vetur: nor is this more diftinguishable in any thing, I believe, than in Tafte, of which, either what is beautiful or elegant, or at leaft what is fuppofed to be fo in fome degree, is always the object; but we never heard of the toad or the bat being any where admired for their respective beauties, or of the goldfinch, on the contrary, being any where difliked for its uglinefs. Without fixing upon particulars, there are, doubtlefs, fome forms which are naturally conftituted by the Creator of the world, to be pleafing or disgusting to our fight, independent upon the ideas of advantage or of danger we receive from them; as there are fome founds naturally agreeable or difagreeable to the ear, and our minds were in like manner reciprocally adapted to receive delight or uneafinefs from their prefence; fome particular animals, for inftance, are univerfally confidered as handfome, either in form or colour, and others as univerfally denominated ugly: now what is univerfal, could not poffibly have its origin in fashion or caprice: the moft fceptical perfon living muft grant that fome forms are univerfally allowed at leaft to be more handsome than others; which neceffarily implies the existence of a natural principle in the mind, as a ftandard to which they may be referred. You will excufe me for enlarging upon the obfervation : if beauty of form had been as neceffary in the animal world, as a fitness, fymmetry, or a proportion of parts, the inelegant forms of fome creatures would not have found a place in it. Had none but beautiful forms been animated, there would have been a gap in this part of the creation; but beautiful or otherwise, they all stand in the fame relation to God; and, doubtless, 1788.

the fcale of beauty, as well as of active excellence in animal life, was eftablished, and as equally adjusted by his wifdom and goodness for the perfection of the universe.

"What is true of the animal world in this refpect, might in like manner be affirmed of the inanimated parts of it: the forms in each are but infinite, and beauty and deformity both in the one and the other appear contrafted, if not blended together. One end of God in this vifible creation, was certainly the delight of his creatures, of which the meaneft reptile has undoubtedly its fhare, proportioned to its facul ties of difcernment; and could we in this prefent life, as it is poffible we may hereafter, take in the ge neral face of nature at one view, we should difcern that even the moft difcordant parts of this globe which we inhabit, when feparately and unconnectedly furveyed, have all of them a direct fubordinate relation to the beauty, harmony, and perfection of the whole; but limited as our prefent faculties are, the most contracted view may discover fuch a regulated variety in the conftruction of every thing around us, as feems evidently defigned to engage our attention for the furtherance of our knowledge, whilft it infpires us with a portion of pleafure and fatisfaction, as an encouragement in the purfuit of it, and a reward for its attainment: how variety and pleafure are connected as caufe and ef fect, must remain a fecret; but it is evident, that variety under certain reftrictions as the immediate cause of that we call beauty, feems principally defigned to lead us on to feience; the thought might be pur fued, but I am writing a letter, not a treatise.

"It may, however, be farther obferved here, that had man been G framed.

framed without a fenfe of beauty or elegance, (terms, which, by the way, I do not understand as fynonymous), he would have experienced a want of innocent amufements for the neceffary folace of life, (exclufive of its incitement to knowledge), and yet to have had this fenfe or tafte of beauty abfolutely unalterable like his fenfe or perception of truth, muft, in many inftances, have conftituted pofitive diftrefs, without diftinction, and without remedy: it was, therefore, upon this account, proper and requifite for man in his prefent ftate, to fupport him under the labours of life, and as a balance to their weight and preffure, that he fhould have a natural difcernment of beauty implanted in him, with a pleasure annexed to its perception; yet fo wifely is it ordered, at the fame time, that use and habit we find, notwithstanding this natural appointment, foon reconcile us to the fight of objects which are entirely devoid of beauty, either in their form, or colouring, or difpofitionreconcile us at least fo far, as to prevent a painful difguft; nay, fo flexible is this faculty in the kind determination of Providence for our happinefs, that we at laft give the preference even in point of beauty, to thofe cuftoms, and are difpofed to think those objects we are abfolutely obliged to be long converfant with, the most agreeable, though they

were abfolutely difagreeable to the eye at firft; juft as the natural diftinction of our grofs corporeal tafte by the palate, goes on through a ftate of indifference, to a fondness for those particular flavours, which were originally difagreeable, and even naufeous; but, on the contrary, it is worthy of our obfervation, and it demands our special gratitude, that whatever is once found agreeable to our taste, either of food or elegance, never becomes pofitively difagreeable to us afterwards from cuftom, unless it be by accident, or is owing to Tome imprudence or abufe..

