into the spirit of the Arabian Nights, unless you have | had the opportunity of listening to one of these talemongers; and they are as cunning as Sheherazade herself, for they spin out their narratives to such a length, that their audience must go without the conclusion, unless they return for it the day after. The goat is a principal personage in the plot; it being his doom, (why and wherefore, I know not,) to play the part of representative of his Satanic Majesty. It was not the goat alone who threw a shade of originality about the scene, for some few paces off, I perceived a pole stuck in the ground, with a man's head empaled on the top of it, and the trunk lying at its foot; they were the remains of a hapless Mussulman, who had been caught thieving, and executed on the spot three days before. The streets of Teheran have never been cleaned since the place was built; there is no call for such a process on the part of the public, and any friend of the animal kingdom may here study it gratuitously. The public ways are infested with the remains of camels, apes, mules, horses, dogs, and cats; and here they lie, until some starving dog strips the bones off their flesh, and leaves them to the gradual corrosion of time. The climate of this country is favourable to such neglect as this, for in any other spot half the population would be carried off by it; here the air is so dry, that bodies, instead of undergoing the process | of putrefaction, generally moulder away. The site of Teheran has not been happily chosen; encompassed by hills of various elevations on every side, it lies in a perfect ravine, so much so, that you cannot walk three or four miles out of the town, without finding yourself on a level with the tops of the trees within it. Such a thing as a gentle, refreshing breeze, is never to be felt, but tempests of exceeding violence, and long duration, are frequent. The place is supplied with water from two little streams, which flow down from the surrounding heights; and with so scant a provision, no wonder that the good folks of Teheran, and its vicinity, should lay great store by it. Subterraneous pipes lead the water into almost every street, and branch pipes afterwards convey it into cisterns or basins for private use. In this way every one is supplied with water in rotation, once in five or seven days: there is a great deficiency of it in summer, when the reservoirs become foul and stinking; and the malignant evaporation, which rises from them, is one of the prominent causes of the sicknesses innumerable, which rage during the summer season. There are, I was told, nineteen caravanserays in this city, where the travelling dealers and tshalvadars, or wagoners, take up their abode. The latter form a caste of men quite distinct from the rest of the population. Honesty forms the leading feature in their character. In their clothing, too, they differ from the commonalty, and their dialect is unintelligible to foreigners. Their mules are their domestic companions, and follow their orders without the appliance of the lash. I saw one of these poor creatures, when, either from sloth or fatigue, he refused to move, summon fresh energy to his work, after an affectionate remonstrance from his master. The mosque of Feth Ali Shah, though one of the principal edifices in Teheran, has little to boast of, in spite of its little gilt cupola. Besides this, there are thirty-one other places of Mahometan worship, and two Armenian churches, of which as little can be said. Unless born with the taste of a Persian, there is small chance that an European will be captivated either with the exterior or interior of their palaces. The Asiatic, especially the Persian, has no idea of tout-ensemble; he has not an eye to find fault with the discrepancy between luxury in one quarter and filth in another. In proof, I will instance the saloon which contains the celebrated Takritans, or Throne of the Peacock, which Nadir Shah brought back from his Indian campaign. It is covered with plates of gold, and resplendent with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, of almost inappreciable value; the ceilings are splendid, and the sides of the apartment are hung with handsome shawls. But look towards the door, and you will observe the posts to be scarcely at right angles; carry your eyes beyond it, and they come in contact with a staircase, not merely mean and crooked, but fast verging to decay. One of the apartments is furnished after a curious fashion; the floor is beset with china and glass, presented to the Shah by European courts; huddled together in admirable confusion, stand tea-pots, cups and saucers, decanters, washingbasons, cups, glasses, dishes, coffee-pots, milk-jugs, &c., with a narrow way between them for visitors, and a small open space, where the late Shah received his guests. There is an enormous fan, formed of linen, made fast to the ceiling of the Summer refectory, which two attendants swing backwards and forwards by means of a rope, for the purpose of cooling the atmosphere. I was present when the reigning Shah entered Teheran, and took his seat for the first time on the throne. Having dismounted, he proceeded to the palace, Nigaristan, and after bedizening his breast and hands with diamonds and pearls, placed a little crown on his head. The English and Russian ambassadors, with their retinues, ranged themselves on either side of the throne; and behind it, Manutsheher Khan, the eunuch and minister of the home department, bearing the royal sword, and Khosru Khan, another