomibury-church, in com- 
 ing from Hampftead, feems to ftand upon Montague- 
 houfe, tho' it is feveral hundred yards diftant from it. 
 
 Since then the opposition of one prime tint or made 
 to another, hath fo great a fhare in marking out the re- 
 ceftions, or diftances in a profped, by which the eye is 
 led onward ftep by ftep, it becomes a principle of con- 
 fequence enough to be further difcuffed, with regard to 
 the management of it in compofitions of nature, as well 
 as art. As to the management of it, when feen only 
 
 1 The knowledge of perfpedtive is no fmall help to the feeing objeds 
 truly, for which purpofe Dr. Brook Taylor's Linear perfpeclive made 
 eafy to thofe who are unacquainted with geometry, propofed to be pub- 
 lilh'd foon by Mr. Kirby of Ipfwich, may be of moll fervice. 
 
 from 
 
no ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 from one point, the artift hath the advantage over na- 
 ture, becaufe fuch fix'd difpofitions of fhades as he hath 
 artfully put together, cannot be difplaced by the altera- 
 tion of light, for which reafon, defigns done in two 
 prime tints only, will fufficiently reprefent all thofe re- 
 ceflions, and give a juft keeping to the reprefentation 
 of a profpect, in a print; whereas, the oppofitions in 
 nature, depending, as has been before hinted, on acci- 
 dental fituations and uncertain incidents, do not always 
 make fuch plealing compofition, and would therefore 
 have been very often deficient, had nature worked in 
 two colours only; for which reafon fhe hath provided 
 an infinite number of materials, not only by way of 
 prevention, but to add luftre and beauty to her works. 
 By an infinite number of materials, I mean colours 
 and fhades of all kinds and degrees; fome notion of 
 which variety may be formed by fuppofing a piece of 
 white filk by feveral dippings gradually dyed to a 
 black; and carrying it in like manner through the 
 prime tints of yellow, red, and blue; and then again, 
 by making the like progrefs through all the mixtures 
 that are to be made of thefe three original colours. So 
 that when we furvey this infinite and immenfe variety, 
 it is no wonder, that, let the light or objecls be fituated 
 or changed how they will, oppofitions feldom mifs : nor 
 that even every incident of fhade mould fometimes be 
 lb completely difpofed as to admit of no further beauty, 
 as to compofition ; and from whence the artift hath 
 
 by 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. nr 
 
 by obfervation taken his principles of imitation, as in 
 the following refpect. 
 
 Thofe objects which are intended molt to affecl; the 
 eye, and come forwarder! to the view, mull have large, 
 flrong, and fmart oppofitions, like the fore-ground irt 
 fig. *, and what are defigned to be thrown further off, ^ Fl |; *9» 
 mull: be made frill weaker and weaker, as exprefied in 
 figure 86, which receding in order make a kind of 
 gradation of oppofitions; to which, and all the other 
 circumflances already defcribed, both for receilion, and 
 beauty, nature hath added what is known by the name 
 of aerial peripeclive ; being that interposition of air, 
 which throws a general loft retiring tint over the whole 
 profpecl ; to be feen in excefs at the riling of a fog. 
 All which again receives Hill more diltin&nefs, as well 
 as a greater degree of variety, when the fun mines 
 bright, and calls broad fhadows of one objecT: upon 
 another; which gives the fkilful defigner fuch hints for 
 fhewing broad and fine oppofitions of fhades, as give 
 life and fpirit to his performances. 
 
 Breadth of shade is a principle that ailifls in 
 making diftinclion more conipicuous; thus fig. f, is +F>g 8 7. 
 better diflinguifh'd by its breadth or quantity of fhade, 
 and view'd with more eafe and pleafure at any diflance, 
 than fig. J, which hath many, and thefe but narrow l. p S i." 
 fhades between the folds. And for one of the nobleft. 
 inftances of this, let Windfor-caftle be viewed at the 
 riling or fetting of the fun. 
 
 Let 
 
ii2 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 Let breadth be introduced how it will, it always 
 gives great repofe to the eye; as on the contrary, when 
 lights and fhades in a compofition are fcattered about 
 in little fpots, the eye is conftantly difturbed, and the 
 mind is uneafy, efpecially if you are eager to under- 
 fland every object in the compofition, as it is painful 
 to the ear when any one is anxious to know what is 
 faid in company, where many are talking at the fame 
 time. 
 
 Simplicity (which I am laft to fpeak of) in the dif- 
 pofition of a great variety, is beft accomplifhed by fol- 
 lowing nature's conftant rule, of dividing compofition 
 into three or five parts, or parcels, fee chap. 4. on fim- 
 plicity: the painters accordingly divide theirs into fore- 
 ground, middle-ground, and diftance or back-ground ; 
 which fimple and diftincl: quantities mafs together that 
 variety which entertains the eye; as the different parts 
 of bafe, tenor, and treble, in a compofition in mufic, 
 entertain the ear. 
 
 Let thefe principles be reverfed, or neglected, the 
 rig. 91. object will appear as difagreeable as fig. *, whereas, 
 was this to be a compofition of lights and fhades only, 
 properly difpofed, tho' ranged under no particular fi- 
 gures, it might ftill have the pleafing effect, of a picture. 
 And here, as it would be endlefs to enter upon the dif- 
 ferent effects of lights and fhades on lucid and tranfpa- 
 rent bodies, we fhall leave them to the reader's obferva- 
 tion, and fo conclude this chapter. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 T. p. 2 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 113 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Of COLOURING. 
 
 DY the beauty of colouring, the painters mean that 
 difpofition of colours on objects, together with their 
 proper fhades, which appear at the fame time both 
 diftinclly varied and artfully united, in compolltions of 
 any kind; but, by way of pre-eminence, it is generally 
 underftood of flefh-colour, when no other compofition 
 is named. 
 
 To avoid confufion, and having already faid enough 
 of retiring fhades, I fhall now only defcribe the nature 
 and effect of the prime tint of flefh ; for the composi- 
 tion of this, when rightly underftood, comprehends 
 every thing that can be faid of the colouring of all other 
 objects whatever. 
 
 And herein (as has been fhewn in chap. 8, of the 
 manner of composing pleafing forms) the whole procefs 
 will depend upon the art of varying ; i. e. upon an art- 
 ful manner of varying every colour belonging to flefh, 
 under the direction of the fix fundamental principles 
 there fpoken of. 
 
 But before we proceed to mew in what manner 
 thefe principles conduce to this defign, we fhall take a 
 view of nature's curious ways of producing all forts of 
 complexions, which may help to further our conception 
 of the principles of varying colours, fo as to lee why 
 they caufe the effect of beauty. 
 
 0^ 1. it 
 
ii4 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 i. It is well known, the fair young girl, the brown 
 old man, and the negro; nay, all mankind, have the 
 fame appearance, and are alike difagreeable to the eye, 
 when the upper fkin is taken away: now to conceal fo 
 difagreeable an object, and to produce that variety of 
 complexions feen in the world, nature hath contrived a 
 tranfparent fkin, called the cuticula, with a lining to it 
 of a very extraordinary kind, called the cutis; both 
 which are fo thin any little fcald will make them blifter 
 and peel off. Thefe adhering fkins are more or lefs 
 •tranfparent in fome parts of the body than in others, 
 and likewife different in different perfons. The cuti- 
 cula alone is like gold-beaters-fein, a little wet, but 
 fomewhat thinner, efpecially in fair young people, 
 which would fhew the fat, lean, and all the blood- 
 veffels, juft as they lie under it, as through Ifinglafs, 
 were it not for its lining the cutis, which is fo curioufly 
 conftructed, as to exhibit thofe things beneath it which 
 are necefTary to life and motion, in pleafing arangements 
 and difpofitions of beauty. 
 
 The cutis is compofed of tender threads like net- 
 work, fill'd with different colour'd juices. The white 
 juice ferves to make the very fair complexion ; —yellow, 
 
 makes the brunnet; brownifh yellow, the ruddy 
 
 brown ; — green yellow, the olive ; — dark brown, the 
 mulatto ; — black, the negro;— Thefe different colour'd 
 juices, together with the different mafies of the network, 
 and the fize of its threads in this or that part, caufes the 
 variety of complexions, A 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. n 5 
 
 A defcription of this manner of its mewing the rofy 
 colour of the cheek, and, in like manner, the bluifh 
 tints about the temple, &c. fee in the profile % where *^ l fl^. 
 you are to fuppofe the black ftrokes of the print to be 
 the white threads of the network, and where the ftrokes 
 are thickeft, and the part blackeft, you are to fuppofe 
 the flefh would be whiteft; fo that the lighter part of 
 it ftands for the vermilion-colour of the cheek, gra- 
 dating every way. 
 
 Some perfons have the network lb equally wove over 
 the whole body, face and all, that the greateft heat or 
 cold will hardly make them change their colour; and 
 thefe are leldom leen to blufh, tho' ever lb bafhful, 
 whilft the texture is fo line in fome young women, that 
 they redden, or turn pale, on the teaft occafion. 
 
