n individual, but of a class. And as there is one
general form, which, as I have said, belongs to the human kind at large,
so in each of these classes there is one common idea and central form,
which is the abstract of the various individual forms belonging to that
class. Thus, though the forms of childhood and age differ exceedingly,
there is a common form in childhood, and a common form in age,--which is
the more perfect, as it is more remote from all peculiarities. But I
must add further, that though the most perfect forms of each of the
general divisions of the human figure are ideal, and superior to any
individual form of that class, yet the highest perfection of the human
figure is not to be found in any one of them. It is not in the Hercules,
nor in the gladiator, nor in the Apollo; but in that form which is taken
from them all, and which partakes equally of the activity of the
gladiator, of the delicacy of the Apollo, and of the muscular strength of
the Hercules. For perfect beauty in any species must combine all the
characters which are beautiful in that species. It cannot consist in any
one to the exclusion of the rest: no one, therefore, must be predominant,
that no one may be deficient.

The knowledge of these different characters, and the power of separating
and distinguishing them, is undoubtedly necessary to the painter, who is
to vary his compositions with figures of various forms and proportions,
though he is never to lose sight of the general idea of perfection in
each kind.

There is, likewise, a kind of symmetry or proportion, which may properly
be said to belong to deformity. A figure lean or corpulent, tall or
short, though deviating from beauty, may still have a certain union of
the various parts, which may contribute to make them, on the whole, not
unpleasing. When the artist has by diligent attention acquired a clear
and distinct idea of beauty and symmetry; when he has reduced the variety
of nature to the abstract idea; his next task will be to become
acquainted with the genuine habits of nature, as distinguished from those
of fashion. For in the same manner, and on the same principles, as he
has acquired the knowledge of the real forms of nature, distinct from
accidental deformity, he must endeavour to separate simple chaste nature
from those adventitious, those affected and forced airs or actions, with
which she is loaded by modern education.

Perhaps I cannot better explain what I