"_Fine by degrees, and beautifully less_" (Vol. iii., p. 105.).--This line
is from Prior's "Henry and Emma," a poem, upon the model of the "Nut-brown
Maid." I copy part of the passage in which it occurs, for the sake of any
of your readers who may be lovers of _context_, and may not have the poem
at hand to refer to.
"_Henry_ [addressing Emma].
"Vainly thou tell'st me what the woman's care
Shall in the wildness of the woods prepare; 420
Thou, ere thou goest, unhappiest of thy kind,
Must leave the habit and the sex behind.
No longer shall thy comely tresses break
In flowing ringlets on thy snowy neck;
Or sit behind thy head, an ample round,
In graceful braids with various ribbon bound:
No longer shall the bodice aptly lac'd
From thy full bosom to thy slender waist,
That air and harmony of shape express,
Fine by degrees, and beautifully less: 430
Nor shall thy lower garments' artful plait,
From thy fair side dependent to thy feet,
Arm their chaste beauties with a modest pride,
And double every charm they seek to hide."