leave us only languor and disappointment! How earnestly do we renew the faded lines of imagination, which becoming more vivid and brighter than ever, still lead only to the repetition of satiety! Must we not acknowledge then, that the future, which is the widest region of imagination, affords us the greatest pleasure, as the past can never be recalled, and the present is seldom enjoyed? To imagination we are indebted for those pleasing day-dreams, or waking visions, those castles in the air, which, tho' reason will not allow us to rely on, she does not forbid us to indulge; by these we are withdrawn from the tedious or painful sensations of the present, and are soothed or amused, during many a lingering hour of wakefulness, sickness, and sorrow. In these . the lover enjoys, with fancied delight, the future converse and company of his mistress, in scenes of happiness which life can never afford; the merchant riots in visionary prospects of gain, which, in the common course of things, he can never acquire; the philosopher indulges in dreams of benevolence, which the cold, rude, coarse selfishness of the world renders for ever impossible; the ambitious man extends his views of gratification beyond the sphere of earthly possibility; and the man who Aclicion indibled to This pawer of the Mind Hope. results from Exercise 66 is satisfied even with moderate enjoyments, delights himself with the anticipation of that tranquil happiness, which the ill-natured chances of the world never place within his reach. Life is thus passed away in visions of future bliss, and death overtakes us before they are realized. Whatever is not capable of being demonstrated by reason, or by evidence, is derived from the imagination. To imagination all systems of religious belief owe their origin; and however, we may admire them as poetical fictions, we cannot but deplore their fatal influence on society, by the dissensions and divisions they have created among men. To the power of imagination religion owes all her pleasures, and all her terrors, as futurity exists only in idea; for tho' faith can work wonders as well as believe them, yet no founder of a religion can do more than promise or denounce, and tho' his followers may believe in his word or his power, he can never alter the nature of things; even a Deity cannot make the future to be present, nor convert probability into certainty. The pleasures of hope have their birth from imagination, and who that has ever experienced their delights, will fail to bless that power to which he is indebted for the brightest part of his existence? The lively sensations of hope cheer us in the gloomy hours of sickness and solitude, and add a charm even to prosperity. Imagination, enlightened by hope, leads us through the dreary journey of life with chearfulness, and reconciles us to the sufferings of the present; for who could support the tedium of an existence spent in a state of banishment from the beauties of nature and art, and the pleasures of intellectual society, unless the bright beams of imagination cheered him by the prospect of future happiness, and hope ¦ gave him the earnest of enjoyment? Without imagination, hope has no food to feed on, and without hope, imagination will soon perish. The future prospects and condition of our children afford a wide field for imagination, and give the anxious parent many alternate hours of uneasiness and pleasure. To picture in our minds their advancement and happiness, their success in the acquisition of fame, wealth, honors, respect, or learning, just as suits our ideas of what is good and right; to fancy we behold in them the friends of mankind, the amiable patterns of conjugal life, or the learned instructors of future times, repays us in some measure for the care of their education, and gives us a momentary, transient delight, tho' I pictures the future. mispects of our-children 68 our wishes should never be accomplished. It aids and supports us, too, in the great work of instruction, and gives us ideas as to the views or principles by which their education should be directed; for he who has never formed in his mind the idea of something superior to what he is used to, will never arrive at any great degree of excellence. Tho' the future condition of our children affords a boundless scope for imagination and pleasing conjecture, yet it ought not to be indulged in, to the prejudice of useful exertion; we should not be content with imagining what they may be, but endeavour to make them such as we desire; for imagination may mislead, if not tempered by judgment, and restrained by prudence. pewers Having hitherto considered the power of in slap fancy solely with regard to the common affairs of life, past and future, it is time now to speak of those operations which do not strictly belong to any of these descriptions, and yet partake of the nature of them all. The imagination is awake, when the reason and the senses are asleep, and, in the visionary pictures of a dream, affords us delights which our dull existence can never equal, and heaven itself can never exceed. Who that has conversed in sleep with the dear, departed friends of his youth, or the grave companions of his riper 44 43 To imagination we are indebted for all the ornaments and embellishments of life. Taste the ornaments and judgment can only direct, but imagination embellishm gives birth to all that is elegant, grand, and power of beautiful. To her we owe the varied fift - "Imagination ish mere des arts; ils sont rampant dans la speculation: mais tels que l'air subtil ui se dégage de la terre ils in Pelancent jusqu'aux cieux; Corsque orise leur Entraves. Согодня |