susceptibilities; passion and appetite cannot be eradicated, and they will often be excited by incidents, which the most wakeful vigilance will not detect or suspect. The fact is, that long before parents are aware of it, the child has obtained knowledge on these subjects through many corrupt channels; and the associations first formed, are destined to exert, ever afterward, a powerful influence for evil. The early associations might, by judicious instruction on the part of parents, be of such character, as to throw around the youth a barrier almost impregnable. As to the _time_ and _manner_ of imparting this instruction, it must be left to the wisdom and prudence of teachers and parents and, perhaps, as a general rule, it should be left wholly to the latter. C. Much has been written on the nature of beauty, from the divine Plato, who dedicated one of his dialogues to this subject, to Lord Jeffries, the editor of the Edinburgh Review; who, in his celebrated article in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, has excelled all previous efforts in its elucidation, and produced an essay, which will stand an imperishable monument of his taste, learning, and genius. It is not our design to enter upon a consideration of beauty in the abstract, or to attempt its analysis, as this has been done by our author in a very able, if not satisfactory manner. We take it, however, to denote that quality, or assemblage and union of qualities in the objects of our perception, whether material, intellectual, or moral, which we contemplate with emotions of pleasure; and we refer it to that internal sense, which is usually called _taste_. When it is asked, why a thing is beautiful, it is not always easy to find a satisfactory answer. We find beauty in color, in sound, in form, in motion, in everything. We have beauties of speech, beauties of thought, beauties in art, in nature, in the sciences, in actions, in affections, and in characters. Dr. Reid well asks, "In things so different, and so unlike, is there any quality, the same in all, which we may call by the name of beauty?" We shall not attempt to fathom this difficulty; indeed, it could not be done, without entering upon a metaphysical discussion, dry in detail, and uninteresting in result. When we come to inquire in what _female beauty_ consists, we shall find that there is something which enters into it, beside physical goodness. It is not a mere matter of flesh and blood; but color, form, expression, and grace, are all essential to its perfection. The two first have been called the _body_, the two latter, the _soul_ of beauty--and without the soul, the body is but a mass of deformed and inanimate matter:-- "Mind, mind, alone! bear witness earth and heaven, The living fountains in itself contains Of beauteous and sublime. Here, hand-in-hand, Sit paramount the Graces. Here, enthroned, Celestial Venus, with divinest airs, Invites the soul to never-failing joy." AKENSIDE