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From Titan.

THE BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE, ART, AND LIFE.*

THE BEAUTIFUL.

ALL the world worships Beauty. The infant exhibits unmistakable, though inarticulate delight, on perceiving certain motions or sounds, and is attracted by any bright color or dazzling glitter, be it of the costly jewel or gew-gaw, the painted daub, or the marvel of art, flower, or star.

The young man, when "she comes whom God sends," finds the whole face of things more lovely, nay, glorified for her sake-beauty, "amid all beauty beautiful," having made for itself a silence in his heart.

The old man, after gazing in silent wonder on the setting sun, speaks kindly to those merry children who have been gathering buttercups and daisies. His thoughts wander away and dwell with a lingering fondness on "the days that are no more ;" and, as he gives the little ones his blessing, the subdued sweetness which

beams from his face tells that a chastened

heart is filled with the "beauty of holi

ness."

As the education of heart and head advances-every object, person, book, experience, environment, or influence to which we are subjected, being an education of the truest kind- our sympathies with Nature widen and deepen; while we become more eclectic and fastidious in matters which relate to Art. The sum of our admiration for artistic creations, however, is increased; for, what before was vague and spread over a wide surface, is concentrated and intensified on the few works in each department found truly worthy, till these become well-springs of beauty to the soul. Education, truly speaking, is the work of a lifetime. Exposed to every diversity of influence, the mind can not remain stationary; if we do not advance, we re

* The Beautiful in Nature, Art, and Life. By Andrew James Symington. 2 vols. crown 8vo. 446 and 322 pp. London. Longman & Co.

trograde. The school or university ought to furnish us with a method of studyhow best to lead out, or evolve, whatever is noblest or highest in our nature. Selfculture is but the continuation-the legitimate application and use of the method acquired. Our whole life is a trainingit ought to be a perfecting-for "spirits are not finely touched but to fine issues." Self-education neglected, man wrongs that which is peculiarly HIMSELF.

Many talk and think of an education being completed, or "finished," when certain preliminary courses have been gone through. It is not the term to which we object, but a prevalent misconception in some minds as to the thing itself.

Others there are, who, duly appreciating its importance, and attracted by

"Nature's loveliest looks, Art's noblest relics, history's rich bequests,"

inquiry, and the infinite variety of proon surveying the vastness of the field of mation of a richly-stored mind, a culticesses and influences which go to the forvated taste, and a well-balanced intellect, feel for a time bewildered and disheartened, and are at a loss where or how to begin. Between these two extremes there is also every variety of mind.

tarian sense, as the basis and completion, Recognizing Christianity, in an unsecthe alpha and the omega, of all social order and progress, and of all successful intellectual effort, we shall endeavor, in the following pages, to throw out hints which may be suggestive and useful in such cases as those we have indicated, for the attainment of a higher moral and intellectual sphere.

Love, Truth, and Beauty preeminently possessing

"A metropolitan temple in the hearts
Of mightiest poets"-

tiful in Nature, Art, and Life, aided, in we believe, that by the study of the Beauour perception, by the insight - the

"faculty divine" of the great in all ages, "with exquisite regard for common things," ever seeing

"The parts

As parts, but with a feeling of the whole," many, as Spenser sings, may

"Lift themselves up hyer, And learn to love with zealous humble duty

The eternal fountain of that heavenly Beauty."

Few subjects have possessed a like fascination, or called forth more varied theories and opinions from thinkers of all ages, than the investigation of those laws which relate to the nature of Absolute Beauty. Involving, as it does, metaphysics and physics, the cosmos without and the cosmos within, their mutual action and reäction on each other, and the intimate relation of all to God, it is not to be wondered that many widely different speculations should be hazarded in such a field. Hence errors and truth are often found strangely jumbled together: errors similar to those exhibited in some curious old picture-maps of the fifteenth century, wherein islands and continents change places, and outlines of countries undergo modifications which, save for their printed names, render them almost beyond recognition; and truth, only wrong, it may be, in making that which is predicable of a part, apply to the whole.

