And Fletcher, who excels in the description

of beauty and its effects;

Have I not receiv'd

A lady to my bed, that in her eye

Keeps mounting fire, and on her tender cheeks

Inevitable colour?

Maid's Tragedy.

Thus too our divine Milton:

To whom the angel, with a smile that glow'd
Celestial rofy red, Love's proper hue.

Such as these may be truly called colours dipped in heaven; and, a fine complexion, in the language of a poet, is the die of Love: Certainly it gives a wonderful effect to beauty; it is a hint of fomething more than human; it comes forth as the emanation of an intrinfic purity and loveliness, and diffuses through the human form a tinge of the angelic nature.

A. You

A. You paint it like one who had felt

its power. The influence, indeed, of this fpecies of beauty, which is the refult of colours, feems to be univerfal; and to extend to all beings capable of love. But (if we may credit the nice obfervers of nature) it is in nonè more remarkable than in birds [a];

Thro' the bright flocks the cautious wooer flies,
Dweels on each spot, and notes their various dies
Foe to a stranger love, he yields alone

To kindred tints, and beauties like his own.

B. I fhall wifh hence forward to underftand the language of a goldfinch; what a pleasure would it be, to hear the male warbling forth,

[a] Agmina latë

Fæminea explorat cautus, maculafque requirit
Cognatas, paribufque interlita corpora guttis.

Spect. No. 412.

Urit me Glycera nitor,

Et vultus nimium lubricus afpici.

A. THE open was palpable, and your raillery is perfectly fair. But, to return to our fubject; whatever may be the influence of colours on other beings, we can have no doubt of it in ourselves; infomuch, that irregular, and even ordinary features, shall often, by the mere luftre of red and white, overbear the power of the most perfect fymmetry.

We are not to wonder therefore, that the poets, hurrying over the other circumftances of beauty, dwell with fo much. pleasure upon this. Thus the elegant Tibullus [b],

[6] Candor erat, qualem præfert Latonia Luna,

Et color in niveo corpore purpureus.

Ut Juveni primum virgo deducta marito,

Inficitur teneras ore rubente genas;

Suck

Such a mix'd whiteness spreads the doubtful moon
So thro' his fnowy skin the scarlet shone ;
Thus, ting'd in blushes, moves the conscious maid
With step fufpended to the nuptial bed:
Thus intermix'd with lilies breathes the rofe,
And ripening apple with vermilion glows.

Statius on a fimilar occafion is more warm, and kindles almost to extravagance [c];

Stripp'd of his garments, with a sudden bound
He ftarts to view, and deals a brightness round;
His polifh'd limbs, and glowing breast display
Beauties, that gladden like the fpring of day;
Thro' his whole frame diffus'd, our eyes may trace
The kindred blush and fplendor of his face.

Et cum contexunt amaranthis alba puelle
Lilia, et autumno candida mala rubent.

Lib. iii. Eleg. 4.

[c] Emicat, et torto chlamydem diffibulat auro. Effulfere artus, membrorumque omnis aperta eft Lætitia, infignefque humeri, nec pectora nudis Deteriora genis, latuitque in corpore vultus.

Theb. lib. vi.

If the poets confidered colouring as the chief beauty in nature; it is no wonder, that painters, whofe art is an imitation of nature, should make it the great object of their ftudy. Accordingly, Parrhafius, Zeuxis, and Apelles, the most celebrated painters, were at the fame time, the most excellent colourists. If we examine the praises bestowed on the laft of them, we shall find, that they turn chiefly on that truth and beauty, which are the gift of colours: The master-piece of this painter, and confequently of the art itself, was his Venus anadyomene. Tully thus marks its perfections, [d]"In the Coan Venus, that is "not real body, but the refemblance of a

body: Nor is that ruddinefs, fo diffufed "and blended with white, real blood, but

[d] In Venere Coa, corpus illud non eft, fed fimile corpori; nec ille fufus et candore mixtus rubor, fanguis eft, fed quædam fanguinis fimilitudo. De nat. Deor. lib, i.

" a certain