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two characters. The general symmetry 

 which prevails in the forms of animals is 

 obvious ; but as no precise standard of it 

 in each species has been made or acknow- 

 ledged, any slight deviation from what is 

 most usual is scarcely attended to; in the 

 human form, however, from our being more 

 nearly interested in all that belongs to it, 

 symmetry has been more accurately de- 

 fined; and as far as human observation and 

 selection can fix a standard for beauty, it 

 has been fixed by the Grecian sculptors. 

 That standard is acknowledged in all the 

 most civilized parts of Europe : a near ap- 

 proach to it, makes the person to be called 

 regularly beautiful; a departure from it, 

 whatever striking and attractive peculia- 

 rity it may bestow, is still a departure from 

 that perfection of ideal beauty, so dili- 

 gently sought after, and so nearly attained 

 by those great artists, from the few preci- 

 ous remains of whose works, we have 

 gained some idea of the refined art which 

 raised them to such high eminence ; for bj 



