'Wife b?ing efteemed a faithful frient!, as well as 
an agreeable miftrefs. Her mind is ftill more 
prized than her perfon; and, without the im- 
provement of both, flie can never exped to be- 
come perfeftly agreeable ; for good fenfe alone 
can preferve what her beauty has gained. 
It has been previoufly hinted, that female 
beauty improves about the age of puberty; but 
were we to attempt a definition of beauty, and 
what conftitutes it's perfeftion, we fhould find 
nothing more difficult to determine. Every 
country has different ideas refpefting this inde- 
finable'quality ; and even the fame country thinks 
differently at different aeras. The ancients had 
a very different tafle from what prevails at pre- 
fent. The junftion of the eye-brows was confi- 
dered by TibuUusas conftituting a very peculiar 
grace in the enumeration of his miflrefs' charms. 
Narrow foreheads were approved; and fcarcely 
any of the Roman ladies, celebrated for their 
other perfedions, but are alfo praifed for the red- 
nefs of their hair. The nofe alfo of the Grecian 
Venus was fuch as would appear at prefent an ac- 
tual deformity; as it fell in a ftraight line from the 
foreheadj without the fmalleft finking between the 
eyes. 
Among the m.oderns alfo, every country feems 
to have peculiar ideas of beauty. The Perfians 
admire large eye-brows, joining in the middle: 
the edges and corners of the eyes are tindtured 
with black; and the apparent fize of the head is 
increafed by a variety of bandages formed into a 
turban. In fome parts of India, black teeth and 
white hair are defired with ardour; and one of the 
principal employments of the Thibetan women is 
to redden their teeth with the infufion of certain 
herbs, and to render their hair white by a parti- 
cular kind of permanent powder. The pafTion 
for coloured teeth obtains alfo in China and Ja- 
pan ; v/here, to compleat their idea of beauty, the 
objeft of defire muft have little eyes, nearly clofed; 
feet extremiCly fmall; and a large waift. Some 
American tribes flatten the heads of their child- 
ren, by keeping them, while young, fqueezed 
between two boards, fo as to make the vifage 
much larger than it would naturally be; others 
fiatten the head at top; and fome render it as 
nearly round as poffible. The inhabitants of the 
weftern coafls of Africa have a very extraordinary 
tafte for beauty; a flat nofe, thick Hps, and a jetty 
black complexion, are there regarded as the moft 
indulgent gifts of nature; fuch indeed they are 
all, in fome degree, found to pofTefs : however, 
they take care to increafe the natural deformities, 
as they appear to us; and they have m^any addi- 
tional methods of rendering their perfons more 
frightfully pleafing. The whole body and vifage, 
among fome nations, are fcarred with a variety of 
figures; which is not effefled without great pain 
and repeated incifions, and even fometimes parts 
of the body are amputated. 
But it v/ould be endlefs to remark the various 
arts which caprice or cuftom has employed to dif- 
tort and disfigure the body, in order to render it 
more attraftive: in faft, every nation, how bar- 
barous foever, feems unwilling to acquiefce in t!ie 
human figure as nature has left it, and has it's 
peculiar arts of heightening beauty. Painting, 
pov/dering, amputating, perforating the ears and 
nofe, confining the fliape in fome parts, and ex- 
panding it in others, are arts praftifed in many 
countries; and, in fome degree, admired in all. 
Vol. II. 
Thefe arts were probably firfl introduced in ord?r 
to conceal epidemic deformities; cuflom, by de- 
grees, reconciles them to our view; and, after 
looking on them for fome time with indiflerence, 
we at laft regard them with a kind of delights 
Hovvever, it mud be confeffed that many cuiloms 
which fafhion has fanilioned and confirmed amono- 
the poliflied Europeans, are not lefs ridiculous and 
difgufting than Ibme of thofe which obtain am.ong 
the mofl uncivilized favages; habit only reconciles 
us to their ufe, and vanity alone can render them 
tolerably eafy to endure. 
At the age of puberty, or in a few years after, 
the human body attains it's full flature. The 
growth of fome perfons flops at the fourteenth or 
fifteenth year; and, in others, it goes on till they 
arrive at twenty-two or twenty-three. During 
this period, mofl men are of a (lender n-.ake, their 
thighs and legs are fmall, and their mufcular parts 
are not properly filled up: but by degrees the 
flefliy fibres augment ; the mufcles fwell, and af- 
fume their figure ; the limbs become proportioned 
and rounder; and, before the age of thirty, the 
bodies of men acquire their mod perfedl fymme- 
try. With refpeft to wom.en, their bodies arrive 
at perfection much fooner. As their fize is fmal- 
ler, and their mufcles and other parts lefs ftrong 
and compaft than thofe of men, they arrive more 
early at maturity: hence the perfons of women 
are found to be as com.pleat at twenty as thofe of 
men are at thirty. 
The body of a well-fliaped man ought to be 
fquare, the mufcles marked with boldnefs, and 
the features of the face diftindly defined. In 
women, all the lines fhould be rounder and foftei-, 
and the features more delicate. Strength and ma- 
jefly are the attributes of man; grace and foftnefs 
the peculiar embellifhments of the other fex. In 
both, every part of their conformation declares 
them to be the fovereigns of the earth. Man 
fupports his body ered; his attitude is that of 
command; and his countenance, which is turned 
tovv'ards the heavens, is impreffed with the figna- 
tures of fuperior dignity. The image of his foul 
is depided in his face; and the excellence of his 
nature penetrates through his material form, and 
animates his features v/ith a divine grace. His 
m.ajeftic deportment, and the firmnefs of his 
movements, announce the fuperiority of his rank: 
he touches the earth with his extremity only; he 
views it at a difl:ance, and feems to defpife it. 
His arms are not beflrowed on him, as on other 
creatures, for pillars of fupport; his hands tread 
not the earth, and lofe not by fridion and pref- 
fure that delicacy of touch which furniflies him 
with fo many of his enjoyments. His hands and 
arms are formed for the mofl: noble purpofes; to 
execute the commands of his intellect, to lay hold 
of difl:ant objefts, to remove obifacles, to defend 
him from injuries, and to feize and retain objedrs 
at pleafure. 
When the mind is at eafe, all the features of 
the vifage feem to be fettled in a ftate of profound 
tranquillity: their proportion, their harmony, and 
their union, difplay ferenity of fentimiCnt, and 
feem to accord with the calm that fubfifis within. 
But, when the foul is agitated, the human vifage 
becomes a living picture, where the paffions are 
expreflfed with equal delicacy and energy; where 
every emotion is reprefented by a correfpondent 
feature; and where every im.preflion anticipates 
the will, and reveals by obvious and pathetic cha- 
O rasters 
