To Dante it is the hour of fond recollection and passionate devotion,--the hour which melts the heart of the mariner and kindles the love of the pilgrim,--the hour when the toll of the bell seems to mourn for another day which is gone and will return no more.
The feeling of the present age has taken a direction diametrically opposite.

The magnificence of the physical world, and its influence upon the human mind, have been the favourite themes of our most eminent poets.

The herd of bluestocking ladies and sonneteering gentlemen seem to consider a strong sensibility to the "splendour of the grass, the glory of the flower," as an ingredient absolutely indispensable in the formation of a poetical mind.

They treat with contempt all writers who are unfortunately nec ponere lucum Artifices, nec rus saturum laudare.
The orthodox poetical creed is more Catholic.

The noblest earthly object of the contemplation of man is man himself.