Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/10

x in his power to make the sun, the stars, and all surrounding creation sparkle upon his view with renovated lustre and beauty. Not satisfied with this, he goes on to compare his situation with the situation of those who had ever beheld the sun in all his majesty and effulgence. To him he had been in all his glories, a stranger; he had never been familiarly acquainted with so glorious a personage.

"On the other hand, those who had always revelled in the magnificence of nature, had become satiated with its glory. Creation to them could unfold .no new beauty; a glance of the eye satisfied them, and it was a glory that palled upon the sense. To him all this was a territory unseen, and it seemed as if Nature had veiled her radiance from his view, to the end that he might, when he pleased, indulge himself in the enjoyment of her bounties. He was able to discern light enough to guide his footsteps, and to answer all the purposes of social intercourse; all beyond this was novelty, was exquisite enjoyment. To those who were surrounded with more expanse of vision, all these blessings were denied. He, therefore, felicitated himself on the thought that he had not the optics of ordinary men."

About the year 1797, Brown made his first attempt in the composition of fiction. He commenced his task without any definite conception of design; but his imagination warmed, and his facility of writing increased as he went on: and, thus encouraged, he brought his work, according to his own account, to completion. What were the name and subject of this romance does not appear; and indeed Mr. Dunlap,