are defeated by a carriage which has in it fo much
boldness, as to intimate that fear and reluctance are
quite extinguifhed in an object which would be other-
wife defirable. It was faid of a wit in the last age,
Sidney has that prevailing, gentle art,
Which can with a refiftless charm impart
The loofeft wishes to the chafteft heart;
Raife fuch a conflict, kindle fuch a fire,
Between declining virtue and defire,

That the poor vanquish'd maid diffolves away
In dreams all night, in fighs and tears all day.

}

This prevailing, gentle art was made up of complai-fance, courtship, and artful conformity to the modesty of a woman's manners. Rufticity, broad expreffion, and forward obtrufion offend thofe of education, and make the tranfgreffors odious to all who have merit enough to attract regard. It is in this tafte that the fcenery is fo beautifully ordered in the defcription which Anthony makes, in the dialogue between him and Delabella, of Cleopatra in her barge..

Her galley down the filver Cidnos row'd,

The tackling filk, the ftreamers war'd with gold:
The gentle winds were lodg'd in purple fails ;
Her nymphs, like Nereids, round her couch were plac'd;,
Where be, another Jea-born Venus, lay;

She lay, and lean'd her cheek upon her hand;
And caft a look. fo languishingly sweet,
As if fecure of all beholders hearts,
Neglecting fhe could take them.

Boys, like Cupids,

Stood fanning with their pointing awings, the winds

That play'd about her face but if she mild,

A darting glory feem'd to blaze abroad,

That men's defiring eyes were never weary'd;

But bung upon the object. To foft flutes

The filver oars kept time: and while they play'd,
The bearing gave new pleasure to the fight,
And both to thought-

Here the imagination is warmed with all the objects prefented, and yet there is nothing that is lufcious, or. what raises. any idea more loofe than that of a beauti

ful woman fet off to a advantage.

The like, or a more

delicate and careful fpirit of modefty, appears in the following paffage in one of Mt. Philips's pastorals.

Breathe foft, ye winds; ye waters, gently flow;
Shield her, ye trees; ye flow'rs, around her grow ;
Ye fwains, I beg you, pafs in filence by ;
My love in yonder vale afleep does lie.

Defire is corrected when there is a tenderness or admiration expreffed which partakes the paffion: Licentious language has fomething brutal in it, which difgraces humanity, and leaves us in the condition of the favages in the field. But it may be afked, To what good ufe can tend a discourse of this kind at all? It is to alarm chafte ears againft fuch as have what is above called the prevailing, gentle art. Mafters of that talent are capable of clothing their thoughts in fo foft a drefs, and fomething fo diftant from the fecret purpose of their heart, that the imagination of the unguarded is touched with a fondness which grows too infenfibly to be refifted. Much care and concern for the lady's welfare, to feem afraid left the fould be annoyed by the very air which furrounds her, and this uttered rather with kind looks, and expreffed by an interjec, tion, an Oh, or an Ah, at fome little hazard in moving or making a step, than in any direct profeffion of love, are the methods of fkilful admirers: They are honeft arts when their purpofe is fuch, but infamous when mifapplied. It is certain that many a young woman in this town has had her heart irrecoverably won, by men who have not made one advance which ties their admirers, though the females languifh with the utmost anxiety. I have often by way of admonition to my female readers, given them warning againft agreeable company of the other fex, except they are well acquainted with their characters: Women may difguife it if they think fit; and, the more to do it, they may be angry at me for faying it; but I fay it is natural to to them that they have no manner of approbation of men without fome degree of love. For this reafon, he is dangerous to be entertained as a friend or vifi-.

tant, who is capable of gaining any eminent efteem or obfervation, though it be ever fo femote, from pretenfions as a lover. If a man's heart has not the abhor. rence of any treacherous defign, he may eafily improve approbation into kindness, and kindness into paflion. There poffibly may be no manner of love between them in the eyes of all their acquaintance; no, it is all friendship; and yet they may be as fond as thep herd and thepherdefs in a paftoral; but ftill the nymph and the fwain may be to each other, no other, I warrant you, than Pylades and Orefies.