 I am apt to think the texture of this network is of 
 a very tender kind, fubject to damage many ways, but 
 able to recover itfelf again, efpecially in youth. The 
 fair fat healthy child of 3 or 4. yearc old hath it in 
 great perfection; moft vifible when it is moderately 
 warm, but till that age fomewhat imperfect. 
 
 It is in this manner, then, that nature feems to dot 
 
 her work. And now let us fee how by art the like 
 
 appearance may be made and penciled on the furface 
 of an uniform coloured ftatue of wax or marble; by 
 defcribing which operation we fhall ftill more particu- 
 larly point out what is to our prefent purpofe: I mean 
 the reafon why the order nature hath thus made ufe of 
 
 Q^ 2 mould 
 
n6 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 fhould ftrike us with the idea of beauty ; which by the 
 way, perhaps may be of more ufe to fome painters than 
 they will care to own. 
 
 There are but three original colours in painting be- 
 sides black and white, viz. red, yellow and blue. 
 Green, and purple, are compounded ; the firft of blue and 
 yellow, the latter of red and blue ; however thefe com- 
 pounds being fo diftinctly different from the original 
 T F p S 'f 4 ' colours, we will rank them as fuch. Fig. % reprefents. 
 mixt up, as on a painter's pallet, fcales of thefe five ori- 
 ginal colours divided into feven clafles, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 
 
 6, 7. — 4, is the medium, and moft brillant clafs, being 
 that which will appear a firm red, when thofe of 5, 6, 
 
 7, would deviate into white, and thofe of 1, 2, 3, 
 would fink into black, either by twilight or at a mo- 
 derate diftance from the eye, which fhews 4 to be 
 brighter!:, and a more permanent colour than the reft. 
 But as white is neareft to light it may be faid to be 
 equal if not fuperior in value as to beauty, with clafs 4. 
 therefore the clafles 5, 6, 7, have alfo, almoft equal 
 beauty with it too, becaufe what they lofe of their bril- 
 kncy and permanency of colour, they gain from the 
 white or light; whereas 3, 2, 1, abfolutely lofe their 
 beauty by degrees as they approach nearer to black, the 
 reprefentative of darknefs. 
 
 Let us then, for diftinction and pre-eminence fake, 
 call clafs 4 of each colour, bloom tints^ or if you pleafe, 
 virgin tints, as the painters call them; and once more 
 
 recollect 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 117. 
 
 recoiled:, that in the dilpofition of colours as well as of 
 forms, variety, fimplicity, diftinctnefs, intricacy, uni- 
 formity and quantity, direct in giving beauty to the co- 
 louring of the human frame, especially if we include 
 the face, where uniformity and ftrong oppofition of tints 
 are required, as in the eyes and mouth, which call moft 
 for our attention. But for the general hue of flefh 
 now to be defcribed, variety, intricacy and Simplicity, 
 are chiefly required. 
 
 The value of the degrees of colour being thus con- 
 fider'd and ranged in order upon the pallet, figure 94, 
 let us next apply them to a bufto, fig. *, of white t Fig. 96. 
 marble, which may be fuppofed to let every tint fink 
 into it, like as a drop of ink finks in and fpreads itfelf 
 upon eourfe paper, whereby each tint will gradate all 
 around. 
 
 If you would have the neck of the bufto tinged of a 
 very florid and lively complexion, the pencil muft be 
 dipt in the bloom tints of each colour as they ftand one 
 above another at N°. 4. — if for a lefs florid, in thofe of 
 N°. 5 — if for a very fair, from N°. 6 — and fo on till 
 the marble would fcarce be ting'd at all : let therefore 
 N°. 6, be our prefent choice, and begin with penciling 
 on the red, as at r, the yellow tint at y, the blue tint at 
 b, and the purple or lake tint at p. 
 
 Thefe four tints thus laid on, proceed to covering the 
 whole neck and breaft, but (till changing and varying 
 the fituations of the tints with one another, alfo caufing 
 
 their 
 
n8 ANALYSIS */ BEAUTY. 
 
 their fhapes and fizes to differ as much as poflible ; red 
 muft be ofteneft repeated, yellow next often, purple 
 red next, and blue but feldom, except in particular parts 
 as the temples, backs of the hands, &c. where the larger 
 veins fhew their branching fhapes (fometimes too dis- 
 tinctly) ftill varying thofe appearances. But there are 
 no doubt infinite variations in nature from what may 
 be called the moft beautiful order and difpofition of the 
 colours in flefh, not only in different perfons, but in 
 different parts of the fame, all fubject. to the fame prin- 
 ciples in fome degree or other. 
 
 Now if we imagine this whole procefs to be made 
 with the tender tints of clafs 7, as they are fuppofed to 
 ftand, red, yellow, blue, green and purple, underneath 
 each other ; the general hue of the performance will be 
 a feeming uniform prime tint, at any little diftance, that 
 is a very fair, tranfparent and pearl-like complexion ; 
 
 but 
 
 1 Notwithstanding the deep-rooted notion, even amongft the majority 
 of painters themfelves, that time is a great improver of good pictures, I 
 will undertake to fhew, that nothing can be more abfurd. Having men- 
 tion'd above the whole effect of the oil, let us now fee in what manner 
 time operates on the colours themfelves; in order to difcover if any 
 changes in them can give a picture more union and harmony than has 
 been in the power of a fkilful mafter, with all his rules of art, to do. 
 When colours change at all it muft be fomewhat in the manner follow- 
 ing, for as they are made fome of metal, fome of earth, fome of ftone, and 
 others of more perifhable materials, time cannot operate on them other- 
 wife than as by daily experience we find it doth, which is, that one 
 changes darker, another lighter, one quite to a different colour, whilft 
 another, as ultramarine, will keep its natural brightnefs even in the fire. 
 
 There- 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. u$ 
 
 but never quite uniform as mow, ivory, marble or wax, 
 like a poet's miftrefs, for either of thefe in living-fleih, 
 would in truth be hideous. 
 
 As in nature, by the general yellowi£h hue of the 
 cuticula, the gradating of one colour into another ap- 
 pears to be more delicately foften'd and united toge- 
 ther; fo will the colours we are mppofed to have been 
 laying upon the bufto, appear to be more united and 
 mellowed by the oils they are ground in, which takes 
 a yellowifh caft after a little time, but is apt to do more 
 mifchief hereby than good; for which reafon care is 
 taken to procure fuch oil as is cleareft and will beit. 
 keep its colour * in oil-painting. 
 
 Upon the whole of this account we find, that the ut- 
 moft beauty of colouring depends on the great principle of 
 varying by all the means of varying, and on the proper 
 and artful union of that variety; which may be farther 
 
 proved 
 
 Therefore how is it poflible that fuch different materials, ever varioufly 
 changing (vifibly after a certain time) fhould accidentally coincide with 
 the artift's intention, and bring about the greater harmony of the piece, 
 when it is manifeftly contrary to their nature, for do we not fee in moil 
 collections that much time difunites, untunes, blackens, and by degrees 
 deftroys even the beft preferved pictures. 
 
 But if for argument fake we fuppofe, that the colours were to fall 
 equally together, let us fee what advantage this would give to any fort 
 of compofition. We will begin with a flower-piece : when a matter hath 
 painted a rofe, a lily, an african, a gentianella, or violet, with his befl: , 
 art, and brighter! colours, how far fhort do they fall of the freihnefs and 
 rich brillancy of nature ; and fhall we wifh to fee them fall ftill lower, 
 more faint, fullied, and dirtied by the hand of time, and then admire 
 
 them 
 
i2o ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 proved by fuppofing the rules here laid down, all or 
 any part of them reverfed. 
 
 I am apt to believe, that the not knowing nature's 
 artful, and intricate method of uniting colours for the 
 production of the variegated compofition, or prime tint of 
 flefh, hath made colouring, in the art of painting, a kind 
 of myftery in all ages ; infomuch, that it may fairly be 
 faid, out of the many thoufands who have labour'd to 
 
 attain 
 
 them as having gained an additional beauty, and call them mended and 
 heightened, rather than fouled, and in a manner deftroy'd ; how abfurd ! 
 inftead of mellow and foftened therefore, always read yellow and fullied, 
 for this is doing time the deftroyer, but common juftice. Or fhall wc 
 defire to fee complexions, which in life are often, literally, as brillant as the 
 flowers above-mention'd, ferved in the like ungrateful manner. In a 
 landfkip, will the water be more tranfparent, or the fky fhine with a greater 
 luftre when embrown'd and darken'd by decay ? furely no. I own it 
 would be a pity that Mr. Addifon's beautiful defcription of time at 
 work in the gallery of piftures, and the following lines of Mr. Dryden^ 
 lhould want a fufficient foundation; ■ 
 
 For time fhall with his ready pencil ftand, 
 
 Retouch your figures with his ripening hand; 
 
 Mellow your colours, and imbrown the tint ; 
 
 Add every grace which time alone can grant ; 
 
 To future ages fhall your fame convey, 
 
 And give more beauties than he takes away. Dry den to Kneller. 1 
 were it not that the error they are built upon, hath been a continual blight 
 to the growth of the art, by mifguiding both the proficient, and the en- 
 courager; and often compelling the former, contrary to his judgment, to 
 imitate the damaged hue of decayed pictures •, fo that when his works un- 
 dergo the like injuries, they muff, have a double remove from nature; 
 which puts it in the power of the meaneft obferver to fee his deficiencies. 
 "Whence another abfurd notion hath taken rife, viz. that the colours now- 
 a-days do not ftand fo well as formerly ; whereas colours well prepared, 
 
 in 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 121 
 
 attain it, not above ten or twelve painters have happily 
 fucceeded therein, Corregio (who lived in a country- 
 village, and had nothing but the life to ftudy after) is 
 faid almoft to have flood alone for this particular ex- 
 cellence. Guido, who made beauty his chief aim, was 
 always at a lofs about it. Pouflin fcarce ever obtained 
 a glimpfe of it, as is manifeft by his many different at- 
 tempts : indeed France hath not produced one remark- 
 able good colourift 2 . 
 
 in which there is but little art or expence, have, and will always have, 
 the fame properties in every age, and without accidents, as damps, bad 
 varnifh, and the like, (being laid feparate and pure,) will Hand and keep 
 together for many years in defiance of time itfelf. 
 
