.

30. 'This has given me occasion to consider how so universal a
disposition in womankind, which springs from a laudable motive, the
desire of pleasing, and proceeds upon an opinion, not altogether
groundless, that nature may be helped by art, may be turned to their
advantage. And, methinks, it would be an acceptable service to take them
out of the hands of quacks and pretenders, and to prevent their
imposing upon themselves, by discovering to them the true secret and art
of improving beauty.

31. 'In order to do this, before I touch upon it directly, it will be
necessary to lay down a few preliminary maxims, _viz._

That no woman can be handsome by the force of features alone, any more
she can be witty only by the help of speech.

That pride destroys all symmetry and grace, and affectation is a more
terrible enemy to fine faces than the small-pox.

That no woman is capable of being beautiful, who is not incapable of
being false.

And, that what would be odious in a friend, is deformity in a mistress.

32 'From these few principles thus laid down, it will be easy to prove
that the true art of assisting beauty consists in embellishing the whole
person by the proper ornaments of virtuous and commendable qualities. By
this help alone it is, that those who are the favourite work of nature,
or, as Mr. _Dryden_ expresses it, the porcelain clay of human kind,
become animated, and are in a capacity of exerting their charms: and
those who seem to have been neglected by her, like models wrought in
haste, are capable, in a great measure, of finishing what she has left
imperfect.

33. 'It is, methinks, a low and degrading idea of that sex, which was
created to refine the joys, and soften the cares of humanity, by the
most agreeable participation, to consider them merely as objects of
sight.--This is abridging them of their natural extent of power to put
them upon a level with their pictures at the pantheon. How much nobler
is the contemplation of beauty heightened by virtue, and commanding our
esteem and love, while it draws our observation?

34. 'How faint and spiritless are the charms of a coquette, when
compared with the real loveliness of _Sophronia's_ innocence, piety,
good-humour, and truth; virtues which add a new softness to her sex, and
even beautify her beauty! That agreeableness, which must otherwise have
appeared no longer in the modest virgin, is now preserved in the tender
mother, the prudent friend and fa