When Lucy decks with flowers her fwelling breaft,
And on her elbow leans, diffembling reft;
Unable to refrain my maddening mind,

Nor sheep nor pasture worth my care I find.
Once Delia flept, on eafy moss reclin`d,
Her lovely limbs half bare, and rude the wind ;
Ifmooth'd her coats, and fole a filent kifs ;.
Condemn me, Shepherds, if I did umifs.

Such good offices as thefe, and fuch friendly thoughts and concerns for one another, are what makes up the amity, as they call it, between man and

woman.

It is the permiffion of fuch intercourfe, that makes a young woman come to the arms of her husband, after the disappointment of four or five paffions, which fhe has fucceffively had for different men, before fhe is prudentially given to him, for whom he has neither love nor friendship. For what fhould a poor creature do that has loft all her friends? There's Marinet the agreeable, has, to my knowledge, had a friendship for Lord Welford, which had like to break her heart: Then the had fo great a friendfhip for Colonel Hardy, that he could not endure any woman elfe thould do any thing but rail at him. Many and fatal have been difafters between friends who have fallen out; and these refentments are more keen than ever those of other men can poffibly be: But in this it happens unfortunately, that as there ought to be nothing concealed from one friend to another, the friends

of different fexes very often find fatal effects from their unanimity.

For my part, who ftudy to pafs life in as much innocence and tranquility as I can, I fhun the company of agreeable women as much as poffible; and mult confels that I have, though a tolerable good philofopher, but a low opinion of Platonic love; for which reafon I thought it neceffary to give my fair readers a caution against it, having, to my great concern, obferved the waift of a Platonist lately fwell to a roundnefs which is inconfiftent with that philofophy.

SPECTATOR, Vol. VI. No. 400. T.

ANACREON's Inftruction to a Painter to paint bis
Mistress.
BEST and happiest artizan,

Beft of painters, if you can
With your many colour'd art

Paint the miftrefs of my heart;

Defcribe the charms you hear from me,
(Her charms you could not paint and fee)
And make the abfent nymph appear,
As if her lovely felf was here.
Firft, draw her eafy flowing hair
As joft and black as fhe is fair;
And if your art can rise fo high,"
Let breathing odours round her fly.
Beneath the shade of flowing jet,
The iv'ry forehead fmoothly fet;
With care the fable brows extend,
And in two arches nicely bend :
That the fair pace which lies between
The melting fhade, may fearce be feen.
The eye must be uncommon fire;
Sparkle, languifh, and defire;
The flames unfeen must yet be felt,
Like Pallas kill, like Venus melt.
The rofy cheeks must seem to glow,
Amidst the white of new fall'n fnow.
Let her lips perfuafion wear,

In filence elegantly fair;

As if the blufbing rivals firove,
Breathing and inviting love:
Below the chin be fure to deck
With ev'ry grace her 'polish'd neck;
While all that's pretty, foft and fweet,
In the favelling bofom meet :
The rest in purple garments veil,
Her body, not her shape, conceal;
Enough-the lovely work is done;
The breathing paint will speak anon.

GUARDIAN, Vol. II. No. 168.

ANATOMY.

THOSE who were skilled in anatomy among the an

tients, concluded from the outward and inward make of a human body, that it was the work of a being tranfcendently wife and powerful. As the world grew more enlightened in this art, their discoveries gave them fresh opportunities of admiring the conduct of Providence in the formation of a human body. Galen was converted by his diffections, and could not but own a fupreme being, upon a furvey of this his handy work. There were indeed many parts, of which the old anatomifts did not know the certain use ; but as they faw that most of those which they examined, were adapted with admirable art to their feveral functions,they did not queftion but thofe whofe ufes they could not determine, were contrived with the fame wifdom for their refpective ends and purposes. Since the circulation of the blood has been found out, and many other great difcoveries have been made by our modern anatomifts, we fee new wonders in the human frame, and difcern feveral important nfes for thofe parts which the antients knew nothing of. In fhort, the body of man is fuch a subject, as stands the utmoft teft of examination. Though it appears formed with the niceft wifdom, upon the moit fuperficial furvey of it, it still mends upon the fearch, and pro