61 



It is true that in all animals, where great 

 strength and destructive fierceness are unit- 

 ed, there is a mixture of grandeur; but the 

 principles on which a greater or lesser de<~ 

 gree of picturesqueness is founded , may 

 clearly be distinguished: the lion, for in- 

 stance, with his shaggy mane, is much 

 more picturesque than the lioness, though 

 she is equally an object of terror. 



The effect of smoothness or roughness 

 in producing the beautiful or the pic- 

 turesque, is again clearly exemplified in 

 birds. Nothing is more truly consonant 

 to our ideas of beauty, than their plumage 

 when smooth and undisturbed, and when 

 the eye glides over it without interruption : 

 nothing, on the other hand, has so pic* 

 turesque an appearance as their feathers, 

 when ruffled by any accidental circum- 

 stance, or by any sudden passion in the 

 animal. When inflamed with anger or with 

 desire, the first symptoms appear in their 

 ruffled plumage: the game cock, when 

 he attacks his rival, raises the feathers of 

 his neck; the purple pheasant his crest; 

 and the peacock, when he feels the return 



