Each man hath a measure for himself, yet all shall coincide in much; A perfect form of human grace would captivate the world: Be it manhood's lustre, or the loveliness of woman, all would own its beauty, The Caffre and Circassian, Russians and Hindoos, the Briton, the Turk and Japanese. Not all alike, nor all at once, but each in proportion to intelligence, His purer state in morals, and a lesser grade in guilt: For the high standard of the beautiful is fixed in Reason's forum, And sins, and customs, and caprice, have failed to break it down: And reason's standard for the creature pointeth three perfections, Frame, knowledge, and the feeling heart, well and kindly mingled; A fair dwelling, furnished wisely, with a gentle tenant in it,-- This is the glory of humanity: thou hast seen it seldom. There is a beauty for the body; the superficial polish of a statue, The symmetry of form and feature delicately carved and painted. How bright in early bloom the Georgian sitteth at her lattice, How softened off in graceful curves her young and gentle shape: Those dark eyes, lit by curiosity, flash beneath the lashes, And still her velvet cheek is dimpled with a smile. Dost thou count her beautiful?--even as a mere fair figure, A plastic image, little more,--the outer garb of woman: Yea,--and thus far it is well; but Reason's hopes are higher,-- Can he sate his soul on a scantling third of beauty? Yet is this the pleasing trickery, that cheateth half the world, Nature's wise deceit to make up waste in life; And few be they that rest uncaught, for many a twig is limed; Where is the wise among a million, that took not form for beauty? But watch it well; for vanity and sin, malice, hate, suspicion, Louring as clouds upon the countenance, will disenchant its charms. The needful complexity of beauty claimeth mind and soul, Though many coins of foul alloy pass current for the true: And albeit fairness in the creature shall often co-exist with excellence, Yet hath many an angel shape been tenanted by fiends. A man, spiritually keen, shall detect in surface beauty Those marring specks of evil which the sensual cannot see; Therefore is he proof against a face, unlovely to his likings, And common minds shall scorn the taste, that shrunk from sin's distortion.