eunuch, bearing the royal shield, took their stations. There was no one else in the apartment; but in the garden facing the windows we observed the princes of the blood royal, the kuimakam, vizier, the Solomon of the kingdom, a number of priests, and others. When all had taken their proper berths, a Mullah stepped forward from the crowd, and ejaculated a short prayer on behalf of the youthful monarch; he was succeeded by the poet royal, who recited a lengthy ode in honour of Mohammed Shah, comparing his master to the sun and moon, the planets and stars, and all sorts of other things. It is in vain for me to look back and wish that I had taken down all the nonsense he launched on the occasion. His majesty, however, sore wearied with his journey, and ready to sink under the load of valuables that decked his royal person, could stand the infliction no longer; so he made short work with the Selum, (greeting), and the auditory walked off to their homes, amidst clouds of smoke from their kalians (hookahs). The savoury fume of the famed leaf of Shiraz wound its way through the water-bowl and its long silken pipes, and gave the noses of all the rich and great of Persia a "heavenly regale." The solemnity of Mohammed Shah's inauguration will "nestle, as a perennial rose, in the memorative flower-bed of those fortunate beings" whose heads may happen to remain on their shoulders. WHITEHALL PALACE, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES THE FIRST. THERE are but few of our London 'readers who, on crossing from the Horse Guards to Whitehall Chapel, are aware that the elegant building before them once formed part of a royal palace of vast extent,-a palace which was the principal residence of the English monarchs after the occupation of Westminster Palace (of which Westminster Hall formed a part), and before the erection of St. James's Palace. This palace, under the names of York House, York Place, York Palace, and Whitehall Palace, is repeatedly mentioned by our historians; and we propose to give a short sketch of its history. In the reign of Henry the Third, Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, had a mansion on the site of Whitehall, which he rented or leased from the monks of West. minster. At his death he left it to the church of the Black Friars, near "Oldbourne" (Holborn); the brotherhood of which afterwards sold it to Walter Gray, Archbishop of York. Although it thus became his own private property, he bequeathed it to the successive holders of the see of York; and it thus became the town residence of the Archbishops of York for nearly three hundred years, and was known as York Place. The last archiepiscopal inhabitant of the mansion was Cardinal Wolsey. This extraordinary man was made Archbishop of York in 1522, and York Place became a scene of almost regal splendour. His establishment included nine or ten young lords, sixteen chaplains, and four counsellors. "He had also," says Cavendish, A great number daily attending on him, both of noblemen and worthy gentlemen, of great estimation and possessions, with no small number of the tallest yeomen he could get in all the realm. In his Hall he had daily three especial tables, furnished with three principal officers; that is to say, a Steward, which was always a Dean or a Priest; a Treasurer, a knight; and a Comptroller, an esquire; which bore always, within his house, their white staves. In his privy Kitchen he had a master cook, who went daily in damask, satin or velvet, with a chain of gold about his neck. In his Chapel he had a dean, who was always a great clerk and a divine; a sub-dean, a repeater of the quire, a gospeller, a pisteller, and twelve singing priests. Of scholars, he had first, a master of the children; twelve singing children, and sixteen singing men. But to speak of the furniture of his chapel passeth my capacity to declare the number of the costly ornaments and rich jewels that were occupied in the same continually; for I have seen there, in a procession, worn forty-four copes of one suit, very rich, besides the sumptuous crosses, candlesticks, and other necessary ornaments to the comely furniture of the same. He had two cross-bearers and two pillar-bearers; and in his chamber, his high-chamberlain, his vice-chamberlain, twelve gentlemen-ushers, daily waiters, &c. Then had he of gentlemen, cup-bearers, carvers, servers, and waiters, forty persons; of yeomen ushers he had six; of grooms in his chamber, eight, of yeomen of his chamber he had fortysix daily to attend upon his person; he had also a priest there, which was his almoner, to attend upon his table at dinner. York House; and important councils were held there, Henry the Eighth was frequently entertained at particularly one of bishops, scholars and casuists, to consult about the question of Henry's divorce from Queen Catharine. But the time was come when Wolsey was doomed to fall, and York Place to become a royal residence. The historical circumstances connected with the disgrace of Wolsey we cannot detail here; suffice it to say, that Wolsey was compelled to give up his palace, and Henry removed there almost immediately;—from which time it remained a royal residence about a hundred and sixty years. The king immediately proceeded to enlarge the palace by building additional erections quite across what is now the street of Whitehall, and connecting them with St. James's Park. There was a gate-house built across the street and designed by the eminent painter Hans Holbein, a long gallery, a tilt-yard, a tennis-court, a