LOVE, in the enlarged sense of the word, denotes all those affections of the pleasing kind which objects and incidents excite in our minds. Thus we are said to love not only intelligent agents of morally good dispositions, but also sensual pleasures, riches, and honours.

But love, in its usual and more appropriate signification, may be defined, “that affection which, being compounded of animal desire, esteem, and benevolence, becomes the bond of attachment and union between individuals of the different sexes, and makes them enjoy in the society of each other a species of happiness which they experience nowhere else.” We call it an affection rather than a passion, because it involves a desire of the happiness of its object; and that its constituent parts are such as have just been enumerated we shall first endeavour to prove, and then proceed to trace its rise and progress from a selfish appetite to a generous sentiment.

Mere animal desire has nothing in view but the species and the sex of its object; and before it makes a selection, it must be combined with sentiments very different from itself. The first sentiment with which it is combined, and by which a man is induced to prefer one woman to another, seems to be that by which we are delighted with gracefulness of person, regularity of features, and beauty of complexion. It is not indeed to be denied that there is something irresistible in female beauty. The most severe will not pretend that they do not feel an immediate prepossession in favour of a handsome woman; but this prepossession, even when combined with animal desire, does not constitute the whole of that affection which is called love. Savages feel the influence of the sensual appetite, and it is extremely probable that they have some ideas of beauty; but amongst savages the affection of love is seldom known. Even amongst the lower orders of society it seems to be a very gross passion, and to have in it more of the selfishness of appetite than of the generosity of esteem. To these observations many exceptions will no doubt be found;^[1. Such as that of the negroes whose story is so pathetically told by Addison (Spectator, No. 215); the two lovers who were killed by lightning at Staunton-Harcourt (Pope’s Letters) ; and many others which will readily occur to every reader. ] but we speak of savages in general, and of the great body of the labouring poor, who, in the choice of their mates, do not study, and indeed are incapable of studying, that rectitude of mind, and those delicacies of sentiment, without which neither man nor woman can deserve to be esteemed.

In the savage state, and even in the first stages of refinement, the bond of union between the sexes seems to consist of nothing more than mere animal desire and instinctive tenderness for their infant progeny. The former impels them to unite for the propagation of the species, and the latter preserves the union until the children who are the fruit of it be able to provide for their own subsistence. That in such unions, whether casual or permanent, there is little mutual esteem and benevolence, is apparent from the state of subjection in which women are held in rude and uncultivated nations, as well as from the manner in which marriages are contracted.

Sweetness of temper, a capital article with us in the female character, displays itself externally in mild looks and gentle manners, and is the first and perhaps the most powerful inducement to love in a cultivated mind. “But such graces,” says Lord Kames, “are scarce discernible in a female savage, and even in the most polished woman would not be perceived by a male savage. Among savages, strength and boldness are the only valuable qualities. In these, females are miserably deficient; for which reason they are contemned by the males, as beings of an inferior order. The North American tribes glory in idleness; the drudgery of labour degrades a man in their opinion, and is proper for women only. To join young persons in marriage is accordingly the business of the parents; and it would be unpardonable meanness in the bridegroom to show any fondness for the bride. In Guiana a woman never eats with her husband, but after every meal attends him with water for washing; and in the Caribbee islands she is not even permitted to eat in the presence of her husband. Dampier observes in general, that among all the wild nations with which he was acquainted, the women carry the burdens, while the men walk before and carry nothing but their arms; and that women even of the highest rank are not better treated. In Siberia, and even in Russia, the capital excepted, men, till very lately, treated their wives [7:13:577] in every respect like slaves. It might indeed be thought that animal desire, were there nothing else, should have 'raised women to some degree of estimation among men; but male savages, utter strangers to decency and refinement, gratify animal desire with as little ceremony as they do hunger or thirst. Hence it was that in the early ages of society a man purchased a woman to be his wife, as one purchases an ox or a sheep to be food; and valued her only as she contributed to his sensual gratification.”

