11 



firmness of that unshaken faith which the contemplation 

 of the order and harmony of Nature inspires, he regards 

 every discovery as a stepping-stone by which man is 

 conducted to higher and more ennobling views, and 

 thereby approaches the eternal source of law, and of 

 intellectual and moral beauty. In short, is it not mani- 

 fest, that in exchanging vagueness for certainty, the 

 imagination derives nourishment and vigor from the 

 power it acquires of portraying the features of Nature 

 with vivid truthfulness ? It is ignorance^ that, with 

 dazzled eyes, just emerging from the darkness of be- 

 nighted exclusiveness, perceives that she has been 

 dreaming, without being able to distinguish, in the 

 sunshine, the beautiful lineaments of the great realities 

 which science has exposed to her gaze. " It would, 

 indeed," says another, " be an unworthy homage to the 

 truths which we profess to venerate, to suppose that 

 adoration can be paid to them only while we are igno- 

 rant of their nature ; and that to approach their altars 

 would be to discover, that the majestic forms, which 

 seem animated at a distance, are. only lifeless idols, as 

 insensible as the incense which we have offered to 

 them." 



Having pointed out a few of the sources of the pre- 

 judice which prevails in relation to the influence of the 

 study of the physical sciences, I shall now endeavor 

 to show how the truths which are obtained by observa- 

 tion and reflection, contain rich materials for the 

 imagination. It should be premised^ however, that the 

 discoveries of science can only produce their full effects 

 on the aBsthetic feelings of mankind, when the know- 

 ledge of them becomes so generally diffused as to be 