cock-pit, a bowling-green, and other places which were at that time deemed necessary appendages to a royal residence. On the 25th of January, 1533, Henry was married to Anne Boleyne at this palace. We must pass over many important events which were transacted at this palace during the reigns of Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, and Mary, and come down to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In 1581, the king of France sent some commissioners to England, to treat of a mariage between Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou. The Queen built a new Banquetting House at Whitehall Palace on the grand occasion; and as this banquetting house was the forerunner of the building which we now call Whitehall Chapel, we will give a description of it, in the quaint language of Holinshed: This yeere, (against the coming of certain commissioners out of France into England,) by hir Majesties appointment, on the sixth and twentieth daie of March in the morning (being Easter daie), a Banketting House was begun at Westminster, on the south-west side of hir Maiesties palace of Whitehall, made in manner and forme of a long square, three hundred thirtie and two foot in measure, about thirtie principals made of great masts, being fortie foot in length a peece, standing upright; betuene cuery one of these masts, ten foot asunder and more. The walles of this house were closed with canuas, and painted all the outsides of the same most artificiallie, with a worke called rustike, much like stone. This house had two hundred, ninetie and two lights of glasse. The sides within the same house were made with ten heights of degrees for people to stand vpon, and in the top of this house was wrought cunninglie vpon canuas, works of iuie and hollie, with pendants made of wickar rods, garnished with baie, iuie, and all manner of strange flowers garnished with spangles of gold, as also beautified with hanging toseaus made of hollie and iuie, with all manner of strange fruits, as pomegranats, oranges, pompions, cucumbers, grapes, carrets, with such other like, spangled with gold and most richly hanged. Betwixt these workes of baies and iuie were great spaces of canuas, which was most cunninglie painted, the clouds with starres, the sunne and sunne-beams, with divers other cotes of sundrie sorts belonging to the Queen's Maiestie, most richly garnished with gold. There were of all manner of persons working on this house, to the number of three hundred seuentie and fiue; two men had mischances, the one broke his leg, and so did the other. This house was made in three weeks and three days, and was ended the eighteenth day of April; and cost one thousand seuen hundred fortie and foure pounds, nineteene shillings, and od monie, as I was crediblie informed by the worshipful maister, Thomas Graue, surueior vnto hir Maiesties works, who serued and gaue order for the same, as appeareth by record. In this Banquetting House the commissioners were sumptuously entertained; and on the following day, tournaments, masques, and pageants of various descriptions were given in the tilt-yard belonging to the palace (which occupied the portion of ground between what are now the Horse-Guards and the Treasury). Feastings, masqueings, &c., were repeatedly held in Whitehall during the reign of Elizabeth; but these we must pass over, and proceed to the reign of the next sovereign, James the First. About ten a clocke, in the morning, vpon Tuesday the 12 of January, the faire Banquetting House at Whitehall was vpon the sodaine all flaming a fire, from end to end, and side to side, before it was discerned or descryde by any persons or passengers, either by scent or smoke; at sight whereof the court being sore amazed, sent speedy newes to the great lords of the Councell, who were then but newly set in the Guildhall in London, about excessive and disorderly buildings; but they all arose and returned to Whitehall, and gave directions to the multitude of people to suppresse the flame, and by hooke to pull downe some other adjoining buildings, to prevent the furious fire, and so by their care and the people's labour, the flame was quite extinct by twelve a clocke: besides the Banquetting House, there were diuers lodgings burned and the writings in the office of the Privy Signet, which was vnder the Banquetting House, The consequence of this fire was, that the king contemplated the rebuilding of the whole palace; and Inigo Jones, the eminent architect, designed plans for a palace so extensive that the royal purse could not bear the expence; and the only part actually rebuilt was the Banquetting House, which still exists as one of the most beautiful specimens of architectural symmetry in the metropolis. It is a building of three stories externally. The lowest is rusticated, with seven small square blank windows, and, by its solidity, forms a substantial base for the beautiful superstructure. The principal story is adorned in the centre by four Ionic columns, and on each flank by two pilasters, with proper entablature and base; and the angles are ornamented with antæ; between the columns and the pilasters is a row of windows, with semicircular and angular pediments resting on consoles. The entablature serves as pedestals to the Corinthian columns and pilasters of the third story'; column being placed over column, and pilaster over pilaster. From the capitals were carried sculptured festoons, meeting in the centre with masks and other ornaments: the the windows of this story have square