In courage, the German resembles a bear; the Englishman a lion; the Frenchman an eagle; the Italian a fox; the Spaniard an elephant. In the sciences, the German is a pedant; the Englishman a philosopher; the Frenchman is a smatterer; the Italian a professor; the Spaniard a grave thinker. The women are house-wives in Germany; queens in England; ladies in France; captives in Italy; slaves in Spain. Servants are companions in Germany; obedient in England; masters in France; respectful in Italy; submissive in Spain. Magnificence.-In Germany the princes; in England the ships; in France the court; in Italy the churches; in Spain the armories, are magnificent. BEAUTY. Written, exclusively, for the " Brighton Gleaner." "Tis a sack-posset, wherein the deeper you go, you will find it the sweeter.— but then, 'tis a nut, which unless you choose with judgment, may cost you a tooth, and pay you with nothing but a worm.-SWIFT. Where is the man who possesses sufficient courage to resist the charms of beauty; or turn with disgust from the face of a lovely woman? Where is the heart which is proof against the attacks of the tender passion; or the being who can flatter himself into a belief that he is invulnerable to the arrows of love? I think it is impossible to find one person who can boast, that he has never been guilty of such a weakness as love; or, that his bosom has never heaved a sigh for one dear object. If such an one there be (to which opinion I am very reluctant to subscribe), be assured, that though he wear the appearance of man, in his heart he is a brute. He May have man's form; but at his birth, be sure on't, What comforts the philosopher, after he has been diving into the depths of science ?-beauty. What is the soldier's guerdon, after he has been bravely contending for liberty and life?— beauty. What is the solace of the politician, after having been long immersed in all the intri ies of state affairs?-beauty! : Beauty, then, is the all-ruling power it is the halcyon haven to which every individual has steered his bark, and found therein a safe retreat from all the ills and storms of fate. It has been to man a sure comfort amidst every misfortuue-the sweet solace of his woes the source of bliss-and the soothing recompense for the bitterest calamities. The following is a fine poetical description : "When erst in Eden's solitary bowers, The primal man beheld his world of flowers; It was not paradise,-till woman smil'd." The Greek lyrist has with great simplicity, but with equal force and expression, sung of the power of beauty, and the sway of loveliness. "Bounteous nature," says he, " has kindly provided every animal with the means of self-defence. She has given horns to the bull; hoofs to the horse; swiftness to the hare; teeth to the lion; the art of swimming to the fish; the power of flight to the bird; and wisdom to man. Thus prolific in her gifts, what has she retained for woman?-nothing, but beauty-more irresistable than hosts on the embattled plain-sharper than the swordmore destructive than fire!" But, though every individual has formed his opinion respecting beauty; still, I think it would almost be an impossibility to discover two persons, whose ideas on the subject, shall exactly coincide. It is as difficult to discover a standard of beauty, as a standard of taste. The many opinions entertained by men on this particular subject, must have certainly attracted general observation. And it is not confined to one spot, nor to one country, nor even to one quarter of the earth. The Laplander, the Kamschadalian, the Tartar, the Chinese, all think their women the handsomest in the world. This certainly is very remarkable ; but it contains a very easy explication. It is simply want of comparison. The organs of external and internal sensation are the same in every individual; but they are only brought to a state of perfection and proficiency in proportion to the degree of cultivation which they have received. If the mind has been accustomed to behold a particular species of beauty-if the imagination has been rivetted to one particular object—if the thoughts have been only exercised on one particular subject, the person becomes prejudiced, in favour of that beauty, object, and subject; and is rendered incapable of duly appreciating the merits of any other. Thus, then, has it been with the Laplander, the Kamschadalian, the Tartar, and the Chinese. Shut out from all intercourse with society, they have had no opportunity of comparison; and have very naturally formed their ideas of beauty and deformity from the objects which have daily met their eyes. If, on the contrary, a person is in the habit of daily intercourse with the world, he has frequent opportunities of comparison, observation, and, consequently, cultivation of judgment; inasmuch, as from that very intercourse, his sentiments become more distinct and clear -his judgment more steady and exact, and capable of discrimination-his feelings more nice and acute-and his organs thereby attain a greater degree of perfection. He then becomes capable of discovering the ratio of difference between one object and another; and of observing the several excellencies and defects in each. Of this we have a particular instance recorded in history. The men of Hispaniola, when visited by Columbus, considered the Spaniards as divinities, and the discharge of their artillery as thunder, at the sound of which they were seized with such sudden fright and perturbation, that they simultaneously fell down on their faces. The women, on the contrary, seemed to entertain no such awe nor apprehension at the new comers. For, they no sooner beheld the beauty of their faces, and the comeliness of their persons than, disgusted with their husbands, they freely offered their favours to, and courted the embraces of, the strangers. It was, indeed, in the arms of those wantons of Hispaniola, that the Spaniards were infected with that fatal malady which has proved so destructive to the inhabitans of the old world; and "which," says Russell, " if human happiness is to be computed by the balance of pain and pleasure, will be found to be more than a counterpoise to all the gold of Mexico, the silver of Peru, and the diamonds of Brazil." It