SECT. XVI. 7. i. OF INSTINCT. ioj> 



is firft: agreeably afFefted ; next its fenfe of fmellis delighted 

 with the odour of her milk ; then its tafle is gratified by the fla- 

 vour of it j afterwards the appetites of hunger and of third afford 

 pleafure by the pofTeilion of their objects, and by the fubfequent 

 digeftion of the aliment ; and, laiily, the fenfe of touch is de- 

 lighted by the foftnefs and fmoothnefs of the milky fountain, 

 the fource of fuch variety of happinefs. 



All thefe various kinds of pleafure at length become afTociated 

 with the form of the mother's breaft ; which the infant embra- 

 ces with its hands, preffes with its lips, and watches with its 

 eyes ; and thus acquires more accurate ideas of the form of its 

 mother's bofom, than of the odour and flavour or warmth, 

 which it perceives by its other fenfes. And hence at our ma- 

 turer years, when any object: of vifion is prefented to us, which 

 by its waving or fpiral lines bears any fimilitude to the form of 

 the female bofom, whether it be found in a landfcape with foft 

 gradations of rifing and defcending furface, or in the forms of 

 fome antique vafes, or in other works of the pencil or the chiflel, 

 we feel a general glow of delight, which feems to influence all 

 our lenfes ; and, if the object be not too large, we experience an 

 attraction to embrace it with our arms, and to falute it with our 

 lips, as we did in our early infancy the bofom of our mother. 

 And thus we find, according to the ingenious idea of Hogarth, 

 that the waving lines of beauty were originally taken from the 

 temple of Venus. 



This animal attraction is love ; which is a fenfation, when 

 the object is prefenr ; and a defire, when it is abfent Which 

 eonftitutes the pureil fource of human felicity, the cordial drop 

 in the otherwife vapid cup of life, and which overpays mankind 

 for the care and labour, which are attached to the pre-eminence 

 of his fituation above other animals. 



It (hould have been obferved, that colour as well as form fome- 

 times enters into our idea of a beautiful object, as a good com- 

 plexion for inftance, becaufe a fine or fair colour is in general 

 a fign of health, and conveys to us an idea of the warmth of the 

 object ; and a pale countenance on the contrary gives an idea 

 of its being cold to the touch. 



It was before remarked, that young animals ufe their lips to 

 diftinguifli the forms of things, as well as their fingers, and 

 hence we learn the origin of our inclination to falute beautiful 

 objects with our lips. For a definition of Grace, fee Clais III. 

 i. 2. 4. 



VII. There are two ways by which we become acquainted 

 with the paflions of others : firft, by having obferved the effects 

 of them, as of fear or anger, on our <->vvn bodies, we know at 



fight 



