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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31045-8.txt b/31045-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3b2ce4 --- /dev/null +++ b/31045-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3809 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Frondes Agrestes, by John Ruskin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Frondes Agrestes + Readings in 'Modern Painters' + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: January 22, 2010 [EBook #31045] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONDES AGRESTES *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Chandra Friend and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + FRONDES AGRESTES. + + READINGS IN 'MODERN PAINTERS.' + + CHOSEN AT HER PLEASURE, + BY THE AUTHOR'S FRIEND, + THE YOUNGER LADY OF THE THWAITE, + CONISTON. + + 'Spargit agrestes tibi silva frondes.' + + Thirty-Eighth Thousand. + + London: George Allen, 156, Charing Cross Road. 1902. + + Printed By Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. + At the Ballantyne Press + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I have been often asked to republish the first book of mine which the +public noticed, and which, hitherto, remains their favourite, in a +more easily attainable form than that of its existing editions. I am, +however, resolved never to republish the book as a whole; some parts +of it being, by the established fame of Turner, rendered unnecessary; +and others having been always useless, in their praise of excellence +which the public will never give the labour necessary to discern. But, +finding lately that one of my dearest friends, who, in advanced age, +retains the cheerfulness and easily delighted temper of bright youth, +had written out, for her own pleasure, a large number of passages from +'Modern Painters,' it seemed to me certain that what such a person +felt to be useful to herself, could not but be useful also to a class +of readers whom I much desired to please, and who would sometimes +enjoy, in my early writings, what I never should myself have offered +them. I asked my friend, therefore, to add to her own already chosen +series, any other passages she thought likely to be of permanent +interest to general readers; and I have printed her selections in +absolute submission to her judgment, merely arranging the pieces she +sent me in the order which seemed most convenient for the reciprocal +bearing of their fragmentary meanings, and adding here and there an +explanatory note; or, it may be, a deprecatory one, in cases where my +mind had changed. That she did me the grace to write every word with +her own hands, adds, in my eyes, and will, I trust, in the readers' +also, to the possible claims of the little book on their sympathy; and +although I hope to publish some of the scientific and technical +portions of the original volumes in my own large editions, the +selections here made by my friend under her quiet woods at +Coniston--the Unter-Walden of England--will, I doubt not, bring within +better reach of many readers, for whom I am not now able myself to +judge or choose, such service as the book was ever capable of +rendering, in the illustration of the powers of nature, and +intercession for her now too often despised and broken peace. + +Herne Hill, + + 5th December, 1874. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + PAGE + PREFACE V + + SECTION I. PRINCIPLES OF ART 1 + + II. POWER AND OFFICE OF IMAGINATION 10 + + III. ILLUSTRATIVE: THE SKY 35 + + IV. " STREAMS AND SEA 64 + + V. " MOUNTAINS 74 + + VI. " STONES 107 + + VII. " PLANTS AND FLOWERS 115 + + VIII. EDUCATION 140 + + IX. MORALITIES 151 + + + + +FRONDES AGRESTES. + + + + +SECTION I. + +PRINCIPLES OF ART. + + +1. Perfect taste is the faculty of receiving the greatest possible +pleasure from those material sources which are attractive to our moral +nature in its purity and perfection; but why we receive pleasure from +some forms and colours, and not from others, is no more to be asked or +answered than why we like sugar and dislike wormwood. + + +2. The temper by which right taste is formed is characteristically +patient. It dwells upon what is submitted to it. It does not trample +upon it,--lest it should be pearls, even though it look like husks. It +is good ground, penetrable, retentive; it does not send up thorns of +unkind thoughts, to choke the weak seed; it is hungry and thirsty too, +and drinks all the dew that falls on it. It is an honest and good +heart, that shows no too ready springing before the sun be up, but +fails not afterwards; it is distrustful of itself, so as to be ready +to believe and to try all things; and yet so trustful of itself, that +it will neither quit what it has tried, nor take anything without +trying. And the pleasure which it has in things that it finds true and +good, is so great, that it cannot possibly be led aside by any tricks +of fashion, or diseases of vanity; it cannot be cramped in its +conclusions by partialities and hypocrisies; its visions and its +delights are too penetrating,--too living,--for any whitewashed object +or shallow fountain long to endure or supply. It clasps all that it +loves so hard that it crushes it if it be hollow. + + +3. It is the common consent of men that whatever branch of any pursuit +ministers to the bodily comforts, and regards material uses, is +ignoble, and whatever part is addressed to the mind only, is noble; +and that geology does better in reclothing dry bones and revealing +lost creations, than in tracing veins of lead and beds of iron; +astronomy better in opening to us the houses of heaven, than in +teaching navigation; botany better in displaying structure than in +expressing juices; surgery better in investigating organization than +in setting limbs.--Only it is ordained that, for our encouragement, +every step we make in the more exalted range of science adds something +also to its practical applicabilities; that all the great phenomena of +nature, the knowledge of which is desired by the angels only, by us +partly, as it reveals to farther vision the being and the glory of Him +in whom they rejoice and we live, dispense yet such kind influences +and so much of material blessing as to be joyfully felt by all +inferior creatures, and to be desired by them with such single desire +as the imperfection of their nature may admit; that the strong +torrents, which, in their own gladness, fill the hills with hollow +thunder, and the vales with winding light, have yet their bounden +charge of field to feed, and barge to bear; that the fierce flames to +which the Alp owes its upheaval and the volcano its terror, temper for +us the metal vein, and warm the quickening spring; and that for our +incitement, I say, not our reward,--for knowledge is its own +reward,--herbs have their healing, stones their preciousness, and +stars their times. + + +4. Had it been ordained by the Almighty[1] that the highest pleasures +of sight should be those of most difficult attainment, and that to +arrive at them it should be necessary to accumulate gilded palaces, +tower over tower, and pile artificial mountains around insinuated +lakes, there would never have been a direct contradiction between the +unselfish duties and the inherent desires of every individual. But no +such contradiction exists in the system of Divine Providence; which, +leaving it open to us, if we will, as creatures in probation, to abuse +this sense like every other, and pamper it with selfish and +thoughtless vanities, as we pamper the palate with deadly meats, until +the appetite of tasteful cruelty is lost in its sickened satiety, +incapable of pleasure unless, Caligula like, it concentrates the +labour of a million of lives into the sensation of an hour,--leaves it +also open to us, by humble and loving ways, to make ourselves +susceptible of deep delight, which shall not separate us from our +fellows, nor require the sacrifice of any duty or occupation, but +which shall bind us closer to men and to God, and be with us always, +harmonized with every action, consistent with every claim, unchanging +and eternal. + +[1] The reader must observe, that having been thoroughly disciplined in +the Evangelical schools, I supposed myself, at four-and-twenty, to know +all about the ordinances of the Almighty. Nevertheless, the practical +contents of the sentence are good; if only they are intelligible, which +I doubt. + + +5. A great Idealist never can be egotistic. The whole of his power +depends upon his losing sight and feeling of his own existence, and +becoming a mere witness and mirror of truth, and a scribe of +visions,--always passive in sight, passive in utterance, lamenting +continually that he cannot completely reflect nor clearly utter all he +has seen,--not by any means a proud state for a man to be in. But the +man who has no invention is always setting things in order,[2] and +putting the world to rights, and mending, and beautifying, and pluming +himself on his doings, as supreme in all ways. + +[2] I am now a comic illustration of this sentence, myself. I have not a +ray of invention in all my brains; but am intensely rational and +orderly, and have resolutely begun to set the world to rights. + + +6. So far as education does indeed tend to make the senses delicate, +and the perceptions accurate, and thus enables people to be pleased +with quiet instead of gaudy colour, and with graceful instead of +coarse form; and by long acquaintance with the best things, to discern +quickly what is fine from what is common--so far acquired taste is an +honourable faculty, and it is true praise of anything to say it is "in +good taste." But,[3] so far as this higher education has a tendency to +narrow the sympathies and harden the heart, diminishing the interest +of all beautiful things by familiarity, until even what is best can +hardly please, and what is brightest hardly entertain,--so far as it +fosters pride, and leads men to found the pleasure they take in +anything, not on the worthiness of the thing, but on the degree in +which it indicates some greatness of their own, (as people build +marble porticoes, and inlay marble floors, not so much because they +like the colours of marble, or find it pleasant to the foot, as +because such porches and floors are costly, and separated in all human +eyes from plain entrances of stone and timber);--so far as it leads +people to prefer gracefulness of dress, manner, and aspect, to value +of substance and heart, liking a well-_said_ thing better than a true +thing, and a well-trained manner better than a sincere one, and a +delicately-formed face better than a good-natured one,--and in all +other ways and things setting custom and semblance above everlasting +truth;--so far, finally, as it induces a sense of inherent distinction +between class and class, and causes everything to be more or less +despised which has no social rank, so that the affection, pleasure, +and grief of a clown are looked upon as of no interest compared with +the affection and grief of a well-bred man;--just so far, in all these +several ways, the feeling induced by what is called "a liberal +education" is utterly adverse to the understanding of noble art. + +[3] Nobody need begin this second volume sentence unless they are +breathed like the Græme:-- + +"Right up Ben Ledi could he press, And not a sob his toil confess." + + +7. He who habituates himself in his daily life to seek for the stern +facts in whatever he hears or sees, will have these facts again +brought before him by the involuntary imaginative power, in their +noblest associations; and he who seeks for frivolities and fallacies, +will have frivolities and fallacies again presented to him in his +dreams.[4] + +[4] Very good. Few people have any idea how much more important the +government of the mind is, than the force of its exertion. Nearly all +the world flog their horses, without ever looking where they are going. + + +8. All the histories of the Bible are yet waiting to be painted. Moses +has never been painted; Elijah never; David never (except as a mere +ruddy stripling); Deborah never; Gideon never; Isaiah never.[5] What +single example does the reader remember of painting which suggested so +much as the faintest shadow of their deeds? Strong men in armour, or +aged men with flowing beards, he _may_ remember, who, when he looked +at his Louvre or Uffizi catalogue, he found were intended to stand for +David, or Moses. But does he suppose that, if these pictures had +suggested to him the feeblest image of the presence of such men, he +would have passed on, as he assuredly did, to the next picture, +representing, doubtless, Diana and Actæon, or Cupid and the Graces, or +a gambling quarrel in a pothouse--with no sense of pain or surprise? +Let him meditate over the matter, and he will find ultimately that +what I say is true, and that religious art at once complete and +sincere never yet has existed. + +[5] I knew nothing, when I wrote this passage, of Luini, Filippo Lippi, +or Sandro Botticelli; and had not capacity to enter into the deeper +feelings, even of the men whom I was chiefly studying,--Tintoret and Fra +Angelico. But the British public is at present as little acquainted with +the greater Florentines as I was then, and the passage, for _them_, +remains true. + + + + +SECTION II. + +POWER AND OFFICE OF IMAGINATION. + + +9. What are the legitimate uses of the imagination,--that is to say, +of the power of perceiving, or conceiving with the mind, things which +cannot be perceived by the senses? Its first and noblest use is,[6] to +enable us to bring sensibly to our sight the things which are recorded +as belonging to our future state, or invisibly surrounding us in this. +It is given us, that we may imagine the cloud of witnesses, in heaven, +and earth, and sea, as if they were now present,--the souls of the +righteous waiting for us; that we may conceive the great army of the +inhabitants of heaven, and discover among them those whom we most +desire to be with for ever; that we may be able to vision forth the +ministry of angels beside us, and see the chariots of fire on the +mountains that gird us round; but, above all, to call up the scenes +and facts in which we are commanded to believe, and be present, as if +in the body, at every recorded event of the history of the Redeemer. +Its second and ordinary use is, to empower us to traverse the scenes +of all other history, and to force the facts to become again visible, +so as to make upon us the same impression which they would have made +if we had witnessed them; and, in the minor necessities of life, to +enable us, out of any present good, to gather the utmost measure of +enjoyment, by investing it with happy associations, and, in any +present evil, to lighten it, by summoning back the images of other +hours; and also to give to all mental truths some visible type, in +allegory, simile, or personification, which shall most deeply enforce +them; and finally, when the mind is utterly outwearied, to refresh it +with such innocent play as shall be most in harmony with the +suggestive voices of natural things, permitting it to possess living +companionship, instead of silent beauty, and create for itself fairies +in the grass, and naiads in the wave. + +[6] I should be glad if the reader who is interested in the question +here raised, would read, as illustrative of the subsequent statement, +the account of Tintoret's 'Paradise,' in the close of my Oxford lecture +on Michael Angelo and Tintoret, which I have printed separately to make +it generally accessible. + + +10. Yet, because we thus reverence the power and art of imagination, +let none of us despise the power and art of memory. + +Let the reader consider seriously what he would give at any moment to +have the power of arresting the fairest scenes, those which so often +rise before him only to vanish; to stay the cloud in its fading, the +leaf in its trembling, and the shadows in their changing; to bid the +fitful foam be fixed upon the river, and the ripples be everlasting +upon the lake; and then to bear away with him no darkness or feeble +sun-stain, (though even that is beautiful,) but a counterfeit which +should seem no counterfeit--the true and perfect image of life indeed. +Or rather, (for the full majesty of such a power is not thus +sufficiently expressed,) let him consider that it would be in effect +nothing less than a capacity of transporting himself at any moment +into any scene--a gift as great as can be possessed by a disembodied +spirit; and suppose, also, this necromancy embracing not only the +present but the past, and enabling us seemingly to enter into the very +bodily presence of men long since gathered to the dust; to behold them +in act as they lived; but, with greater privilege than ever was +granted to the companions of those transient acts of life, to see them +fastened at our will in the gesture and expression of an instant, and +stayed on the eve of some great deed, in immortality of burning +purpose.--Conceive, so far as is possible, such power as this, and +then say whether the art which conferred it is to be spoken lightly +of, or whether we should not rather reverence, as half-divine, a gift +which would go so far as to raise us into the rank, and invest us with +the felicities, of angels.[7] + +[7] Passage written in opposition to the vulgar notion that the 'mere +imitation' of Nature is easy, and useless. + + +11. I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I +do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power, or hesitation of +speaking his opinions; but a right understanding of the relation +between what _he_ can do and say, and the rest of the world's sayings +and doings. All great men not only know their business, but usually +know that they know it; and are not only right in their main opinions, +but they usually know that they are right in them; only they do not +think much of themselves on that account. Arnolfo knows he can build a +good dome at Florence; Albert Durer writes calmly to one who has found +fault with his work,--"It cannot be better done;" Sir Isaac Newton +knows that he has worked out a problem or two that would have puzzled +anybody else; only they do not expect their fellow-men, therefore, to +fall down and worship them. They have a curious under-sense of +powerlessness, feeling that the greatness is not _in_ them, but +_through_ them--that they could not do or be anything else than God +made them; and they see something divine and God-made in every other +man they meet, and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful. + + +12. As far as I can observe, it is a constant law, that the greatest +men, whether poets or historians, live entirely in their own age, and +the greatest fruits of their work are gathered out of their own age. +Dante paints Italy in the thirteenth century; Chaucer, England in the +fourteenth; Masaccio, Florence in the fifteenth; Tintoret, Venice in +the sixteenth; all of them utterly regardless of anachronism and minor +error of every kind, but getting always vital truth out of the vital +present. If it be said that Shakespeare wrote perfect historical plays +on subjects belonging to the preceding centuries, I answer that they +_are_ perfect plays, just because there is no care about centuries in +them, but a life which all men recognise for the human life of all +time--and this it is, not because Shakespeare sought to give universal +truth, but because painting, honestly and completely, from the men +about him, he painted that human nature which is indeed constant +enough,--a rogue in the fifteenth century being _at heart_ what a +rogue is in the nineteenth, and was in the twelfth; and an honest or +knightly man being in like manner very similar to other such at any +other time. And the work of these great idealists is, therefore, +always universal; not because it is not _portrait_, but because it is +_complete_ portrait, down to the heart, which is the same in all ages; +and the work of the mean idealists is _not_ universal, not because it +is portrait, but because it is _half_ portrait--of the outside, the +manners and the dress, not of the heart. Thus Tintoret and Shakespeare +paint, both of them, simply Venetian and English nature, as they saw +it in their time, down to the root; and it does for _all_ time; but as +for any care to cast themselves into the particular ways and tones of +thought, or custom, of past time in their historical work, you will +find it in neither of them,[8] nor in any other perfectly great man +that I know of. + +[8] What vestige of Egyptian character is there, for instance, in +Cleopatra?--of Athenian in Theseus or Timon?--of old English in Imogen +or Cordelia?--of old Scottish in Macbeth?--or even of mediæval Italian +in Petruchio, the Merchant of Venice, or Desdemona? And the Roman plays +appear definitely Roman only because the strength of Rome was the +eternal strength of the world,--pure family life, sustained by +agriculture, and defended by simple and fearless manhood. + + +13. I think it probable that many readers may be surprised at my +calling Scott the great representative of the mind of the age of +literature. Those who can perceive the intense penetrative depth of +Wordsworth, and the exquisite finish and melodious power of Tennyson, +may be offended at my placing in higher rank that poetry of careless +glance and reckless rhyme in which Scott poured out the fancies of his +youth; and those who are familiar with the subtle analysis of the +French novelists, or who have in any wise submitted themselves to the +influence of German philosophy, may be equally indignant at my +ascribing a principality to Scott among the literary men of Europe, in +an age which has produced De Balzac, and Goethe.[9] + +[9] I knew nothing of Goethe when I put him with Balzac; but the +intolerable dulness which encumbers the depth of Wilhelm Meister, and +the cruel reserve which conceals from all but the intensest readers the +meaning of Faust, have made him, in a great degree, an evil influence in +European literature; and Evil is always second-rate. + +But the mass of sentimental literature concerned with the analysis and +description of emotion, headed by the poetry of Byron, is altogether +of lower rank than the literature which merely describes what it saw. +The true seer feels as intensely as any one else; but he does not much +describe his feelings. He tells you whom he met, and what they said; +leaves you to make out, from that, what they feel, and what he feels, +but goes into little detail. And, generally speaking, pathetic writing +and careful explanation of passion are quite easy, compared with this +plain recording of what people said, and did; or with the right +invention of what they are likely to say and do; for this reason, that +to invent a story, or admirably and thoroughly tell any part of a +story, it is necessary to grasp the entire mind of every personage +concerned in it, and know precisely how they would be affected by what +happens; which to do, requires a colossal intellect; but to describe a +separate emotion delicately, it is only needed that one should feel it +oneself; and thousands of people are capable of feeling this or that +noble emotion, for one who is able to enter into all the feelings of +somebody sitting on the other side of the table. Even, therefore, +where this sentimental literature is first rate, as in passages of +Byron, Tennyson, and Keats, it ought not to be ranked so high as the +creative; and though perfection even in narrow fields is perhaps as +rare as in the wider, and it may be as long before we have another "In +Memoriam" as another "Guy Mannering," I unhesitatingly receive as a +greater manifestation of power, the right invention of a few sentences +spoken by Pleydell and Mannering across their supper-table, than the +most tender and passionate melodies of the self-examining verse. + + +14. Fancy plays like a squirrel in its circular prison, and is happy; +but Imagination is a pilgrim on the earth--and her home is in heaven. +Shut her from the fields of the celestial mountains, bear her from +breathing their lofty, sun-warmed air; and we may as well turn upon +her the last bolt of the Tower of Famine, and give the keys to the +keeping of the wildest surge that washes Capraja and Gorgona.[10] + +[10] I leave this passage, as my friend has chosen it; but it is +unintelligible without the contexts, which show how all the emotions +described in the preceding passages of this section, are founded on +trust in the beneficence and rule of an Omnipotent Spirit. + + +15. In the highest poetry, there is no word so familiar, but a great +man will "bring good out of it, or rather, it will bring good to him, +and answer some end for which no other word would have done equally +well. A common person, for instance, would be mightily puzzled to +apply the word 'whelp' to anyone, with a view of flattering him. There +is a certain freshness and energy in the term, which gives it +agreeableness, but it seems difficult, at first hearing it, to use it +complimentarily. If the person spoken of be a prince, the difficulty +seems increased; and when farther he is at one and the same moment to +be called a 'whelp' and contemplated as a hero, it seems that a common +idealist might well be brought to a pause! But hear Shakespeare do +it:-- + + "Awake his warlike spirit, + And your great uncle's, Edward the Black Prince, + Who on the French ground played a tragedy, + Making defeat on the full power of France, + While his most mighty father on a hill + Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp + Forage in blood of French nobility." + + +16. Although in all lovely nature there is, first, an excellent degree +of simple beauty, addressed to the eye alone, yet often what impresses +us most will form but a very small portion of that visible beauty. +That beauty may, for instance, be composed of lovely flowers, and +glittering streams, and blue sky and white clouds; and yet the thing +that impresses us most, and which we should be sorriest to lose, may +be a thin grey film on the extreme horizon, not so large, in the space +of the scene it occupies, as a piece of gossamer on a near-at-hand +bush, nor in any wise prettier to the eye than the gossamer; but +because the gossamer is known by us for a little bit of spider's work, +and the other grey film is known to mean a mountain ten thousand feet +high, inhabited by a race of noble mountaineers, we are solemnly +impressed by the aspect of it, and yet all the while the thoughts and +knowledge which cause us to receive this impression are so obscure +that we are not conscious of them. + + +17. Examine the nature of your own emotion, (if you feel it,) at the +sight of the Alps; and you find all the brightness of that emotion +hanging, like dew on a gossamer, on a curious web of subtle fancy and +imperfect knowledge. First you have a vague idea of its size, coupled +with wonder at the work of the great Builder of its walls and +foundations; then an apprehension of its eternity, a pathetic sense of +its perpetualness, and your own transientness, as of the grass upon +its side;--then, and in very sadness, a sense of strange companionship +with past generations, in seeing what they saw. They did not see the +clouds that are floating over your head, nor the cottage wall on the +other side of the field, nor the road by which you are travelling. But +they saw _that_. The wall of granite in the heavens was the same to +them as to you. They have ceased to look upon it; you will soon cease +to look also, and the granite wall will be for others. Then, mingled +with these more solemn imaginations, come the understandings of the +gifts and glories of the Alp;--the fancying forth of all the fountains +that well from its rocky walls, and strong rivers that are born out of +its ice, and of all the pleasant valleys that wind between its cliffs, +and all the châlets that gleam among its clouds, and happy farmsteads +couched upon its pastures; while, together with the thoughts of these, +rise strange sympathies with all the unknown of human life, and +happiness, and death, signified by that narrow white flame of the +everlasting snow, seen so far in the morning sky. These images, and +far more than these, lie at the root of the emotion which you feel at +the sight of the Alps. You may not trace them in your heart, for there +is a great deal more in your heart, both of evil and good, than you +can ever trace; but they stir you and quicken you for all that. +Assuredly, so far as you feel more at beholding the snowy mountain +than any other object of the same sweet silvery grey, these are the +kind of images which cause you to do so; and observe, these are +nothing more than a greater apprehension of the _facts_ of the thing. +We call the power 'Imagination,' because it imagines or conceives; but +it is only noble imagination, if it imagines or conceives the _truth_. +And according to the degree of knowledge possessed, and of sensibility +to the pathetic or impressive character of the things known, will be +the degree of this imaginative delight. + + +18. So natural is it to the human heart to fix itself in hope rather +than in present possession, and so subtle is the charm which the +imagination casts over what is distant or denied, that there is often +a more touching power in the scenes which contain far-away promises of +something greater than themselves, than in those which exhaust the +treasures and powers of nature in an unconquerable and excellent +glory, leaving nothing more to be by fancy pictured or pursued. I do +not know that there is a district in the world more calculated to +illustrate this power of the expectant imagination than that which +surrounds the city of Fribourg in Switzerland, extending from it +towards Berne. It is of grey sandstone, considerably elevated, but +presenting no object of striking interest to the passing traveller; so +that as it is generally seen in the course of a hasty journey from the +Bernese Alps to those of Savoy, it is rarely regarded with any other +sensation than that of weariness, all the more painful because +accompanied with reaction from the high excitement caused by the +splendour of the Bernese Oberland. The traveller--foot-sore, feverish, +and satiated with glacier and precipice,--lies back in the corner of +the diligence, perceiving little more than that the road is winding +and hilly, and the country through which it passes, cultivated and +tame. Let him, however, only do this tame country the justice of +staying in it a few days, until his mind has recovered its tone, and +take one or two long walks through its fields, and he will have other +thoughts of it. It is, as I said, an undulating district of grey +sandstone, never attaining any considerable height, but having enough +of the mountain spirit to throw itself into continual succession of +bold slope and dale; elevated, also, just far enough above the sea to +render the pine a frequent forest tree along its irregular ridges. +Through this elevated tract the river cuts its way in a ravine some +five or six hundred feet in depth, which winds for leagues between the +gentle hills, unthought of until its edge is approached; and then, +suddenly, through the boughs of the firs, the eye perceives, beneath, +the green and gliding stream, and the broad walls of sandstone cliff +that form its banks; hollowed out where the river leans against them, +at its turns, into perilous over-hanging; and, on the other shore, at +the same spots, leaving little breadths of meadow between them and the +water, half overgrown with thicket, deserted in their sweetness, +inaccessible from above, and rarely visited by any curious wanderers +along the hardly traceable footpath which struggles for existence +beneath the rocks. And there the river ripples and eddies and murmurs +in an outer solitude. It is passing through a thickly peopled country; +but never was a stream so lonely. The feeblest and most far-away +torrent among the high hills has its companions; the goats browse +beside it; and the traveller drinks from it, and passes over it with +his staff; and the peasant traces a new channel for it down to his +mill-wheel. But this stream has no companions; it flows on in an +infinite seclusion, not secret, nor threatening, but a quietness of +sweet daylight and open air--a broad space of tender and deep +desolateness, drooped into repose out of the midst of human labour and +life; the waves plashing lowly, with none to hear them; and the wild +birds building in the boughs, with none to fray them away; and the +soft, fragrant herbs rising and breathing and fading, with no hand to +gather them;--and yet all bright and bare to the clouds above, and to +the fresh fall of the passing sunshine and pure rain. But above the +brows of these scarped cliffs, all is in an instant changed. A few +steps only beyond the firs that stretch their branches, angular, and +wild, and white, like forks of lightning, into the air of the +ravine,--and we are in an arable country of the most perfect richness; +the swathes of its corn glowing and burning from field to field: its +pretty hamlets all vivid with fruitful orchards, and flowery garden, +and goodly with steep-roofed storehouse and barn; its well-kept, hard, +park-like roads rising and falling from hillside to hillside, or +disappearing among brown banks of moss, and thickets of the wild +raspberry and rose, or gleaming through lines of tall trees, half +glade, half avenue, where the gate opens, or the gateless path turns +trustedly aside, unhindered, into the garden of some statelier house, +surrounded in rural pride with its golden hives, and carved granaries, +and irregular domain of latticed and espaliered cottages, gladdening +to look upon in their delicate homeliness--delicate, yet in some sort, +rude; not like our English homes--trim, laborious, formal, +irreproachable in comfort--but with a peculiar carelessness and +largeness in all their detail, harmonizing with the outlawed +loveliness of their country. For there is an untamed strength even in +all that soft and habitable land. It is indeed gilded with corn, and +fragrant with deep grass, but it is not subdued to the plough or to +the scythe. It gives at its own free will; it seems to have nothing +wrested from it, nor conquered in it. It is not redeemed from +desertness, but unrestrained in fruitfulness,--a generous land, bright +with capricious plenty, and laughing from vale to vale in fitful +fulness, kind and wild. Nor this without some sterner element mingled +in the heart of it. For, along all its ridges stand the dark masses of +innumerable pines,[11] taking no part in its gladness; asserting +themselves for ever as fixed shadows, not to be pierced or banished +even in the intensest sunlight; fallen flakes and fragments of the +night, stayed in their solemn squares in the midst of all the rosy +bendings of the orchard boughs and yellow effulgence of the harvest, +and tracing themselves in black network and motionless fringes against +the blanched blue of the horizon in its saintly clearness. And yet +they do not sadden the landscape, but seem to have been set there +chiefly to show how bright everything else is round them; and all the +clouds look of pure silver, and all the air seems filled with a whiter +and more living sunshine, where they are pierced by the sable points +of the pines; and all the pastures look of more glowing green where +they run up between the purple trunks; and the sweet field footpaths +skirt the edges of the forest for the sake of its shade, sloping up +and down about the slippery roots, and losing themselves every now and +then hopelessly among the violets and ground-ivy and brown sheddings +of the fibrous leaves, and at last plunging into some open aisle, +where the light through the distant stems shows that there is a chance +of coming out again on the other side; and coming out indeed in a +little while from the scented darkness into the dazzling air and +marvellous landscape, which stretches still farther and farther in new +wilfulness of grove and garden, until at last the craggy mountains of +the Simmenthal rise out of it, sharp into the rolling of the southern +clouds. + +[11] Almost the only pleasure I have, myself, in rereading my old books, +is my sense of having at least done justice to the pine. Compare the +passage in this book, No. 47. + + +19.[12] Although there are few districts of Northern Europe, however +apparently dull or tame, in which I cannot find pleasure; though the +whole of Northern France (except Champagne), dull as it seems to most +travellers, is to me a perpetual paradise; and, putting Lincolnshire, +Leicestershire, and one or two such other perfectly flat districts +aside, there is not an English county which I should not find +entertainment in exploring the cross-roads of, foot by foot,--yet all +my best enjoyment would be owing to the imagination of the hills, +colouring with their far-away memories every lowland stone and herb. +The pleasant French coteau, green in the sunshine, delights me either +by what real mountain character it has in itself, (for in extent and +succession of promontory, the flanks of the French valleys have quite +the sublimity of true mountain distances,) or by its broken ground and +rugged steps among the vines, and rise of the leafage above against +the blue sky, as it might rise at Vevay or Como. There is not a wave +of the Seine, but is associated in my mind with the first rise of the +sandstones and forest pines of Fontainebleau; and with the hope of the +Alps, as one leaves Paris, with the horses' heads to the southwest, +the morning sun flashing on the bright waves at Charenton. If there be +no hope or association of this kind, and if I cannot deceive myself +into fancying that perhaps at the next rise of the road there may be +the film of a blue hill in the gleam of sky at the horizon, the +landscape, however beautiful, produces in me even a kind of sickness +and pain; and the whole view from Richmond Hill or Windsor +Terrace,--nay, the gardens of Alcinous, with their perpetual +summer--or of the Hesperides, (if they were flat, and not close to +Atlas,) golden apples and all, I would give away in an instant, for +one mossy granite stone a foot broad, and two leaves of lady fern. + +[12] This, and the following passage, have nothing to do with the +general statements in the book. They occur with reference only to my own +idiosyncrasy. I was much surprised when I found first how individual it +was, by a Pre-Raphaelite painter's declaring a piece of unwholesome +reedy fen to be more beautiful than Benvenue. + + +20. I cannot find words to express the intense pleasure I have always +in first finding myself, after some prolonged stay in England, at the +foot of the old tower of Calais Church. The large neglect, the noble +unsightliness of it; the record of its years written so visibly, yet +without sign of weakness or decay; its stern wasteness and gloom, +eaten away by the Channel winds, and overgrown with the bitter sea +grasses; its slates and tiles all shaken and rent, and yet not +falling; its desert of brickwork, full of bolts, and holes, and ugly +fissures, and yet strong, like a bare brown rock; its carelessness of +what any one thinks or feels about it, putting forth no claim, having +no beauty, nor desirableness, pride, nor grace; yet neither asking for +pity; not, as ruins are, useless and piteous, feebly or fondly +garrulous of better days; but, useful still, going through its own +daily work,--as some old fisherman, beaten grey by storm, yet drawing +his daily nets: so it stands, with no complaint about its past youth, +in blanched and meagre massiveness and serviceableness, gathering +human souls together underneath it; the sound of its bells for prayer +still rolling through its rents; and the grey peak of it seen far +across the sea, principal of the three that rise above the waste of +surfy sand and hillocked shore,--the lighthouse for life, and the +belfry for labour, and this--for patience and praise. + +I cannot tell the half of the strange pleasures and thoughts that come +about me at the sight of that old tower; for, in some sort, it is the +epitome of all that makes the continent of Europe interesting, as +opposed to new countries; and, above all, it completely expresses that +agedness in the midst of active life which binds the old and the new +into harmony. We in England have our new streets, our new inn, our +green shaven lawn, and our piece of ruin emergent from it--a mere +_specimen_ of the Middle Ages put on a bit of velvet carpet, to be +shown; and which, but for its size, might as well be on a museum shelf +at once, under cover;--but, on the Continent, the links are unbroken +between the past and present; and, in such use as they can serve for, +the grey-headed wrecks are suffered to stay with men; while, in +unbroken line, the generations of spared buildings are seen +succeeding, each in its place. And thus, in its largeness, in its +permitted evidence of slow decline, in its poverty, in its absence of +all pretence, of all show and care for outside aspect, that Calais +tower has an infinite of symbolism in it, all the more striking +because usually seen in contrast with English scenes expressive of +feelings the exact reverse of these.[13] + +[13] My friend won't write out the reverse! Our book is to be all jelly, +and no powder, it seems. Well, I'm very thankful she likes the +jelly,--at any rate, it makes me sure that _it_ is well made. + + + + +SECTION III. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: THE SKY. + + +21. It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the +sky. It is the part of creation in which Nature has done more for the +sake of pleasing man--more for the sole and evident purpose of talking +to him, and teaching him--than in any other of her works; and it is +just the part in which we least attend to her. There are not many of +her other works in which some more material or essential purpose than +the mere pleasing of man is not answered by every part of their +organization; but every essential purpose of the sky might, so far as +we know, be answered if once in three days, or thereabouts, a great, +ugly, black rain-cloud were brought up over the blue, and everything +well watered, and so all left blue again till next time, with perhaps +a film of morning and evening mist for dew;--and instead of this, +there is not a moment of any day of our lives, when Nature is not +producing scene after scene, picture after picture, glory after glory, +and working still upon such exquisite and constant principles of the +most perfect beauty, that it is quite certain[14] it is all done for +us, and intended for our perpetual pleasure. And every man, wherever +placed, however far from other sources of interest or of beauty, has +this doing for him constantly. The noblest scenes of the earth can be +seen and known but by few; it is not intended that man should live +always in the midst of them; he injures them by his presence, he +ceases to feel them if he is always with them; but the sky is for all: +bright as it is, it is not + + "too bright nor good + For human nature's daily food;" + +it is fitted in all its functions for the perpetual comfort and +exalting of the heart,--for soothing it, and purifying it from its +dross and dust. Sometimes gentle, sometimes capricious, sometimes +awful--never the same for two moments together; almost human in its +passions, almost spiritual in its tenderness, almost divine in its +infinity, its appeal to what is immortal in us is as distinct as its +ministry of chastisement or of blessing to what is mortal is +essential. And yet we never attend to it, we never make it a subject +of thought, but as it has to do with our animal sensations; we look +upon all by which it speaks to us more clearly than to brutes, upon +all which bears witness to the intentions of the Supreme that we are +to receive more from the covering vault than the light and the dew +which we share with the weed and the worm, as only a succession of +meaningless and monotonous accident, too common and too vain to be +worthy of a moment of watchfulness, or a glance of admiration. If in +our moments of utter idleness and insipidity, we turn to the sky as a +last resource, which of its phenomena do we speak of? One says, it has +been wet; and another, it has been windy; and another, it has been +warm. Who among the whole chattering crowd can tell one of the forms +and the precipices of the chain of tall white mountains that girded +the horizon at noon yesterday? Who saw the narrow sunbeam that came +out of the south, and smote upon their summits until they melted and +mouldered away in a dust of blue rain? Who saw the dance of the dead +clouds when the sunlight left them last night, and the west wind blew +them before it like withered leaves? All has passed unregretted as +unseen; or, if the apathy be ever shaken off even for an instant, it +is only by what is gross, or what is extraordinary. And yet it is not +in the broad and fierce manifestations of the elemental energies, not +in the clash of the hail, nor the drift of the whirlwind, that the +highest characters of the sublime are developed. God is not in the +earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still, small voice. They are +but the blunt and the low faculties of our nature, which can only be +addressed through lamp-black and lightning. It is in quiet and subdued +passages of unobtrusive majesty, the deep and the calm, and the +perpetual; that which must be sought ere it is seen, and loved ere it +is understood; things which the angels work out for us daily, and yet +vary eternally; which are never wanting, and never repeated; which are +to be found always, yet each found but once;--it is through these that +the lesson of devotion is chiefly taught, and the blessing of beauty +given. + +[14] At least, I thought so, when I was four-and-twenty. At +five-and-fifty, I fancy that it is just possible there may be other +creatures in the universe to be pleased, or,--it may be,--displeased, by +the weather. + + +22. We habitually think of the rain-cloud only as dark and grey; not +knowing that we owe to it perhaps the fairest, though not the most +dazzling, of the hues of heaven. Often in our English mornings, the +rain-clouds in the dawn form soft, level fields, which melt +imperceptibly into the blue; or, when of less extent, gather into +apparent bars, crossing the sheets of broader cloud above; and all +these bathed throughout in an unspeakable light of pure rose-colour, +and purple, and amber, and blue; not shining, but misty-soft; the +barred masses, when seen nearer, composed of clusters or tresses of +cloud, like floss silk; looking as if each knot were a little swathe +or sheaf of lighted rain. + + +23. Aqueous vapour or mist, suspended in the atmosphere, becomes +visible exactly as dust does in the air of a room. In the shadows, you +not only cannot see the dust itself, because unillumined, but you can +see other objects through the dust, without obscurity; the air being +thus actually rendered more transparent by a deprivation of light. +Where a sunbeam enters, every particle of dust becomes visible, and a +palpable interruption to the sight; so that a transverse sunbeam is a +real obstacle to the vision--you cannot see things clearly through it. +In the same way, wherever vapour is illuminated by transverse rays, +there it becomes visible as a whiteness more or less affecting the +purity of the blue, and destroying it exactly in proportion to the +degree of illumination. But where vapour is in shade, it has very +little effect on the sky, perhaps making it a little deeper and greyer +than it otherwise would be, but not, itself, unless very dense, +distinguishable or felt as mist. + + +24. Has the reader any distinct idea of what clouds are? + +[15]That mist which lies in the morning so softly in the valley, level +and white, through which the tops of the trees rise as if through an +inundation--why is _it_ so heavy, and why does it lie so low, being +yet so thin and frail that it will melt away utterly into splendour of +morning when the sun has shone on it but a few moments more? Those +colossal pyramids, huge and firm, with outlines as of rocks, and +strength to bear the beating of the high sun full on their fiery +flanks,--why are _they_ so light, their bases high over our heads, +high over the heads of Alps? Why will these melt away, not as the sun +_rises_, but as he _descends_, and leave the stars of twilight clear; +while the valley vapour gains again upon the earth, like a shroud? Or +that ghost of a cloud, which steals by yonder clump of pines; nay, +which does _not_ steal by them, but haunts them, wreathing yet round +them, and yet,--and yet,--slowly; now falling in a fair waved line +like a woman's veil; now fading, now gone; we look away for an +instant, and look back, and it is again there. What has it to do with +that clump of pines, that it broods by them, and weaves itself among +their branches, to and fro? Has it hidden a cloudy treasure among the +moss at their roots, which it watches thus? Or has some strong +enchanter charmed it into fond returning, or bound it fast within +those bars of bough? And yonder filmy crescent, bent like an archer's +bow above the snowy summit, the highest of all the hills--that white +arch which never forms but over the supreme crest,--how is it stayed +there, repelled apparently from the snow,--nowhere touching it, the +clear sky seen between it and the mountain edge, yet never leaving +it--poised as a white bird hovers over its nest? Or those war clouds +that gather on the horizon, dragon-crested, tongued with fire,--how is +their barbed strength bridled? What bits are those they are champing +with their vapourous lips, flinging off flakes of black foam? Leagued +leviathans of the Sea of Heaven,--out of their nostrils goeth smoke, +and their eyes are like the eyelids of the morning; the sword of him +that layeth at them cannot hold the spear, the dart, nor the +habergeon. Where ride the captains of their armies? Where are set the +measures of their march? Fierce murmurers, answering each other from +morning until evening--what rebuke is this which has awed them into +peace;--what hand has reined them back by the way in which they came? + +[15] This is a fifth volume bit, and worth more attention. + +I know not if the reader will think at first that questions like these +are easily answered. So far from it, I rather believe that some of the +mysteries of the clouds never will be understood by us at all. +"Knowest thou the balancings of the clouds?" Is the answer ever to be +one of pride? The wondrous works of Him, who is perfect in knowledge? +Is _our_ knowledge ever to be so?... + +For my own part, I enjoy the mystery, and perhaps the reader may. I +think he ought. He should not be less grateful for summer rain, or see +less beauty in the clouds of morning, because they come to prove him +with hard questions; to which perhaps, if we look close at the +heavenly scroll, we may find also a syllable or two of answer, +illuminated here and there.