The Yale Literary Magazine Volume 15, No. 3 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1849 edition. Excerpt: ... th, Conirontr in an 2lmmcan lavtst. " The web of our life is a mingled yarn." All' Well that Ends Well. " And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought, With many recognitions dim and faint, And somewhat of sad perplexity, The picture of the mind revives again." Wordsworth, CHAPTER I. Could we, by some special favor of Providence, be granted the happy privilege of reading the " unwritten history" of the human race, it is our opinion, the philosopher would be presented with far more truthfully representations of humanity for his speculations, and the seeker of pleasure find " facts are stranger than fiction." When we behold the fabrics of men leveled by the tempest, or piled in ruin by the earthquake, we look upon these works with solemn interest, and are moved with profound admiration; but we inquire with deeper interest, why and where, in the usual quiet of nature, stirred the first breath, by what secret influence did it swell to such tremendous power. When we witness the splendid effects of complex machinery, or trace along the thread of history the workings of great political events, observing how they have changed the face of the world, tearing down and setting up, reforming and improving nations, we eagerly turn from these striking exhibitions of power, to learn the simplest form of the one, and the peculiar circumstances which gave rise to the other. We are more struck by the novelty of the fact, that the careless hour of an idle soldier employed in cutting the initials of his name on a slip of green bark, which then thoughtlessly dropped, had, whilst he slept, stamped his name on a leaf; the accidental falling of an apple from the tree, the oscillation of the lamp in a church; discovered the printingpress, the...