But if amongst savages and the vulgar, love be unknown, it cannot possibly be an instinctive affection; and therefore it may be asked how it gets possession of the human heart, and by what means we can judge whether in any particular instance it be real or imaginary. These questions are of importance, and deserve to be fully answered, though many circumstances conspire to render it no easy task to give to them such answers as may be perfectly satisfactory. Love can subsist only between individuals of the different sexes. A man can hardly love two women at the same time; and we believe that a woman is still ess capable of loving at once more than one man. Love, therefore, has a natural tendency to make men and women pair, or, in other words, it is the source of marriage; jut in polished society, where alone this affection has any )lace, so many things besides mutual attachment are ne- >essary to make the married life comfortable, that we rare-y see young persons uniting from the impulse of love, and ιave therefore but few opportunities of tracing the rise, )rogress, and consequences of the affection. We shall, ιowever, throw together such reflections as have occurred ,o us on the subject, not without indulging a hope that hey may be useful to the younger part of our readers vhen forming the most important connexion in life.

We have said that the perception of beauty, combined vith animal desire, is the first inducement which a man :an have to prefer one woman to another. It may be ιdded, that elegance of figure, a placid masculine counte-ιance, with a person which indicates strength and agility, .re the qualities which first tend to attach any woman to I particular man. Beauty has been defined by Buffier, í that particular form which is the most common of all articular forms to be met with in the same species of seings.” Let us apply this definition to our own species, 1 nd try, by means of it, to ascertain what constitutes the ⅛cauty of the human face. It is evident, that of countenances we find a number almost infinite of different forms; ∣f which, however, one only constitutes beauty, whilst the est, however numerous, constitute what is not beauty, ut deformity or ugliness. To an attentive observer, .owever, it is evident, that of the numerous particular jrms of ugliness, there is not one which includes so many ices as are formed after that particular cast which con-titutes beauty. Every particular species of the animal s well as the vegetable creation may be said to have a xed or determinate form, to which, as to a centre, nature ∣L continually inclining. Or it may be compared to pen- .ulums vibrating in different directions over one central oint; and as they all cross the centre, though only one l asses through any other point, so it will be found i hat perfect beauty is oftener produced by nature than eformity; we do not mean than deformity in general, ut than any one kind and degree of deformity. To ini tance in a particular part of a human feature; the line ∕hich forms the ridge of the nose is deemed beautiful I /hen it is straight; but this is likewise the central form, I zhich is oftener found than any one particular degree of i oncave, convex, or any other irregular form that may be I imposed. As we are then more accustomed to beauty han deformity, we may conclude that that is the reason zhy we approve and admire it, just as we approve and admire fashions or dress for no other reason than that we are used to them. The same thing may be said of colour as of form. It is custom alone which determines our preference of the colour of the Europeans to that of the Ethiopians, and which makes them prefer their own colour to ours; so that though habit and custom cannot be the cause of beauty, they are certainly the cause of our liking it.

That we do like it cannot be denied. Every one is conscious of a pleasing emotion when contemplating beauty either in man or woman; and when that pleasure is combined with the gratification of the sensual appetite, it is obvious that the sum of enjoyment must be greatly increased. The perception of beauty, therefore, necessarily directs the energy of the sensual appetite to a particular object; but still this combination is a mere selfish feeling, which regards its object only as the best of many similar instruments of pleasure. Before it can deserve the name of love, it must be combined with esteem, which is never bestowed but upon moral character and internal worth; for let a woman be ever so beautiful, and of course ever so desirable as an instrument of sensual gratification, if she be not possessed of the virtues and dispositions which are peculiar to her sex, she will inspire no man with a generous affection. With regard to the outlines, indeed, whether of internal disposition or of external form, men and women are the same; but nature, intending them for mates, has given them dispositions which, though concordant, are however different, so as to produce together delicious harmony. « The man, more robust, is fitted for severe labour, and for field exercise; the woman, more delicate, is fitted for sedentary occupations, and particularly for nursing children. The man, bold and vigorous, is qualified for being a protector; the woman, delicate and timid, requires protection. Hence it is that a man never admires a woman for possessing bodily strength or personal courage; and women always despise men who are totally destitute of these qualities. The man, as a protector, is directed by nature to govern; the woman, conscious of inferiority, is disposed to obey. Their intellectual powers correspond to the destination of nature. Men have penetration and solid judgment to fit them for governing, women have sufficient understanding to make a decent figure under a good government; a greater portion would excite dangerous rivalship between the sexes, which nature has avoided by giving them different talents. Women have more imagination and sensibility than men, which make all their enjoyments more exquisite; at the same time that they are better qualified to communicate enjoyment. Add another capital difference of disposition: The gentle and insinuating manners of the female sex tend to soften the roughness of the other sex; and wherever women are indulged with any freedom, they polish sooner than men.

