414 Onthe Beautiful inthe Grecian Statues. 
are favourable or unfavourable to beauty should 
be equal in the objects observed. But this 
equality has no existence, and therefore smaller 
variations in the estimation of beauty are certainly 
found ; but withal, there is so much of con- 
sentaneity in the’ opinion of all mankind, as 
proves that the standard in every mind is derived 
from a common source, and has much of a 
common character. I can have no doubt thata 
Grecian Beauty among the Greeks, a Circassian 
Beauty honoured by the admiration of the Asiatics, 
would be acknowledged as a beauty of high dis- 
tinction by the western European, and that the 
European female whom the European taste has 
selected would be in no small degree applauded 
by the Greek and Asiatic. Perhaps, even a first 
rate African in the estimation of her fellow Afri- 
cans would be allowed by the European, the 
Greek and Asiatic, excepting colour, to possess 
the essential characters of beauty. 
It is probable therefore that the idea of beauty, 
though acquired by observation only of the ex- 
amples presented to-our view, goes beyond the 
limit of the materials from which it is derived, 
and is more perfect than the mean character of 
the cbjects observed. In acquiring the idea of 
this mean character we reject all obvious excess 
