MASSIVE TRUTHS CONDENSED, alias APOLOGIES FOR OUR STYLE;

GLEANED FROM THE OPINIONS OF THE DEEPEST THINKERS THE
WORLD CAN BOAST.

"Knowledge is nothing but dry bread, without humour, poetry, fancy, and a dash of romance in it. It kills the soul, corrupts the heart, and makes a man as uninteresting as a carrier's cart. How would the late Sydney Smith's literary labours be relished, without the latter seasoning?"

The million had better be amused, than expire with gaping: a dislocated jaw from yawning is no light matter. We hope our fragmental and laconic despatches will not, like the electric telegraph, take off the edge without satisfying curiosity. True eloquence is nothing more than a serious and hearty love of truth. The author aspires to a praise of

high tone and moral feeling.

Be it known unto all scribblers, that "those who attempt to reason us out of our follies, begin at the wrong end; since the attempt naturally pre-supposes us capable of reason :--but to be made capable of this, is one great point of the cure.

-GOLDSMITH.

"In our present state, the operations of the mind so far depend on the right tone and good conditions of its instrument, that anything which greatly contributes to preserve or recover the health of the body, is well worth the attention of the mind."

-BISHOP BERKELEY.

"When we would object to an author, let us be very sure that we are quite capable of grasping his meaning; for in the twilight, a very legible hand will be illegible." Beware, then, of judging hastily. It is better to suspend an opinion, than retract an assertion.

"THE WORLD.-In a couple of years or so, you will enter the world. It's a different thing to what you read about: it's a masquerade—a motley sparkling multitude, in which you may mark all forms and colours, and listen to all sentiments and opinions; but where all you see and hear has only one object-PLUNDER."

-Coningsby: by the Right Hon. B. DISRAELI.

"Reader,-I have observed that uttered intellect is not what permanently makes way, but unuttered. Wit, logical brilliancy, spiritual effulgency, true or false,-how precious to idle mankind! and to the newspapers and history books, even when it is false! While, again, Nature and practical fact care next to nothing for it, in comparison, even when it is true!"

-CARLYLE.

"Sweet verse embalms the spirit of sour misanthropy: but woe betide the ignoble prose writer who should thus dare to compare notes with the world, or tax it roundly with imposture."

-HAZLITT.

PHYSIOLOGY OF EDUCATION,

&c.

CHAPTER I.

THE MIND.

"To man alone, that heaven-born life is given;
To man alone, the limit of that chain,
Which, from an atom, even unto God,

Is all connexion, strength, and harmony;

For where mean matter ends, Spirit begins

To fill the wide hiatus that would else

Exist 'twixt dust and Deity: 'tis mind,

The glorious, deathless mind; that germ of hope,
That pledge of immortality, that is

The link of sacred union between
Immortal and an eternal GOD!
Oh thou undefinable essence! thron'd

In a mysterious glory of proud things,

Sparkling about thee like the fiery rays

Of some bright weapon whirl'd in triumph, that
Conceal its beauty by their flashing gleams;

The universe has limits still,-but thou

And thy creations, they are infinite,

And make themselves an eternity,

Even in this germ of being. Wrapt in them,

As in a panoply of living light,

We brave the fierce and terrible sway

Of the ten thousand foes that hedge the path,

The darkened, dubious path of mazy life;

Yea, calmly walk into thy palace, Death,

And dare thee on the footsteps of thy throne."

HE highest force in the universe is mind:-the first

THE

business of intellect, is to teach mankind those duties which lead to happiness. The good of mankind, and the

honour of this country, are two of our ruling principles. "He that is physically wrong, cannot be, nor is he, morally right." Before the sower went forth to sow, the soil was prepared. In education, is it not as in agriculture;-does not the magnitude of the crop depend upon the appliances which have been brought to bear upon the soil? In both, if we sow sparingly, shall we not reap sparingly? The hearing ear, and the seeing eye are wanting; the unprepared soil refuses to receive the engrafted word. Why? In the heart, we believe, there resides the seminal principles of all good, as well as evil; but the peaceful evolutions of the former, that is to make the soul a Paradise, and kindred beauty bloom around, will never be developed until selfishness, impurity, and excess are removed; the ploughing, harrowing, and watering, must precede the sowing of the good seed, before the beams of the sun can penetrate the rocky and barren soil. The amount of happiness a man reaps, does not depend upon our working with any particular ploughshare, but upon driving the ploughshare into the right soil. What country attempts to grow corn in unnatural soils? To foresee and prevent dangers, is the province of the wise; to direct them when they come, of the brave. We consider it a privilege to pioneer the way for our successors,-cutting down the trees, and clearing the ground for others to sow upon. No metallurgist ever attempts to melt the gold before it is worked out of the vein. Proceed hence, and you derive at lest the materials for a groundwork. True, still the body is of the earth-earthy, which, as we are constituted, are means to get at this soul, and necessary conditions to its fulfilling its own birth and destiny, a totality;-the whole

being, body, soul, and spirit, must be comprehended in the science of education, and built up together: the substratum, the body, must be perfected, before you attempt to raise your superstructure.

It was an important remark suggested by an eminent physiologist and anatomist, that "when I find my attention called to any particular part or member of my body, I may be morally sure there is something amiss in the processes of that part or member." As long as the whole economy of the frame goes on well, and without interruption, our attention is not called to it. In a popular work, "A Woman's Thoughts about Women," we have the following striking and just remarks:-"Charity cannot too deeply or too frequently call to mind how very difficult it is to be good, or amiable, or eyen commonly agreeable, when one is inwardly miserable. This fact is not enough recognised by those very worthy people who take such a world of pains to make other people virtuous, and so very little to make them happy. They sow good seed; are everlastingly weeding and watering; give it every care and advantage under the sun-except sunshine; and then they wonder it does not flower!"

It is in vain to preach to people, unless you love them. Christianity, when it becomes more generally de facto ALIVE IN THE WORLD, Will make the discovery that it is not of the slightest use to endeavour to make people good, unless you try at the same time to make them happy. And you rarely can make another happy, unless you are happy yourself. Let the man of anxious and keen research, by trying to remedy some grand flaw in the plan of society, or the problem of the universe, take heed that his own stomach,

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