“These are not the only particulars that distinguish the sexes. With respect to the ultimate end of love, it is the privilege of the male, as superior and protector, to make a choice; the female preferred has no privilege but barely to consent or to refuse. Whether this distinction be the immediate result of the originally different dispositions of the sexes, or only the effect of associations inevitably formed, may be questioned; but among all nations it is the practice for men to court, and for women to be courted; and were the most beautiful woman on earth to invert this practice, she would forfeit the esteem, however by her external grace she might excite the desire, of the man whom she addressed. The great moral virtues which may be comprehended under the general term integrity, are all absolutely necessary to make either men or women estimable; but to procure esteem to the female character, the modesty peculiar to their sex is a [7:13:578]very essential circumstance. Nature hath provided them with it as a defence against the artful solicitations of the other sex before marriage, and’also as a support of conju-

A woman, therefore, whose dispositions are gentle, delicate, and rather timid than bold, who is possessed of a large share of sensibility and modesty, and whose manners are soft and insinuating, must, upon moral principles, command the esteem and benevolence of every individual of the other sex who is possessed of sound understanding; but if her person be deformed, or not such as to excite some degree of animal desire, she will attract no man’s love. In like manner, a man whose moral character is good, whose understanding is acute, and whose conversation is instructive, must command the esteem of every sensible and virtuous woman; but if his figure be disagreeable, his manner unpolished, his habits slovenly, and, above all, if he be deficient in personal courage, he will hardly excite desire in the female breast. It is only when the qualities which command esteem are, in the same person, united with those which excite desire, that the individual so accomplished can be an object of love to one of the other sex; but when these qualities are thus united, each of them increases the other in the imagination of the lover. The beauty of his mistress gives her, in his apprehension, a greater share of gentleness, modesty, and every thing which adorns the female character, than perhaps she really possesses; whilst his persuasion of her internal worth makes him, on the other hand, apprehend her beauty to be absolutely unrivalled.

To this theory an objection readily offers itself, which it is incumbent upon us to obviate. Men and women sometimes fall in love at first sight, and very often before they have opportunities of forming a just estimate of each other’s moral character. How is this circumstance to be reconciled with the progressive generation of love? We answer, by an association of ideas, which is formed upon principles of physiognomy. Every passion and habitual disposition of mind gives a particular cast to the countenance, and is apt to discover itself in some feature of the face. This we learn by experience; and in time, without any effort of our own, the idea of each particular cast of countenance comes to be so closely associated in our minds with the internal disposition which it indicates, that the one can never afterwards be presented to our view without instantly suggesting the other to the imagination. Hence it is that every man, who has been accustomed to make observations, naturally forms to himself, from the features and lineaments of a stranger’s face, some opinion of his character and fortune. We are no sooner presented to a person for the first time, than we are immediately impressed with the idea of a proud, a reserved, an affable, or a good-natured man; and upon our going into a company of absolute strangers, our benevolence or aversion, our awe or contempt, rises instantly towards particular persons, before we have heard them speak a word, or know so much as their names or designations. The same thing happens when we are presented to the fair sex. If a woman, seen for the first time, have that particular cast of countenance, and that expression of features, with which we have associated notions of gentleness, modesty, and other female virtues, she instantly commands our esteem; and if she have likewise so much beauty as to make her an object of particular desire, esteem and desire become suddenly combined, and that combination constitutes the affection of love. Such, too, is the nature of all mental associations, that each part of which they are composed adds strength and vividness to the other parts; so that, in the present instance, desire makes us imagine virtues in the woman which her countenance perhaps does not indicate, and the virtues which are there actually visible make us apprehend her beauty as more perfect than it is.

