BEAUTY IN NATURE. 231 



Our moral sentiments often magnify the sensation of 

 beauty. The pleasure we derive from beautiful objects 

 like the rainbow is entirely independent of education, 

 fashion, or caprice ; yet this pleasure may be exalted by 

 certain ideas acting upon the mind or the affections. A 

 religious person, who regards the rainbow as the sacred 

 symbol of a covenant between heaven and earth, must 

 view it with raptures unfelt by one who has no such 

 faith. 



