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are incapacitated from offering an opinion ; so we borrow one from those best competent to speak ,- arid that is eminently favourable . Readers of Logic , therefore , will do well to possess themselves of the Outlines . We cannot advise any reader to do the same for Dr . Macvicar ' s Enquiry into Human Nature . It has doubtless cost the writer year 3 of pleasant patient labour ; and the- ideas in it are probably ideas fairly worked out in his own meditations ; but the reader slightly versed in such speculations will recognise them all as " old familiar faces "—most of them old familiar errors . He endeavours to rescue Psychology from its threatened absorption into Physiology ; but before he could hope to succeed in the attempt , he must learn more of Physiology than he has at
present mastered . He is of the old school of Metaphysicians , riots among Entities , and never questions the transcendental capacity of reason ; he believes in Will as a distinct Entity , and also in Inertia ! Why not in Strength , Digestion , Locomotion , &c , as separate entities ? As may be anticipated , he is very emphatic on Free Will ; and the ^ ' following passage will serve to characterize bis opinions and method : — - " But there is something' peculiar in the character of the power which we have now to consider . ^ It is not merely dynamical power j it is self-directive power , —• that is to say , power such , that in order to its existence , it is an indispensible condition that the action which is its product shall express itself in thought before it consummates itself outwardly . And here let us remark that , as this condition is
absolute , so has it been absolutely secured . The movement of thought has been made to exist in such , relation to mechanical movement , that the velocity of its genesis is always greater j and it is therefore , from its very nature , always the forerunner of outward action . Thus , let the soul , in virtue of its self-directive power , determine itself at arty moment svmply in its own right as a cause , (!) and in its own indivisible unity , this act of determination is no sooner accomplished than it expresses itself in two ways—viz ., that which looks to thought and gives it , and that which looks to action and gives it ; and these two are so related to each other , that no sooner does the spiritual change take place in the bosom of the soul which constitutes the action in its origin , but forthwith thought effloresces out of it ; the
outward action or event necessarily lags behind—nay , normally remains in . abeyance , until the train of thought shall have fully developed itself , ' and completed its course with respect to the action . This done , thought then closes itself by a peculiar act named a volition . And on the occurrence of this act of volition , or after this , though not till then ( for a volition is its indispensible condition ) , the action at last realizes itself outwardly ; the entire production of the action is consummated . Such is the account of the normal development and accomplishment of action in human nature . Its characteristic is the interposition , between the
first internal movement to act and the fulfilment of the act in the outward-event , of a train of thought ; and this , when fnlly developed , consists in a panorama of many possible actions relative to the occasion , among which the soul haa to choose for itself , and to express that choice by passing a volition in favour of some one action . Sometimes , indeed , in man when under Intense emotion ( and usually in the inferior animals ) , the outward action comes fast and spontaneously , and therefore fatally in sequence of the emotion without the interposition of thought or reflection , and without the necessity of a volition ; but this is abnormal , in man at
least , and need not now be considered . " This train of thought , which may be short or long , clear and distinct , or obscure and confused , articulate or consisting in mere feelings , is usually named the motive of the action . Unhappily there is not in ordinary discourse a due discrimination between it and that act of volition consequent , in which the train of thought closes itself , and which is very distinct from all that has gone before . But since without this volition the action is impossible , the volition , not the original movement , it might be maintained in strict propriety , is emphatically entitled to the namedand
name of the motive of the action . The impulse , however , often is so , hence great confusion , and infinite difference and discussion , all of which might have been prevented by a preliminary analysis , and an agreement about terms . Towards this end , then , it may be remarked that , as expressive of the fact that a volition haa been passed , we have in the vernacular the term ' intention / or purpose and wo have also the term < inducement / Now , the latter would serve very well instead of « motive / as expressive of the thought , impulse , or feeling , m relation to the action before the volition has been passed ; and in this way , without coining any words , which it is next to impracticable to bring into a Bpontaneous J ^ , « , « i , « ft of the ambiguous term ' motive' might be avoidedaltogether .
