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Let jockies, and ftable-boys, and cock- 

 fighters keep their own abfurd ideas : but let 

 not men, who pretend to fee, and think for 

 themfelves, adopt fuch ridiculous conceits. 

 In arts, we judge by the rules of art. In 

 nature^ we have no criterion but the forms of 

 nature, We criticize a building by the rules 

 of architecture : but in judging of a tree, or a 

 mountain ; we judge by the moft beautiful 

 forms of each, which nature hath given us. 

 It is thus in other things. From nature alone 

 we have the form of a horfe. Should we then 

 feek for beauty in that object, in our own wild 

 conceptions ; or recur to the great original, 

 from whence we had it ? We may be aflured, 

 that nature's forms are always the moft beau- 

 tiful j and therefore we Ihould endeavour to 



correct our ideas by hers. If however we 



cannot give up the point, let us at leaft be 

 confident. If we admire a horfe without a 

 tail, or a cock without feathers, let us not 

 laugh at the Chinefe for admiring the difpro- 

 portioned foot of his miftrefs ; nor at the 

 Indian, for doting on her black teeth, and 

 tattooed cheeks. For myfelf, I cannot con^ 

 ceive, why it fhould make a horfe more 



beautiful 



