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directed, it is necessary that all our impressions connected with the nature of good and evil should be distinct and durable, and founded upon truth: and the science which leads to the proper selection and arrangement of early impressions-the origin of desire the direction of the affections, and consequently the formation of the moral character, is that which we would earnestly recommend to the attention of the busy public, as conducive to the highest and most lasting utility.

Cæsar's character-his ambition. But who in that motley crowd regarded Cæsar's ambition, unless it touched himself? The soul of Brutus was capable of apprehending in the ambition of one man, an enemy to the many-a destroyer of the rights and the liberties of the Roman people; but it was an evil too remote for the multitude to be impressed with, and though they offered a prompt, and at the moment a sincere acknowledgement, that what Brutus had said was just and true, we see how soon they could turn, and listen, and grow furious, under the influence of that master-piece of eloquence, by which Mark Antony gradually led their attention away from Cæsar's am

It is with this view of the subject of utility, that the writer of these pages has dwelt so long upon the nature and importance of poetry, and laboured (it may be fruitlessly to others, but certainly not without enjoy-bition, and the remote idea they might have ment to herself,) to enforce the desirableness of cultivating poetry as an art, and of cherishing poetic feeling as a source of intellectual enjoyment.

formed of its consequences, to the bloody spectacle of his bleeding body, the gaping wounds still testifying that it was the hand of a friend-a loved and trusted friend, that had shed the proudest blood in Rome.

"But yesterday the word of Cæsar might

Have stood against the world; now lies he there,
And none so poor to do him reverence."

Lest the people should not be sufficiently excited by this spectacle-by what they could all immediately understand-the direct infliction of cruelty, the artful orator makes another appeal to their feelings, which immediately strikes home. He tells them of Cæsar's will, from which they were individually and personally to derive benefit, and then the fire he had so studiously endeavoured to kindle burst forth, and weeping for Cæsar as for a public benefactor-a patriot-a god, they direct the fury of their indignation against the conspirators, and threaten the direst vengeance upon the head of Brutus.

Upon the principle of our desires arising out of our impressions of pleasure and pain, there is an importance-a wisdom in poetry, beyond what a superficial observation would lead us to suppose. It is because poetry addresses itself immediately to our feelings, and appeals to the evidence of our individual impressions to attest its truth, that it becomes a powerful engine of instruction, enforcing while it inculcates, and stimulating while it teaches. If while we learn an important truth, we have the testimony of our feelings to confirm it, how much stronger is the impression? The orator whose object is to rouse the public mind to indignation and violence, and active force against a tyrant, or a usurper, does not merely argue upon the natural rights of man, and the principles of law and justice; but he calls the attention of the people to their ruined homes, to This appeal is in strict accordance with their desolate hearths, and draws pictures the spirit of poetry, which convinces not so of the hunger, and want, and squalid misery much by the evidence of what we know, as with which they are too feelingly acquainted. what we feel. It required time for the RoWe have a striking instance of the dif mans to reflect upon the nature of ambition, ference between addressing the judgment, and even then they could not bring home its and addressing the feelings, in the two ora- remote consequences to the conviction of tions on the death of Julius Cæsar, delivered their bosoms; but they were instantaneousby Brutus and Mark Antony. Brutus, ly impressed with horror on beholding he whose noble mind disdains all artifice, ap- lacerated body of Cæsar, they all felt that peals at once to the "wisdom" of the people, the friends in whom he had trusted should and justifies the fatal deed he has just com- have been the very last to do the bloody mitted, by dwelling upon one single stain indeed, and they felt also that the man, who

while he lived had formed those generous plans for their benefit which his will attested, ought in his death to be lamented and avenged.

If sufficient had not already been said to establish the fact, that the influence of poetry arises from its connexion with our feelings, we might refer to the history of all nations, in whose early stages of civilization, poetry has held a prominent part. And why? Because in describing what is beautiful, or refined, or conducive to happiness, it has been supported by principles inherent in the human mind-principles upon which are founded our impressions of pleasure and pain. Knowledge in its prosaic form, as it is usually conveyed into the mind, can only instruct; but poetry charms while it in structs. Knowledge requires the evidence of facts, and the aid of reflection, and reasoning to establish its truth. Poetry teaches by a different process. Telling of others what we experience in ourselves, it engages in the cause of truth, all that we fear of evil, and all that we desire of good; and sometimes in the fabulous history of imaginary beings, imparts the profoundest knowledge of the principles of thought and action.

It remains only to add a few remarks on the subject of happiness, as connected with our condition in the present world. There are rigid disciplinarians who regard enjoyment as a dangerous appendage to that condition-who, shrinking from the idea of enjoyment as an end in itself worthy of attainment, look upon it rather as a snare to lure us into hidden mischief. If enjoyment is of no importance to our being, (we might say to our well being,) why then is beauty diffused throughout creation, or why is the principle of happiness derived from beauty implanted in the soul of man? What, in short, is the value of anything without enjoyment, either immediate or remote? For, when we speak of ennobling or exalting the human mind, it is but in other words to speak of increasing its capability of enjoying that which is supremely excellent. Our natural desire of enjoyment, is the principle upon which we teach all moral truths. We speak of particular things as conducive to the happiness of ourselves or others, and even the infant mind is convinced that they

are desirable from its own vivid impressions of the sensations of pleasure. When we teach a moral lesson of practical difficulty and pain, it is still in the same way, by comparing present suffering with the greater and more lasting happiness that will ensue ; and when one individual is to benefit by the suffering of another, we point out the internal satisfaction attending all benevolent actions, and the general happiness of a life of duty.

Without enjoyment, we should be without desire, and without desire, we should be without action-we should also be without love without every good and virtuous impulse, and above all, we should be without gratitude; for those who endeavour to teach the duty of gratitude, while they withhold the means of innocent enjoyment, are guilty of an insult to common sense, and a presumptuous violence of the benign plan of Providence.

How different is the dealing of the Creator with his creatures! How much has he spread before them of beauty and sublimity! How prodigally has he blessed their existence with sweetness and harmony, for which we can imagine no other purpose than that of promoting the happiness of his dependent children, and of leading them by their experience of temporal enjoyment, to desire that which is eternal. For how should we form a conception of happiness, having had no impression of pleasure; or how should we desire it, having had no foretaste of enjoyment?

It follows then, that there is utility in being innocently happy-utility of the most extensive compass, and the highest character, which poetry is of all our intellectual pursuits most capable of promoting. Let us then no longer reject this heaven-born messenger of a more refined and spiritual existence; but let us call with united voice upon our silent minstrels, and bid them tune once more the melodious harps to which in early life our souls have thrilled; let us enter again into the field of nature, not only with eyes to examine, but with hearts to feel; let us woo back imagination to come and bear us up on her elastic wings, above the gloss elements of mere corporeal life-not to separate us by the idle vapours of distempered fancy from the duties of rational and immor

tal beings but to sweeten those duties with a more ethereal essence, and to dignify them with a character more sublime. Above all, let us accept the additional source of enjoyment which poetry affords, not with the excitement of a transient indulgence, as an idle toy for pleasant pastime in our vacant hours,

but with gratitude and humble reverence towards the Giver of every good and perfect gift, as a rich and gracious blessing, whose high purpose is to promote the intellectual happiness of man, and the glory of his Creator.

THE END.

OF

PRIVATE LIFE.

BY MRS. ELLIS

AUTHOR OF "WIVES OF ENGLAND," ETC.

“Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure, take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spir itual things;-in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your oody over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself."

AUTHOR'S EDITION,

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.

New-York;

EDWARD WALKER 114 FULTON STREET.

1847.

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