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could have very little weight in convincing the mind of a sceptic. In such cases our own senses must be the only real criterions of the truth or falsehood of a system, which is to be universal in its application. But notwithstanding this, the volume would have ben infinitely more amusing, had a greater number of facts been brought forward in every case, as supports of the princi ples aid down. and though the evidence itself might have been liable to strong objections, yet it would in no small degree have engaged the attention and removed the prejudices of those, who are not in the habit of examining much for themselves.

It would be desirable to know whether Dr. Spurzheim had consulted his associate Dr. Gall, upon the propriety of com miting his work to the press. It must be presumed, not, from the liberty which the former assumes of controverting the positions of the latter, and the wide dissent of opinion that visibly exists between the two, upon many of the most important parts of their doctrine. Indeed, so often and so materially are they at variance, that the disciple of the one is no more a dis ciple of the other, than if he were a perfect infidel. With which of the two then are we to coincide, that we may obtain the praise of an orthodox belief, and avoid the imputation of he esy? Great are the difficulties which raise themselves as ob stacies to a just decision. Drs. Gall and Spurzheim having dedicated their lives to the theory they profess, have collected ob servations numerous beyond the possibility of quotation, and i no one," say they "can have personal or individual conviction before he has made the same observations." It follows, therefore, that a fair estimate cannot be made of their doctrines, unless all mankind shall consent for a time to forego their or-. dinary pursuits and betake themselves to the study of cranology.

his

Such then is the state of the question. A priori, we conceive, that no valid objection can be raised against the system, as tending in the smallest degree either to materialism or to infidelity. Experience and observation alone can furnish those facts upon which its truth must depend. Of these facts Dr. Spurzheim has given us but a meagre catalogue. Had he indeed enlarged their ostensible number, we must still have taken them upon word, which would not have satisfied our mind in a much higher degree, as the word of no individual is sufficient to verify so extraordinary a theory as the present. Every man must, for the present at least, trust to his own observation, as the criterion of its truth or falsehood; and that observation in the case before us is attended with no ordinary difficulties. The touch and the sight of but very few are sufficiently accurate to enable them to form any, but a very general, judgment respecting the exist

encé

ence of the organs in question, or to distinguish any, except a very extraordinary, developement. Much controversy still remains behind, should the science of cranology be advanced in its progress, as to the position of the organs themselves. There is much, in short, to amuse the fancy and to captivate the imag nation in the study, but we fear that after the first burst of no. velty much also will be found to be intricate and obscure. We are not very sanguine in our expectations of the future advances which will be made in this science; experience, indeed, and observation, if conducted with judgment and recorded with caution, may do much; but much remains to be done. For the present we shall take our leave of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, with all due respect for the ingenuity, the novelty, and the re search displayed throughout their system, and shall conclude with expressing our opinion of the whole science in the words of a celebrated Cambridge mathematician, who, after having at an advanced period of life read Milton throughout for the first time, drily observed " that there was nothing proved from beginning to end."

ART. III. An Historical Account of the Episcopal See and Cathedral Church of Salisbury, illustrated with Engravings. By William Doasworth. 41. 4s. pp. 240. Brodie and Dowding, Salisbury; Cadell and Davies, London.

THE relics of antiquity in many instances contribute to illustrate both the moral and the religious history of mankind. The works of art which survive the lapse of centuries, and those mas sive structures, the monuments of the pride or piety of the ruder ages, which length of time has assailed without effect, distinctly inform us that nations have attained to greatness whose fame and fortune are no longer remenibered, and whose names are scarcely known. Their stately edifices and their solemn temples remain to make us acquainted with their habits and their nobler qualities: they remain to gratify the taste, to check the presumption, and perhaps to stimulate the virtue of a better instructed generation.

The study of antiquities and particularly of antient architecture, is directed to its most useful object when applied in aid of history, when it marks the course and the decline of civilization in the nations which have relapsed into barbarism, and discloses the condition and character of mankind before letters

were

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were invented. In that noble pursuit, while taste and science are established, history is verified, and the facts which revelation and the narrative of the inspired writers alone record, are sometimes made clear and demonstrated. This study more than any other, has proved the remarkable coincidence which subsists be tween the antient idolatry and the primeval religion of the world, and affords no mean presumption that in the greatest corruptions of faith, the original truth disclosed to our first parents though obscured by innumerable vanities and inventions, has never been entirerely obliterated. The stupendous walls of Babylon, the pyramids of Egypt, the lengthened aqueducts which directed the waters of the Nile to fertilize so many provinces, the spacious temples and the prodigious caverns raised and excavated at very remote periods for religious purposes, and the other vast relics of antitiquity, contain strong confirmations of history both sacred and profane. They remain not only as the examples of art either in its rudeness or in its perfection, but are calculated to excite our moral sympathies, and to call forth pious reflections. That heart which in the contemplation of those melancholy monuments, is not impressed with the fragility of all human purposes, and with reverential awe towards the patriarchal nations which once flourished and exist no more, is unqualified for the most enviable attainments of the scholar or the philosopher; "that man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona."

