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BEAUTY.

There's no miniature

In her face, but is a copious theme

Which would, discoursed at large of,

Make a volume.

MASSINGER.

Mark her majestic fabric! she's a temple

Sacred by birth, and built by hands divine;
Her soul's the deity that lodges there;

Nor is the pile unworthy of the god.

DRYDEN.

The hand that made you fair, hath made you good. SHAKESPEARE.

Without the smile from partial beauty won,

O what were man?—a world without a sun.

CAMPBELL.

Thy surprising beauty,

That might transport an angel from his spher
And fix him by divine remembrance here.

DENNIS.

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198

BEAUTY WITHOUT EXPRESSION CANNOT
ENGENDER LOVE.

Beauty is defined by an eminent painter to be a symmetry of limbs, accompanied with goodness of colour." It was this principle that governed the magic pencil of Apelles, when he delineated "the sea-born goddess," so lovely and inimitable, so full of grace and fascination! Lucian, who was an admirable judge of the subject, bestows high encomiums on Homer, for comparing Menelaus' naked arms to ivory gently dyed in purple; for such, according to his opinion, should be the colour of the whole body. Ausonius, the celebrated Roman poet, who loved so enthusiastically the beautiful daughter of the Emperor Valentinian, the incomparable Bissula, addresses a painter whom he employed to draw her portrait: "Go, then, artist, and confound red roses with many lilies, and what reflection the air takes from them, let that be the colour of her face." Petrarch, in describing Laura, represented the lily and the rose blooming on her cheeks, and that when she smiled she displayed "a brilliant row of pearls, set in orbs of coral." Lord Byron thought that beauty never appeared so lovely like an April flower, it was bathed in tears.' "as when, But the finest features, even if arranged with the most harmonious symmetry, and heightened by the most blooming complexion, must be animated with a glowing expression, before they can strike the passions, or enchain the admiration of love. To invest beauty with the power of conquest, it is necessary, as the noblest of poets observed, that there should be

"Heart on the lips, and soul within the eyes." Among the most peculiar and attracting graces of a beautiful face, the dimple has always borne away the palm of pre-eminence, and the reason is evident: dimples illuminate the countenance with the light of smiles, which reflect, as a mirror, the sensibility of passion and sweetness of temper that connect beauty with sentiment, and express a winning charm, which is not the characteristic of any other particular set of features, but is, perhaps, possible to all.

The thought in the last stanza of the following description of a youthful beauty is singularly delicate and poetical:

He saw a face which once had moved his heart

A countenance so beautiful, so bland,

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LOVELINESS AND PURITY.

A broider'd cap was on her brow; beneath
Her parted hair in rich profusion fell
Over a neck of snow. The orient pearl,
Pure emblem of her spotless mind, the
flower,

Bright symbol of her joyous path, were twined
Amid those flowing tresses. Night and morn
Seem'd mingling there, so sable were her

locks,

So pale her marble brow. How fair she

was-

How envied and how rich :-rich in the gifts That art yields not, that gold can never buy,— Rich in the faultless features of her race: Rich, if the fervent love of faithful friends Could make her wealthy. On that heavenly brow

The high-born chieftain turn'd his rapturous gaze.

The traveller felt the sunshine of her smile
Light up his weary way; and, as she pass'd,
The lowly hind forgot his wonted toil,
To greet her with his humble benison.

HARMONY IN MOTION.

Anon.

Such harmony in motion, speech, and air,
That without fairness she was more than fair.
Crabbe.

The charming smile that robs sence from the hart. Spenser.

EVEN IN SHADOWS YOU ARE FAIR.

Look out, bright eyes, and bless the air;
Even in shadows you are fair.
Shut-up beauty is like fire,

That breaks out clearer still and higher.
Though your beauty be confined,

And soft Love a prisoner bound,
Yet the beauty of your mind

Neither check nor chain hath found.
Look out nobly, then, and dare
Ev'n the fetters that you wear!

Beaumont and Fletcher.

HOW TO GAIN MEN'S AFFECTIONS.

Modesty in dress is a powerful attractive to honourable love. The male heart is a study, in which your sex are supposed to be a good deal conversant. Yet in this study, you must give me leave to say, many of them seem to me but indifferent proficients. To gain men's affections, women in general are naturally desirous. They need not deny, they cannot conceal it. The sexes were made for each other. We wish for a place in your hearts why should you not wish for one in ours? But how much are you deceived, my fair friends, if you dream of taking that fort by storm! When you show a sweet solicitude to please by every decent, gentle, unaffected attraction, we are soothed, we are subdued, we yield ourselves your willing captives. But if at any time by a forward appearance you betray a confidence in your charms, and by throwing them out upon us all at once you seem resolved, as it were, to force our admiration, that moment we are on our guard, and your assaults are vain, provided at least we have any spirit or sentiment. In reality, they who have very little of either, I might have said they who have none, even the silliest. [ even the loosest men shall in a sober mood be taken with the bashful air and reserved | dress of an amiable young woman, infinitely more than they ever were with all the open blaze of laboured beauty and arrogant claims of undisguised allurement; the human heart, in its better sensations, being still formed to the love of virtue.

Let me add, that the human imagination hates to be confined. We are never highly delighted where something is not left us to fancy. This last observation holds true throughout all nature, and all art. But when I speak of these, I must subjoin, that art being agreeable no farther than as it is conformed to nature, the

one will not be wanted in the case before us if the other be allowed its full influence. What I mean is this; that supposing a young lady to be deeply possessed with a regard for "whatsoever things are pure, venerable, and of a good report," it will lead to decorum spontaneously, and flow with unstudied propriety through every part of her attire and demeanour. Let it be likewise added, that simplicity, the inseparable companion both of genuine grace and of real modesty, if it do not always strike at first (of which it seldom fails) is sure, however, when it does strike, to produce the deepest and most permanent impressions. Fordyce.

IN HER CHEEK THE FLUSHING
MORNING LIES.

On tiptoe, laughing like the blue-eyed May,
And looking aslant, where a spoil'd urchin

strives

(In vain) to reach the flowers she holds on high,

Stands a young girl, fresh as the dawn, with all

Her bright hair given to the golden sun!
There standeth she whom Midnight never saw,
Nor Fashion stared on with its arrogant eye,
Nor gallant tempted ;-beautiful as youth:
Waisted like Hebe; and with Dian's step,
As she, with sandals newly laced, would rise
To hunt the fawn through woods of Thessaly.
From all the garden of her beauty nought
Has flown: no rose is thwarted by pale hours;
But on her living lip bright crimson hangs,
And in her cheek the flushing morning lies,
And in her breath the odorous hyacinth.

GENTLE DEAUTY.

Anon.

Her face was swect, and with a pensive life That would dispel the birth or germ of strife. Hers was a mind as pure as happy spring, Smooth as the dove's unruffled gentle wing; Fill'd with much knowledge, yet her simple

ways

Deeming all worthy but herself of praise;
She, better yet than most- -to her unknown--
She saw the good of others, not her own.
E. Millen.

And gentle smiles that never fail'd to please.

Harte.

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