[16] + +[16] Compare, in 'Sartor Resartus,' the boy's watching from the garden +wall. + +And though the climates of the south and east may be _comparatively_ +clear, they are no more absolutely clear than our own northern air. +Intense clearness, whether, in the north, after or before rain, or in +some moments of twilight in the south, is always, as far as I am +acquainted with natural phenomena, a _notable_ thing. Mist of some +sort, or mirage, or confusion of light or of cloud, are the general +facts; the distance may vary in different climates at which the +effects of mist begin, but they are always present; and therefore, in +all probability, it is meant that we should enjoy them.... We surely +need not wonder that mist and all its phenomena have been made +delightful to us, since our happiness as thinking beings must depend +on our being content to accept only partial knowledge even in those +matters which chiefly concern us. If we insist upon perfect +intelligibility and complete declaration in every moral subject, we +shall instantly fall into misery of unbelief. Our whole happiness and +power of energetic action depend upon our being able to breathe and +live in the cloud; content to see it opening here, and closing there; +rejoicing to catch through the thinnest films of it, glimpses of +stable and substantial things; but yet perceiving a nobleness even in +the concealment, and rejoicing that the kindly veil is spread where +the untempered light might have scorched us, or the infinite clearness +wearied. And I believe that the resentment of this interference of the +mist is one of the forms of proud error which are too easily mistaken +for virtues. To be content in utter darkness and ignorance is indeed +unmanly, and therefore we think that to love light and find knowledge +must always be right. Yet (as in all matters before observed,) +wherever _pride_ has any share in the work, even knowledge and light +may be ill pursued. Knowledge is good, and light is good: yet man +perished in seeking knowledge, and moths perish in seeking light; and +if we, who are crushed before the moth, will not accept such mystery +as is needful to us, we shall perish in like manner. But, accepted in +humbleness, it instantly becomes an element of pleasure; and I think +that every rightly constituted mind ought to rejoice, not so much in +knowing anything clearly, as in feeling that there is infinitely more +which it cannot know. None but proud or weak men would mourn over +this, for we may always know more, if we choose, by working on; but +the pleasure is, I think, to humble people, in knowing that the +journey is endless, the treasure inexhaustible,--watching the cloud +still march before them with its summitless pillar, and being sure +that, to the end of time, and to the length of eternity, the mysteries +of its infinity will still open farther and farther, their dimness +being the sign and necessary adjunct of their inexhaustibleness. I +know there are an evil mystery, and a deathful dimness,--the mystery +of the great Babylon--the dimness of the sealed eye and soul; but do +not let us confuse these with the glorious mystery of the things which +the "angels desire to look into," or with the dimness which, even +before the clear eye and open soul, still rests on sealed pages of the +eternal volume. + + +25. On some isolated mountain at day-break,[17] when the night mists +first rise from off the plain, watch their white and lakelike fields, +as they float in level bays, and winding gulfs, about the islanded +summits of the lower hills, untouched yet by more than dawn, colder +and more quiet than a windless sea under the moon of midnight; watch +when the first sunbeam is sent upon the silver channels, how the foam +of their undulating surface parts, and passes away, and down under +their depths the glittering city and green pastures lie like Atlantis, +between the white paths of winding rivers; the flakes of light falling +every moment faster and broader among the starry spires, as the +wreathed surges break and vanish above them, and the confused crests +and ridges of the dark hills shorten their grey shadows upon the +plain. Wait a little longer, and you shall see those scattered mists +rallying in the ravines, and floating up towards you, along the +winding valleys, till they crouch in quiet masses, iridescent with the +morning light, upon the broad breasts of the higher hills, whose +leagues of massy undulation will melt back, back into that robe of +material light, until they fade away, lost in its lustre, to appear +again above in the serene heaven like a wild, bright, impossible +dream, foundationless, and inaccessible, their very bases vanishing in +the unsubstantial and mocking blue of the deep lake below. Wait yet a +little longer, and you shall see those mists gather themselves into +white towers, and stand like fortresses along the promontories, massy +and motionless, only piled, with every instant, higher and higher into +the sky, and casting longer shadows athwart the rocks; and out of the +pale blue of the horizon you will see forming and advancing a troop of +narrow, dark, pointed vapours, which will cover the sky, inch by inch, +with their grey network, and take the light off the landscape with an +eclipse which will stop the singing of the birds, and the motion of +the leaves, together;--and then you will see horizontal bars of black +shadow forming under them, and lurid wreaths create themselves, you +know not how, among the shoulders of the hills; you never see them +form, but when you look back to a place which was clear an instant +ago, there is a cloud on it, hanging by the precipice, as a hawk +pauses over his prey;--and then you will hear the sudden rush of the +awakened wind, and you will see those watch-towers of vapour swept +away from their foundations, and waving curtains of opaque rain, let +down to the valley, swinging from the burdened clouds in black bending +fringes, or, pacing in pale columns along the lake level, grazing its +surface into foam as they go. And then, as the sun sinks, you shall +see the storm drift for an instant from off the hills, leaving their +broad sides smoking and loaded yet with snow-white, torn, steam-like +rags of capricious vapour, now gone, now gathered again,--while the +smouldering sun, seeming not far away, but burning like a red-hot ball +beside you, and as if you could reach it, plunges through the rushing +wind and rolling cloud with headlong fall, as if it meant to rise no +more, dyeing all the air about it with blood;--and then you shall hear +the fainting tempest die in the hollow of the night, and you shall see +a green halo kindling on the summit of the eastern hills, brighter, +brighter yet, till the large white circle of the slow moon is lifted +up among the barred clouds, step by step, line by line; star after +star she quenches with her kindling light, setting in their stead an +army of pale, penetrable, fleecy wreaths in the heaven, to give light +upon the earth, which move together hand in hand, company by company, +troop by troop, so measured in their unity of motion that the whole +heaven seems to roll with them, and the earth to reel under them. And +then wait yet for one hour, until the east again becomes purple, and +the heaving mountains, rolling against it in darkness, like waves of a +wild sea, are drowned one by one in the glory of its burning; watch +the white glaciers blaze in their winding paths about the mountains, +like mighty serpents with scales of fire; watch the columnar peaks of +solitary snow, kindling downwards chasm by chasm, each in itself a new +morning--their long avalanches cast down in keen streams brighter than +the lightning, sending each his tribute of driven snow, like +altar-smoke, up to heaven; the rose-light of their silent domes +flushing that heaven about them, and above them, piercing with purer +light through its purple lines of lifted cloud, casting a new glory on +every wreath, as it passes by, until the whole heaven, one scarlet +canopy, is interwoven with a roof of waving flame, and tossing vault +beyond vault, as with the drifted wings of many companies of angels; +and then, when you can look no more for gladness, and when you are +bowed down with fear and love of the Maker and Doer of this, tell me +who has best delivered this His message unto men! + +[17] I forget now what all this is about. It seems to be a recollection +of the Rigi, with assumption that the enthusiastic spectator is to stand +for a day and night in observation; to suffer the effects of a severe +thunder-storm, and to get neither breakfast nor dinner. I have seen such +a storm on the Rigi, however, and more than one such sunrise; and I much +doubt if its present visitors by rail will see more. + + +26.[18] The account given of the stages of creation in the first +chapter of Genesis is in every respect clear and intelligible to the +simplest reader, except in the statement of the work of the second +day. I suppose that this statement is passed over by careless readers +without any endeavour to understand it, and contemplated by simple and +faithful readers as a sublime mystery which was not intended to be +understood. But there is no mystery in any other part of the chapter, +and it seems to me unjust to conclude that any was intended here. And +the passage ought to be peculiarly interesting to us, as being the +first in the Bible in which the heavens are named, and the only one in +which the word "Heaven," all-important as that word is to our +understanding of the most precious promises of Scripture, receives a +definite explanation. Let us therefore see whether, by a little +careful comparison of the verse with other passages in which the word +occurs, we may not be able to arrive at as clear an understanding of +this portion of the chapter as of the rest. In the first place the +English word, "Firmament," itself is obscure and useless; because we +never employ it but as a synonym of heaven, it conveys no other +distinct idea to us; and the verse, though from our familiarity with +it we imagine that it possesses meaning, has in reality no more point +nor value than if it were written, "God said, Let there be a something +in the midst of the waters, and God called the something, Heaven." But +the marginal reading, "Expansion," has definite value; and the +statement that "God said, Let there be an expansion in the midst of +the waters, and God called the expansion, Heaven," has an +apprehensible meaning. Accepting this expression as the one intended, +we have next to ask what expansion there is, between two waters, +describable by the term "heaven." Milton adopts the term "expanse," +but he understands it of the whole volume of the air which surrounds +the earth. Whereas, so far as we can tell, there is no water beyond +the air, in the fields of space; and the whole expression of division +of waters from waters is thus rendered valueless. Now with respect to +this whole chapter, we must remember always that it is intended for +the instruction of all mankind, not for the learned reader only; and +that therefore the most simple and natural interpretation is the +likeliest in general to be the true one. An unscientific reader knows +little about the manner in which the volume of the atmosphere +surrounds the earth; but I imagine that he could hardly glance at the +sky when rain was falling in the distance, and see the level line of +the bases of the clouds from which the shower descended, without being +able to attach an instant and easy meaning to the words, "expansion in +the midst of the waters;" and if, having once seized this idea, he +proceeded to examine it more accurately, he would perceive at once, if +he had ever noticed _anything_ of the nature of clouds, that the level +line of their bases did indeed most severely and stringently divide +"waters from waters"--that is to say, divide water in its collective +and tangible state, from water in its aërial state; or the waters +which _fall_, and _flow_, from those which _rise_, and _float_. Next, +if we try this interpretation in the theological sense of the word +_heaven_, and examine whether the clouds are spoken of as God's +dwelling-place, we find God going before the Israelites in a pillar of +cloud; revealing Himself in a cloud on Sinai; appearing in a cloud on +the mercy-seat; filling the Temple of Solomon with the cloud when its +dedication is accepted; appearing in a great cloud to Ezekiel; +ascending into a cloud before the eyes of the disciples on Mount +Olivet; and in like manner returning to judgment: "Behold He cometh +with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." "Then shall they see the +Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great +glory." While, further, the "clouds" and "heavens" are used as +interchangeable words in those psalms which most distinctly set forth +the power of God: "He bowed the heavens also, and came down; He made +darkness pavilions round about Him, dark waters, and thick clouds of +the skies." And again, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy +faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." And again, "His excellency is +over Israel, and His strength is in the clouds." And again, "The +clouds poured out water, the skies sent out a sound, the voice of Thy +thunder was in the heaven." Again, "Clouds and darkness are round +about Him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His +throne; the heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see +His glory." In all these passages the meaning is unmistakable if they +possess definite meaning at all. We are too apt to take them merely +for sublime and vague imagery, and therefore gradually to lose the +apprehension of their life and power. The expression, "He bowed the +heavens," for instance, is, I suppose, received by most readers as a +magnificent hyperbole, having reference to some peculiar and fearful +manifestation of God's power to the writer of the psalm in which the +words occur. But the expression either has _plain_ meaning, or it has +_no_ meaning. Understand by the term "heavens" the compass of infinite +space around the earth, and the expression "bowed the heavens," +however sublime, is wholly without meaning: infinite space cannot be +bent or bowed. But understand by the "heavens" the veil of clouds +above the earth, and the expression is neither hyperbolical nor +obscure; it is pure, plain, accurate truth, and it describes God, not +as revealing Himself in any peculiar way to David, but doing what He +is still doing before our own eyes, day by day. By accepting the words +in their simple sense, we are thus led to apprehend the immediate +presence of the Deity, and His purpose of manifesting Himself as near +us whenever the storm-cloud stoops upon its course; while by our vague +and inaccurate acceptance of the words, we remove the idea of His +presence far from us, into a region which we can neither see nor know: +and gradually, from the close realization of a living God, who "maketh +the clouds His chariot," we define and explain ourselves into dim and +distant suspicion of an inactive God inhabiting inconceivable places, +and fading into the multitudinous formalisms of the laws of Nature. +All errors of this kind--and in the present day we are in constant and +grievous danger of falling into them--arise from the originally +mistaken idea that man can, "by searching, find out God--find out the +Almighty to perfection"--that is to say, by help of courses of +reasoning and accumulations of science, apprehend the nature of the +Deity, in a more exalted and more accurate manner than in a state of +comparative ignorance; whereas it is clearly necessary, from the +beginning to the end of time, that God's way of revealing Himself to +His creatures should be a _simple_ way, which _all_ those creatures +may understand. Whether taught or untaught, whether of mean capacity +or enlarged, it is necessary that communion with their Creator should +be possible to all; and the admission to such communion must be +rested, not on their having a knowledge of astronomy, but on their +having a human soul. In order to render this communion possible, the +Deity has stooped from His throne, and has, not only in the person of +the Son, taken upon Him the veil of our human _flesh_, but, in the +person of the Father, taken upon Him the veil of our human _thoughts_, +and permitted us, by His own spoken authority, to conceive Him simply +and clearly as a loving father and friend; a being to be walked with +and reasoned with, to be moved by our entreaties, angered by our +rebellion, alienated by our coldness, pleased by our love, and +glorified by our labour; and, finally, to be beheld in immediate and +active presence in all the powers and changes of creation. This +conception of God, which is the child's, is evidently the only one +which can be universal, and, therefore, the only one which _for us_ +can be true. The moment that, in our pride of heart, we refuse to +accept the condescension of the Almighty, and desire Him, instead of +stooping to hold our hands, to rise up before us into His glory, we +hoping that, by standing on a grain of dust or two of human knowledge +higher than our fellows, we may behold the Creator as He rises,--God +takes us at our word. He rises into His own invisible and +inconceivable majesty; He goes forth upon the ways which are not our +ways, and retires into the thoughts which are not our thoughts; and we +are left alone. And presently we say in our vain hearts, "There is no +God." + +[18] This passage, to the end of the section, is one of the last, and +best, which I wrote in the temper of my youth; and I can still ratify +it, thus far, that the texts referred to in it must either be received +as it explains them, or neglected altogether. + +I would desire, therefore, to receive God's account of His own +creation as under the ordinary limits of human knowledge and +imagination it would be received by a simple-minded man; and finding +that "the heavens and the earth" are spoken of always as having +something like equal relation to each other, ("Thus the heavens and +the earth were finished, and all the host of them,") I reject at once +all idea of the term "heavens" being intended to signify the infinity +of space inhabited by countless worlds; for between those infinite +heavens and the particle of sand, which not the earth only, but the +sun itself, with all the solar system, is, in relation to them, no +relation of equality or comparison could be inferred. But I suppose +the heavens to mean that part of creation which holds equal +companionship with our globe; I understand the "rolling of these +heavens together as a scroll," to be an equal and relative destruction +with the melting of the elements in fervent heat; and I understand the +making of the firmament to signify that, so far as man is concerned, +most magnificent ordinance of the clouds;--the ordinance that, as the +great plain of waters was formed on the face of the earth, so also a +plain of waters should be stretched along the height of air, and the +face of the cloud answer the face of the ocean; and that this upper +and heavenly plain should be of waters, as it were, glorified in their +nature, no longer quenching the fire, but now bearing fire in their +own bosoms; no longer murmuring only when the winds raise them or +rocks divide, but answering each other with their own voices, from +pole to pole; no longer restrained by established shores, and guided +through unchanging channels, but going forth at their pleasure like +the armies of the angels, and choosing their encampments upon the +heights of the hills; no longer hurried downwards for ever, moving but +to fall, nor lost in the lightless accumulation of the abyss, but +covering the east and west with the waving of their wings, and robing +the gloom of the farther infinite with a vesture of diverse colours, +of which the threads are purple and scarlet, and the embroideries +flame. + +This I believe is the ordinance of the firmament; and it seems to me +that in the midst of the material nearness of these heavens, God means +us to acknowledge His own immediate presence as visiting, judging, and +blessing us: "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the +presence of God." "He doth set His bow in the clouds," and thus +renews, in the sound of every drooping swathe of rain, His promises of +everlasting love. "In them hath He set a _tabernacle_ for the sun;" +whose burning ball, which, without the firmament, would be seen but as +an intolerable and scorching circle in the blackness of vacuity, is by +that firmament surrounded with gorgeous service, and tempered by +mediatorial ministries: by the firmament of clouds the temple is +built, for his presence to fill with light at noon; by the firmament +of clouds the purple veil is closed at evening, round the sanctuary of +his rest; by the mists of the firmament his implacable light is +divided, and its separated fierceness appeased into the soft blue that +fills the depth of distance with its bloom, and the flush with which +the mountains burn, as they drink the overflowing of the dayspring. +And in this tabernacling of the unendurable sun with men, through the +shadows of the firmament, God would seem to set forth the stooping of +His own Majesty to men, upon the throne of the firmament. As the +Creator of all the worlds, and the Inhabiter of eternity, we cannot +behold Him; but as the Judge of the earth and the Preserver of men, +those heavens are indeed His dwelling-place: "Swear not, neither by +heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His +footstool!" And all those passings to and fro of fruitful showers and +grateful shade, and all those visions of silver palaces built about +the horizon, and voices of moaning winds and threatening thunders, and +glories of coloured robe and cloven ray, are but to deepen in our +hearts the acceptance, and distinctness, and dearness of the simple +words, "Our Father, which art in heaven." + + + + +SECTION IV. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: STREAMS AND SEA. + + +27. Of all inorganic substances, acting in their own proper nature, +and without assistance and combination, water is the most wonderful. +If we think of it as the source of all the changefulness and beauty +which we have seen in clouds,--then, as the instrument by which the +earth we have contemplated was modelled into symmetry, and its crags +chiselled into grace;--then, as in the form of snow, it robes the +mountains it has made with that transcendent light which we could not +have conceived if we had not seen;--then, as it exists in the foam of +the torrent, in the iris which spans it, in the morning mist which +rises from it, in the deep crystalline pools which mirror its hanging +shore, in the broad lake and glancing river;--finally, in that which +is to all human minds the best emblem of unwearied, unconquerable +power the wild, various, fantastic, tameless unity of the sea;--what +shall we compare to this mighty, this universal element, for glory and +beauty? or how shall we follow its eternal changefulness of feeling? +It is like trying to paint a soul! + + +28. The great angel of the sea--rain; the angel, observe,--the +messenger sent to a special place on a special errand. Not the +diffused, perpetual presence of the burden of mist, but the going and +returning of the intermittent cloud. All turns upon that +intermittence. Soft moss on stone and rock; cave fern of tangled glen; +wayside well--perennial, patient, silent, clear, stealing through its +square font of rough-hewn stone; ever thus deep, no more;--which the +winter wreck sullies not, the summer thirst wastes not, incapable of +stain as of decline;--where the fallen leaf floats undecayed, and the +insect darts undefiling: cressed brook and ever-eddying river, lifted +even in flood scarcely over its stepping stones,--but through all +sweet summer keeping tremulous music with harp-strings of dark water +among the silver fingering of the pebbles. Far away in the south the +strong river gods have all hasted, and gone down to the sea. Wasted +and burning, white furnaces of blasting sand, their broad beds lie +ghastly and bare; but here in the moss lands, the soft wings of the +sea angel droop still with dew, and the shadows of their plumes falter +on the hills; strange laughings and glitterings of silver streamlets, +born suddenly, and twined about the mossy heights in trickling tinsel, +answering to them as they wave. + + +29. Stand for half an hour beside the fall of Schaffhausen, on the +north side, where the rapids are long, and watch how the vault of +water first bends unbroken, in pure polished velocity, over the +arching rocks at the brow of the cataract, covering them with a dome +of crystal twenty feet thick, so swift that its motion is unseen +except when a foam globe from above darts over it like a falling star; +and how the trees are lighted above it under all their leaves,[19] at +the instant that it breaks into foam; and how all the hollows of that +foam burn with green fire like so much shattering chrysoprase; and +how, ever and anon startling you with its white flash, a jet of spray +leaps hissing out of the fall, like a rocket, bursting in the wind and +driven away in dust, filling the air with light; and how through the +curdling wreaths of the restless crashing abyss below, the blue of the +water, paled by the foam in its body, shows purer than the sky through +white rain-cloud, while the shuddering iris stoops in tremulous +stillness over all, fading and flushing alternately through the +choking spray and shattered sunshine, hiding itself at last among the +thick golden leaves which toss to and fro in sympathy with the wild +water,--their dripping masses lifted at intervals, like sheaves of +loaded corn, by some stronger gush from the cataract, and bowed again +upon the mossy rocks as its roar dies away,--the dew gushing from +their thick branches through drooping clusters of emerald herbage, and +sparkling in white threads along the dark rocks of the shore, feeding +the lichens, which chase and chequer them with purple and silver. + +[19] Well noticed. The drawing of the fall of Schaffhausen, which I made +at the time of writing this study, was one of the very few, either by +other draughtsmen or myself, which I have seen Turner pause at with +serious attention. + + +30. Close beside the path by which travellers ascend the Montanvert +from the valley of Chamouni, on the right hand, where it first begins +to rise among the pines, there descends a small stream from the foot +of the granite peak known to the guides as the Aiguille Charmoz. It is +concealed from the traveller by a thicket of alder, and its murmur is +hardly heard, for it is one of the weakest streams of the valley. But +it is a constant stream, fed by a permanent, though small, glacier; +and continuing to flow even to the close of summer, when more copious +torrents, depending only on the melting of the lower snows, have left +their beds,--"stony channels in the sun." The long drought which took +place in the autumn of 1854, sealing every source of waters except +these perpetual ones, left the torrent of which I am speaking, and +such others, in a state peculiarly favourable to observance of their +_least_ action on the mountains from which they descend. They were +entirely limited to their own ice fountains, and the quantity of +powdered rock which they brought down was, of course, at its minimum, +being nearly unmingled with any earth derived from the dissolution of +softer soil, or vegetable mould, by rains. At three in the afternoon, +on a warm day in September, when the torrent had reached its average +maximum strength for the day, I filled an ordinary Bordeaux wine flask +with the water where it was least turbid. From this quart of water I +obtained twenty-four grains of sand and sediment more or less fine. I +cannot estimate the quantity of water in the stream; but the runlet of +it at which I filled the flask was giving about two hundred bottles a +minute, or rather more, carrying down, therefore, about three quarters +of a pound of powdered granite every minute. This would be forty-five +pounds an hour; but allowing for the inferior power of the stream in +the cooler periods of the day, and taking into consideration, on the +other side, its increased power in rain, we may, I think, estimate its +average hour's work at twenty-eight or thirty pounds, or a +hundredweight every four hours. By this insignificant runlet, +therefore, rather more than two tons of the substance of the Mont +Blanc are displaced and carried down a certain distance every week; +and as it is only for three or four months that the flow of the stream +is checked by frost, we may certainly allow eighty tons for the mass +which it annually moves. It is not worth while to enter into any +calculation of the relation borne by this runlet to the great torrents +which descend from the chain of Mont Blanc into the valley of +Chamouni.[20] I but take this quantity, eighty tons, as the result of +the labour of a scarcely noticeable runlet at the side of one of them, +utterly irrespective of all sudden falls of stones and of masses of +mountain (a single thunderbolt will sometimes leave a scar on the +flank of a soft rock looking like a trench for a railroad), and we +shall then begin to apprehend something of the operation of the great +laws of change which are the conditions of all material existence, +however apparently enduring. The hills, which, as compared with living +beings, seem "everlasting," are in truth as perishing as they; its +veins of flowing fountain weary the mountain heart, as the crimson +pulse does ours; the natural force of the iron crag is abated in its +appointed time, like the strength of the sinews in a human old age; +and it is but the lapse of the longer years of decay which, in the +sight of its Creator, distinguishes the mountain range from the moth +and the worm. + +[20] I have slightly modified and abridged what follows, being impatient +of its prolixity, as well as ashamed of what is truly called the +ludicrous under-estimate of the mass of the larger streams. + + +31. Few people, comparatively, have ever seen the effect on the sea of +a powerful gale continued without intermission for three or four days +and nights; and to those who have not, I believe it must be +unimaginable, not from the mere force or size of surge, but from the +complete annihilation of the limit between sea and air. The water, +from its prolonged agitation, is beaten, not into mere creamy foam, +but into masses of accumulated yeast, which hang in ropes and wreaths +from wave to wave; and where one curls over to break, form a festoon +like a drapery from its edge; these are taken up by the wind, not in +dissipating dust, but bodily, in writhing, hanging, coiling masses, +which make the air white, and thick as with snow, only the flakes are +a foot or two long each; the surges themselves are full of foam in +their very bodies, underneath, making them white all through, as the +water is under a great cataract,--and their masses, being thus half +water and half air, are torn to pieces by the wind whenever they rise, +and carried away in roaring smoke, which chokes and strangles like +actual water. Add to this, that when the air has been exhausted of its +moisture by long rain, the spray of the sea is caught by it as +described above, and covers its surface not merely with the smoke of +finely divided water, but with boiling mist: imagine also the low +rain-clouds brought down to the very level of the sea, as I have often +seen them, whirling and flying in rags and fragments from wave to +wave; and finally conceive the surges themselves in their utmost pitch +of power, velocity, vastness, and madness, lifting themselves in +precipices and peaks furrowed with their whirl of ascent, through all +this chaos; and you will understand that there is indeed no +distinction left between the sea and air; that no object, nor horizon, +nor any landmark, or natural evidence of position is left; that the +heaven is all spray, and the ocean all cloud, and that you can see no +farther in any direction than you could see through a cataract.[21] + +[21] The whole of this was written merely to show the meaning of +Turner's picture of the steamer in distress, throwing up signals. It is +a good study of wild weather; but, separate from its aim, utterly feeble +in comparison to the few words by which any of the great poets will +describe sea, when they have got to do it. I am rather proud of the +short sentence in the 'Harbours of England,' describing a great breaker +against rock:--"One moment, a flint cave,--the next, a marble +pillar,--the next, a fading cloud." But there is nothing in +sea-description, detailed, like Dickens' storm at the death of Ham, in +'David Copperfield.' + + + + +SECTION V. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: MOUNTAINS. + + +32. The words which marked for us the purpose of the clouds are +followed immediately by those notable ones,--"And God said, Let the +waters which are under the heavens be gathered together into one +place, and let the dry land appear." We do not, perhaps, often enough +consider the deep signification of this sentence. We are too apt to +receive it as the description of an event vaster only in its extent, +not in its nature, than the compelling of the Red Sea to draw back +that Israel might pass by. We imagine the Deity in like manner rolling +the waves of the greater ocean together on an heap, and setting bars +and doors to them eternally. But there is a far deeper meaning than +this in the solemn words of Genesis, and in the correspondent verse of +the Psalm, "His hands prepared the dry land." Up to that moment the +earth had been _void_; for, it had been _without_ _form_. The command +that the waters should be gathered, was the command that the earth +should be _sculptured_. The sea was not driven to its place in +suddenly restrained rebellion, but withdrawn to its place in perfect +and patient obedience. The dry land appeared, not in level sands +forsaken by the surges, which those surges might again claim for their +own; but in range beyond range of swelling hill and iron rock, for +ever to claim kindred with the firmament, and be companioned by the +clouds of heaven. + +What space of time was in reality occupied by the "day" of Genesis, is +not at present of any importance for us to consider. By what furnaces +of fire the adamant was melted, and by what wheels of earthquake it +was torn, and by what teeth of glacier and weight of sea-waves it was +engraven and finished into its perfect form, we may, perhaps, +hereafter endeavour to conjecture; but here, as in few words the work +is summed by the historian, so in few broad thoughts it should be +comprehended by us; and, as we read the mighty sentence, "Let the dry +land appear," we should try to follow the finger of God as it engraved +upon the stone tables of the earth the letters and the law of its +everlasting form, as gulf by gulf the channels of the deep were +ploughed; and cape by cape the lines were traced with Divine +foreknowledge of the shores that were to limit the nations; and chain +by chain the mountain walls were lengthened forth, and their +foundations fastened for ever; and the compass was set upon the face +of the depth, and the fields and the highest part of the dust of the +world were made; and the right hand of Christ first strewed the snow +on Lebanon, and smoothed the slopes of Calvary. + +It is not, I repeat, always needful, in many respects it is not +possible, to conjecture the manner or the time in which this work was +done; but it is deeply necessary for all men to consider the +magnificence of the accomplished purpose, and the depth of the wisdom +and love which are manifested in the ordinances of the hills. For +observe, in order to bring the world into the form which it now bears, +it was not mere _sculpture_ that was needed; the mountains could not +stand for a day unless they were formed of materials altogether +different from those which constitute the lower hills, and the +surfaces of the valleys. A harder substance had to be prepared for +every mountain chain, yet not so hard but that it might be capable of +crumbling down into earth fit to nourish the Alpine forest, and the +Alpine flower; not so hard but that in the midst of the utmost majesty +of its enthroned strength there should be seen on it the seal of +death, and the writing of the same sentence that had gone forth +against the human frame, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou +return." And with this perishable substance the most majestic forms +were to be framed that were consistent with the safety of man; and the +peak was to be lifted and the cliff rent, as high and as steeply as +was possible, in order yet to permit the shepherd to feed his flocks +upon the slopes, and the cottage to nestle beneath their shadow. And +observe, two distinct ends were to be accomplished in doing this. It +was, indeed, absolutely necessary that such eminences should be +created, in order to fit the earth in any wise for human habitation; +for without mountains the air could not be purified, nor the flowing +of the rivers sustained, and the earth must have become for the most +part plain, or stagnant marsh. But the feeding of the rivers and the +purifying of the winds, are the least of the services appointed to the +hills. To fill the thirst of the human heart for the beauty of God's +working--to startle its lethargy with the deep and pure agitation of +astonishment,--are their higher missions. They are as a great and +noble architecture, first giving shelter, comfort, and rest; and +covered also with mighty sculpture and painted legend. It is +impossible to examine, in their connected system, the features of even +the most ordinary mountain scenery, without concluding that it has +been prepared in order to unite as far as possible, and in the closest +compass, every means of delighting and sanctifying the heart of man: +"as far as _possible_,"--that is, as far as is consistent with the +fulfilment of the sentence of condemnation on the whole earth. Death +must be upon the hills; and the cruelty of the tempests smite them, +and the briar and thorn spring up upon them; but they so smite as to +bring their rocks into the fairest forms, and so spring as to make the +very desert blossom as the rose. Even among our own hills of Scotland +and Cumberland, though often too barren to be perfectly beautiful, and +always too low to be perfectly sublime, it is strange how many deep +sources of delight are gathered into the compass of their glens and +vales; and how, down to the most secret cluster of their far-away +flowers, and the idlest leap of their straying streamlets, the whole +heart of Nature seems thirsting to give, and still to give, shedding +forth her everlasting beneficence with a profusion so patient, so +passionate, that our utmost observance and thankfulness are but, at +last, neglects of her nobleness, and apathy to her love. But among the +true mountains of the greater orders, the Divine purpose of appeal at +once to all the faculties of the human spirit becomes still more +manifest. Inferior hills ordinarily interrupt, in some degree, the +richness of the valleys at their feet; the grey downs of southern +England and treeless coteaux of central France, and grey swells of +Scottish moor, whatever peculiar charm they may possess in themselves, +are at least destitute of those which belong to the woods and fields +of the lowlands. But the great mountains _lift_ the lowlands on _their +sides_. Let the reader imagine first the appearance of the most varied +plain of some richly cultivated country; let him imagine it dark with +graceful woods, and soft with deepest pastures; let him fill the space +of it, to the utmost horizon, with innumerable and changeful incidents +of scenery and life; leading pleasant streamlets through its meadows, +strewing clusters of cottages beside their banks, tracing sweet +footpaths through its avenues, and animating its fields with happy +flocks, and slow wandering spots of cattle; and when he has wearied +himself with endless imagining, and left no space without some +loveliness of its own, let him conceive all this great plain, with its +infinite treasures of natural beauty, and happy human life, gathered +up in God's hands from one edge of the horizon to the other, like a +woven garment, and shaken into deep falling folds, as the robes droop +from a king's shoulders; all its bright rivers leaping into cataracts +along the hollows of its fall, and all its forests rearing themselves +aslant against its slopes, as a rider rears himself back when his +horse plunges, and all its villages nestling themselves into the new +windings of its glens, and all its pastures thrown into steep waves of +greensward, dashed with dew along the edges of their folds, and +sweeping down into endless slopes, with a cloud here and there lying +quietly, half on the grass, half in the air,--and he will have as yet, +in all this lifted world, only the foundation of one of the great +Alps. And whatever is lovely in the lowland scenery, becomes lovelier +in this change; the trees which grew heavily and stiffly from the +level line of plain, assume strange curves of strength and grace as +they bend themselves against the mountain side; they breathe more +freely and toss their branches more carelessly as each climbs higher, +looking to the clear light above the topmost leaves of its brother +tree; the flowers which on the arable plain fall before the plough, +now find out for themselves unapproachable places where year by year +they gather into happier fellowship, and fear no evil; and the streams +which in the level land crept in dark eddies by unwholesome banks, now +move in showers of silver, and are clothed with rainbows, and bring +health and life wherever the glance of their waves can reach.... + +It may not, therefore, be altogether profitless or unnecessary to +review briefly the nature of the three great offices which mountain +ranges are appointed to fulfil, in order to preserve the health and +increase the happiness of mankind. Their first use is, of course, to +give motion to water. Every fountain and river, from the inch-deep +streamlet that crosses the village lane in trembling clearness, to the +massy and silent march of the everlasting multitude of waters in +Amazon or Ganges, owe their play, and purity, and power, to the +ordained elevations of the earth. Gentle or steep, extended or abrupt, +some determined slope of the earth's surface is of course necessary +before any wave can so much as overtake one sedge in its pilgrimage; +and how seldom do we enough consider, as we walk beside the margins of +our pleasant brooks, how beautiful and wonderful is that ordinance, of +which every blade of grass that waves in their clear water is a +perpetual sign--that the dew and rain fallen on the face of the earth +shall find no resting-place; shall find, on the contrary, fixed +channels traced for them from the ravines of the central crests down +which they roar, in sudden ranks of foam, to the dark hollows beneath +the banks of lowland pasture, round which they must circle slowly +among the stems and beneath the leaves of the lilies; paths prepared +for them by which, at some appointed rate of journey, they must +evermore descend, sometimes slow, and sometimes swift, but never +pausing; the daily portion of the earth they have to glide over marked +for them at each successive sunrise, the place which has known them +knowing them no more, and the gateways of guarding mountains opened +for them in cleft and chasm, none letting them in their pilgrimage; +and, from afar off, the great heart of the sea calling them to itself! +"Deep calleth unto deep." I know not which of the two is the more +wonderful,--that calm, gradated, invisible slope of the champaign +land, which gives motion to the stream; or that passage cloven for it +through the ranks of hill, which, necessary for the health of the land +immediately around them, would yet, unless so supernaturally divided, +have fatally intercepted the flow of the waters from far-off +countries. When did the great spirit of the river first knock at these +adamantine gates? When did the porter open to it, and cast his keys +away for ever, lapped in whirling sand? I am not satisfied--no one +should be satisfied--with that vague answer, The river cut its way. +Not so. The river _found_ its way. [22]I do not see that rivers in +their own strength can do much in cutting their way; they are nearly +as apt to choke their channels up as to carve them out. Only give a +river some little sudden power in a valley, and see how it will use +it. Cut itself a bed? Not so, by any means, but fill up its bed; and +look for another in a wild, dissatisfied, inconsistent manner,--any +way rather than the old one will better please it; and even if it is +banked up and forced to keep to the old one, it will not deepen, but +do all it can to raise it, and leap out of it. And although wherever +water has a steep fall it will swiftly cut itself a bed deep into the +rock or ground, it will not, when the rock is hard, cut a wider +channel than it actually needs; so that if the existing river beds, +through ranges of mountains, had in reality been cut by the streams, +they would be found, wherever the rocks are hard, only in the form of +narrow and profound ravines, like the well-known channel of the +Niagara, below the fall; not in that of extended valleys. And the +actual work of true mountain rivers, though often much greater in +proportion to their body of water than that of the Niagara, is quite +insignificant when compared with the area and depth of the valleys +through which they flow; so that, although in many cases it appears +that those larger valleys have been excavated at earlier periods by +more powerful streams, or by the existing stream in a more powerful +condition, still the great fact remains always equally plain, and +equally admirable, that, whatever the nature and duration of the +agencies employed, the earth was so shaped at first as to direct the +currents of its rivers in the manner most healthy and convenient for +man. The valley of the Rhone may have been in great part excavated, in +early times, by torrents a thousand times larger than the Rhone; but +it could not have been excavated at all, unless the mountains had been +thrown at first into two chains, by which the torrents were set to +work in a given direction. And it is easy to conceive how, under any +less beneficent dispositions of their masses of hill, the continents +of the earth might either have been covered with enormous lakes, as +parts of North America actually are covered; or have become +wildernesses of pestiferous marsh; or lifeless plains, upon which the +water would have dried as it fell, leaving them for great part of the +year desert. Such districts do exist, and exist in vastness; the whole +earth is not prepared for the habitation of man; only certain small +portions are prepared for him,--the houses, as it were, of the human +race, from which they are to look abroad upon the rest of the world; +not to wonder or complain that it is not all house, but to be grateful +for the kindness of the admirable building, in the house itself, as +compared with the rest. It would be as absurd to think it an evil that +all the world is not fit for us to inhabit, as to think it an evil +that the globe is no larger than it is. As much as we shall ever need +is evidently assigned to us for our dwelling-place; the rest, covered +with rolling waves or drifting sands, fretted with ice or crested with +fire, is set before us for contemplation in an uninhabitable +magnificence. And that part which we are enabled to inhabit owes its +fitness for human life chiefly to its mountain ranges, which, throwing +the superfluous rain off as it falls, collect it in streams or lakes, +and guide it into given places, and in given directions; so that men +can build their cities in the midst of fields which they know will be +always fertile, and establish the lines of their commerce upon streams +which will not fail. + +[22] I attach great importance to the remaining contents of this +passage, and have had occasion to insist on them at great length in +recent lectures at Oxford. + +Nor is this giving of motion to water to be considered as confined +only to the surface of the earth. A no less important function of the +hills is in directing the flow of the fountains and springs from +subterranean reservoirs. There is no miraculous springing up of water +out of the ground at our feet; but every fountain and well is supplied +from reservoirs among the hills, so placed as to involve some slight +fall or pressure enough to secure the constant flowing of the stream; +and the incalculable blessing of the power given to us, in most +valleys, of reaching by excavation some point whence the water will +rise to the surface of the ground in perennial flow, is entirely owing +to the concave dispositions of the beds of clay or rock raised from +beneath the bosom of the valley into ranks of enclosing hills. + +The second great use of mountains is to maintain a constant change in +the currents and nature of the _air_. Such change would, of course, +have been partly caused by difference in soil and vegetation, even if +the earth had been level; but to a far less extent than it is now by +the chains of hills which--exposing on one side their masses of rock +to the full heat of the sun, (increased by the angle at which the rays +strike on the slope,) and on the other casting a soft shadow for +leagues over the plains at their feet--divide the earth not only into +districts, but into climates; and cause perpetual currents of air to +traverse their passes in a thousand different states; moistening it +with the spray of their waterfalls, sucking it down and beating it +hither and thither in the pools of their torrents, closing it within +clefts and caves, where the sunbeams never reach, till it is as cold +as November mists; then sending it forth again to breathe lightly +across the slopes of velvet fields, or to be scorched among sunburnt +shales and grassless crags; then drawing it back in moaning swirls +through clefts of ice, and up into dewy wreaths above the snow-fields; +then piercing it with strange electric darts and flashes of mountain +fire, and tossing it high in fantastic storm-cloud, as the dried grass +is tossed by the mower, only suffering it to depart at last, when +chastened and pure, to refresh the faded air of the far-off plains. + +The third great use of mountains is to cause perpetual change in the +_soils_ of the earth. Without such provision the ground under +cultivation would in a series of years become exhausted, and require +to be upturned laboriously by the hand of man. But the elevations of +the earth's surface provide for it a perpetual renovation. The higher +mountains suffer their summits to be broken into fragments, and to be +cast down in sheets of massy rock, full, as we shall see presently, of +every substance necessary for the nourishment of plants; these fallen +fragments are again broken by frost, and ground by torrents, into +various conditions of sand and clay--materials which are distributed +perpetually by the streams farther and farther from the mountain's +base. Every shower that swells the rivulet enables their waters to +carry certain portions of earth into new positions, and exposes new +banks of ground to be mined in their turn. That turbid foaming of the +angry water,--that tearing down of bank and rock along the flanks of +its fury,--are no disturbances of the kind course of nature; they are +beneficent operations of laws necessary to the existence of man, and +to the beauty of the earth. The process is continued more gently, but +not less effectively, over all the surface of the lower undulating +country; and each filtering thread of summer rain which trickles +through the short turf of the uplands is bearing its own appointed +burden of earth to be thrown down on some new natural garden in the +dingles beneath. + +I have not spoken of the local and peculiar utilities of mountains. I +do not count the benefit of the supply of summer streams from the +moors of the higher ranges,--of the various medicinal plants which are +nested among their rocks,--of the delicate pasturage which they +furnish for cattle,--of the forests in which they bear timber for +shipping,--the stones they supply for building, or the ores of metal +which they collect into spots open to discovery, and easy for working. +All these benefits are of a secondary or a limited nature. But the +three great functions which I have just described, those of giving +motion and change to water, air, and earth, are indispensable to human +existence; they are operations to be regarded with as full a depth of +gratitude as the laws which bid the tree bear fruit, or the seed +multiply itself in the earth. And thus those desolate and threatening +ranges of dark mountain, which in nearly all ages of the world men +have looked upon with aversion, or with terror, and shrunk back from +as if they were haunted by perpetual images of death, are in reality +sources of life and happiness far fuller and more beneficent than all +the bright fruitfulness of the plain. The valleys only feed; the +mountains feed, and guard, and strengthen us. We take our idea of +fearlessness and sublimity alternately from the mountains and the sea; +but we associate them unjustly. The sea-wave, with all its +beneficence, is yet devouring and terrible; but the silent wave of the +blue mountain is lifted towards heaven in a stillness of perpetual +mercy; and the one surge, unfathomable in its darkness, the other +unshaken in its faithfulness, for ever bear the seal of their +appointed symbolism:-- + +"Thy _righteousness_ is like the great mountains; + +"Thy _judgments_ are a great deep." + + +33. Mountains are to the rest of the body of the earth, what violent +muscular action is to the body of man. The muscles and tendons of its +anatomy are, in the mountain, brought out with force and convulsive +energy, full of expression, passion, and strength; the plains and the +lower hills are the repose and the effortless motion of the frame, +when its muscles lie dormant and concealed beneath the lines of its +beauty,--yet ruling those lines in their every undulation. This then +is the first grand principle of the truth of the earth. The spirit of +the hills is action, that of the lowlands repose; and between these +there is to be found every variety of motion and rest, from the +inactive plain, sleeping like the firmament, with cities for stars, to +the fiery peaks, which, with heaving bosoms and exulting limbs, with +the clouds drifting like hair from their bright foreheads, lift up +their Titan heads to Heaven, saying, "I live for ever." + + +34. Where they are,[23] they seem to form the world; no mere bank of a +river here, or of a lane there, peeping out among the hedges or +forests, but from the lowest valley to the highest clouds, all is +theirs,--one adamantine dominion and rigid authority of rock. We yield +ourselves to the impression of their eternal unconquerable +stubbornness of strength; their mass seems the least yielding, least +to be softened, or in anywise dealt with by external force, of all +earthly substance. And behold, as we look further into it, it is all +touched and troubled, like waves by a summer breeze; rippled far more +delicately than