186 ON THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN MENTAL 



the Virgin. The painter, Blake, in the solitude of his garret, called 

 up the shades of spirits obedient to his will, and transferred por- 

 traits to his canvass of persons whose bodies had been dust for cen- 

 turies, — the originals of which were furnished to him by the acti- 

 vity of his own vivid and extraordinary fancy. 



The senses are the natural media through which the mind derives 

 all its ideas, by which we become acquainted with the properties 

 of things, the meaning of words, and the characters and disposi- 

 tions of men. The greater the variety in which these are presented 

 to a sound mind, the stronger will the reasoning powers of that 

 mind become. We easily collect the result of past occurrences, 

 apply them to the determination of the present, and conjecture, 

 with a certain degree of probability, what will be the lot of the fu- 

 ture. With this process Imagination has little to do, and in men 

 thus conversant with the facts of natural or moral philosophy, with 

 the occupation of the merchant, or the business of legislation, its pi- 

 nions are feeble, and seldom bear it 'above the truths of sober reality. 

 In solitude the case becomes widely different ; the same objects are 

 witnessed day after day, the same sights are presented to the eye, 

 and the same sounds fatigue the ear. The mind, drawing its ideas 

 from these limited resources, bodies forth creatures of its own, gives 

 to them its own colour, and stamps them with its own perverted 

 image ; endowing them with properties which, in nature, they do not 

 possess, it becomes fixed upon one subject, some favourite science, 

 some cherished study, and forgets that the world possesses anything 

 beyond either to fear, desire, or love. 



The effect of solitude upon the Imagination has been admirably 

 illustrated by Dr. Johnson, in his history of the Astronomer of 

 Cairo, and the mode in which the cure of his diseased fancy was 

 effected by Rasselas and his sister. 



Here we have the true state of mind pourtrayed which is fre- 

 quently produced by long-continued attention to any one object or 

 study. The astronomer, who had spent forty years in unwearied 

 attention to the motions and appearances of the heavenly bodies, 

 and had drawn out his soul in endless calculations, naturally enough 

 fancied that he had acquired some influence over them, that he pos- 

 sessed the regulation of the weather, and the distribution of the 



