anth--the honey
of Hybla--the many-leaved nest of the little architect, in which you may
swing through the storms of the finite, into the deep and cloudless blue
of the infinite,--are now before you!

Will you not look up from the fleshless and skeleton perfection of the
problemed forms, which start at your slightest touch from the formal
squares of the chess board,--forms which confuse me with their
complexity, bewilder me in the mazes of their ceaseless combinations,
dazzle me with their chill erudition, and appal me with want of
life,--and smile acceptance on the glowing gifts here lovingly tendered
you?

* * * * *

CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST.

CHAP. I, _Beauty._
CHAP. II, _The Soul of Art._
CHAP. III, _The Infinite._
CHAP. IV, _Unity._
CHAP. V, _Order, Symmetry, and Proportion._
CHAP. VI, _Truth and Love._
CHAP. VII, _The Artist and his Realm--The Ideal._

BEAUTY

'The awful shadow of some unknown Power
Floats, though unseen, among us, visiting
This various world with as inconstant wing
As summer winds that creep from flower to flower.'
SHELLEY.

A philosophical theory of poetry and the fine arts should consider, in
the first place, the fundamental and general laws of Beauty; in the
second place, analyze the faculties necessary for the perception or
creation of the Beautiful; and, in the last place, should strive to
account for the pleasure always experienced in its contemplation. Such
an analysis is necessary, as an introductory study, to the full and
complete comprehension of any specific branch of art.

On the other hand, every specific art has its own special theory,
designed to teach the limits of its means, and the difficulties peculiar
to the medium through which it is to manifest the Beautiful, with the
various rules by which it must be regulated in its realization of the
fundamental laws of Beauty.

A clear, deep, and comprehensive view of the origin and nature of the
Fine Arts, is the work most needed by the readers and thinkers of the
present century. Some noble attempts have indeed been made in this
direction, but, valuable as such essays may be, they do not yet
correspond to the growing, requisitions of the public mind. It is true
such a work would be one of great difficulty, exacting immense stores of
information, and highly cultivated tastes. The writer must possess the
logical power requisite