38 
L AVATER’s 
attribute as peculiar to Minerva, the daughter of 
Jupiter, one of the. moft beautiful and powerful 
Goddeffes, who partly owed her influence to per- 
fonal charms. 
Indeed, without ftudying the animal fyftem, all 
attempts to make a confiderable progrefs in the fine 
arts would prove inefFe6tual, for the fuperior excel- 
lence of a figure or ftatue lies in the perfect union 
of grace and beauty. Such perfeftion may be faid 
to confift of the moft regular human forms, rela- 
tive to the refpe£live motions of all parts ; and, 
in addition to this ftriking fymmetry, the graces 
which fet it off are better felt than defcribed by 
every man of tafte who is imprefted with fome- 
thing inexpreftible, arifmg from a clofe connection 
between the movements of the body, and thofe 
agitations of the mind which he cannot fupprefs, 
while he views the moft exa£t proportion of every 
part completely united in the harmony of a whole 
pleafing obje£t of love or admiration. 
ESSAY 
