GS3 L O 
term integrity , are all abfolutely neceffary to make either 
men or women eftirnable; but to procure efteem to the 
female character, the modefty peculiar to their fex js a 
very effential circumftance. Nature hath provided them 
with it as a defence againft the artful folicitations of the 
other fex before marriage, and alfo as a fupport of conju¬ 
gal fidelity. A woman, therefore, whofe difpofitions are 
gentle, delicate, and rather timid than bold, who is pof- 
feffed of a large (hare of fenfibility and modefty, and whofe 
manners are foft and infinuating, mult, upon moral prin¬ 
ciples, command the efteem and benevolence of every in¬ 
dividual of the other fex who is poffefied of found under- 
ftanding; but, if her perfon be deformed, or not fuch as 
to excite fome degree of animal deiire, (lie will attract no 
man’s love. In like manner, a man whofe moral charac¬ 
ter is good,- whofe underftanding is acute, and whofe con- 
verfation is inffructive, muft command the efteem of every 
fenfible and virtuous woman ; but, if his figure be dit- 
agreeable, his manner unpoliftied, his habits flovenly, and, 
above all, if he be deficient in perjonal courage , he will 
hardly excite defire in the female bread. It is only when 
the qualities which command efteem are, in the fame per¬ 
fon, united with thofe which excite defire, that the indi¬ 
vidual fo accomplifhed can be an obje6t of love to one of 
the other fex ; but, when thefe qualities are thus united, 
each of them iticreafes the other in the imagination of the 
lover. The beauty of bis miftrefs gives her, in his appre- 
henfion, a greater (hare of gentlcnefs, modefty, and every 
thing which adorns the female character, than perhaps (lie 
really pofl'efi'es ; whi 1 (t his perfuafion of her internal worth 
makes him, on the other hand, apprehend her beauty to 
be abfolutely unrivalled. 
To this theory an objection readily offers itfelf, which 
it is incumbent upon us to obviate. Men and women 
fotnetimes fall in love at firft fight, and very often before 
they have opportunities of forming a juft eftimate of each 
other’s moral character ; How is this circumftance to be 
reconciled with the progrefiive generation of love ? We 
arifw’er, By an aflociation of ideas which is formed upon 
principles of phyfiognomy. Every paftion and habitual 
difpofition of mind gives a particular caft to the counte¬ 
nance, and'is apt to difcover itfelf in fome feature of the 
face. This we learn by experience ; and in time, with¬ 
out any effort of our ow n, the idea of each particular caft 
of countenance comes to be fo clofely affociated iu our minds 
with the internal difpofition which it indicates, that the 
oiie can never afterwards be prefented to our view with¬ 
out inftantly fuggefting the other to the imagination. 
Hence it is that every man, who has been accultomed to 
make obfervations, naturally forms to himfelf, from the 
features and lineaments of a ltranger’s face, fome opinion 
of his character and fortune. We are no fooner prefented 
to a perfon for the firft time, than we are immediately im- 
preffed with the idea of a proud, a referved,an aft’able, ora 
good-natured, man ; and, upon our going into a company 
ofabfolute ftrangers, our benevolence oraverfion, our aw e 
or contempt, rites inftantly towards particular perfons, 
before we have heard them fpeak a word, or know fo much 
as their names or delignations. The fame thing happens 
when we are prefented to the fair fex. If a woman, feen 
for the firft time, have that particular caff of countenance, 
and that expreftion of features, to which we have aftbciated 
notions of gentlenefs, modefty, and other female virtues, 
fire inftantly commands owrcjleem ; and, if fne have like wife 
fo much beauty as to make her an object of particular de¬ 
fire, efteem and defire become fuddenly combined ; and 
that combination conftitutes the affection, of love. Such, 
too, is the nature- of all mental affociations, that each 
part of which they are compofed adds ftrength and vivid- 
nefs to the other parts; fo that, in the prefent inftance, 
defire makes us imagine virtues in the woman which her 
countenance perhaps does not indicate ; and the virtues 
which <ire there afhially vifible, make us apprehend her 
beauty as more perfect than it is. 
