194 



ever may be the prevailing opinion on that 

 point, I think it is perfectly clear that hi* 

 general principles of beauty — that smooth- 

 ness, gradual variation, delicacy of make, 

 tender colours, and such as insensibly melt 

 into each other — are strictly applicable to 

 female beauty ; so much so, that not one of 

 them can be changed or diminished, without 

 a manifest diminution of that qualit} 7 . 



The manner in which the ancients have 

 represented their male deities, will throw 

 still more light on their ideas of beauty as a 

 separate character. The two most beau- 

 tiful of their gods, Apollo and Bacchus,en- 

 joy perpetual youth ; that is, they continue 

 in the state in which the male sex is most 

 like to the female ; they are represented 

 without beards ; their limbs smooth and 

 round, and without any marked articula- 

 tion of the muscles ; in Bacchus, particu- 

 larly, the turn of the limbs, and the style of 

 face are perfectly female; and his extreme 

 beauty and feminine appearance are men- 

 tioned at the same time by the poets, as con- 

 nected with each other, 



