circulation, since the blood is circulated by virtue of the contractile power of the heart and arteries. The degree of SENSIBILITY, therefore, is always not only in an inverse ratio of the degree of coNTRACTILITY, but also of the circulating power; and, since all the motions of the body are performed by virtue of CONTRACTILITY, and the whole process of nutrition by virtue of the circulation, this is the same as saying that the degree of SENSIBILITY is always in an inverse ration of the degree of health and strength-which is the fact. A very familiar instance of the increase of SENSIBILITY, produced by lessening the quantity of the blood, is to be found in the fact, that a dose of cathartic medicine wholly incompetent to affect the bowels under ordinary circumstances, will be found quite sufficient to do so if administered after blood-letting. I am at this time attending a big, strong, dread-naught customhouse officer for a slight attack of paralysis which he sustained some weeks since. Since the attack I have bled him nine times, taking away thirty ounces of blood each time. He was also cupped once by Mr. Cowley, of Osborn Street. You may easily imagine that a man who can bear this, and yet walk about the street without support, must, at least, be no chicken. Yet so much has his sensibility, (I speak now of moral SENSIBILITY, which, after all, is but the physical SENSIBILITY of those parts of the nervous system which are susceptible of impressions by moral causes,)—so much, I say, has this man's SENSIBILITY been increased by bleeding that a cross word is sufficient to make him burst into tears. As moral SENSIBILITY is but the SENSIBILITY of those parts of the system which are capable of being impressed by moral causes, it follows that the qualities of the mind will be, in a great measure, regulated by the relative degrees of CONTRACTILITY and SENSIBILITY in individuals. When the brain is but ill supplied with blood, and that blood but feebly circulated, and therefore imperfectly vivified, the SENSIBILITY to moral causes or stimuli will be morbidly acute. Such a person is easily and morbidly affected by causes to which others are wholly insensible: a sudden loud knock at the door, for instance, will make him start almost from his seat. If you speak to him of a contingent evil, however slight and remote, he views it through a mental telescope, always applying that end of the instrument to his eye which magnifies the object and increases its proximity. If you speak of a contingent good, the telescope is instantly turned, and he views it through the opposite end, which diminishes its value, lessens its probability, and renders it only visible at the extreme point of a long perspective. In short, he is timid, desponding, infirm of purpose, imaginative and incapable of continued application. Such a man may be a poet, but never a mathematician. On the contrary, when CONTRACTILITY is vigorous, and the circulation consequently energetic, the brain will be abundantly supplied with healthy blood, its nervous tissue firmly supported everywhere within the meshes of that tissue formed by the interlacings of wellfilled blood-vessels, and its SENSIBILITY therefore will be, in a corresMay 1836.-VOL. XVI.-NO. LXI. F ponding degree, obtuse. It requires a strong moral cause to operate on the mind of such a man. "Trifles light as air," have no power to excite, to irritate, or in any way affect him: he is, consequently, bold, patient, good-humoured, inflexible, unimaginative, and capable of long-continued mental exertion. Such a man may become a great mathematician, but never a poet. I think I could show that all the peculiarities of the human mind are to be accounted for as depending upon certain modifications of the two physical properties-CONTRACTILITY and SENSIBILITY; but, on this subject, I have said enough, and perhaps you will add," and to spare;" therefore, my dear John, for the present, I bid Pax vobiscum. farewell. you E. JOHNSON. LES OISEAUX. Couplets adressès a Monsieur Arnault, partant pour son exile. L'Hiver redoublant ses ravages, Les oiseaux sur d'autres rivages, Portent leurs amours et leurs chants. IMITATION. Now is winter's spirit moving, Truants now, no longer near us, "Tis some Power mysterious guiding To some fairer clime they stray. Go, ye gay and tuneful legions, Hark, the tempest's wild commotion Though from us ye now are straying, JOHN WARING. FRANK FARLEY. Like a man to double business bound.-HAMLET. "O MOST sapient Bedlamite!" "Well! I think a man is justified in "Halt! nonsense-you're wrong, radically, constitutionally, primarily, secondarily, and ultimately wrong-you've taken up a bad position, and defended it worse-if possible "Well, but Harry, hear me--I wish to predicate “O, have done! do-come hold your tongue-and tell me what you intend to do with yourself this evening." "Hem-ah-fill your glass whilst I scan over my memoranda. Mortlake, that's impossible-dull, decidedly dull. Lady Darring "Ay-you must absolutely go there. Why, it's a private and peculiar party, expressly for the purpose of reviewing Bulwer's last. And double quick, my dear boy. Lady Caroline will be there. Apropos-attention-here's her health-you cannot refuse." "Avec plaisir, mon cher capitaine. I always obey my superior officer-Lady Caroline Belvoir." "Um-you drank Caroline' last time the lady's health was proposed." "Well-why not give her her titles?" "I suppose you think it particularly loverlike; but, serieusement, whither are your marching orders to-night?" “Why—ah—if you must know the truth-I-ah-have to make a particular-that is, private-not that it's very especial-but a kind of indispensable engagement-you understand-to see a friend in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden to-night?" "Don't try to steal a march on me-I am too practised a tactician. Pray is not Drury Lane in