190 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. 



ohje(f!t, If a perlbn ftands betwixt me and it j but tliat perfon moving 

 out of the way is not the Caufe of my feeing it *. 



Thus, it appears, that the Ideas, even of objedls of Senfc, are 

 not from Senfe : And, if not from Senfe, they muft be from Mind ; 

 and all that the Senfe can do is, to excite the Mind to produce them 

 out of its own ftore. 



But, as there is a progrefs in our IntelletStual Part, as well as in e- 

 very other part of our wonderful compofition, fo the Ideas of fenfi- 

 ble objeds, when they are firft excited in us, are far from being 

 perfed : But the latent Idea is only by degrees difclofed and per- 

 fedcd. This is evident in the Idea of Figure, which being excited 

 by our fenfcs in the manner that I have defcribed f, is, no doubt, at 

 firft, very imperfect ; but, when it comes to be perfeded by the 

 fcience of Geometry, it is an Idea which cannot be derived from 

 Matter, becaufe it does not exift in Matter ; for there is no fuch 

 thing in Nature as a perfedl circle or globe, fuch as is defined by 

 Geometers; — there cannot even be drawn a ftraight line, in which 

 many crooks and Inequalities may not be perceived with a micro- 

 fcope. 



The fame is true of thofe Forms, which we admire fo much in 

 Painting and Statuary ; for it is acknowledged by all the connoif- 

 feurs in thofe arts, that, if an artift did no more than copy life 

 exactly, as the Indian and Chinefe painters do, he would not de- 

 ferve the name of an artift. The Ideal Beauty, therefore, (for fo 

 it is properly called), makes the perfedlion of all the fine arts ; and 

 this Beauty is not colleded from Senfe or Obfervation, but arifes 

 from our own Mind. 



Here, 



• See upon this fubjed, vol. i. p. 163. 



t P. 83- 