John Howe, in his "Epistle Dedicatory" to "Thoughtfulness for the Morrow," finely says, "That is not philosophy which is professed by this or that sect, but that which is true of all sects; so, nor do I take that to be religion which is peculiar to this or that party of Christians, (many of whom are too apt to say, here is Christ and there is Christ, as if he were divided,) but that which is according to the mind of God among them all."

Aiming at catholicity, in our sphere, we are too catholic to suppose we have attained it, or that it is attainable; and, for this reason, we can bear with the frequent idiosyncrasies of those who imagine they have most of it.

Beauty has been viewed in so many varied lights, that the saying, "There are no rules for taste," has become a common mode of accounting for all æsthetic differences. It is, however, true that, if a given number of educated man be called upon to decide, a large proportion of them will agree in pronouncing certain objects

beautiful: though perhaps no two individuals have arrived at this conelusion by exactly the same process-be it analysis or synthesis-conducted laboriously, or precipitated at the moment, so as to resemble intuition; for, as Shakspeare hath it "Grace is grace, spite of all controversy!"

We have here, as it were, the converse of the story of Cinderella: she is present with us in all her enchanting loveliness; but her glass slipper is not yet found. Countless others are vainly tried; but all are either so clumsy that she shakes them off, or so small-belonging to childrenthat she can only thrust her toes into them and smile. Meanwhile, she patiently waits for her own; knowing, from the good fairy, that the missing one is safe, and already on the way.

To define what Absolute Beauty" is," would, as Plato affirms of the soul, "in every way require a divine and lengthened exposition to tell;" though we are delighted to recognize its manifestations, and much may be lovingly affirmed of it.. We would apply the words of the same great thinker in which Socrates answers Phædrus regarding his belief in the fabulous monsters to those systems which have attempted to do so without any positive basis; first premising that we mean no disparagement to

"The noble living and the noble dead," nor to their admirable efforts, failing only where failure is incident to humanity, and consequently not inglorious. "But I," says he, "for my part, Phædrus, consider such, things as pretty enough, but as the province of a very curious, painstaking, and not very happy man; and for no other reason than this, that after this he must set us right as to the form of Hippocentaurs, and then as to that of the Chimæra; besides, there pours in upon him a crowd of similar monsters, Gorgons and Pegasuses, and other monstrous creatures, incredible in number and absurdity, which, if any one were to disbelieve and endeavor to reconcile each with probability, employing for this purpose a kind of vulgar cleverness, he will stand in need of abundant leisure. But I have not leisure at all for such matters; and the cause of it, my friend, is this; I am not yet able, according to the Delphic precept, to know myself."

A spirit of inquiry into the phenomena of Nature-a tendency to generalize-to

gether with unsatisfactory yet ever renewed attempts to solve those deeper allperplexing mysteries of the soul-characterize humanity, and have manifested themselves under various phases in every age of the world.

Ever desiring to enlarge his horizon, man seeks to pass from the known to the unknown; would fain lift the vail from the future, court intercourse with the spirit-world, and eagerly engage in the pursuit of knowledge solely to increase his power. Hence the Sphinx riddle, the vailed statue of Sais, charms, omens, divinations, and in later times, the alchymic lore of the middle ages.

The moon, we are told, always presents the same side to us, and the other must remain concealed from our view, excepting the small portion of its edge revealed now and again by its libration. "So," it has been beautifully observed by Humboldt, "in the intellectual world, where, in the domain of deep research into the mysteries and primeval creative forces of nature, there are regions similarly turned away from us, and apparently unattainable, of which only a narrow margin has revealed itself for thousands of years to the human mind, appearing from time to time, either glimmering in true or delusive light."

In such researches, more has often been gained by the way, than the devoted student, in his most sanguine moods, ever imagined he would attain, even at the purposed phantom goal. For that which hitherto was vague assumes definite form; facts and data accumulate, affording a surer basis for scientific theory. Hence, in our age, Humboldt has been enabled, in a physical point of view, to construct in broad outlines, by bold and striking generalizations, a Mercator's Projection of the Universe, from his knowledge of minute detail. The field is ever widening under the searchings of the telescope and microscope; nor is there any reason to believe that its wonders will ever be exhausted.

