at the Beating of the Waves; and, on the contrary, what is well joined, is so closed and knit together, by the Beating of the Waves, that it is not to be broke, loofened, or damaged, without very great Difficulty, by the strongest Blows, either of Stone or Iron. And what is most of all to be admired, is the Proportion and Figure of the Cavity within; for it is put together, and proportioned, in fuch a Manner, that it cannot poffibly receive or admit any Thing but the Bird which built it, it being to any Thing else fo impenetrably close and fhut, that not even the Water of the Sea can enter it. Thus you have had a very clear Description of this Building, and from a good Authority; and yet, methinks, it does not give us fufficient Light into the Difficulty of this Architecture. Now from what Vanity can it proceed, that we should despise and put a difdainful Construction upon Facts which we can neither imitate nor comprehend? The Faculty of Imagination common to the Beafts, as well ings, and to as humán BeHorfes, for Example, and to Dogs. To purfue this Equality and Conformity betwixt us and the Beafts a little farther, the Privilege which the Soul of Man fo much boasts, of bringing every Thing it conceives to its own Standard, of ftripping all Things, that come before it, of their mortal and corporeal Qualities; of ranging the Things which it deems worthy of its Notice, of ftripping and divefting them of their corruptible Qualities, and making them to lay afide Thickness, Length, Depth, Weight, Colour, Smell, Roughness, Smoothness, Hardness, Softnefs, and all fenfible Accidents, as fo many mean and fuperfluous Vestments, to accommodate them to her own immortal and spiritual Nature, fo that, while I think of Rome or Paris, I imagine and comprehend, either without the Ideas of Greatnefs, Situation, Stone, Plaifter, and Timber: This very Privilege, I fay, feems to be very evident in Beafts. For, as a War-Horfe accustomed to the Sound of Trumpets, the Firing of Muf quets, and the Buftle of Battles, will start and tremble in his Sleep, ftretched out upon his Litter, as if he was engaged in Fight; 'tis certain, that it has fome internal Conception ception of the Beat of a Drum without Noife, and of an Army without Arms, and without Body. Quippe videbis equos fortes, cùm membra jacebant, Et quafi de palma fummas contendere vires*. i. e. You fhall fee running Horfes, in their Sleep, The Hare, which a Grey-hound dreams of, and which we fee him pant after in his Sleep, ftretching out his Tail at the fame Time, fhaking his Legs, and perfectly representing the Motions of Courfing, is a Hare without Skin, and without Bones. Venantumque canes in molli fæpè quiete, Cervorum fimulacra, fugæ quafi dedita cernant ; i. e. And often Hounds, whep Sleep has clos'd their Eyes, Will tofs and tumble, and attempt to rife, Snuff, and breathe quick and fhort, as if they went In a full Chace, upon a burning Scent: Nay, when awak'd, they fancy'd Stags purfue, Till, having fhook themselves more broad awake, We often obferve the Houfe-Dogs fnarling in their Dreams, then barking and starting up on a fudden, as if they faw fome Stranger at the Door; which Stranger, all the while, is altogether fpiritual and imperceptible, * Lucret. Lib. iv. v. 984. y Idem, ibid. v. 988, without without Dimenfion, without Complexion, and without Existence. Confueta domi catulorum blanda propago Degere, fæpè levem ex oculis volucremque foporem The fawning Whelps of Houfhold Curs will rife, As upon Faces they had never feen. What confti tutes Beauty. As to the Beauty of the Body, 'tis abfolutely neceffary to know, in the firft Place, if we are agreed in the Description of it. 'Tis probable, we hardly know what Beauty is in Nature and in general, because to our own perfonal Beauty we give fo many different Forms, for which, were there any natural Prescription, we fhould acknowledge it in common, as we do the Heat of Fire; but we fancy the Forms according to our own Appetite. Turpis Romano Belgicus ore color ". i. e. As the Complexion of a German Lafs The Indians paint Beauty black and tawny, with great blubber Lips, flat and broad Nofes, and load the Cartilage betwixt the Noftrils with great Gold Rings, to make it hang down to the Mouth, as alfo the under Lip with great Hoops adorned with precious Stones that weigh it down to the Chin, it being, with them, a fingular Grace to fhew their Teeth, even below the Roots. In Peru, the longest Ears being the most beautiful, they ftretch them out as much as they can by Art: And a Man, now living, fays, that, in an Eastern Nation, he faw this Care of enlarging the Ears, and loading them with ponderous Jewels, in fuch high Repute, that he did, with great Ease, z Lucret. lib. iv. v. 995, &%. a put * Propert. lib. ii. Eleg. 18. v. 26. 