seas or lakes are rippled; _they_ only undulate along +their surfaces--this rock trembles through its every fibre, like the +chords of an Eolian harp, like the stillest air of spring, with the +echoes of a child's voice. Into the heart of all those great +mountains, through every tossing of their boundless crests, and deep +beneath all their unfathomable defiles, flows that strange quivering +of their substance. Other and weaker things seem to express their +subjection to an Infinite Power only by momentary terrors: as the +weeds bow down before the feverish wind, and the sound of the going in +the tops of the taller trees passes on before the clouds, and the +fitful opening of pale spaces on the dark water, as if some invisible +hand were casting dust abroad upon it, gives warning of the anger that +is to come, we may well imagine that there is a fear passing upon the +grass, and leaves, and waters, at the presence of some great spirit +commissioned to let the tempest loose; but the terror passes, and +their sweet rest is perpetually restored to the pastures and the +waves. Not so to the mountains. They, which at first seem strengthened +beyond the dread of any violence or change, are yet also ordained to +bear upon them the symbol of a perpetual fear. The tremor which fades +from the soft lake and gliding river is sealed to all eternity upon +the rock; and while things that pass visibly from birth to death may +sometimes forget their feebleness, the mountains are made to possess a +perpetual memorial of their infancy--that infancy which the prophet +saw in his vision,[24]--"I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without +form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the +mountains, and lo, they _trembled_, and all the hills moved +_lightly_." + +[23] Passage written after I had got by some years cooler and wiser than +when I wrote No. 33, describing however the undulation of the gneiss +rocks, which, 'where they are, seem, to form the world,' in terms more +fanciful than I now like. + +[24] Utter misinterpretation of the passage. It is the old age, not the +childhood of earth, which Jeremiah describes in this passage. See its +true interpretation in 'Fors Clavigera,' Letter XLVI. + + +35. The longer I stayed among the Alps, and the more closely I +examined them, the more I was struck by the one broad fact of there +being a vast Alpine plateau, or mass of elevated land, upon which +nearly all the highest peaks stood like children set upon a table, +removed, in most cases, far back from the edge of the plateau,--as if +for fear of their falling; while the most majestic scenes in the Alps +are produced, not so much by any violation of this law, as by one of +the great peaks having apparently walked to the edge of the table to +look over, and thus showing itself suddenly above the valley in its +full height. This is the case with the Wetterhorn and Eiger at +Grindelwald, and with the Grande Jorasse above the Col de Ferret. But +the raised bank or table is always intelligibly in existence, even in +these apparently exceptional cases; and for the most part, the great +peaks are not allowed to come to the edge of it, but remain like the +keeps of castles far withdrawn, surrounded, league beyond league, by +comparatively level fields of mountain, over which the lapping sheets +of glacier writhe and flow, foaming about the feet of the dark central +crests like the surf of an enormous sea-breaker hurled over a rounded +rock, and islanding some fragment of it in the midst. And the result +of this arrangement is a kind of division of the whole of Switzerland +into an upper and lower mountain world,--the lower world consisting of +rich valleys, bordered by steep, but easily accessible, wooded banks +of mountain, more or less divided by ravines, through which glimpses +are caught of the higher Alps; the upper world, reached after the +first banks of 3,000 or 4,000 feet in height have been surmounted, +consisting of comparatively level but most desolate tracts of moor and +rock, half covered by glacier, and stretching to the feet of the true +pinnacles of the chain. It can hardly be necessary to point out the +perfect wisdom and kindness of this arrangement, as a provision for +the safety of the inhabitants of the high mountain regions. If the +great peaks rose at once from the deepest valleys, every stone which +was struck from their pinnacles, and every snow-wreath which slipped +from their ledges, would descend at once upon the inhabitable ground, +over which no year would pass without recording some calamity of +earth-slip or avalanche; while in the course of their fall both the +stones and the snow would strip the woods from the hillsides, leaving +only naked channels of destruction where there are now the sloping +meadow and the chestnut glade. Besides this, the masses of snow, cast +down at once into the warmer air, would all melt rapidly in the +spring, causing furious inundation of every great river for a month or +six weeks. The snow being then all thawed, except what lay upon the +highest peaks in regions of nearly perpetual frost, the rivers would +be supplied during the summer only by fountains, and the feeble +tricklings on sunny days from the high snows. The Rhone, under such +circumstances, would hardly be larger, in summer, than the Severn, and +many Swiss valleys would be left almost without moisture. All these +calamities are prevented by the peculiar Alpine structure which has +been described. The broken rocks and the sliding snow of the high +peaks, instead of being dashed at once to the vales, are caught upon +the desolate shelves, or shoulders, which everywhere surround the +central crests. The soft banks which terminate these shelves, +traversed by no falling fragments, clothe themselves with richest +wood, while the masses of snow heaped upon the ledge above them, in a +climate neither so warm as to thaw them quickly in the spring, nor so +cold as to protect them from all the power of the summer sun, either +form themselves into glaciers, or remain in slowly wasting fields even +to the close of the year,--in either case supplying constant, +abundant, and regular streams to the villages and pastures beneath, +and to the rest of Europe, noble and navigable rivers. + +Now, that such a structure is the best and wisest possible,[25] is +indeed sufficient reason for its existence, and to many people it may +seem useless to question farther respecting its origin. But I can +hardly conceive any one standing face to face with one of these towers +of central rock, and yet not also asking himself, Is this indeed the +actual first work of the Divine Master, on which I gaze? Was the great +precipice shaped by His finger, as Adam was shaped out of the dust? +Were its clefts and ledges carved upon it by its Creator, as the +letters were on the tables of the law, and was it thus left to bear +its eternal testimony to His beneficence among these clouds of Heaven? +Or is it the descendant of a long race of mountains, existing under +appointed laws of birth and endurance, death and decrepitude? There +can be no doubt as to the answer. The rock itself answers audibly by +the murmur of some falling stone or rending pinnacle. It is _not_ as +it was once. Those waste leagues around its feet are loaded with the +wrecks of what it was. On these perhaps, of all mountains, the +characters of decay are written most clearly; around these are spread +most gloomily the memorials of their pride, and the signs of their +humiliation. + +[25] Of course I had seen every other tried before giving this +favourable judgment. + +What then were they once? The only answer is yet again--"Behold the +cloud!" + + +36. There are many spots among the inferior ridges of the Alps, such +as the Col de Ferret, the Col d'Anterne, and the associated ranges of +the Buet, which, though commanding prospects of great nobleness, are +themselves very nearly types of all that is most painful to the human +mind. Vast wastes of mountain ground,[26] covered here and there with +dull grey grass or moss, but breaking continually into black banks of +shattered slate, all glistening and sodden with slow tricklings of +clogged, incapable streams; the snow-water oozing through them in a +cold sweat, and spreading itself in creeping stains among their dust; +ever and anon a shaking here and there, and a handful or two of their +particles or flakes trembling down, one sees not why, into more total +dissolution, leaving a few jagged teeth, like the edges of knives +eaten away by vinegar, projecting, through the half-dislodged mass, +from the inner rock; keen enough to cut the hand or foot that rests on +them, yet crumbling as they wound, and soon sinking again into the +smooth, slippery, glutinous heap; looking like a beach of black scales +of dead fish cast ashore from a poisonous sea, and sloping away into +foul ravines, branched down immeasurable slopes of barrenness, where +the winds howl and wander continually, and the snow lies in wasted and +sorrowful fields covered with sooty dust, that collects in streaks and +stains at the bottom of all its thawing ripples. + +[26] This is a fourth volume passage,--and I will venture to say of it, +as Albert Dürer, when he was pleased with his work--that for what it has +to do, it cannot be much better done. It is a study on the Col de Bon +Homme. + +I know of no other scenes so appalling as these in storm, or so woful +in sunshine. Where, however, these same rocks exist in more favourable +positions--that is to say, in gentler banks and at lower +elevations--they form a ground for the most luxuriant vegetation; and +the valleys of Savoy owe to them some of their loveliest +solitudes--exquisitely rich pastures, interspersed with arable and +orchard land, and shaded by groves of walnut and cherry. Scenes of +this kind, and of that just described, so singularly opposed, and +apparently brought together as foils to each other, are however +peculiar to certain beds of the slaty coherents, which are both vast +in elevation, and easy of destruction. In Wales and Scotland the same +groups of rocks possess far greater hardness, while they attain less +elevation; and the result is a totally different aspect of scenery. +The severity of the climate, and the comparative durableness of the +rock, forbid the rich vegetation; but the exposed summits, though +barren, are not subject to laws of destruction so rapid and fearful as +in Switzerland, and the natural colour of the rock is oftener +developed in the purples and greys which, mingled with the heather, +form the principal elements of the deep and beautiful distant blue of +the British hills. Their gentler mountain streams also permit the beds +of rock to remain in firm, though fantastic, forms along their banks, +and the gradual action of the cascades and eddies upon the slaty +cleavage produces many pieces of foreground scenery to which higher +hills can present no parallel. + + +37. Unlike Chamouni Aiguilles, there is no aspect of destruction about +the Matterhorn cliffs. They are not torn remnants of separating +spires, yielding, flake by flake, and band by band, to the continual +process of decay. They are, on the contrary, an unaltered monument, +seemingly sculptured long ago, the huge walls retaining yet the forms +into which they were first engraven, and standing like an Egyptian +temple;--delicately fronted, softly coloured, the suns of uncounted +ages rising and falling upon it continually, but still casting the +same line of shadows from east to west; still, century after century, +touching the same purple stains on the lotus pillars; while the desert +sand ebbs and flows about their feet, as those autumn leaves of rock +lie heaped and weak about the base of the Cervin. + +Is not this a strange type in the very heart and height of these +mysterious Alps--these wrinkled hills in their snowy, cold, +grey-haired old age, at first so silent, then, as we keep quiet at +their feet, muttering and whispering to us garrulously in broken and +dreaming fits, as it were, about their childhood,--is it not a strange +type of the things which "out of weakness are made strong"? If one of +these little flakes of mica sand, hurried in tremulous spangling along +the bottom of the ancient river, too light to sink, too faint to +float, almost too small for sight, could have had a mind given to it +as it was at last borne down with its kindred dust into the abysses of +the stream, and laid, (might it not have been thought?) for a hopeless +eternity, in the dark ooze, the most despised, forgotten, and feeble +of all earth's atoms; incapable of any use or change; not fit, down +there in the diluvial darkness, so much as to help an earth wasp to +build its nest, or feed the first fibre of a lichen; what would it +have thought, had it been told that one day, knitted into a strength +as of imperishable iron, rustless by the air, infusible by the flame, +out of the substance of it, with its fellows, the axe of God should +hew that Alpine tower?--that against _it_--poor, helpless mica +flake!--the wild north winds should rage in vain; beneath +_it_--low-fallen mica flake!--the snowy hills should lie bowed like +flocks of sheep, and the kingdoms of the earth fade away in unregarded +blue; and around _it_--weak, wave-drifted mica flake!--the great war +of the firmament should burst in thunder and yet stir it not; and the +fiery arrows and angry meteors of the night fall blunted back from it +into the air; and all the stars in the clear heaven should light, one +by one as they rose, new cressets upon the points of snow that fringed +its abiding-place on the imperishable spire? + + + + +SECTION VI. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: STONES. + + +38. There are no natural objects out of which more can be learned than +out of stones. They seem to have been created especially to reward a +patient observer. Nearly all other objects in nature can be seen to +some extent without patience, and are pleasant even in being half +seen. Trees, clouds, and rivers are enjoyable even by the careless; +but the stone under his foot has, for carelessness, nothing in it but +stumbling; no pleasure is languidly to be had out of it, nor food, nor +good of any kind; nothing but symbolism of the hard heart, and the +unfatherly gift. And yet, do but give it some reverence and +watchfulness, and there is bread of thought in it, more than in any +other lowly feature of all the landscape. For a stone, when it is +examined, will be found a mountain in miniature. The fineness of +Nature's work is so great, that into a single block, a foot or two in +diameter, she can compress as many changes of form and structure, on a +small scale, as she needs for her mountains on a large one; and taking +moss for forests, and grains of crystal for crags, the surface of a +stone in by far the plurality of instances is more interesting than +the surface of an ordinary hill; more fantastic in form, and +incomparably richer in colour. + + +39. On a Highland hillside are multitudinous clusters of fern and +heather; on an Alpine one, multitudinous groves of chestnut and pine. +The number of the things may be the same, but the sense of infinity is +in the latter case far greater, because the number is of nobler +things. Indeed, so far as mere magnitude of space occupied on the +field of the horizon is the measure of objects, a bank of earth ten +feet high may, if we stoop to the foot of it, be made to occupy just +as much of the sky as that bank of mountain at Villeneuve; nay, in +many respects, its little ravines and escarpments, watched with some +help of imagination, may become very sufficiently representative to us +of those of the great mountain; and in classing all water-worn +mountain ground under the general and humble term of Banks, I mean to +imply this relationship of structure between the smallest eminences +and the highest. But in this matter of superimposed _quantity_, the +distinctions of rank are at once fixed. The heap of earth bears its +few tufts of moss, or knots of grass; the Highland or Cumberland +mountain, its honeyed heathers or scented ferns; but the mass of the +bank at Martigny or Villeneuve has a vineyard in every cranny of its +rocks, and a chestnut grove on every crest of them.... The minute +mounds and furrows scattered up the side of that great promontory, +when they are actually approached after three or four hours' climbing, +turn into independent hills, with true _parks_ of lovely pasture-land +enclosed among them, and avenue after avenue of chestnuts, walnuts, +and pines bending round their bases; while in the deeper dingles, +populous villages, literally bound down to the rock by enormous trunks +of vine, which, first trained lightly over the loose stone roofs, have +in process of years cast their fruitful net over the whole village, +and fastened it to the ground under their purple weight and wayward +coils as securely as ever human heart was fastened to earth by the net +of the Flatterer. + + +40. When a rock of any kind has lain for some time exposed to the +weather, Nature finishes it in her own way. First she takes wonderful +pains about its forms, sculpturing it into exquisite variety of dent +and dimple, and rounding or hollowing it into contours which for +fineness no human hand can follow; then she colours it; and every one +of her touches of colour, instead of being a powder mixed with oil, is +a minute forest of living trees, glorious in strength and beauty, and +concealing wonders of structure. + + +41. On the broken rocks in the foreground in the crystalline groups, +the mosses seem to set themselves consentfully and deliberately to the +task of producing the most exquisite harmonies of colour in their +power. They will not conceal the form of the rock, but will gather +over it in little brown bosses, like small cushions of velvet, made of +mixed threads of dark ruby silk and gold, rounded over more subdued +films of white and grey, with lightly crisped and curled edges like +hoar frost on fallen leaves, and minute clusters of upright orange +stalks with pointed caps, and fibres of deep green, and gold, and +faint purple passing into black, all woven together, and following +with unimaginable fineness of gentle growth the undulation of the +stone they cherish, until it is charged with colour so that it can +receive no more; and instead of looking rugged, or cold, or stern, or +anything that a rock is held to be at heart, it seems to be clothed +with a soft dark leopard's skin, embroidered with arabesque of purple +and silver. + + +42. The colour of the white varieties of marble is of exquisite +delicacy, owing to the partial translucency of the pure rock; and it +has always appeared to me a most wonderful ordinance--one of the most +_marked_ pieces of purpose in the creation--that all the variegated +kinds should be comparatively opaque, so as to set off the colour on +the surface, while the white, which, if it had been opaque, would have +looked somewhat coarse, (as for instance common chalk does,) is +rendered just translucent enough to give an impression of extreme +purity, but not so translucent as to interfere in the least with the +distinctness of any forms into which it is wrought. The colours of +variegated marbles are also for the most part very beautiful, +especially those composed of purple, amber, and green, with white; and +there seems something notably attractive to the human mind in the +_vague_ and veined labyrinths of their arrangements. + + +43. I have often had occasion to allude to the apparent connection of +brilliancy of colour with vigour of life or purity of substance. This +is pre-eminently the case in the mineral kingdom. The perfection with +which the particles of any substance unite in crystallization, +corresponds in that kingdom to the vital power in organic nature; and +it is a universal law, that according to the purity of any substance, +and according to the energy of its crystallization, is its beauty or +brightness. Pure earths are white when in powder; and the same earths, +which are the constituents of clay and sand, form, when crystallized, +the emerald, ruby, sapphire, amethyst, and opal. + + +44. As we pass between the hills which have been shaken by earthquake +and torn by convulsion, we find that periods of perfect repose succeed +those of destruction. The pools of calm water lie clear beneath their +fallen rocks, the water-lilies gleam, and the reeds whisper among +their shadows; the village rises again over the forgotten graves, and +its church tower, white through the storm-light, proclaims a renewed +appeal to His protection in whose hand "are all the corners of the +earth, and the strength of the hills is His also." There is no +loveliness of Alpine valley that does not teach the same lesson. It is +just where "the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is +removed out of his place," that in process of years the fairest +meadows bloom between the fragments, the clearest rivulets murmur from +between their crevices among the flowers, and the clustered cottages, +each sheltered beneath some strength of mossy stone, now to be removed +no more, and with their pastured flocks around them, safe from the +eagle's stoop and the wolf's ravin, have written upon their fronts, in +simple words, the mountaineer's faith in the ancient +promise,--"Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction, when it +cometh; for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and +the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee." + + + + +SECTION VII. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: PLANTS AND FLOWERS. + + +45. Wonderful, in universal adaptation to man's need, desire, and +discipline, God's daily preparation of the earth for him, with +beautiful means of life. First, a carpet, to make it soft for him; +then a coloured fantasy of embroidery thereon; then, tall spreading of +foliage to shade him from sun-heat, and shade also the fallen rain, +that it may not dry quickly back into the clouds, but stay to nourish +the springs among the moss. Stout wood to bear this leafage; easily to +be cut, yet tough and light, to make houses for him, or instruments +(lance-shaft, or plough-handle, according to his temper); useless it +had been if harder; useless if less fibrous; useless if less elastic. +Winter comes, and the shade of leafage falls away, to let the sun warm +the earth; the strong boughs remain, breaking the strength of winter +winds. The seeds which are to prolong the race, innumerable according +to the need, are made beautiful and palatable, varied into infinitude +of appeal to the fancy of man, or provision for his service; cold +juice, or flowing spice, or balm, or incense, softening oil, +preserving resin, medicine of styptic, febrifuge, or lulling charm; +and all these presented in forms of endless change. Fragility or +force, softness and strength, in all degrees and aspects; unerring +uprightness, as of temple pillars, or unguided wandering of feeble +tendrils on the ground; mighty resistances of rigid arm and limb to +the storms of ages, or wavings to and fro with faintest pulse of +summer streamlet; roots cleaving the strength of rock, or binding the +transience of the sand; crests basking in sunshine of the desert, or +hiding by dripping spring and lightless cave; foliage far tossing in +entangled fields beneath every wave of ocean--clothing with +variegated, everlasting films the peaks of the trackless mountains, or +ministering, at cottage doors, to every gentlest passion and simplest +joy of humanity. + + +46. If ever in autumn a pensiveness falls upon us, as the leaves drift +by in their fading, may we not wisely look up in hope to their mighty +monuments? Behold how fair, how far prolonged in arch and aisle, the +avenues of the valleys, the fringes of the hills! so stately,--so +eternal; the joy of man, the comfort of all living creatures, the +glory of the earth,--they are but the monuments of those poor leaves +that flit faintly past us to die. Let them not pass, without our +understanding their last counsel and example: that we also, careless +of monument by the grave, may build it in the world--monument by which +men may be taught to remember, not where we died, but where we lived. + + +47. The Pine. Magnificent! nay, sometimes almost terrible. Other +trees, tufting crag or hill, yield to the form and sway of the ground, +clothe it with soft compliance, are partly its subjects, partly its +flatterers, partly its comforters. But the pine rises in serene +resistance, self-contained; nor can I ever without awe stay long under +a great Alpine cliff, far from all house or work of men, looking up to +its companies of pines, as they stand on the inaccessible juts and +perilous ledges of the enormous wall, in quiet multitudes, each like +the shadow of the one beside it--upright, fixed, spectral, as troops +of ghosts standing on the walls of Hades, not knowing each other, dumb +for ever. You cannot reach them, cannot cry to them: those trees never +heard human voice; they are far above all sound but of the winds. No +foot ever stirred fallen leaf of theirs: all comfortless they stand, +between the two eternities of the Vacancy and the Rock; yet with such +iron will, that the rock itself looks bent and shattered beside +them,--fragile, weak, inconsistent, compared to their dark energy of +delicate life, and monotony of enchanted pride--unnumbered, +unconquerable. + +Then note farther their perfectness. The impression on most people's +minds must have been received more from pictures than reality, so far +as I can judge, so ragged they think the pine; whereas its chief +character in health is green and full _roundness_. It stands compact, +like one of its own cones, slightly curved on its sides, finished and +quaint as a carved tree in some Elizabethan garden; and instead of +being wild in expression, forms the softest of all forest scenery, for +other trees show their trunks and twisting boughs; but the pine, +growing either in luxuriant mass, or in happy isolation, allows no +branch to be seen. Summit behind summit rise its pyramidal ranges, or +down to the very grass sweep the circlets of its boughs; so that there +is nothing but green cone, and green carpet. Nor is it only softer, +but in one sense more cheerful than other foliage, for it casts only a +pyramidal shadow. Lowland forest arches overhead, and chequers the +ground with darkness; but the pine, growing in scattered groups, +leaves the glades between emerald-bright. Its gloom is all its own; +narrowing into the sky, it lets the sunshine strike down to the dew. +And if ever a superstitious feeling comes over me among the pine +glades, it is never tainted with the old German forest fear, but it is +only a more solemn tone of the fairy enchantment that haunts our +English meadows; so that I have always called the prettiest pine-glade +in Chamouni, "Fairies' Hollow." It is in the glen beneath the steep +ascent above Pont Pelissier, and may be reached by a little winding +path which goes down from the top of the hill[27]--being indeed not +truly a glen, but a broad ledge of moss and turf, leaning in a +formidable precipice (which, however, the gentle branches hide) over +the Arve. An almost isolated rock promontory, many coloured, rises at +the end of it. On the other sides it is bordered by cliffs, from which +a little cascade falls, literally, down among the pines, for it is so +light, shaking itself into mere showers of seed pearl in the sun, that +the pines don't know it from mist, and grow through it without +minding. Underneath, there is only the mossy silence; and above, for +ever, the snow of the nameless Aiguille. + +[27] The new road to Chamouni has been carried right through it. A +cascade on the right, as you ascend, marks the place spoken of in the +text,--once as lonely as Corrie-nan-shian. + +Other trees rise against the sky in dots and knots, but this, in +fringes. You never see the edges of it, so subtle are they; and for +this reason,--it alone of trees, so far as I know, is capable of the +fiery change which has been noticed by Shakespeare. When the sun rises +behind a ridge crested with pine, provided the ridge be at a distance +of about two miles, and seen clear, all the trees, for about three or +four degrees on each side of the sun, become trees of light, seen in +clear flame against the darker sky, and dazzling as the sun itself. I +thought at first this was owing to the actual lustre of the leaves; +but I believe now it is caused by the cloud-dew upon them--every +minutest leaf carrying its diamond. It seems as if these trees, living +always among the clouds, had caught part of their glory from them; and +themselves, the darkest of vegetation, could yet add splendour to the +sun itself. + + +48. The Swiss have certainly no feelings respecting their mountains in +anywise correspondent with ours. It was rather as fortresses of +defence, than as spectacles of splendour, that the cliffs of the +Rothslock bare rule over the destinies of those who dwelt at their +feet; and the training for which the mountain children had to thank +the slopes of the Muotta-Thal, was in soundness of breath, and +steadiness of limb, far more than in elevation of idea. But the point +which I desire the reader to note is, that the character of the scene +which, if any, appears to have been impressive to the inhabitant, is +not that which we ourselves feel when we enter the district. It was +not from their lakes, nor their cliffs, nor their glaciers--though +these were all peculiarly their possessions--that the three venerable +cantons received their name. They were not called the States of the +Rock, nor the States of the Lake, but the States of the _Forest_. And +the one of the three which contains the most touching record of the +spiritual power of Swiss religion, in the name of the convent of the +'Hill of Angels,' has, for its own, none but the sweet childish name +of 'Under the Woods.' + +And indeed you may pass under them if, leaving the most sacred spot in +Swiss history, the Meadow of the Three Fountains, you bid the boatman +row southward a little way by the shore of the Bay of Uri. Steepest +there on its western side, the walls of its rocks ascend to heaven. +Far in the blue of evening, like a great cathedral pavement, lies the +lake in its darkness; and you may hear the whisper of innumerable +falling waters return from the hollows of the cliff, like the voices +of a multitude praying under their breath. From time to time the beat +of a wave, slow lifted where the rocks lean over the black depth, dies +heavily as the last note of a requiem. Opposite, green with steep +grass, and set with châlet villages, the Fron-Alp rises in one solemn +glow of pastoral light and peace; and above, against the clouds of +twilight, ghostly on the gray precipice, stand, myriad by myriad, the +shadowy armies of the Unterwalden pine. + + +49. It had been wild weather when I left Rome, and all across the +Campagna the clouds were sweeping in sulphurous blue, with a clap of +thunder or two, and breaking gleams of sun along the Claudian +aqueduct, lighting up the infinity of its arches, like the bridge of +Chaos. But as I climbed the long slope of the Alban Mount, the storm +swept finally to the north, and the noble outline of the domes of +Albano, and graceful darkness of its ilex grove, rose against pure +streaks of alternate blue and amber, the upper sky gradually flushing +through the last fragments of rain-cloud in deep palpitating azure, +half æther and half dew. The noonday sun came slanting down the rocky +slopes of La Riccia, and their masses of entangled and tall foliage, +whose autumnal tints were mixed with the wet verdure of a thousand +evergreens, were penetrated with it, as with rain. I cannot call it +colour,--it was conflagration. Purple, and crimson, and scarlet, like +the curtains of God's Tabernacle, the rejoicing trees sank into the +valley in showers of light, every separate leaf quivering with buoyant +and burning life; each, as it turned to reflect, or to transmit the +sunbeam, first a torch and then an emerald. Far up into the recesses +of the valley the green vistas arched like the hollows of mighty waves +of some crystalline sea, with the arbutus flowers dashed along their +banks for foam, and silver flakes of orange spray tossed into the air +around them, breaking over the grey walls of rock into a thousand +separate stars, fading and kindling alternately as the weak wind +lifted and let them fall. Every glade of grass burned like the golden +floor of heaven, opening in sudden gleams as the foliage broke, and +closed above it, as sheet-lightning opens in a cloud at sunset; the +motionless masses of dark rock, dark though flushed with scarlet +lichen, casting their quiet shadows across its restless radiance, the +fountain underneath them filling its marble hollow with blue mist and +fitful sound; and, over all, the multitudinous bars of amber and +rose--the sacred clouds that have no darkness, and only exist to +illumine--were seen in fathomless intervals between the solemn and +orbed repose of the stone pines, passing to lose themselves in the +last, white, blinding lustre of the measureless line where the +Campagna melted into the blaze of the sea. + + +50. Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity: +children love them; quiet, contented, ordinary people love them as +they grow; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice in them gathered; +they are the cottager's treasure; and in the crowded town, mark, as +with a little broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers +in whose hearts rests the covenant of peace. + + +51. Yet few people really care about flowers. Many, indeed, are fond +of finding a new shape of blossom, caring for it as a child cares +about a kaleidoscope. Many, also, like a fair service of flowers in +the greenhouse, as a fair service of plate on the table. Many are +scientifically interested in them, though even these in the +nomenclature, rather than the flowers; and a few enjoy their +gardens.... But, the blossoming time of the year being principally +spring, I perceive it to be the mind of most people, during that +period, to stay in towns. A year or two ago a keen-sighted and +eccentrically-minded friend of mine, having taken it into his head to +violate this national custom, and go to the Tyrol in spring, was +passing through a valley near Landech with several similarly +headstrong companions. A strange mountain appeared in the distance, +belted about its breast with a zone of blue, like our English Queen. +Was it a blue cloud, a blue horizontal bar of the air that Titian +breathed in youth, seen now far away, which mortal might never breathe +again? Was it a mirage--a meteor? Would it stay to be +approached?--(ten miles of winding road yet between them and the foot +of the mountain)--such questioning had they concerning it. My +keen-sighted friend, alone, maintained it to be substantial;--whatever +it might be, it was not air, and would not vanish. The ten miles of +road were overpast, the carriage left, the mountain climbed. It stayed +patiently, expanding still into richer breath and heavenlier glow--a +belt of gentians. Such things may verily be seen among the Alps in +spring, and in spring only; which being so, I observe most people +prefer going in autumn. + + +52. Perhaps few people have ever asked themselves why they admire a +rose so much more than all other flowers. If they consider, they will +find, first, that red is, in a delicately gradated state, the +loveliest of all pure colours; and, secondly, that in the rose there +is _no shadow_, except what is composed of colour. All its shadows are +fuller in colour than its lights, owing to the translucency and +reflective power of the leaves. + + +53. Has the reader ever considered the relations of commonest forms of +volatile substance? The invisible particles which cause the scent of a +rose-leaf, how minute, how multitudinous, passing richly away into the +air continually! + + +54. In the range of inorganic nature I doubt if any object can be +found more perfectly beautiful, than a fresh, deep snow-drift, seen +under warm light. Its curves are of inconceivable perfection and +changefulness; its surface and transparency alike exquisite; its light +and shade of inexhaustible variety and inimitable finish,--the shadows +sharp, pale, and of heavenly colour, the reflected lights intense and +multitudinous, and mingled with the sweet occurrences of transmitted +light.... If, passing to the edge of a sheet of it upon the lower +Alps, early in May, we find, as we are nearly sure to find, two or +three little round openings pierced in it; and through these, +emergent, a slender, pensive, fragile flower,[28] whose small, dark, +purple-fringed bell hangs down and shudders over the icy cleft that it +has cloven, as if partly wondering at its own recent grave, and partly +dying of very fatigue after its hard-won victory; we shall be, or we +ought to be, moved by a totally different impression of loveliness +from that which we receive among the dead ice and the idle clouds: +there is now uttered to us a call for sympathy, now offered to us an +image of moral purpose and achievement, which, however unconscious or +senseless the creature may indeed be that so seems to call, cannot be +heard without affection, nor contemplated without worship, by any of +us whose heart is rightly turned, or whose mind is clearly and surely +sighted. + +[28] Soldanella Alpina. I think it is the only Alpine flower which +actually pierces snow, though I have seen gentians filling thawed +hoof-prints. Crocuses are languid till they have had sun for a day or +two. But the soldanella enjoys its snow, at first, and afterwards its +fields. I have seen it make a pasture look like a large lilac silk gown. + + +55. It has been well shown by Dr. Herbert, that many plants are found +alone on a certain soil or sub-soil in a wild state, not because such +soil is favourable to them, but because they alone are capable of +existing on it, and because all dangerous rivals are by its +inhospitality removed. Now if we withdraw the plant from this +position, which it hardly endures, and supply it with the earth and +maintain about it the temperature that it delights in; withdrawing +from it, at the same time, all rivals, which in such conditions Nature +would have thrust upon it, we shall indeed obtain a magnificently +developed example of the plant, colossal in size, and splendid in +organization; but we shall utterly lose in it that moral ideal which +is dependent on its right fulfilment of its appointed functions. It +was intended and created by the Deity for the covering of those lonely +spots where no other plant could live. It has been thereto endowed +with courage and strength, and capacities of endurance; its character +and glory are not therefore in the gluttonous and idle feeding of its +own over luxuriance, at the expense of other creatures utterly +destroyed and rooted out for its good alone; but in its right doing of +its hard duty, and forward climbing into those spots of forlorn hope +where it alone can bear witness to the kindness and presence of the +Spirit that cutteth out rivers among the rocks, as He covers the +valleys with corn; and there, in its vanward place, and only there, +where nothing is withdrawn for it, nor hurt by it, and where nothing +can take part of its honour, nor usurp its throne, are its strength +and fairness, and price, and goodness in the sight of God to be truly +esteemed. The first time I saw the Soldanella Alpina, before spoken +of, it was growing of magnificent size on a sunny Alpine pasture, +among bleating of sheep, and lowing of cattle, associated with a +profusion of Geum Montanum, and Ranunculus Pyrenæus. I noticed it only +because new to me--nor perceived any peculiar beauty in its cloven +flower. Some days after, I found it alone, among the rack of the +higher clouds, and howling of glacier winds; and, as I described it, +piercing through an edge of avalanche which in its retiring had left +the new ground brown and lifeless, and as if burnt by recent fire. The +plant was poor and feeble, and seemingly exhausted with its +efforts,--but it was then that I comprehended its ideal character, and +saw its noble function and order of glory among the constellations of +the earth. + + +56. GRASSES.--Minute, granular, feathery, or downy seed-vessels, +mingling quaint brown punctuation, and dusty tremors of dancing grain, +with the bloom of the nearer fields; and casting a gossamered grayness +and softness of plumy mist along their surfaces far away; mysterious +evermore, not only with dew in the morning, or mirage at noon, but +with the shaking threads of fine arborescence, each a little belfry of +grainbells, all a-chime. + + +57. Gather a single blade of grass, and examine for a minute quietly +its narrow sword-shaped strip of fluted green. Nothing, as it seems, +there of notable goodness or beauty. A very little strength and a very +little tallness, and a few delicate long lines meeting in a +point,--not a perfect point neither, but blunt and unfinished, by no +means a creditable or apparently much-cared-for example of Nature's +workmanship, made, only to be trodden on to-day, and to-morrow to be +cast into the oven,--and a little pale and hollow stalk, feeble and +flaccid, leading down to the dull brown fibres of roots. And yet, +think of it well, and judge whether, of all the gorgeous flowers that +beam in summer air, and of all strong and goodly trees, pleasant to +the eyes, or good for food,--stately palm and pine, strong ash and +oak, scented citron, burdened vine--there be any by man so deeply +loved, by God so highly graced, as that narrow point of feeble green. +And well does it fulfil its mission. Consider what we owe merely to +the meadow grass, to the covering of the dark ground by that glorious +enamel, by the companies of those soft, and countless, and peaceful +spears. The fields! Follow forth but for a little time the thoughts of +all that we ought to recognise in these words. All spring and summer +is in them--the walks by silent, scented paths--the rests in noonday +heat,--the joy of herds and flocks,--the power of all shepherd life +and meditation,--the life of sunlight upon the world falling in +emerald streaks, and falling in soft blue shadows where else it would +have struck upon the dark mould, or scorching dust. Pastures beside +the pacing brooks, soft banks and knolls of lowly hills, thymy slopes +of down, overlooked by the blue line of lifted sea, crisp lawns, all +dim with early dew, or smooth in evening warmth of barred sunshine, +dinted by happy feet, and softening in their fall the sound of loving +voices,--all these are summed in those simple words; and these are not +all. We may not measure to the full the depth of this heavenly gift in +our own land, though still as we think of it longer, the infinite of +that meadow sweetness, Shakespeare's peculiar joy, would open on us +more and more; yet we have it but in part. Go out in the springtime +among the meadows that slope from the shores of the Swiss lakes to the +roots of their lower mountains. There, mingled with the taller +gentians, and the white narcissus, the grass grows deep and free; and +as you follow the winding mountain path, beneath arching boughs, all +veiled with blossom--paths that for ever droop and rise over the green +banks and mounds sweeping down in scented undulation steep to the blue +water, studded here and there with new-mown heaps filling all the air +with fainter sweetness,--look up towards the higher hills, where the +waves of everlasting green roll silently into their long inlets among +the shadows of the pines; and we may perhaps at last know the meaning +of those quiet words of the 147th Psalm, "He maketh grass to grow upon +the mountains." + +Assembling the images we have traced, and adding the simplest of all, +from Isaiah xl. 6, we find the grass and flowers are types, in their +passing, of the passing of human life, and in their excellence, of the +excellence of human life; and this in twofold way: first by their +beneficence, and then by their endurance--the grass of the earth, in +giving the seed of corn, and in its beauty under tread of foot and +stroke of scythe; and the grass of the waters, in giving its freshness +for our rest, and in its bending before the wave. But, understood in +the broad human and Divine sense, the "_herb_ yielding seed"--(as +opposed to the fruit tree yielding fruit)--includes a third family of +plants, and fulfils a third office to the human race. It includes the +great family of the lints and flaxes, and fulfils thus the _three_ +offices of giving food, raiment, and rest. Follow out this fulfilment; +consider the association of the linen garment and the linen embroidery +with the priestly office and the furniture of the tabernacle, and +consider how the rush has been to all time the first natural carpet +thrown under the human foot. Then next observe the three virtues +definitely set forth by the three families of plants--not arbitrarily +or fancifully associated with them, but in all the three cases marked +for us by Scriptural words: 1st. Cheerfulness, or joyful serenity; in +the grass for food and beauty--"Consider the lilies of the field, how +they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin." 2nd. Humility; in the +grass for rest--"A bruised reed shall he not break." 3rd. Love; in the +grass for clothing, (because of its swift kindling,)--"The smoking +flax shall he not quench." And then finally observe the confirmation +of these last two images in, I suppose, the most important prophecy, +relating to the future state of the Christian Church, which occurs in +the Old Testament, namely that contained in the closing chapters of +Ezekiel. The measures of the Temple of God are to be taken; and +because it is only by charity and humility that those measures ever +can be taken, the angel has "a line of _flax_ in his hand, and a +measuring reed." The use of the line was to measure the land, and of +the reed to take the dimensions of the buildings; so the buildings of +the church, or its labours, are to be measured by humility; and its +territory, or land, by love. + + +58. LEAVES motionless. The strong pines wave above them, and the weak +grasses tremble beside them; but the blue stars rest upon the earth +with a peace as of heaven; and far along the ridges of iron rock, +moveless as they, the rubied crests of Alpine rose flush in the low +rays of morning. + + +59. MOSSES.--Meek creatures! the first mercy of the earth, veiling +with hushed softness its dintless rocks; creatures full of pity, +covering with strange and tender honour the scarred disgrace of ruin, +laying quiet finger on the trembling stones to teach them rest. No +words, that I know of, will say what these mosses are. None are +delicate enough, none perfect enough, none rich enough. How is one to +tell of the rounded bosses of furred and beaming green,--the starred +divisions of rubied bloom, fine-filmed, as if the rock spirits could +spin porphyry as we do glass,--the traceries of intricate silver, and +fringes of amber, lustrous, arborescent, burnished through every fibre +into fitful brightness and glossy traverses of silken change, yet all +subdued and pensive, and framed for simplest, sweetest offices of +grace? They will not be gathered, like the flowers, for chaplet, or +love-token; but of these the wild bird will make its nest, and the +wearied child his pillow. + +And as the earth's first mercy, so they are its last gift to us: when +all other service is vain, from plant and tree, the soft mosses and +gray lichen take up their watch by the headstone. The woods, the +blossoms, the gift-bearing grasses, have done their parts for a time; +but these do service for ever. Trees for the builder's yard, flowers +for the bride's chamber, corn for the granary, moss for the grave. + + +60. LICHENS.--As in one sense the humblest, in another they are the +most honoured of the earth-children. Unfading as motionless, the worm +frets them not, and the autumn wastes not. Strong in loveliness, they +neither blanch in heat, nor pine in frost. To them, slow-fingered, +constant-hearted, is entrusted the weaving of the dark, eternal +tapestries of the hills; to them, slow-pencilled, iris-dyed, the +tender framing of their endless imagery. Sharing the stillness of the +unimpassioned rock, they share also its endurance; and while the winds +of departing spring scatter the white hawthorn blossom like drifted +snow, and summer dims on the parched meadow the drooping of its +cowslip gold,--far above, among the mountains, the silver lichen spots +rest, star-like, on the stone: and the gathering orange stain, upon +the edge of yonder western peak, reflects the sunsets of a thousand +years. + + + + +SECTION VIII. + +EDUCATION. + + +61. The most helpful and sacred work which can at present be done for +humanity, is to teach people (chiefly by example, as all best teaching +must be done) not how "to better themselves," but how to "satisfy +themselves." It is the curse of every evil nature and evil creature to +eat and _not_ be satisfied. The words of blessing are, that they shall +eat and be satisfied; and as there is only one kind of water which +quenches all thirst, so there is only one kind of bread which +satisfies all hunger--the bread of justice or righteousness; which +hungering after, men shall always be filled, that being the bread of +Heaven; but hungering after the bread or wages of unrighteousness, +shall not be filled, that being the bread of Sodom. And in order to +teach men how to be satisfied, it is necessary fully to understand the +art of joy and humble life--this, at present, of all arts or sciences, +being the one most needing study. Humble life; that is to say, +proposing to itself no future exaltation, but only a sweet +continuance: not excluding the idea of foresight, but wholly of +fore-sorrow, and taking no troublous thought for coming days; so also +not excluding the idea of providence or provision, but wholly of +accumulation;--the life of domestic affection and domestic peace, full +of sensitiveness to all elements of costless and kind +pleasure;--therefore chiefly to the loveliness of the natural world. + + +62. We shall find that the love of nature, wherever it has existed, +has been a faithful and sacred element of feeling; that is to say, +supposing all the circumstances otherwise the same with respect to two +individuals, the one who loves nature most will be always found to +have more capacity for _faith_ in God than the other. Nature-worship +will be found to bring with it such a sense of the presence and power +of a Great Spirit as no mere reasoning can either induce or +controvert; and where that nature-worship is innocently +pursued--_i.e._, with due respect to other claims on time, feeling, +and exertion, and associated with the higher principles of +religion,--it becomes the channel of certain sacred truths, which by +no other means can be conveyed. + + +63. Instead of supposing the love of nature necessarily connected with +the faithlessness of the age, I believe it is connected properly with +the benevolence and liberty[29] of the age; that it is precisely the +most healthy element which distinctively belongs to us; and that out +of it, cultivated no longer in levity or ignorance, but in earnestness +and as a duty, results will spring of an importance at present +inconceivable; and lights arise, which, for the first time in man's +history, will reveal to him the true nature of his life, the true +field for his energies, and the true relations between him and his +Maker. + +[29] I forget, now, what I meant by 'liberty' in this passage; but I +often used the word in my first writings, in a good sense, thinking of +Scott's moorland rambles and the like. It is very wonderful to me, now, +to see what hopes I had once: but Turner was alive, then; and the sun +used to shine, and rivers to sparkle. + + +64. To any person who has all his senses about him, a quiet walk, over +not more than ten or twelve miles of road a day, is the most amusing +of all travelling; and all travelling becomes dull in exact proportion +to its rapidity. + +Going by railroad I do not consider as travelling at all; it is merely +"being sent" to a place, and very little different from becoming a +parcel. + + +65. I believe an immense gain in the bodily health and happiness of +the upper classes would follow on their steadily endeavouring, however +clumsily, to make the physical exertion they now necessarily exert in +amusements, definitely serviceable. It would be far better, for +instance, that a gentleman should mow his own fields, than ride over +other people's. + + +66. In order to define what is fairest, you must delight in what is +fair; and I know not how few or how many there may be who take such +delight. Once I could speak joyfully about beautiful things, thinking +to be understood; now I cannot, any more, for it seems to me that no +one regards them. Wherever I look or travel, in England or abroad, I +see that men, wherever they can reach, destroy all beauty. They seem +to have no other desire or hope but to have large houses, and be able +to move fast. Every perfect and lovely spot which they can touch, they +defile. Thus the railroad bridge over the fall of Schaffhausen, and +that round the Clarens shore of the lake of Geneva, have destroyed the +power of two pieces of scenery of which nothing can ever supply the +place, in appeal to the higher ranks of European mind. + + +67. The first thing which I remember as an event in life, was being +taken by my nurse to the brow of Friar's Crag on Derwentwater. The +intense joy, mingled with awe, that I had in looking through the +hollows in the mossy roots, over the crag into the dark lake, has +associated itself more or less with all twining roots of trees ever +since. Two other things I remember as, in a sort, beginnings of +life;--crossing Shap-fells, being let out of the chaise to run up the +hills; and going through Glenfarg, near Kinross, on a winter's +morning, when the rocks were hung with icicles; these being +culminating points in an early life of more travelling than is usually +indulged to a child. In such journeyings, whenever they brought me +near hills, and in all mountain ground and scenery, I had a pleasure, +as early as I can remember, and continuing till I was eighteen or +twenty, infinitely greater than any which has been since possible to +me in anything. + + +68. A fool always wants to shorten space and time; a wise man wants to +lengthen both. A fool wants to kill space and time; a wise man, first +to gain them, then to animate them. + + +69. I suspect that system-makers in general are not of much more use, +each in his own domain, than, in that of Pomona, the old women who tie +cherries upon sticks, for the more portableness of the same. To +cultivate well, and choose well, your cherries, is of some importance; +but if they can be had in their own wild way of clustering about their +crabbed stalks, it is a better connection for them than any others; +and if they cannot, then so that they be not bruised, it makes to a +boy of practical disposition not much difference whether he gets them +by handfuls, or in beaded symmetry on the exalting stick. + + +70. Every great man is always being helped by everybody, for his gift +is to get good out of all things and all persons. + + +71. God appoints to every one of His creatures a separate mission, and +if they discharge it honourably, if they quit themselves like men, and +faithfully follow the light which is in them, withdrawing from it all +cold and quenching influence, there will assuredly come of it such +burning as, in its appointed mode and measure, shall shine before men, +and be of service constant and holy. Degrees infinite of lustre there +must always be, but the weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly +trivial, which is peculiar to him, and which, worthily used, will be a +gift also to his race for ever. + + +72. There is not any matter, nor any spirit, nor any creature, but it +is capable of a unity of some kind with other creatures; and in that +unity is its perfection and theirs, and a pleasure also for the +beholding of all other creatures that can behold. So the unity of +spirits is partly in their sympathy, and partly in their giving and +taking, and always in their love; and these are their delight and +their strength; for their strength is in their co-working and army +fellowship, and their delight is in their giving and receiving of +alternate and perpetual good; their inseparable dependency on each +other's being, and their essential and perfect depending on their +Creator's. And so the unity of earthly creatures is their power, and +their peace; not like the dead and cold peace of undisturbed stones +and solitary mountains, but the living peace of trust, and the living +power of support; of hands that hold each other and are still.