STUDY XII. 15 



tinuaîly, and every where, and we difFufe it, prin- 

 cipally, over the commencement and the clofe of 

 human life : hence it is that the cradles and the 

 tombs of fo great a part of Mankind have been 

 enveloped in fidion. It is the perennial fource 

 of our curiofity ; it difclofes itfelf from early in- 

 fancy, and is long the companion of innocence. 

 Whence could children derive the tafte for the 

 marvellous ? They muft have Fairy-tales ; and 

 men muft have epic poems and operas. It is the 

 marvellous which conftitutes one of the grand 

 charms of the antique ftatues of Greece and Rome, 

 reprefenting heroes or gods, and which contri- 

 butes, more than is generally imagined, to our de- 

 light, in the perufal of the ancient Hiftory of thofe 

 Countries. It is one of the natural reafons which 

 may be produced to the Prefident Henault, who 

 exprelies aftonifliment that we (hould be more 

 enamoured of ancient Hiftory than of modern, 

 efpecially that of our own country : the truth is, 

 independantly of the patriotic fentiments, which 

 ferve, at leaft, as a pretext to the intrigues of the 

 great men of Greece and Rome, and which were 

 fo entirely unknown to ours, that they frequently 

 embroiled their country in maintaining the inte- 

 refts of a particular houfe, and fometimes in aflert- 

 ing the honour of piecedency, or of fitting on a 

 joint-ftool; there is a marvellous in the religion of 

 the Ancients v/hich confoles and elevates human na- 

 ture, 



