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ANALYSIS of BEAUTY.                         37 
its imaginary purfuits concerning it. Thus, if I may 
be allow'd a fimile, the angler choofes not to fee the fifh 
he angles for, until it is fairly caught. 
C H A P. VII. 
Of    LINES. 
T may be remember'd that in the introdu&ion, the 
reader is defired to confider the furfaces of obje&s 
as fo many fhells of lines, clofely conne&ed together, 
which idea of them it will now be proper to call to 
mind, for the better comprehending not only this, but 
all the following chapters on compofition. 
The conftant ufe made of lines by mathematicians, 
as well as painters, in defcribing things upon paper, hath 
eflabliffi'd a conception of them, as if a&ually exiffing 
on the real forms themfelves. This likewife we fuppofe, 
and ihall fet out with faying in general--That the fraight 
line, and the circular line, together with their different 
combinations, and variations, &c. bound, and circum- 
fcribe all vifible obje&s whatfoever, thereby producing 
fuch endlefs variety of forms, as lays us under the ne- 
ceflity of dividing, and diffinguifhing them into general 
claffes; leaving the intervening mixtures of appearances 
to the reader's own farther obfervation. 
Firfi, * objeds compofed of firaight lines only, as the* Fig. 23. 
cube, or of circular lines, as the fphere, or of both to- T. p. 
gether, as cylinders and cones, &c. 
Secondly,