244 FKAGME.NTS ON THE BEAUTIFUL. 



who in the very presence of Jehovah, was cursed with the lust of wealth, 

 we might more admire 



"heaven's pavement, trodden gold, 



Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed 

 In vision beatific" — 



We may notice two sisters reared under the same external influences, 

 but how widely do they differ in their position in the world of taste ! 

 The one will become decidedly domestic ; to her the roasting of a piece 

 of beef may be the grandest of achievements. Her philosophy will be 

 confined to that which we are told is necessary to the roasting of eggs. 

 The gridiron and the frying-pan make to her the richest music ; and her 

 name descends throughout the generations of the family as the greatest 

 of housewives. The taste of her tarts lingers in many a mouth, and 

 the very remcmlrance, of her mode of preparing onions brings tears to 

 sympathetic eyes long after she has passed away. 



But in the other, by the impulsive influence of a mind of a different 

 cast, a character widely different is formed. The unseen she is most anx- 

 ious to look at. The charming page of the novelist, the rich legend of 

 the romancer, the glowing numbers of the poet, subdue her by their oc- 

 cult music. Her very curls are put up in select poetry from the newspa- 

 pers, the only Mse, we believe, which it has ever been made to subserve. 

 She looks with the eye of imagination at nimble fairies dancing barefoot 

 in the moonlight, until she ahiiost thinks herself a fairy with the attend- 

 ant moonlight and bare feet; at least this class of ladies has been 

 charged with forgetfulness of the fact, that in this perverse and unroman- 

 tic world, there are such things as stockings, or, at least, that yarn is 

 not eternal. 



We behold in men differently constituted an illustration of the same 

 truth. The extreme on the one side terminates in the hopeless utilita- 

 rian, on whose very grave nothing but pumpkins will grow, and on the 

 other shows us the victim of ill regulated and fierce enthusiasm which 

 consumes the spirit in which it dwells. 



And in the department of the affections our principle is upheld by 

 facts no less striking. Whatever acts on them, acts on our ideas of beau- 

 ty. So soon as our feelings lose their tone, they cease to charm, and 

 in extreme cases even become absolutely hateful. Thus Hamlet, speak- 

 ing of the effects of his profound distress : — "Indeed it goes so heavily 

 with my disposition, that this goodly frame the earth seems to me to be 

 a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy the air, look you; this 

 brave overhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire. 