 In proof of this, let any one take a view of the cieling at Greenwich- 
 hofpital, painted by Sir James Thornhil, forty years ago, which ftill 
 remains frelh, ftrong and clear as if it had been finifhed but yefterday : 
 and altho' feveral french writers have fo learnedly, and philofophically 
 proved, that the air of this ifland is too thick, or— too fomething, for 
 the genius of a painter, yet France in all her palaces can hardly boaft of 
 a nobler, more judicious, or richer performance of its kind. Note, the 
 upper end of the hall where the royal family is painted, was left chiefly 
 to the pencil of Mr. Andrea a foreigner, after the payment originally 
 agreed upon for the work was fo much reduced, as made it not worth 
 Sir James's while to finiih the whole with his own more mafterly hand. 
 
 2 The lame excufe writers on painting have made for the many great 
 mailers that have fail'd in this particular, is, that they purpofely 
 deaden'd their colours, and kept them, what they affectedly call'd cbafte, 
 that the correftnefs of their outlines might be feen to greater advantage. 
 Whereas colours cannot be too brillant if properly difpofed, becaufe the 
 diftincf ion of the parts are thereby made more perfecl ; as may be feen 
 by comparing a marble bufto with the variegated colours of the face 
 either in the life, or one well painted : it is true, uncompofed variety, 
 either in the features or the limbs, as being daubed with many, or one 
 colour, will fo confound the parts as to render them unintelligible. 
 
 R Rubens 
 
122 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 Rubens boldly, and in a mafterly manner, kept his, 
 bloom tints bright, feparate and diftincl, but fometimes 
 too much fo for eafel or cabinet pictures; however, 
 his manner was admirably well calculated for great 
 works, to be feen at a confiderable diftance, fuch as his 
 celebrated cieling at Whitehall-chapel \ : which upon a 
 nearer view, will illuftrate what I have advanc'd with 
 regard to the feparate brightnefs of the tints ; and 
 fhew, what indeed is known to every painter, that had 
 the colours there feen fo bright and feparate, been all 
 fmooth'd and abfolutely blended together, they would 
 have produced a dirty grey inftead of flefh - colour. 
 The difficulty then lies in bringing blue the third ori- 
 ginal colour, into flefh, on account of the vaft variety 
 introduced thereby ; and this omitted, all the difficulty 
 ceafes ; and a common fign-painter that lays his colours 
 fmooth, inftantly becomes, in point of colouring, a 
 Rubens, a Titian, or a Corregio. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Of the F A C E. 
 
 TTAVING thus fpoken briefly of light, made and 
 
 colour, we now return to our lineal account of 
 
 form, as propofed (page 91) with regard to the face. 
 
 1 The front of this building by Inigo Jones, is an additional exempli- 
 fication of the principles for varying the parts in building •, (explained 
 by the candlefticks, &c. chap. 8.) which would appear to be a ftronger 
 proof ftill, were a building formed of fquares, on fquares ; with fquares 
 uniformly cut in each fquare to be oppofed to it, to fhew the reverfe. 
 
 It 
 
ANALYSIS of BE AUTY. 123 
 
 It is an obfervation, that, out of the great number of 
 faces that have been form'd fince the creation of the 
 world, no two have been fo exactly alike, but that the 
 ufual and common difcernment of the eye would dis- 
 cover a difference between them : therefore it is not 
 unreafonable to fuppofe, that this difcernment is ftill 
 capable of further improvements by inftructions from a 
 methodical enquiry; which the ingenious Mr. Richard- 
 ion, in his treatife on painting, terms the art of feeing. * F js-97- 
 
 1. I fhall begin with a defcription of fuch lines as 
 compofe the features of a face of the higheft taffce, and 
 the reverfe. See fig. *, taken from an antique head, 
 which ftands in the firft rank of eftimation: in proof 
 of this, Raphael Urbin, and other great painters and t Fig. 9s. 
 fculptors, have imitated it for the characters . of their 
 heroes and other great men; and the old man's head, 
 fig. f, was model'd in clay, by Flamingo (and not in- 
 ferior in its tafte of lines, to the beft antique) for the ufe 
 of Andrea Sacchi, after which model he painted all the 
 heads in his famous pi&ure of St. Romoaldo's dream; 
 and this picture hath the reputation of being one of the 
 beft pictures in the world 2 . 
 
 Thefe examples are here chofen to exemplify and 
 confirm the force of ferpentine lines in a face ; and let 
 
 2 Note, I muft refer the reader to the cafts of both thefe pieces of 
 fculpture, which are to be found in the hands of the curious ; becaufe 
 it is impoflible to exprefs all that I intend, with fufficient accuracy, in a 
 print of this fize, whatever pains might have been taken with it ; or in- 
 deed in any print were it ever fo large. 
 
 R 2 it 
 
124 ANALYS I S of BEAUTY. 
 
 it alfo be obferved, that in thefe mafter-pieces of art, 
 all the parts are otherwife confiftent with the rules here- 
 tofore laid down : I fhall therefore only fhew the effects 
 and ufe of the line of beauty. One way of proving 
 in what manner the ferpentine line appears to operate 
 in this refpect, may be by prefling feveral pieces of wire 
 clofe up and down the different parts of the face and 
 features of thofe cafts ; which wires will all come off fo 
 many ferpentine lines, as is partly marked in figure 97, 
 by the dotted lines. The beard and hair of the head, 
 fig. 98, being a fet of loofe lines naturally, and there- 
 fore difpofable at the painter's or fculptor's pleafure, 
 are remarkably compofed in this head of nothing eKe 
 but a varied play of ferpentine lines, twilling together 
 in a flame-like manner. 
 
 But as imperfections are eafier to be imitated than 
 perfections, we mail now have it in our power to ex- 
 plain the latter more fully; by fhewing the reverfe in 
 feveral degrees, down to the moft contemptible mean- 
 nefs that lines can be form'd into. 
 
 Figure 99, is the firft degree of deviation from figure 
 97 ; where the lines are made ftraighter, and reduced 
 in quantity; deviating ftill more in figure 100, more 
 yet in figure 101, and yet more vifibly in 102; figure 
 103, ftill more fo, figure 104 is totally diverted of all 
 lines of elegance, like a barber's block; and 105 is 
 compofed merely of fuch plain lines as children make, 
 when of themfelves they begin to imitate in drawing a 
 
 human 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 125 
 
 human face. It is evident, the inimitable Butler was 
 fenfible of the mean and ridiculous effect of fuch kind 
 of lines, by the defcription he gives of the fhape of 
 Hudibras's beard, fig. *, l^ 1 , 06 
 
 In cut and dye fo like a tile, 
 
 A fudden view it would beguile. 
 2. With regard to character and expreffion; we have 
 daily many inftances which confirm the common re- 
 ceived opinion, that the face is the index of the mind ; 
 and this maxim is fo rooted in us, we can fcarce help 
 (if our attention is a little raifed) forming fbme particu- 
 lar conception of the perfon's mind whofe face we are 
 observing, even before we receive information by any 
 other means. How often is it faid, on the flighteft 
 view, that fuch a one looks like a good-natur'd man, 
 that he hath an honeft open countenance, or looks like 
 a cunning rogue; a man of fenfe, or a fool, &c. And 
 how are our eyes riveted to the afpects of kings and 
 heroes, murderers and faints; and as we contemplate 
 their deeds, feldom fail making application to their 
 looks. It is reafonable to believe that arpect to be a 
 true and legible reprefentation of the mind, which gives 
 every one the fame idea at flrft fight; and is afterwards 
 confirm'd in fact: for inftance, all concur in the fame 
 opinion, at firft fight, of a down-right idiot. 
 
 There is but little to be feen by childrens faces, more 
 than that they are heavy or lively; and fcarcely that 
 unlefs they are in motion. Very handfom faces of al- 
 
 moft 
 
126 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 rnoft any age, will hide a foolifh or a wicked mind till 
 they betray themfelves by their actions or their words : 
 yet the frequent aukward movements of the mufcles of 
 the fool's face, tho' ever fo handfom, is apt in time to 
 leave fuch traces up and down it, as will diftinguifh a 
 defect of mind upon examination : but the bad man, 
 ir he be an hypocrite, may fo manage his mufcles, by 
 teaching them to contradict his heart, that little of his 
 mind can be gather' d from his countenance, fo that the 
 character of an hypocrite is entirely out of the power of 
 the pencil, without fome adjoining circumftance to dis- 
 cover him, as fmiling and ftabbing at the fame time, or 
 the like. 
 