cornices, resting on consoles. This story is also crowned with its proper entablature, on which is raised the balustrade with attic pedestals between, which crowns the work. This elegant Banquetting House, and the older parts of the palace, continued to be the scene of masques and banquets during the remainder of During James's reign, Whitehall was the scene of James's reign, and also in that of his successor, even greater pomp and display than in the preceding Charles the First. It was the scene of the decapitareign. On Twelfth-Day, 1605, the young Prince tion of the last-mentioned unfortunate monarch, an Charles (afterwards Charles the First), was created event which is familiar to most of our readers. Duke of York, with great pomp and splendour. In During the Commonwealth, the palace was the resithe evening the Queen's masque called "Blacknesse" dence of Oliver Cromwell, but, from the apparent was performed in the Banquetting House; -the sternness of his character, was not the scene of Queen, and eleven of the most beautiful ladies of her much gaiety. court, were the chief masquers and dancers, under the names of the daughters of Niger. A similar entertainment was given at Whitehall on the occasion of another royal Prince, Henry, being created Prince of Wales; the day after the ceremony was graced "with a most glorious Maske, till within half an hour of the sun's rising; and on the third day was a grand tilting-match, a gallant-sea fight, and many rare and excellent fire-works, which were seen by more than half a million of people." On the occasion of the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine, which took place at Whitehall, a masque was performed by the Peers, another by the members of the Temple, and others again by the benchers of Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn. In 1606 James pulled down the slight Banquetting House erected by Elizabeth, and built another in a more substantial manner, and of a much larger size. But this was fated to be soon destroyed: in 1619 a fire took place, which Stowe thus describes: Our engraving represents a portion of the palace as it existed in those days. The elegant building in the centre is the Banquetting House still standing; and the building on the right is the Gate-House built across the street by Hans Holbein. Under the next sovereign, Charles the Second, such scenes of licentiousness and debauchery disgraced Whitehall Palace, that we gladly pass them over, and come down to the latter end of the seventeenth century. In 1691 a considerable portion of the palace was destroyed by fire; and on the 4th of January, 1698, the entire edifice, with the exception of the Banquetting House, still remaining, was consumed. From this time, St. James's Palace became the royal residence; and the Banquetting House remained useless for some years. At length, in the reign of George the First, it was converted into a chapel chiefly for the use of the military, with pews for the officers, seats for the privates, &c., of the foot-guards. The king gave a stipend of thirty pounds yearly to twelve clergymen, six from each university, to officiate a month each, in succession. The number is now increased to twelve preachers from Oxford, and the like number from Cambridge, each of whom serves for the half of a month. They are selected from the resident fellows of colleges, and are appointed by the Bishop of London, as Dean of her Majesty's Chapel. Since the erection of a military chapel, in St. James's Park, for the exclusive use of the troops, Whitehall Chapel has no longer been attended by the military. Its interior arrangement has been entirely altered, and the sittings are appropriated to certain public officers and other inhabitants of the crown estate of Whitehall and Privy Gardens. The ceiling of the Banquetting House was ordered by Charles the First to be painted; he engaged Rubens, who (assisted by Jordaens,) received 30007. for his work. It represents the apotheosis of James the First. It is in nine compartments, the middle one of which, represents James on his earthly throne, turning with horror from Mars, and other discordant deities; and turning towards Peace, with her attendants, Commerce and the Fine Arts. This ceiling was repaired by Kent, in the reign of George the Second; and again by Cipriani in 1778, for which he received 2000 guineas. The walls were, originally, decorated with very rich hangings, representing part of the history of the Acts of the Apostles, from the cartoons of Raphael. After the execution of Charles the First, these hangings were purchased by the Spanish Ambassador, and sent by him to the Marquis del Carpio, in Spain. A few years ago they were purchased by an English gentleman from the Duke of Alva, and were exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, in 1825. The Banquetting House cost about 170007.; and Inigo Jones, the architect, received but Ss. 4d. per day, with 461. per annum for house-rent. The mastermason, Nicholas Stone, received four shillings and tenpence per day. Such were the wages of architect ural labour in those days; though it is true that the value of money was greater then than it is now. Ir is reported of Galileo, the most profound philosopher of his age, that, when interrogated by the Inquisition as to his belief in a Supreme Being, he pointed to a straw on the floor of his dungeon, and replied, that even if he had no other proof of an Intelligent Creator, the mechanism of that fragment of a plant would be sufficient; and not without reason, for