_Savans_ Refer The Statue To The Time Of
Phidias; And As This Is A Pleasant Idea To Me, I Go A Little Further,
And Ascribe Her To Phidias Himself.
The statue is much mutilated, both arms being gone, and part of the
foot.
But there is a majesty and grace in the head and face, a union
of loveliness with intellectual and moral strength, beyond any thing
which I have ever seen. To me she might represent Milton's glorious
picture of unfallen, perfect womanhood, in his Eve: -
"Yet when I approach
Her loveliness, so absolute she seems,
And in herself complete, so well to know
Her own, that what she wills to do or say
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best.
All higher knowledge in her presence falls
Degraded; wisdom, in discourse with her,
Loses discountenanced, and like folly shows.
Authority and reason on her wait,
As one intended first, not after made
Occasionally; and to consummate all,
Greatness of mind, and nobleness, their seat
Build in her, loveliest, and create an awe
About her, like a guard angelic placed."
Compared with this matchless Venus, that of Medici seems as inane and
trifling as mere physical beauty always must by the side of beauty
baptized, and made sacramental, as the symbol of that which alone is
truly fair.
With regard to the arrangements of the Louvre, they seem to me to be
admirable. No nation has so perfectly the qualifications to care for,
keep, and to show to best advantage a gallery of art as the French.
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