 It is by the natural and unaffected movements of the 
 mufcles, caufed by the paffions of the mind, that every 
 man's character would in fome meafure be written in 
 his face, by that time he arrives at forty years of age, 
 were it not for certain accidents which often, tho' not 
 always prevent it. For the ill-natur'd man, by frequently 
 frowning, and pouting out the mufcles of his mouth, 
 doth in time bring thofe parts to a conftant ftate of the 
 appearance of ill-nature, which might have been pre- 
 vented by the conftant affectation of a fmile ; and fo of 
 the other paffions : tho' there are fome that do not 
 affect the mufcles at all iimply of themfelves, as love 
 and hope. 
 
 But leaft I mould be thought to lay too great a ftrefs 
 on outward mew, like a phyfiognomift, take this with 
 
 you, 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 127 
 
 you, that it is acknowledg'd there are fo many different 
 caufes which produce the fame kind of movements and 
 appearances of the features, and fo many thwartings 
 by accidental fhapes in the make of faces, that the old 
 adage, fronti nulla fides, will ever ftand its ground upon 
 the whole ; and for very wife reafons nature hath thought 
 fit it mould. But, on the other hand, as in many par- 
 ticular cafes, we receive information from the expreilions 
 of the countenance, what follows is meant to give a 
 lineal defcription of the language written therein. 
 
 It may not be amifs juit, to look over the paflions of 
 the mind, from tranquillity to extreme defpair ; as they 
 are in order defcribed in the common drawing-book, 
 called, Le Brun's paflions of the mind; felected from 
 that great mailer's works for the ufe of learners ; where 
 you may have a compendious view of all the common 
 expreflions at once. And altho' thefe are but imperfect 
 copies, they will anfwer our purpofe in this place better 
 than any other thing I can refer you to; becaufe the 
 paflions are there ranged in fucceflion, and diftindHy 
 marked with lines only, the fhadows being omitted. 
 
 Some features are formed fo as to make this or that 
 expreflron of a paflion more or lefs legible; for example, 
 the little narrow chinefe eye fuits a loving or laughing 
 expreflion beft, as a large full eye doth thole of fierce- 
 nefs and aftoniihment; and round-rifing mufcles will- 
 appear with fome degree of chearfulnefs even in forrow : 
 the features thus fuiting with the expreflions that have 
 
 been 
 
128 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 been often repeated in the face, at length mark it with 
 fuch lines as fufficiently diftinguifh the character of 
 the mind. 
 
 The ancients in their loweft characters have fhewn 
 as much judgment, and as great a degree of tafte in the 
 management and twilling of the lines of them, as in 
 their ftatues of a fublimer kind; in the former varying 
 only from the precife line of grace in fome parts where 
 the character or action required it. The dying gladiator 
 and the dancing fawn, the former a ilave, the latter a 
 wild clown, are fculptored in as high a tafte of lines as 
 the Antinous or the Apollo ; with this difference, that the 
 precife line of grace abounds more in the two laft : not- 
 * Fig. i s 7 withftanding which it is generally allow'd there is equal 
 merit in the former, as there is near as much judgment 
 required for the execution of them. Human nature can 
 hardly be reprefented more debafed than in the character 
 of the Silenus, fig. *, where the bulging-line figure 49, 
 N°. 7, runs through all the features of the face, as well 
 as the other parts of his fwinifh body: whereas in the 
 fatyr of the wood, tho' the ancients have joined the 
 brute with the man, we ftill fee preferved an elegant 
 diiplay of ferpentine lines, that make it a graceful figure. 
 Indeed the works of art have need of the whole ad- 
 vantage of this line to make up for its other deficiencies : 
 for tho' in nature's works the line of beauty is often 
 neglected, or mixt with plain lines, yet fo far are they 
 from being defective on this account, that by this means 
 
 there 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 129 
 
 there is exhibited that infinite variety of human forms 
 which always diftinguifhes the hand of nature from the 
 limited and infufficient one of art ; and as thus me for 
 the fake of variety upon the whole, deviates fometimes 
 into plain and inelegant lines, if the poor artift is but 
 able now and then to correct and give a better tafte to 
 fome particular part of what he imitates, by having 
 learnt fo to do from her more perfect works, or copying 
 from thofe that have, ten to one he grows vain upon it, 
 and fancies himfelf a nature-mender; not considering, 
 that even in thefe, the meanefl of her works, me is 
 never wholly deflitute of fuch lines of beauty and other 
 delicacies, as are not only beyond his narrow reach, but 
 are feen wanting even in the moft celebrated attempts 
 to rival her. But to return, 
 
 As to what we call plain lines, there is this remark- 
 able effect conftantly produced by them, that being 
 more or lefs conspicuous in any kind of character or ex- 
 preflion of the face, they bring along with them certain 
 degrees of a foolifh or ridiculous afpect. 
 
 It is the inelegance of thefe lines which more pro- 
 perly belonging to inanimate bodies, and being feen 
 where lines of more beauty and talte are expected, that 
 renders the face filly and ridiculous. See chap. 6, p. 31. 
 
 Children in infancy have movements in the mufcles 
 of their faces peculiar to their age, as an uninformed 
 and unmeaning Hare, an open mouth, and fimple grin : 
 all which exprelfions are chiefly formed of plain curves, 
 
 S and 
 
i 3 o ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 and thefe movements and expreflions ideots are apt to 
 retain; fo that in time they mark their faces with thefe 
 uncouth lines; and when the lines coincide and agree 
 with the natural forms of the features, it becomes a 
 more apparent and confirmed chara&er of an ideot. 
 Thefe plain fhapes laft mentioned, fometimes happen 
 to people of the beft, fenfe, to fome when the features 
 are at reft, to others when they are put into motion; 
 which a variety of conftant regular movements proceed- 
 ing from a good underftanding, and fafhioned by a 
 genteel education, will often by degrees correct into 
 lines of more elegance. 
 
 That particular expreilion likewife of the face, or 
 movement of a feature which becomes one perfon, fhall 
 be difagreeable in another, juft as fuch expreflions or 
 turns chance to fall in with lines of beauty, or the re- 
 verie; for this reafon there are pretty frowns and difa- 
 greeable fmiles: the lines that form a pleafing fmile 
 about the corners of the mouth have gentle windings, 
 * Fig. 108 as fig. *, but lofe their beauty in the full laugh, as 
 1 Fig. 1 09 fig. f, the expreflion of exceflive laughter, oftener than 
 L ' p ' * any other, gives a fenfible face a filly or difagreeable 
 look, as it is apt to form regular plain lines about the 
 mouth, like a parenthefis, which fometimes appears like 
 crying; as, on the contrary, I remember to have feen 
 a beggar who had clouted up his head very artfully, 
 and whofe vifage was thin and pale enough to excite 
 pity, but his features were otherwife fo unfortunately 
 
 form'd 
 
•ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 131 
 
 form'd for his purpofe, that what he intended for a grin 
 of pain and mifery, was rather a joyous laugh. 
 
 It is ftrange that nature hath afforded us fo many 
 lines and fhapes to indicate the deficiencies and blemifhes 
 of the mind, whiM there are none at all that point out 
 the perfections of it beyond the appearance of common 
 fenfe and placidity. Deportment, words, and aclions, 
 muft fpeak the good, the wife, the witty, the humane, 
 the generous, the merciful, and the brave. Nor are 
 gravity and folemn looks always flgns of wifdom : the 
 mind much occupied with trifles will occasion as grave 
 and fagacious an afpect, as if it was charged with mat- 
 ters of the utmoft moment; the balance-niafter's atten- 
 tion to a lingle point, in order to preferve his balance, 
 may look as wife at that time as the greater!: philolb- 
 pher in the depth of his ftudies. All that the ancient 
 fculptors could do, notwithstanding their enthufiaftic 
 endeavours to raife the characters of their deities to af- 
 pecl:s of fagacity above human, was to give them fea- 
 tures of beauty. Their god of wifdom hath no more 
 in his look than a handfom manlinefs ; the Jupiter is 
 carried fomewhat higher, by giving it a little more fe- 
 verity than the Apollo, by a larger prominency of brow 
 gently bending in feeming though tfulnefs, with an 
 ample beard, which being added to the noble quantity 
 of its other lines, inverts that capital piece of fculpture 
 with uncommon dignity, which in the myfterious lan- 
 guage of a profound conoiffeur, is ftiled a divine idea, 
 inconceivably great, and above nature. 
 
 S 2 I 
 
132 ANALYSIS of BE AUTY. 
 
 3<dly and laftly, I mall fhew in what manner the lines 
 of the face alter from infancy upwards, and fpecify the 
 different ages. We are now to pay raoft attention to 
 Jimplkity^ as the difference of ages we are about to fpeak 
 of, turn chiefly upon the ufe made of this principle in 
 a greater or lefs degree, in the form of the lines. 
 