even in the form of a stalk of corn, there are indications of contrivance, the force of which no candid mind can resist. WHEN the inordinate hopes of youth, which provoke their own disappointment, have been sobered down by longer experience and more extended views;-when the keen contentions and eager rivalries which employed our riper years have expired or been abandoned;-when we have seen, year after year, the objects of our fiercest hostility and of our fondest affections lie down together in the hallowed peace of the grave;-when ordinary pleasures and amusements begin to be insipid, and the gay derision which seasoned them to appear flat and importunate; when we reflect how often we have mourned and been comforted, what opposite opinions we have successively maintained and abandoned, to what inconsistent habits we have gradually been formed, and how frequently the objects of our pride have proved the sources of our shame, we are naturally led to recur to the days of our childhood, and to retrace the whole of our career, and that of our contemporaries, with feelings of far greater humility and indulgence than those by which it had been accompanied; to think all vain but affection and honour, the simplest and cheapest pleasures the truest and most precious, and generosity of sentiment the only mental superiority which ought either to be wished for or admitted. —JEFFREY. ON GARDEN HERBS. II. ROSEMARY. Sweet-scented flower! who art wont to bloom On January's front severe, And o'er the wintry desert drear, And as I twine thy mournful wreath, Come, funeral flower! who lov'st to dwell And we will sleep a pleasant sleep, So peaceful and so deep. Sweet flower! that requiem wild is mine; The cold turf altar of the dead: A dying fragrance thou wilt o'er my ashes shed. THE above melancholy lines, while they show the pensive disposition of their youthful and talented writer, and the forebodings which sometimes crossed his mind concerning his early doom, are not inapplicable to our subject, since they allude to one of the uses of the herb Rosemary, which at the present time is partially employed, as it was in former days almost universally, to deck the coffins of the dead. Shakspeare names the herb, in his Romeo and Juliet, Act vi., Scene 5. Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary A branch of Rosemary is frequently placed in the hand of the dead person, and this custom, which still prevails in many parts of England and France, is supposed to have originated in the emblematical character of the plant, which was considered by our forefathers to denote fidelity in love, and was on that account woven into coronets to be worn at weddings. The faithfulness of the deceased was thus pourtrayed at his funeral, by the same emblem employed on his bridal day, and while the powerful odour of the plant pervaded every part of the chamber of death, the widow, and those who were assembled on the occasion, must have been the more deeply reminded of the love which had pervaded the life, and guided the conduct of their departed friend. While the meaning of the custom has been forgotten, or exists only in the remembrance of a few persons, the custom itself still prevails, and many of our cottagers in remote country villages, would deem it a great misfortune to be deprived of the means of performing this last act of kindness to the deceased. Other herbs are profusely employed, and sometimes a few flowers are scattered over the body; but we believe the rosemary to be seldom absent on such occasions. The tendency of this plant, when burnt, to purify the air of close apartments, is very well known in France, and we learn that its use in hospitals and sick rooms is very general. It is likewise planted on graves in some of the cemeteries of that country, and a French writer has given a marvellous account of the plant; as not only growing luxuriantly in such situations, but taking root within the coffin, (where branches had been placed in the hands of the deceased,) and flour 1 ishing so abundantly in its aarksome abode, that when, after the lapse of several years, the coffins were opened, the rosemary was found to cover the whole corpse! Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a genus of the class Diandria, order Monogynia. Its leaves are dark green, smooth on the upper side, and of a silvery hue on the under, and are highly aromatic. The blossoms are small, variegated blue and white, and less odorous than the other parts of the plant. Rosemary has a warm, bitterish, pungent taste. The plant is propagated by slips which are taken off in the spring and planted in a cool place. It is said to have been introduced into this country about the year 1548, and yet Gerard speaks of one variety as indigenous to our soil. "Wilde rosemarie," says he, "groweth in Lancashire, in diuers places, especially in a fielde called Little Reede, amongst hurtle berries neere vnto a small village called Maudsley." The herb grows in abundance, and without any cultivation, in the south of Europe. In some places it is occasionally used as fuel, and it then perfumes the air for miles in the vicinity. The medicinal qualities of this herb are greatly lauded by the old writers. Culpepper speaks of it as being good for both inward and outward diseases. "The decoction thereof in wine," says he, "helpeth the cold distillations of rheums into the eyes, and all other diseases of the head and brain, as the giddiness and swimmings therein, drowsiness or dulness of the mind and senses, like a stupidness. It