mask of Tasso, taken from nature, and that, although part of the organ of poetry be cut off, nevertheless the lateral breadth of the cranium in this direction is enormous." The bust of HOMER presents an extraordinary development at this part of the head. It is doubted whether it be authentic; but, be it real or ideal, the existence of the prominence is remarkable. If it be ideal, why was the artist led to give this particular form, which is the only one in accordance with nature? If he modelled the head of the most distinguished poet of his day, as the best representative of HOMER, the existence of this development is still a fact in favour of the organ.

We owe to Dr SPURZHEIM the correct analysis of this faculty, and the very elegant and appropriate name by which it is designated. "It is impossible," says he, “that poetry in general should be confined to one single organ; and I therefore think that the name Organ of Poetry, (used by Dr GALL), does not indicate the essential faculty."—" In every kind of poetry, the sentiments are exalted, the expressions warm; and there must be rapture, inspiration, what is commonly called Imagination or Fancy."

This faculty produces the desire for exquisiteness, or perfection, and is delighted with what the French call "Le beau idéal." It is this faculty which gives inspiration to the poet. The knowing and reflecting faculties perceive qualities as they exist in nature; but this faculty desires, for its gratification, something more exquisitely perfect than the scenes of reality. It desires to elevate and to endow with a splendid excellence every object presented to the mind. It stimulates the faculties which form ideas to create scenes, in which every object is invested with the qualities which it delights to contemplate, rather than with the degree of excellence which nature usually bestows. It is this faculty which inspires with exaggeration and enthusiasm, which prompts to embellishment and splendid conceptions. It gives a manner of feeling and of thinking, befitting the regions of fancy, rather than the abodes of men. Hence

those only on whom it is powerfully bestowed can possibly be poets, and hence the proverb, "Poëta nascitur, non fit."

Those who experience a difficulty in conceiving what the faculty is, may compare the character of BLOUNT with that of RALEIGH in Kenilworth: "But what manner of animal art thou thyself, RALEIGH," said TREssilian, "that thou holdest us all so lightly?"—" Who I?" replied RALEIGH, "An eagle am I, that never will think of dull earth, while there is a heaven to soar in, and a sun to gaze upon;"-Or they may compare the poetry of SWIFT with that of MILTON; the metaphysical writings of Dr REID with those of Dr THOMAS BROWN; the poetry of CRABBE with that of BYRON; or Dean SWIFT's prose with that of Dr CHALMERS.

It was this faculty, "by whose aid" SHAKSPEARE imagined the characters of Ariel and Prospero. Prospero's concluding speech in the Tempest, is a beautiful specimen of the style of writing which it produces.

"I have bedimmed

The noon-tide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault
Set roaring war; to the dread rattling thunder
Have I giv'n fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong bas'd promontory
Have I made shake, and by the spurs pluckt up
The pine and cedar; graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers; open'd and let them forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure; and when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses, that
This airy charm is for; I'll break my staff;
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth;

And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book."

Individuals differ exceedingly in regard to the endowment of this faculty which they possess. According to the energy and activity of it, poetry is prized or relished. I have met individuals who declared that they could perceive

no excellence in poetical compositions, and could derive no gratification from them; and yet such individuals were endowed with every degree of understanding and penetration, according as they possessed the other faculties strongly or weakly, and were not uniformly deficient, either in moral sentiments or judgment, in proportion to their want of poetic fire.

This faculty gives a peculiar tinge to all the other faculties. It makes them, in every thing, aspire to Ideality. A cast of the human head is a plain transcript of nature; a bust is nature, elevated and adorned by the ideality of a CHANTRY, a JOSEPH, or a MACDONALD. Add a large development of this organ to the other propensities, sentiments and reflecting powers, and it expands the field of their interest; carries them outwards, and forwards, and upwards: and causes them to delight in schemes of improvement. In common life, we easily distinguish those who have, from those who have not, a considerable endowment of it. The former speak, in general, in an elevated strain of language, and, when animated, show a splendour of eloquence and of poetical feeling, which the latter are never able to command. It gives to conversation a fascinating sprightliness and buoyancy, the very opposite of the qualities expressed by the epithets, dryness and dulness.