 From infancy till the body has done growing, the 
 contents both of the body and the face, and every part 
 of their furface, are daily changing into more variety, 
 till they obtain a certain medium (fee page 78 on pro- 
 
 Lp?"" 3 P ort i°n) from which medium, as fig. *, if we return 
 back to infancy, we fhall fee the variety decreafing, till 
 by degrees that fimplicity in the form, which gave va- 
 riety its due limits, deviates into famenefs ; fo that all 
 the parts of the face may be circumfcribed in. feveral 
 
 tFig.n6 circles, as fig. +. 
 
 But there is another very extraordinary circumftance, 
 (perhaps never taken notice of before in this light) 
 which nature hath given us to diftinguiih one age from 
 another by; which is, that tho' every feature grows 
 larger and longer, till the whole perfon has done grow- 
 ing, the fight of the eye frill keeps its original fize; I 
 mean the pupil, with its iris or ring; for the diameter 
 of this circle continues ftill the fame, and fo becomes a 
 fixt meafure by which we, as it were, infenfibly com- 
 pare the daily perceiv'd growings of the other parts of 
 the face, and thereby determine a young perfon's age. 
 You may fometimes find this part of the eye in a new- 
 born 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 133 
 
 born infant, full as large as in a man of fix foot; nay, J F pf"° 
 fometimes larger, fee fig. *, and f . b^z.' 4 
 
 In infancy the faces of boys and girls have no vinble 
 difference, but as they grow up the features of the boy 
 get the flart, and grow fafter in proportion to the ring 
 of the eye, than thole of the girl, which fhews the dif- 
 tinction of the fex in the face. Boys who have larger 
 features than ordinary, in proportion to the rings of their 
 eyes, are what we call manly-featured children; as thole 
 who have the contrary, look more childiih and younger 
 than they really are. It is this proportion of the fea- 
 tures with the eyes, that makes women, when they are 
 drefTed in mens-cloaths, look fo young and boyiih : but 
 as nature doth not always flick clofe to thefe particulars, 
 we may be miflaken both in fexes and ages. 
 
 By thele obvious appearances, and the differences of 
 the whole lize, we eafily judge of ages till twenty, but 
 riot with fuch certainty afterwards; for the alterations 
 from that age are of a different kind, fubjett. to other 
 changes by growing fatter or leaner, which it is well 
 known, often give a different turn to the look of the 
 perfon, with regard to his age. 
 
 The hair of the head, which encompaffes a face as a 
 frame doth a pi&ure, and contrails with its uniform 
 colour, the variegated inclofed compoiition, adding 
 more or lefs beauty thereto, according as it is difpofed 
 by the rules of art, is another indication of advanced 
 age. 
 
 What 
 
134 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 What remains to be faid on the different appearances 
 of ages, being lefs pleafing than what has gone before, 
 fhall be defcribed with more brevity. In the age from 
 twenty to thirty, barring accidents, there appears but 
 little chano-e, either in the colours or the lines of the 
 face; for tho' the bloom tints may go off a little, yet 
 on the other hand, the make of the features often attain 
 a fort of fettled firmnefs in them, aided by an air of 
 acquired fenfibility ; which makes ample amends for 
 that lofs, and keeps beauty till thirty pretty much upon 
 a par ; after this time, as the alterations grow more and 
 more viiible, we perceive the fweet fimplicity of many 
 rounding parts of the face, begin to break into dented 
 fhapes, with more fudden turns about the mufcles, 
 occafioned by their many repeated movements; as alfo 
 by dividing the broad parts, and thereby taking off 
 the large fweeps of the ferpentine lines; the fhades of 
 beauty alfo confequently fuffering in their foftnefles. 
 Something of what is here meant between the two ages 
 •Fig. "7 of thirty and fifty, fee in figures *, and what further 
 Fig. 1 1 8. havock time continues to make after the age of fifty, is 
 too remarkable to need defcribing: the ftrokes and cuts 
 he then lays on are plain enough; however, in fpite of 
 all his malice, thofe lineaments that have once been 
 elegant, retain their flowing turns in venerable age, 
 leaving to the laft a comely piece of ruins. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. £§4 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 Of ATTITUDE. 
 
 OUCH difpolitions of the body and limbs as appear 
 moft graceful when feen at reft, depend upon 
 gentle winding contrails, moftly govern'd by the precife 
 terpentine line, which in attitudes of authority, are more 
 extended and fpreading than ordinary, but reduced 
 fomewhat below the medium of grace, in thofe of neg- 
 ligence and eafe: and as much exaggerated in infolent 
 and proud carriage, or in diftortions of pain (fee figure 
 9, plate 1.) as leflen'd and contracted into plain and 
 parallel lines, to exprefs meannefs, aukwardnefs, and 
 fubmimon. 
 
 The general idea of an action, as well as of an 
 attitude, may be given with a pencil in very few lines. 
 It is eafy to conceive that the attitude of a perfbn upon 
 the crofs, may be fully flgnifled by the two ftraight 
 lines of the crofs; fo the extended manner of St. An- 
 drew's crucifixion is wholly underftood by the X-like 
 crofs. 
 
 Thus, as two or three lines at firft are fufficient to 
 mew the intention of an attitude, I will take this op- 
 portunity of prefenting my reader (who may have been 
 at the trouble of following me thus far) with the fketch 
 of a country-dance, in the manner I began to fet out 
 the deiign; in order to £hew how few lines are necef- 
 
 fary 
 
136 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 fary to exprefs the firft thoughts, as to different atti- 
 •rfj'J. 1 ' tudes; fee fig. *, which defcrihe in fome meafure, the 
 feveral figures and a&ions, moftly of the ridiculous 
 kind, that are reprefented in the chief part of plate 2. 
 The moft amiable perfon may deform his general 
 appearance by throwing his body and limbs into plain 
 lines, but fuch lines appear ftill in a more difagreeable 
 light in people of a particular make, I have therefore 
 chofe fuch figures as I thought would agree beft with 
 my firft fcore of lines, fig. 7 1 . 
 
 The two parts of curves next to 71, ferved for the 
 figures of the old woman and her partner at the farther end 
 of the room. The curve and two ftraight lines at right 
 angles, gave the hint for the fat man's fprawling pofture. 
 I next refolved to keep a figure within the bounds of a 
 circle, which produced the upper part of the fat woman, 
 between the fat man and the aukward one in the bag 
 wig, for whom I had made a fort of an X. The prim 
 lady, his partner, in the riding-habit, by pecking back 
 her elbows, as they call it, from the wafte upwards, 
 made a tolerable D, with a ftraight line under it, to 
 fignify the fcanty ftiffnefs of her peticoat; and a Z 
 ftood for the angular pofition the body makes with the 
 legs and thighs of the affected fellow in the tye-wig; 
 the upper parts of his plump partner was confin'd to an 
 O, and this chang'd into a P, ferved as a hint for the 
 ftraight lines behind. The uniform diamond of a card, 
 was filled up by the flying drefs, &c. of the little caper- 
 ing 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 137 
 
 ing figure in the fpencer-wig ; whilft a double L mark'd 
 the parallel pofition of his poking partner's hands and 
 arms : and laftly, the two waving lines were drawn for 
 the more genteel turns of the two figures at the hither 
 end. 
 
 The belt reprefentation in a picture, of even the molt, 
 elegant dancing, as every figure is rather a fufpended 
 action in it than an attitude, muff, be always fomewhat 
 unnatural and ridiculous ; for were it pofiible in a real 
 dance to fix every perfon at one inftant of time, as in a 
 picture, not one in twenty would appear to be graceful, 
 tho' each were ever fo much fo in their movements; 
 nor could the figure of the dance itfelf be at all under- 
 ftood. 
 
 The dancing-room is alfo ornamented purpofely with 
 fuch ftatues and pictures as may ferve to a farther il- 
 luftration. Henry viii. fig. *, makes a perfect X with * F; g- 7*. 
 his legs and arms ; and the pofition of Charles the firf!, 
 fig. f y is compofed of lefs- varied lines than the ftatue of t^s-s 1 - 
 
 P . 2. 
 
 Edward the fixth, fig. J; and the medal over his head J ^g- 73- 
 
 p. 
 
 is in the like kind of lines; but that over Q^ Elizabeth, 
 as well as her figure, is in the contrary; fo are alfo the 
 two other wooden figures at the end. Likewife the 
 comical pofture of aftonifhment (exprefled by following 
 the direction of one plain curve, as the dotted line in a 
 french print of Sancho, where Don Quixote demolifhes 
 the puppet fliew, fig. ||,) is a good contraft to the effecT: PJg-79- 
 of the ferpentine lines in the fine turn of the Samaritan 
 
 T woman 
 
 R. P. 1. 
 
138 ANALYSIS 0/ BEAUTY. 
 
 l F p s 'I 4 woman > figi *» taken from one of the beft pi&ures An- 
 nibal Carrache ever painted. 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 Of ACTION. 
 
