ANIMALS. 427 



holder. Were a modem lady's face formed exactly like the 

 Venus of Medicis, or the Sleeping Vestal, she would scarcely 

 be considered beautiful, except by the lovers of antiquity, whom 

 of all her admirers perhaps she would be least desirous of pleas- 

 ing. It is true, that we have some disorders among us that dis- 

 figure the features, and from which the ancients were exempt , 

 hut it is equally true, that we want some which were common 

 among them, and which were equally deforming. As for their 

 intellectual powers, these also were probably the same as ours : 

 we excel them in the sciences, which may be considered as a 

 liistory of accumulated experience ; and they excel us in the 

 poetic arts, as they had the first rifling of all the striking images 

 of Nature. 



CHAP. XIII. 



OF MUMMIES, WAX-WORK, ETC. 



" Man ' is not content with the usual term of life, but he is 

 willing to lengthen out his existence by art ; and although he 

 cannot prevent death, he tries to obviate his dissolution. It is 

 natural to attempt to preserve even the most trifling relics of 

 what has long given us pleasure ; nor does the mind separate 

 from the body, without a wish, that even the wretched heap of 

 dust it leaves behind may yet be remembered. The embalming 

 practised in various nations, probably had its rise in this fond 

 desire : an urn filled with ashes, among the Romans, served as a 

 pledge of continuing affection ; and even the grassy graves in 

 our owii church-yards are raised above the surface, with the de- 

 sire that the body below should not be wholly forgotten. The 

 soul, ardent after eternity for itself, is willing to procure, even 

 for the body, a prolonged duration." 



Hut of all nations, the Egyptians carried this art to the high, 

 est perfection .- as it was a principle of their religion, to suppose 

 the soul continued only coeval to the duration of the body, they 



1 lliis chapter I liavp, in a RToat measure, translated from Mr Daubcntorv 

 Whatever is lulded fr(im others, is marked with inverted cominaa. 



