[2] NOTE.--The above introductory remarks, together with the paper which they accompanied, were read before the Association as the report of a Committee.--EDITOR. AN ESSAY. THE BEAUTY OF A WELL CULTIVATED HEART. However high and exalted the achievements of mind, and whatever the pleasures and consolations of knowledge, these are small when contrasted with the beauties of a well-cultivated heart. The grand attainments of talent and genius, exhibiting man’s lofty superiority over all animated existence, may attract our admiration and elicit our surprise, but the manifestation of those noble qualities which we ascribe to the heart, alone can make us feel. Mind only appeals to mind: heart alone to heart. “Knowledge is wealth,” was a favorite and perhaps somewhat egotistical saying of the ancient philosophers, and, indeed, without it man would be a most pitiable creature. It is a maxim ascribed to Zoroaster, that “he who lives in ignorance knoweth neither God nor religion,” and Thales, one of the seven wise men of Greece, and founder of the Ionic sect, calls him “who enjoys good health, finds fortune favorable, and has well cultivated his soul with sound learning,” the happy man. Without mental culture, we cannot appreciate the treasures of nature, and unless we have a knowledge of its laws, obtained through a study of the sciences, we cannot realize the comforts with which it is arrayed for the benefit of mankind. Even the merciful government of God is rendered one of terror and fear through ignorance, whilst the intercourse with our fellows so essential to social happiness, is restrained within the most narrow bounds, and we remain little better than barbarians. The Mitylenians esteemed ignorance of the liberal arts a deplorable punishment, and thus, when masters of the sea, they prohibited the revolted allies from teaching their children letters or music, as the most grievous penalty they could possibly inflict.