though he often went to the banks of the river to listen! It appears, indeed, to have been as shy in its nature as the famous sea serpent of our own times, and may even have been the same animal! In his terrestrial menagerie, Pliny equals the wonders of the sea and air, introducing us, without scruple, to dragons,78 flying serpents," basilisks, 80 and animals that kill, more fatally than any lady, with a glance of their eye.1 His nereid and triton correspond with the mermaid and merman of modern fables, and were a sort of amphibious animals, combining the human form with that of a fish. He gives a circumstantial account of their habits and characteristics, 82 remarking that 'the figure ascribed to them is not fictitious, having been established by testimony above dispute;' and, among other proofs, he instances the skeleton of the monster to which Andromeda was chained, and which he affirms was brought from Joppa by Æmilius and Scaurus, and publicly exhibited at Rome.83 Such was the character of the acquisitions which the human mind attained, in a wide range of science and knowledge. We behold 78 Lib. viii. 14. 81 Lib. viii. 32. 79 Lib. viii. 35. 80 Lib. viii. 33. 83 Ibid. it from the first groping up the rugged ascent of Parnassus, bewildered and benighted. Its way is crossed by torrents of delusive opinions, intersected by chasms, and impeded by ravines and precipices. Too frequently the step falters, and the foot slips. But onward, through the rushing flood, and over rocks and quagmires, over heights and depths, it steadily pursues its march, never daunted, though often misled, and, like Longfellow's pilgrim, still always crying Excelsior! The great barrier to intellectual progress was the promulgation, in very remote times, of certain fundamental errors, which, coming to be regarded as incontrovertible truths, were accepted as articles of religion. Hence they became consecrated and canonized: it was impiety to doubt, and sacrilege to dispute them. Any absurdity might be enunciated, so long as the primary delusions were untouched; but these, as the seeds of religious faith, must be kernelled in every hypothesis. To turn the sun into a stone was allowable; but to give motion to the earth, was to shake, not only the foundations of society, but the thrones of the gods. Manifestly, therefore, priestly ascendancy operated prejudicially on the human mind. But we must be careful to fix a limit to this conclusion, which is not unaffected by qualifications. If the priests constituted themselves the keepers, we cannot forget that they were also the founders of knowledge, and, while they habitually opposed its diffusion, they were the most active dispensers of its benefits. Antiquity was indebted to priests for its palaces and temples, its great discoveries in science, its astronomical observations, and its authentic history. For many ages they had been surrounded by a wall of mysticism and prejudice, by which they were separated from their species; but, like the once famous wall of China, this barrier was great rather in name than fact, and by no means invulnerable. As time wore on, and classes and nations were brought nearer by commerce, and by mutual requirements, they began to awake to the tendencies of society; and the day approached when priestly jealousy was to be dispelled by the generous promptings of nature. Greece, foremost in the van of civilization, sent her sons on missions of inquiry and observation; and Egypt unlocked her treasures to the accomplished strangers. But, before we proceed farther, it is necessary to contemplate the night side of science; to see the human mind in its fetters, as the slave of superstition, credulity, and imposture, and enveloped by darkness which, from some points of view, was not more impenetrable to the gaze of antiquity, than it is to the eye of modern inquiry. III. THE BLACK ART. THE human mind is ever craving for the unknown. This, in fact, is the great law of its faculties, prompting it to those studies and researches, which, in the course of time, have led to such wonderful results. But we are attracted to the mystic, as well as the practical; and a perverse disposition usually takes the former direction, seeing a strange fascination in forbidden lore. The Father of Evil soon discovered this common infirmity of man; and when he promised our first parents that their eyes should be opened, and that they should know both good and evil, his object was already gained. The wide domain of lawful knowledge does not content us. The discoveries of science, the achievements of art, and the miracles they equally accomplish, are deemed poor and impotent by the side of results, which seem to transcend the ordinary operations of nature. But it is the future, the hidden, the unseen-it is the time |