which is by no means an enviable one, of being dull, tiresome, and uninteresting.

Let us now look a moment at another person, who is not only a man of great powers of ratiocination, but has cultivated his imagination, and has it under prompt and judicious command. He casts his eye rapidly over the whole field of argument, however extensive it may be; and immediately perceives what facts are necessary to be stated, and what are not; what are of prominent, and what of subordinate importance; what will be easily understood and possess an interest, and what will be difficult to be appreciated, and will also lose its due value from a want of attraction. And he does this on the same principle, and in virtue of the same mental training, which enables the painter, architect, sculptor, and poet,to present the outlines of grand and beautiful creations in their respective arts. There is a suitableness in the different parts of the train of reasoning; a correspondence of one part to another; a great and combined effect, enhanced by every suitable decoration, and undiminished by any misplaced excrescence, which undoubtedly implies a perfection of the imagination, in some degree, kindred with that, which projected the group of the Laocoon, crowned the hills of Greece with statues and temples, and lives in the works of renowned poets. The debater, who combines the highest results of reasoning with the highest results of the imagination, throws the light of his own splendid conceptions around the radiance of truth; so that brightness shines in the midst of brightness, like the angel of the Apocalypse in the sun.

§. 257. Of misconceptions by means of the imagination.

But while it is safe to admit, that the imagination may be made subservient to valuable purposes, it is no less true, that it may sometimes mislead us. The following are instances among others, where this is the result.

Our admiration of the great may be reckoned a prejudice of the imagination. We are apt to suppose them possessed of personal attractions, and of the highest happiness; and not only this, to invest them with every wor

thy moral attribute. The misfortunes, (says a late writer,) of Mary, Queen of Scots, and of her descendant, Prince Charles Edward, commanded the sympathy, the love, and the enthusiasm of millions. In the cause of these princes, how many have joyfully sacrificed life, though neither of them was worthy or capable of reigning! How many labour still to blot out every stain from their memory! And yet every individual, in the circle of his own private friends and acquaintances, can undoubtedly find many persons more distinguished for virtue, for good principles, for integrity of character, than the prince for whom he is willing to lay down his life; but a friend, a private man, is invested with none of those attributes, always dazzling but often false, which are calculated to strike the imagination."

Our imaginations mislead us also in respect to war, whenever we contemplate it at a distance, and do not feel its effects at our own fire-sides and homes. We delight to dwell upon the idea of mighty power, which it suggests; we recall to memory the homage and plaudits, which have been given to the brave; we combine together conceptions of all, that is stirring in music, and brilliant in equipage. In a word, it is a kindling imagination, seizing upon some imposing circumstances, that leads multitudes into deplorable mistakes as to the character of that great scourge of the human race.Again; the power of imagination often gives a wrong colouring to future life. It is here as in some prospects in natural scenery,

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.

Whatever may be our present evils, we imagine there is good to come. We rush forward in the pursuit of it,like children, who set out with spirited emulation, expecting to grasp in their hands the splendours of the rainbow, that appears to them to rest upon the neighboring hills.

§. 353. Explanation of the above misrepresentations of the imag

us?

ination.

But how happens it, that this faculty so often misleads
What explanation can be given?

The answer is, that the mind turns away with a natural aversion from whatever causes it pain or uneasiness ; delighting to dwell on the elements of beauty and sublimity, and in general on all scenes, which exite in it pleasant emotions. As there is, therefore, more or less in all actual situations, which causes dissatisfaction, we shall always find, in every condition, in which we are placed, something which detracts from what we imagine to be the sum of happiness. The evils, which are around us and near us, we MUST know; our situation forbids an attempt at the concealment of them. Every day forces the lesson of human adversity on our attention. But when we look abroad from the reality, which exists at home, from the cares and sorrows, which are ever near at hand, to other scenes and prospects, we do not think of trial and disappointment, because we are not obliged to. We fix our attention upon those circumstances, which appear most favourable and interesting; and, consequently, know nothing of the uneasiness and misery, which actu ally exist in the imaginary paradise of our creation.-For instance, we are apt to associate, as has been remarked, with persons in very high stations in life, the ideas of unalloyed happiness, of moral excellence, of manliness and beauty of form; but while men in the most exalted stations have no less a share than others of bodily deformities and suffering, they have still greater anxieties; their hours of sorrow are often more numerous than those of any other class of persons. It was well inquired by King Henry in Shakspeare,

"What infinite heart's ease must kings neglect,

"That private men enjoy?

"And what have kings, that privates have not too,
"Save ceremony, save general ceremony?

And under the direction of the same mental tendency, by which we are led to mark the elevations without noticing the depressions of the great men of the earth, we are led also to see the sublimities and hide from our sight the degradations and iniseries of war, to behold the sunshine of the future, but no clouds.

CHAPTER TWELFTH.

ORIGIN OF PREJUDICES.

§. 359. Of the meaning of prejudices.

IN forming our judgments or opinions of things, we are led to take into consideration a variety of facts and circumstances, which are applicable to the particular subjects under consideration, and are fitted to influence the mind in the formation of such opinions. The circumstances and facts, which are thus fitted to influence our belief, in consequence of giving new views in respect to the subjects before us, are commonly termed EVIDENCE. But it is well known, that the full and natural force of evidence is often interrupted and weakened by the operation of variBesides the agency of other causes, by means of which the judgment is led into errour, there are some in the mind itself; particularly casual, but strong associations arising there of various sorts, and under various aspects. The term prejudices, as it is commonly employed, embraces the greater number of these grounds or causes of erroneous judgments.

ous causes.

PREJUDICES, therefore, to which we are now to attend, are judgments or opinions, which are formed without a suitable regard to the evidence, properly pertaining to them; whenever, for example, sources of evidence, which are within our reach, are overlooked; or when the facts

and incidental circumstances, constituting the evidence, are allowed to have too great or too little influence. A mind, which discovers a tendency thus to overlook or misapply grounds of evidence, is called a prejudiced mind.

A greater or less degree of importance will be attached to this subject, according as we attach a greater or less degree of value to the possession of correct and enlightened opinions. None can consider it unimportant; many will justly regard it, as of the very highest importance. It is the object of this chapter to point out some of the principal sources of prejudices.

§. 360. Of prejudices in favour of our youth.

Many of those opinions, which we form of the scenes, and events, and characters of our youthful days, are prejudices. As we look back and frame an estimation of that early period, the associates of our childhood and youth seem to us to have been without a crime; in those happy days the interests of parents were never at variance with those of their children; masters sought the good of their dependants; the poor were welcome sharers in the abundance of the rich; magistrates were virtuous; the religious teachers were eminently holy men. Alas! for these evils days of our manhood and old age, in which there is such rottenness in all civil institutions, which recent times have established; such corruption in every new set of magistrates; and such depravity in the great mass of the people! The causes of this apparent disparity between the world, as it exists now, and formerly, are briefly these.

In the morning of life every thing is new; our attention is arrested by a multitude of novel objects, and the mind is filled with delight. Happy ourselves, we imagine that, with few exceptions, all others are not less so; and while our own hearts are conscious of innocence, we are exempt from any suspicion of crime in others. In a word, we suppose all the world to be happy, all the world to be innocent and just, because we are conscious of the existence of rectitude and truth and innocence in ourselves, and are