From Shakespeare to Plato from the philosophic poet to the poetic philo- 

 sopher the transition is easy, and the road is crowded with illustrations 

 of our present subject. 



Hast thou ever raised thy mind to the consideration of EXISTENCE, in and 

 by itself, as the mere act of existing ? 



Hast thou ever said to thyself, thoughtfully, IT is! heedless, in that 

 moment, whether it were a man before thee, or a flower, or a grain of 

 sand, without reference, in short, to this or that particular mode or 

 form of existence ? If thou hast, indeed, attained to this, thou wilt have 

 felt the presence of a mystery, which must have fixed thy spirit in awe 

 and wonder. 



Coleridge. 



LONDON: 



WILSON and OGILVY, 

 57, skinner Street. 



