In Civil Architecture there are four principles, it is said,* to be attended to:-1st, Convenience; 2d, Symmetry; 3d, Eurythma, or such a balance and disposition of parts as evidences design; and, 4th, Ornament. It is pleasant to notice that not one of these is wanting in the architecture of nature. The presence of any of them might be sufficient to prove design; the presence and concurrance of them all furnishes the most overwhelming evidence. Upon taking a combined view of the whole, we feel as if we have proof of much more than of the existence of law or a pinciple of order; we feel as if we have distinct traces of a personal God planning minute and specific ends. We do not know whether to admire most the all-pervading order which runs through the whole of nature, through all the parts of the plant and animal, and through the hundreds of thousands of different species of plants and animals, or the skillful accommodation of every part, and of every organ, in every species, to the purpose which it is meant to serve. one leads us to discover the lofty wisdom which planned all things from the beginning, and the enlarged beneficence reaching over all without respect of persons; whereas the other impresses us more with the providential care and special beneficence which, in attending to the whole, has not overlooked any part, but has made provision for every individual member of the myriads of animated beings. * See Lectures in connexion with opening of Great Exibition. The CHAPTER II. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE LAWS OF THE MATERIAL WORLD AND THE FACULTIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. SECT. I.—THE FANTASY, OR IMAGING POWER OF THE MIND. IT is Mind that is to be the special object of contemplation in this chapter;-not mind in its essence, of which we can know but little, but mind in its actual operations; mind looking out by the senses on the world without, and studying and admiring it; mind making the past to reappear, and imagine the absent as if present; mind analyzing the complex structure of nature into its elements, and discovering resemblances which group all nature into a few grand systems; mind rising from the effect to the remote and unseen cause, arguing from the known past to the unknown future, and discovering, by cogitation, new planets before the far-penetrating telescope had detected them: it is this mind which is to exhibit a few of its varied powers and movements to our view. Natural philosophy does not unfold laws of a wider sweep, chemistry does not disclose more curious combinations, nor natural history a more wonderful organization, than this ever active and living mind. There is a gradation from the inanimate, up through the plant and the animal, to mind, as the crowning object. The motion of the planet in its elliptic orbit is no doubt beautiful to contemplate, but having enjoyed a higher existence, we would not choose to run, year after year, in that one unvarying orbit. If the choice were given us, we would rather be a plant than a planet-we would rather be a lily, expanding its petals in the sunshinewe would rather be the oak, shooting out and ramifying at will, and facing the buffetings of the storm. If the option were allowed us, there is a higher life that we would prefer. An eminent man, on seeing the sea-fowl career from the wave to the cliff, and sweeping from the cliff to the wave, expressed the momentary feeling, "Well, I should not dislike to be a sea-bird-I would have such a variety of life in water, in air, and on land." But having enjoyed by our Maker's beneficence, a still higher life, we would not descend to these lower states of existence. For this mind with which we are endowed, or rather, which constitutes our true self, can, in its thoughts, run a wider orbit than the planets, and wander into infinity; it can, in the midst of sunshine and of storm, grow on and on in knowledge and in love, and in all that is great and good throughout eternity; it can take in more than earth and sea and air and all the elements, and rise, by contemplation and purification, to gaze on infinite perfection embodied in the character of God. Surely this mind, with its laws and operation, is worthy of our careful study. We are to shew that, while it is vastly above them all, it is yet suited, by its structure and its organs, to all the objects by which it is surrounded, and which it is expected to contemplate and to use. When man appears on the earth, which had been so long in preparation for him, he comes with powers and aptitudes fitted to the scene in which he is placed. We have now before us a correspondence of a higher kind than any previously contemplated. It may be called the Archetypal correspondence connecting Homology with Teleology. In illustrating this subject, we are to use mental faculties and laws, which, under one name or other, are treated, or at least referred to and incidentally sanctioned, in every system of mental science. There are, doubtless, differences of opinion as to the nomenclature best fitted to set forth these laws and powers; we are to avoid the difficulties arising from this source, by employing as little technical language as possible. Even those who regard our classification as not the best, and our analysis too refined or not sufficiently refined, will yet be prepared to acknowledge, that the powers of which we treat are in the mind of man, either as original or derived; and this is all that needs to be admitted in order to our being entitled to use them as we do in this chapter. We begin with the Imaging or Pictorial Power of the Mind. The reader will be able to discover what is meant by this power, if he but observe, that whatever is recalled or imagined by the mind comes with an image more or less distinct. We call up, let me suppose, some incident of our childhood. We remember the day on which we were sent to school, and how we set out from our parents' roof with strangely mingled feelings of hope and apprehension. As we bring back these scenes, mark how everything appears with a pictorial power. We have a vivid picture, it may be, of the road along which we passed ; we see, as it were, the school-house both externally and internally; we hear, as it were, the master addressing us, and the remarks which the children made upon us. Or more pleasant still, we remember a holiday trip undertaken by us, in the company of a pleasant companion or kind relative, to a scene interesting in itself, or made interesting by its historical associations; or, what we felt to be still more agreeable, the visit was paid to the house of a kind friend, who had a thousand contrivances to please and entertain us. How vivid the representation before us of the events of the journey, of the little incidents which befell us, of the amusements which were provided for us, and of the persons, the countenances, the voice and words of those who joined us in our mirth, or ministered to our gratification! We not only remember that there were such events, but we, as it were, perceive them before us; this imaging of them is, as it were, an essential element of our remembrance. Wordsworth is painting from the life when he speaks of "Those recollected hours that have the charm A visible scene on which the sun is shining." Or possibly there may be scenes which have imprinted themselves still more deeply upon our minds, which have, as it were, burned their image into our souls. Let us cast back our mind upon the time when death, as an unwelcome intruder, first entered our dwelling. We remember ourselves standing by the dying bed of a father or mother, or sister or brother, and then we recollect how a few days after we saw the lifeless body put into the coffin, and, within a brief period after, saw it borne away to the tomb. How terribly vivid and distinct do all these scenes stand before us at this instant! We, as it were, see that pallid countenance looking forth from the couch upon us; we, as it were, hear that voice becoming feebler and yet feebler; and then we feel as if we were looking at that fixed gaze which the countenance assumed |