58 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



and confidence with which he is honoured by the 

 brute creation, unlefs they have been forced out of 

 Kature by unrelenting perfecution on the part of 

 Man, 



Whatever charms may appear in the harmony 

 of the colours and forms of the human figure, 

 there is no vifible reafon why it's phyfical effedt 

 fhould exert an influence over animals, unlefs the 

 imprefs of fome moral power were combined with 

 it. The plumpnefs of form, or the freflmefs of 

 colouring, ought rather to excite the appetite of 

 ferocious animals, than their refpefl: or their love. 

 Finally, as we are able to diftinguifh their impaf- 

 fioned charafter, they, in like manner, can diftin- 

 guifli ours, and are capable of forming a very ac- 

 curate judgment as to our being cruel or pacific? 

 The game-birds, which fly the fanguinary fowler, 

 gather confidently around the harmlefs fliepheïd. 



It has been affirmed, that beauty is arbitrary in 

 every Nation ; but this opinion has been already 

 refuted by an appeal to matter of fadt. The muti-r 

 lations of the Negroes, their incifions into the 

 fkin, their flattened nofes, their compreflTed fore- 

 heads; the flat, long, round, and pointed heads 

 of the favages of North- America; the perforated 

 lips of the Brafilians ; the large ears of the people 

 of Laos, in Afia^ and of fome Nations of Guiana, 



are 



