342 MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. 



its downward course, following the law of gravity, it proceeds quickly and 

 easily, and, inasmuch as it follows its natural inclination, is a pleasing* 

 whilst the laborious ascent is, in some measure, an unpleasing, object. Thus 

 it is that paintings produced at a time when the art was on the decline af- 

 ford far greater pleasure to the ignorant than those which preceded the pe- 

 riod of its perfection." Here the comparison of the rise, height, and decline 

 of an art, to the laborious rolling up of a weight, its short stay at the sum. 

 mit, and its easy and rapid descent, is, unfortunately, but too just; the rea- 

 son, however, assigned for the greater pleasure derived by the ignorant from 

 works of art in decline than from those produced when it is on the road to 

 perfection, appears less so. The following will, perhaps, be found to be 

 nearer the truth : — From the very circumstance of an art not having yet 

 reached perfection, it follows that those engaged in its cultivation are striv- 

 ing after and actually obtaining an upward step in the ascent towards the 

 summit of Parnassus — towards the attainment, in other words, of the most 

 successful expression of ideal beauty and superhuman grandeur. In this 

 pursuit all the minor accessories, such as minuteness of detail, excessive 

 polish, and ornament for its own sake, are entirely overlooked, perhaps even 

 estimated below their real value. But these are precisely the qualities 

 which most easily captivate the eyes, ears, and understandings of the igno- 

 rant, and are those also which indicate the decline of that art in \Vhich they 

 are discovered. After the highest imaginable sublimity and beauty has been 

 reached, since it is impossible to stand still, we must descend from our labo- 

 riously-attained eminence ; not, however, in the same direction as we came, 

 for we now rush headlong down the opposite side of the hill ; and the nearer 

 we approach the bottom — that is, the more we cultivate the lesser excellen- 

 cies above mentioned, to the neglect of those which are alone worthy of culti- 

 vation in the higher departments of the art — so much the more shall we 

 come within the sympathies and capabilities of the vulgar and unenlighten- 

 ed. For multitudes stand gaping with stupid admiration at the bottom of 

 the hill, but few only can appreciate the solitary grandeur which clothes its 

 summit T. 



Peculiar Organization of the Grey Cuckoo (Cuculus canorusy 

 Linn.) — Mr. Levison informs us that he considers the extraordinary habits 

 of the Cuckoo, as regards propagation, to result rather from a deficiency in 

 the organ of Constructiveness than in the portion of the brain assigned to 

 Philoprogenitiveness, which latter propensity he states to be amply develop- 

 ed in the head of this interesting bird. The habits of the species certainly 

 tend to confirm this view of the matter; for it has been observed by Mr. 

 John E. Gray, and others, that the Cuckoo frequently returns to the nest 

 after having deposited its egg there, and the anxiety of the bird to obtain a 

 proper receptacle for the egg is decidedly considerable ; while, on the other 

 hand, that the Cuckoo has never even made the remotest attempt at build- 

 ing a nest, is an incontrovertible fact. Mr. Levison's observations on the 

 development of the Cuckoo's head were first alluded to by that gentleman in 

 a conversation with his friend Dr. Spurzheim, and were communicated to us 

 during a recent visit to Mr. L — Ed. 



Church Music — It has been said, that the lower classes have, in gene- 

 ral, no taste for harmony ; and the little inaccuracies and blunders of self- 

 taught musicians have been the subject of ill-timed merriment. But we 



