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nature. The inferences, therefore, which we draw by reason and cal- 
culation from these conceptions are or may be true, although they 
often lead only to other more refined and more general conceptions, 
as unreal, and as much the creation of the mind, as the premises 
from which they have been deduced. We must, therefore, distinguish 
the different kinds and forms of Truth: Truth metaphysical, or ab- 
stract; and Truth material, or in fact. The naturalist, the chemist, 
the anatomist, the physicist, the astronomer, are in pursuit of mate- 
rial truth; they are investigating the laws which are found, in fact, 
to regulate the structure and life of animals and vegetables; the 
actual properties of the substances with which we have to deal, the 
structure of the crust of the earth; the laws of heat, of magnetism, 
of electricity, the magnitudes and motions and distances of the 
heavenly bodies,—in a word, their business is with the region of 
Fact, and of Truth material. 
But does not the study of human languages, the investigation 
of ancient manners and customs, the interpretation of inscriptions, 
the knowledge of coins and medals; the drama, the poetry, and litera- 
ture of ancient and modern nations; the examination of the relics 
of ancient art and domestic habits,—do not such studies also deal 
with fact and truth,—nay, are they not valuable or worthless, pre- 
cisely in the same proportion in which their results are true or not 
true? 
Yea, even poetry and fiction themselves, the very creatures of 
the imagination, must stand their trial, after all, before the tribunal 
of Truth? The poet, who describes a sunset or a battle, is admira- 
ble or ridiculous, in the same degree in which his description is in 
conformity or inconsistent with nature and probability, in other 
words, with Truth. The novelist, or the dramatist, must make his 
characters agree as nearly as possible with those who are met 
with in real life; and the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments or the 
plays of Shakspeare, would never have attained their well-earned 
popularity but for the truthful representation of national manners 
and customs, the perfect delineation of human passion and cha- 
racter, which are their peculiar charm: nay, their very genii and 
fairies—those pure creations of the imagination—would not be 
tolerable, were they not consistent with the original conception 
