parts; this is peculiar to grace only; for particular characters consist, as has been observed before, in those deviations from the general standard for the better purpose of effecting utility and power, and become so many species of a higher order; where nature is elevated into grandeur, majesty, and sublimity."

There is AN IDEAL IN ATTITUDE as well as in the form of the head and body.

This ideal is exactly opposed to the academical rule mentioned by Dufresnoy, Reynolds and others, namely, that the right leg and left arm, or the left leg and right arm, should be advanced or withdrawn together. These are the mere attitudes of progression, not those of expression; and the academical rule is only an academical blunder. To any thing but walking to the free and unembarrassed expressions of the body, it is indeed quite inapplicable, and could produce only contortion.

The rule of ideal attitude, which I long ago deduced both from physiological principles, and from the practice of the Greek artists, is that all the parts of one side of the body should be advanced or withdrawn together; that when one side is advanced, the other should be withdrawn ; and that when the right arm is elevated, extended

or bent forward, the left leg should be elevated, extended or bent backward in all respects the

reverse of the academical rule, so complacently mentioned by Dufresnoy, Reynolds, &c.

The foundation of this rule in the necessary balance of the .body, and that distribution of motion which equally animates every part, must be obvious to every one. It is illustrated by the finest statues of the Greeks, wherever the expression intended was free and unembarrassed, and even in those, as the Laocoon and his sons, where, though the action was constrained and convulsive, the sculptor was yet at liberty to employ the most beautiful attitude. It is abandoned in these great works, when either action embarrassed by purpose, or clownishness, as in the Dancing Faun, are expressed.*

I have now only to add, with Moreau, that individual beauty, the most perfect, differs always greatly from the ideal, and that which is least removed from it, is very difficult to be found. Hence

This rule is well explained, and variously illustrated by Donald Walker, in his work, equally philosophical, instructive and amusing, entitled "Exercises for Ladies," a knowledge of which, and the practice of its principles, would render beauty, and especially beauty of the shoulders and arms, far more common in every family.

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in all languages, the epithet rare is attached to beauty; and the Italians even call it pellegrina, foreign, to indicate that they have not frequently an opportunity of seeing it: they speak of "bellezze pellegrine," "leggiadria singolare e pellegrina."

CHAPTER XIX.

THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY.

"Hominum divômque voluptas, alma Venus.”

Of this, the most perfect models have been created by Grecian art. Few, we are told, were the living beauties, from whom such ideal model could be framed. The difficulty of finding these among the women of Greece, must have been considerable, when Praxiteles and Apelles were obliged to have recourse, in a greater or less degree, to the same person, for the beauties of the Venus of Cnidos, executed in white marble, and the Venus of Cos, painted in colours. It is asserted by Athenæus, that both these productions were, in some measure, taken from Phryne of Thespia, in Boeotia, then a courtezan at Athens.

Both productions are said to have represented Phryne coming out of the sea, on the beach of Sciron, in the Saronic Gulf, between Athens and Eleusis, where she was wont to bathe

It is said, that there, at the feast of Neptune, Phryne, in the presence of the people of Eleusis, having cast aside her dress, and allowing her long hair to fall over her shoulders, plunged into the sea, and sported long amidst its waves. An immense number of spectators covered the shore; and when she came out of it, all exclaimed, "It is Venus who rises from the waters!" The people would actually have taken her for the goddess, if she had not been well known to them.

Apelles and Praxiteles, we are told, were both upon the shore; and both resolved to represent the birth of Venus according to the beautiful model which they had just beheld.

Such is said to have been the origin of two of the greatest works of antiquity. The work of Apelles, known under the name of Venus Anadyomene, was placed by Cæsar in the temple of Venus Genitrix, after the conquest of Greece. An idea of the sculpture of Praxiteles is supposed to have been imperfectly preserved to modern times in the Venus de Medici.

We are further told, that, after having studied several attitudes, Phryne fancied to have discovered one more favourable than the rest for displaying all her perfections; and that both painter and sculptor were obliged to adopt her favourite