We will not follow the reasoning by which man is proved to be a free agent , because he acts according to the impulse of motives the reasoning boincr old and unworthy of refutation . There seems small hope of reconcilinf tieNecessarians and their antagonists : the two combatants cannot lio brouffht on to the same spot . . , Consider however , the capital distinction between Inorganic and Organic matter , and it may help to an appreciation ^ the real grounds Organic muL ^ i , tt r r t The orgamc la repro-^ mmmt ^ m ^ Mmmm transferal * tlicrrt anew Thu * wo Jo <* ^ force t direc tly Si"SXbut operating on and transforming the material
transmitted from ^ hout . enlightened necessarian will But in saying th « ™> " ?* roooncinng the verdict of consciousness , a ^ ur asain ^^^ Wl -1 « Tv « " causaTion fe \ ib rigorous in tho mental as m tfco material Motion , making an Entity oiMouon ' " ,. ; . imp ,, iBO _ tho reflex carter . Will to . -on *« « - / - " l " ^ Ta , ing ft . Will is ^ % * & 1 $ S * ™*» * " « '~** f ¦ <* ™ ° ^ '"» » -
variety of motives which any one stimulus may excite within us . Metaphysicians will be aghast at our thus sweeping away their favourite Entity , and abolishing the Will altogether ; but their forefathers would have been equally aghast at any denial of Motion as an independent Entity . And as Dr . Macviear builds his Inquiry into Human Nature on the basis of Free Will , he will accept with serene superiority our ; indifference to his system . ¦ , 1- ' .- ' , ,. . i Trj ' ¦ Mr .-J / T ) . Morell' commenced bis philosophical career Witha History
of Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century , which rapidly reached a second edition—and was materially improved in its second form , so as to become another book . He then published Four Lectures on the Philosophic Tendencies of the Age , the " people ' s edition" of which is before us , and the Philosophy of Religion . He is still a young man , and now sketches the outlines ofa system of psychology with a vigour of thought and copiousness of erudition which would mate the reputation of a professor . In our next we will give some account of this work . ^^ ^
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourage itself . —Goethe .
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OMITTED PASSAGES FROM A BOY'S EPIC III . Love and the Faun . Here Eros ended , and the Faun replied : — ( t O child of Aphrodite ! listen thou , For even Gods may learn of dying Fauns , One summer eve , before the silver age , Silenus , sitting among purple grapes , Sung to the listening Fauns that held his cup ; I heard , and I remember what he sung : •—« The years shall come , ' he said , « , happy years !
When from ' an isle in the Ionian seas The Gods shall bear to their refulgent homes The loveliest woman ever eyes beheld , And he whose aweful life is in the world , Whose voice comes whispering softly to my song , He whom we serve shall weave a starry braid For her white brows , and crown her heart with love So spake the Faun , and Eros made reply , While joy ran brightening over look and limb , Until Divinity seemed more divine : —
" No lovelier tale , O Faun , the sirens sing To ships that thro' dissolving moonbeams sail On southern seas ; but such high oracle Behoves me bear to where , beyond the sun , Dwells my great Mother : for no might hath love Where beauty is not : and of all the Gods 'Tis only the queen Aphrodite gives What makes life fairest . Therefore I depart . " The Faun replied;— " Time , in his silent lapse , That mellows all the harvests of the world ,
Will heap our year with fruit , and we shall know How ancient prophecies are best fulfilled , When trumpets sound from golden battlements . But now farewell , and to thy mother ' s halls Sail with the pilot winds , while I repair To the green pastoral kingdom of my liege , For ere the sun go down he summons us , Fauns , Satyrs , and Sileni , to his court ,
Where , to the sound of horns and castanets , And pipes that bubble o ' er with liquid noise , The dance shall circle till the first pale star . " This said , the Faun , dishevelled with delight , Flew headlong from the spot , and , as he flew , Laught till the forest echoes answered him , And the quaint children of the wooda were roused , And showed their furry ears thro' loopholes green . Him Eros watched awhile receding fast From , dell and dale , but soon the God arose ,
And balancing , as in an even scale , The gold and purple oarage of his plumes , One moment looked around ; the next , rode fast On the smooth stream of the ascending wind . And like a star that glides across the nig ht , Flew fading down the west , and disappeared .
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DON GIOYASTM Mozaht ' s ever-popular , over-charmingopera was played fbri ^ hajBr ^ t time thia season on Thursday . I could only see Olie act , aat that , one aofc . ytptwi sufficient to show me how incompetent Bellotti ia tp , sustaintfoa paaffc odS Don Giovanni , if the purl ; is to bo acted . He sang the music correctly ; and with a lightness for which 1 did not givo him credit ; but bis singing , liko hia acting , wanted brio . It had none of the avrtvainqueura with whi ^ k tW eharming reprobate , bowifaJW t ^ f < wn ^ ftQajft ; i ^ lj ^ ifcQ carafew
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July 16 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 69 S ^— ' ^^^^^ fc ^^^^^^^ - j , ^^^^^^^¦^^^"" J *^^^^^^^^^^^ - — ¦ — ^^^ . ^^^^^^^^—^ M ^^ W ^ MMMMI ^^^^^^^^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 16, 1853, page 693, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1995/page/21/
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