Ixxviii THE LIFE OF HARVEY. 



display. The very buildings lie erected, were built " at the 

 suggestion and under the auspices" of others. 



Harvey's mind was largely imbued with the imaginative 

 faculty : how finely he brings in the classical allusion to " the 

 Sicilian sea, dashing among the rocks around Charybdis, 

 hissing and foaming and tossed hither and thither/' in illus- 

 tration of those who reason against the evidence of their 

 senses, (p. 130.) And then what unbounded confidence he 

 has in Nature (p. 153), and how keenly alive he is to her 

 beauties in every sphere : Nature has not been sedulous to 

 deck out animals only with ornaments ; she has further thrown 

 an infinite variety of beautiful dyes 'over the lowly and insen- 

 sate herbs and flowers, (p. 426.) 



In Harvey the religious sentiments appear to have been 

 active; the exordium to his will is unusually solemn and 

 grand. He also evinces true and elevated piety throughout the 

 whole course of his work on Generation, and seizes every 

 opportunity of giving utterance to his sense of the imme- 

 diate agency and omnipotence of Deity. He appears, with 

 the ancient philosophers, to have regarded the universe and 

 its parts as actuated by a Supreme and all-pervading Intelli- 

 gence. He was a great admirer of Virgil, whose works were 

 frequently in his hands, and whose religious philosophy he 

 seems also, in a great measure, to have adopted. The follow- 

 ing beautiful and often-quoted passage of his favorite author 

 may be said to embody his ideas on this subject, as they appear 

 repeatedly in the course of the work on Generation : 



" Principle ccelum ac terras camposque liquentes, 

 Lucentemque globum lunae, Titaniaque astra, 

 Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus 

 Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpora miscet." 



The heavens and earth, and ocean's liquid plains, 



The moon's bright orb, and the Titanian stars, 



Are fed by intrinsic spirit : deep infused 



Through all, mind mingles with and actuates the mass. 