[30] + +[30] A long, affected, and obscure second volume sentence, written in +imitation of Hooker. One short sentence from Ecclesiastes is the sum of +it: "How can one be warm alone?" + + +73. It is good to read of that kindness and humbleness of St. Francis +of Assisi, who spoke never to bird, nor to cicada, nor even to wolf +and beasts of prey, but as his brother;--and so we find are moved the +minds of all good and mighty men, as in the lesson that we have from +the 'Mariner' of Coleridge, and yet more truly and rightly taught in +the 'Hartleap Well'-- + + "Never to blend our pleasure or our pride + With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels,"-- + +and again in the 'White Doe' of Rylstone, with the added teaching, +that anguish of our own + + "Is tempered and allayed by sympathies + Aloft ascending, and descending deep, + Even to the inferior kinds;"-- + +so that I know not of anything more destructive of the whole theoretic +faculty, not to say of the Christian character and human intellect,[31] +than those accursed sports in which man makes of himself cat, tiger, +leopard, and alligator in one; and gathers into one continuance of +cruelty, for his amusement, all the devices that brutes sparingly and +at intervals use against each other for their necessities. + +[31] I am more and more grieved, as I re-read this and other portions of +the most affected and weak of all my books, (written in a moulting time +of my life,)--the second volume of 'Modern Painters,'--at its morbid +violence of passion and narrowness of thought. Yet, at heart, the book +was, like my others, honest; and in substance it is mostly good; but all +boiled to rags. + + +74. He who loves not God, nor his brother, cannot love the grass +beneath his feet, nor the creatures which live not for his uses, +filling those spaces in the universe which he needs not: while, on the +other hand, none can love God, nor his human brother, without loving +all things which his Father loves; nor without looking upon them every +one as in that respect his brethren also, and perhaps worthier than +he, if, in the under concords they have to fill, their part is touched +more truly.[32] + +[32] Morbidly Franciscan, again! and I am really compelled to leave out +one little bit my friend liked,--as all kindly and hopeful women +would,--about everything turning out right, and being to some good end. +For we have no business whatever with the ends of things, but with their +beings; and their beings are often entirely bad. + + +75. Things may always be seen truly by candid people, though never +_completely_. No human capacity ever yet saw the whole of a thing; but +we may see more and more of it the longer we look. Every individual +temper will see something different in it; but supposing the tempers +honest, all the differences are there. Every advance in our acuteness +of perception will show us something new; but the old and +first-discerned thing will still be there, not falsified, only +modified and enriched by the new perceptions, becoming continually +more beautiful in its harmony with them, and more approved as a part +of the infinite truth. + + + + +SECTION IX. + +MORALITIES. + + +76. When people read, "The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by +Christ," do they suppose it means that the law was ungracious and +untrue? The law was given for a foundation; the grace (or mercy) and +truth for fulfilment;--the whole forming one glorious Trinity of +judgment, mercy, and truth.[33] And if people would but read the text +of their Bibles with heartier purpose of understanding it, instead of +superstitiously, they would see that throughout the parts which they +are intended to make most personally their own, (the Psalms,) it is +always the Law which is spoken of with chief joy. The Psalms +respecting mercy are often sorrowful, as in thought of what it cost; +but those respecting the Law are always full of delight. David cannot +contain himself for joy in thinking of it,--he is never weary of its +praise: "How love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thy +testimonies are my delight and my counsellors; sweeter also than honey +and the honeycomb." + +[33] A great deal of the presumption and narrowness caused by my having +been bred in the Evangelical schools, and which now fill me with shame +and distress in re-reading 'Modern Painters,' is, to my present mind, +atoned for by the accurate thinking by which I broke my way through to +the great truth expressed in this passage, which all my later writings, +without exception, have been directed to maintain and illustrate. + + +77. I suppose there is no event in the whole life of Christ to which, +in hours of doubt or fear, men turn with more anxious thirst to know +the close facts of it, or with more earnest and passionate dwelling +upon every syllable of its recorded narrative, than Christ's showing +Himself to His disciples at the Lake of Galilee. There is something +pre-eminently open, natural, full fronting our disbelief, in this +manifestation. The others, recorded after the resurrection, were +sudden, phantom-like, occurring to men in profound sorrow and wearied +agitation of heart; not, it might seem, safe judges of what they saw. +But the agitation was now over. They had gone back to their daily +work, thinking still their business lay net-wards, unmeshed from the +literal rope and drag. "Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. +They say unto him, We also go with thee." True words enough, and +having far echo beyond those Galilean hills. That night they caught +nothing; but when the morning came, in the clear light of it, behold! +a figure stood on the shore. They were not thinking of anything but +their fruitless hauls. They had no guess who it was. It asked them +simply if they had caught anything. They say, No, and it tells them to +cast again. And John shades his eyes from the morning sun with his +hand to look who it is; and though the glistening of the sea, too, +dazzles him, he makes out who it is at last; and poor Simon, not to be +outrun this time, tightens his fisher's coat about him, and dashes in +over the nets. One would have liked to see him swim those hundred +yards, and stagger to his knees upon the beach. + +Well, the others get to the beach, too, in time, in such slow way as +men in general do get in this world to its true shore, much impeded by +that wonderful "dragging the net with fishes"; but they get +there--seven of them in all; first the Denier, and then the slowest +believer, and then the quickest believer, and then the two +throne-seekers, and two more, we know not who. + +They sit down on the shore, face to face with Him, and eat their +broiled fish as He bids. And then to Peter, all dripping still, +shivering, and amazed, staring at Christ in the sun, on the other side +of the coal-fire,--thinking a little perhaps of what happened by +another coal-fire, when it was colder, and having had no word changed +with him by his Master, since that look of His,--to him so amazed, +comes the question, "Simon, lovest thou Me?" Try to feel that a +little; and think of it till it is true to you: and then take up that +infinite monstrosity and hypocrisy,--Raphael's cartoon of the charge +to Peter. Note first the bold fallacy--the putting _all_ the Apostles +there, a mere lie to serve the Papal heresy of the Petric supremacy, +by putting them all in the background while Peter receives the charge, +and making them all witnesses to it. Note the handsomely curled hair +and neatly tied sandals of the men who had been out all night in the +sea-mists, and on the slimy decks; note their convenient dresses for +going a-fishing, with trains that lie a yard along the ground, and +goodly fringes--all made to match;--an apostolic fishing costume. Note +how Peter especially, (whose chief glory was in his wet coat _girt_ +about him, and naked limbs,) is enveloped in folds and fringes, so as +to kneel and hold his keys with grace. No fire of coals at all, nor +lonely mountain shore, but a pleasant Italian landscape, full of +villas and churches, and a flock of sheep to be pointed at; and the +whole group of Apostles, not round Christ, as they would have been +naturally, but straggling away in a line, that they may be shown. The +simple truth is, that the moment we look at the picture we feel our +belief of the whole thing taken away. There is visibly no possibility +of that group even having existed, in any place, or on any occasion. +It is all a mere mythic absurdity, and faded concoction of fringes, +muscular arms, and curly heads of Greek philosophers. + + +78. Among the children of God, there is always that fearful and bowed +apprehension of His majesty, and that sacred dread of all offence to +Him which is called the Fear of God; yet of real and essential fear +there is not any, but clinging of confidence to Him as their Rock, +Fortress, and Deliverer; and perfect love, and casting out of fear; so +that it is not possible that, while the mind is rightly bent on Him, +there should be dread of anything earthly or supernatural; and the +more dreadful seems the height of His majesty, the less fear they feel +that dwell in the shadow of it. "Of whom shall I be afraid?" + + +79. If for every rebuke that we utter of men's vices, we put forth a +claim upon their hearts; if for every assertion of God's demands from +them, we could substitute a display of His kindness to them; if side +by side with every warning of death, we could exhibit proofs and +promises of immortality; if, in fine, instead of assuming the being of +an awful Deity, which men, though they cannot, and dare not deny, are +always unwilling, sometimes unable to conceive, we were to show them a +near, visible, inevitable, but all beneficent Deity, whose presence +makes the earth itself a heaven, I think there would be fewer deaf +children sitting in the market-place. + + +80. If not by sympathy discovered, it is not in words explicable with +what divine lines and light the exercise of godliness and charity will +mould and gild the hardest and coldest countenance, neither to what +darkness their departure will consign the loveliest. For there is not +any virtue the exercise of which, even momentarily, will not impress a +new fairness upon the features. + + +81. The love of the human race is increased by their individual +differences, and the unity of the creature, made perfect by each +having something to bestow and to receive, bound to the rest by a +thousand various necessities and various gratitudes; humility in each +rejoicing to admire in his fellow that which he finds not in himself, +and each being in some respect the complement of his race. + + +82. They who are as the angels of God in heaven, yet cannot be +conceived as so assimilated that their different experiences and +affections upon earth shall then be forgotten and effectless: the +child, taken early to his place, cannot be imagined to wear there such +a body, nor to have such thoughts, as the glorified apostle who had +finished his course and kept the faith on earth. And so, whatever +perfections and likeness of love we may attribute to either the tried +or the crowned creatures, there is the difference of the stars in +glory among them yet; differences of original gifts, though not of +occupying till their Lord come; different dispensations of trial and +of trust, of sorrows and support, both in their own inward, variable +hearts, and in their positions of exposure or of peace; of the gourd +shadow and the smiting sun, of calling at heat of day, or eleventh +hour, of the house unroofed by faith, or the clouds opened by +revelation; differences in warning, in mercies, in sickness, in signs, +in time of calling to account; alike only they all are by that which +is not of them, but the gift of God's unchangeable mercy: "I will give +unto this last even as unto thee." + + +83. The desire of rest planted in the heart is no sensual, no unworthy +one; but a longing for renovation, and for escape from a state whose +every phase is mere preparation for another equally transitory, to one +in which permanence shall have become possible through perfection. +Hence the great call of Christ to men, that call on which St. +Augustine fixed as the essential expression of Christian hope, is +accompanied by the promise of rest; and the death bequest of Christ to +men, is peace. + + +84. He who has once stood beside the grave, to look back upon the +companionship which has been for ever closed, feeling how impotent, +there, are the wild love, and the keen sorrow, to give one instant's +pleasure to the pulseless heart, or atone in the lowest measure to the +departed spirit, for the hour of unkindness, will scarcely for the +future incur that debt to the heart, which can only be discharged to +the dust. But the lessons which men receive as individuals, they do +not learn as nations. Again and again they have seen their noblest +descend into the grave, and have thought it enough to garland the +tombstone when they had not crowned the brow, and to pay the honour to +the ashes, which they had denied to the spirit. Let it not displease +them that they are bidden, amidst the tumult and the dazzle of their +busy life, to listen for the few voices, and watch for the few lamps, +which God has toned and lighted to charm and to guide them, that they +may not learn their sweetness by their silence, nor their light by +their decay. + + +85. In the Cathedral of Lucca, near the entrance door of the north +transept, there is a monument by Jacopo della Quercia to Ilaria di +Caretto, the wife of Paolo Guinigi. I name it not as more beautiful or +perfect than other examples of the same period; but as furnishing an +instance of the exact and right mean between the rigidity and rudeness +of the earlier monumental effigies, and the morbid imitation of life, +sleep, or death, of which the fashion has taken place in modern times. +She is lying on a simple couch, with a hound at her feet; not on the +side, but with the head laid straight and simply on the hard pillow, +in which, let it be observed, there is no effort at deceptive +imitation of pressure.--It is understood as a pillow, but not mistaken +for one. The hair is bound in a flat braid over the fair brow, the +sweet and arched eyes are closed, the tenderness of the loving lips is +set and quiet; there is that about them which forbids breath; +something which is not death nor sleep, but the pure image of both. +The hands are not lifted in prayer, neither folded, but the arms are +laid at length upon the body, and the hands cross as they fall. The +feet are hidden by the drapery, and the form of the limbs concealed, +but not their tenderness. + + +86. I do not know any district possessing a more pure or uninterrupted +fulness of mountain character, (and that of the highest order,) or +which appears to have been less disturbed by foreign agencies, than +that which borders the course of the Trient between Valorsine and +Martigny. The paths which lead to it out of the valley of the Rhone, +rising at first in steep circles among the walnut trees, like winding +stairs among the pillars of a Gothic tower, retire over the shoulders +of the hills into a valley almost unknown, but thickly inhabited by an +industrious and patient population. Along the ridges of the rocks, +smoothed by old glaciers into long, dark, billowy swellings, like the +backs of plunging dolphins, the peasant watches the slow colouring of +the tufts of moss and roots of herb, which little by little gather a +feeble soil over the iron substance; then, supporting the narrow slip +of clinging ground with a few stones, he subdues it to the spade; and +in a year or two a little crest of corn is seen waving upon the rocky +casque. The irregular meadows run in and out like inlets of lake among +these harvested rocks, sweet with perpetual streamlets that seem +always to have chosen the steepest places to come down for the sake of +the leaps, scattering their handfuls of crystal this way and that, as +the wind takes them with all the grace, but with none of the +formalism, of fountains; dividing into fanciful change of dash and +spring, yet with the seal of their granite channels upon them, as the +lightest play of human speech may bear the seal of past toil, and +closing back out of their spray to lave the rigid angles, and brighten +with silver fringes and glassy films each lower and lower step of +sable stone; until at last, gathered altogether again,--except perhaps +some chance drops caught on the apple blossom, where it has budded a +little nearer the cascade than it did last spring,--they find their +way down to the turf, and lose themselves in that, silently; with +quiet depth of clear water furrowing among the grass-blades, and +looking only like their shadows but presently emerging again in little +startled gushes and laughing hurries, as if they had remembered +suddenly that the day was too short for them to get down the hill. +Green field, and glowing rock, and glancing streamlet, all slope +together in the sunshine towards the brows of ravines, where the pines +take up their own dominion of saddened shade; and with everlasting +roar, in the twilight, the stronger torrents thunder down, pale from +the glaciers, filling all the chasms with enchanted cold, beating +themselves to pieces against the great rocks that they have themselves +cast down, and forcing fierce way beneath their ghastly poise. The +mountain paths stoop to those glens in forky zigzags, leading to some +grey and narrow arch, all fringed under its shuddering curve with the +ferns that fear the light; a cross of rough-hewn pine, iron-bound to +its parapet, standing dark against the lurid fury of the foam. Far up +the glen, as we pause beside the cross, the sky is seen through the +openings in the pines thin with excess of light; and, in its clear +consuming flame of white space, the summits of the rocky mountains are +gathered into solemn crowns and circlets, all flushed in that strange +faint silence of possession by the sunshine, which has in it so deep a +melancholy, full of power, yet as frail as shadows; lifeless, like the +walls of a sepulchre, yet beautiful in tender fall of crimson folds, +like the veil of some sea spirit, that lives and dies as the foam +flashes; fixed on a perpetual throne, stern against all strength, +lifted above all sorrows, and yet effaced and melted utterly into the +air by that last sunbeam that has crossed to them from between the two +golden clouds. + +High above all sorrow? Yes; but not unwitnessing to it. The traveller +on his happy journey, as his foot springs from the deep turf, and +strikes the pebbles gaily over the edge of the mountain road, sees +with a glance of delight the clusters of nut-brown cottages that +nestle along those sloping orchards, and glow beneath the boughs of +the pines. Here, it may well seem to him, if there be sometimes +hardship, there must be at least innocence and peace, and fellowship +of the human soul with nature. It is not so. The wild goats that leap +along those rocks have as much passion of joy in all that fair work of +God as the men that toil among them,--perhaps more. Enter the street +of one of those villages, and you will find it foul with that gloomy +foulness that is suffered only by torpor, or by anguish of soul. Here, +it is torpor--not absolute suffering--not starvation or disease; but +darkness of calm enduring: the spring, known only as the time of the +scythe, and the autumn as the time of the sickle, and the sun only as +a warmth, the wind as a chill, and the mountains as a danger. They do +not understand so much as the name of beauty, or of knowledge. They +understand dimly that of virtue. Love, patience, hospitality, +faith--these things they know. To glean their meadows side by side, so +happier; to bear the burden up the breathless mountain flank +unmurmuringly; to bid the stranger drink from their vessel of milk; to +see at the foot of their low death-beds a pale figure upon a cross, +dying, also patiently;--in this they are different from the cattle and +from the stones; but, in all this, unrewarded, as far as concerns the +present life. For them, there is neither hope nor passion of spirit; +for them, neither advance nor exultation. Black bread, rude roof, dark +night, laborious day, weary arm at sunset; and life ebbs away. No +books, no thoughts, no attainments, no rest,--except only sometimes a +little sitting in the sun under the church wall, as the bell tolls +thin and far in the mountain air; a pattering of a few prayers, not +understood, by the altar-rails of the dimly gilded chapel,--and so, +back to the sombre home, with the cloud upon them still unbroken--that +cloud of rocky gloom, born out of the wild torrents and ruinous +stones, and unlightened even in their religion, except by the vague +promise of some better thing unknown, mingled with threatening, and +obscured by an unspeakable horror--a smoke, as it were, of martyrdom, +coiling up with the incense; and amidst the images of tortured bodies +and lamenting spirits in hurtling flames, the very cross, for them, +dashed more deeply than for others with gouts of blood. + + +87. A Highland scene is beyond doubt pleasant enough in its own way; +but, looked close at, has its shadows.[34] Here, for instance, is the +very fact of one--as pretty as I can remember,--having seen many. It +is a little valley of soft turf, enclosed in its narrow oval by +jutting rocks, and broad flakes of nodding fern. From one side of it +to the other winds, serpentine, a clear brown stream, drooping into +quicker ripple as it reaches the end of the oval field, and then, +first islanding a purple and white rock with an amber pool, it dashes +away into a narrow fall of foam under a thicket of mountain ash and +alder. The autumn sun, low, but clear, shines on the scarlet +ash-berries and on the golden birch-leaves, which, fallen here and +there, when the breeze has not caught them, rest quiet in the crannies +of the purple rock. Beside the rock, in the hollow under the thicket, +the carcase of a ewe, drowned in the last flood, lies nearly bare to +the bone, its white ribs protruding through the skin, raven-torn; and +the rags of its wool still flickering from the branches that first +stayed it as the stream swept it down. A little lower, the current +plunges, roaring, into a circular chasm like a well, surrounded on +three sides by a chimney-like hollowness of polished rock, down which +the foam slips in detached snow-flakes. Round the edges of the pool +beneath, the water circles slowly like black oil; a little butterfly +lies on its back, the wings glued to one of the eddies, its limbs +feebly quivering; a fish arises, and it is gone. Lower down the +stream, I can see over a knoll the green and damp turf roofs of four +or five hovels, built at the edge of a morass, which is trodden by the +cattle into a black Slough of Despond at their doors, and traversed by +a few ill-set stepping stones, with here and there a flat slab on the +tops, where they have sunk out of sight;--and at the turn of the brook +I see a man fishing, with a boy and a dog--a picturesque and pretty +group enough certainly, if they had not been there all day starving. I +know them, and I know the dog's ribs also, which are nearly as bare as +the dead ewe's; and the child's wasted shoulders, cutting his old +tartan jacket through, so sharp are they. + +[34] Passage written to be opposed to an exuberant description, by an +amiable Scottish pastor, of everything flattering to Scotchmen in the +Highlands. I have put next to it, a little study of the sadness of +Italy. + + +88. Perhaps there is no more impressive scene on earth than the +solitary extent of the Campagna of Rome under evening light. Let the +reader imagine himself for a moment withdrawn from the sounds and +motion of the living world, and sent forth alone into this wild and +wasted plain. The earth yields and crumbles beneath his foot, tread he +never so lightly, for its substance is white, hollow, and carious, +like the dusty wreck of the bones of men. The long knotted grass waves +and tosses feebly in the evening wind, and the shadows of its motion +shake feverishly along the banks of ruin that lift themselves to the +sunlight. Hillocks of mouldering earth heave around him, as if the +dead beneath were struggling in their sleep. Scattered blocks of black +stone, four-square remnants of mighty edifices, not one left upon +another, lie upon them to keep them down. A dull purple poisonous haze +stretches level along the desert, veiling its spectral wrecks of massy +ruins, on whose rents the red light rests, like dying fire on defiled +altars; the blue ridge of the Alban Mount lifts itself against a +solemn space of green, clear, quiet sky. Watch-towers of dark clouds +stand steadfastly along the promontories of the Apennines. From the +plain to the mountains, the shattered aqueducts, pier beyond pier, +melt into the darkness, like shadowy and countless troops of funeral +mourners, passing from a nation's grave. + + +89. I was coming down one evening from the Rochers de Naye, above +Montreux, having been at work among the limestone rocks, where I could +get no water, and both weary and thirsty. Coming to a spring at the +turn of the path, conducted, as usual, by the herdsmen, into a +hollowed pine trunk, I stooped to it, and drank deeply. As I raised my +head, drawing breath heavily, some one behind me said, "Celui qui +boira de cette eau-ci, aura encore soif." I turned, not understanding +for a moment what was meant, and saw one of the hill peasants, +probably returning to his châlet from the market place at Vevay or +Villeneuve. As I looked at him with an uncomprehending expression, he +went on with the verse: "Mais celui qui boira de l'eau que je lui +donnerai, n'aura jamais soif." + + +90. It may perhaps be permitted me[35] to mark the significance of the +earliest mention of mountains in the Mosaic books; at least of those +in which some Divine appointment or command is stated respecting them. +They are first brought before us as refuges for God's people from the +two judgments of water and fire. The Ark rests upon the mountains of +Ararat; and man, having passed through the great Baptism unto death, +kneels upon the earth first where it is nearest heaven, and mingles +with the mountain clouds the smoke of his sacrifice of thanksgiving. +Again; from the midst of the first judgment by fire, the command of +the Deity to His servant is, "Escape to the mountain;" and the morbid +fear of the hills, which fills any human mind after long stay in +places of luxury and sin, is strangely marked in Lot's complaining +reply, "I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me." The +third mention, in way of ordinance, is a far more solemn one: "Abraham +lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off." "The Place," the +mountain of myrrh, or of bitterness, chosen to fulfil to all the seed +of Abraham, far off and near, the inner meaning of promise regarded in +that vow: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh +mine help." And the fourth is the delivery of the law on Sinai. It +seemed then to the monks that the mountains were appointed by their +Maker to be to man refuges from judgment, signs of redemption, and +altars of sanctification and obedience; and they saw them afterwards +connected, in the manner the most touching and gracious, with the +death, after his task had been accomplished, of the first anointed +Priest; the death, in like manner, of the first inspired Lawgiver; and +lastly, with the assumption of His office, by the Eternal Priest, +Lawgiver, and Saviour. + +[35] With reference to the choice of mountain dwellings by the greater +monastic orders. + +Observe the connection of these three events. Although the _time_ of +the deaths of Aaron and Moses was hastened by God's displeasure, we +have not, it seems to me, the slightest warrant for concluding that +the _manner_ of their deaths was intended to be grievous or +dishonourable to them. Far from this, it cannot, I think, be doubted +that in the denial of the permission to enter the Promised Land, the +whole punishment of their sin was included; and that, as far as +regarded the manner of their deaths, it must have been appointed for +them by their Master, in all tenderness and love, and with the full +purpose of ennobling the close of their service upon the earth. It +might have seemed to _us_ more honourable that both should have been +permitted to die beneath the shadow of the Tabernacle, the +congregation of Israel watching by their side; and all whom they loved +gathered together to receive the last message from the lips of the +meek lawgiver, and the last blessing from the prayer of the anointed +priest. But it was not thus they were permitted to die. Try to realize +that going forth of Aaron from the midst of the congregation. He who +had so often done sacrifice for their sin, going forth now to offer up +his own spirit. He who had stood among them between the dead and the +living, and had seen the eyes of all that great multitude turned to +him, that by his intercession their breath might yet be drawn a moment +more, going forth now to meet the angel of death face to face, and +deliver himself into his hand. Try if you cannot walk in thought with +those two brothers, and the son, as they passed the outmost tents of +Israel, and turned, while yet the dew lay round about the camp, +towards the slopes of Mount Hor; talking together for the last time, +as step by step they felt the steeper rising of the rocks, and hour +after hour, beneath the ascending sun, the horizon grew broader as +they climbed, and all the folded hills of Idumea, one by one subdued, +showed, amidst their hollows in the haze of noon, the windings of that +long desert journey, now at last to close. But who shall enter into +the thoughts of the High Priest as his eye followed those paths of +ancient pilgrimage; and through the silence of the arid and endless +hills, stretching even to the dim peak of Sinai, the whole history of +those forty years was unfolded before him, and the mystery of his own +ministries revealed to him; and that other Holy of Holies, of which +the mountain peaks were the altars, and the mountain clouds the veil, +the firmament of his Father's dwelling, opened to him still more +brightly and infinitely as he drew nearer his death?--until at last, +on the shadeless summit, from him on whom sin was to be laid no more, +from him on whose heart the names of sinful nations were to press +their graven fire no longer, the brother and the son took breastplate +and ephod, and left him to his rest. There is indeed a secretness in +this calm faith, and deep restraint of sorrow, into which it is +difficult for us to enter; but the death of Moses himself is more +easily to be conceived, and had in it circumstances still more +touching as regards the influence of the external scene. For forty +years Moses had not been alone. The care and burden of all the people, +the weight of their woe, and guilt, and death, had been upon him +continually. The multitude had been laid upon him as if he had +conceived them; their tears had been his meat night and day, until he +had felt as if God had withdrawn His favour from him, and he had +prayed that he might be slain, and not see his wretchedness. And now +at last the command came, "Get thee up into this mountain." The weary +hands, that had been so long stayed up against the enemies of Israel, +might lean again upon the shepherd's staff, and fold themselves for +the shepherd's prayer--for the shepherd's slumber. Not strange to his +feet, though forty years unknown, the roughness of the bare mountain +path, as he climbed from ledge to ledge of Abarim; not strange to his +aged eyes the scattered clusters of the mountain herbage, and the +broken shadows of the cliffs, indented far across the silence of +uninhabited ravines; scenes such as those among which, as now, with +none beside him but God, he had led his flocks so often; and which he +had left, how painfully! taking upon him the appointed power to make +of the fenced city a wilderness, and to fill the desert with songs of +deliverance. It was not to embitter the last hours of his life that +God restored to him for a day the beloved solitudes he had lost, and +breathed the peace of the perpetual hills around him, and cast the +world in which he had laboured, and sinned, far beneath his feet in +that mist of dying blue;--all sin, all wandering, soon to be forgotten +for ever. The Dead Sea--a type of God's anger understood by him, of +all men, most clearly, who had seen the earth open her mouth, and the +sea his depth, to overwhelm the companies of those who contended with +his Master--laid waveless beneath him; and beyond it the fair hills of +Judah, and the soft plains and banks of Jordan, purple in the evening +light as with the blood of redemption, and fading in their distant +fulness into mysteries of promise and of love. There, with his +unabated strength, his undimmed glance, lying down upon the utmost +rocks, with angels waiting near to contend for the spoils of his +spirit, he put off his earthly armour. We do deep reverence to his +companion prophet, for whom the chariot of fire came down from heaven; +but was his death less noble whom his Lord Himself buried in the vales +of Moab, keeping, in the secrets of the eternal counsels, the +knowledge of a sepulchre, from which he was to be called in the +fulness of time, to talk with that Lord upon Hermon of the death that +He should accomplish at Jerusalem? + +And lastly, let us turn our thoughts for a few moments to the cause of +the resurrection of these two prophets. We are all of us too much in +the habit of passing it by, as a thing mystical and inconceivable, +taking place in the life of Christ for some purpose not by us to be +understood, or, at the best, merely as a manifestation of His divinity +by brightness of heavenly light, and the ministering of the spirits of +the dead, intended to strengthen the faith of His three chosen +apostles. And in this, as in many other events recorded by the +Evangelists, we lose half the meaning, and evade the practical power +upon ourselves, by never accepting in its fulness the idea that our +Lord was "perfect man,"--"tempted in all things like as we are." Our +preachers are continually trying, in all manner of subtle ways, to +explain the union of the Divinity with the Manhood--an explanation +which certainly involves first their being able to describe the nature +of Deity itself, or, in plain words, to comprehend God. They never can +explain, in any one particular, the union of the natures; they only +succeed in weakening the faith of their hearers as to the entireness +of either. The thing they have to do is precisely the contrary of +this--to insist upon the _entireness_ of both. We never think of +Christ enough as God, never enough as Man; the instinctive habit of +our minds being always to miss of the Divinity, and the reasoning and +enforced habit to miss of the humanity. We are afraid to harbour in +our own hearts, or to utter in the hearing of others, any thought of +our Lord as hungering, tired, sorrowful, having a human soul, a human +will, and affected by events of human life, as a finite creature is: +and yet one half of the efficiency of His atonement, and the whole of +the efficiency of His example, depend on His having been this to the +full. Consider, therefore, the Transfiguration as it relates to the +human feelings of our Lord. It was the first definite preparation for +His death. He had foretold it to His disciples six days before; then +takes with Him the three chosen ones into "an high mountain apart." +From an exceeding high mountain, at the first taking on Him the +ministry of life, He had beheld and rejected the kingdoms of the +earth, and their glory: now, on a high mountain, He takes upon Him the +ministry of death. Peter and they that were with Him, as in +Gethsemane, were heavy with sleep. Christ's work had to be done alone. + +The tradition is that the Mount of Transfiguration was the summit of +Tabor; but Tabor is neither a high mountain, nor was it in any sense a +mountain "_apart_," being in those years both, inhabited and +fortified. All the immediately preceding ministries of Christ had been +at Cesarea Philippi. There is no mention of travel southward in the +six days that intervened between the warning given to His disciples +and the going up into the hill. What other hill could it be than the +southward slope of that goodly mountain, Hermon, which is indeed the +centre of all the Promised Land, from the entering in of Hamath unto +the river of Egypt; the mount of fruitfulness, from which the springs +of Jordan descended to the valleys of Israel? Along its mighty forest +avenues, until the grass grew fair with the mountain lilies, His feet +dashed in the dew of Hermon, He must have gone to pray His first +recorded prayer about death; and from the steep of it, before He +knelt, could see to the south all the dwellings of the people that had +sat in darkness, and seen the great light, the land of Zabulon and of +Naphtali, Galilee of the nations,--could see, even with His human +sight, the gleam of that lake by Capernaum and Chorazin, and many a +place loved by Him, and vainly ministered to, whose house was now left +unto them desolate; and chief of all, far in the utmost blue, the +hills above Nazareth, sloping down to His old home; hills on which yet +the stones lay loose that had been taken up to cast at Him when He +left them for ever. + +"And as He prayed, two men stood by Him." Among the many ways in which +we miss the help and hold of Scripture, none is more subtle than our +habit of supposing that, even as man, Christ was free from the fear of +death. How could He then have been tempted as we are?--since among all +the trials of the earth, none spring from the dust more terrible than +that fear. It had to be borne by Him, indeed, in a unity which we can +never comprehend, with the foreknowledge of victory,--as His sorrow +for Lazarus with the consciousness of His power to restore him; but it +_had_ to be borne, and that in its full earthly terror; and the +presence of it is surely marked for us enough by the rising of those +two at His side. When, in the desert, He was girding Himself for the +work of life, angels of life came and ministered to Him; now in the +fair world, when He is girding Himself for the work of death, the +ministrants come to Him from the grave. But, from the grave, +conquered. One from that tomb under Abarim, which His own hand had +sealed long ago; the other, from the rest into which he had entered +without seeing corruption. "There stood by Him Moses and Elias, and +spake of His decease." Then, when the prayer is ended, the task +accepted, first, since the star paused over Him at Bethlehem, the full +glory falls upon Him from heaven, and the testimony is borne to His +everlasting Sonship and power. "Hear ye Him." + +If, in their remembrance of these things, and in their endeavour to +follow in the footsteps of their Master, religious men of bygone days, +closing themselves in the hill solitudes, forgot sometimes, and +sometimes feared, the duties they owed to the active world, we may +perhaps pardon them more easily than we ought to pardon ourselves, if +we neither seek any influence for good, nor submit to it unsought, in +scenes to which thus all the men whose writings we receive as +inspired, together with their Lord, retired whenever they had any task +or trial laid upon them needing more than their usual strength of +spirit. Nor perhaps should we have unprofitably entered into the mind +of the earlier ages, if among our other thoughts, as we watch the +chains of the snowy mountains rise on the horizon, we should sometimes +admit the memory of the hour in which their Creator, among their +solitudes, entered on His travail for the salvation of our race; and +indulge the dream, that as the flaming and trembling mountains of the +earth seem to be the monuments of the manifesting of His terror on +Sinai, these pure and white hills, near to the heaven, and sources of +all good to the earth, are the appointed memorials of that light of +His mercy, that fell, snowlike, on the Mount of Transfiguration. + + +FINIS. + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + +Edinburgh & London + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frondes Agrestes, by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONDES AGRESTES *** + +***** This file should be named 31045-8.txt or 31045-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/4/31045/ + +Produced by Paul Murray, Chandra Friend and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Frondes Agrestes + Readings in 'Modern Painters' + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: January 22, 2010 [EBook #31045] +Last Updated: February 12, 2019 + + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONDES AGRESTES *** + + + + +Etext produced by Paul Murray, Chandra Friend and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + FRONDES AGRESTES. + </h1> + <h3> + READINGS IN 'MODERN PAINTERS.' + </h3> + <h2> + By John Ruskin + </h2> + <h4> + Chosen At Her Pleasure, By The Author's Friend, The Younger Lady Of The + Thwaite, Coniston. + </h4> + <h3> + <i>'Spargit agrestes tibi silva frondes.'</i> + </h3> + <h5> + Thirty-Eighth Thousand. + </h5> + <h4> + London: George Allen, 156, Charing Cross Road. 1902. + </h4> + <h4> + Printed By Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. At the Ballantyne Press + </h4> + <hr /> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> FRONDES AGRESTES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> SECTION I. — PRINCIPLES OF ART. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> SECTION II. — POWER AND OFFICE OF + IMAGINATION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> SECTION III. — ILLUSTRATIVE: THE SKY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> SECTION IV. — ILLUSTRATIVE: STREAMS AND + SEA. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> SECTION V. — ILLUSTRATIVE: MOUNTAINS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> SECTION VI. — ILLUSTRATIVE: STONES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> SECTION VII. — ILLUSTRATIVE: PLANTS AND + FLOWERS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> SECTION VIII. — EDUCATION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> SECTION IX. — MORALITIES. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE. + </h2> + <p> + I have been often asked to republish the first book of mine which the + public noticed, and which, hitherto, remains their favourite, in a more + easily attainable form than that of its existing editions. I am, however, + resolved never to republish the book as a whole; some parts of it being, + by the established fame of Turner, rendered unnecessary; and others having + been always useless, in their praise of excellence which the public will + never give the labour necessary to discern. But, finding lately that one + of my dearest friends, who, in advanced age, retains the cheerfulness and + easily delighted temper of bright youth, had written out, for her own + pleasure, a large number of passages from 'Modern Painters,' it seemed to + me certain that what such a person felt to be useful to herself, could not + but be useful also to a class of readers whom I much desired to please, + and who would sometimes enjoy, in my early writings, what I never should + myself have offered them. I asked my friend, therefore, to add to her own + already chosen series, any other passages she thought likely to be of + permanent interest to general readers; and I have printed her selections + in absolute submission to her judgment, merely arranging the pieces she + sent me in the order which seemed most convenient for the reciprocal + bearing of their fragmentary meanings, and adding here and there an + explanatory note; or, it may be, a deprecatory one, in cases where my mind + had changed. That she did me the grace to write every word with her own + hands, adds, in my eyes, and will, I trust, in the readers' also, to the + possible claims of the little book on their sympathy; and although I hope + to publish some of the scientific and technical portions of the original + volumes in my own large editions, the selections here made by my friend + under her quiet woods at Coniston—the Unter-Walden of England—will, + I doubt not, bring within better reach of many readers, for whom I am not + now able myself to judge or choose, such service as the book was ever + capable of rendering, in the illustration of the powers of nature, and + intercession for her now too often despised and broken peace. + </p> + <p> + Herne Hill, + </p> + <p> + 5th December, 1874. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FRONDES AGRESTES. + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION I. — PRINCIPLES OF ART. + </h2> + <p> + 1. Perfect taste is the faculty of receiving the greatest possible + pleasure from those material sources which are attractive to our moral + nature in its purity and perfection; but why we receive pleasure from some + forms and colours, and not from others, is no more to be asked or answered + than why we like sugar and dislike wormwood. + </p> + <p> + 2. The temper by which right taste is formed is characteristically + patient. It dwells upon what is submitted to it. It does not trample upon + it,—lest it should be pearls, even though it look like husks. It is + good ground, penetrable, retentive; it does not send up thorns of unkind + thoughts, to choke the weak seed; it is hungry and thirsty too, and drinks + all the dew that falls on it. It is an honest and good heart, that shows + no too ready springing before the sun be up, but fails not afterwards; it + is distrustful of itself, so as to be ready to believe and to try all + things; and yet so trustful of itself, that it will neither quit what it + has tried, nor take anything without trying. And the pleasure which it has + in things that it finds true and good, is so great, that it cannot + possibly be led aside by any tricks of fashion, or diseases of vanity; it + cannot be cramped in its conclusions by partialities and hypocrisies; its + visions and its delights are too penetrating,—too living,—for + any whitewashed object or shallow fountain long to endure or supply. It + clasps all that it loves so hard that it crushes it if it be hollow. + </p> + <p> + 3. It is the common consent of men that whatever branch of any pursuit + ministers to the bodily comforts, and regards material uses, is ignoble, + and whatever part is addressed to the mind only, is noble; and that + geology does better in reclothing dry bones and revealing lost creations, + than in tracing veins of lead and beds of iron; astronomy better in + opening to us the houses of heaven, than in teaching navigation; botany + better in displaying structure than in expressing juices; surgery better + in investigating organization than in setting limbs.