helpeth a weak memory, and quickeneth the senses. It is very comfortable to the stomach, in all the cold griefs thereof, helping both retention of meat and digestion, the decoction or powder being taken in wine. It helpeth dim eyes, and procureth a clear sight, the flowers thereof being taken all the while it is flowering, every morning, fasting with bread and salt. The flowers, and conserve made of them, are singular good to comfort the heart, and to expel the contagion of the pestilence. To burn the herb in houses and chambers correcteth the air therein. The dried leaves shred small and taken in a pipe as tobacco is taken, helpeth those that have any cough, phthisic, or consumption, by warming and drying the thin distillations which cause those diseases. The leaves are very much used in bathings, made into ointments or oil, are singular good to help cold benumbed joints, sinews, or members. The chy mical oil drawn from the leaves and flowers is a sove reign help for all the diseases aforesaid; to touch the temples and nostrils with two or three drops, for all the diseases of the head and brain spoken of before; so also to take one drop, two, or three, as the case requireth, for the inward griefs, yet it must be done with discretion, for it is very quick and piercing, and therefore very little must be taken at a time." Such are the virtues ascribed to this herb by our old writers, and we are informed that similar powers were allowed to it by the Arabians and the Romans. Cancerous and other diseases are affirmed to have been dried up and perfectly cured by means of an infusion of rosemary in spirits of wine; indeed it is invested with attributes of healing that we cannot suppose to have ever been bestowed on any individual remedy. But while various and contradictory properties are sometimes ascribed to it, there are certain cases in which all agree that rosemary has been found useful. It appears to be a powerful stimulant, and to have been employed with good effect in affections of the head and nerves. Nevertheless it is nearly banished from modern practice. A weak infusion of fresh rosemary leaves furnishes a pleasant and wholesome substitute for tea, and is particularly agreeable to some dyspeptic stomachs and nervous habits. The essential oil of rosemary is often prescribed in liniments and ointments. It is likewise an essential ingredient in Hungary water, and enters into the composition of Eau de Cologne. This oil contains a portion of camphor, which, by being kept, becomes deposited in crystals. It acquires by age a strong smell of turpentine, and indeed this substance is often used to adulterate the oil of rosemary. The strengthening of the memory, which was attributed to it by the ancients, was doubtless the cause of the emblematic meaning given to the plant, as already described. In the fourth act, and fifth scene of Hamlet, Ophelia offers it to Laertes, saying "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance;" and if it was thus allowed to awaken memory, it was no inapt emblem of faithful attachment. In allusion to the double use of this plant, Herrick says, that it Grows for two ends, it matters not at all, The present uses of rosemary are very limited. Its pungency and bitterness unfit it for culinary purposes, and though employed as a purifier of the air in the apartments of the sick, it is, with respect to its medicinal qualities, little known or appreciated. We cannot look around us, without being struck by the surprising variety and multiplicity of the sources of Beauty united. It is scarcely too much to say, that every object in of Creation, produced by form, or by colour, or by both nature, animate and inanimate, is in some manner beautiful, so largely has the Creator provided for our pleasures through the sense of sight. It is rare to see anything which is in itself distasteful, or disagreeable to the eye, or repulsive: while on this, however, they alone are entitled to pronounce who have cultivated the faculty in question; since, like every other quality of mind as of body, it is left to ourselves to improve that, of which the basis has been given to us, as the means of cultivating it have been placed in our power. May I not also say, that this beauty has been conferred, in wisdom, as in beneficence? It is one of the revelations which the Creator has made of Himself to man. He was to be admired and loved: it was through the demonstrations of His character that we could alone see Him and judge of Him: and in thus inducing or compelling us to admire and love the visible works of His hand, He has taught us to love and adore Himself. This is the great lesson which the beauty of creation teaches, in addition to the pleasure which it affords; but, for this, we must cultivate that simple, and surely amiable piety, which learns to view the Father of the Universe in all the works of that universe. Such is the lesson taught by that certainly reasonable philosophy which desires to unite what men have too much laboured to dissever; a state of mind which is easily attainable, demands no effort of feeling beyond that of a simple and good heart, and needs not diverge into a weak and censurable enthusiasm. Much therefore is he to be pitied or condemned, who has not cultivated this faculty in this manner; who is not for ever looking round on creation, in feeling and in search of those beauties; that he may thus bend in gratitude and love, before the Author of all Beauty. -MACCULLOCH. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS PRICE SIXPENCE. |