of our readers, and beg them also to weigh well the power of the soul over the body, as shown in the following extract from Dr. Moore, than which, in the course of our reading, we have found nothing truer and more beautiful.
How exquisitely the spirit becomes visible in every attitude and every feature of happy children! We read their thoughts and feelings as perfectly as if their souls were our own. And were our own minds and bodies attuned by love, we should find ourselves impelled by sympathy to join their sports. Like musical instruments of marvellous construction, we are so strung, that the air which causes vibration, seems to breathe but in the music, and one string is no sooner struck, than all awake in harmony. And we are attuned to each other so perfectly, that under similar circumstances of health, being free from the dull pressure of care, all humanity would perhaps respond to one heart.
But the science and execution of music affords us still better illustration. How nice a structure must be called into play, when a skilful pianist, by aid of an additional instrument fitted to his convenience, executes an intricate piece of music, not only in a wonderfully rapid succession of mechanical movements, but also in a manner fully to express the very feelings of his soul. But how much more forcibly is the same power manifested in the human voice. By it the spirit speaks, not only an infinite variety of articulated sounds, but more marvellously still, by the modulated language of tones, so as to excite into ecstasy or agony every sympathy within us.
What is it that so skilfully touches this instrument?
