THE 
ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
TERCEIRA. 
In reviewing certain passages of our past lives, we 
may all be more or less sensible of the operation of 
many extraneous agencies which, independently of our 
predispositions and temper, have exercised a secret 
influence over the pleasure or the dissatisfaction with 
which we have regarded any particular scene or inci- 
dent. Perchance, we know not why, our anticipated 
raptures have declined into cold admiration or indif- 
ference, -when viewing the most exquisite scenery; our 
delight in a favourite study, or a favourite pastime, 
has flagged, without any obvious cause, when we had 
fancied ourselves best prepared for its enjoyment ; or, 
under similar auspices even the chosen beauties of the 
poet may have failed to shake the leaden slumber from 
our sympathies. Of these external influences, the state 
of the heavens and the atmosphere appear to exert the 
most universal power, and we are sometimes astonished 
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