—Only it is + ordained that, for our encouragement, every step we make in the more + exalted range of science adds something also to its practical + applicabilities; that all the great phenomena of nature, the knowledge of + which is desired by the angels only, by us partly, as it reveals to + farther vision the being and the glory of Him in whom they rejoice and we + live, dispense yet such kind influences and so much of material blessing + as to be joyfully felt by all inferior creatures, and to be desired by + them with such single desire as the imperfection of their nature may + admit; that the strong torrents, which, in their own gladness, fill the + hills with hollow thunder, and the vales with winding light, have yet + their bounden charge of field to feed, and barge to bear; that the fierce + flames to which the Alp owes its upheaval and the volcano its terror, + temper for us the metal vein, and warm the quickening spring; and that for + our incitement, I say, not our reward,—for knowledge is its own + reward,—herbs have their healing, stones their preciousness, and + stars their times. + </p> + <p> + 4. Had it been ordained by the Almighty{1} that the highest pleasures of + sight should be those of most difficult attainment, and that to arrive at + them it should be necessary to accumulate gilded palaces, tower over + tower, and pile artificial mountains around insinuated lakes, there would + never have been a direct contradiction between the unselfish duties and + the inherent desires of every individual. But no such contradiction exists + in the system of Divine Providence; which, leaving it open to us, if we + will, as creatures in probation, to abuse this sense like every other, and + pamper it with selfish and thoughtless vanities, as we pamper the palate + with deadly meats, until the appetite of tasteful cruelty is lost in its + sickened satiety, incapable of pleasure unless, Caligula like, it + concentrates the labour of a million of lives into the sensation of an + hour,—leaves it also open to us, by humble and loving ways, to make + ourselves susceptible of deep delight, which shall not separate us from + our fellows, nor require the sacrifice of any duty or occupation, but + which shall bind us closer to men and to God, and be with us always, + harmonized with every action, consistent with every claim, unchanging and + eternal. + </p> + <p> + {1} The reader must observe, that having been thoroughly disciplined in + the Evangelical schools, I supposed myself, at four-and-twenty, to know + all about the ordinances of the Almighty. Nevertheless, the practical + contents of the sentence are good; if only they are intelligible, which I + doubt. + </p> + <p> + 5. A great Idealist never can be egotistic. The whole of his power depends + upon his losing sight and feeling of his own existence, and becoming a + mere witness and mirror of truth, and a scribe of visions,—always + passive in sight, passive in utterance, lamenting continually that he + cannot completely reflect nor clearly utter all he has seen,—not by + any means a proud state for a man to be in. But the man who has no + invention is always setting things in order,{2} and putting the world to + rights, and mending, and beautifying, and pluming himself on his doings, + as supreme in all ways. + </p> + <p> + {2} I am now a comic illustration of this sentence, myself. I have not a + ray of invention in all my brains; but am intensely rational and orderly, + and have resolutely begun to set the world to rights. + </p> + <p> + 6. So far as education does indeed tend to make the senses delicate, and + the perceptions accurate, and thus enables people to be pleased with quiet + instead of gaudy colour, and with graceful instead of coarse form; and by + long acquaintance with the best things, to discern quickly what is fine + from what is common—so far acquired taste is an honourable faculty, + and it is true praise of anything to say it is "in good taste." But,{3} so + far as this higher education has a tendency to narrow the sympathies and + harden the heart, diminishing the interest of all beautiful things by + familiarity, until even what is best can hardly please, and what is + brightest hardly entertain,—so far as it fosters pride, and leads + men to found the pleasure they take in anything, not on the worthiness of + the thing, but on the degree in which it indicates some greatness of their + own, (as people build marble porticoes, and inlay marble floors, not so + much because they like the colours of marble, or find it pleasant to the + foot, as because such porches and floors are costly, and separated in all + human eyes from plain entrances of stone and timber);—so far as it + leads people to prefer gracefulness of dress, manner, and aspect, to value + of substance and heart, liking a well-<i>said</i> thing better than a true + thing, and a well-trained manner better than a sincere one, and a + delicately-formed face better than a good-natured one,—and in all + other ways and things setting custom and semblance above everlasting + truth;—so far, finally, as it induces a sense of inherent + distinction between class and class, and causes everything to be more or + less despised which has no social rank, so that the affection, pleasure, + and grief of a clown are looked upon as of no interest compared with the + affection and grief of a well-bred man;—just so far, in all these + several ways, the feeling induced by what is called "a liberal education" + is utterly adverse to the understanding of noble art. + </p> + <p> + {3} Nobody need begin this second volume sentence unless they are breathed + like the Græme:— + </p> + <p> + "Right up Ben Ledi could he press, And not a sob his toil confess." + </p> + <p> + 7. He who habituates himself in his daily life to seek for the stern facts + in whatever he hears or sees, will have these facts again brought before + him by the involuntary imaginative power, in their noblest associations; + and he who seeks for frivolities and fallacies, will have frivolities and + fallacies again presented to him in his dreams.{4} + </p> + <p> + {4} Very good. Few people have any idea how much more important the + government of the mind is, than the force of its exertion. Nearly all the + world flog their horses, without ever looking where they are going. + </p> + <p> + 8. All the histories of the Bible are yet waiting to be painted. Moses has + never been painted; Elijah never; David never (except as a mere ruddy + stripling); Deborah never; Gideon never; Isaiah never.{5} What single + example does the reader remember of painting which suggested so much as + the faintest shadow of their deeds? Strong men in armour, or aged men with + flowing beards, he <i>may</i> remember, who, when he looked at his Louvre + or Uffizi catalogue, he found were intended to stand for David, or Moses. + But does he suppose that, if these pictures had suggested to him the + feeblest image of the presence of such men, he would have passed on, as he + assuredly did, to the next picture, representing, doubtless, Diana and + Actæon, or Cupid and the Graces, or a gambling quarrel in a pothouse—with + no sense of pain or surprise? Let him meditate over the matter, and he + will find ultimately that what I say is true, and that religious art at + once complete and sincere never yet has existed. + </p> + <p> + {5} I knew nothing, when I wrote this passage, of Luini, Filippo Lippi, or + Sandro Botticelli; and had not capacity to enter into the deeper feelings, + even of the men whom I was chiefly studying,—Tintoret and Fra + Angelico. But the British public is at present as little acquainted with + the greater Florentines as I was then, and the passage, for <i>them</i>, + remains true. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION II. — POWER AND OFFICE OF IMAGINATION. + </h2> + <p> + 9. What are the legitimate uses of the imagination,—that is to say, + of the power of perceiving, or conceiving with the mind, things which + cannot be perceived by the senses? Its first and noblest use is,{6} to + enable us to bring sensibly to our sight the things which are recorded as + belonging to our future state, or invisibly surrounding us in this. It is + given us, that we may imagine the cloud of witnesses, in heaven, and + earth, and sea, as if they were now present,—the souls of the + righteous waiting for us; that we may conceive the great army of the + inhabitants of heaven, and discover among them those whom we most desire + to be with for ever; that we may be able to vision forth the ministry of + angels beside us, and see the chariots of fire on the mountains that gird + us round; but, above all, to call up the scenes and facts in which we are + commanded to believe, and be present, as if in the body, at every recorded + event of the history of the Redeemer. Its second and ordinary use is, to + empower us to traverse the scenes of all other history, and to force the + facts to become again visible, so as to make upon us the same impression + which they would have made if we had witnessed them; and, in the minor + necessities of life, to enable us, out of any present good, to gather the + utmost measure of enjoyment, by investing it with happy associations, and, + in any present evil, to lighten it, by summoning back the images of other + hours; and also to give to all mental truths some visible type, in + allegory, simile, or personification, which shall most deeply enforce + them; and finally, when the mind is utterly outwearied, to refresh it with + such innocent play as shall be most in harmony with the suggestive voices + of natural things, permitting it to possess living companionship, instead + of silent beauty, and create for itself fairies in the grass, and naiads + in the wave. + </p> + <p> + {6} I should be glad if the reader who is interested in the question here + raised, would read, as illustrative of the subsequent statement, the + account of Tintoret's 'Paradise,' in the close of my Oxford lecture on + Michael Angelo and Tintoret, which I have printed separately to make it + generally accessible. + </p> + <p> + 10. Yet, because we thus reverence the power and art of imagination, let + none of us despise the power and art of memory. + </p> + <p> + Let the reader consider seriously what he would give at any moment to have + the power of arresting the fairest scenes, those which so often rise + before him only to vanish; to stay the cloud in its fading, the leaf in + its trembling, and the shadows in their changing; to bid the fitful foam + be fixed upon the river, and the ripples be everlasting upon the lake; and + then to bear away with him no darkness or feeble sun-stain, (though even + that is beautiful,) but a counterfeit which should seem no counterfeit—the + true and perfect image of life indeed. Or rather, (for the full majesty of + such a power is not thus sufficiently expressed,) let him consider that it + would be in effect nothing less than a capacity of transporting himself at + any moment into any scene—a gift as great as can be possessed by a + disembodied spirit; and suppose, also, this necromancy embracing not only + the present but the past, and enabling us seemingly to enter into the very + bodily presence of men long since gathered to the dust; to behold them in + act as they lived; but, with greater privilege than ever was granted to + the companions of those transient acts of life, to see them fastened at + our will in the gesture and expression of an instant, and stayed on the + eve of some great deed, in immortality of burning purpose.—Conceive, + so far as is possible, such power as this, and then say whether the art + which conferred it is to be spoken lightly of, or whether we should not + rather reverence, as half-divine, a gift which would go so far as to raise + us into the rank, and invest us with the felicities, of angels.{7} + </p> + <p> + {7} Passage written in opposition to the vulgar notion that the 'mere + imitation' of Nature is easy, and useless. + </p> + <p> + 11. I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do + not mean by humility, doubt of his own power, or hesitation of speaking + his opinions; but a right understanding of the relation between what <i>he</i> + can do and say, and the rest of the world's sayings and doings. All great + men not only know their business, but usually know that they know it; and + are not only right in their main opinions, but they usually know that they + are right in them; only they do not think much of themselves on that + account. Arnolfo knows he can build a good dome at Florence; Albert Durer + writes calmly to one who has found fault with his work,—"It cannot + be better done;" Sir Isaac Newton knows that he has worked out a problem + or two that would have puzzled anybody else; only they do not expect their + fellow-men, therefore, to fall down and worship them. They have a curious + under-sense of powerlessness, feeling that the greatness is not <i>in</i> + them, but <i>through</i> them—that they could not do or be anything + else than God made them; and they see something divine and God-made in + every other man they meet, and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly + merciful. + </p> + <p> + 12. As far as I can observe, it is a constant law, that the greatest men, + whether poets or historians, live entirely in their own age, and the + greatest fruits of their work are gathered out of their own age. Dante + paints Italy in the thirteenth century; Chaucer, England in the + fourteenth; Masaccio, Florence in the fifteenth; Tintoret, Venice in the + sixteenth; all of them utterly regardless of anachronism and minor error + of every kind, but getting always vital truth out of the vital present. If + it be said that Shakespeare wrote perfect historical plays on subjects + belonging to the preceding centuries, I answer that they <i>are</i> + perfect plays, just because there is no care about centuries in them, but + a life which all men recognise for the human life of all time—and + this it is, not because Shakespeare sought to give universal truth, but + because painting, honestly and completely, from the men about him, he + painted that human nature which is indeed constant enough,—a rogue + in the fifteenth century being <i>at heart</i> what a rogue is in the + nineteenth, and was in the twelfth; and an honest or knightly man being in + like manner very similar to other such at any other time. And the work of + these great idealists is, therefore, always universal; not because it is + not <i>portrait</i>, but because it is <i>complete</i> portrait, down to + the heart, which is the same in all ages; and the work of the mean + idealists is <i>not</i> universal, not because it is portrait, but because + it is <i>half</i> portrait—of the outside, the manners and the + dress, not of the heart. Thus Tintoret and Shakespeare paint, both of + them, simply Venetian and English nature, as they saw it in their time, + down to the root; and it does for <i>all</i> time; but as for any care to + cast themselves into the particular ways and tones of thought, or custom, + of past time in their historical work, you will find it in neither of + them,{8} nor in any other perfectly great man that I know of. + </p> + <p> + {8} What vestige of Egyptian character is there, for instance, in + Cleopatra?—of Athenian in Theseus or Timon?—of old English in + Imogen or Cordelia?—of old Scottish in Macbeth?—or even of + mediæval Italian in Petruchio, the Merchant of Venice, or Desdemona? And + the Roman plays appear definitely Roman only because the strength of Rome + was the eternal strength of the world,—pure family life, sustained + by agriculture, and defended by simple and fearless manhood. + </p> + <p> + 13. I think it probable that many readers may be surprised at my calling + Scott the great representative of the mind of the age of literature. Those + who can perceive the intense penetrative depth of Wordsworth, and the + exquisite finish and melodious power of Tennyson, may be offended at my + placing in higher rank that poetry of careless glance and reckless rhyme + in which Scott poured out the fancies of his youth; and those who are + familiar with the subtle analysis of the French novelists, or who have in + any wise submitted themselves to the influence of German philosophy, may + be equally indignant at my ascribing a principality to Scott among the + literary men of Europe, in an age which has produced De Balzac, and + Goethe.{9} + </p> + <p> + {9} I knew nothing of Goethe when I put him with Balzac; but the + intolerable dulness which encumbers the depth of Wilhelm Meister, and the + cruel reserve which conceals from all but the intensest readers the + meaning of Faust, have made him, in a great degree, an evil influence in + European literature; and Evil is always second-rate. + </p> + <p> + But the mass of sentimental literature concerned with the analysis and + description of emotion, headed by the poetry of Byron, is altogether of + lower rank than the literature which merely describes what it saw. The + true seer feels as intensely as any one else; but he does not much + describe his feelings. He tells you whom he met, and what they said; + leaves you to make out, from that, what they feel, and what he feels, but + goes into little detail. And, generally speaking, pathetic writing and + careful explanation of passion are quite easy, compared with this plain + recording of what people said, and did; or with the right invention of + what they are likely to say and do; for this reason, that to invent a + story, or admirably and thoroughly tell any part of a story, it is + necessary to grasp the entire mind of every personage concerned in it, and + know precisely how they would be affected by what happens; which to do, + requires a colossal intellect; but to describe a separate emotion + delicately, it is only needed that one should feel it oneself; and + thousands of people are capable of feeling this or that noble emotion, for + one who is able to enter into all the feelings of somebody sitting on the + other side of the table. Even, therefore, where this sentimental + literature is first rate, as in passages of Byron, Tennyson, and Keats, it + ought not to be ranked so high as the creative; and though perfection even + in narrow fields is perhaps as rare as in the wider, and it may be as long + before we have another "In Memoriam" as another "Guy Mannering," I + unhesitatingly receive as a greater manifestation of power, the right + invention of a few sentences spoken by Pleydell and Mannering across their + supper-table, than the most tender and passionate melodies of the + self-examining verse. + </p> + <p> + 14. Fancy plays like a squirrel in its circular prison, and is happy; but + Imagination is a pilgrim on the earth—and her home is in heaven. + Shut her from the fields of the celestial mountains, bear her from + breathing their lofty, sun-warmed air; and we may as well turn upon her + the last bolt of the Tower of Famine, and give the keys to the keeping of + the wildest surge that washes Capraja and Gorgona.{10} + </p> + <p> + {10} I leave this passage, as my friend has chosen it; but it is + unintelligible without the contexts, which show how all the emotions + described in the preceding passages of this section, are founded on trust + in the beneficence and rule of an Omnipotent Spirit. + </p> + <p> + 15. In the highest poetry, there is no word so familiar, but a great man + will "bring good out of it, or rather, it will bring good to him, and + answer some end for which no other word would have done equally well. A + common person, for instance, would be mightily puzzled to apply the word + 'whelp' to anyone, with a view of flattering him. There is a certain + freshness and energy in the term, which gives it agreeableness, but it + seems difficult, at first hearing it, to use it complimentarily. If the + person spoken of be a prince, the difficulty seems increased; and when + farther he is at one and the same moment to be called a 'whelp' and + contemplated as a hero, it seems that a common idealist might well be + brought to a pause! But hear Shakespeare do it:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Awake his warlike spirit, + And your great uncle's, Edward the Black Prince, + Who on the French ground played a tragedy, + Making defeat on the full power of France, + While his most mighty father on a hill + Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp + Forage in blood of French nobility." +</pre> + <p> + 16. Although in all lovely nature there is, first, an excellent degree of + simple beauty, addressed to the eye alone, yet often what impresses us + most will form but a very small portion of that visible beauty. That + beauty may, for instance, be composed of lovely flowers, and glittering + streams, and blue sky and white clouds; and yet the thing that impresses + us most, and which we should be sorriest to lose, may be a thin grey film + on the extreme horizon, not so large, in the space of the scene it + occupies, as a piece of gossamer on a near-at-hand bush, nor in any wise + prettier to the eye than the gossamer; but because the gossamer is known + by us for a little bit of spider's work, and the other grey film is known + to mean a mountain ten thousand feet high, inhabited by a race of noble + mountaineers, we are solemnly impressed by the aspect of it, and yet all + the while the thoughts and knowledge which cause us to receive this + impression are so obscure that we are not conscious of them. + </p> + <p> + 17. Examine the nature of your own emotion, (if you feel it,) at the sight + of the Alps; and you find all the brightness of that emotion hanging, like + dew on a gossamer, on a curious web of subtle fancy and imperfect + knowledge. First you have a vague idea of its size, coupled with wonder at + the work of the great Builder of its walls and foundations; then an + apprehension of its eternity, a pathetic sense of its perpetualness, and + your own transientness, as of the grass upon its side;—then, and in + very sadness, a sense of strange companionship with past generations, in + seeing what they saw. They did not see the clouds that are floating over + your head, nor the cottage wall on the other side of the field, nor the + road by which you are travelling. But they saw <i>that</i>. The wall of + granite in the heavens was the same to them as to you. They have ceased to + look upon it; you will soon cease to look also, and the granite wall will + be for others. Then, mingled with these more solemn imaginations, come the + understandings of the gifts and glories of the Alp;—the fancying + forth of all the fountains that well from its rocky walls, and strong + rivers that are born out of its ice, and of all the pleasant valleys that + wind between its cliffs, and all the châlets that gleam among its clouds, + and happy farmsteads couched upon its pastures; while, together with the + thoughts of these, rise strange sympathies with all the unknown of human + life, and happiness, and death, signified by that narrow white flame of + the everlasting snow, seen so far in the morning sky. These images, and + far more than these, lie at the root of the emotion which you feel at the + sight of the Alps. You may not trace them in your heart, for there is a + great deal more in your heart, both of evil and good, than you can ever + trace; but they stir you and quicken you for all that. Assuredly, so far + as you feel more at beholding the snowy mountain than any other object of + the same sweet silvery grey, these are the kind of images which cause you + to do so; and observe, these are nothing more than a greater apprehension + of the <i>facts</i> of the thing. We call the power 'Imagination,' because + it imagines or conceives; but it is only noble imagination, if it imagines + or conceives the <i>truth</i>. And according to the degree of knowledge + possessed, and of sensibility to the pathetic or impressive character of + the things known, will be the degree of this imaginative delight. + </p> + <p> + 18. So natural is it to the human heart to fix itself in hope rather than + in present possession, and so subtle is the charm which the imagination + casts over what is distant or denied, that there is often a more touching + power in the scenes which contain far-away promises of something greater + than themselves, than in those which exhaust the treasures and powers of + nature in an unconquerable and excellent glory, leaving nothing more to be + by fancy pictured or pursued. I do not know that there is a district in + the world more calculated to illustrate this power of the expectant + imagination than that which surrounds the city of Fribourg in Switzerland, + extending from it towards Berne. It is of grey sandstone, considerably + elevated, but presenting no object of striking interest to the passing + traveller; so that as it is generally seen in the course of a hasty + journey from the Bernese Alps to those of Savoy, it is rarely regarded + with any other sensation than that of weariness, all the more painful + because accompanied with reaction from the high excitement caused by the + splendour of the Bernese Oberland. The traveller—foot-sore, + feverish, and satiated with glacier and precipice,—lies back in the + corner of the diligence, perceiving little more than that the road is + winding and hilly, and the country through which it passes, cultivated and + tame. Let him, however, only do this tame country the justice of staying + in it a few days, until his mind has recovered its tone, and take one or + two long walks through its fields, and he will have other thoughts of it. + It is, as I said, an undulating district of grey sandstone, never + attaining any considerable height, but having enough of the mountain + spirit to throw itself into continual succession of bold slope and dale; + elevated, also, just far enough above the sea to render the pine a + frequent forest tree along its irregular ridges. Through this elevated + tract the river cuts its way in a ravine some five or six hundred feet in + depth, which winds for leagues between the gentle hills, unthought of + until its edge is approached; and then, suddenly, through the boughs of + the firs, the eye perceives, beneath, the green and gliding stream, and + the broad walls of sandstone cliff that form its banks; hollowed out where + the river leans against them, at its turns, into perilous over-hanging; + and, on the other shore, at the same spots, leaving little breadths of + meadow between them and the water, half overgrown with thicket, deserted + in their sweetness, inaccessible from above, and rarely visited by any + curious wanderers along the hardly traceable footpath which struggles for + existence beneath the rocks. And there the river ripples and eddies and + murmurs in an outer solitude. It is passing through a thickly peopled + country; but never was a stream so lonely. The feeblest and most far-away + torrent among the high hills has its companions; the goats browse beside + it; and the traveller drinks from it, and passes over it with his staff; + and the peasant traces a new channel for it down to his mill-wheel. But + this stream has no companions; it flows on in an infinite seclusion, not + secret, nor threatening, but a quietness of sweet daylight and open air—a + broad space of tender and deep desolateness, drooped into repose out of + the midst of human labour and life; the waves plashing lowly, with none to + hear them; and the wild birds building in the boughs, with none to fray + them away; and the soft, fragrant herbs rising and breathing and fading, + with no hand to gather them;—and yet all bright and bare to the + clouds above, and to the fresh fall of the passing sunshine and pure rain. + But above the brows of these scarped cliffs, all is in an instant changed. + A few steps only beyond the firs that stretch their branches, angular, and + wild, and white, like forks of lightning, into the air of the ravine,—and + we are in an arable country of the most perfect richness; the swathes of + its corn glowing and burning from field to field: its pretty hamlets all + vivid with fruitful orchards, and flowery garden, and goodly with + steep-roofed storehouse and barn; its well-kept, hard, park-like roads + rising and falling from hillside to hillside, or disappearing among brown + banks of moss, and thickets of the wild raspberry and rose, or gleaming + through lines of tall trees, half glade, half avenue, where the gate + opens, or the gateless path turns trustedly aside, unhindered, into the + garden of some statelier house, surrounded in rural pride with its golden + hives, and carved granaries, and irregular domain of latticed and + espaliered cottages, gladdening to look upon in their delicate homeliness—delicate, + yet in some sort, rude; not like our English homes—trim, laborious, + formal, irreproachable in comfort—but with a peculiar carelessness + and largeness in all their detail, harmonizing with the outlawed + loveliness of their country. For there is an untamed strength even in all + that soft and habitable land. It is indeed gilded with corn, and fragrant + with deep grass, but it is not subdued to the plough or to the scythe. It + gives at its own free will; it seems to have nothing wrested from it, nor + conquered in it. It is not redeemed from desertness, but unrestrained in + fruitfulness,—a generous land, bright with capricious plenty, and + laughing from vale to vale in fitful fulness, kind and wild. Nor this + without some sterner element mingled in the heart of it. For, along all + its ridges stand the dark masses of innumerable pines,{11} taking no part + in its gladness; asserting themselves for ever as fixed shadows, not to be + pierced or banished even in the intensest sunlight; fallen flakes and + fragments of the night, stayed in their solemn squares in the midst of all + the rosy bendings of the orchard boughs and yellow effulgence of the + harvest, and tracing themselves in black network and motionless fringes + against the blanched blue of the horizon in its saintly clearness. And yet + they do not sadden the landscape, but seem to have been set there chiefly + to show how bright everything else is round them; and all the clouds look + of pure silver, and all the air seems filled with a whiter and more living + sunshine, where they are pierced by the sable points of the pines; and all + the pastures look of more glowing green where they run up between the + purple trunks; and the sweet field footpaths skirt the edges of the forest + for the sake of its shade, sloping up and down about the slippery roots, + and losing themselves every now and then hopelessly among the violets and + ground-ivy and brown sheddings of the fibrous leaves, and at last plunging + into some open aisle, where the light through the distant stems shows that + there is a chance of coming out again on the other side; and coming out + indeed in a little while from the scented darkness into the dazzling air + and marvellous landscape, which stretches still farther and farther in new + wilfulness of grove and garden, until at last the craggy mountains of the + Simmenthal rise out of it, sharp into the rolling of the southern clouds. + </p> + <p> + {11} Almost the only pleasure I have, myself, in rereading my old books, + is my sense of having at least done justice to the pine. Compare the + passage in this book, No. 47. + </p> + <p> + 19.{12} Although there are few districts of Northern Europe, however + apparently dull or tame, in which I cannot find pleasure; though the whole + of Northern France (except Champagne), dull as it seems to most + travellers, is to me a perpetual paradise; and, putting Lincolnshire, + Leicestershire, and one or two such other perfectly flat districts aside, + there is not an English county which I should not find entertainment in + exploring the cross-roads of, foot by foot,—yet all my best + enjoyment would be owing to the imagination of the hills, colouring with + their far-away memories every lowland stone and herb. The pleasant French + coteau, green in the sunshine, delights me either by what real mountain + character it has in itself, (for in extent and succession of promontory, + the flanks of the French valleys have quite the sublimity of true mountain + distances,) or by its broken ground and rugged steps among the vines, and + rise of the leafage above against the blue sky, as it might rise at Vevay + or Como. There is not a wave of the Seine, but is associated in my mind + with the first rise of the sandstones and forest pines of Fontainebleau; + and with the hope of the Alps, as one leaves Paris, with the horses' heads + to the southwest, the morning sun flashing on the bright waves at + Charenton. If there be no hope or association of this kind, and if I + cannot deceive myself into fancying that perhaps at the next rise of the + road there may be the film of a blue hill in the gleam of sky at the + horizon, the landscape, however beautiful, produces in me even a kind of + sickness and pain; and the whole view from Richmond Hill or Windsor + Terrace,—nay, the gardens of Alcinous, with their perpetual summer—or + of the Hesperides, (if they were flat, and not close to Atlas,) golden + apples and all, I would give away in an instant, for one mossy granite + stone a foot broad, and two leaves of lady fern. + </p> + <p> + {12} This, and the following passage, have nothing to do with the general + statements in the book. They occur with reference only to my own + idiosyncrasy. I was much surprised when I found first how individual it + was, by a Pre-Raphaelite painter's declaring a piece of unwholesome reedy + fen to be more beautiful than Benvenue. + </p> + <p> + 20. I cannot find words to express the intense pleasure I have always in + first finding myself, after some prolonged stay in England, at the foot of + the old tower of Calais Church. The large neglect, the noble unsightliness + of it; the record of its years written so visibly, yet without sign of + weakness or decay; its stern wasteness and gloom, eaten away by the + Channel winds, and overgrown with the bitter sea grasses; its slates and + tiles all shaken and rent, and yet not falling; its desert of brickwork, + full of bolts, and holes, and ugly fissures, and yet strong, like a bare + brown rock; its carelessness of what any one thinks or feels about it, + putting forth no claim, having no beauty, nor desirableness, pride, nor + grace; yet neither asking for pity; not, as ruins are, useless and + piteous, feebly or fondly garrulous of better days; but, useful still, + going through its own daily work,—as some old fisherman, beaten grey + by storm, yet drawing his daily nets: so it stands, with no complaint + about its past youth, in blanched and meagre massiveness and + serviceableness, gathering human souls together underneath it; the sound + of its bells for prayer still rolling through its rents; and the grey peak + of it seen far across the sea, principal of the three that rise above the + waste of surfy sand and hillocked shore,—the lighthouse for life, + and the belfry for labour, and this—for patience and praise. + </p> + <p> + I cannot tell the half of the strange pleasures and thoughts that come + about me at the sight of that old tower; for, in some sort, it is the + epitome of all that makes the continent of Europe interesting, as opposed + to new countries; and, above all, it completely expresses that agedness in + the midst of active life which binds the old and the new into harmony. We + in England have our new streets, our new inn, our green shaven lawn, and + our piece of ruin emergent from it—a mere <i>specimen</i> of the + Middle Ages put on a bit of velvet carpet, to be shown; and which, but for + its size, might as well be on a museum shelf at once, under cover;—but, + on the Continent, the links are unbroken between the past and present; + and, in such use as they can serve for, the grey-headed wrecks are + suffered to stay with men; while, in unbroken line, the generations of + spared buildings are seen succeeding, each in its place. And thus, in its + largeness, in its permitted evidence of slow decline, in its poverty, in + its absence of all pretence, of all show and care for outside aspect, that + Calais tower has an infinite of symbolism in it, all the more striking + because usually seen in contrast with English scenes expressive of + feelings the exact reverse of these.{13} + </p> + <p> + {13} My friend won't write out the reverse! Our book is to be all jelly, + and no powder, it seems. Well, I'm very thankful she likes the jelly,—at + any rate, it makes me sure that <i>it</i> is well made. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION III. — ILLUSTRATIVE: THE SKY. + </h2> + <p> + 21. It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the sky. + It is the part of creation in which Nature has done more for the sake of + pleasing man—more for the sole and evident purpose of talking to + him, and teaching him—than in any other of her works; and it is just + the part in which we least attend to her. There are not many of her other + works in which some more material or essential purpose than the mere + pleasing of man is not answered by every part of their organization; but + every essential purpose of the sky might, so far as we know, be answered + if once in three days, or thereabouts, a great, ugly, black rain-cloud + were brought up over the blue, and everything well watered, and so all + left blue again till next time, with perhaps a film of morning and evening + mist for dew;—and instead of this, there is not a moment of any day + of our lives, when Nature is not producing scene after scene, picture + after picture, glory after glory, and working still upon such exquisite + and constant principles of the most perfect beauty, that it is quite + certain{14} it is all done for us, and intended for our perpetual + pleasure. And every man, wherever placed, however far from other sources + of interest or of beauty, has this doing for him constantly. The noblest + scenes of the earth can be seen and known but by few; it is not intended + that man should live always in the midst of them; he injures them by his + presence, he ceases to feel them if he is always with them; but the sky is + for all: bright as it is, it is not + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "too bright nor good + For human nature's daily food;" +</pre> + <p> + it is fitted in all its functions for the perpetual comfort and exalting + of the heart,—for soothing it, and purifying it from its dross and + dust. Sometimes gentle, sometimes capricious, sometimes awful—never + the same for two moments together; almost human in its passions, almost + spiritual in its tenderness, almost divine in its infinity, its appeal to + what is immortal in us is as distinct as its ministry of chastisement or + of blessing to what is mortal is essential. And yet we never attend to it, + we never make it a subject of thought, but as it has to do with our animal + sensations; we look upon all by which it speaks to us more clearly than to + brutes, upon all which bears witness to the intentions of the Supreme that + we are to receive more from the covering vault than the light and the dew + which we share with the weed and the worm, as only a succession of + meaningless and monotonous accident, too common and too vain to be worthy + of a moment of watchfulness, or a glance of admiration. If in our moments + of utter idleness and insipidity, we turn to the sky as a last resource, + which of its phenomena do we speak of? One says, it has been wet; and + another, it has been windy; and another, it has been warm. Who among the + whole chattering crowd can tell one of the forms and the precipices of the + chain of tall white mountains that girded the horizon at noon yesterday? + Who saw the narrow sunbeam that came out of the south, and smote upon + their summits until they melted and mouldered away in a dust of blue rain? + Who saw the dance of the dead clouds when the sunlight left them last + night, and the west wind blew them before it like withered leaves? All has + passed unregretted as unseen; or, if the apathy be ever shaken off even + for an instant, it is only by what is gross, or what is extraordinary. And + yet it is not in the broad and fierce manifestations of the elemental + energies, not in the clash of the hail, nor the drift of the whirlwind, + that the highest characters of the sublime are developed. God is not in + the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still, small voice. They are + but the blunt and the low faculties of our nature, which can only be + addressed through lamp-black and lightning. It is in quiet and subdued + passages of unobtrusive majesty, the deep and the calm, and the perpetual; + that which must be sought ere it is seen, and loved ere it is understood; + things which the angels work out for us daily, and yet vary eternally; + which are never wanting, and never repeated; which are to be found always, + yet each found but once;—it is through these that the lesson of + devotion is chiefly taught, and the blessing of beauty given. + </p> + <p> + {14} At least, I thought so, when I was four-and-twenty. At + five-and-fifty, I fancy that it is just possible there may be other + creatures in the universe to be pleased, or,—it may be,—displeased, + by the weather. + </p> + <p> + 22. We habitually think of the rain-cloud only as dark and grey; not + knowing that we owe to it perhaps the fairest, though not the most + dazzling, of the hues of heaven. Often in our English mornings, the + rain-clouds in the dawn form soft, level fields, which melt imperceptibly + into the blue; or, when of less extent, gather into apparent bars, + crossing the sheets of broader cloud above; and all these bathed + throughout in an unspeakable light of pure rose-colour, and purple, and + amber, and blue; not shining, but misty-soft; the barred masses, when seen + nearer, composed of clusters or tresses of cloud, like floss silk; looking + as if each knot were a little swathe or sheaf of lighted rain. + </p> + <p> + 23. Aqueous vapour or mist, suspended in the atmosphere, becomes visible + exactly as dust does in the air of a room. In the shadows, you not only + cannot see the dust itself, because unillumined, but you can see other + objects through the dust, without obscurity; the air being thus actually + rendered more transparent by a deprivation of light. Where a sunbeam + enters, every particle of dust becomes visible, and a palpable + interruption to the sight; so that a transverse sunbeam is a real obstacle + to the vision—you cannot see things clearly through it. In the same + way, wherever vapour is illuminated by transverse rays, there it becomes + visible as a whiteness more or less affecting the purity of the blue, and + destroying it exactly in proportion to the degree of illumination. But + where vapour is in shade, it has very little effect on the sky, perhaps + making it a little deeper and greyer than it otherwise would be, but not, + itself, unless very dense, distinguishable or felt as mist. + </p> + <p> + 24. Has the reader any distinct idea of what clouds are? + </p> + <p> + {15}That mist which lies in the morning so softly in the valley, level and + white, through which the tops of the trees rise as if through an + inundation—why is <i>it</i> so heavy, and why does it lie so low, + being yet so thin and frail that it will melt away utterly into splendour + of morning when the sun has shone on it but a few moments more? Those + colossal pyramids, huge and firm, with outlines as of rocks, and strength + to bear the beating of the high sun full on their fiery flanks,—why + are <i>they</i> so light, their bases high over our heads, high over the + heads of Alps? Why will these melt away, not as the sun <i>rises</i>, but + as he <i>descends</i>, and leave the stars of twilight clear; while the + valley vapour gains again upon the earth, like a shroud? Or that ghost of + a cloud, which steals by yonder clump of pines; nay, which does <i>not</i> + steal by them, but haunts them, wreathing yet round them, and yet,—and + yet,—slowly; now falling in a fair waved line like a woman's veil; + now fading, now gone; we look away for an instant, and look back, and it + is again there. What has it to do with that clump of pines, that it broods + by them, and weaves itself among their branches, to and fro? Has it hidden + a cloudy treasure among the moss at their roots, which it watches thus? Or + has some strong enchanter charmed it into fond returning, or bound it fast + within those bars of bough? And yonder filmy crescent, bent like an + archer's bow above the snowy summit, the highest of all the hills—that + white arch which never forms but over the supreme crest,—how is it + stayed there, repelled apparently from the snow,—nowhere touching + it, the clear sky seen between it and the mountain edge, yet never leaving + it—poised as a white bird hovers over its nest? Or those war clouds + that gather on the horizon, dragon-crested, tongued with fire,—how + is their barbed strength bridled? What bits are those they are champing + with their vapourous lips, flinging off flakes of black foam? Leagued + leviathans of the Sea of Heaven,—out of their nostrils goeth smoke, + and their eyes are like the eyelids of the morning; the sword of him that + layeth at them cannot hold the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. Where + ride the captains of their armies? Where are set the measures of their + march? Fierce murmurers, answering each other from morning until evening—what + rebuke is this which has awed them into peace;—what hand has reined + them back by the way in which they came? + </p> + <p> + {15} This is a fifth volume bit, and worth more attention. + </p> + <p> + I know not if the reader will think at first that questions like these are + easily answered. So far from it, I rather believe that some of the + mysteries of the clouds never will be understood by us at all. "Knowest + thou the balancings of the clouds?" Is the answer ever to be one of pride? + The wondrous works of Him, who is perfect in knowledge? Is <i>our</i> + knowledge ever to be so?... + </p> + <p> + For my own part, I enjoy the mystery, and perhaps the reader may. I think + he ought. He should not be less grateful for summer rain, or see less + beauty in the clouds of morning, because they come to prove him with hard + questions; to which perhaps, if we look close at the heavenly scroll, we + may find also a syllable or two of answer, illuminated here and there.{16} + </p> + <p> + {16} Compare, in 'Sartor Resartus,' the boy's watching from the garden + wall. + </p> + <p> + And though the climates of the south and east may be <i>comparatively</i> + clear, they are no more absolutely clear than our own northern air. + Intense clearness, whether, in the north, after or before rain, or in some + moments of twilight in the south, is always, as far as I am acquainted + with natural phenomena, a <i>notable</i> thing. Mist of some sort, or + mirage, or confusion of light or of cloud, are the general facts; the + distance may vary in different climates at which the effects of mist + begin, but they are always present; and therefore, in all probability, it + is meant that we should enjoy them.... We surely need not wonder that mist + and all its phenomena have been made delightful to us, since our happiness + as thinking beings must depend on our being content to accept only partial + knowledge even in those matters which chiefly concern us. If we insist + upon perfect intelligibility and complete declaration in every moral + subject, we shall instantly fall into misery of unbelief. Our whole + happiness and power of energetic action depend upon our being able to + breathe and live in the cloud; content to see it opening here, and closing + there; rejoicing to catch through the thinnest films of it, glimpses of + stable and substantial things; but yet perceiving a nobleness even in the + concealment, and rejoicing that the kindly veil is spread where the + untempered light might have scorched us, or the infinite clearness + wearied. And I believe that the resentment of this interference of the + mist is one of the forms of proud error which are too easily mistaken for + virtues. To be content in utter darkness and ignorance is indeed unmanly, + and therefore we think that to love light and find knowledge must always + be right. Yet (as in all matters before observed,) wherever <i>pride</i> + has any share in the work, even knowledge and light may be ill pursued. + Knowledge is good, and light is good: yet man perished in seeking + knowledge, and moths perish in seeking light; and if we, who are crushed + before the moth, will not accept such mystery as is needful to us, we + shall perish in like manner. But, accepted in humbleness, it instantly + becomes an element of pleasure; and I think that every rightly constituted + mind ought to rejoice, not so much in knowing anything clearly, as in + feeling that there is infinitely more which it cannot know. None but proud + or weak men would mourn over this, for we may always know more, if we + choose, by working on; but the pleasure is, I think, to humble people, in + knowing that the journey is endless, the treasure inexhaustible,—watching + the cloud still march before them with its summitless pillar, and being + sure that, to the end of time, and to the length of eternity, the + mysteries of its infinity will still open farther and farther, their + dimness being the sign and necessary adjunct of their inexhaustibleness. I + know there are an evil mystery, and a deathful dimness,—the mystery + of the great Babylon—the dimness of the sealed eye and soul; but do + not let us confuse these with the glorious mystery of the things which the + "angels desire to look into," or with the dimness which, even before the + clear eye and open soul, still rests on sealed pages of the eternal + volume. + </p> + <p> + 25. On some isolated mountain at day-break,{17} when the night mists first + rise from off the plain, watch their white and lakelike fields, as they + float in level bays, and winding gulfs, about the islanded summits of the + lower hills, untouched yet by more than dawn, colder and more quiet than a + windless sea under the moon of midnight; watch when the first sunbeam is + sent upon the silver channels, how the foam of their undulating surface + parts, and passes away, and down under their depths the glittering city + and green pastures lie like Atlantis, between the white paths of winding + rivers; the flakes of light falling every moment faster and broader among + the starry spires, as the wreathed surges break and vanish above them, and + the confused crests and ridges of the dark hills shorten their grey + shadows upon the plain. Wait a little longer, and you shall see those + scattered mists rallying in the ravines, and floating up towards you, + along the winding valleys, till they crouch in quiet masses, iridescent + with the morning light, upon the broad breasts of the higher hills, whose + leagues of massy undulation will melt back, back into that robe of + material light, until they fade away, lost in its lustre, to appear again + above in the serene heaven like a wild, bright, impossible dream, + foundationless, and inaccessible, their very bases vanishing in the + unsubstantial and mocking blue of the deep lake below. Wait yet a little + longer, and you shall see those mists gather themselves into white towers, + and stand like fortresses along the promontories, massy and motionless, + only piled, with every instant, higher and higher into the sky, and + casting longer shadows athwart the rocks; and out of the pale blue of the + horizon you will see forming and advancing a troop of narrow, dark, + pointed vapours, which will cover the sky, inch by inch, with their grey + network, and take the light off the landscape with an eclipse which will + stop the singing of the birds, and the motion of the leaves, together;—and + then you will see horizontal bars of black shadow forming under them, and + lurid wreaths create themselves, you know not how, among the shoulders of + the hills; you never see them form, but when you look back to a place + which was clear an instant ago, there is a cloud on it, hanging by the + precipice, as a hawk pauses over his prey;—and then you will hear + the sudden rush of the awakened wind, and you will see those watch-towers + of vapour swept away from their foundations, and waving curtains of opaque + rain, let down to the valley, swinging from the burdened clouds in black + bending fringes, or, pacing in pale columns along the lake level, grazing + its surface into foam as they go. And then, as the sun sinks, you shall + see the storm drift for an instant from off the hills, leaving their broad + sides smoking and loaded yet with snow-white, torn, steam-like rags of + capricious vapour, now gone, now gathered again,—while the + smouldering sun, seeming not far away, but burning like a red-hot ball + beside you, and as if you could reach it, plunges through the rushing wind + and rolling cloud with headlong fall, as if it meant to rise no more, + dyeing all the air about it with blood;—and then you shall hear the + fainting tempest die in the hollow of the night, and you shall see a green + halo kindling on the summit of the eastern hills, brighter, brighter yet, + till the large white circle of the slow moon is lifted up among the barred + clouds, step by step, line by line; star after star she quenches with her + kindling light, setting in their stead an army of pale, penetrable, fleecy + wreaths in the heaven, to give light upon the earth, which move together + hand in hand, company by company, troop by troop, so measured in their + unity of motion that the whole heaven seems to roll with them, and the + earth to reel under them. And then wait yet for one hour, until the east + again becomes purple, and the heaving mountains, rolling against it in + darkness, like waves of a wild sea, are drowned one by one in the glory of + its burning; watch the white glaciers blaze in their winding paths about + the mountains, like mighty serpents with scales of fire; watch the + columnar peaks of solitary snow, kindling downwards chasm by chasm, each + in itself a new morning—their long avalanches cast down in keen + streams brighter than the lightning, sending each his tribute of driven + snow, like altar-smoke, up to heaven; the rose-light of their silent domes + flushing that heaven about them, and above them, piercing with purer light + through its purple lines of lifted cloud, casting a new glory on every + wreath, as it passes by, until the whole heaven, one scarlet canopy, is + interwoven with a roof of waving flame, and tossing vault beyond vault, as + with the drifted wings of many companies of angels; and then, when you can + look no more for gladness, and when you are bowed down with fear and love + of the Maker and Doer of this, tell me who has best delivered this His + message unto men! + </p> + <p> + {17} I forget now what all this is about. It seems to be a recollection of + the Rigi, with assumption that the enthusiastic spectator is to stand for + a day and night in observation; to suffer the effects of a severe + thunder-storm, and to get neither breakfast nor dinner. I have seen such a + storm on the Rigi, however, and more than one such sunrise; and I much + doubt if its present visitors by rail will see more. + </p> + <p> + 26.