—­Past and future, are the wings
    On whose support, harmoniously conjoined,
    Moves the great Spirit of human knowledge—­MS.

The voice that issues from this Spirit, is that Vox Populi which the Deity inspires.  Foolish must he be who can mistake for this a local acclamation, or a transitory outcry—­transitory though it be for years, local though from a Nation.  Still more lamentable is his error who can believe that there is any thing of divine infallibility in the clamour of that small though loud portion of the community, ever governed by factitious influence, which, under the name of the PUBLIC, passes itself, upon the unthinking, for the PEOPLE.  Towards the Public, the Writer hopes that he feels as much deference as it is entitled to:  but to the People, philosophically characterised, and to the embodied spirit of their knowledge, so far as it exists and moves, at the present, faithfully supported by its two wings, the past and the future, his devout respect, his reverence, is due.  He offers it willingly and readily; and, this done, takes leave of his Readers, by assuring them—­that, if he were not persuaded that the contents of these Volumes, and the Work to which they are subsidiary, evince something of the ‘Vision and the Faculty divine;’ and that, both in words and things, they will operate in their degree, to extend the domain of sensibility for the delight, the honour, and the benefit of human nature, notwithstanding the many happy hours which he has employed in their composition, and the manifold comforts and enjoyments they have procured to him, he would not, if a wish could do it, save them from immediate destruction;—­from becoming at this moment, to the world, as a thing that had never been.

1815

(d) OF POETRY AS OBSERVATION AND DESCRIPTION.

The powers requisite for the production of poetry are:  first, those of Observation and Description,—­i.e., the ability to observe with accuracy things as they are in themselves, and with fidelity to describe them, unmodified by any passion or feeling existing in the mind of the describer:  whether the things depicted be actually present to the senses, or have a place only in the memory.  This power, though indispensable to a Poet, is one which he employs only in submission to necessity, and never for a continuance of time:  as its exercise supposes all the higher qualities of the mind to be passive, and in a state of subjection to external objects, much in the same way as a translator or engraver ought to be to his original. 2ndly, Sensibility,—­which, the more exquisite it is, the wider will be the range of a poet’s perceptions; and the more will he be incited to observe objects, both as they exist in themselves, and as re-acted upon by his own mind. (The distinction between poetic and human sensibility has been marked in the character of the Poet delineated in the original preface.) 3dly, Reflection,—­which makes the Poet acquainted with the value of actions,