In metaphysical studies, if we earnestly advance far enough, we complete a circle, yet bring much along with us, and ought to be "wiser and better." Intellectual gymnastics are useful in their way, and afterwards enable us to value all the more child-like simplicity, and listen more readily to the voice of the heart. gress is in the nature of things, and sings the poet:

Pro

truly

"Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,

And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."

From auguries, we have physiology; alchemy, chemistry. "It is curious," says from astrology, astronomy; and from Professor Longfellow, "to note the old sea-margins of human thought; each subsiding century reveals some new mystery; we build where monsters used to hide themselves."

This

long separated, again, in the present day, Strange to find chemistry, after being coming to the aid of astronomy, telling us whether yon distant orb shines by its own or borrowed light, and also revealing the character of its atmosphere.* novel and interesting application of the prism recalls that fine description of Newton's statue at Cambridge, in "The Prelude;" we see the great philosopher standing,

"With his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind forever Voyaging through strange seas of thought

alone."

The direction in which great discoveries will be made during the next halfcentury seems to be already indicated. Extensive observations are being made on the magnetic currents of the earth. The researches of Baron Reichenbach lead us to inquire how far we ourselves are influenced by these. It is known that electric fluids course the nerves and brain; that the double fibers of the nervous system are positive and negative; and Humboldt attests to the fact of the magnetic needle being deflected at will, first in one direction, and then in another, by the lifeforces of the human body-a copper wire being employed as the conducting medium.

Mesmerism has ever and anon made its appearance from the times of the Egyptian priests to the present day, in

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spite of the imposture and clap-trap often mixed up with it. Lunatics are so called from the supposed influence of the moon on the tides of the soul.

"There are errors," said Coleridge, "which no wise man will treat with rudeness, while there is a probability that they may be the refraction of some great truth as yet below the horizon."

From these remarks it will be seen that the connection of mind with matter is a subject upon which very little is at present known, though the relation between them is close and intimate.* We speak only of the modus operandi, for, of essences or noumena, things in and for themselves, we are entirely ignorant; the name of a simple, sealed with a "hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther," being a mere word—a mask for our ignorance; nor can we ever be certain that we have even got thus far.

From such investigations the horizon ever recedes, till, weary with the idea of infinitude, we take refuge in a child-like faith, willing to apprehend much that we can not comprehend, and believing that what we know not now we shall know hereafter.

Sir Thomas Browne, Marco Polo, the loving and exuberant Jean Paul, and sundry collections of old ballads, "Cock Robin" being of the number! The songsters seek not to know aught of Mozart, though he knew much of them; and they display like interest in the Knight of La Mancha, or Lane's "Thousand and One Nights," in its bright scarlet binding, with Arabic characters and golden blazonry of shields and spears! They are not spelled by Jeremy Taylor, Fuller, or the immortal "Pilgrim ;" nor have first editions any attractions for them. Euclid, Euler, Newton, or La Place, are blank as the others, and suggest simply — nothing. They seem capriciously gay with "The Dance of Death ;" and ere the whole of a sudden take flight, for fresher woods and new prospects, amorously con the whitelabeled title of his "Jest Book!"

Happy birds! "Sweet joy befall you!" The magnetic needle of the soul, in its dip and inclination, indicates that in like manner there may be regions of mystery, ever on before- - potent influences and worlds of wonder within ourselves, and around us on every side, of which we are as utterly unconscious as ye are of the rules of counterpoint, without which warble so sweetly; or of the fact, or import, of that lore upon which your shadows so transiently rested, while we are almost as ignorant of yours!

