a play of fancy in the invention of a new pattern—there may be a display of elegance in the furnishing of a house—there may be an agreeable combination of colors in a fashionable costume, and all these are worthy of admiration, in their way; but such objects of admiration do not expand the feelings and elevate the soul; they merely dvelop in a familiar and practical form, those principles of order, harmony, and beauty, which ought previously to have been impressed upon the mind by the more striking phenomena of nature. In order properly to enjoy the works of art, these principles should previously have been recognised in their more distinct and intelligible characters. In order to be duly appreciated, beauty should some lime or other have burst, as it were, upon the eye and the mind of the child at once. It should have been constrained to admire it, and to admire it heartily; for it is important to our happiness that we should be able to admire with warmth, and even with enthusiasm; and pitiable indeed is that being, who, after spending a life in learning what ought to be admired, finds at last that the power is wanting. With regard to imagination, it is often spoken of as dangerous faculty, and treated as if given for man's misery, rather than his good; yet surely it must in justice be allowed, that if, in connexion with an ill-regulated mind, imagination is capable of rendering sorrow more intense, it is equally capable of enhancing, under more favorable circumstances, all our highest and most refined enjoyments.
Why, then, should we wish to discard the use of this faculty altogether? The fact is, we can not discard it. Imagination is ever at work, combining preconceived impressions into new and striking forms; and where no allowance is made for the exercise of this faculty—where it is pent up without any natural or appropriate outlet — it will burst forth like a smothered flame, and in all probability deface or consume, when it might have illuminated with a welcome and cheering light.
I was once in a dark parlor in the midst of a great city, where a little child, just able to lisp a few words, was busily employed in playing, that he gathered up the green of the carpet, which he called parsley, and pretended to lay in bandfuls upon a stool, which also boasted some corre-
