Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-11-14

lie regarded in ours, had at one time very strong
ob;ections 20 portrait painting, and expressed
them not unpleasingIy, in short poem, which
she wrote on the vanity OF the practice. but
alas he knows little of woman, who expects
consistency in her words and actions. before
many wears elapsed, Madame DIES Houers VINO
had acquired in the interim an honorable noto.
rety by refusing 10 become the paramour o.
the great Conde, yielded, like weaker mor'a','
TO the desire OF being painted, AMI comPoseo
second poem, retracting all the opihic"' o."
had avowed in her first. The history OF human
eccentricity. which is always as large as the
volume Of humao nature, would, II examineo
closely. furnish me with many more instances
to illustrate this part of my subject; but those
aIreadv c;ted are sufficient for my purpose,
sh.u nroceed to show from themthat the Wit
,en sLa,cb orthe author is requisite TO NIL up
dasc;src;es in the portrait of The artists, where
nor,ra;, does exist, and 10 supply 1t entirely
where it does not. ;,,
al nv Appelles, and the statues, wmchwere exc
cuted by Lysippus, have long since disappear
cd from the gaze ola world. winch must o'ner-
wise have admired them; but wouia venture
I 20 bet them any wager, if such bet could now
be decided, that neither the pictures OF the one,
nor the statues OF the other, contained any YES
,ige Of the wry neck and unequal shoulders o.
the all-conquering son OF Philip. Even those,
who pretend TO be most careless about their
nersonal an3earance, do not love TO sec their
bodily deformities too faithfully represented.
Is il likely then, that he, who sought with ca
oerness pre-emnencc of every description, and
treated with Jealous cruelty all who stood be-
tween him and the attainment OF IL, would have
encouraged and paWonised artists, who dared
to expose his want OF that true proportion,
which is the very essence OF personal beauty
We may depend upon ii, that Lysippus would
not have received his treasures, nor Apelles
his favourite mistress, had they not devised
some method of concealing in their works the
lamentable defects in his person. The histo-
rians who survive him, could remark in safety,
that the courtiers of Alexander held their necks
awry 10 reconcile their master to his neck not
sitting straight upon his shoulders: but there
would have been hemp for the head and letters
for the heel Of any contemporary artist who had
ventured TO express by his pencil so nnpalata-
BILE a truth. The same fate, in all probability,
would have befallen the painter, who had dared
to portray queen Elizabeth with the same large,
high, and prominent nose, which the memoirs
of her day inform US that she possessed. Had
"beas,ly Skelton,'' never written bawdy verses
for "heads of houses 10 quote" we should have
been ignorant, that the same disgracefui dis
temper. which robbed Sir w. Davenant Of a
nose, had also robbed Cardinal Wolsey of an
eve. Original portraits Of that proud prela,e
exist in considerable numbers; but no one OF
them exhibit his full face. The painters about
the court discovered that his eminence had a
blind side, and consulted their interest by con-
ceallng that discovery from the public. All
the pictures which we have Of him are in pro-
file, and represent merely side of the face
of course not that side, which was disgraced
by an eye. These facts, which speak for them
selves render farther observation on this point
unnecessary. He, who recollects how painters
flatter in The present time, will not be unthank-
full for the means of directing how, and whom
| they fattered in The past.
! Beauty has always been considered so potent
and advantageous quality, that, in acting the
cicerone to my readers, mus, beg leave to in
troduce them first of all 10 those fortunate in
dividuals, who have been most eminently gift
ed with it. ! could quote very grave authority
for the proprie,y of this determination, if
thought it required any other than the annun-
citation Of my individual will and pleasure
For instance, Addison atirms, that beautiful
persons have the privilege Of being first regard
ed in ordinary conversation,--an excellent rea-
son for their being first regarded in my gallery
of written portraits. Montague asserts, that
beauty has the first place in the commerce of
men,--an admirable justification for my giving
it the same place in my literary specula,ions
Cyrus, Alexander, and Caesar, three masters of
the world, never neglected it even in affairs Of
the gravest importance,--a conclusive argu-
ment for its not being neglected by me, who am
unfortunately the worlds slave, in an affair Of
scarcely any importance ct all. Besides, if
beauty answer TO any of the definitions, which
philosophers have given Of it,-if it be short
lived tyranny, according to Socrates, or a sove
reignty that needs no military power to sustain
it, according 10 Carneades, Or silent fraud,
which imposes on the senses without the aid Of
language, according to Theophrastus, or pri-
vege Of nature, which no man can gainsay, &C
cording to Aristotle, how can l withstand its
influence, or withhold from it that precedence,
to which the opinion Of SO many sages declares
it TO be entitled? therefore invite my readers
to Join with me in contemplating the beautiful
coun,enance of him, who undertook every bo-
Oily exercise in vogue among his countrymen,
and excelled in all that ne undertook, who was
by turns the greatest buffoon, the greatest de-
haur bep the greatest nhilOSoDher the greatest