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The analysis of beauty : written with a view to fix the fluctuating ideas of taste / by William Hogarth
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ANALYSIS os BEAUTY.

ing from one attitude in plain lines to another; boththe man and the woman often comically fix themselvesin uniform positions, and frequently start in equal time,into angular Jorms, one o£ which remarkably representstwo Ws in a line, as over figure 122, plate 2, these' fort of dances a little raised, especially on the woman's. fide, in expresiing elegant wantonness (which is the truespirit of dancing) have of late years been most delight--fully done, and seem at present to have got the betterof pompous, unmeaning grand ballets; serious dancingbeing even a contradiction in terms.

4-thly, Of Country Dancing. _ The. lines which anumber of people together form in country or figuredancing, make a delightful play upon the eye, especiallywhen the whole figure is to be seen at one view, as atthe playhouse from the gallery; the beauty of this kindol mystic dancing, as the poets term it, depends uponmoving in a composed variety of lines, chiefly serpen-tine, governd by the principles of intricacy, &c. thedances of barbarians are always represented withoutthese movements, being only composed of wild Ikiping,jumping, and turning round, or running backward andforward, with convulsive shrugs, and distorted gestures.

One of the most pleasing movements in countrydancing, and which answerjto all the principles of vary-ing at once, is what they call the hay; the figure of italtogether, is a cypher of Ss, or a number of serpentinelines interlacing, or intervolving each other, which sup-pose