DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.870#0017
INTRODUCTION.
PURSUITS which tend to exalt the mind and to exercise its functions beyond those operations
that are simply necessary to corporeal existence, have in all ages been cherished by the wise, the
good, and the great.
That the human mind is endowed with faculties for the cultivation of such pursuits, is
abundantly manifest; the various degrees of excellence attained at different periods have, of course,
been dependant on coeval circumstances, propitious or adverse according to the elevated or debased
condition of society. Such endowments afford a strong presage of the immortality of the soul, and
by conducting our researches beyond the precincts of the material world, they render this life as
estimable as the imperfection of our nature will admit.
Amongst those attainments which contribute to the purer blandishments of life, the imitative
art of design may justly claim precedence; for it leads to the contemplation of the sublime and
beautiful tablet of nature, and opens to our comprehension those sources of innocent delight, which a
state of mere animal existence would never supply. Hence may truly be said of art, what Cicero
\
PURSUITS which tend to exalt the mind and to exercise its functions beyond those operations
that are simply necessary to corporeal existence, have in all ages been cherished by the wise, the
good, and the great.
That the human mind is endowed with faculties for the cultivation of such pursuits, is
abundantly manifest; the various degrees of excellence attained at different periods have, of course,
been dependant on coeval circumstances, propitious or adverse according to the elevated or debased
condition of society. Such endowments afford a strong presage of the immortality of the soul, and
by conducting our researches beyond the precincts of the material world, they render this life as
estimable as the imperfection of our nature will admit.
Amongst those attainments which contribute to the purer blandishments of life, the imitative
art of design may justly claim precedence; for it leads to the contemplation of the sublime and
beautiful tablet of nature, and opens to our comprehension those sources of innocent delight, which a
state of mere animal existence would never supply. Hence may truly be said of art, what Cicero
\