{18} The account given of the stages of creation in the first chapter + of Genesis is in every respect clear and intelligible to the simplest + reader, except in the statement of the work of the second day. I suppose + that this statement is passed over by careless readers without any + endeavour to understand it, and contemplated by simple and faithful + readers as a sublime mystery which was not intended to be understood. But + there is no mystery in any other part of the chapter, and it seems to me + unjust to conclude that any was intended here. And the passage ought to be + peculiarly interesting to us, as being the first in the Bible in which the + heavens are named, and the only one in which the word "Heaven," + all-important as that word is to our understanding of the most precious + promises of Scripture, receives a definite explanation. Let us therefore + see whether, by a little careful comparison of the verse with other + passages in which the word occurs, we may not be able to arrive at as + clear an understanding of this portion of the chapter as of the rest. In + the first place the English word, "Firmament," itself is obscure and + useless; because we never employ it but as a synonym of heaven, it conveys + no other distinct idea to us; and the verse, though from our familiarity + with it we imagine that it possesses meaning, has in reality no more point + nor value than if it were written, "God said, Let there be a something in + the midst of the waters, and God called the something, Heaven." But the + marginal reading, "Expansion," has definite value; and the statement that + "God said, Let there be an expansion in the midst of the waters, and God + called the expansion, Heaven," has an apprehensible meaning. Accepting + this expression as the one intended, we have next to ask what expansion + there is, between two waters, describable by the term "heaven." Milton + adopts the term "expanse," but he understands it of the whole volume of + the air which surrounds the earth. Whereas, so far as we can tell, there + is no water beyond the air, in the fields of space; and the whole + expression of division of waters from waters is thus rendered valueless. + Now with respect to this whole chapter, we must remember always that it is + intended for the instruction of all mankind, not for the learned reader + only; and that therefore the most simple and natural interpretation is the + likeliest in general to be the true one. An unscientific reader knows + little about the manner in which the volume of the atmosphere surrounds + the earth; but I imagine that he could hardly glance at the sky when rain + was falling in the distance, and see the level line of the bases of the + clouds from which the shower descended, without being able to attach an + instant and easy meaning to the words, "expansion in the midst of the + waters;" and if, having once seized this idea, he proceeded to examine it + more accurately, he would perceive at once, if he had ever noticed <i>anything</i> + of the nature of clouds, that the level line of their bases did indeed + most severely and stringently divide "waters from waters"—that is to + say, divide water in its collective and tangible state, from water in its + aërial state; or the waters which <i>fall</i>, and <i>flow</i>, from those + which <i>rise</i>, and <i>float</i>. Next, if we try this interpretation + in the theological sense of the word <i>heaven</i>, and examine whether + the clouds are spoken of as God's dwelling-place, we find God going before + the Israelites in a pillar of cloud; revealing Himself in a cloud on + Sinai; appearing in a cloud on the mercy-seat; filling the Temple of + Solomon with the cloud when its dedication is accepted; appearing in a + great cloud to Ezekiel; ascending into a cloud before the eyes of the + disciples on Mount Olivet; and in like manner returning to judgment: + "Behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." "Then shall + they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and + great glory." While, further, the "clouds" and "heavens" are used as + interchangeable words in those psalms which most distinctly set forth the + power of God: "He bowed the heavens also, and came down; He made darkness + pavilions round about Him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies." + And again, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy faithfulness + reacheth unto the clouds." And again, "His excellency is over Israel, and + His strength is in the clouds." And again, "The clouds poured out water, + the skies sent out a sound, the voice of Thy thunder was in the heaven." + Again, "Clouds and darkness are round about Him, righteousness and + judgment are the habitation of His throne; the heavens declare His + righteousness, and all the people see His glory." In all these passages + the meaning is unmistakable if they possess definite meaning at all. We + are too apt to take them merely for sublime and vague imagery, and + therefore gradually to lose the apprehension of their life and power. The + expression, "He bowed the heavens," for instance, is, I suppose, received + by most readers as a magnificent hyperbole, having reference to some + peculiar and fearful manifestation of God's power to the writer of the + psalm in which the words occur. But the expression either has <i>plain</i> + meaning, or it has <i>no</i> meaning. Understand by the term "heavens" the + compass of infinite space around the earth, and the expression "bowed the + heavens," however sublime, is wholly without meaning: infinite space + cannot be bent or bowed. But understand by the "heavens" the veil of + clouds above the earth, and the expression is neither hyperbolical nor + obscure; it is pure, plain, accurate truth, and it describes God, not as + revealing Himself in any peculiar way to David, but doing what He is still + doing before our own eyes, day by day. By accepting the words in their + simple sense, we are thus led to apprehend the immediate presence of the + Deity, and His purpose of manifesting Himself as near us whenever the + storm-cloud stoops upon its course; while by our vague and inaccurate + acceptance of the words, we remove the idea of His presence far from us, + into a region which we can neither see nor know: and gradually, from the + close realization of a living God, who "maketh the clouds His chariot," we + define and explain ourselves into dim and distant suspicion of an inactive + God inhabiting inconceivable places, and fading into the multitudinous + formalisms of the laws of Nature. All errors of this kind—and in the + present day we are in constant and grievous danger of falling into them—arise + from the originally mistaken idea that man can, "by searching, find out + God—find out the Almighty to perfection"—that is to say, by + help of courses of reasoning and accumulations of science, apprehend the + nature of the Deity, in a more exalted and more accurate manner than in a + state of comparative ignorance; whereas it is clearly necessary, from the + beginning to the end of time, that God's way of revealing Himself to His + creatures should be a <i>simple</i> way, which <i>all</i> those creatures + may understand. Whether taught or untaught, whether of mean capacity or + enlarged, it is necessary that communion with their Creator should be + possible to all; and the admission to such communion must be rested, not + on their having a knowledge of astronomy, but on their having a human + soul. In order to render this communion possible, the Deity has stooped + from His throne, and has, not only in the person of the Son, taken upon + Him the veil of our human <i>flesh</i>, but, in the person of the Father, + taken upon Him the veil of our human <i>thoughts</i>, and permitted us, by + His own spoken authority, to conceive Him simply and clearly as a loving + father and friend; a being to be walked with and reasoned with, to be + moved by our entreaties, angered by our rebellion, alienated by our + coldness, pleased by our love, and glorified by our labour; and, finally, + to be beheld in immediate and active presence in all the powers and + changes of creation. This conception of God, which is the child's, is + evidently the only one which can be universal, and, therefore, the only + one which <i>for us</i> can be true. The moment that, in our pride of + heart, we refuse to accept the condescension of the Almighty, and desire + Him, instead of stooping to hold our hands, to rise up before us into His + glory, we hoping that, by standing on a grain of dust or two of human + knowledge higher than our fellows, we may behold the Creator as He rises,—God + takes us at our word. He rises into His own invisible and inconceivable + majesty; He goes forth upon the ways which are not our ways, and retires + into the thoughts which are not our thoughts; and we are left alone. And + presently we say in our vain hearts, "There is no God." + </p> + <p> + {18} This passage, to the end of the section, is one of the last, and + best, which I wrote in the temper of my youth; and I can still ratify it, + thus far, that the texts referred to in it must either be received as it + explains them, or neglected altogether. + </p> + <p> + I would desire, therefore, to receive God's account of His own creation as + under the ordinary limits of human knowledge and imagination it would be + received by a simple-minded man; and finding that "the heavens and the + earth" are spoken of always as having something like equal relation to + each other, ("Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the + host of them,") I reject at once all idea of the term "heavens" being + intended to signify the infinity of space inhabited by countless worlds; + for between those infinite heavens and the particle of sand, which not the + earth only, but the sun itself, with all the solar system, is, in relation + to them, no relation of equality or comparison could be inferred. But I + suppose the heavens to mean that part of creation which holds equal + companionship with our globe; I understand the "rolling of these heavens + together as a scroll," to be an equal and relative destruction with the + melting of the elements in fervent heat; and I understand the making of + the firmament to signify that, so far as man is concerned, most + magnificent ordinance of the clouds;—the ordinance that, as the + great plain of waters was formed on the face of the earth, so also a plain + of waters should be stretched along the height of air, and the face of the + cloud answer the face of the ocean; and that this upper and heavenly plain + should be of waters, as it were, glorified in their nature, no longer + quenching the fire, but now bearing fire in their own bosoms; no longer + murmuring only when the winds raise them or rocks divide, but answering + each other with their own voices, from pole to pole; no longer restrained + by established shores, and guided through unchanging channels, but going + forth at their pleasure like the armies of the angels, and choosing their + encampments upon the heights of the hills; no longer hurried downwards for + ever, moving but to fall, nor lost in the lightless accumulation of the + abyss, but covering the east and west with the waving of their wings, and + robing the gloom of the farther infinite with a vesture of diverse + colours, of which the threads are purple and scarlet, and the embroideries + flame. + </p> + <p> + This I believe is the ordinance of the firmament; and it seems to me that + in the midst of the material nearness of these heavens, God means us to + acknowledge His own immediate presence as visiting, judging, and blessing + us: "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God." + "He doth set His bow in the clouds," and thus renews, in the sound of + every drooping swathe of rain, His promises of everlasting love. "In them + hath He set a <i>tabernacle</i> for the sun;" whose burning ball, which, + without the firmament, would be seen but as an intolerable and scorching + circle in the blackness of vacuity, is by that firmament surrounded with + gorgeous service, and tempered by mediatorial ministries: by the firmament + of clouds the temple is built, for his presence to fill with light at + noon; by the firmament of clouds the purple veil is closed at evening, + round the sanctuary of his rest; by the mists of the firmament his + implacable light is divided, and its separated fierceness appeased into + the soft blue that fills the depth of distance with its bloom, and the + flush with which the mountains burn, as they drink the overflowing of the + dayspring. And in this tabernacling of the unendurable sun with men, + through the shadows of the firmament, God would seem to set forth the + stooping of His own Majesty to men, upon the throne of the firmament. As + the Creator of all the worlds, and the Inhabiter of eternity, we cannot + behold Him; but as the Judge of the earth and the Preserver of men, those + heavens are indeed His dwelling-place: "Swear not, neither by heaven, for + it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool!" And all + those passings to and fro of fruitful showers and grateful shade, and all + those visions of silver palaces built about the horizon, and voices of + moaning winds and threatening thunders, and glories of coloured robe and + cloven ray, are but to deepen in our hearts the acceptance, and + distinctness, and dearness of the simple words, "Our Father, which art in + heaven." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION IV. — ILLUSTRATIVE: STREAMS AND SEA. + </h2> + <p> + 27. Of all inorganic substances, acting in their own proper nature, and + without assistance and combination, water is the most wonderful. If we + think of it as the source of all the changefulness and beauty which we + have seen in clouds,—then, as the instrument by which the earth we + have contemplated was modelled into symmetry, and its crags chiselled into + grace;—then, as in the form of snow, it robes the mountains it has + made with that transcendent light which we could not have conceived if we + had not seen;—then, as it exists in the foam of the torrent, in the + iris which spans it, in the morning mist which rises from it, in the deep + crystalline pools which mirror its hanging shore, in the broad lake and + glancing river;—finally, in that which is to all human minds the + best emblem of unwearied, unconquerable power the wild, various, + fantastic, tameless unity of the sea;—what shall we compare to this + mighty, this universal element, for glory and beauty? or how shall we + follow its eternal changefulness of feeling? It is like trying to paint a + soul! + </p> + <p> + 28. The great angel of the sea—rain; the angel, observe,—the + messenger sent to a special place on a special errand. Not the diffused, + perpetual presence of the burden of mist, but the going and returning of + the intermittent cloud. All turns upon that intermittence. Soft moss on + stone and rock; cave fern of tangled glen; wayside well—perennial, + patient, silent, clear, stealing through its square font of rough-hewn + stone; ever thus deep, no more;—which the winter wreck sullies not, + the summer thirst wastes not, incapable of stain as of decline;—where + the fallen leaf floats undecayed, and the insect darts undefiling: cressed + brook and ever-eddying river, lifted even in flood scarcely over its + stepping stones,—but through all sweet summer keeping tremulous + music with harp-strings of dark water among the silver fingering of the + pebbles. Far away in the south the strong river gods have all hasted, and + gone down to the sea. Wasted and burning, white furnaces of blasting sand, + their broad beds lie ghastly and bare; but here in the moss lands, the + soft wings of the sea angel droop still with dew, and the shadows of their + plumes falter on the hills; strange laughings and glitterings of silver + streamlets, born suddenly, and twined about the mossy heights in trickling + tinsel, answering to them as they wave. + </p> + <p> + 29. Stand for half an hour beside the fall of Schaffhausen, on the north + side, where the rapids are long, and watch how the vault of water first + bends unbroken, in pure polished velocity, over the arching rocks at the + brow of the cataract, covering them with a dome of crystal twenty feet + thick, so swift that its motion is unseen except when a foam globe from + above darts over it like a falling star; and how the trees are lighted + above it under all their leaves,{19} at the instant that it breaks into + foam; and how all the hollows of that foam burn with green fire like so + much shattering chrysoprase; and how, ever and anon startling you with its + white flash, a jet of spray leaps hissing out of the fall, like a rocket, + bursting in the wind and driven away in dust, filling the air with light; + and how through the curdling wreaths of the restless crashing abyss below, + the blue of the water, paled by the foam in its body, shows purer than the + sky through white rain-cloud, while the shuddering iris stoops in + tremulous stillness over all, fading and flushing alternately through the + choking spray and shattered sunshine, hiding itself at last among the + thick golden leaves which toss to and fro in sympathy with the wild water,—their + dripping masses lifted at intervals, like sheaves of loaded corn, by some + stronger gush from the cataract, and bowed again upon the mossy rocks as + its roar dies away,—the dew gushing from their thick branches + through drooping clusters of emerald herbage, and sparkling in white + threads along the dark rocks of the shore, feeding the lichens, which + chase and chequer them with purple and silver. + </p> + <p> + {19} Well noticed. The drawing of the fall of Schaffhausen, which I made + at the time of writing this study, was one of the very few, either by + other draughtsmen or myself, which I have seen Turner pause at with + serious attention. + </p> + <p> + 30. Close beside the path by which travellers ascend the Montanvert from + the valley of Chamouni, on the right hand, where it first begins to rise + among the pines, there descends a small stream from the foot of the + granite peak known to the guides as the Aiguille Charmoz. It is concealed + from the traveller by a thicket of alder, and its murmur is hardly heard, + for it is one of the weakest streams of the valley. But it is a constant + stream, fed by a permanent, though small, glacier; and continuing to flow + even to the close of summer, when more copious torrents, depending only on + the melting of the lower snows, have left their beds,—"stony + channels in the sun." The long drought which took place in the autumn of + 1854, sealing every source of waters except these perpetual ones, left the + torrent of which I am speaking, and such others, in a state peculiarly + favourable to observance of their <i>least</i> action on the mountains + from which they descend. They were entirely limited to their own ice + fountains, and the quantity of powdered rock which they brought down was, + of course, at its minimum, being nearly unmingled with any earth derived + from the dissolution of softer soil, or vegetable mould, by rains. At + three in the afternoon, on a warm day in September, when the torrent had + reached its average maximum strength for the day, I filled an ordinary + Bordeaux wine flask with the water where it was least turbid. From this + quart of water I obtained twenty-four grains of sand and sediment more or + less fine. I cannot estimate the quantity of water in the stream; but the + runlet of it at which I filled the flask was giving about two hundred + bottles a minute, or rather more, carrying down, therefore, about three + quarters of a pound of powdered granite every minute. This would be + forty-five pounds an hour; but allowing for the inferior power of the + stream in the cooler periods of the day, and taking into consideration, on + the other side, its increased power in rain, we may, I think, estimate its + average hour's work at twenty-eight or thirty pounds, or a hundredweight + every four hours. By this insignificant runlet, therefore, rather more + than two tons of the substance of the Mont Blanc are displaced and carried + down a certain distance every week; and as it is only for three or four + months that the flow of the stream is checked by frost, we may certainly + allow eighty tons for the mass which it annually moves. It is not worth + while to enter into any calculation of the relation borne by this runlet + to the great torrents which descend from the chain of Mont Blanc into the + valley of Chamouni.{20} I but take this quantity, eighty tons, as the + result of the labour of a scarcely noticeable runlet at the side of one of + them, utterly irrespective of all sudden falls of stones and of masses of + mountain (a single thunderbolt will sometimes leave a scar on the flank of + a soft rock looking like a trench for a railroad), and we shall then begin + to apprehend something of the operation of the great laws of change which + are the conditions of all material existence, however apparently enduring. + The hills, which, as compared with living beings, seem "everlasting," are + in truth as perishing as they; its veins of flowing fountain weary the + mountain heart, as the crimson pulse does ours; the natural force of the + iron crag is abated in its appointed time, like the strength of the sinews + in a human old age; and it is but the lapse of the longer years of decay + which, in the sight of its Creator, distinguishes the mountain range from + the moth and the worm. + </p> + <p> + {20} I have slightly modified and abridged what follows, being impatient + of its prolixity, as well as ashamed of what is truly called the ludicrous + under-estimate of the mass of the larger streams. + </p> + <p> + 31. Few people, comparatively, have ever seen the effect on the sea of a + powerful gale continued without intermission for three or four days and + nights; and to those who have not, I believe it must be unimaginable, not + from the mere force or size of surge, but from the complete annihilation + of the limit between sea and air. The water, from its prolonged agitation, + is beaten, not into mere creamy foam, but into masses of accumulated + yeast, which hang in ropes and wreaths from wave to wave; and where one + curls over to break, form a festoon like a drapery from its edge; these + are taken up by the wind, not in dissipating dust, but bodily, in + writhing, hanging, coiling masses, which make the air white, and thick as + with snow, only the flakes are a foot or two long each; the surges + themselves are full of foam in their very bodies, underneath, making them + white all through, as the water is under a great cataract,—and their + masses, being thus half water and half air, are torn to pieces by the wind + whenever they rise, and carried away in roaring smoke, which chokes and + strangles like actual water. Add to this, that when the air has been + exhausted of its moisture by long rain, the spray of the sea is caught by + it as described above, and covers its surface not merely with the smoke of + finely divided water, but with boiling mist: imagine also the low + rain-clouds brought down to the very level of the sea, as I have often + seen them, whirling and flying in rags and fragments from wave to wave; + and finally conceive the surges themselves in their utmost pitch of power, + velocity, vastness, and madness, lifting themselves in precipices and + peaks furrowed with their whirl of ascent, through all this chaos; and you + will understand that there is indeed no distinction left between the sea + and air; that no object, nor horizon, nor any landmark, or natural + evidence of position is left; that the heaven is all spray, and the ocean + all cloud, and that you can see no farther in any direction than you could + see through a cataract.{21} + </p> + <p> + {21} The whole of this was written merely to show the meaning of Turner's + picture of the steamer in distress, throwing up signals. It is a good + study of wild weather; but, separate from its aim, utterly feeble in + comparison to the few words by which any of the great poets will describe + sea, when they have got to do it. I am rather proud of the short sentence + in the 'Harbours of England,' describing a great breaker against rock:—"One + moment, a flint cave,—the next, a marble pillar,—the next, a + fading cloud." But there is nothing in sea-description, detailed, like + Dickens' storm at the death of Ham, in 'David Copperfield.' + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION V. — ILLUSTRATIVE: MOUNTAINS. + </h2> + <p> + 32. The words which marked for us the purpose of the clouds are followed + immediately by those notable ones,—"And God said, Let the waters + which are under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let + the dry land appear." We do not, perhaps, often enough consider the deep + signification of this sentence. We are too apt to receive it as the + description of an event vaster only in its extent, not in its nature, than + the compelling of the Red Sea to draw back that Israel might pass by. We + imagine the Deity in like manner rolling the waves of the greater ocean + together on an heap, and setting bars and doors to them eternally. But + there is a far deeper meaning than this in the solemn words of Genesis, + and in the correspondent verse of the Psalm, "His hands prepared the dry + land." Up to that moment the earth had been <i>void</i>; for, it had been + <i>without</i> <i>form</i>. The command that the waters should be + gathered, was the command that the earth should be <i>sculptured</i>. The + sea was not driven to its place in suddenly restrained rebellion, but + withdrawn to its place in perfect and patient obedience. The dry land + appeared, not in level sands forsaken by the surges, which those surges + might again claim for their own; but in range beyond range of swelling + hill and iron rock, for ever to claim kindred with the firmament, and be + companioned by the clouds of heaven. + </p> + <p> + What space of time was in reality occupied by the "day" of Genesis, is not + at present of any importance for us to consider. By what furnaces of fire + the adamant was melted, and by what wheels of earthquake it was torn, and + by what teeth of glacier and weight of sea-waves it was engraven and + finished into its perfect form, we may, perhaps, hereafter endeavour to + conjecture; but here, as in few words the work is summed by the historian, + so in few broad thoughts it should be comprehended by us; and, as we read + the mighty sentence, "Let the dry land appear," we should try to follow + the finger of God as it engraved upon the stone tables of the earth the + letters and the law of its everlasting form, as gulf by gulf the channels + of the deep were ploughed; and cape by cape the lines were traced with + Divine foreknowledge of the shores that were to limit the nations; and + chain by chain the mountain walls were lengthened forth, and their + foundations fastened for ever; and the compass was set upon the face of + the depth, and the fields and the highest part of the dust of the world + were made; and the right hand of Christ first strewed the snow on Lebanon, + and smoothed the slopes of Calvary. + </p> + <p> + It is not, I repeat, always needful, in many respects it is not possible, + to conjecture the manner or the time in which this work was done; but it + is deeply necessary for all men to consider the magnificence of the + accomplished purpose, and the depth of the wisdom and love which are + manifested in the ordinances of the hills. For observe, in order to bring + the world into the form which it now bears, it was not mere <i>sculpture</i> + that was needed; the mountains could not stand for a day unless they were + formed of materials altogether different from those which constitute the + lower hills, and the surfaces of the valleys. A harder substance had to be + prepared for every mountain chain, yet not so hard but that it might be + capable of crumbling down into earth fit to nourish the Alpine forest, and + the Alpine flower; not so hard but that in the midst of the utmost majesty + of its enthroned strength there should be seen on it the seal of death, + and the writing of the same sentence that had gone forth against the human + frame, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." And with this + perishable substance the most majestic forms were to be framed that were + consistent with the safety of man; and the peak was to be lifted and the + cliff rent, as high and as steeply as was possible, in order yet to permit + the shepherd to feed his flocks upon the slopes, and the cottage to nestle + beneath their shadow. And observe, two distinct ends were to be + accomplished in doing this. It was, indeed, absolutely necessary that such + eminences should be created, in order to fit the earth in any wise for + human habitation; for without mountains the air could not be purified, nor + the flowing of the rivers sustained, and the earth must have become for + the most part plain, or stagnant marsh. But the feeding of the rivers and + the purifying of the winds, are the least of the services appointed to the + hills. To fill the thirst of the human heart for the beauty of God's + working—to startle its lethargy with the deep and pure agitation of + astonishment,—are their higher missions. They are as a great and + noble architecture, first giving shelter, comfort, and rest; and covered + also with mighty sculpture and painted legend. It is impossible to + examine, in their connected system, the features of even the most ordinary + mountain scenery, without concluding that it has been prepared in order to + unite as far as possible, and in the closest compass, every means of + delighting and sanctifying the heart of man: "as far as <i>possible</i>,"—that + is, as far as is consistent with the fulfilment of the sentence of + condemnation on the whole earth. Death must be upon the hills; and the + cruelty of the tempests smite them, and the briar and thorn spring up upon + them; but they so smite as to bring their rocks into the fairest forms, + and so spring as to make the very desert blossom as the rose. Even among + our own hills of Scotland and Cumberland, though often too barren to be + perfectly beautiful, and always too low to be perfectly sublime, it is + strange how many deep sources of delight are gathered into the compass of + their glens and vales; and how, down to the most secret cluster of their + far-away flowers, and the idlest leap of their straying streamlets, the + whole heart of Nature seems thirsting to give, and still to give, shedding + forth her everlasting beneficence with a profusion so patient, so + passionate, that our utmost observance and thankfulness are but, at last, + neglects of her nobleness, and apathy to her love. But among the true + mountains of the greater orders, the Divine purpose of appeal at once to + all the faculties of the human spirit becomes still more manifest. + Inferior hills ordinarily interrupt, in some degree, the richness of the + valleys at their feet; the grey downs of southern England and treeless + coteaux of central France, and grey swells of Scottish moor, whatever + peculiar charm they may possess in themselves, are at least destitute of + those which belong to the woods and fields of the lowlands. But the great + mountains <i>lift</i> the lowlands on <i>their sides</i>. Let the reader + imagine first the appearance of the most varied plain of some richly + cultivated country; let him imagine it dark with graceful woods, and soft + with deepest pastures; let him fill the space of it, to the utmost + horizon, with innumerable and changeful incidents of scenery and life; + leading pleasant streamlets through its meadows, strewing clusters of + cottages beside their banks, tracing sweet footpaths through its avenues, + and animating its fields with happy flocks, and slow wandering spots of + cattle; and when he has wearied himself with endless imagining, and left + no space without some loveliness of its own, let him conceive all this + great plain, with its infinite treasures of natural beauty, and happy + human life, gathered up in God's hands from one edge of the horizon to the + other, like a woven garment, and shaken into deep falling folds, as the + robes droop from a king's shoulders; all its bright rivers leaping into + cataracts along the hollows of its fall, and all its forests rearing + themselves aslant against its slopes, as a rider rears himself back when + his horse plunges, and all its villages nestling themselves into the new + windings of its glens, and all its pastures thrown into steep waves of + greensward, dashed with dew along the edges of their folds, and sweeping + down into endless slopes, with a cloud here and there lying quietly, half + on the grass, half in the air,—and he will have as yet, in all this + lifted world, only the foundation of one of the great Alps. And whatever + is lovely in the lowland scenery, becomes lovelier in this change; the + trees which grew heavily and stiffly from the level line of plain, assume + strange curves of strength and grace as they bend themselves against the + mountain side; they breathe more freely and toss their branches more + carelessly as each climbs higher, looking to the clear light above the + topmost leaves of its brother tree; the flowers which on the arable plain + fall before the plough, now find out for themselves unapproachable places + where year by year they gather into happier fellowship, and fear no evil; + and the streams which in the level land crept in dark eddies by + unwholesome banks, now move in showers of silver, and are clothed with + rainbows, and bring health and life wherever the glance of their waves can + reach.... + </p> + <p> + It may not, therefore, be altogether profitless or unnecessary to review + briefly the nature of the three great offices which mountain ranges are + appointed to fulfil, in order to preserve the health and increase the + happiness of mankind. Their first use is, of course, to give motion to + water. Every fountain and river, from the inch-deep streamlet that crosses + the village lane in trembling clearness, to the massy and silent march of + the everlasting multitude of waters in Amazon or Ganges, owe their play, + and purity, and power, to the ordained elevations of the earth. Gentle or + steep, extended or abrupt, some determined slope of the earth's surface is + of course necessary before any wave can so much as overtake one sedge in + its pilgrimage; and how seldom do we enough consider, as we walk beside + the margins of our pleasant brooks, how beautiful and wonderful is that + ordinance, of which every blade of grass that waves in their clear water + is a perpetual sign—that the dew and rain fallen on the face of the + earth shall find no resting-place; shall find, on the contrary, fixed + channels traced for them from the ravines of the central crests down which + they roar, in sudden ranks of foam, to the dark hollows beneath the banks + of lowland pasture, round which they must circle slowly among the stems + and beneath the leaves of the lilies; paths prepared for them by which, at + some appointed rate of journey, they must evermore descend, sometimes + slow, and sometimes swift, but never pausing; the daily portion of the + earth they have to glide over marked for them at each successive sunrise, + the place which has known them knowing them no more, and the gateways of + guarding mountains opened for them in cleft and chasm, none letting them + in their pilgrimage; and, from afar off, the great heart of the sea + calling them to itself! "Deep calleth unto deep." I know not which of the + two is the more wonderful,—that calm, gradated, invisible slope of + the champaign land, which gives motion to the stream; or that passage + cloven for it through the ranks of hill, which, necessary for the health + of the land immediately around them, would yet, unless so supernaturally + divided, have fatally intercepted the flow of the waters from far-off + countries. When did the great spirit of the river first knock at these + adamantine gates? When did the porter open to it, and cast his keys away + for ever, lapped in whirling sand? I am not satisfied—no one should + be satisfied—with that vague answer, The river cut its way. Not so. + The river <i>found</i> its way. {22}I do not see that rivers in their own + strength can do much in cutting their way; they are nearly as apt to choke + their channels up as to carve them out. Only give a river some little + sudden power in a valley, and see how it will use it. Cut itself a bed? + Not so, by any means, but fill up its bed; and look for another in a wild, + dissatisfied, inconsistent manner,—any way rather than the old one + will better please it; and even if it is banked up and forced to keep to + the old one, it will not deepen, but do all it can to raise it, and leap + out of it. And although wherever water has a steep fall it will swiftly + cut itself a bed deep into the rock or ground, it will not, when the rock + is hard, cut a wider channel than it actually needs; so that if the + existing river beds, through ranges of mountains, had in reality been cut + by the streams, they would be found, wherever the rocks are hard, only in + the form of narrow and profound ravines, like the well-known channel of + the Niagara, below the fall; not in that of extended valleys. And the + actual work of true mountain rivers, though often much greater in + proportion to their body of water than that of the Niagara, is quite + insignificant when compared with the area and depth of the valleys through + which they flow; so that, although in many cases it appears that those + larger valleys have been excavated at earlier periods by more powerful + streams, or by the existing stream in a more powerful condition, still the + great fact remains always equally plain, and equally admirable, that, + whatever the nature and duration of the agencies employed, the earth was + so shaped at first as to direct the currents of its rivers in the manner + most healthy and convenient for man. The valley of the Rhone may have been + in great part excavated, in early times, by torrents a thousand times + larger than the Rhone; but it could not have been excavated at all, unless + the mountains had been thrown at first into two chains, by which the + torrents were set to work in a given direction. And it is easy to conceive + how, under any less beneficent dispositions of their masses of hill, the + continents of the earth might either have been covered with enormous + lakes, as parts of North America actually are covered; or have become + wildernesses of pestiferous marsh; or lifeless plains, upon which the + water would have dried as it fell, leaving them for great part of the year + desert. Such districts do exist, and exist in vastness; the whole earth is + not prepared for the habitation of man; only certain small portions are + prepared for him,—the houses, as it were, of the human race, from + which they are to look abroad upon the rest of the world; not to wonder or + complain that it is not all house, but to be grateful for the kindness of + the admirable building, in the house itself, as compared with the rest. It + would be as absurd to think it an evil that all the world is not fit for + us to inhabit, as to think it an evil that the globe is no larger than it + is. As much as we shall ever need is evidently assigned to us for our + dwelling-place; the rest, covered with rolling waves or drifting sands, + fretted with ice or crested with fire, is set before us for contemplation + in an uninhabitable magnificence. And that part which we are enabled to + inhabit owes its fitness for human life chiefly to its mountain ranges, + which, throwing the superfluous rain off as it falls, collect it in + streams or lakes, and guide it into given places, and in given directions; + so that men can build their cities in the midst of fields which they know + will be always fertile, and establish the lines of their commerce upon + streams which will not fail. + </p> + <p> + {22} I attach great importance to the remaining contents of this passage, + and have had occasion to insist on them at great length in recent lectures + at Oxford. + </p> + <p> + Nor is this giving of motion to water to be considered as confined only to + the surface of the earth. A no less important function of the hills is in + directing the flow of the fountains and springs from subterranean + reservoirs. There is no miraculous springing up of water out of the ground + at our feet; but every fountain and well is supplied from reservoirs among + the hills, so placed as to involve some slight fall or pressure enough to + secure the constant flowing of the stream; and the incalculable blessing + of the power given to us, in most valleys, of reaching by excavation some + point whence the water will rise to the surface of the ground in perennial + flow, is entirely owing to the concave dispositions of the beds of clay or + rock raised from beneath the bosom of the valley into ranks of enclosing + hills. + </p> + <p> + The second great use of mountains is to maintain a constant change in the + currents and nature of the <i>air</i>. Such change would, of course, have + been partly caused by difference in soil and vegetation, even if the earth + had been level; but to a far less extent than it is now by the chains of + hills which—exposing on one side their masses of rock to the full + heat of the sun, (increased by the angle at which the rays strike on the + slope,) and on the other casting a soft shadow for leagues over the plains + at their feet—divide the earth not only into districts, but into + climates; and cause perpetual currents of air to traverse their passes in + a thousand different states; moistening it with the spray of their + waterfalls, sucking it down and beating it hither and thither in the pools + of their torrents, closing it within clefts and caves, where the sunbeams + never reach, till it is as cold as November mists; then sending it forth + again to breathe lightly across the slopes of velvet fields, or to be + scorched among sunburnt shales and grassless crags; then drawing it back + in moaning swirls through clefts of ice, and up into dewy wreaths above + the snow-fields; then piercing it with strange electric darts and flashes + of mountain fire, and tossing it high in fantastic storm-cloud, as the + dried grass is tossed by the mower, only suffering it to depart at last, + when chastened and pure, to refresh the faded air of the far-off plains. + </p> + <p> + The third great use of mountains is to cause perpetual change in the <i>soils</i> + of the earth. Without such provision the ground under cultivation would in + a series of years become exhausted, and require to be upturned laboriously + by the hand of man. But the elevations of the earth's surface provide for + it a perpetual renovation. The higher mountains suffer their summits to be + broken into fragments, and to be cast down in sheets of massy rock, full, + as we shall see presently, of every substance necessary for the + nourishment of plants; these fallen fragments are again broken by frost, + and ground by torrents, into various conditions of sand and clay—materials + which are distributed perpetually by the streams farther and farther from + the mountain's base. Every shower that swells the rivulet enables their + waters to carry certain portions of earth into new positions, and exposes + new banks of ground to be mined in their turn. That turbid foaming of the + angry water,—that tearing down of bank and rock along the flanks of + its fury,—are no disturbances of the kind course of nature; they are + beneficent operations of laws necessary to the existence of man, and to + the beauty of the earth. The process is continued more gently, but not + less effectively, over all the surface of the lower undulating country; + and each filtering thread of summer rain which trickles through the short + turf of the uplands is bearing its own appointed burden of earth to be + thrown down on some new natural garden in the dingles beneath. + </p> + <p> + I have not spoken of the local and peculiar utilities of mountains. I do + not count the benefit of the supply of summer streams from the moors of + the higher ranges,—of the various medicinal plants which are nested + among their rocks,—of the delicate pasturage which they furnish for + cattle,—of the forests in which they bear timber for shipping,—the + stones they supply for building, or the ores of metal which they collect + into spots open to discovery, and easy for working. All these benefits are + of a secondary or a limited nature. But the three great functions which I + have just described, those of giving motion and change to water, air, and + earth, are indispensable to human existence; they are operations to be + regarded with as full a depth of gratitude as the laws which bid the tree + bear fruit, or the seed multiply itself in the earth. And thus those + desolate and threatening ranges of dark mountain, which in nearly all ages + of the world men have looked upon with aversion, or with terror, and + shrunk back from as if they were haunted by perpetual images of death, are + in reality sources of life and happiness far fuller and more beneficent + than all the bright fruitfulness of the plain. The valleys only feed; the + mountains feed, and guard, and strengthen us. We take our idea of + fearlessness and sublimity alternately from the mountains and the sea; but + we associate them unjustly. The sea-wave, with all its beneficence, is yet + devouring and terrible; but the silent wave of the blue mountain is lifted + towards heaven in a stillness of perpetual mercy; and the one surge, + unfathomable in its darkness, the other unshaken in its faithfulness, for + ever bear the seal of their appointed symbolism:— + </p> + <p> + "Thy <i>righteousness</i> is like the great mountains; + </p> + <p> + "Thy <i>judgments</i> are a great deep." + </p> + <p> + 33. Mountains are to the rest of the body of the earth, what violent + muscular action is to the body of man. The muscles and tendons of its + anatomy are, in the mountain, brought out with force and convulsive + energy, full of expression, passion, and strength; the plains and the + lower hills are the repose and the effortless motion of the frame, when + its muscles lie dormant and concealed beneath the lines of its beauty,—yet + ruling those lines in their every undulation. This then is the first grand + principle of the truth of the earth. The spirit of the hills is action, + that of the lowlands repose; and between these there is to be found every + variety of motion and rest, from the inactive plain, sleeping like the + firmament, with cities for stars, to the fiery peaks, which, with heaving + bosoms and exulting limbs, with the clouds drifting like hair from their + bright foreheads, lift up their Titan heads to Heaven, saying, "I live for + ever." + </p> + <p> + 34. Where they are,{23} they seem to form the world; no mere bank of a + river here, or of a lane there, peeping out among the hedges or forests, + but from the lowest valley to the highest clouds, all is theirs,—one + adamantine dominion and rigid authority of rock. We yield ourselves to the + impression of their eternal unconquerable stubbornness of strength; their + mass seems the least yielding, least to be softened, or in anywise dealt + with by external force, of all earthly substance. And behold, as we look + further into it, it is all touched and troubled, like waves by a summer + breeze; rippled far more delicately than seas or lakes are rippled; <i>they</i> + only undulate along their surfaces—this rock trembles through its + every fibre, like the chords of an Eolian harp, like the stillest air of + spring, with the echoes of a child's voice. Into the heart of all those + great mountains, through every tossing of their boundless crests, and deep + beneath all their unfathomable defiles, flows that strange quivering of + their substance. Other and weaker things seem to express their subjection + to an Infinite Power only by momentary terrors: as the weeds bow down + before the feverish wind, and the sound of the going in the tops of the + taller trees passes on before the clouds, and the fitful opening of pale + spaces on the dark water, as if some invisible hand were casting dust + abroad upon it, gives warning of the anger that is to come, we may well + imagine that there is a fear passing upon the grass, and leaves, and + waters, at the presence of some great spirit commissioned to let the + tempest loose; but the terror passes, and their sweet rest is perpetually + restored to the pastures and the waves. Not so to the mountains. They, + which at first seem strengthened beyond the dread of any violence or + change, are yet also ordained to bear upon them the symbol of a perpetual + fear. The tremor which fades from the soft lake and gliding river is + sealed to all eternity upon the rock; and while things that pass visibly + from birth to death may sometimes forget their feebleness, the mountains + are made to possess a perpetual memorial of their infancy—that + infancy which the prophet saw in his vision,{24}—"I beheld the + earth, and lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they + had no light. I beheld the mountains, and lo, they <i>trembled</i>, and + all the hills moved <i>lightly</i>." + </p> + <p> + {23} Passage written after I had got by some years cooler and wiser than + when I wrote No. 33, describing however the undulation of the gneiss + rocks, which, 'where they are, seem, to form the world,' in terms more + fanciful than I now like. + </p> + <p> + {24} Utter misinterpretation of the passage. It is the old age, not the + childhood of earth, which Jeremiah describes in this passage. See its true + interpretation in 'Fors Clavigera,' Letter XLVI. — 35. The longer I + stayed among the Alps, and the more closely I examined them, the more I + was struck by the one broad fact of there being a vast Alpine plateau, or + mass of elevated land, upon which nearly all the highest peaks stood like + children set upon a table, removed, in most cases, far back from the edge + of the plateau,—as if for fear of their falling; while the most + majestic scenes in the Alps are produced, not so much by any violation of + this law, as by one of the great peaks having apparently walked to the + edge of the table to look over, and thus showing itself suddenly above the + valley in its full height. This is the case with the Wetterhorn and Eiger + at Grindelwald, and with the Grande Jorasse above the Col de Ferret. But + the raised bank or table is always intelligibly in existence, even in + these apparently exceptional cases; and for the most part, the great peaks + are not allowed to come to the edge of it, but remain like the keeps of + castles far withdrawn, surrounded, league beyond league, by comparatively + level fields of mountain, over which the lapping sheets of glacier writhe + and flow, foaming about the feet of the dark central crests like the surf + of an enormous sea-breaker hurled over a rounded rock, and islanding some + fragment of it in the midst. And the result of this arrangement is a kind + of division of the whole of Switzerland into an upper and lower mountain + world,—the lower world consisting of rich valleys, bordered by + steep, but easily accessible, wooded banks of mountain, more or less + divided by ravines, through which glimpses are caught of the higher Alps; + the upper world, reached after the first banks of 3,000 or 4,000 feet in + height have been surmounted, consisting of comparatively level but most + desolate tracts of moor and rock, half covered by glacier, and stretching + to the feet of the true pinnacles of the chain. It can hardly be necessary + to point out the perfect wisdom and kindness of this arrangement, as a + provision for the safety of the inhabitants of the high mountain regions. + If the great peaks rose at once from the deepest valleys, every stone + which was struck from their pinnacles, and every snow-wreath which slipped + from their ledges, would descend at once upon the inhabitable ground, over + which no year would pass without recording some calamity of earth-slip or + avalanche; while in the course of their fall both the stones and the snow + would strip the woods from the hillsides, leaving only naked channels of + destruction where there are now the sloping meadow and the chestnut glade. + Besides this, the masses of snow, cast down at once into the warmer air, + would all melt rapidly in the spring, causing furious inundation of every + great river for a month or six weeks. The snow being then all thawed, + except what lay upon the highest peaks in regions of nearly perpetual + frost, the rivers would be supplied during the summer only by fountains, + and the feeble tricklings on sunny days from the high snows. The Rhone, + under such circumstances, would hardly be larger, in summer, than the + Severn, and many Swiss valleys would be left almost without moisture. All + these calamities are prevented by the peculiar Alpine structure which has + been described. The broken rocks and the sliding snow of the high peaks, + instead of being dashed at once to the vales, are caught upon the desolate + shelves, or shoulders, which everywhere surround the central crests. The + soft banks which terminate these shelves, traversed by no falling + fragments, clothe themselves with richest wood, while the masses of snow + heaped upon the ledge above them, in a climate neither so warm as to thaw + them quickly in the spring, nor so cold as to protect them from all the + power of the summer sun, either form themselves into glaciers, or remain + in slowly wasting fields even to the close of the year,—in either + case supplying constant, abundant, and regular streams to the villages and + pastures beneath, and to the rest of Europe, noble and navigable rivers. + </p> + <p> + Now, that such a structure is the best and wisest possible,{25} is indeed + sufficient reason for its existence, and to many people it may seem + useless to question farther respecting its origin. But I can hardly + conceive any one standing face to face with one of these towers of central + rock, and yet not also asking himself, Is this indeed the actual first + work of the Divine Master, on which I gaze? Was the great precipice shaped + by His finger, as Adam was shaped out of the dust? Were its clefts and + ledges carved upon it by its Creator, as the letters were on the tables of + the law, and was it thus left to bear its eternal testimony to His + beneficence among these clouds of Heaven? Or is it the descendant of a + long race of mountains, existing under appointed laws of birth and + endurance, death and decrepitude? There can be no doubt as to the answer. + The rock itself answers audibly by the murmur of some falling stone or + rending pinnacle. It is <i>not</i> as it was once. Those waste leagues + around its feet are loaded with the wrecks of what it was. On these + perhaps, of all mountains, the characters of decay are written most + clearly; around these are spread most gloomily the memorials of their + pride, and the signs of their humiliation. + </p> + <p> + {25} Of course I had seen every other tried before giving this favourable + judgment. + </p> + <p> + What then were they once? The only answer is yet again—"Behold the + cloud!" + </p> + <p> + 36. There are many spots among the inferior ridges of the Alps, such as + the Col de Ferret, the Col d'Anterne, and the associated ranges of the + Buet, which, though commanding prospects of great nobleness, are + themselves very nearly types of all that is most painful to the human + mind. Vast wastes of mountain ground,{26} covered here and there with dull + grey grass or moss, but breaking continually into black banks of shattered + slate, all glistening and sodden with slow tricklings of clogged, + incapable streams; the snow-water oozing through them in a cold sweat, and + spreading itself in creeping stains among their dust; ever and anon a + shaking here and there, and a handful or two of their particles or flakes + trembling down, one sees not why, into more total dissolution, leaving a + few jagged teeth, like the edges of knives eaten away by vinegar, + projecting, through the half-dislodged mass, from the inner rock; keen + enough to cut the hand or foot that rests on them, yet crumbling as they + wound, and soon sinking again into the smooth, slippery, glutinous heap; + looking like a beach of black scales of dead fish cast ashore from a + poisonous sea, and sloping away into foul ravines, branched down + immeasurable slopes of barrenness, where the winds howl and wander + continually, and the snow lies in wasted and sorrowful fields covered with + sooty dust, that collects in streaks and stains at the bottom of all its + thawing ripples. + </p> + <p> + {26} This is a fourth volume passage,—and I will venture to say of + it, as Albert Dürer, when he was pleased with his work—that for what + it has to do, it cannot be much better done. It is a study on the Col de + Bon Homme. + </p> + <p> + I know of no other scenes so appalling as these in storm, or so woful in + sunshine. Where, however, these same rocks exist in more favourable + positions—that is to say, in gentler banks and at lower elevations—they + form a ground for the most luxuriant vegetation; and the valleys of Savoy + owe to them some of their loveliest solitudes—exquisitely rich + pastures, interspersed with arable and orchard land, and shaded by groves + of walnut and cherry. Scenes of this kind, and of that just described, so + singularly opposed, and apparently brought together as foils to each + other, are however peculiar to certain beds of the slaty coherents, which + are both vast in elevation, and easy of destruction. In Wales and Scotland + the same groups of rocks possess far greater hardness, while they attain + less elevation; and the result is a totally different aspect of scenery. + The severity of the climate, and the comparative durableness of the rock, + forbid the rich vegetation; but the exposed summits, though barren, are + not subject to laws of destruction so rapid and fearful as in Switzerland, + and the natural colour of the rock is oftener developed in the purples and + greys which, mingled with the heather, form the principal elements of the + deep and beautiful distant blue of the British hills. Their gentler + mountain streams also permit the beds of rock to remain in firm, though + fantastic, forms along their banks, and the gradual action of the cascades + and eddies upon the slaty cleavage produces many pieces of foreground + scenery to which higher hills can present no parallel. + </p> + <p> + 37. Unlike Chamouni Aiguilles, there is no aspect of destruction about the + Matterhorn cliffs. They are not torn remnants of separating spires, + yielding, flake by flake, and band by band, to the continual process of + decay. They are, on the contrary, an unaltered monument, seemingly + sculptured long ago, the huge walls retaining yet the forms into which + they were first engraven, and standing like an Egyptian temple;—delicately + fronted, softly coloured, the suns of uncounted ages rising and falling + upon it continually, but still casting the same line of shadows from east + to west; still, century after century, touching the same purple stains on + the lotus pillars; while the desert sand ebbs and flows about their feet, + as those autumn leaves of rock lie heaped and weak about the base of the + Cervin. + </p> + <p> + Is not this a strange type in the very heart and height of these + mysterious Alps—these wrinkled hills in their snowy, cold, + grey-haired old age, at first so silent, then, as we keep quiet at their + feet, muttering and whispering to us garrulously in broken and dreaming + fits, as it were, about their childhood,—is it not a strange type of + the things which "out of weakness are made strong"? If one of these little + flakes of mica sand, hurried in tremulous spangling along the bottom of + the ancient river, too light to sink, too faint to float, almost too small + for sight, could have had a mind given to it as it was at last borne down + with its kindred dust into the abysses of the stream, and laid, (might it + not have been thought?) for a hopeless eternity, in the dark ooze, the + most despised, forgotten, and feeble of all earth's atoms; incapable of + any use or change; not fit, down there in the diluvial darkness, so much + as to help an earth wasp to build its nest, or feed the first fibre of a + lichen; what would it have thought, had it been told that one day, knitted + into a strength as of imperishable iron, rustless by the air, infusible by + the flame, out of the substance of it, with its fellows, the axe of God + should hew that Alpine tower?