Love, in Medicine. The symptoms produced by this passion as a disease, according to medical writers, are various. The eyelids often twinkle; the eyes are hollow, and yet appear as if full with pleasure; the pulse is not peculiar to the passion, but the same with that which attends solicitude and care. When the object of this affection is thought of, particularly if the id¾a be sudden, the spirits are confused, the pulse changes, and its force and time are very variable. In some instances, the person is sad and watchful; in others, the person, not being conscious of his state, pines away, is slothful, and regardless of food; though the wiser, when they find themselves in love, seek pleasant company and active entertainments. As the force of love prevails, sighs grow deeper; a tremor affects the heart and pulse; the countenance is alternately pale and red; the voice is suppressed in the fauces; the eyes grow dim; cold sweats break out; sleep absents itself, at least until the morning; the secretions become disturbed; and a loss of appetite, a hectic fever, melancholy, or perhaps madness, if not death, constitutes the catastrophe. (On this subject the curious may consult Aegineta, lib. iii. 17; Oribat. Synon. lib. viii. cap. 9; ora treatise on Love as a distemper, by John Ferrard, Oxford, 1640.)

The manners of the Greeks and Romans were similar to each other in the affairs of love. They generally made a discovery of their passion by writing upon trees, walls, doors, and other places, the name of their beloved. They usually decked the door of their dulcinea with flowers and garlands, and made libations of wine before their houses, sprinkling the posts with the same liquor, as if the object of their affection was a real goddess. For a man’s garland to be untied, and for a woman to compose a garland, were held to be indubitable indications of love.

When their love was without success, they used several arts to excite affection in the object of their desire. They had recourse to enchantresses, of whom the Thessalian were in the highest estimation. The means made use of were most commonly philtres or love potions, the operation of which was violent and dangerous, and frequently deprived such as drank them of their reason. Some of the most remarkable ingredients of which they were composed were the hippomanes, the jynx, insects bred from putrefaction, the fish remora, the lizard, the brains of a calf, the hairs on the tip of a wolf’s tail, his secret parts, the bones of the left side of a toad eaten with ants, the blood of doves, the bones of snakes, feathers of screech-owls, twisted cords of wool in which a person had hanged himself, rags, torches, reliques, a nest of swallows buried and famished in the earth, bones snatched from hungry bitches, the marrow of a boy famished in the midst of plenty, dried human liver; to which may be added several herbs growing out of putrid substances. Such were the ingredients that entered into the composition of that infernal draught called a love potion.

But, besides the philtres, various other arts were used to excite love; in which the application of certain substances was to have a magical influence on the person against whom they levelled their skill. A hyena’s udder worn under the left arm, they fancied would draw the affections of whatever woman they fixed their eyes upon. That species of olives called μιτυξα, and barley-bran made into a paste, and thrown into the fire, they thought would excite the passion of love. Flour was used with the same intention; and burning laurel, and melted wax, were supposed to have a similar effect. When one heart was to be hardened and another mollified, clay and wax were exposed to the fire together. Images of wax were frequently used, representing the persons on whom they wished to [7:13:579]make an impression; and whatever was done to the substitute of wax, they imagined was felt by the person represented. Enchanted medicaments were often sprinkled upon some part of the house where the person resided. Love-pledges were supposed to be of singular use and efficacy; these they placed under the threshold, to preserve the affections of the owner from wandering. Love-knots were also of singular power, and the number three was particularly observed in all they did. But no good effect was expected if the use of these things had not been attended with charms or magical verses and forms of words.

Having mentioned their arts of exciting love, it may not be amiss to take notice that the ancients imagined that love excited by magic might be allayed by more powerful spells and medicaments, or by application to demons more powerful than those who had been concerned in raising that passion. But love inspired without magic had no sure; Apollo himself could find no remedy, but exclaimed, “Hei mihi quod nullis amor est medicabilis herbis.” The antidotes against love were generally, agnus castus, which ιas the power of weakening the generative faculty; sprinkling the dust in which a mule had rolled herself; tying toads in the hide of a beast newly slain; applying amulets of minerals or herbs, which were supposed of great efficacy in other cases; and invoking the assistance of the nferior deities. Another cure for love was bathing in the waters of the river Selemnus; to which we may add, the lover’s leap, or jumping down from the Leucadian promontory.