the localities and subjects of the latter half have been chosen
with the purpose of writing appropriate chapters illustrating the progress
of civilization and of refinement in the northern part of this continent.
The foregoing brief remark applies only to their publication; for their
_origin_ dates back to the halcyon days of early life, when I had but just
passed my teens; when boyish enthusiasm lends a charm to every dream that
finds a home in the fancy or the heart. Then it was that the latent wish
was formed of being able, at some future day, to paint the History of the
Day; and to carry out this impulsive feeling, I have been brought into
sweet communion with divine Nature; and oh! how bounteously has she repaid
my studious contemplation with infinite delight! It is not for me to speak
of the results. There they are; and every lover of the country may judge
of the degree of success I have achieved. I am not so certain that I have
equal ability in the use of the pen. The chapters of the first number will
speak for themselves; but I must not omit to acknowledge the many
obligations I am under to WASHINGTON IRVING, for the friendly revision of
my ms. He has given many an elegant turn to a prose sentence, and clothed
rude images with graceful drapery. But to resume.

Since then it follows that a small picture, being viewed at its proper
focal distance, reflects the same sized image as a larger one at _its_
proper focal distance, I can see no good reason why the physical attribute
of _largeness_ should be so eagerly sought for by the public. Surely a
gallery of small pictures, provided they be not painfully small, should be
preferred to one filled with large ones. We see the principle I am
contending for carried out in libraries. The ordinary sized volumes are
preferred, for most purposes, to the cumbrous tomes of large folio
editions. It is true, a large book will produce in the minds of many
persons greater respect than a miniature copy of the same work; but the
ideas contained in the one are no better or more impressive than the same
contained in that of the other; save the feeling with which the larger one
inspires the votary who looks no farther than the outside of the page. The
series of forty landscapes alluded to in the above digression, if viewed
at the focal distance of eighteen inches, will appear as large as those
twice the size, viewed at their proportionate increased distance. An
elaborately finished picture