io6 The Wis DOM of GOD Part I. 



tion and Beauty is but a mere Conceit, and that 

 all Things are alike handfome to fome Men who 

 have as good Eyes as others ^ and that this ap- 

 pears by the Variation of Fafhions, which doth 

 fo alter Men's Fancies, and what e're-while 

 fcem'd very handfome and comely, when it is 

 once worn out of fafhion appears very abfurd, 

 uncouth and ridiculous. To this I anfwer, That 

 Cuftom and Ufe doth much in thofe Things 

 where little of Proportion and Symmetry {hew 

 themfelves, or which are alike comely and beau- 

 tiful, to difpararge the one, and commend the 



other : But there are Degrees of 

 * Antidote Things ; for (that I may ufe ^ Dr. 

 Sm,/t Af'^^^'s Vv^ords) I dare appeal to any 

 €. 5. Man that is not funk into fo forlorn a 



Pitch of Degeneracy, that he is as ftu- 

 pid to thefe Things as the bafeft Beafts, whe-^ 

 ther, for Example, . a rightly-cut Tetraedromy 

 Cube or Icofaedrom have no more Pulchritude in 

 them than any rude broken Stone lying in the 

 Field or High- ways ; or, * to name other folid 

 Figures, which tho' they be not regular, proper- 

 ly fo caird, yet have a fettled Idea and Nature, 

 as a Co7ie^ Sphere or Cy Under ^ whether the Sight 

 of thofe do not more gratify the Minds of Men, 

 and pretend to more Elegancy of Shape, than 

 thofe rude Cuttings or Chippings of Free-ilone 

 that fall from the Mafon's Hands, and ferve for 

 nothing but to fill up the Middle of the Wall, 

 as fit to be hid from the Eyes of Men for their 

 Uglinefs ? And therefore it is obfervable, that 

 if Nature fhape any Thing but near to this Geo- 

 metrical 



