THEIR MYSTICISM. 323 



above the mere objects of sense and appetite; 

 a contrivance of compensation, as it were, in the 

 intellectual and spiritual constitution of man. 



5. Magic. Magical Arts, so far as they were 

 believed in by those who professed to practise 

 them, and so far as they have a bearing in science, 

 stand on the same footing as astrology; and, in- 

 deed, a close alliance has generally been main- 

 tained between the two pursuits. Incapacity and 

 indisposition to perceive natural and philosophical 

 causation, an enthusiastic imagination, and such a 

 faith as can devise and maintain supernatural and 

 spiritual connexions, are the elements of this, as 

 of other forms of Mysticism. And thus that temper 

 which led men to aim at the magician's supposed 

 authority over the elements, is an additional ex- 

 emplification of those habits of thought which 

 prevented the progress of real science, and the 

 acquisition of that command over nature which is 

 founded on science, during the interval now before 

 us. 



But there is another aspect under which the 

 opinions connected with this pursuit may serve to 

 illustrate the mental character of the stationary 

 period. 



The tendency, during the middle ages, to at- 

 tribute the character of Magician to almost all 

 persons eminent for great speculative or practical 

 knowledge, is a feature of those times, which shows 

 how extensive and complete was the inability to 



Y2 