that neighbourhood? And if I recollect rightly, there is a species of edifice-sometimes denominated a theatre-thereabouts n'est ce pas ?" Well, Harry, be it so thither go "To-night?" "Certainement." I." "To the exclusion of Lady Darrington's party?" "Partly-I may look in towards the close of the evening." "Frank Farley 66 Harry Stewart "Will you listen to me?" "What else have I been doing for the last two mortal hours ?" Ay, but I am bringing up my detachment of moral lessons; and, egad, an awkward squad they are. "Eh bien !" "Frank, I am not a very-ah-very moral man." "Don't be impertinent. Frank, there's a sword hanging over your head." "Indeed-where?" "Not up there, stupid. Frank, you're running your head into an ambuscade-you're marching up to a masked battery, and you'll be knocked head over heels-that you will. Take my advice-don't go to Drury Lane again, at least not till Fanny Melton has been dismissed. Hey-have I pointed the muzzle true? Nay, man, don't blush so the coffee-room will be up in arms 66 Captain Stewart, I must request' “O yes, we all know that." "Sir, I consider the inappropriateness of your "Now Frank! Frank! don't be mutinous. My dear boy, believe me, I only meant your advantage. Really, I— "Well, no more of this; let us change the conversation." "Frank, I beg your pardon, but do consult your own conscience— call a council of war of your senses-hold a court-martial on that same penchant of yours, for Fanny Melton, and drum it out of your head. Now I ask it, as a particular favour. Why, my dear boy, think of Lady Caroline. What? in treaty with one, and make advances upon another-two at a time-it will never do. Come, come, pro mise you won't 66 Very well." go to Drury Lane to-night." "That's too vague. Come, yes or no." "No-there, hang it-what an unbounded nuisance you are. Here, waiter, coffee. This is a devilish nice place of Wood's, though it is in the city." "Just within the frontiers, viola tout, and one benefit is, that not a soul here marches under the same colours with ourselves, so that we make our meal in peace and quiet. Of all bores, recommend me to a west-end coffee-room or a club. Why, I dropped into the but yesterday, by way of a novelty, to get a chop, and by my hopes of promotion, for three-quarters of an hour, I demolished but two mouthfuls of meat, whilst I was all the time being crammed with all manner of deuced nonsense. How do Harry's,' and Devilish glad to see you's,' and Been at Lady Thingumbob's lately,' and seen Crampton to-day's,' till I was fain to give them all the cut direct." 6 "In order that you might do the same to your chop?" "Chop! cold-cold, Frank, cold as parade on a November morning." "Well, certainly this comfortable little tavern has so far the advantage. Waiter, is my cab at the door?" "See, sir." "Yes, sir, cab at the door." "Well, let us have our a-a—a "Yes, sir." (N.B. I am requested, by the waiters in general, to announce to the public that "Yessir," "Nossir," "Seesir," &c. are to be "etymologically enunciated" as separate words.) And now that the young gentlemen are in the act of paying the bill, and going to the cab, let us just examine their externals, which, being collated and concocted with the above dicta, may induce a fair conjecture as to the penetralia. Captain Stewart's back being towards us, we can only perceive, by occasional turns of his cranium, that he possesses a moderately handsome, merry face, with curly auburn hair, large whiskers and moustaches, à la militaire: his actions are quick, and the decided manner of wielding his firmly knit frame, combined with the unembarrassed tone of his voice, and his firm gaze, pronounce him to be a man of decision of character, though combined with a reckless gaiety, and somewhat domineering tone. Frank Farley's pale Grecian countenance, dark hair and eyes, and expressive features, and quiet, gentlemanly demeanour, give us an impression of deeper feeling, but less sound sense-more exalted talents, but want of decision-enthusiasm without judgment-good-nature without firmness. But I cannot discourse further, for they are just leaving the coffee-room. "Well, Frank, recollect you are to drive to Belgrave Square. I want to see Belmont's new rooms lighted up-you can drop me there. For the present, adieu;" and the gallant captain, selon sa coutume, composed him in the corner, and was "metamorpheused" ere the cab had emerged from the Furnival's Inn gateway. What Frank's meditations were, not even his tiger could divine; but the wheels of his chariot splashed the mud of Holborn over the pedestrians of ditto for the space of half a mile. Naturally enough, he turned down the Queen Streets, it was all in his way to traverse Drury Lane, and not a whit out of it to pass along by thy colonade O theatre! Nevertheless, it might have seemed that each column "posted" the cab wheel, certes each was passed more slowly than its predecessor, the corner turned at a walk, the portico stopped at, and Captain Stewart was awakened by Frank's springing past him, and a hasty, "Shenston will drive you come for me at ten." "What a goose!" quoth the captain. During the time that Frank's outward man reclined in his cab, a very severe contest had been waging in his inward man, the chief combatants being Principle and Inclination. "Ar'n't you ashamed of yourself," said the first, "Mr. Inclination, to be running away with this young fellow from his friends and decent society, and involving him in this scandalous manner with theatricals, and especially with such a girl as 66 Taisez vous," hastily interrupted Inclination. "Miss Melton is an irreproachable individual, and as much to be respected as any young lady I know. She told him the other day, in my presence, that, necessity not choice was her motive for adopting her present profession, and that, had she the means she would leave it tomorrow." |