for a renewal of the joy of their youth; they love him for the images he presents them of all they desire to remember; for the opening of Paradise in the wild; for that mixture of imagination, of hope, and of memory, which is the most thrilling of delicious emotions.

And what, after all, has the loftiest poetry to do with the changes of this varying scene, with the frivolities of fashion, or the revolutions by which the inhabitants of the palace may be affected? Its most delightful melodies are mingled with the voice of nature, and its purest charms are associated with the majesty of creation. Occasionally, indeed, it has received its coloring from the manners of the age, has burst forth in songs of war and triumph, or whispered among altars and temples in the sublimest accents of devotion. But while the heavens "tell the glory of God," and the earth is pouring forth her streams, and renewing her forests in rich profusion, it cannot be dependent on those events to which it has accidentally been linked; it may always return to its native haunts, and find its kindred again with its own delicious seclusions. When society becomes too refined to relish its wild and solemn effusions, it may retire home to nature, where it will always find abundant sympathy. The purest minds, by which our species is exalted, have little in common with the sensations of ordinary men, and as little dependance upon the will of princes as the breath of vulgar applause. If ambition desolates the nations, the summer evening's sigh is not the less sweet, the gentleness of heaven is still unruffled, and the regions of imagination only appear more tranquil in their beauty, and more fair, by their bright contrast to the tumults of actual existence. True poets are in this world, but they are above it. They live and breathe beyond the influence of its strife, anticipating the enjoyments of a future Paradise. The sources from which their feelings spring are far deeper than the common motives of human action; and their art flourishes most, when men most despise it; and remains firm, unimpaired, and untainted, when "the fashion of this world passeth away."

But if all this were vain, if poetry depended upon the movements of social life, and if in the infancy of civilization alone its noblest exertions could be expected, it should be remembered that a small portion of the world only is advanced to this stage of unpoetical elevation. Mighty tracts yet remain, on which religion is just beginning to dawn; and where, in the first enthusiasm of the awakened mind, the most brilliant results may be anticipated. In territories where nature wantons in a more bountiful luxuriance, where the grandeur of scenery is more ennobling, and its loneliness more impressive, poets may well arise of kindred feeling, when the soul first begins to obtain a glimpse of its celestial destinies, when

heaven, for the first time, seems to open above, and God to dwell around it. The first breaking up of the rich and uncultivated soil must produce specimens of the most vigorous originality. The morning of Western glory must be ushered in by some stars of peculiar brightness. Even while we are sending forth from this sanctuary of the world, as from an exhaustless fountain, those streams of the water of life which must refresh those awful solitudes, we may witness as the first-fruits of our charity, fresh regions of imagination explored, and new riches discovered in the capacities of our species. There, in the freshness of new-born vigor, Wordsworths may hold mysterious converse with the oracles of nature; Miltons range among shadowy worlds of their delighted creation; and Shakspeares develope all the varieties of the heart, and cover them with unearthly loveliness, while untutored tribes listen to them with strange rapture. The prospect seems to swim with an imaginative radiance, too bright to permit us steadily to contemplate it. Surely the very hope of such a consummation, however dim and distant, is sufficient to forbid us to despair of the future triumphs of genius; and to arm us against the eloquence that would check all our noblest impulses, by making us believe that the world is too old to be any longer romantic.

ON

THE APPLICATION

OF THE

ORGANOLOGY OF THE BRAIN

ΤΟ

Education.

COMMUNICATED

BY T. FORSTER, F. L. S.

OF CORP. CH. COLL. CAMBRIDGE.

AUTHOR OF RESEARCHES ABOUT ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA; OBSERVATIONS ON THE SWALLOW; NOTES TO THE DIOSEMEA OF ARATUS ; PHYSIOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS; &c.

ORIGINAL.

PREFACE.

THIS Essay was written before, from the labors of Dr. Spurzheim, the doctrine alluded to was known in England, and it was suggested by the hasty perusal of some minutes of Lectures taken by the pupils of Dr. Gall. It is printed to show how reasonable the principles of the doctrine appeared, even before it was illustrated and confirmed by a demonstration of facts.