540 EEYIEWS — TYPICAL FOBMS. 



ing, the Creator of the universe, is of this unsatisfactory and imper- 

 fectly grounded character. "We maintain that it is not a mere proba- 

 ble persuasion, but absolute strict knowledge, requiring only to have 

 its real nature unfolded and its perfect validity formally exhibited. 



Before parting with Drs. McCosh and Dickie, we must express our 

 high admiration, not merely of the scientific expositions which they 

 have brought forward, but likewise of the general tone in which their 

 work is written. A vein of pure and refined sentiment runs through 

 every part of it, and there are occasional passages of remarkable 

 sweetness and moral beauty. Take the following as an example : 



" It is indeed of vast moment to have the mind stored with a vari- 

 ety of noble images to enliven and elevate it : to be as Quintilian says 

 — incitamenta mentis. This end is much promoted by an early train- 

 ing among natural objects which are picturesque ; by travelling 

 at a later period of life into foreign countries, and by the oppor- 

 tunity thus afforded of holding communion with Nature in her gran- 

 der forms and of inspecting the noblest products of the fine arts. 

 But, while gathering these material pictures, let the young man and 

 the old man not forget that there are others which he should not be 

 losing, and which, if he part with, his gain will be more than coun- 

 terbalanced by his loss. For these are images which it is still more 

 important to have treasured up in his mind; they are the images of 

 domestic peace, the images of home and friends, of the affectionate 

 mother, (we can never have more than one mother) and devoted wife, 

 and kind sisters and smiling children; and to these let us add, by per- 

 sonal intercourse with them, or by elevated reading, the images of 

 the great and good, of heroic men who toiled and bled for noble ends, 

 and of equally heroic women who lost sight of themselves in works of 

 disinterested love and sacrifice. These are in themselves vastly more 

 exalted, and ten thousand times more exalting, than all your statues 

 draped and undraped, about which connoisseurs so talk and rave ; they 

 are fitted to become excitements to all excellence, and he who has 

 been at the pains to collect them and hang them around the cham- 

 bers of his mind, is like one dwelling in a portrait gallery, from which 

 the forms of ancestors are looking down upon him, with a smile, and 

 exhorting him to all that is great and good. " 



Nothing is wanted to render this exquisite passage perfect, except 

 the absence of a little stiffness and formality. But our authors while 

 always clear in their style are at times deficient in ease and graceful- 

 ness of expression. 

 There is a chapter, of some parts of which we regret to be under the 