The affe&ion thus generated is more or lefs pure, and 
V E. 
will be more or lefs permanent, according as the one or 
the other part of which it is compounded predominates, 
“Where defire of.poffeffion prevails over our efteem of 
the perfon and merits of the defi-able objeft, love lofes its 
benevolent character: the appetite for gratification be¬ 
comes ungovernable, and tends violently to its end, re¬ 
gard lefs of the mifery that muft follow. In that (late, 
love is no longer a fweet agreeable ajfdlion ; it becomes a 
felfifh painful pajjion, which, like hunger and third, pro¬ 
duces no liappjnefs but in the inftant of fruition; and, 
when fruition is over, difguft and averfion generally iuc- 
ceed to defire. On the other hand, where efteem, founded 
on a virtuous character and gentle manners, prevails over 
animal defire, the lover would not for the world gratify 
his appetite at the expenfe of his miftrefs’s honour or 
peace of mind. He wiffies, indeed, for enjoyment; and 
to him enjoyment is more exquifite than to the mere fen¬ 
fual lover, becaufe it unites i'entiment with the gratifica¬ 
tion of fenfe; at the feme time that, fo far from being 
fucceeded by difguft or averfion, it increafes his benevo¬ 
lence to the woman, whofe character and manners he 
efteems, and who has contributed fo much to his pieafure. 
Benevolence to an individual, having a general end, ad¬ 
mits of ads without number, and is feldotn fully accom- 
pliftfed. Hence mutual love, which is compofed chiefly 
of efteem and benevolence, can hardly be of a (hotter du¬ 
ration than its objeds. Frequent enjoyment endears fuch 
lovers to each other, and makes cOnftancya pieafure ; and, 
when the days of fenfual enjoyment are over, efteem and 
benevolence will remain in the mind, making fweet, even 
in old age, the fociety of that pair, in whom are colleded 
the affedions of hufband, wife, lover, friend, the tendered 
affedions of human nature. 
From the whole of this inveftigation, we think it ap¬ 
pears, that the affedion between the fexes which deferves 
the name of love, is infeparably conneded with virtue and 
delicacy; that a man of loofe morals cannot be a faithful 
or a generous lover; that in the breaft of him who has 
ranged from woman to woman for the mere gratification 
of his fenfual appetite, defire muft have effaced all efteem 
for the female charader ; and that, therefore, the maxim 
too generally received, that “ a reformed rake makes the 
beft hufband,” has very feldom a chance to be true. We 
think it may likewife be inferred, that thoufands fancy 
themfelves in love who know not what love is, or how it 
is generated in the human breaft ; and therefore we beg 
leave to advife fuch of our readers as may imagine them¬ 
felves to be in that ftate, to examine their own minds, 
with a view to difcover, whether, if the objeds of their 
love were old or ugly, they would ftill efteem them for 
the virtues of their charader, and the propriety of their 
manners. This is a queftion which deferves to be well 
weighed by the young and the amorous, who, in forming 
the matrimonial connexion, are too often blindly impelled 
by the mere animal defire inflamed by beauty. It may 
indeed happen, after the pieafure of gratifying that defire 
is gone (and, if not refined by efteem and benevolence, 
go it mult with a fwift pace), that a new bond of attach¬ 
ment may be formed upon more dignified and more lafting 
principles ; but this is a dangerous experiment. Even 
iuppofing good fenfe, good temper, and internal worth of 
every fort, yet anew attachment upon fuch qualifications 
is rarely fo rifled ; becaufe it commonly or rather always, 
happens, that fuch qualifications, the only folid founda¬ 
tion of an indiffoluble connexion, if they did not origi¬ 
nally make efteem predominate over animal defire, are af¬ 
terwards rendered altogether invifible by fatiety of enjoy¬ 
ment creating^ difguft; which is generally the cafe with 
violent love, founded on the defire of enjoyment only. 
As the delicate nature of female honour and decorum, 
and the inexpreflible grace of a chafte and modelt beha¬ 
viour, are the fureft and indeed the only means of kin¬ 
dling at firft, and ever after of keeping aiive, this tender 
and elegant flame, and of accomplilhing the excellent 
ends defigned by it \ to attempt by fraud to violate the one, 
on, 
