PUOVERr.lAL I'lni.OSOPHY. 259 



eclipse of virtue by vice is there portrayed to llie life. 1 never read a 

 book. \vl)ich I liked better, though I have been niorc strongly fasciuated 

 by some splendid fiction, which lost its inlluence as soon as I permitted 

 my reason to rule in her proper dominion ; but in perusing this book 

 reason coincides with and approves every thing which my feelings 

 prompt. I am at the same time pleased and instructed ; at once gratilied 

 and informed;. my stock of knowledge is increased, whilst my heart is 

 made better by the consideration of truths inculcated and philosophy 

 laid down. In these days, these enlightened days of the glorious nine- 

 teenth century, when every one is more or less tinctured with Trans- 

 ccndentalis?n, when every student is a Biblio-rnaniuc, and when every 

 writer, catering to the public taste, seeks' new methods of conveying in- 

 struction, and new channels through which to communicate knowledge, 

 it is a very rare thing to meet with a book containing as much of truth 

 imparted in so very attractive a style. As much of its freshness, it must 

 be confessed, resembles that of a college surloin of beef, served np va- 

 riously for dinner, supper, and breakfast, so Tupper, in some things, has 

 taken the cold meat of other authors and served it up warm and spiced 

 to suit the palate ; and as the cook deserves praise for rendering palatable 

 that which otherwise would be left untouched, so also does our author 

 for making readable that which we might not otherwise have looked at. 

 A freshness and a charm are thrown around nursery proverbs and child- 

 hood sayings, which renew their youth and beauty. We read lliem as 

 though we had read them not, and each successive perusal discovers 

 some hitherto hidden and undiscovered beauty, some llowery nook be- 

 fore unobserved, some point in tlic perfect landscape that had hillierto 

 escaped notice, and appeared the more beautiful on account of its sudden 

 appearance. It is like studying a picture of one of the great masters ; we 

 are struck at first sight, because it is necessary. Every body admires 

 great pictures, and therefore we admire them, though we can give no 

 satisfactory reason for our admiration. After the charm of novelty 

 wears ofl' and we begin to look at it in its true light, the beauties do not 

 burst upon us at once ; one by one they start from the canvass and 

 strike our senses. We are better pleased with each successive one, be- 

 cause it adds to our pleasure, and when, sitting and gazing for hours, we 

 can take in every perfection at a single glance, the sensation is almost 

 over-powering ; we feel the presence of the master mind, whose impress 

 the picture bears, and leave the gallery so full of a sense of beauty that 

 we cannot shake it oft". Like the image of the sun that flits before our 

 eyef, if we have the presumption to gaze upon it, we see before us, for 

 weeky, the atrikuig fcatuics of the great picture whenever our mindt are 



