sentiment and manners, that so high a privilege might not
be possessed by the unworthy, and that human reason might no longer
suffer the mortification of those who are compelled to adore an idol,
which differs from a stone or log only by the skill of the artificer:
and if they cannot themselves behold beauty with indifference, they
must, surely, approve an attempt to shew that it merits their regard.

4. I shall, however, principally consider that species of beauty which
is expressed in the countenance; for this alone is peculiar to human
beings, and is not less complicated than their nature. In the
countenance there are but two requisites to perfect beauty, which are
wholly produced by external causes, colour and proportion: and it will
appear, that even in common estimation these are not the chief; but that
though there may be beauty without them, yet there cannot be beauty
without something more.

5. The finest features, ranged in the most exact symmetry, and
heightened by the most blooming complexion, must be animated before they
can strike; and when they are animated, will generally excite the same
passions which they express. If they are fixed in the dead calm of
insensibility, they will be examined without emotion; and if they do not
express kindness, they will be beheld without love.

6. Looks of contempt, disdain, or malevolence, will be reflected, as
from a mirror, by every countenance on which they are turned; and if a
wanton aspect excites desire; it is but like that of a savage for his
prey, which cannot be gratified without the destruction of its object.

7. Among particular graces, the dimple has always been allowed the
pre-eminence, and the reason is evident; dimples are produced by a
smile, and a smile is an expression of complacency; so the contraction
of the brows into a frown, as it is an indication of a contrary temper,
has always been deemed a capital defect.

8. The lover is generally at a loss to define the beauty, by which his
passion was suddenly and irresistibly determined to a particular object;
but this could never happen, if it depended upon any known rule of
proportion, upon the shape and disposition of the features, or the
colour of the skin: he tells you that it is something which he cannot
fully express, something not fixed in any part, but diffused over the
whole; he calls it a sweetness, a softness, a placid sensibility, or
gives it some other appellation which connects beauty wi