 OP O the amazing variety of forms made (till infinitely 
 more various in appearance by light, made and co- 
 lour, nature hath added another way of increafing that 
 variety, frill more to enhance the value of all her com- 
 pofitions. This is accomplifhed by means of acHon ; 
 the fulleft difplay of which is put into the power of 
 the human fpecies, and which is equally fubjecl: to the 
 fame principles with regard to the effects of beauty, or 
 the reverfe, as govern all the former compofitions ; as 
 is partly feen in chapter XI. on proportion. My bu- 
 finefs here fhall be, in as concife a manner as poilible, 
 to particularife the application of thefe principles to the 
 movement of the body, and therewith finifh this fyjiem 
 of variety in forms and actions. 
 
 There is no one but would wiili to have it in his 
 power to be genteel and graceful in the carriage of his 
 perfon, could it be attained with little trouble and ex- 
 pence of time. The ufual methods relied on for this 
 purpofe among well-bred people, takes up a confider- 
 able part of their time : nay even thofe of the firft rank 
 have no other recourfe in thefe matters, than to dancing- 
 mafters, and fencing-mafters : dancing and fencing are 
 
 undoubt- 
 
ANALYSIS of BE AUTY. 139 
 
 undoubtedly proper, and very neceffary accomplifh- 
 ments; yet are they frequently very imperfect in bring- 
 ing about the bufinefs of graceful deportment. For 
 altho' the mufcles of the body may attain a pliancy by 
 thefe exercifes, and the limbs, by the elegant movement 
 in dancing, acquire a facility in moving gracefully, yet 
 for want of knowing the meaning of every grace, and 
 whereonit depends, affectations and mifapplications often 
 follow. 
 
 Action is a fort of language which perhaps one time 
 or other, may come to be taught by a kind of grammar- 
 rules ; but, at prefent, is only got by rote and imitation : 
 and contrary to moft other copyings or imitations, 
 people of rank and fortune generally excel their originals, 
 the dancing-mailers, in eafy behaviour and unaffected 
 grace; as a fenfe of fuperiority makes them act. without 
 constraint ; efpecially when their perfons are well turn'd. 
 If fo, what can be more conducive to that freedom 
 and neceffary courage which make acquired grace feem 
 eafy and natural, than the being able to demonftrate 
 when we are actually jufl and proper in the leaif. move- 
 ment we perform ; whereas, for want of fuch certainty 
 in the mind, if one of the moft finifh'd gentlemen" at 
 court was to appear as an actor on the public ftage, he 
 would find himfelf at a lofs haw to move properly, and 
 be ftiff, narrow, and aukward in reprefenting even his 
 own character: the uncertainty of being right would 
 naturally give him fome of that reftraint which the 
 
 T 2 un- 
 
14° ANALYSIS o/ BEAUTY. 
 
 uneducated common people generally have when they 
 appear before their betters. 
 
 It is known that bodies in motion always defcribc 
 fome line or other in the air, as the whirling round of a 
 fire-brand apparently makes a circle, the water- fall part 
 of a curve, the arrow and bullet, by the fwiftnefs of their 
 motions, nearly a ftraight line ; waving lines are formed 
 by the pleafing movement of a fhip on the waves. Now 
 in order to obtain a juft idea of action at the fame time 
 to be judicioufly fatisfied of being in the right in what 
 we do, let us begin with imagining a line formed in the 
 air by any fuppofed point at the end of a limb or part 
 that is moved, or made by the whole part, or limb; or 
 by the whole body together. And that thus much of 
 movements may be conceived at once is evident, on the 
 leaft recollection, for whoever has feen a fine arabian 
 war-horfe, unback'd and at liberty, and in a wanton 
 trot, cannot but remember what a large waving line his 
 rifing, and at the fame time preiling forward, cuts 
 through the air; the equal continuation of which, is 
 varied by his curveting from fide to fide; whilir. his long 
 mane and tail play about in ferpentine movements. 
 
 After thus having form'd the idea of all movements 
 being as lines, it will not be difficult to conceive, that 
 grace in action depends upon the fame principles as 
 have been fhewn to produce it in forms. 
 
 The next thing that offers itfelf to our confideration 
 is the force of habit and cuftom in action ; for a great 
 deal depends thereon. The 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 141 
 
 The peculiar movements of each perfon, as the gate 
 in walking, are particularifed in fuch lines as each part 
 defcribes by the habits they have contracted. The nature 
 and power of habit may be fully conceived by the fol- 
 lowing familiar inftance, as the motions of one part of 
 the body may ferve to explain thofe of the whole. 
 
 Obferve that whatever habit the fingers get in the 
 ufe of the pen, you fee exactly delineated to the eye by 
 the fhapes of the letters. Were the movements of every 
 writer's fingers to be precifely the fame, one hand- 
 writing would not be known from another, but as the 
 fingers naturally fall into, or acquire different habits of 
 moving, every hand-writing is viiibly different. Which 
 movements muff tally with the letters, tho' they are too 
 quick and too Imall to be as perfectly traced by the eye ; 
 but this fhews what nice differences are caufed, and 
 conftantly retained by habitual movements. 
 
 It may be remark'd, that all ufeful habitual motions, 
 fuch as are readieft to ferve the neceflary purpofes of 
 life, are thole made up of plain lines, i. e. ftraight and 
 circular lines, which moll animals have in common 
 with mankind, tho' not in fo extensive a degree: the 
 monkey from his make hath it fufficiently in his power 
 to be graceful, but as reafon is required for this purpofe, 
 it would be impoilible to bring him to move genteely. 
 
 Though I have faid that the ordinary actions of 
 the body are performed in plain lines, I mean only 
 comparatively fo with thofe of ftudied movements in 
 
 the 
 
142 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 Terpentine line, for as all our mufcles are ever ready to 
 act, when one part is moved, (as an hand, or arm, by 
 its proper movers, for railing up or drawing down) the 
 adjacent mufcles act in fome degree in correfpondence 
 with them : therefore our moft common movements are 
 but feldom performed in fuch abfolutely mean lines, as 
 thofe of jointed dolls and puppets. A man muft have 
 a good deal of practice to be able to mimic fuch very 
 ftraight or round motions, which being incompatible 
 with the human form, are therefore ridiculous. 
 
 Let it be obferved, that graceful movements in fer- 
 pentine lines, are ufed but occasionally, and rather at 
 times of leifure, than conftantly applied to every action 
 we make. The whole buiinefs of life may be carried 
 on without them, they being properly fpeaking, only the 
 ornamental part of gefture ; and therefore not being na- 
 turally familiarifed by neceflity, muft be acquired by 
 precept or imitation, and reduced to habit by frequent 
 repetitions. Precept is the means I mould recommend 
 as the moft expeditious and effectual way. But before 
 we proceed to the method I have to propofe, for the 
 more ready and fure way of accuftoming the limbs to 
 a facility in the ornamental way of moving; I mould 
 obferve, that quick time gives it fpirit and vivacity, as 
 flow time, gravity, and folemnky, and further, that the 
 latter of thefe allows the eye an opportunity of feeing 
 the line of grace to advantage, as in the addrefs of he- 
 roes on the ftage, or in any folemn act of ceremony; 
 
 and 
 
A N A LY S I S of B E A U T Y. 143 
 
 and that although time in movement is reduced to cer- 
 tain rules for dancing, it is left more at large and at 
 difcretion for deportment. 
 
 We come now to offer an odd, but perhaps effica- 
 cious method of acquiring a habit of moving in the lines 
 of grace and beauty. 
 
 1. Let any one chalk the line fig. *, on a flat furface, * L F 'f l 2 ig 
 beginning at either end, and he will move his hand and 
 arm in a beautiful direction, but if he chalks the fame 
 fort of line on an ogee-moulding of a foot or two in 
 breadth, as the dotted line on figure -f, his hand muft £ F ^'"° 
 move in that more beautiful direction, which is diftin- 
 guifhed by the name of grace; and according to the 
 quantity given to thofe lines, greatnefs will be added to 
 grace, and the movement will be more or lefs noble. 
 
 Gentle movements of this fort thus underftood, may 
 be made at any time and any where, which by frequent 
 repetitions will become fo familiar to the parts fo exer- 
 cifed, that on proper occafion they make them as it 
 were of their own accord. 
 
 The pleafing effect, of this manner of moving the 
 hand, is feen when a fnurT-box, or fan is prefented 
 gracefully or genteely to a lady, both in the hand mov- 
 ing forward and in its return, but care muft- be taken 
 that the line of movement be but gentle, as N°. 3. 
 fig. 49, plate 1, and not too S-like and twirling. 
 
 5> 
 
 as 
 
 N°. 7 in the fame figure: which excefs would be af- 
 fected and ridiculous. 
 
 Daily 
 
144 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 Daily praftifing thefe movements with the hands and 
 arms, as alfo with fuch other parts of the body as are 
 capable of them, will in a fhort time render the whole 
 perfon graceful and eafy at pleafure. 
 
