LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 159 



more beautiful than any art can imitate, so, on the 

 stage of this imaginary theatre, parties of these 

 ideas will frequently frolic and gamhol themselves 

 into groups more grotesque, more picturesquely 

 beautiful, than any effort of thought and judgment 

 can accomplish. 



Energy of WILL, therefore firmness of purpose 

 the power of abstract thinking and reasoning 

 are all incompatible with a lively imagination; 

 because the three former require an energetic cir- 

 culation, while the last depends on a circulation of 

 a contrary character. 



There can be little doubt, I think, that insanity 

 has its cause in some injury to the vigour of the 

 circulation through some part of the brain. 



That the doubts and fears and anxieties of the 

 lover have a depressing effect on the circulation, is a 

 fact long since established. The pensive dreamy 

 sadness, the absent mind, the fondness for solitude, 

 the long-drawn impassioned sigh so characteristic of 

 love, is equally characteristic of a languid circulation. 



The same condition exists in the poet ; and the 

 mental characters of all three will be found to 

 possess no small similarity. So great, indeed, is 

 this resemblance, that those who begin by being 

 poets or lovers, not unfrequently end by becoming 