is amusing to read of the extravagant opinions, which different nations have formed respecting perfection in beauty; opinions, which seem only to excite our laughter and contempt; but which are, nevertheless, stoutly maintained; and we are only repaid with reproaches, for our apparent want of taste and discernment. "Touching their women," says Howell, speaking of the Spaniards in his Familiar Letters. "Nature hath made a more visible division 'twixt the two sexes here than elsewhere: the men, for the most part, are swarthy and rough, but the women are of a far finer mould, and are uncommonly little; and, whereas, there is a saying that makes a complete woman- Let her be English to the neck, French to the waist, and Dutch below;' I may add, for hands and feet, let her be Spanish, for they have the least of any. They have another saying, a French woman in a dance, a Dutch woman in a kitchen, an Italian at a window, an English woman at board, and the Spanish a-bed." Heylin gives an account of the French women in his time, and from the description of the learned Doctor, they could not have been very prepossessing in their appearance. "The bodies of the women," says he, “ are straight, and their waists uncommonly small; their shoulders and backs so immensely broad, that they hold no proportion with their middle; their hair is long and black; their hands are long, white, and slender ; but their arms are covered with scales, which seem to have overrun them like a leprosy." Such was a French beauty in the days of the erudite Heylin. Captain Lyon, in his African Travels, lately published, thus describes the wife of Shiek Baroad, who was celebrated throughout the country, as the very model of female perfection: "On my entrance, she so veiled herself, as to exhibit to advantage her arm with all its gay ornaments; and on my requesting to be favoured with a view of her face, she, with very little reluctance, gratified me. Her chin, the tip of her nose, and the space between her eyebrows were marked with black lines; she was much rouged; her neck, arms, and legs were covered with tattooed flowers. She had a multitude of gold earings and ornaments set with very bad counterfeit jewels, and weighing, altogether, I should think, two or three pounds. She was excessively fat, and, I must say, I never beheld such a monstrous mass of human flesh. One of her legs, of enormous size, was uncovered as high as the calf, and every one pressed it, admiring its solidity, and praising God for blessing them with such a sight!" Mr. Ward has favoured us with the following account, which may be considered as descriptive of a perfect Hindoo beauty: "This girl," says the writer, speaking of Sharuda, the daughter of Brumha, " was of a yellow colour, had a nose like the flower of a sesamum; her legs were taper, like a plantain tree; her eyes large, like the principal leaf of the lotus; her eyebrows extended to her ears; her lips were red, like the young leaves of the mango tree; her face was like the full moon; her voice like the sound of the cuckoo ; her arms reached to her knees; her throat was like that of a pigeon; her loins narrow, like those of a lion : her hair hung in curls, down to her feet; her teeth were like the seeds of the pomegranate; and her gait like that of a drunken elephant or a goose." At this exquisite specimen we may, with equal justice as did Permino, when he beheld the beautiful slave which Gnatho was conducting to Thais, exclaim, while entranced with admiration-Papa! The Tartar women have been characterised as having large wrinkled foreheads, and black hair; flat faces, thick and short noses, very small eyes sunk in the head, high cheek bones, and the lower part of the face very narrow; long and prominent chins, teeth large and distinct from each other, and skins tawny. And the American women, independently of their tattooing and painting, do not think themselves sufficiently captivating, unless they have the gristle of the nose perforated, or their under-lip pierced, to admit a goose quill or a small piece of wood. But not to look so widely for examples; among ourselves, we daily perceive a contrariety of opinions, and a difference of taste. One will prefer black eyes, and black hair; another cares not for these, but places the acme of perfection in beautiful teeth, and a well-formed mouth; a third, only considers the form of the neck, and the fairness of the skin; and a fourth, the formation of the arms, waist, ankles, and feet. Again, one loves the hearty open generous girl, who, on every occasion, is frank and free; will laugh and talk, and, thereby, make herself the life and soul of the company: a second prefers the modest young lady, who turns up her nose at every word which is addressed to her; thinks herself superior to every individual, and, when flattered, simpers and affects confusion: a third, chooses her with soft, blue, and roguish eyes, who endeavours to excite passion in the breast of every young fellow, then laughs with warm satisfaction at the mischief which she has so wickedly occasioned. Before I saw the lovely Miss R, I imagined Amie the sweetest girl I had ever beheld; but when I met with the beautiful Clara, I bowed with the most abject humility at the shrine of her resistless charms. Such, alas! are oftentimes the fatal effects of comparison. W. F. INDIAN WOMEN DIVING FOR SEA-EGGS. The youngest of the two women, taking a basket in her mouth, jumped overboard, and, diving to the bottom, continued under water an amazing time; when she had filled the basket with seaeggs she came up to the boat-side, and, delivering it so filled to the other woman in the boat, they took out the contents and returned it to her. The diver then, after having taken a short time to breathe, went down and up again with the same success ; and so several times for the space of half an hour. It seems as if Providence had endued this people with a kind of amphibious nature, as the sea is the only source whence almost all their subsistence is derived. This element, too, being here very boisterous, and falling with a most heavy surf upon a rugged coast, very little, except some seal, is to be got anywhere but in the quiet bosom of the deep. What occasions this reflec |