—that against <i>it</i>—poor, + helpless mica flake!—the wild north winds should rage in vain; + beneath <i>it</i>—low-fallen mica flake!—the snowy hills + should lie bowed like flocks of sheep, and the kingdoms of the earth fade + away in unregarded blue; and around <i>it</i>—weak, wave-drifted + mica flake!—the great war of the firmament should burst in thunder + and yet stir it not; and the fiery arrows and angry meteors of the night + fall blunted back from it into the air; and all the stars in the clear + heaven should light, one by one as they rose, new cressets upon the points + of snow that fringed its abiding-place on the imperishable spire? + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION VI. — ILLUSTRATIVE: STONES. + </h2> + <p> + 38. There are no natural objects out of which more can be learned than out + of stones. They seem to have been created especially to reward a patient + observer. Nearly all other objects in nature can be seen to some extent + without patience, and are pleasant even in being half seen. Trees, clouds, + and rivers are enjoyable even by the careless; but the stone under his + foot has, for carelessness, nothing in it but stumbling; no pleasure is + languidly to be had out of it, nor food, nor good of any kind; nothing but + symbolism of the hard heart, and the unfatherly gift. And yet, do but give + it some reverence and watchfulness, and there is bread of thought in it, + more than in any other lowly feature of all the landscape. For a stone, + when it is examined, will be found a mountain in miniature. The fineness + of Nature's work is so great, that into a single block, a foot or two in + diameter, she can compress as many changes of form and structure, on a + small scale, as she needs for her mountains on a large one; and taking + moss for forests, and grains of crystal for crags, the surface of a stone + in by far the plurality of instances is more interesting than the surface + of an ordinary hill; more fantastic in form, and incomparably richer in + colour. + </p> + <p> + 39. On a Highland hillside are multitudinous clusters of fern and heather; + on an Alpine one, multitudinous groves of chestnut and pine. The number of + the things may be the same, but the sense of infinity is in the latter + case far greater, because the number is of nobler things. Indeed, so far + as mere magnitude of space occupied on the field of the horizon is the + measure of objects, a bank of earth ten feet high may, if we stoop to the + foot of it, be made to occupy just as much of the sky as that bank of + mountain at Villeneuve; nay, in many respects, its little ravines and + escarpments, watched with some help of imagination, may become very + sufficiently representative to us of those of the great mountain; and in + classing all water-worn mountain ground under the general and humble term + of Banks, I mean to imply this relationship of structure between the + smallest eminences and the highest. But in this matter of superimposed <i>quantity</i>, + the distinctions of rank are at once fixed. The heap of earth bears its + few tufts of moss, or knots of grass; the Highland or Cumberland mountain, + its honeyed heathers or scented ferns; but the mass of the bank at + Martigny or Villeneuve has a vineyard in every cranny of its rocks, and a + chestnut grove on every crest of them.... The minute mounds and furrows + scattered up the side of that great promontory, when they are actually + approached after three or four hours' climbing, turn into independent + hills, with true <i>parks</i> of lovely pasture-land enclosed among them, + and avenue after avenue of chestnuts, walnuts, and pines bending round + their bases; while in the deeper dingles, populous villages, literally + bound down to the rock by enormous trunks of vine, which, first trained + lightly over the loose stone roofs, have in process of years cast their + fruitful net over the whole village, and fastened it to the ground under + their purple weight and wayward coils as securely as ever human heart was + fastened to earth by the net of the Flatterer. + </p> + <p> + 40. When a rock of any kind has lain for some time exposed to the weather, + Nature finishes it in her own way. First she takes wonderful pains about + its forms, sculpturing it into exquisite variety of dent and dimple, and + rounding or hollowing it into contours which for fineness no human hand + can follow; then she colours it; and every one of her touches of colour, + instead of being a powder mixed with oil, is a minute forest of living + trees, glorious in strength and beauty, and concealing wonders of + structure. + </p> + <p> + 41. On the broken rocks in the foreground in the crystalline groups, the + mosses seem to set themselves consentfully and deliberately to the task of + producing the most exquisite harmonies of colour in their power. They will + not conceal the form of the rock, but will gather over it in little brown + bosses, like small cushions of velvet, made of mixed threads of dark ruby + silk and gold, rounded over more subdued films of white and grey, with + lightly crisped and curled edges like hoar frost on fallen leaves, and + minute clusters of upright orange stalks with pointed caps, and fibres of + deep green, and gold, and faint purple passing into black, all woven + together, and following with unimaginable fineness of gentle growth the + undulation of the stone they cherish, until it is charged with colour so + that it can receive no more; and instead of looking rugged, or cold, or + stern, or anything that a rock is held to be at heart, it seems to be + clothed with a soft dark leopard's skin, embroidered with arabesque of + purple and silver. + </p> + <p> + 42. The colour of the white varieties of marble is of exquisite delicacy, + owing to the partial translucency of the pure rock; and it has always + appeared to me a most wonderful ordinance—one of the most <i>marked</i> + pieces of purpose in the creation—that all the variegated kinds + should be comparatively opaque, so as to set off the colour on the + surface, while the white, which, if it had been opaque, would have looked + somewhat coarse, (as for instance common chalk does,) is rendered just + translucent enough to give an impression of extreme purity, but not so + translucent as to interfere in the least with the distinctness of any + forms into which it is wrought. The colours of variegated marbles are also + for the most part very beautiful, especially those composed of purple, + amber, and green, with white; and there seems something notably attractive + to the human mind in the <i>vague</i> and veined labyrinths of their + arrangements. + </p> + <p> + 43. I have often had occasion to allude to the apparent connection of + brilliancy of colour with vigour of life or purity of substance. This is + pre-eminently the case in the mineral kingdom. The perfection with which + the particles of any substance unite in crystallization, corresponds in + that kingdom to the vital power in organic nature; and it is a universal + law, that according to the purity of any substance, and according to the + energy of its crystallization, is its beauty or brightness. Pure earths + are white when in powder; and the same earths, which are the constituents + of clay and sand, form, when crystallized, the emerald, ruby, sapphire, + amethyst, and opal. + </p> + <p> + 44. As we pass between the hills which have been shaken by earthquake and + torn by convulsion, we find that periods of perfect repose succeed those + of destruction. The pools of calm water lie clear beneath their fallen + rocks, the water-lilies gleam, and the reeds whisper among their shadows; + the village rises again over the forgotten graves, and its church tower, + white through the storm-light, proclaims a renewed appeal to His + protection in whose hand "are all the corners of the earth, and the + strength of the hills is His also." There is no loveliness of Alpine + valley that does not teach the same lesson. It is just where "the mountain + falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place," that + in process of years the fairest meadows bloom between the fragments, the + clearest rivulets murmur from between their crevices among the flowers, + and the clustered cottages, each sheltered beneath some strength of mossy + stone, now to be removed no more, and with their pastured flocks around + them, safe from the eagle's stoop and the wolf's ravin, have written upon + their fronts, in simple words, the mountaineer's faith in the ancient + promise,—"Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction, when it + cometh; for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the + beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION VII. — ILLUSTRATIVE: PLANTS AND FLOWERS. + </h2> + <p> + 45. Wonderful, in universal adaptation to man's need, desire, and + discipline, God's daily preparation of the earth for him, with beautiful + means of life. First, a carpet, to make it soft for him; then a coloured + fantasy of embroidery thereon; then, tall spreading of foliage to shade + him from sun-heat, and shade also the fallen rain, that it may not dry + quickly back into the clouds, but stay to nourish the springs among the + moss. Stout wood to bear this leafage; easily to be cut, yet tough and + light, to make houses for him, or instruments (lance-shaft, or + plough-handle, according to his temper); useless it had been if harder; + useless if less fibrous; useless if less elastic. Winter comes, and the + shade of leafage falls away, to let the sun warm the earth; the strong + boughs remain, breaking the strength of winter winds. The seeds which are + to prolong the race, innumerable according to the need, are made beautiful + and palatable, varied into infinitude of appeal to the fancy of man, or + provision for his service; cold juice, or flowing spice, or balm, or + incense, softening oil, preserving resin, medicine of styptic, febrifuge, + or lulling charm; and all these presented in forms of endless change. + Fragility or force, softness and strength, in all degrees and aspects; + unerring uprightness, as of temple pillars, or unguided wandering of + feeble tendrils on the ground; mighty resistances of rigid arm and limb to + the storms of ages, or wavings to and fro with faintest pulse of summer + streamlet; roots cleaving the strength of rock, or binding the transience + of the sand; crests basking in sunshine of the desert, or hiding by + dripping spring and lightless cave; foliage far tossing in entangled + fields beneath every wave of ocean—clothing with variegated, + everlasting films the peaks of the trackless mountains, or ministering, at + cottage doors, to every gentlest passion and simplest joy of humanity. + </p> + <p> + 46. If ever in autumn a pensiveness falls upon us, as the leaves drift by + in their fading, may we not wisely look up in hope to their mighty + monuments? Behold how fair, how far prolonged in arch and aisle, the + avenues of the valleys, the fringes of the hills! so stately,—so + eternal; the joy of man, the comfort of all living creatures, the glory of + the earth,—they are but the monuments of those poor leaves that flit + faintly past us to die. Let them not pass, without our understanding their + last counsel and example: that we also, careless of monument by the grave, + may build it in the world—monument by which men may be taught to + remember, not where we died, but where we lived. + </p> + <p> + 47. The Pine. Magnificent! nay, sometimes almost terrible. Other trees, + tufting crag or hill, yield to the form and sway of the ground, clothe it + with soft compliance, are partly its subjects, partly its flatterers, + partly its comforters. But the pine rises in serene resistance, + self-contained; nor can I ever without awe stay long under a great Alpine + cliff, far from all house or work of men, looking up to its companies of + pines, as they stand on the inaccessible juts and perilous ledges of the + enormous wall, in quiet multitudes, each like the shadow of the one beside + it—upright, fixed, spectral, as troops of ghosts standing on the + walls of Hades, not knowing each other, dumb for ever. You cannot reach + them, cannot cry to them: those trees never heard human voice; they are + far above all sound but of the winds. No foot ever stirred fallen leaf of + theirs: all comfortless they stand, between the two eternities of the + Vacancy and the Rock; yet with such iron will, that the rock itself looks + bent and shattered beside them,—fragile, weak, inconsistent, + compared to their dark energy of delicate life, and monotony of enchanted + pride—unnumbered, unconquerable. + </p> + <p> + Then note farther their perfectness. The impression on most people's minds + must have been received more from pictures than reality, so far as I can + judge, so ragged they think the pine; whereas its chief character in + health is green and full <i>roundness</i>. It stands compact, like one of + its own cones, slightly curved on its sides, finished and quaint as a + carved tree in some Elizabethan garden; and instead of being wild in + expression, forms the softest of all forest scenery, for other trees show + their trunks and twisting boughs; but the pine, growing either in + luxuriant mass, or in happy isolation, allows no branch to be seen. Summit + behind summit rise its pyramidal ranges, or down to the very grass sweep + the circlets of its boughs; so that there is nothing but green cone, and + green carpet. Nor is it only softer, but in one sense more cheerful than + other foliage, for it casts only a pyramidal shadow. Lowland forest arches + overhead, and chequers the ground with darkness; but the pine, growing in + scattered groups, leaves the glades between emerald-bright. Its gloom is + all its own; narrowing into the sky, it lets the sunshine strike down to + the dew. And if ever a superstitious feeling comes over me among the pine + glades, it is never tainted with the old German forest fear, but it is + only a more solemn tone of the fairy enchantment that haunts our English + meadows; so that I have always called the prettiest pine-glade in + Chamouni, "Fairies' Hollow." It is in the glen beneath the steep ascent + above Pont Pelissier, and may be reached by a little winding path which + goes down from the top of the hill{27}—being indeed not truly a + glen, but a broad ledge of moss and turf, leaning in a formidable + precipice (which, however, the gentle branches hide) over the Arve. An + almost isolated rock promontory, many coloured, rises at the end of it. On + the other sides it is bordered by cliffs, from which a little cascade + falls, literally, down among the pines, for it is so light, shaking itself + into mere showers of seed pearl in the sun, that the pines don't know it + from mist, and grow through it without minding. Underneath, there is only + the mossy silence; and above, for ever, the snow of the nameless Aiguille. + </p> + <p> + {27} The new road to Chamouni has been carried right through it. A cascade + on the right, as you ascend, marks the place spoken of in the text,—once + as lonely as Corrie-nan-shian. + </p> + <p> + Other trees rise against the sky in dots and knots, but this, in fringes. + You never see the edges of it, so subtle are they; and for this reason,—it + alone of trees, so far as I know, is capable of the fiery change which has + been noticed by Shakespeare. When the sun rises behind a ridge crested + with pine, provided the ridge be at a distance of about two miles, and + seen clear, all the trees, for about three or four degrees on each side of + the sun, become trees of light, seen in clear flame against the darker + sky, and dazzling as the sun itself. I thought at first this was owing to + the actual lustre of the leaves; but I believe now it is caused by the + cloud-dew upon them—every minutest leaf carrying its diamond. It + seems as if these trees, living always among the clouds, had caught part + of their glory from them; and themselves, the darkest of vegetation, could + yet add splendour to the sun itself. + </p> + <p> + 48. The Swiss have certainly no feelings respecting their mountains in + anywise correspondent with ours. It was rather as fortresses of defence, + than as spectacles of splendour, that the cliffs of the Rothslock bare + rule over the destinies of those who dwelt at their feet; and the training + for which the mountain children had to thank the slopes of the + Muotta-Thal, was in soundness of breath, and steadiness of limb, far more + than in elevation of idea. But the point which I desire the reader to note + is, that the character of the scene which, if any, appears to have been + impressive to the inhabitant, is not that which we ourselves feel when we + enter the district. It was not from their lakes, nor their cliffs, nor + their glaciers—though these were all peculiarly their possessions—that + the three venerable cantons received their name. They were not called the + States of the Rock, nor the States of the Lake, but the States of the <i>Forest</i>. + And the one of the three which contains the most touching record of the + spiritual power of Swiss religion, in the name of the convent of the 'Hill + of Angels,' has, for its own, none but the sweet childish name of 'Under + the Woods.' + </p> + <p> + And indeed you may pass under them if, leaving the most sacred spot in + Swiss history, the Meadow of the Three Fountains, you bid the boatman row + southward a little way by the shore of the Bay of Uri. Steepest there on + its western side, the walls of its rocks ascend to heaven. Far in the blue + of evening, like a great cathedral pavement, lies the lake in its + darkness; and you may hear the whisper of innumerable falling waters + return from the hollows of the cliff, like the voices of a multitude + praying under their breath. From time to time the beat of a wave, slow + lifted where the rocks lean over the black depth, dies heavily as the last + note of a requiem. Opposite, green with steep grass, and set with châlet + villages, the Fron-Alp rises in one solemn glow of pastoral light and + peace; and above, against the clouds of twilight, ghostly on the gray + precipice, stand, myriad by myriad, the shadowy armies of the Unterwalden + pine. + </p> + <p> + 49. It had been wild weather when I left Rome, and all across the Campagna + the clouds were sweeping in sulphurous blue, with a clap of thunder or + two, and breaking gleams of sun along the Claudian aqueduct, lighting up + the infinity of its arches, like the bridge of Chaos. But as I climbed the + long slope of the Alban Mount, the storm swept finally to the north, and + the noble outline of the domes of Albano, and graceful darkness of its + ilex grove, rose against pure streaks of alternate blue and amber, the + upper sky gradually flushing through the last fragments of rain-cloud in + deep palpitating azure, half æther and half dew. The noonday sun came + slanting down the rocky slopes of La Riccia, and their masses of entangled + and tall foliage, whose autumnal tints were mixed with the wet verdure of + a thousand evergreens, were penetrated with it, as with rain. I cannot + call it colour,—it was conflagration. Purple, and crimson, and + scarlet, like the curtains of God's Tabernacle, the rejoicing trees sank + into the valley in showers of light, every separate leaf quivering with + buoyant and burning life; each, as it turned to reflect, or to transmit + the sunbeam, first a torch and then an emerald. Far up into the recesses + of the valley the green vistas arched like the hollows of mighty waves of + some crystalline sea, with the arbutus flowers dashed along their banks + for foam, and silver flakes of orange spray tossed into the air around + them, breaking over the grey walls of rock into a thousand separate stars, + fading and kindling alternately as the weak wind lifted and let them fall. + Every glade of grass burned like the golden floor of heaven, opening in + sudden gleams as the foliage broke, and closed above it, as + sheet-lightning opens in a cloud at sunset; the motionless masses of dark + rock, dark though flushed with scarlet lichen, casting their quiet shadows + across its restless radiance, the fountain underneath them filling its + marble hollow with blue mist and fitful sound; and, over all, the + multitudinous bars of amber and rose—the sacred clouds that have no + darkness, and only exist to illumine—were seen in fathomless + intervals between the solemn and orbed repose of the stone pines, passing + to lose themselves in the last, white, blinding lustre of the measureless + line where the Campagna melted into the blaze of the sea. + </p> + <p> + 50. Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity: children + love them; quiet, contented, ordinary people love them as they grow; + luxurious and disorderly people rejoice in them gathered; they are the + cottager's treasure; and in the crowded town, mark, as with a little + broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers in whose hearts + rests the covenant of peace. + </p> + <p> + 51. Yet few people really care about flowers. Many, indeed, are fond of + finding a new shape of blossom, caring for it as a child cares about a + kaleidoscope. Many, also, like a fair service of flowers in the + greenhouse, as a fair service of plate on the table. Many are + scientifically interested in them, though even these in the nomenclature, + rather than the flowers; and a few enjoy their gardens.... But, the + blossoming time of the year being principally spring, I perceive it to be + the mind of most people, during that period, to stay in towns. A year or + two ago a keen-sighted and eccentrically-minded friend of mine, having + taken it into his head to violate this national custom, and go to the + Tyrol in spring, was passing through a valley near Landech with several + similarly headstrong companions. A strange mountain appeared in the + distance, belted about its breast with a zone of blue, like our English + Queen. Was it a blue cloud, a blue horizontal bar of the air that Titian + breathed in youth, seen now far away, which mortal might never breathe + again? Was it a mirage—a meteor? Would it stay to be approached?—(ten + miles of winding road yet between them and the foot of the mountain)—such + questioning had they concerning it. My keen-sighted friend, alone, + maintained it to be substantial;—whatever it might be, it was not + air, and would not vanish. The ten miles of road were overpast, the + carriage left, the mountain climbed. It stayed patiently, expanding still + into richer breath and heavenlier glow—a belt of gentians. Such + things may verily be seen among the Alps in spring, and in spring only; + which being so, I observe most people prefer going in autumn. + </p> + <p> + 52. Perhaps few people have ever asked themselves why they admire a rose + so much more than all other flowers. If they consider, they will find, + first, that red is, in a delicately gradated state, the loveliest of all + pure colours; and, secondly, that in the rose there is <i>no shadow</i>, + except what is composed of colour. All its shadows are fuller in colour + than its lights, owing to the translucency and reflective power of the + leaves. + </p> + <p> + 53. Has the reader ever considered the relations of commonest forms of + volatile substance? The invisible particles which cause the scent of a + rose-leaf, how minute, how multitudinous, passing richly away into the air + continually! + </p> + <p> + 54. In the range of inorganic nature I doubt if any object can be found + more perfectly beautiful, than a fresh, deep snow-drift, seen under warm + light. Its curves are of inconceivable perfection and changefulness; its + surface and transparency alike exquisite; its light and shade of + inexhaustible variety and inimitable finish,—the shadows sharp, + pale, and of heavenly colour, the reflected lights intense and + multitudinous, and mingled with the sweet occurrences of transmitted + light.... If, passing to the edge of a sheet of it upon the lower Alps, + early in May, we find, as we are nearly sure to find, two or three little + round openings pierced in it; and through these, emergent, a slender, + pensive, fragile flower,{28} whose small, dark, purple-fringed bell hangs + down and shudders over the icy cleft that it has cloven, as if partly + wondering at its own recent grave, and partly dying of very fatigue after + its hard-won victory; we shall be, or we ought to be, moved by a totally + different impression of loveliness from that which we receive among the + dead ice and the idle clouds: there is now uttered to us a call for + sympathy, now offered to us an image of moral purpose and achievement, + which, however unconscious or senseless the creature may indeed be that so + seems to call, cannot be heard without affection, nor contemplated without + worship, by any of us whose heart is rightly turned, or whose mind is + clearly and surely sighted. + </p> + <p> + {28} Soldanella Alpina. I think it is the only Alpine flower which + actually pierces snow, though I have seen gentians filling thawed + hoof-prints. Crocuses are languid till they have had sun for a day or two. + But the soldanella enjoys its snow, at first, and afterwards its fields. I + have seen it make a pasture look like a large lilac silk gown. + </p> + <p> + 55. It has been well shown by Dr. Herbert, that many plants are found + alone on a certain soil or sub-soil in a wild state, not because such soil + is favourable to them, but because they alone are capable of existing on + it, and because all dangerous rivals are by its inhospitality removed. Now + if we withdraw the plant from this position, which it hardly endures, and + supply it with the earth and maintain about it the temperature that it + delights in; withdrawing from it, at the same time, all rivals, which in + such conditions Nature would have thrust upon it, we shall indeed obtain a + magnificently developed example of the plant, colossal in size, and + splendid in organization; but we shall utterly lose in it that moral ideal + which is dependent on its right fulfilment of its appointed functions. It + was intended and created by the Deity for the covering of those lonely + spots where no other plant could live. It has been thereto endowed with + courage and strength, and capacities of endurance; its character and glory + are not therefore in the gluttonous and idle feeding of its own over + luxuriance, at the expense of other creatures utterly destroyed and rooted + out for its good alone; but in its right doing of its hard duty, and + forward climbing into those spots of forlorn hope where it alone can bear + witness to the kindness and presence of the Spirit that cutteth out rivers + among the rocks, as He covers the valleys with corn; and there, in its + vanward place, and only there, where nothing is withdrawn for it, nor hurt + by it, and where nothing can take part of its honour, nor usurp its + throne, are its strength and fairness, and price, and goodness in the + sight of God to be truly esteemed. The first time I saw the Soldanella + Alpina, before spoken of, it was growing of magnificent size on a sunny + Alpine pasture, among bleating of sheep, and lowing of cattle, associated + with a profusion of Geum Montanum, and Ranunculus Pyrenæus. I noticed it + only because new to me—nor perceived any peculiar beauty in its + cloven flower. Some days after, I found it alone, among the rack of the + higher clouds, and howling of glacier winds; and, as I described it, + piercing through an edge of avalanche which in its retiring had left the + new ground brown and lifeless, and as if burnt by recent fire. The plant + was poor and feeble, and seemingly exhausted with its efforts,—but + it was then that I comprehended its ideal character, and saw its noble + function and order of glory among the constellations of the earth. + </p> + <p> + 56. GRASSES.—Minute, granular, feathery, or downy seed-vessels, + mingling quaint brown punctuation, and dusty tremors of dancing grain, + with the bloom of the nearer fields; and casting a gossamered grayness and + softness of plumy mist along their surfaces far away; mysterious evermore, + not only with dew in the morning, or mirage at noon, but with the shaking + threads of fine arborescence, each a little belfry of grainbells, all + a-chime. + </p> + <p> + 57. Gather a single blade of grass, and examine for a minute quietly its + narrow sword-shaped strip of fluted green. Nothing, as it seems, there of + notable goodness or beauty. A very little strength and a very little + tallness, and a few delicate long lines meeting in a point,—not a + perfect point neither, but blunt and unfinished, by no means a creditable + or apparently much-cared-for example of Nature's workmanship, made, only + to be trodden on to-day, and to-morrow to be cast into the oven,—and + a little pale and hollow stalk, feeble and flaccid, leading down to the + dull brown fibres of roots. And yet, think of it well, and judge whether, + of all the gorgeous flowers that beam in summer air, and of all strong and + goodly trees, pleasant to the eyes, or good for food,—stately palm + and pine, strong ash and oak, scented citron, burdened vine—there be + any by man so deeply loved, by God so highly graced, as that narrow point + of feeble green. And well does it fulfil its mission. Consider what we owe + merely to the meadow grass, to the covering of the dark ground by that + glorious enamel, by the companies of those soft, and countless, and + peaceful spears. The fields! Follow forth but for a little time the + thoughts of all that we ought to recognise in these words. All spring and + summer is in them—the walks by silent, scented paths—the rests + in noonday heat,—the joy of herds and flocks,—the power of all + shepherd life and meditation,—the life of sunlight upon the world + falling in emerald streaks, and falling in soft blue shadows where else it + would have struck upon the dark mould, or scorching dust. Pastures beside + the pacing brooks, soft banks and knolls of lowly hills, thymy slopes of + down, overlooked by the blue line of lifted sea, crisp lawns, all dim with + early dew, or smooth in evening warmth of barred sunshine, dinted by happy + feet, and softening in their fall the sound of loving voices,—all + these are summed in those simple words; and these are not all. We may not + measure to the full the depth of this heavenly gift in our own land, + though still as we think of it longer, the infinite of that meadow + sweetness, Shakespeare's peculiar joy, would open on us more and more; yet + we have it but in part. Go out in the springtime among the meadows that + slope from the shores of the Swiss lakes to the roots of their lower + mountains. There, mingled with the taller gentians, and the white + narcissus, the grass grows deep and free; and as you follow the winding + mountain path, beneath arching boughs, all veiled with blossom—paths + that for ever droop and rise over the green banks and mounds sweeping down + in scented undulation steep to the blue water, studded here and there with + new-mown heaps filling all the air with fainter sweetness,—look up + towards the higher hills, where the waves of everlasting green roll + silently into their long inlets among the shadows of the pines; and we may + perhaps at last know the meaning of those quiet words of the 147th Psalm, + "He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains." + </p> + <p> + Assembling the images we have traced, and adding the simplest of all, from + Isaiah xl. 6, we find the grass and flowers are types, in their passing, + of the passing of human life, and in their excellence, of the excellence + of human life; and this in twofold way: first by their beneficence, and + then by their endurance—the grass of the earth, in giving the seed + of corn, and in its beauty under tread of foot and stroke of scythe; and + the grass of the waters, in giving its freshness for our rest, and in its + bending before the wave. But, understood in the broad human and Divine + sense, the "<i>herb</i> yielding seed"—(as opposed to the fruit tree + yielding fruit)—includes a third family of plants, and fulfils a + third office to the human race. It includes the great family of the lints + and flaxes, and fulfils thus the <i>three</i> offices of giving food, + raiment, and rest. Follow out this fulfilment; consider the association of + the linen garment and the linen embroidery with the priestly office and + the furniture of the tabernacle, and consider how the rush has been to all + time the first natural carpet thrown under the human foot. Then next + observe the three virtues definitely set forth by the three families of + plants—not arbitrarily or fancifully associated with them, but in + all the three cases marked for us by Scriptural words: 1st. Cheerfulness, + or joyful serenity; in the grass for food and beauty—"Consider the + lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin." + 2nd. Humility; in the grass for rest—"A bruised reed shall he not + break." 3rd. Love; in the grass for clothing, (because of its swift + kindling,)—"The smoking flax shall he not quench." And then finally + observe the confirmation of these last two images in, I suppose, the most + important prophecy, relating to the future state of the Christian Church, + which occurs in the Old Testament, namely that contained in the closing + chapters of Ezekiel. The measures of the Temple of God are to be taken; + and because it is only by charity and humility that those measures ever + can be taken, the angel has "a line of <i>flax</i> in his hand, and a + measuring reed." The use of the line was to measure the land, and of the + reed to take the dimensions of the buildings; so the buildings of the + church, or its labours, are to be measured by humility; and its territory, + or land, by love. + </p> + <p> + 58. LEAVES motionless. The strong pines wave above them, and the weak + grasses tremble beside them; but the blue stars rest upon the earth with a + peace as of heaven; and far along the ridges of iron rock, moveless as + they, the rubied crests of Alpine rose flush in the low rays of morning. + </p> + <p> + 59. MOSSES.—Meek creatures! the first mercy of the earth, veiling + with hushed softness its dintless rocks; creatures full of pity, covering + with strange and tender honour the scarred disgrace of ruin, laying quiet + finger on the trembling stones to teach them rest. No words, that I know + of, will say what these mosses are. None are delicate enough, none perfect + enough, none rich enough. How is one to tell of the rounded bosses of + furred and beaming green,—the starred divisions of rubied bloom, + fine-filmed, as if the rock spirits could spin porphyry as we do glass,—the + traceries of intricate silver, and fringes of amber, lustrous, + arborescent, burnished through every fibre into fitful brightness and + glossy traverses of silken change, yet all subdued and pensive, and framed + for simplest, sweetest offices of grace? They will not be gathered, like + the flowers, for chaplet, or love-token; but of these the wild bird will + make its nest, and the wearied child his pillow. + </p> + <p> + And as the earth's first mercy, so they are its last gift to us: when all + other service is vain, from plant and tree, the soft mosses and gray + lichen take up their watch by the headstone. The woods, the blossoms, the + gift-bearing grasses, have done their parts for a time; but these do + service for ever. Trees for the builder's yard, flowers for the bride's + chamber, corn for the granary, moss for the grave. + </p> + <p> + 60. LICHENS.—As in one sense the humblest, in another they are the + most honoured of the earth-children. Unfading as motionless, the worm + frets them not, and the autumn wastes not. Strong in loveliness, they + neither blanch in heat, nor pine in frost. To them, slow-fingered, + constant-hearted, is entrusted the weaving of the dark, eternal tapestries + of the hills; to them, slow-pencilled, iris-dyed, the tender framing of + their endless imagery. Sharing the stillness of the unimpassioned rock, + they share also its endurance; and while the winds of departing spring + scatter the white hawthorn blossom like drifted snow, and summer dims on + the parched meadow the drooping of its cowslip gold,—far above, + among the mountains, the silver lichen spots rest, star-like, on the + stone: and the gathering orange stain, upon the edge of yonder western + peak, reflects the sunsets of a thousand years. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION VIII. — EDUCATION. + </h2> + <p> + 61. The most helpful and sacred work which can at present be done for + humanity, is to teach people (chiefly by example, as all best teaching + must be done) not how "to better themselves," but how to "satisfy + themselves." It is the curse of every evil nature and evil creature to eat + and <i>not</i> be satisfied. The words of blessing are, that they shall + eat and be satisfied; and as there is only one kind of water which + quenches all thirst, so there is only one kind of bread which satisfies + all hunger—the bread of justice or righteousness; which hungering + after, men shall always be filled, that being the bread of Heaven; but + hungering after the bread or wages of unrighteousness, shall not be + filled, that being the bread of Sodom. And in order to teach men how to be + satisfied, it is necessary fully to understand the art of joy and humble + life—this, at present, of all arts or sciences, being the one most + needing study. Humble life; that is to say, proposing to itself no future + exaltation, but only a sweet continuance: not excluding the idea of + foresight, but wholly of fore-sorrow, and taking no troublous thought for + coming days; so also not excluding the idea of providence or provision, + but wholly of accumulation;—the life of domestic affection and + domestic peace, full of sensitiveness to all elements of costless and kind + pleasure;—therefore chiefly to the loveliness of the natural world. + </p> + <p> + 62. We shall find that the love of nature, wherever it has existed, has + been a faithful and sacred element of feeling; that is to say, supposing + all the circumstances otherwise the same with respect to two individuals, + the one who loves nature most will be always found to have more capacity + for <i>faith</i> in God than the other. Nature-worship will be found to + bring with it such a sense of the presence and power of a Great Spirit as + no mere reasoning can either induce or controvert; and where that + nature-worship is innocently pursued—<i>i.e.</i>, with due respect + to other claims on time, feeling, and exertion, and associated with the + higher principles of religion,—it becomes the channel of certain + sacred truths, which by no other means can be conveyed. + </p> + <p> + 63. Instead of supposing the love of nature necessarily connected with the + faithlessness of the age, I believe it is connected properly with the + benevolence and liberty{29} of the age; that it is precisely the most + healthy element which distinctively belongs to us; and that out of it, + cultivated no longer in levity or ignorance, but in earnestness and as a + duty, results will spring of an importance at present inconceivable; and + lights arise, which, for the first time in man's history, will reveal to + him the true nature of his life, the true field for his energies, and the + true relations between him and his Maker. + </p> + <p> + {29} I forget, now, what I meant by 'liberty' in this passage; but I often + used the word in my first writings, in a good sense, thinking of Scott's + moorland rambles and the like. It is very wonderful to me, now, to see + what hopes I had once: but Turner was alive, then; and the sun used to + shine, and rivers to sparkle. + </p> + <p> + 64. To any person who has all his senses about him, a quiet walk, over not + more than ten or twelve miles of road a day, is the most amusing of all + travelling; and all travelling becomes dull in exact proportion to its + rapidity. + </p> + <p> + Going by railroad I do not consider as travelling at all; it is merely + "being sent" to a place, and very little different from becoming a parcel. + </p> + <p> + 65. I believe an immense gain in the bodily health and happiness of the + upper classes would follow on their steadily endeavouring, however + clumsily, to make the physical exertion they now necessarily exert in + amusements, definitely serviceable. It would be far better, for instance, + that a gentleman should mow his own fields, than ride over other people's. + </p> + <p> + 66. In order to define what is fairest, you must delight in what is fair; + and I know not how few or how many there may be who take such delight. + Once I could speak joyfully about beautiful things, thinking to be + understood; now I cannot, any more, for it seems to me that no one regards + them. Wherever I look or travel, in England or abroad, I see that men, + wherever they can reach, destroy all beauty. They seem to have no other + desire or hope but to have large houses, and be able to move fast. Every + perfect and lovely spot which they can touch, they defile. Thus the + railroad bridge over the fall of Schaffhausen, and that round the Clarens + shore of the lake of Geneva, have destroyed the power of two pieces of + scenery of which nothing can ever supply the place, in appeal to the + higher ranks of European mind. + </p> + <p> + 67. The first thing which I remember as an event in life, was being taken + by my nurse to the brow of Friar's Crag on Derwentwater. The intense joy, + mingled with awe, that I had in looking through the hollows in the mossy + roots, over the crag into the dark lake, has associated itself more or + less with all twining roots of trees ever since. Two other things I + remember as, in a sort, beginnings of life;—crossing Shap-fells, + being let out of the chaise to run up the hills; and going through + Glenfarg, near Kinross, on a winter's morning, when the rocks were hung + with icicles; these being culminating points in an early life of more + travelling than is usually indulged to a child. In such journeyings, + whenever they brought me near hills, and in all mountain ground and + scenery, I had a pleasure, as early as I can remember, and continuing till + I was eighteen or twenty, infinitely greater than any which has been since + possible to me in anything. + </p> + <p> + 68. A fool always wants to shorten space and time; a wise man wants to + lengthen both. A fool wants to kill space and time; a wise man, first to + gain them, then to animate them. + </p> + <p> + 69. I suspect that system-makers in general are not of much more use, each + in his own domain, than, in that of Pomona, the old women who tie cherries + upon sticks, for the more portableness of the same. To cultivate well, and + choose well, your cherries, is of some importance; but if they can be had + in their own wild way of clustering about their crabbed stalks, it is a + better connection for them than any others; and if they cannot, then so + that they be not bruised, it makes to a boy of practical disposition not + much difference whether he gets them by handfuls, or in beaded symmetry on + the exalting stick. + </p> + <p> + 70. Every great man is always being helped by everybody, for his gift is + to get good out of all things and all persons. + </p> + <p> + 71. God appoints to every one of His creatures a separate mission, and if + they discharge it honourably, if they quit themselves like men, and + faithfully follow the light which is in them, withdrawing from it all cold + and quenching influence, there will assuredly come of it such burning as, + in its appointed mode and measure, shall shine before men, and be of + service constant and holy. Degrees infinite of lustre there must always + be, but the weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which + is peculiar to him, and which, worthily used, will be a gift also to his + race for ever. + </p> + <p> + 72. There is not any matter, nor any spirit, nor any creature, but it is + capable of a unity of some kind with other creatures; and in that unity is + its perfection and theirs, and a pleasure also for the beholding of all + other creatures that can behold. So the unity of spirits is partly in + their sympathy, and partly in their giving and taking, and always in their + love; and these are their delight and their strength; for their strength + is in their co-working and army fellowship, and their delight is in their + giving and receiving of alternate and perpetual good; their inseparable + dependency on each other's being, and their essential and perfect + depending on their Creator's. And so the unity of earthly creatures is + their power, and their peace; not like the dead and cold peace of + undisturbed stones and solitary mountains, but the living peace of trust, + and the living power of support; of hands that hold each other and are + still.{30} + </p> + <p> + {30} A long, affected, and obscure second volume sentence, written in + imitation of Hooker. One short sentence from Ecclesiastes is the sum of + it: "How can one be warm alone?" + </p> + <p> + 73. It is good to read of that kindness and humbleness of St. Francis of + Assisi, who spoke never to bird, nor to cicada, nor even to wolf and + beasts of prey, but as his brother;—and so we find are moved the + minds of all good and mighty men, as in the lesson that we have from the + 'Mariner' of Coleridge, and yet more truly and rightly taught in the + 'Hartleap Well'— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Never to blend our pleasure or our pride + With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels,"— +</pre> + <p> + and again in the 'White Doe' of Rylstone, with the added teaching, that + anguish of our own + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Is tempered and allayed by sympathies + Aloft ascending, and descending deep, + Even to the inferior kinds;"— +</pre> + <p> + so that I know not of anything more destructive of the whole theoretic + faculty, not to say of the Christian character and human intellect,{31} + than those accursed sports in which man makes of himself cat, tiger, + leopard, and alligator in one; and gathers into one continuance of + cruelty, for his amusement, all the devices that brutes sparingly and at + intervals use against each other for their necessities. + </p> + <p> + {31} I am more and more grieved, as I re-read this and other portions of + the most affected and weak of all my books, (written in a moulting time of + my life,)—the second volume of 'Modern Painters,'—at its + morbid violence of passion and narrowness of thought. Yet, at heart, the + book was, like my others, honest; and in substance it is mostly good; but + all boiled to rags. + </p> + <p> + 74. He who loves not God, nor his brother, cannot love the grass beneath + his feet, nor the creatures which live not for his uses, filling those + spaces in the universe which he needs not: while, on the other hand, none + can love God, nor his human brother, without loving all things which his + Father loves; nor without looking upon them every one as in that respect + his brethren also, and perhaps worthier than he, if, in the under concords + they have to fill, their part is touched more truly.