GENERAL LITERATURE, &C. 



287 



vered, and the horizon found which sets the bounds 

 between the enlightened and dark part of things, 

 between what is and what is not comprehensible by 

 us, we should not then be vainly urging our intellect 

 beyond the mysterious and impassable barriers of the 

 human mind.* 



Originality. 



In books that best deserve the name of original, 

 there is little new beyond the disposition of the ma- 

 terials already provided ; the same ideas, and com- 

 bination of ideas, have long been in possession of 

 other hands. 



Absurdity. 



Voltaire could hit the absurdity of opinion, but 

 not of character, on which account, with all his wit, 

 he never succeeded in writing comedy. 



The Magical Square. 



The Chinese have discovered mystical letters on 

 the back of the tortoise, which is the common magi- 

 cal square, making 15 each way, viz. 



* Nature has endowed man with faculties fitted to observe the 

 phenomena as they at present exist, but has denied the power to 

 discover the beginning, or the end, or the essence of any thing. 



