INFLUENCE OF POETICAL IDEAS. 7 
there are different points of the continent to 
which they seem to be fixed, with almost equal 
precision. In fact, it seems clearly shewn, by 
some learned writers,* that this variety of position 
is referable, not to any precise geographical data^ 
but to the operation of certain secret propensities, 
that are deeply lodged in the human breast. There 
arises involuntarily in the heart of man, a longing 
after forms of being, fairer and happier than any 
presented by the world before him — bright scenes, 
which he seeks and never finds, in the circuit of 
real existence. But imagination easily creates 
them in that dim boundary, which separates the 
known from the unknown world. In the first 
discoverers of any such region, novelty usually 
produces an exalted state of the imagination and 
passions ; under the influence of which, every ob- 
ject is painted in higher colours than those of na- 
ture. Nor does the illusion cease, when a fuller 
examination proves that, in the place thus assign- 
ed, no such beings or objects exist. The human 
heart, while it remains possible, still clings to its 
fond chimeras. It quickly transfers them to the 
yet unknown region beyond ; and, when driven 
from thence, discovers still another more remote, 
in which they can take refuge. Thus, we find 
* See Gosselin Geographie Ancienne. Malte Brun His- 
toire de la Geographie. 
