XV111 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER' 



universe. It is a principle undoubtedly im- 

 planted in every breast ; it is one which can- 

 not, perhaps, be utterly extinguished. We see 

 it under the most unfavourable circumstances, 

 after years of oppression and alienation, strug- 

 gling through its barriers and exhibiting itself 

 in some miserable specimens of plants in pots, 

 in the little nooks of dreary and smoke-blighted 

 gardens in the centre of the densest cities, and 

 in the lowest habitations of poverty and igno- 

 rance. But it is a principle which requires, 

 like all others, cultivation. Let it once be lit 

 up, and it will never die ! Let the mind, in 

 which it has once been excited, become en- 

 lightened and expanded with knowledge, and 

 it " will grow with its growth, and strengthen 

 with its strength." Thus it is that it has ever 

 been found the most intense in the greatest 

 minds : the poets especially, (who are, if truly 

 entitled to that glorious name, particularly ac- 

 customed to cherish in their spirits pure and 

 lofty sentiments, liberal opinions, warm and 

 generous emotions, that their writings being 

 eminently imbued with those qualities may 

 diffuse them through society in counteraction 

 of the deadening spirit of the world,) are found 