 2. As to the motions of the head; the awe mod 
 children are in before ftrangers, till they come to a cer- 
 tain age, is the caufe of their dropping and drawing 
 their chins down into their breaffs, and looking under 
 their foreheads, as if confeious of their weaknefs, or of 
 fomething wrong about them. To prevent this auk- 
 ward fhynefs, parents and tutors are continually teafing 
 them to hold up their heads, which if they get them to 
 do it is with difficulty, and of courfe in fo conftrain'd 
 a manner that it gives the children pain, fo that they 
 naturally take all opportunities of eafing themfelves by 
 holding down their heads ; which pofture would be full 
 as uneafy to them were it not a relief" from reftraint: 
 and there is another misfortune in holding down the 
 head, that it is apt to make them bend too much in the 
 back ; when this happens to be the cafe, they then have 
 recourse to flcel-collars, and other iron-machines; all 
 which fhacklings are repugnant to nature, and may 
 make the body grow crooked. This daily fatigue both 
 to the children and the parents may be avoided, and 
 an ugly habit prevented, by only (at a proper agej 
 fattening a ribbon to a quantity of platted hair, or to 
 the cap, fo as it may be kept faff in its place, and the 
 *Fi g .i2i other end to the back of the coat, as fig. *. of fuch a 
 
 length 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 145 
 
 length as may prevent them drawing their chins into 
 their necks ; which ribbon will always leave the head at 
 liberty to move in any direction but this aukward one 
 they are fo apt to fall into. 
 
 But till children arrive at a reafoning age it will be 
 difficult by any means to teach them more grace than 
 what is natural to every well made child at liberty. 
 
 The grace of the upper parts of the body is mofr. 
 engaging, and fenfible well made people in any ftation 
 naturally have it in a great degree, therefore rules unlefs 
 they are fimple and eafily retain'd and practifed, are of 
 little ule ; nay, rather are of diflervice. 
 
 Holding the head erecl: is but occasionally right, a 
 proper recline of it may be as graceful, but true ele- 
 gance is moftly feen in the moving it from one pofition 
 to another. 
 
 And this may be attain'd by a fenfibility within 
 yourfelf, tho' you have not a fight of what you do by 
 looking in the glafs, when with your head aiTifted by 
 a fway of the body in order to give it more fcope, you 
 endeavour to make that very ferpentine line in the air, 
 which the hands have been before taught to do by the 
 help of the ogee-moulding; and I will venture to fay, a 
 few careful repetitions at firft fetting out will make this 
 movement as eafy to the head as to the hands and arms. 
 
 The moll graceful bow is got by the head's moving 
 in this direction, as it goes downward and rifes up again. 
 Some aukward imitators of this elegant way of bowing, 
 
 U for 
 
146 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 for v/ant of knowing what they were about, have feem'd 
 to bow with wry necks. The low folemn bow to ma- 
 jefty fhould have but a very little twifl, if any, as more 
 becoming gravity and fubmiffion. The clownifh nod 
 in a fudden ftraight line is quite the reverfe of thefe 
 fpoken of. 
 
 The moft elegant and refpe&ful curtefy hath a gentle, 
 or fmall degree of the above graceful bowing of the 
 head as the perfon {inks, and rifes, and retreats. If it 
 fhould be faid, that a fine curtejy confifts in no more 
 than in being erect, in perfon at the time of finking and 
 rinng ; Madam Catherine in clock-work, or the dancing 
 bears led about the ftreets for a fhew, mull be allow'd 
 to make as good a curtefy as any body. 
 
 N. B. It is neceffary in bowing and curtefying to 
 fhun an exadt famenefs at all times ; for however grace- 
 ful it may be on fome occafions, at other times it may 
 feem formal and improper. Shakefpear feems to have 
 meant the above fpoken of ornamental manner of bow- 
 ing, in Enobarbus's defcription of Cleopatra's waiting- 
 women. 
 
 And made their bends adornings, Acl: 2. 
 
 3. Of Dancing. The minuet is allowed by the 
 dancing-mafters themfelves to be the perfection of all 
 dancing. I once heard an eminent dancing-matter fay, 
 that the minuet had been the ftudy of his whole life, 
 and that he had been indefatigable in the purfuit of its 
 beauties, yet at laft he could only fay with Socrates, be 
 
 knew 
 
ANALYSIS <?/ BEAUTY. 14.7 
 
 knew nothing: adding, that I was happy in my pro- 
 feflion as a painter, in that fome bounds might be fet to 
 the ftudy of it. No doubt, as the minuet contains in it 
 a compofed variety of as many movements in the fer- 
 pentine lines as can well be put together in diftincl: 
 quantities, it is a fine compoiition of movements. 
 
 The ordinary undulating motion of the body in com- 
 mon walking (as may be plainly feen by the waving line, 
 which the fhadow a man's head makes againft a wall as 
 he is walking between it and the afternoon fun) is aug- 
 mented in dancing into a larger quantity of waving by 
 means of the minuet-ftep, which is fo contrived as to 
 raife the body by gentle degrees fbmewhat higher than 
 ordinary, and fink it again in the fame manner lower in 
 the going on of the dance. The figure of the minuet- 
 path on the floor is alfo compofed of ferpentine lines, 
 as fig. *, varying a little with the fafhiori: when the * Fig. 123 
 parties by means of this ftep rife and fall moft fmoothly 
 in time, and free from fudden ftarting and dropping, 
 they come neareft to Shakefpear's idea of the beauty of 
 dancing, in the following lines, 
 What you do, 
 
 Still betters what is done, 
 
 When you do dance, I wifh you 
 
 A wave o'th' fea, that you might ever do 
 
 Nothing but that; move ftill, ftill fo, 
 
 And own no other function.-- Winter's Talz, 
 
 V 2 The 
 
 T. p. 2, 
 
148 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 The other beauties belonging to this dance, are the 
 turns of the head, and twin: of the body in paffing each 
 other, as alfo gentle bowing and prefenting hands in 
 the manner before defcribed, all which together, dis- 
 plays the greateft variety of movements in ferpentine 
 lines imaginable, keeping equal pace with mufical time. 
 
 There are other dances that entertain merely becaufe 
 they are compofed of variety of movements and per- 
 formed in proper time, but the lefs they coniifL of fer- 
 pentine or waving lines, the lower they are in the 
 estimation of dancing-mafters : for, as has been fhewn, 
 when the form of the body is diverted of its ferpentine 
 lines it becomes ridiculous as a human figure, fo like- 
 wife when all movements in fuch lines are excluded 
 in a dance, it becomes low, grotefque and comical; but 
 however, being as was faid compofed of variety, made 
 conmtent with fome character, and executed with agi- 
 lity, it neverthelefs is very entertaining. Such are Italian 
 peafant-dances, &c. But fuch uncouth contortions of 
 the body as are allowable in a man would difguft in a 
 woman ; as the extreme graceful, fo very alhiring in this 
 fex, is naufeous in the other; even the minuet-grace in 
 a man would hardly be approved, but as the main drift 
 of it reprefents repeated addreffes to the lady. 
 
 There is a much greater confiftency in the dances of 
 the Italian theatre than of the French, notwithstanding 
 dancing feems to be the genius of that nation; the fol- 
 lowing diftindtly marked characters were originally from 
 
 Italy; 
 
ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 149 
 
 Italy; and if we consider them lineally as to their par- 
 ticular movements, we mall fee wherein their humour 
 confifts. 
 
 The attitudes of the harlequin are ingenioufly 
 compofed of certain little, quick movements of the 
 head, hands and feet, fome of which moot out as it were 
 from the body in ftraight lines, or are twirled about in 
 little circles. 
 
 Scaramouch is gravely abfurd as the character is in- 
 tended, in over-ftretch'd tedious movements of unna- 
 tural lengths of lines : thefe two characters feem to have 
 been contrived by conceiving a direct oppofition of 
 movements. 
 
 Pierrott's movements and attitudes, are chiefly in 
 perpendiculars and parallels, fo is his figure and drefs. 
 
 Punchinello is droll by being the reverfe of all ele- 
 gance, both as to movement, and figure, the beauty of 
 variety is totally, and comically excluded from this cha- 
 racter in every relpect; his limbs are raifed and let fall 
 almoft altogether at one time, in parallel directions, as 
 if his feeming fewer joints than ordinary, were no better 
 than the hinges of a door. 
 
 Dances that reprefent provincial characters, as thefe 
 above do, or very low people, fuch as gardeners, failors, 
 &c. in merriment, are generally moft entertaining ' on 
 the ftage : the Italians have lately added great pleafantry 
 and humour to feveral french dances, particularly the 
 wooden-fhoe dance, in which there is a continual miff- 
 ing 
 
1 50 ANALYSIS o/ BEAUTY. 
 
 ing from one attitude in plain lines to another; both 
 the man and the woman often comically fix themfelves 
 in uniform pofitions, and frequently ftart in equal time, 
 into angular forms, one of which remarkably reprefents 
 two W's in a line, as over figure 122, plate 2, thefe 
 fort of dances a little raifed, efpecially on the woman's 
 fide, in exprefhng elegant wantonnefs (which is the true 
 fpirit of dancing) have of late years been moff. delight- 
 fully done, and feem at prefent to have got the better 
 of pompous, unmeaning grand ballets ; ferious dancing 
 being even a contradiction in terms. 
 
