Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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ARGUMENT

State of feeling produced by the foregoing Narrative–A belief in a superintending Providence the only adequate support under affliction–Wanderer’s ejaculation–Acknowledges the difficulty of a lively faith–Hence immoderate sorrow–Exhortations–How received–Wanderer applies his discourse to that other cause of dejection in the Solitary’s mind–Disappointment from the French Revolution–States grounds of hope, and insists on the necessity of patience and fortitude with respect to the course of great revolutions–Knowledge the source of tranquillity–Rural Solitude favourable to knowledge of the inferior Creatures; Study of their habits and ways recommended; exhortation to bodily exertion and communion with Nature–Morbid Solitude pitiable–Superstition better than apathy–Apathy and destitution unknown in the infancy of society–The various modes of Religion prevented it– Illustrated in the Jewish, Persian, Babylonian, Chaldean, and Grecian modes of belief–Solitary interposes–Wanderer points out the influence of religious and imaginative feeling in the humble ranks of society, illustrated from present and past times–These principles tend to recall exploded superstitions and popery– Wanderer rebuts this charge, and contrasts the dignities of the Imagination with the presumptuous littleness of certain modern Philosophers–Recommends other lights and guides–Asserts the power of the soul to regenerate herself; Solitary asks how– Reply–Personal appeal–Exhortation to activity of body renewed– How to commune with Nature–Wanderer concludes with a legitimate union of the imagination, affections, understanding, and reason– Effect of his discourse–Evening; Return to the Cottage.