It is a clear day in early spring. As we write, we listen to Beethoven's Symphony in C Minor, rendered on the piano-forte in an adjoining chamber. What earnest tenderness, passionate grace, simple loveliness! How elaborately rich in strange In forming hypotheses, the mind first beautiful combinations, wild surprises, and projects theories, and then refers to Nabold, gorgeous, massive harmonies! The ture for corroboration of their truth. bright sunlight, too, is now streaming into Some of them she confirms, others she althe room, and the lively shadows of little lows to fall; while again, from the evibirds, perched on the elder-tree at our dence of her facts, new theories are conwindow, unconsciously fall, dark and dis- structed, which in like manner bide their tinct, curiously fluttering on the book time-stand, fall, are corrected or adranges of our library. How they indis-justed-as they happen to be in accordcriminately hover, crowd and flit, as if ance with her all-truthfulness. denizens of all ages and climes! From Plato to Ruskin from Humboldt to Bacon and Aristotle-now resting lovingly on Chaucer, Cowper, and Wordsworth-then visiting Nineveh, Egypt, Petra, or the Indies. Now the shadows light upon Homer, Dante, and Milton, and back again to Shakspeare, who in his Stratford edition is ranged above them all. How wantonly they pass over the tomes of

*See Sir Henry Holland's Chapters on "Mental Physiology," Sir Benjamin Brodie's " "Psychological Inquiries," and Laycock's "Functions of the Brain,"

particularly the first of these.

But nature has many voices and languages, many of which, as yet, we only imperfectly understand; and many more of which we are entirely ignorant. In reply to our questionings, her answers are often as dark and unintelligible as Nimrod's words in that lost and unknown tongue which Dante, in the misty twilight, heard resounding through the Inferno. Ever from time to time we continue to question her, and wait till the interpreters shall arise.

Though theories thus shift and oscillate, we do not therefore set aside Law; on the contrary, we believe that it admits

the

of-nay, includes in its essence greatest and only true freedom, that "Liberty is duty, Not license. Every pulse that beats At the glad summons of imperious beauty Obeys a law; the very cloud that floats Along the dead green surface of the hill Is ruled and scattered by a God-like will.”

The many mysteries, and even the seeming irregularities which surround us on every side, and which we can neither fathom nor explain, are yet, we are bound to believe, perfect and delicate adjustments, completing the universal harmony, and, no doubt, appear such to higher intelligences. As in the case of Uranus and the planet Neptune, these very perturbations may lead to discoveries of new truths in the orbit of thought. With other instruments and appliances at command-advanced knowledge in regard to the conditions of mind and matter, and, above all, with the outpouring and indwelling of God's Holy Spirit-we may look for the consequent advancement of all science, and attain to a more perfect knowledge of this beautiful cosmos; viewing Nature, by the aids of the arts and sciences, as one harmonious whole, and assigning to each its relative value and position. "I had rather believe," says Lord Bacon, "all the fables in the legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind; and, therefore, God never wrought miracles to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked together it must needs fly to Providence and Deity: nay, even that school which is most accused of atheism doth most demonstrate religion-that is the school of Leucippus, and Democritus, and Epicurus: for it is a thousand times more creditable that four mutable elements, and one immutable fifth essence. duly and eternally placed, need no God, than that an army of infinite small portions, or seeds unplaced, should have produced this order and beauty without a divine marshal."

Unaided reason can never yield satis

factory results to the soul. Its fairest apples become dust and ashes in the mouth. It ever moves, as it were, in circles which widen rather than progress; and metaphysics per se might not inadequately be symbolized by an antique gem, which we remember somewhere to have seen, representing the tortures of Sisyphus, Ixion, and Tantalus!

But based on positive science and illuminated by revelation, which is the perfection, and as it were the continuation, of reason-nay, the very lenses of the telescope-man may, even in time, hope so far to resolve the nebulæ into starry truths, and to take cognizance of harmonies, correspondences, and unities—

"Of whose being tidings never yet

Have reached this nether world."

In the beautiful and significant words of George Herbert, "Man," created in the image of God, "is every thing and more

he is in little all the sphere;"-in a sense, not figurative but literally true, he is a microcosm; an important fact, of which science is ever, from day to day, obtaining fresh corroborations and clearer views. Recognized as such, and deciphered accordingly, humanity itself may yet prove the rosetta-stone of the universe, its trilingual inscription opening up to us other and wider fields of the Beautiful; enabling us to feel its influence for good with greater intensity, and, at the same time, elevating all our perceptions to a higher and nobler range-higher both in kind and in degree. Truly, O Lord!" with thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see light!"

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