Some sects in religion, and, among others, that most respectable body The Society of Friends, declaim against ornament in dress, furniture, and other modes of life; they renounce these as vanity, while they hold up the solid and the useful as alone worthy of rational and immortal beings. Now, this is the natural feeling of persons in whom Benevolence, Conscientiousness, and Veneration are large, and Ideality very deficient,—and I have no doubt that the original propounders of these notions possessed this combination; but this is not the language of universal human nature, nor of physical nature either. Where Ideality exists to a considerable extent, there is an innate desire for the beautiful, and an instinctive love and admiration of it; and

so far from the arrangements of the Creator in the material world being in opposition to it, he has scattered, in the most profuse abundance, objects calculated, in the highest degree, to excite and gratify the feeling. What are the flowers that deck the fields, combining perfect elegance of form with the most exquisite loveliness, delicacy, and harmony of tint, but objects addressed purely to Ideality, and the subordinate faculties of Colouring and Form? They enjoy not their beauty themselves, and afford neither food, raiment, nor protection to the corporeal frame of man: on this account, some persons have been led to view them as merely nature's vanities and shows, possessed neither of dignity nor utility. But the individual in whom Ideality is large, will in rapture say, that they, and the lofty mountain, the deep glen, the roaring cataract, and all the varied loveliness of hill and dale, fountain and fresh shade, afford to him the banquet of the mind; that they pour into his soul a stream of pleasure so intense, and yet so pure and elevated, that, in comparison with it, all the gratifications of Acquisitiveness, and Self-Esteem, and Love of Approbation, in the pursuits of wealth, and power, and consequence, sink into insipidity and insignificance. In short, to the phrenologist, the existence of this faculty in the mind, and of external objects fitted to gratify it, is one, among numberless instances, of the boundless beneficence of the Creator towards man; for it is a faculty purely of enjoyment, one whose sole use is to refine, and exalt, and extend, the range of our other powers, to confer on us higher susceptibilities of improvement, and a keener relish for all that is great and glorious in the universe.

In conformity with this view, the organ is found to be deficient in all barbarous and rude tribes of mankind, and large in the nations who have made the highest advances in civilization. It is small in atrocious criminals; and I have observed, that persons who are born in the lower walks of life, but whose talents and industry have raised them to wealth, are susceptible of refinement in their manners, and

habits, and sentiments, in proportion to the development of this organ, and that of Love of Approbation. When it is small, their primitive condition is apt to stick to them through life; when large, they make rapid advances, and improve by every opportunity of intercourse with their su periors.

This faculty, then, joined with Love of Approbation, and using Constructiveness, Form, Colouring, and other knowing faculties as their instruments, produce all the ornaments of dress and architecture; they lead to the production of poetry, painting, sculpture, the fine and ornamental arts. The Society of Friends, therefore, and the followers of Mr OWEN, who declaim against ornament, ask us to shut up one of the greatest sources of enjoyment bestowed upon us. An elegant vase, a couch, or chair, fashioned in all the delicacy of form and proportion that Ideality, aided by the other powers, can attain, or the human form attired in dress, in which grace, utility, and beauty, are combined, are objects which our faculties feel to be agreeable; the pleasure arising from them is natural, and of so excellent a quality, that it is at once acknowledged and approved of by intellect, and every other faculty of the mind.

In private life, Ideality generally displays itself, as one element in producing correctness of taste. Great love of approbation may give a passion for finery, but we sometimes see intended ornaments turn out deformities, through a want of taste in their selection, and this, I conceive, to arise partly, from a defective endowment of the faculty in question. If, on the other hand, we enter a house in which exquisite taste reigns in every object, in which each particular ornament is made subservient to the general effect, and the impression from the whole is that of a refined and pleasing elegance; we may be almost certain of finding Love of Approbation combined with large Ideality in one or both of the possessors. Indeed, where the degree of wealth is equal in different persons, we might almost guess at the extent of these two faculties, by the different degrees of