"Upon the whole, then, a good tafte, in the metaphorical sense, I prefume, for I do not pretend here to demonftrate, may be faid to be that ability of mind, by which we are enabled to diftinguish and to relish whatever is beautiful or excellent in art or nature, confidered fingly: or whatever elegance arifes from a juft arrangement of objects, which in themselves are not difagreeable. It procures us a refined fpecies of fenfual enjoyment in the pleasures of the fight and hearing, by far above the groffer pleafures of the other fenfes; but our good tafte is moft delighted with fuch pictures as are formed by the power of the poet's fancy, when they have a tendency to gratify our innate love of virtue, justice, and humanity together with our love of beauty."

EXPLA

N defcribing the courfe of the fun, he was reprefented as a conqueror famous for his exploits, whom the greatest obstacles and moft imminent dangers could not appal; who engaged every enemy, and who was always victorious. But who were the monfters that oppofed him in his courfe? how fhall we explain that tribe of chimerical beings through whom he had to fight his way?

"From aftronomy alone we must receive our information. The object of this fcience, which originated among nations employed in husbandry, was, at first, to direct the labours of the field. The firft cultivators foon perceived that they needed a guide, and they fought for one in the fky. That innumerable multitude of ftars with which it is befpangled prefented them with a confufed mafs: thefe ftars were reduced to order; they were distinguished from one another and arranged. At firft, the celestial canopy was divided into three principal parts; that in the middle called the Zodiac, was contained in the plane of the orbits which the fun and the stars defcribe. This zone was bounded one one fide by two great regions, one on the fouth, the other on the north. The ftars were next reduced to claffes, and groups were compofed, that, under the name of Constellations, received each a particular form and denomination. Thus the firmament was peopled with men, with animals, and figures of every kind. Thefe figns which have been tranfmitted to us, and which feem now fo uncouth, were

not however the mere creation of fancy: they fignified the state of the earth in the different feafons of the year: they connected as it were the operations of husbandry with the celeftial phenomena, and ferved at once as a rural calendar and an aftronomical one. It is only by viewing them in this light that we can inveftigate their origin; and as foon as we have difcovered the people that invented them, we shall have no difficulty in understanding one of the principal branches of the ancient mythology, and at the fame time in fixing the epoch of its inftitution.

"Perhaps no fubject has given rife to fo many different conjectures. We do not here mean to mention that author who conceived the twelve figns to reprefent the twelve fons of Jacob; nor Olaus Rudbeck, who found the first rudiments of the fphere among the Samoyeds and Laplanders. They who have attributed the invention of the celeftial figns to the Greeks, have not been aware that that people, in fome meafure moderns in the hiftory of the world, were also novices in science; that though nature endowed them with a lively and brilliant imagination, yet it is certain that they invented little, and that their only merit is the having tranfmitted to future generations the difcoveries made long before their times. Though this opinion, therefore, is embraced by the moft refpectable authorities, though it was adopted by Newton himfelf, we are however ob liged to reject it. A writer of the 4th century, whofe works that remain G 2

are

are full of excellent matter, is the first who elucidated this fubject. It is true, indeed, that he confines himfelf to a very fmall number of explanations, and that his ideas ftand in need of being illustrated. This the abbé Pluche undertook to do. He followed the track that Macrobius had pointed out, and he endeavoured, on the fame principles, to explain the origin of the greater part of the conftellations. Not being able to adapt them to the climate of Egypt, he concludes that the zodiac had been traced out in the plains of Sennaar, where he was determined to fix the birth-place of all human knowledge. But his fyftem, however plaufible it may at first view appear, falls of itself when examined, and we shall immediately fee how directly oppofite it is to the fimpleft notions of aftronomy.

"It is proved that the poles, the folftitial, and equinoctial points, have a very flow retrograde motion, by which they are carried from Eaft to Weft. This motion, which amounts to about fifty feconds in a year, is called the preceffion of the equinoxes. Now, as the fixed ftars are immoveable, it follows that they always feem more and more to depart from the points of the ecliptic, and, confequently, that the conftellations, are perpetually changing place. Thus, for example, the fign Aries, which three hundred and eighty-eight years before Chrift was in conjunction with the Sun at the vernal equinox, is now feveral degrees removed from him; and the other figns, as they preferve the fame relative diftances, have neceffarily followed the fame revolution. Now, what ought we to think of the abbé Pluche and others, who have overlooked an obfervation of fuch importance? To avoid falling into an error fo grofs, people have

been willing to believe that the zodiac is a late inftitution. But if we reft satisfied with fuch a conclufion, we shall never difcover the country in which the zodiac was invented, nor be able to give any probable explication of the emblems it contains: befides, infurmountable difficulties remain, after every different climate has been investigated in order to fupport the opinion. It has been referved for a writer of our own times to banish all fuch contradictions, to unite the moft oppofite fuppofitions, and to establish a theory at once fimple and inftructive.

