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lime or chalk could be rendered fusible, without calcination, and 

 became, upon cooling, a compact stony mass, and even crystalline, 

 like marble : it thus appeared that the effect of heat, acting under 

 enormous pressures, would not necessarily dissipate the gaseous and 

 evaporable parts of the strata of the earth, but would leave them to 

 form such new combinations or modifications of existence as might 

 be determined by the laws of crystallization or of chemical affini- 

 ties ; — a most important fact, and one apparently so difficult to esta- 

 blish in a form which might bring into action those gigantic forces 

 which present themselves in the great operations of nature, as would 

 have checked the attempts of any man who was not urged onward 

 by the most determined enthusiasm in the defence of a favourite 

 theory. 



Sir James Hall's work on the Origin of Gothic Architecture 

 cannot be considered as a serious archaeological inquiry, but rather 

 as an agreeable exercise of his fancy. The development however 

 of his theory is singularly ingenious and elegant ; it proves him to 

 have possessed no mean talents as an artist, and shows a mind 

 alive to all those beautiful combinations of nature which seem to 

 be rendered fixed and permanent in the naves of our Gothic 

 cathedrals, and in the tracery of our decorated windows. 



Sir James Mackintosh was born in Morayshire in Scotland, in 

 1765 ; he was the son of an officer, of good family, but of very 

 limited fortune ; his first destination was for the profession of medi- 

 cine, and with this view he took the degree of M.D. at Edinburgh, 

 in 1787. Upon his removal, however, to London, shortly afterwards, 

 he abandoned his medical prospects, and gave himself up entirely 

 to the study of the law, and of moral and political philosophy. In 

 1789 he went to Ley den, where he studied for some time, and after- 

 wards to Liege, where he was a witness of the memorable struggle 

 between the Prince Bishop and his subjects, as well as of many other 

 ebullitions of popular feelings which preceded and foreboded the 

 French Revolution. It was, probably, the contemplation of scenes 

 like these, as well as the observation of the corruptions and abuses 

 of many of the continental governments of Europe, which made him, 

 like many other ardent young men of that period, an admirer of the 

 principles of that great national movement ; and the Vindlcice Gal- 

 licce, a work of great force and eloquence, was the most powerful 

 answer which appeared in that age to Mr. Burke's celebrated Re- 

 flections, and gained for him, at once, both at home and abroad, a 

 distinguished reputation. The atrocities, however, which marked 

 the more advanced stages of the French Revolution, his own in- 

 creasing experience and knowledge of mankind, and still more his 

 frequent intercourse with his illustrious adversary, for whose genius 

 he had always professed a chivalrous admiration, however much he 

 had opposed his views and his reasonings, combined to sober down 

 the fervent enthusiasm of his own youthful speculations and hopes ; 

 and the principles which he avowed and vindicated in his celebrated 

 defence of Peltier in 1802, must be considered as those which he 

 adopted as the result of the convictions of his maturer age, and 



