by every fresh effort, and the mind is enfeebled, and its irritability is increased, by every renewed attempt to exorcise the phantom, by any unhallowed rites. Society is the food of ennui; and it is not in its crowded haunts of folly, that both bane and antidote meet together. It is indeed true, that a certain degree of variety is necessary in order to form exercise for the mind; but this must be moderate, of an unstimulating nature, and judiciously applied; or it will produce excitement without power to sustain the consequent action, and will therefore terminate in deepening shades of this gloomy passion.

It should be recollected, that man is so constituted, as to be pleased by change; that even in his best state, pleasure will become painful by the constancy of its iteration; and that the dulness of monotony is always fatiguing and uncomfortable but that when the mental system is under the morbid influence of ennui, these peculiarities also assume its unnatural character; and that from the abuse of preceding enjoyment, there is now an absolute incapacity for relishing moderate pleasures, and a very greatly augmented fastidiousness as to their recurrence. Hence the great importance of selecting with delicacy those pursuits which will engage without exciting, and which will form a simple variety in the occupations of the day. This loss of appetite for enjoyment, does not arise from debility, but from irritation of the intellectual organ, and is to be removed by soothing and strengthening, not by

stimulating the brain. And since there exists in some persons a greater degree of predisposition to ennui than in others; and since perhaps this will be found, or at least will be more readily visible in females, and in children, than in males and adults, it will be always right to weigh well the peculiarities of the mental and bodily constitution, and to be guided by them in the employment of remedies.

In the removal of ennui, the great indications are to obviate the immediately exciting cause of the passion, on whatever system it may first have exerted its influence; gradually to raise the tone of the enfeebled mental manifestations, by successive, persevering, but indirect efforts; gently to insinuate a greater power of the will, over some slight and remote actions, and by slow degrees to employ it upon larger, and still larger exertions; to fix the attention upon a change and succession of objects, but never to suffer it to become exhausted by their continuance; to soothe the irritability of the mind, by engaging it upon pursuits, which will employ without fatigue, and interest without excitement; to calm the fears, and restlessness, and disquietude, rather by occupation than by argument, and by gradually winding up the tone of the mental system, to a higher reach of moral action; to extend the influence of returning healthy function, by diversifying the mental manifestations, particularly called into prominence; by gently rousing correct feeling and principle, developing the smile of

benevolence, the tear of sympathy, the compassionate effort; and by recalling the patient to a sense of duty, of gratitude to God, and of a return of love and obedience for his unnumbered, and undeserved blessings.

But it is far better to prevent than it is to cure; and how is the influence of ennui to be guarded against in the education of children? The great secret of prevention consists in the due employment and improvement of time! When this has been diligently accomplished, there will be very little to fear from the agency of this passion, except as arising in a few instances from bodily causes, for there will be no room for its development. To the young, there should be no idle time; the day should be employed between a supply of the wants of nature, study, recreation, and exercise; there should be no intervals of cessation from pursuit. It is a most important law, that no time is to be wasted; every minute must be employed; and then children will grow up with that disposition to improve each passing hour, that they will not bear to lose the numerous periods of trifling, which are made up from the want of doing any thing, during the few minutes which elapse, between the cessation of one duty, and the excitement of the attention to the next coming occupation. If we duly estimate the importance of time, the slender portion at best, allotted to man, and the brevity of the longest life when contrasted with eternity; and if we recollect, that during this short period man's eternal destiny is fixed,

and that he will be happy or miserable for ever, according to the use he has made of this talent, surely we cannot want another motive to induce us to "redeem the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians v. 16. Time can only be said to be properly redeemed, when we have not a single unemployed interval; and when we carefully embrace and improve all the means placed within our reach for the development of our talents, as also for their improvement; and when we seize every occasion and opportunity presented to us by Providence, in order to consecrate them to the glory of God, and the good of others; not suffering these seasons to be stolen from us by neglect or indifference; or to be lost by cares, and anxieties, and solicitudes about present unimportant scenes; or to be absorbed by any consideration of amusement, or to be suspended by any secondary object: and if we have been in the habit of losing time, and frittering away our days, and degrading our existence, and forgetting the object of our high calling, and resting satisfied in strenuous indolence, or amusement, let the diligence of such be doubled, and may we do the more good in time to come; "for the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night; therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober." 1 Thessalonians v. 1, 2, 6.

SECTION XI. Of Admiration. Of Enthusiasm.

a. Admiration.

ADMIRATION is a certain movement of the soul, produced by the contemplation of some great perfection; particularly the sublime and beautiful in nature, the wonderful and ingenious in art, the strong and capacious in intellect, the just and virtuous in morals, and the pure and holy in religion. It is just in proportion to our intimate acquaintance with the object which has produced it but such is the perversity of human nature, that it is usually most intense when it results from considering phenomena which we do not thoroughly understand, or cannot satisfactorily explain. As a passion, it consists therefore for the most part in an unexplained new sensation, and diminishes in proportion as we become familiar with its impression, and as time and circumstance shall have thrown the light of knowledge over causes and effects which were before concealed, by that veil of undefined form, and uncertain influence, which gave to the one a degree of power, and to the other a measure of grandeur and magnitude, which neither the former nor the latter intrinsically deserved. So frequently have we been led to admire from association the remains of departed grandeur, though now fast mouldering into a heap of undistinguished ruin, and intrinsically possessing no