"Amongst the figns of the zodiac there are fome that have, as it were, a common relation to every country of the earth. Such are thofe that reprefent the course and effects of that luminary which fhines upon all; and of thefe it is difficult to mistake the fignification. Thus, the crab (Cancer) and the goat (Capricornus) that reprefent the boundaries of the Sun's path, have always ferved to denote the folftices; and Macrobius, who has catched the meaning of these two emblems, has only been deceived in the application he has made of them. In the fame manner the balance (Libra) which reprefents the equinox, is a very natural image of the equality of the days and nights. But the other figns were peculiar to certain na tions. The ram (Aries) the bull (Taurus) which were aflociated with the labours of rural life, and the virgin (Virgo) who held in her hand a ftalk of corn, are figns evidently relative to agriculture, the practice of which varies in different countries. Laftly, fome, as the Archer (Sagittarius) the fifhes (Pifces) the urn (Aquarius) must be referred to particular circumftances that alfovaty in every climate. To discovre, therefore, the origin of these figns,

it

it was necessary to find a country in which the different operations of hufbandry and the state of the earth fhould exactly correfpond with the fymbols reprefenting them; while, at the fame time, the state of the fky might be explained in such a manner as to leave no doubt. In order to obtain this effential correfpondence between the rural and astronomical figns, it was only neceffary to make a flight alteration in the pofition of the fphere. M. Dupuis obferves, that the vernal equinox is that which at firft would particularly engage the attention of mankind; that it was reprefented by the expreffive fymbol of a balance, and that it was a long time before this came to fignify the equality of the day and night at the autumnal equinox. Then carrying his views back to former ages, he gives this fign the place that had been originally affigned to it, and from which the preceflion alone had removed it. He gives alfo to the zodiac a retrograde motion, without however changing the established order of the figns; the goat quits the winter folftice; the year begins with the crab; and as to the other figns, nothing is more eafy than to find their application. It is in Egypt alone that they can be explained. To be convinced of this, it will be fufficient to examine them fucceffively in the several stations occupied by each.

"The point of the Sun's departure had been fixed originally at the fummer folftice. When arrived at this height, he could not be more aptly compared than to the animal that delights in climbing the higheft mountains and moft precipitous rocks. The goat was therefore chofen for the emblem. It was reprefented in conjunction with a fifh, becaufe at that time the Nile began to iffue from its bed. The overflow.

ing of this river was figured by Aquarius, or a genius holding an urn; because then Egypt resembled a vast sea, in which cities and villages, elevated with immenfe labour, fhewed themselves like iflands. Pifces reprefented the inactive life of the inhabitants, at that time enjoying tranquillity within their walls. Thus, in every month of the inundation, a fymbol was imagined relative to the phenomenon. The three that follow are not lefs fignificant. When the waters retired, the earth was ftill too moist and too full of mud to receive the impreffion of the plough; but it was foon covered with grafs, and afforded excellent pafture. The flocks were admitted to it when the ram appeared. The next that followed was the bull, an emblem of tillage. Scarcely had the fields received the feed when plants fprung forth on every hand. Thefe new productions appeared in the eyes of the husbandmen like young children (Gemini), or like kids, that were foon to conftitute his wealth. The Sun, after continuing daily to recede, at last ceases to fly, and foon begins to return. His courfe, like that of the crab, may be properly termed retrograde at this time, and not as has been faid, at the time of the folftice, when, as we have already feen, his motion be gan. The fign of the goat is ftill lefs applicable to him, when he is at the lowest point of his courfe: but Macrobius judged of the pofition of the figns according to that which took place at his day; and it is not furprifing that he fhould have been de ceived by allufions which at first fight feem exceedingly plaufible. Α month after the winter folftice, the fruits of the earth arrive at maturity; and every thing prefents the image of an abundant harvest. The lion (Leo) was made use of to point the G 3

yel