1 put his Arm, Sleeve and all, thro' the Hole of an Ear. There are Nations, elfewhere, which take great Care'to black their Teeth, and hate to fee them white, whilst others paint them red. The Women are reputed the more beautiful, not only in Biscay, but elsewhere, and even in certain frozen Countries, as Pliny fays, for having their Heads fhaved. The Mexicans reckon it a Beauty to have a low Forehead, and, though they fhave all other Parts, they nourish Hair on their Foreheads, and increase it by Art; and they have great Breafts in fuch Efteem, that they affect to give their Children fuck over their Shoulders: This we fhould reckon a Deformity. The Italians like a Woman that is fat and bulky: The Spaniards one that is lean and flender; and, with us, one is for a fair Complexion, another for a brown; one for foft and delicate Limbs, another prefers a Woman that is strong and buxom; one requires her to be fond and gentle, another proud and stately: Juft fo is the Preference in Beauty, which Plata attributes to the fpherical Figure, and the Epicureans to the pyramidal or square, for they could not worship a God in the Form of a Bowl. Men are not privileged, in Point of Beauty, above the Beafts. But, be this as it will, Nature has no more exempted us from her common Laws, in this respect, than the reft: And, if we think rightly of ourselves, we fhall find, that, if there be fome Animals not fo much favoured in this Quality as we are, there are others, and in great Number too, that are more fo. A multis animalibus decore vincimur; i. e. Many Animals exceed us in Comeliness, pay, even of the terrestrial ones, our Com-patriots: For as to thofe of the Sea (fetting afide their Shape, which cannot bear any manner of Proportion, 'tis fo much of another fort) we are far inferior to them in Colour, Cleanness, Smoothness, Difpofition; and no lefs inferior, in all refpects, to thofe of the Air, And, as for the Prerogative which the Poets cry up fo much, of our erect Stature looking towards Heaven, our Original, Nat. Hift, lib. vi. c. 13. Senec, Ep. 124, towards the End, Pre Pronaque cùm fpectant animalia cætera terram, i. e. d Whilft all the brutal Creatures downwards bend tis purely Poetical; for there are feveral little Beasts which have their Sight abfolutely turned towards Heaven, and I actually think the Faces of Camels and Of tridges much more raised and erect than ours. What Animals are there that have not their Faces above, and in Front, and that do not look right against them as well as we, and that do not, in their true Pofture, fee as much of Heaven and Earth as we do? And what Qualities of our bodily Conftitution, defcribed by Plato and Cicero, may not be as effential to a thousand forts of Animals? The Beafts that most resemble us are the most deformed and despicable of the whole Class: Those most like to us, in the outward Appearance and Make of the Face, are Monkeys. Simia quam fimilis, turpiffima beftia, nobis'! i. e. How like to Men, in Vifage and in Shape, and, as for the Inteftines and vital Parts, the Hog. Verily, when I entertain the Idea of any of the human Species ftark naked (even in that Sex which feems to have the greateft Share of Beauty) when I confider of his Defects, what he is naturally liable to, and his Imperfections, I Man has more reafon to be covered than any other Animal, think we have more reafon to be covered than any other Ovid. Met. lib. i. Fab. 2. v. 51, &c. By Plato, in his Timaus, and by Cicero, in his Tract de Natura Dea rum, lib. ii. c. 54. &c. But this is fet in a better Light by fome modern Treatifes of Anatomy, where a Comparison has been made betwixt the Human Body and thofe of feveral Animals. Ennius apud Cic, de Nat. Deorum, lib. i. c. 35: |