 4-thly, Of Country Da?tcing. The lines which a 
 number of people together form in country or figure 
 dancing, make a delightful play upon the eye, efpecially 
 when the whole figure is to be feen at one view, as at 
 the playhoufe from the gallery; the beauty of this kind 
 of myftic dancing, as the poets term it, depends upon 
 moving in a compofed variety of lines, chiefly ferpen- 
 tine, govern'd by the principles of intricacy, &c. the 
 dances of barbarians are always reprefented without 
 thefe movements, being only compofed of wild fkiping, 
 jumping, and turning round, or running backward and 
 •forward, with convulfive fhrugs, and diftorted geftures. 
 
 One of the moll pleafing movements in country 
 dancing, and which anfwer to all the principles of vary- 
 ing at once, is what they call the hay ; the figure of it 
 altogether, is a cypher of S's, or a number of ferpentine 
 lines interlacing, or intervolving each other, which fup- 
 
 pofe 
 
*Fig.i2-3 
 T. P. 2. 
 
 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 151 
 
 pofe traced on the floor, the lines would appear as fig. *, 
 Milton in his Paradife loft,, defcribing the angels dancing 
 about the facred hill, pictures the whole idea in words; 
 
 Myftical dance! 
 
 __. Mazes intricate, 
 
 Eccentric, intervolv'd, yet regular 
 
 Then moft, when moft irregular they feem. 
 I mall venture, laftly, to fay a word or two of ftage- 
 action. From what has been faid of habitually mov- 
 ing in waving lines, it may pofilbly be found that if 
 ftage-adlion, particularly the graceful, was to be ftu- 
 died lineally, it might be more fpeedily and accurately 
 acquired by the help of the foregoing principles than 
 the methods hitherto taken. It is known that common 
 deportment, fuch as may pafs for elegant and proper off 
 the ftage, would no more be thought fufficient upon it 
 than the dialogue of common polite converfation, would 
 be accurate or ipirited enough for the language of a 
 play. So that trufting to chance only will not do. 
 The actions of every fcene ought to be as much as pof- 
 fible a compleat compofition of well varied movements, 
 confldered as fuch abftradtly, and apart from what may 
 be merely relative to the fenfe of the words. Action 
 conflder'd with regard to aiilfting the authors meaning, 
 by enforcing the fentiments or railing the paillons, muft 
 be left entirely to the judgment of the performer, we 
 only pretend to fhew how the limbs may be made to 
 have an equal readinefs to move in all fuch directions 
 as may be required. What 
 
152 ANALYSIS of BEAUTY. 
 
 What I would have underftood by action, abftra&edly 
 and apart from its giving force to the meaning of the 
 words, may be better conceived by fuppofing a fo- 
 reigner, who is a thorough matter of all the effects of 
 action, at one of our theatres, but quite ignorant of the 
 language of the play ; it is evident his fentiments under 
 fuch limitations, would chiefly arife from what he might 
 difringuiih by the lines of the movements belonging 
 to each character ; the actions of an old man, if proper, 
 or not, would be vifible to him at once, and he would 
 judge of low and odd characters, by the inelegant 
 lines which we have already fhewn to belong to the 
 characters of punch, harlequin, pierrott, or the clown; 
 fo he would alfo form his judgment of the graceful 
 acting of a fine gentleman, or hero, by the elegance of 
 their movements in fuch lines of grace and beauty as 
 have been fufficiently defcribed. See chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 
 on the composition of forms. Where note, that as the 
 whole of beauty depends upon continually varying the 
 fame muff, be obferved with regard to genteel and ele- 
 gant acting: and as plain fpace makes a considerable 
 part of beauty in form, fo ceffation of movement in 
 acting is as absolutely necefTary ; and in my opinion 
 much wanted on moft ftages, to relieve the eye from 
 what Shakefpear calls, continually Jawing the air. 
 
 The actrefs hath fufHcient grace with fewer actions, 
 .and thofe in lefs extended lines than the actor ; for as 
 the lines that compofe the Venus are fimpler and more 
 
 gently 
 
ANALYSIS o/BEAUTY. 153 
 
 gently flowing, than thofe that compofe the Apollo, 
 fo muff, her movements be in like proportion. 
 
 And here it may not be improper to take notice of 
 a mifchief that attends copied actions on the ftage ; they 
 are often confin'd to certain fets and numbers, which 
 being repeated, and growing ftale to the audience, be- 
 come at laft fubject to mimickry and ridicule, which 
 would hardly be the cafe, if an actor were poffeft of 
 fuch general principles as include a knowledge of the 
 effects of all the movements that the body is capable of. 
 
 The comedian, whofe bufinefs it is to imitate the 
 actions belonging to particular characters in nature, may 
 alfo find his account in the knowledge of lines; for 
 whatever he copies from the life, by thefe principles may 
 be flrengthened, altered, and adjufted as his judgment 
 fhall direct, and the part the author has given him mail 
 require. 
 
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 n 
 

 
Figures referred to in the Book. 
 
 PLATE I. Figure 47, Pref. page 19 
 
 Fig. between 47 and 88, 
 
 Figure 1, Page 3 page 17,97 
 
 2, 10, yy 4 8, Page 46 
 
 3, 15 49, 49' I28 > H3 
 ibid. Fig. under 49, p. 4 
 
 Fig. over Fig-4, Pref.19. 5 q, 
 
 49 
 
 6, Pref. 6,8. Book p. 20, 81, 5 ^ 4g? 5 q 
 
 82, 83, 86, 88, 128 54 , 20 , 64. Pref. p. 5 
 
 7, Pref. p. 8, Book p. 20 55} 2 o, j6 
 9, Page 22, 135 65, 56, 60 
 
 10, 23 66, 57 
 
 11, ibid. 67, ibid. 
 66, 86, 87, 88, 89, pig. n ear 6y, p. 68 
 
 12 
 
 90, 91, 128, 153 68, 58, 76 
 
 13, ' 66, 152 87, m 
 
 14, 25, 26 88, ibid. 
 
 15, 27 97> 104, 123, 124 
 
 16, 31 98, 123, 124 
 17^ 3 1 * 8 7 99, 124 
 
 18, ibid. lco? ibid. 
 
 19, 3 1 101, ibid. 
 
 20, ibid. I02 , ibid. 
 
 21, 3 6 103, ibid. 
 
 22, S3 104, ibid. 
 23* 37 105, ibid. 
 24» 3 8 106, 125 
 
 25, ibid. IC ,7, 128 
 
 26, 38,39,100 n 5> ^3 
 
 29, 40 
 
 30, 41 PLATE II. 
 
 31, ibid. 
 
 32, ibid. Figure 51, Page 137 
 
 33, ~) 52, Pref. 10 
 
 34, ( 5 6 > Page 51 
 
 35* >42 57' 5 1 ' I0 3 
 
 3 6 ' \ 5 8 > 51' 55' I0 3 
 
 37. J 59' 53 
 
 3 8 > 43 6o > 55 
 
 39, 44 61, ibid. 
 
 40, ibid. 62, ibid. 
 
 41, ibid. 63, ibid. 
 
 42, ibid. 64, §6 
 43» 44, Pref. 19. 6g 9 78 
 
 44, 44 70, ibid. 
 
 45, ibid. 71, 136 
 463 ibid, 72, 20, 137 
 
 > 
 
 Fig' 
 
 \ 
 \ 
 
Figure 
 
 
 'Fjgures 
 
 Page T37 
 
 referrd 
 
 to 
 
 in 
 
 the Book. 
 
 73> 
 
 
 Figure 
 
 • 9h 
 
 Page 
 
 in 
 
 74, 
 
 138 
 
 
 
 
 94, 
 
 
 98, 116. 
 
 75, 
 
 *37 
 
 
 
 
 95, 
 
 
 "5 
 
 76, 
 
 62, 64 
 
 
 
 
 9 6 , 
 
 
 n 7 
 
 77> 
 
 62, 63, 64 
 
 
 
 108, 
 
 
 130 
 
 78, 
 
 63, 64 
 
 
 
 
 109, 
 
 
 ibid. 
 
 79, 
 
 63 
 
 
 
 
 no, 
 
 
 133 
 
 80, 
 
 ibid. 
 
 
 
 
 "3, 
 
 
 132 
 
 81, 
 
 64 
 
 
 
 
 114, 
 
 
 i33 
 
 82, 
 
 65 
 
 
 
 
 116, 
 
 
 132 
 
 83, 
 
 ibid. 
 
 
 
 
 "7, 
 
 
 134 
 
 84, 
 
 9 6 
 
 
 
 
 118, 
 
 
 ibid. 
 
 85, 
 
 ibid. 
 
 
 
 
 119, 
 
 
 143 
 
 86, 
 
 108, 109 
 
 ,111 
 
 
 
 120, 
 
 
 ibid. 
 
 S 9> 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 
 121, 
 
 
 144 
 
 90, 
 
 109 
 
 
 
 
 122, 
 
 
 147 
 
 9 1 , 
 
 112 
 
 
 
 
 123, 
 
 
 »5i 
 
 9 2 > 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 117, 11! 
 
tiM~ 
 
 
 Cl 
 

 
 
 
 '% 
 
 
 "*f 
 
 3 
 
 %, 
 
 m 
 
 4# 
 
 6^*S 
 
 j 
 
 I 
 
 f, , 
 
 ?*» 
 
 ,*WJP> 
 
 <J»T* 
 
 J 
 
 •€