CHARACTERS. 
in art or science. The cheerful 
activity of a populous town, the 
improvements in: the steam-en= 
gine, the great Galvanic experi- 
ments, and, above all, the novelty 
and extent of the prospects afford- 
ed by that revolution in chemical 
science which has illustrated our 
own age and country—these mag- 
nificent objects, when presented 
to Mr. Tennant’s mind, excited 
in him the liveliest emotions, and 
called forth the most animated 
expressions of admiration and de- 
light. 
This keen sensibility to intel- 
lectual pleasure may be partly 
understood, from the following 
passage of a letter written by him 
in January 1809, to an intimate 
friend who was then abroad.— 
After mentioning the great phe- 
nomena of the decompusition of 
the alkalies by Voltaic electricity, 
and giving a general view of the 
experiments founded upon them, 
he thus concludes, “I need not 
say how prodigious these discove- 
ries are. It is something to have 
lived to know them.” 
His taste in literature and the 
fine arts partook, in a considerable 
degree, of the peculiar character 
of his imagination. His favourite 
writers (those whom he most va- 
lued for the eloquence of their 
style) were such as describe— 
*‘high actions and high passions,” 
and have the power of exciting 
strong and deep emotions. Of 
the poets, he principally esteemed 
Virgil, Milton, and Gray; and 
the prose writers to whom he gave 
the preference for powers of com- 
position were Pascal and Rous- 
seau. He had a particular admi- 
ration of the “ Pensées de Pas- 
cal,” regarding it as a production 
436 
altogether unequalled in energy 
of thought and language, in occa- 
sional passages of refined and deep 
philosophy, and, above all, in 
that sublime melancholy, which 
he considered as one of the pe- 
culiar characteristics of great ge- 
nius. 
The same principles governed 
Mr. Tennant’s judgment in the 
fine arts. Considering it as their 
proper office to elevate the mind, 
and to excite the higher and no- 
bler passions, he estimated the 
merits of the great masters in mu- 
sic and painting by their power of 
inspiring these emotions. What 
he particularly admired in musi- 
cal compositions was that tone of 
energy, simplicity, and deep feel- 
ing, of which the works of Han- 
del and Pergolesi afford the finest 
specimens. In painting he award- 
ed the superiority to those dis- 
tinguished masters, of whom Ra- 
phael is the chief, who excel in 
the poetical expressions of charac- 
ter, and in the power of repre- 
senting with spirit, grace, and 
dignity, the most exalted senti- 
ments and affections. 
It was almost a necessary con- 
sequence of his intense and deep 
feeling of these higher beauties, 
that his taste was somewhat se- 
vere, and that his ideas of excel- 
lence, both in literature and the 
fine arts, were confined within 
strict limits. He totally disre- 
garded mediocrity, and gave no 
praise to those inferior degrees of 
merit, from which he received no 
gratification. 
In consequence principally of 
the declining state of his health, 
his talents for conversation were 
perhaps less uniformly conspi- 
cuous during his latter years.— 
2F2 His 