The study of the Gothic architecture takes no weaker hold upon the mind, for it connects itself with the progress of the subsisting nations of Europe, from the simplicity of savage life to their present high civilization; from the worship of unknown deities, whose obscure orgies they celebrated in the recesses of a wood," et cui certis diebus, humanis quoque hostiis liture fas habent," to the establishment of an ennobling and perfect faith, without sacrifices, in the proud structures which we dedicate to christianity. It will trace the progress of that elaborate art which shines conspicuously in those temples, even from the shapeless masses of Stonehenge, and the uncouth structures which were raised when the power of architecture was not perceived.

With much satisfaction we observe, that while orfe class of scientific men are labouring to exalt both themselves and the present generation which they aspire to rule, above all that ancient usage and long prejudice have considered as venerable, there are a greater number, who directed by purer principles, search after taste and wisdom in that which is sanctified by antiquity. The connection between taste and morality is more

intimate

intimate than might be imagined by the hasty observer. Those who deduce their principles from no established rules, who reject authority in the arbitration of human affairs, and make their own untaught assumptions paramount to prescription and experience, are those who deride the institutions of their forefathers, and violate the sanctuaries of ancient days. The schis matical reformers of two centuries ago, and the philosophers of the present day, are those who ravaged and still continue to ravage the consecrated places. But we hold it impossible that any one

"Should love the high embowed roof,
With antic pillars massy proof,
And storied windows richly dight,

Casting a dim religious light.'

and that such an one should not cherish the principles which the solemn edifice was intended to perpetuate.

The study of Grecian and Italian architecture after the revival of letters, succeeded to that style which we now denominate the Gothic. That architecture was brought to its perfection in the pagan temples, the ruins of which remain the most beautiful models of classical propriety. Perfect in proportion and ornamented with graceful chastity of decoration, they are calculated to delight the eye of taste, but not to inspire the mind with religious awe. Like the religion to which they were adapted, they never touch the heart. To delight the eye rather than to call the moral feelings into action was the object of that architecture, and being brought to its perfection by a people the most ingenious and the most refined of all civilized nations, it excites no wonder that the merit of after ages in that line consists in successful imitation of their examples, in a faithful observance of the rules which are established by their authority, and in proscribing every species of innovation.

As the character and object of the pagan nations and of those less civilized in which Christianity first flourished were respectively very different, there is no resemblance between the temples of Greece and Rome, and the piles which were reared by the northern nations for Christian worship. The Christian Churches of the darker ages were massive and unadorned. Beauty and disposition of the parts were at first entirely neglected. The builders sought for no decorations; in their ignorance of the mechanical powers, they adopted extravagant disproportions, and were chiefly anxious about the solidity of the walls and the rude magnificence of their great design, suitable to the solemnity of the services to which it was applicable. Improvement

was

was at length imagined, and though very slow it was yet pro gressive. The pointed arch gave facility to its course. This was probably an ingenious contrivance to preserve an equality in the height with semicircular arches of a wider span. It was at first used very rarely and only where that necessity appeared, and principally in the vaulted ceilings; whether invented in Italy, in France, or in England, the place and time of its invention are obscure; but its superior strength and beauty gradually led to its general adoption. The construction of three stories which appear in all our cathedrals, and the fasciculated columns seem to have been introduced immediately after the crusades, and to have been borrowed from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Gradually the heavy Saxon style, the circular arches, and the massive columns were wholly disused; a lighter and more delicate manner succeeded which is the pure and unmixed Gothic.

Whatever changes were introduced in the Gothic style of architecture, the original principle of its first founders was never abandoned. In magnitude most of the temples of Greece and Rome bear no comparison with our cathedrals. The temple of Diana at Ephesus, reputed among the wonders of the world, was less in its dimensions than most of them. The tripled stories rising over each other, the succession of pillars apparently in numerable, the narrow pointed windows casting imperfect light, the deep shadows of the columns, and the bold perspective of the roof proceeding and terminating in arches of great magni, ficence, devote the mind to contemplation, exalt it above the vulgar and the mean, and naturally exclude those impure ima ginations which were allied to the pagan ceremonies.

The ornaments and mouldings so finely wrought which dis tinguish the last æra of the Gothic style, the statuary which filled the niches and the inimitable tints which were introduced into the windows of every part, producing great bodies of discoloured light, were the embellishments of a judicious and scientific age, which brought the art to its perfection without renouncing any of its principles: it is remarkable, that such perfection was no sooner attained, than the style itself was abandoned. The reformation was not conducive to the improvement or the exer cise of taste. When the fopperies of popery were rejected, the grandeur of its worship and the majesty with which it invested the character of religion, fell into undue disrepute. The lengthened aisles were no longer wanted in the less pompous services; simplicity was sought for by the reformers, and it often degenerated into coarseness. The most zealous of them regarded the churches as the temples of the superstition which they had re

nounced

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