{32} + </p> + <p> + {32} Morbidly Franciscan, again! and I am really compelled to leave out + one little bit my friend liked,—as all kindly and hopeful women + would,—about everything turning out right, and being to some good + end. For we have no business whatever with the ends of things, but with + their beings; and their beings are often entirely bad. + </p> + <p> + 75. Things may always be seen truly by candid people, though never <i>completely</i>. + No human capacity ever yet saw the whole of a thing; but we may see more + and more of it the longer we look. Every individual temper will see + something different in it; but supposing the tempers honest, all the + differences are there. Every advance in our acuteness of perception will + show us something new; but the old and first-discerned thing will still be + there, not falsified, only modified and enriched by the new perceptions, + becoming continually more beautiful in its harmony with them, and more + approved as a part of the infinite truth. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SECTION IX. — MORALITIES. + </h2> + <p> + 76. When people read, "The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by + Christ," do they suppose it means that the law was ungracious and untrue? + The law was given for a foundation; the grace (or mercy) and truth for + fulfilment;—the whole forming one glorious Trinity of judgment, + mercy, and truth.{33} And if people would but read the text of their + Bibles with heartier purpose of understanding it, instead of + superstitiously, they would see that throughout the parts which they are + intended to make most personally their own, (the Psalms,) it is always the + Law which is spoken of with chief joy. The Psalms respecting mercy are + often sorrowful, as in thought of what it cost; but those respecting the + Law are always full of delight. David cannot contain himself for joy in + thinking of it,—he is never weary of its praise: "How love I Thy + law! it is my meditation all the day. Thy testimonies are my delight and + my counsellors; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." + </p> + <p> + {33} A great deal of the presumption and narrowness caused by my having + been bred in the Evangelical schools, and which now fill me with shame and + distress in re-reading 'Modern Painters,' is, to my present mind, atoned + for by the accurate thinking by which I broke my way through to the great + truth expressed in this passage, which all my later writings, without + exception, have been directed to maintain and illustrate. + </p> + <p> + 77. I suppose there is no event in the whole life of Christ to which, in + hours of doubt or fear, men turn with more anxious thirst to know the + close facts of it, or with more earnest and passionate dwelling upon every + syllable of its recorded narrative, than Christ's showing Himself to His + disciples at the Lake of Galilee. There is something pre-eminently open, + natural, full fronting our disbelief, in this manifestation. The others, + recorded after the resurrection, were sudden, phantom-like, occurring to + men in profound sorrow and wearied agitation of heart; not, it might seem, + safe judges of what they saw. But the agitation was now over. They had + gone back to their daily work, thinking still their business lay + net-wards, unmeshed from the literal rope and drag. "Simon Peter saith + unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee." True + words enough, and having far echo beyond those Galilean hills. That night + they caught nothing; but when the morning came, in the clear light of it, + behold! a figure stood on the shore. They were not thinking of anything + but their fruitless hauls. They had no guess who it was. It asked them + simply if they had caught anything. They say, No, and it tells them to + cast again. And John shades his eyes from the morning sun with his hand to + look who it is; and though the glistening of the sea, too, dazzles him, he + makes out who it is at last; and poor Simon, not to be outrun this time, + tightens his fisher's coat about him, and dashes in over the nets. One + would have liked to see him swim those hundred yards, and stagger to his + knees upon the beach. + </p> + <p> + Well, the others get to the beach, too, in time, in such slow way as men + in general do get in this world to its true shore, much impeded by that + wonderful "dragging the net with fishes"; but they get there—seven + of them in all; first the Denier, and then the slowest believer, and then + the quickest believer, and then the two throne-seekers, and two more, we + know not who. + </p> + <p> + They sit down on the shore, face to face with Him, and eat their broiled + fish as He bids. And then to Peter, all dripping still, shivering, and + amazed, staring at Christ in the sun, on the other side of the coal-fire,—thinking + a little perhaps of what happened by another coal-fire, when it was + colder, and having had no word changed with him by his Master, since that + look of His,—to him so amazed, comes the question, "Simon, lovest + thou Me?" Try to feel that a little; and think of it till it is true to + you: and then take up that infinite monstrosity and hypocrisy,—Raphael's + cartoon of the charge to Peter. Note first the bold fallacy—the + putting <i>all</i> the Apostles there, a mere lie to serve the Papal + heresy of the Petric supremacy, by putting them all in the background + while Peter receives the charge, and making them all witnesses to it. Note + the handsomely curled hair and neatly tied sandals of the men who had been + out all night in the sea-mists, and on the slimy decks; note their + convenient dresses for going a-fishing, with trains that lie a yard along + the ground, and goodly fringes—all made to match;—an apostolic + fishing costume. Note how Peter especially, (whose chief glory was in his + wet coat <i>girt</i> about him, and naked limbs,) is enveloped in folds + and fringes, so as to kneel and hold his keys with grace. No fire of coals + at all, nor lonely mountain shore, but a pleasant Italian landscape, full + of villas and churches, and a flock of sheep to be pointed at; and the + whole group of Apostles, not round Christ, as they would have been + naturally, but straggling away in a line, that they may be shown. The + simple truth is, that the moment we look at the picture we feel our belief + of the whole thing taken away. There is visibly no possibility of that + group even having existed, in any place, or on any occasion. It is all a + mere mythic absurdity, and faded concoction of fringes, muscular arms, and + curly heads of Greek philosophers. + </p> + <p> + 78. Among the children of God, there is always that fearful and bowed + apprehension of His majesty, and that sacred dread of all offence to Him + which is called the Fear of God; yet of real and essential fear there is + not any, but clinging of confidence to Him as their Rock, Fortress, and + Deliverer; and perfect love, and casting out of fear; so that it is not + possible that, while the mind is rightly bent on Him, there should be + dread of anything earthly or supernatural; and the more dreadful seems the + height of His majesty, the less fear they feel that dwell in the shadow of + it. "Of whom shall I be afraid?" + </p> + <p> + 79. If for every rebuke that we utter of men's vices, we put forth a claim + upon their hearts; if for every assertion of God's demands from them, we + could substitute a display of His kindness to them; if side by side with + every warning of death, we could exhibit proofs and promises of + immortality; if, in fine, instead of assuming the being of an awful Deity, + which men, though they cannot, and dare not deny, are always unwilling, + sometimes unable to conceive, we were to show them a near, visible, + inevitable, but all beneficent Deity, whose presence makes the earth + itself a heaven, I think there would be fewer deaf children sitting in the + market-place. + </p> + <p> + 80. If not by sympathy discovered, it is not in words explicable with what + divine lines and light the exercise of godliness and charity will mould + and gild the hardest and coldest countenance, neither to what darkness + their departure will consign the loveliest. For there is not any virtue + the exercise of which, even momentarily, will not impress a new fairness + upon the features. + </p> + <p> + 81. The love of the human race is increased by their individual + differences, and the unity of the creature, made perfect by each having + something to bestow and to receive, bound to the rest by a thousand + various necessities and various gratitudes; humility in each rejoicing to + admire in his fellow that which he finds not in himself, and each being in + some respect the complement of his race. + </p> + <p> + 82. They who are as the angels of God in heaven, yet cannot be conceived + as so assimilated that their different experiences and affections upon + earth shall then be forgotten and effectless: the child, taken early to + his place, cannot be imagined to wear there such a body, nor to have such + thoughts, as the glorified apostle who had finished his course and kept + the faith on earth. And so, whatever perfections and likeness of love we + may attribute to either the tried or the crowned creatures, there is the + difference of the stars in glory among them yet; differences of original + gifts, though not of occupying till their Lord come; different + dispensations of trial and of trust, of sorrows and support, both in their + own inward, variable hearts, and in their positions of exposure or of + peace; of the gourd shadow and the smiting sun, of calling at heat of day, + or eleventh hour, of the house unroofed by faith, or the clouds opened by + revelation; differences in warning, in mercies, in sickness, in signs, in + time of calling to account; alike only they all are by that which is not + of them, but the gift of God's unchangeable mercy: "I will give unto this + last even as unto thee." + </p> + <p> + 83. The desire of rest planted in the heart is no sensual, no unworthy + one; but a longing for renovation, and for escape from a state whose every + phase is mere preparation for another equally transitory, to one in which + permanence shall have become possible through perfection. Hence the great + call of Christ to men, that call on which St. Augustine fixed as the + essential expression of Christian hope, is accompanied by the promise of + rest; and the death bequest of Christ to men, is peace. + </p> + <p> + 84. He who has once stood beside the grave, to look back upon the + companionship which has been for ever closed, feeling how impotent, there, + are the wild love, and the keen sorrow, to give one instant's pleasure to + the pulseless heart, or atone in the lowest measure to the departed + spirit, for the hour of unkindness, will scarcely for the future incur + that debt to the heart, which can only be discharged to the dust. But the + lessons which men receive as individuals, they do not learn as nations. + Again and again they have seen their noblest descend into the grave, and + have thought it enough to garland the tombstone when they had not crowned + the brow, and to pay the honour to the ashes, which they had denied to the + spirit. Let it not displease them that they are bidden, amidst the tumult + and the dazzle of their busy life, to listen for the few voices, and watch + for the few lamps, which God has toned and lighted to charm and to guide + them, that they may not learn their sweetness by their silence, nor their + light by their decay. + </p> + <p> + 85. In the Cathedral of Lucca, near the entrance door of the north + transept, there is a monument by Jacopo della Quercia to Ilaria di + Caretto, the wife of Paolo Guinigi. I name it not as more beautiful or + perfect than other examples of the same period; but as furnishing an + instance of the exact and right mean between the rigidity and rudeness of + the earlier monumental effigies, and the morbid imitation of life, sleep, + or death, of which the fashion has taken place in modern times. She is + lying on a simple couch, with a hound at her feet; not on the side, but + with the head laid straight and simply on the hard pillow, in which, let + it be observed, there is no effort at deceptive imitation of pressure.—It + is understood as a pillow, but not mistaken for one. The hair is bound in + a flat braid over the fair brow, the sweet and arched eyes are closed, the + tenderness of the loving lips is set and quiet; there is that about them + which forbids breath; something which is not death nor sleep, but the pure + image of both. The hands are not lifted in prayer, neither folded, but the + arms are laid at length upon the body, and the hands cross as they fall. + The feet are hidden by the drapery, and the form of the limbs concealed, + but not their tenderness. + </p> + <p> + 86. I do not know any district possessing a more pure or uninterrupted + fulness of mountain character, (and that of the highest order,) or which + appears to have been less disturbed by foreign agencies, than that which + borders the course of the Trient between Valorsine and Martigny. The paths + which lead to it out of the valley of the Rhone, rising at first in steep + circles among the walnut trees, like winding stairs among the pillars of a + Gothic tower, retire over the shoulders of the hills into a valley almost + unknown, but thickly inhabited by an industrious and patient population. + Along the ridges of the rocks, smoothed by old glaciers into long, dark, + billowy swellings, like the backs of plunging dolphins, the peasant + watches the slow colouring of the tufts of moss and roots of herb, which + little by little gather a feeble soil over the iron substance; then, + supporting the narrow slip of clinging ground with a few stones, he + subdues it to the spade; and in a year or two a little crest of corn is + seen waving upon the rocky casque. The irregular meadows run in and out + like inlets of lake among these harvested rocks, sweet with perpetual + streamlets that seem always to have chosen the steepest places to come + down for the sake of the leaps, scattering their handfuls of crystal this + way and that, as the wind takes them with all the grace, but with none of + the formalism, of fountains; dividing into fanciful change of dash and + spring, yet with the seal of their granite channels upon them, as the + lightest play of human speech may bear the seal of past toil, and closing + back out of their spray to lave the rigid angles, and brighten with silver + fringes and glassy films each lower and lower step of sable stone; until + at last, gathered altogether again,—except perhaps some chance drops + caught on the apple blossom, where it has budded a little nearer the + cascade than it did last spring,—they find their way down to the + turf, and lose themselves in that, silently; with quiet depth of clear + water furrowing among the grass-blades, and looking only like their + shadows but presently emerging again in little startled gushes and + laughing hurries, as if they had remembered suddenly that the day was too + short for them to get down the hill. Green field, and glowing rock, and + glancing streamlet, all slope together in the sunshine towards the brows + of ravines, where the pines take up their own dominion of saddened shade; + and with everlasting roar, in the twilight, the stronger torrents thunder + down, pale from the glaciers, filling all the chasms with enchanted cold, + beating themselves to pieces against the great rocks that they have + themselves cast down, and forcing fierce way beneath their ghastly poise. + The mountain paths stoop to those glens in forky zigzags, leading to some + grey and narrow arch, all fringed under its shuddering curve with the + ferns that fear the light; a cross of rough-hewn pine, iron-bound to its + parapet, standing dark against the lurid fury of the foam. Far up the + glen, as we pause beside the cross, the sky is seen through the openings + in the pines thin with excess of light; and, in its clear consuming flame + of white space, the summits of the rocky mountains are gathered into + solemn crowns and circlets, all flushed in that strange faint silence of + possession by the sunshine, which has in it so deep a melancholy, full of + power, yet as frail as shadows; lifeless, like the walls of a sepulchre, + yet beautiful in tender fall of crimson folds, like the veil of some sea + spirit, that lives and dies as the foam flashes; fixed on a perpetual + throne, stern against all strength, lifted above all sorrows, and yet + effaced and melted utterly into the air by that last sunbeam that has + crossed to them from between the two golden clouds. + </p> + <p> + High above all sorrow? Yes; but not unwitnessing to it. The traveller on + his happy journey, as his foot springs from the deep turf, and strikes the + pebbles gaily over the edge of the mountain road, sees with a glance of + delight the clusters of nut-brown cottages that nestle along those sloping + orchards, and glow beneath the boughs of the pines. Here, it may well seem + to him, if there be sometimes hardship, there must be at least innocence + and peace, and fellowship of the human soul with nature. It is not so. The + wild goats that leap along those rocks have as much passion of joy in all + that fair work of God as the men that toil among them,—perhaps more. + Enter the street of one of those villages, and you will find it foul with + that gloomy foulness that is suffered only by torpor, or by anguish of + soul. Here, it is torpor—not absolute suffering—not starvation + or disease; but darkness of calm enduring: the spring, known only as the + time of the scythe, and the autumn as the time of the sickle, and the sun + only as a warmth, the wind as a chill, and the mountains as a danger. They + do not understand so much as the name of beauty, or of knowledge. They + understand dimly that of virtue. Love, patience, hospitality, faith—these + things they know. To glean their meadows side by side, so happier; to bear + the burden up the breathless mountain flank unmurmuringly; to bid the + stranger drink from their vessel of milk; to see at the foot of their low + death-beds a pale figure upon a cross, dying, also patiently;—in + this they are different from the cattle and from the stones; but, in all + this, unrewarded, as far as concerns the present life. For them, there is + neither hope nor passion of spirit; for them, neither advance nor + exultation. Black bread, rude roof, dark night, laborious day, weary arm + at sunset; and life ebbs away. No books, no thoughts, no attainments, no + rest,—except only sometimes a little sitting in the sun under the + church wall, as the bell tolls thin and far in the mountain air; a + pattering of a few prayers, not understood, by the altar-rails of the + dimly gilded chapel,—and so, back to the sombre home, with the cloud + upon them still unbroken—that cloud of rocky gloom, born out of the + wild torrents and ruinous stones, and unlightened even in their religion, + except by the vague promise of some better thing unknown, mingled with + threatening, and obscured by an unspeakable horror—a smoke, as it + were, of martyrdom, coiling up with the incense; and amidst the images of + tortured bodies and lamenting spirits in hurtling flames, the very cross, + for them, dashed more deeply than for others with gouts of blood. + </p> + <p> + 87. A Highland scene is beyond doubt pleasant enough in its own way; but, + looked close at, has its shadows.{34} Here, for instance, is the very fact + of one—as pretty as I can remember,—having seen many. It is a + little valley of soft turf, enclosed in its narrow oval by jutting rocks, + and broad flakes of nodding fern. From one side of it to the other winds, + serpentine, a clear brown stream, drooping into quicker ripple as it + reaches the end of the oval field, and then, first islanding a purple and + white rock with an amber pool, it dashes away into a narrow fall of foam + under a thicket of mountain ash and alder. The autumn sun, low, but clear, + shines on the scarlet ash-berries and on the golden birch-leaves, which, + fallen here and there, when the breeze has not caught them, rest quiet in + the crannies of the purple rock. Beside the rock, in the hollow under the + thicket, the carcase of a ewe, drowned in the last flood, lies nearly bare + to the bone, its white ribs protruding through the skin, raven-torn; and + the rags of its wool still flickering from the branches that first stayed + it as the stream swept it down. A little lower, the current plunges, + roaring, into a circular chasm like a well, surrounded on three sides by a + chimney-like hollowness of polished rock, down which the foam slips in + detached snow-flakes. Round the edges of the pool beneath, the water + circles slowly like black oil; a little butterfly lies on its back, the + wings glued to one of the eddies, its limbs feebly quivering; a fish + arises, and it is gone. Lower down the stream, I can see over a knoll the + green and damp turf roofs of four or five hovels, built at the edge of a + morass, which is trodden by the cattle into a black Slough of Despond at + their doors, and traversed by a few ill-set stepping stones, with here and + there a flat slab on the tops, where they have sunk out of sight;—and + at the turn of the brook I see a man fishing, with a boy and a dog—a + picturesque and pretty group enough certainly, if they had not been there + all day starving. I know them, and I know the dog's ribs also, which are + nearly as bare as the dead ewe's; and the child's wasted shoulders, + cutting his old tartan jacket through, so sharp are they. + </p> + <p> + {34} Passage written to be opposed to an exuberant description, by an + amiable Scottish pastor, of everything flattering to Scotchmen in the + Highlands. I have put next to it, a little study of the sadness of Italy. + </p> + <p> + 88. Perhaps there is no more impressive scene on earth than the solitary + extent of the Campagna of Rome under evening light. Let the reader imagine + himself for a moment withdrawn from the sounds and motion of the living + world, and sent forth alone into this wild and wasted plain. The earth + yields and crumbles beneath his foot, tread he never so lightly, for its + substance is white, hollow, and carious, like the dusty wreck of the bones + of men. The long knotted grass waves and tosses feebly in the evening + wind, and the shadows of its motion shake feverishly along the banks of + ruin that lift themselves to the sunlight. Hillocks of mouldering earth + heave around him, as if the dead beneath were struggling in their sleep. + Scattered blocks of black stone, four-square remnants of mighty edifices, + not one left upon another, lie upon them to keep them down. A dull purple + poisonous haze stretches level along the desert, veiling its spectral + wrecks of massy ruins, on whose rents the red light rests, like dying fire + on defiled altars; the blue ridge of the Alban Mount lifts itself against + a solemn space of green, clear, quiet sky. Watch-towers of dark clouds + stand steadfastly along the promontories of the Apennines. From the plain + to the mountains, the shattered aqueducts, pier beyond pier, melt into the + darkness, like shadowy and countless troops of funeral mourners, passing + from a nation's grave. + </p> + <p> + 89. I was coming down one evening from the Rochers de Naye, above + Montreux, having been at work among the limestone rocks, where I could get + no water, and both weary and thirsty. Coming to a spring at the turn of + the path, conducted, as usual, by the herdsmen, into a hollowed pine + trunk, I stooped to it, and drank deeply. As I raised my head, drawing + breath heavily, some one behind me said, "Celui qui boira de cette eau-ci, + aura encore soif." I turned, not understanding for a moment what was + meant, and saw one of the hill peasants, probably returning to his châlet + from the market place at Vevay or Villeneuve. As I looked at him with an + uncomprehending expression, he went on with the verse: "Mais celui qui + boira de l'eau que je lui donnerai, n'aura jamais soif." + </p> + <p> + 90. It may perhaps be permitted me{35} to mark the significance of the + earliest mention of mountains in the Mosaic books; at least of those in + which some Divine appointment or command is stated respecting them. They + are first brought before us as refuges for God's people from the two + judgments of water and fire. The Ark rests upon the mountains of Ararat; + and man, having passed through the great Baptism unto death, kneels upon + the earth first where it is nearest heaven, and mingles with the mountain + clouds the smoke of his sacrifice of thanksgiving. Again; from the midst + of the first judgment by fire, the command of the Deity to His servant is, + "Escape to the mountain;" and the morbid fear of the hills, which fills + any human mind after long stay in places of luxury and sin, is strangely + marked in Lot's complaining reply, "I cannot escape to the mountain, lest + some evil take me." The third mention, in way of ordinance, is a far more + solemn one: "Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off." "The + Place," the mountain of myrrh, or of bitterness, chosen to fulfil to all + the seed of Abraham, far off and near, the inner meaning of promise + regarded in that vow: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from + whence cometh mine help." And the fourth is the delivery of the law on + Sinai. It seemed then to the monks that the mountains were appointed by + their Maker to be to man refuges from judgment, signs of redemption, and + altars of sanctification and obedience; and they saw them afterwards + connected, in the manner the most touching and gracious, with the death, + after his task had been accomplished, of the first anointed Priest; the + death, in like manner, of the first inspired Lawgiver; and lastly, with + the assumption of His office, by the Eternal Priest, Lawgiver, and + Saviour. + </p> + <p> + {35} With reference to the choice of mountain dwellings by the greater + monastic orders. + </p> + <p> + Observe the connection of these three events. Although the <i>time</i> of + the deaths of Aaron and Moses was hastened by God's displeasure, we have + not, it seems to me, the slightest warrant for concluding that the <i>manner</i> + of their deaths was intended to be grievous or dishonourable to them. Far + from this, it cannot, I think, be doubted that in the denial of the + permission to enter the Promised Land, the whole punishment of their sin + was included; and that, as far as regarded the manner of their deaths, it + must have been appointed for them by their Master, in all tenderness and + love, and with the full purpose of ennobling the close of their service + upon the earth. It might have seemed to <i>us</i> more honourable that + both should have been permitted to die beneath the shadow of the + Tabernacle, the congregation of Israel watching by their side; and all + whom they loved gathered together to receive the last message from the + lips of the meek lawgiver, and the last blessing from the prayer of the + anointed priest. But it was not thus they were permitted to die. Try to + realize that going forth of Aaron from the midst of the congregation. He + who had so often done sacrifice for their sin, going forth now to offer up + his own spirit. He who had stood among them between the dead and the + living, and had seen the eyes of all that great multitude turned to him, + that by his intercession their breath might yet be drawn a moment more, + going forth now to meet the angel of death face to face, and deliver + himself into his hand. Try if you cannot walk in thought with those two + brothers, and the son, as they passed the outmost tents of Israel, and + turned, while yet the dew lay round about the camp, towards the slopes of + Mount Hor; talking together for the last time, as step by step they felt + the steeper rising of the rocks, and hour after hour, beneath the + ascending sun, the horizon grew broader as they climbed, and all the + folded hills of Idumea, one by one subdued, showed, amidst their hollows + in the haze of noon, the windings of that long desert journey, now at last + to close. But who shall enter into the thoughts of the High Priest as his + eye followed those paths of ancient pilgrimage; and through the silence of + the arid and endless hills, stretching even to the dim peak of Sinai, the + whole history of those forty years was unfolded before him, and the + mystery of his own ministries revealed to him; and that other Holy of + Holies, of which the mountain peaks were the altars, and the mountain + clouds the veil, the firmament of his Father's dwelling, opened to him + still more brightly and infinitely as he drew nearer his death?—until + at last, on the shadeless summit, from him on whom sin was to be laid no + more, from him on whose heart the names of sinful nations were to press + their graven fire no longer, the brother and the son took breastplate and + ephod, and left him to his rest. There is indeed a secretness in this calm + faith, and deep restraint of sorrow, into which it is difficult for us to + enter; but the death of Moses himself is more easily to be conceived, and + had in it circumstances still more touching as regards the influence of + the external scene. For forty years Moses had not been alone. The care and + burden of all the people, the weight of their woe, and guilt, and death, + had been upon him continually. The multitude had been laid upon him as if + he had conceived them; their tears had been his meat night and day, until + he had felt as if God had withdrawn His favour from him, and he had prayed + that he might be slain, and not see his wretchedness. And now at last the + command came, "Get thee up into this mountain." The weary hands, that had + been so long stayed up against the enemies of Israel, might lean again + upon the shepherd's staff, and fold themselves for the shepherd's prayer—for + the shepherd's slumber. Not strange to his feet, though forty years + unknown, the roughness of the bare mountain path, as he climbed from ledge + to ledge of Abarim; not strange to his aged eyes the scattered clusters of + the mountain herbage, and the broken shadows of the cliffs, indented far + across the silence of uninhabited ravines; scenes such as those among + which, as now, with none beside him but God, he had led his flocks so + often; and which he had left, how painfully! taking upon him the appointed + power to make of the fenced city a wilderness, and to fill the desert with + songs of deliverance. It was not to embitter the last hours of his life + that God restored to him for a day the beloved solitudes he had lost, and + breathed the peace of the perpetual hills around him, and cast the world + in which he had laboured, and sinned, far beneath his feet in that mist of + dying blue;—all sin, all wandering, soon to be forgotten for ever. + The Dead Sea—a type of God's anger understood by him, of all men, + most clearly, who had seen the earth open her mouth, and the sea his + depth, to overwhelm the companies of those who contended with his Master—laid + waveless beneath him; and beyond it the fair hills of Judah, and the soft + plains and banks of Jordan, purple in the evening light as with the blood + of redemption, and fading in their distant fulness into mysteries of + promise and of love. There, with his unabated strength, his undimmed + glance, lying down upon the utmost rocks, with angels waiting near to + contend for the spoils of his spirit, he put off his earthly armour. We do + deep reverence to his companion prophet, for whom the chariot of fire came + down from heaven; but was his death less noble whom his Lord Himself + buried in the vales of Moab, keeping, in the secrets of the eternal + counsels, the knowledge of a sepulchre, from which he was to be called in + the fulness of time, to talk with that Lord upon Hermon of the death that + He should accomplish at Jerusalem? + </p> + <p> + And lastly, let us turn our thoughts for a few moments to the cause of the + resurrection of these two prophets. We are all of us too much in the habit + of passing it by, as a thing mystical and inconceivable, taking place in + the life of Christ for some purpose not by us to be understood, or, at the + best, merely as a manifestation of His divinity by brightness of heavenly + light, and the ministering of the spirits of the dead, intended to + strengthen the faith of His three chosen apostles. And in this, as in many + other events recorded by the Evangelists, we lose half the meaning, and + evade the practical power upon ourselves, by never accepting in its + fulness the idea that our Lord was "perfect man,"—"tempted in all + things like as we are." Our preachers are continually trying, in all + manner of subtle ways, to explain the union of the Divinity with the + Manhood—an explanation which certainly involves first their being + able to describe the nature of Deity itself, or, in plain words, to + comprehend God. They never can explain, in any one particular, the union + of the natures; they only succeed in weakening the faith of their hearers + as to the entireness of either. The thing they have to do is precisely the + contrary of this—to insist upon the <i>entireness</i> of both. We + never think of Christ enough as God, never enough as Man; the instinctive + habit of our minds being always to miss of the Divinity, and the reasoning + and enforced habit to miss of the humanity. We are afraid to harbour in + our own hearts, or to utter in the hearing of others, any thought of our + Lord as hungering, tired, sorrowful, having a human soul, a human will, + and affected by events of human life, as a finite creature is: and yet one + half of the efficiency of His atonement, and the whole of the efficiency + of His example, depend on His having been this to the full. Consider, + therefore, the Transfiguration as it relates to the human feelings of our + Lord. It was the first definite preparation for His death. He had foretold + it to His disciples six days before; then takes with Him the three chosen + ones into "an high mountain apart." From an exceeding high mountain, at + the first taking on Him the ministry of life, He had beheld and rejected + the kingdoms of the earth, and their glory: now, on a high mountain, He + takes upon Him the ministry of death. Peter and they that were with Him, + as in Gethsemane, were heavy with sleep. Christ's work had to be done + alone. + </p> + <p> + The tradition is that the Mount of Transfiguration was the summit of + Tabor; but Tabor is neither a high mountain, nor was it in any sense a + mountain "<i>apart</i>," being in those years both, inhabited and + fortified. All the immediately preceding ministries of Christ had been at + Cesarea Philippi. There is no mention of travel southward in the six days + that intervened between the warning given to His disciples and the going + up into the hill. What other hill could it be than the southward slope of + that goodly mountain, Hermon, which is indeed the centre of all the + Promised Land, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt; the + mount of fruitfulness, from which the springs of Jordan descended to the + valleys of Israel? Along its mighty forest avenues, until the grass grew + fair with the mountain lilies, His feet dashed in the dew of Hermon, He + must have gone to pray His first recorded prayer about death; and from the + steep of it, before He knelt, could see to the south all the dwellings of + the people that had sat in darkness, and seen the great light, the land of + Zabulon and of Naphtali, Galilee of the nations,—could see, even + with His human sight, the gleam of that lake by Capernaum and Chorazin, + and many a place loved by Him, and vainly ministered to, whose house was + now left unto them desolate; and chief of all, far in the utmost blue, the + hills above Nazareth, sloping down to His old home; hills on which yet the + stones lay loose that had been taken up to cast at Him when He left them + for ever. + </p> + <p> + "And as He prayed, two men stood by Him." Among the many ways in which we + miss the help and hold of Scripture, none is more subtle than our habit of + supposing that, even as man, Christ was free from the fear of death. How + could He then have been tempted as we are?—since among all the + trials of the earth, none spring from the dust more terrible than that + fear. It had to be borne by Him, indeed, in a unity which we can never + comprehend, with the foreknowledge of victory,—as His sorrow for + Lazarus with the consciousness of His power to restore him; but it <i>had</i> + to be borne, and that in its full earthly terror; and the presence of it + is surely marked for us enough by the rising of those two at His side. + When, in the desert, He was girding Himself for the work of life, angels + of life came and ministered to Him; now in the fair world, when He is + girding Himself for the work of death, the ministrants come to Him from + the grave. But, from the grave, conquered. One from that tomb under + Abarim, which His own hand had sealed long ago; the other, from the rest + into which he had entered without seeing corruption. "There stood by Him + Moses and Elias, and spake of His decease." Then, when the prayer is + ended, the task accepted, first, since the star paused over Him at + Bethlehem, the full glory falls upon Him from heaven, and the testimony is + borne to His everlasting Sonship and power. "Hear ye Him." + </p> + <p> + If, in their remembrance of these things, and in their endeavour to follow + in the footsteps of their Master, religious men of bygone days, closing + themselves in the hill solitudes, forgot sometimes, and sometimes feared, + the duties they owed to the active world, we may perhaps pardon them more + easily than we ought to pardon ourselves, if we neither seek any influence + for good, nor submit to it unsought, in scenes to which thus all the men + whose writings we receive as inspired, together with their Lord, retired + whenever they had any task or trial laid upon them needing more than their + usual strength of spirit. Nor perhaps should we have unprofitably entered + into the mind of the earlier ages, if among our other thoughts, as we + watch the chains of the snowy mountains rise on the horizon, we should + sometimes admit the memory of the hour in which their Creator, among their + solitudes, entered on His travail for the salvation of our race; and + indulge the dream, that as the flaming and trembling mountains of the + earth seem to be the monuments of the manifesting of His terror on Sinai, + these pure and white hills, near to the heaven, and sources of all good to + the earth, are the appointed memorials of that light of His mercy, that + fell, snowlike, on the Mount of Transfiguration. + </p> + <h3> + FINIS. + </h3> + <p> + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + </p> + <p> + Edinburgh & London + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frondes Agrestes, by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONDES AGRESTES *** + +***** This file should be named 31045-h.htm or 31045-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/4/31045/ + +Produced by Paul Murray, Chandra Friend and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Frondes Agrestes + Readings in 'Modern Painters' + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: January 22, 2010 [EBook #31045] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONDES AGRESTES *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Chandra Friend and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + FRONDES AGRESTES. + + READINGS IN 'MODERN PAINTERS.' + + CHOSEN AT HER PLEASURE, + BY THE AUTHOR'S FRIEND, + THE YOUNGER LADY OF THE THWAITE, + CONISTON. + + 'Spargit agrestes tibi silva frondes.' + + Thirty-Eighth Thousand. + + London: George Allen, 156, Charing Cross Road. 1902. + + Printed By Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. + At the Ballantyne Press + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I have been often asked to republish the first book of mine which the +public noticed, and which, hitherto, remains their favourite, in a +more easily attainable form than that of its existing editions. I am, +however, resolved never to republish the book as a whole; some parts +of it being, by the established fame of Turner, rendered unnecessary; +and others having been always useless, in their praise of excellence +which the public will never give the labour necessary to discern. But, +finding lately that one of my dearest friends, who, in advanced age, +retains the cheerfulness and easily delighted temper of bright youth, +had written out, for her own pleasure, a large number of passages from +'Modern Painters,' it seemed to me certain that what such a person +felt to be useful to herself, could not but be useful also to a class +of readers whom I much desired to please, and who would sometimes +enjoy, in my early writings, what I never should myself have offered +them. I asked my friend, therefore, to add to her own already chosen +series, any other passages she thought likely to be of permanent +interest to general readers; and I have printed her selections in +absolute submission to her judgment, merely arranging the pieces she +sent me in the order which seemed most convenient for the reciprocal +bearing of their fragmentary meanings, and adding here and there an +explanatory note; or, it may be, a deprecatory one, in cases where my +mind had changed. That she did me the grace to write every word with +her own hands, adds, in my eyes, and will, I trust, in the readers' +also, to the possible claims of the little book on their sympathy; and +although I hope to publish some of the scientific and technical +portions of the original volumes in my own large editions, the +selections here made by my friend under her quiet woods at +Coniston--the Unter-Walden of England--will, I doubt not, bring within +better reach of many readers, for whom I am not now able myself to +judge or choose, such service as the book was ever capable of +rendering, in the illustration of the powers of nature, and +intercession for her now too often despised and broken peace. + +Herne Hill, + + 5th December, 1874. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + PAGE + PREFACE V + + SECTION I. PRINCIPLES OF ART 1 + + II. POWER AND OFFICE OF IMAGINATION 10 + + III. ILLUSTRATIVE: THE SKY 35 + + IV. " STREAMS AND SEA 64 + + V. " MOUNTAINS 74 + + VI. " STONES 107 + + VII. " PLANTS AND FLOWERS 115 + + VIII. EDUCATION 140 + + IX. MORALITIES 151 + + + + +FRONDES AGRESTES. + + + + +SECTION I. + +PRINCIPLES OF ART. + + +1. Perfect taste is the faculty of receiving the greatest possible +pleasure from those material sources which are attractive to our moral +nature in its purity and perfection; but why we receive pleasure from +some forms and colours, and not from others, is no more to be asked or +answered than why we like sugar and dislike wormwood. + + +2. The temper by which right taste is formed is characteristically +patient. It dwells upon what is submitted to it. It does not trample +upon it,--lest it should be pearls, even though it look like husks. It +is good ground, penetrable, retentive; it does not send up thorns of +unkind thoughts, to choke the weak seed; it is hungry and thirsty too, +and drinks all the dew that falls on it. It is an honest and good +heart, that shows no too ready springing before the sun be up, but +fails not afterwards; it is distrustful of itself, so as to be ready +to believe and to try all things; and yet so trustful of itself, that +it will neither quit what it has tried, nor take anything without +trying. And the pleasure which it has in things that it finds true and +good, is so great, that it cannot possibly be led aside by any tricks +of fashion, or diseases of vanity; it cannot be cramped in its +conclusions by partialities and hypocrisies; its visions and its +delights are too penetrating,--too living,--for any whitewashed object +or shallow fountain long to endure or supply. It clasps all that it +loves so hard that it crushes it if it be hollow. + + +3. It is the common consent of men that whatever branch of any pursuit +ministers to the bodily comforts, and regards material uses, is +ignoble, and whatever part is addressed to the mind only, is noble; +and that geology does better in reclothing dry bones and revealing +lost creations, than in tracing veins of lead and beds of iron; +astronomy better in opening to us the houses of heaven, than in +teaching navigation; botany better in displaying structure than in +expressing juices; surgery better in investigating organization than +in setting limbs.--Only it is ordained that, for our encouragement, +every step we make in the more exalted range of science adds something +also to its practical applicabilities; that all the great phenomena of +nature, the knowledge of which is desired by the angels only, by us +partly, as it reveals to farther vision the being and the glory of Him +in whom they rejoice and we live, dispense yet such kind influences +and so much of material blessing as to be joyfully felt by all +inferior creatures, and to be desired by them with such single desire +as the imperfection of their nature may admit; that the strong +torrents, which, in their own gladness, fill the hills with hollow +thunder, and the vales with winding light, have yet their bounden +charge of field to feed, and barge to bear; that the fierce flames to +which the Alp owes its upheaval and the volcano its terror, temper for +us the metal vein, and warm the quickening spring; and that for our +incitement, I say, not our reward,--for knowledge is its own +reward,--herbs have their healing, stones their preciousness, and +stars their times. + + +4. Had it been ordained by the Almighty[1] that the highest pleasures +of sight should be those of most difficult attainment, and that to +arrive at them it should be necessary to accumulate gilded palaces, +tower over tower, and pile artificial mountains around insinuated +lakes, there would never have been a direct contradiction between the +unselfish duties and the inherent desires of every individual. But no +such contradiction exists in the system of Divine Providence; which, +leaving it open to us, if we will, as creatures in probation, to abuse +this sense like every other, and pamper it with selfish and +thoughtless vanities, as we pamper the palate with deadly meats, until +the appetite of tasteful cruelty is lost in its sickened satiety, +incapable of pleasure unless, Caligula like, it concentrates the +labour of a million of lives into the sensation of an hour,--leaves it +also open to us, by humble and loving ways, to make ourselves +susceptible of deep delight, which shall not separate us from our +fellows, nor require the sacrifice of any duty or occupation, but +which shall bind us closer to men and to God, and be with us always, +harmonized with every action, consistent with every claim, unchanging +and eternal. + +[1] The reader must observe, that having been thoroughly disciplined in +the Evangelical schools, I supposed myself, at four-and-twenty, to know +all about the ordinances of the Almighty. Nevertheless, the practical +contents of the sentence are good; if only they are intelligible, which +I doubt. + + +5. A great Idealist never can be egotistic. The whole of his power +depends upon his losing sight and feeling of his own existence, and +becoming a mere witness and mirror of truth, and a scribe of +visions,--always passive in sight, passive in utterance, lamenting +continually that he cannot completely reflect nor clearly utter all he +has seen,--not by any means a proud state for a man to be in. But the +man who has no invention is always setting things in order,[2] and +putting the world to rights, and mending, and beautifying, and pluming +himself on his doings, as supreme in all ways. + +[2] I am now a comic illustration of this sentence, myself. I have not a +ray of invention in all my brains; but am intensely rational and +orderly, and have resolutely begun to set the world to rights. + + +6. So far as education does indeed tend to make the senses delicate, +and the perceptions accurate, and thus enables people to be pleased +with quiet instead of gaudy colour, and with graceful instead of +coarse form; and by long acquaintance with the best things, to discern +quickly what is fine from what is common--so far acquired taste is an +honourable faculty, and it is true praise of anything to say it is "in +good taste." But,[3] so far as this higher education has a tendency to +narrow the sympathies and harden the heart, diminishing the interest +of all beautiful things by familiarity, until even what is best can +hardly please, and what is brightest hardly entertain,--so far as it +fosters pride, and leads men to found the pleasure they take in +anything, not on the worthiness of the thing, but on the degree in +which it indicates some greatness of their own, (as people build +marble porticoes, and inlay marble floors, not so much because they +like the colours of marble, or find it pleasant to the foot, as +because such porches and floors are costly, and separated in all human +eyes from plain entrances of stone and timber);--so far as it leads +people to prefer gracefulness of dress, manner, and aspect, to value +of substance and heart, liking a well-_said_ thing better than a true +thing, and a well-trained manner better than a sincere one, and a +delicately-formed face better than a good-natured one,--and in all +other ways and things setting custom and semblance above everlasting +truth;--so far, finally, as it induces a sense of inherent distinction +between class and class, and causes everything to be more or less +despised which has no social rank, so that the affection, pleasure, +and grief of a clown are looked upon as of no interest compared with +the affection and grief of a well-bred man;--just so far, in all these +several ways, the feeling induced by what is called "a liberal +education" is utterly adverse to the understanding of noble art. + +[3] Nobody need begin this second volume sentence unless they are +breathed like the Graeme:-- + +"Right up Ben Ledi could he press, And not a sob his toil confess." + + +7. He who habituates himself in his daily life to seek for the stern +facts in whatever he hears or sees, will have these facts again +brought before him by the involuntary imaginative power, in their +noblest associations; and he who seeks for frivolities and fallacies, +will have frivolities and fallacies again presented to him in his +dreams.[4] + +[4] Very good. Few people have any idea how much more important the +government of the mind is, than the force of its exertion. Nearly all +the world flog their horses, without ever looking where they are going. + + +8. All the histories of the Bible are yet waiting to be painted. Moses +has never been painted; Elijah never; David never (except as a mere +ruddy stripling); Deborah never; Gideon never; Isaiah never.[5] What +single example does the reader remember of painting which suggested so +much as the faintest shadow of their deeds? Strong men in armour, or +aged men with flowing beards, he _may_ remember, who, when he looked +at his Louvre or Uffizi catalogue, he found were intended to stand for +David, or Moses. But does he suppose that, if these pictures had +suggested to him the feeblest image of the presence of such men, he +would have passed on, as he assuredly did, to the next picture, +representing, doubtless, Diana and Actaeon, or Cupid and the Graces, or +a gambling quarrel in a pothouse--with no sense of pain or surprise? +Let him meditate over the matter, and he will find ultimately that +what I say is true, and that religious art at once complete and +sincere never yet has existed. + +[5] I knew nothing, when I wrote this passage, of Luini, Filippo Lippi, +or Sandro Botticelli; and had not capacity to enter into the deeper +feelings, even of the men whom I was chiefly studying,--Tintoret and Fra +Angelico. But the British public is at present as little acquainted with +the greater Florentines as I was then, and the passage, for _them_, +remains true. + + + + +SECTION II. + +POWER AND OFFICE OF IMAGINATION. + + +9. What are the legitimate uses of the imagination,--that is to say, +of the power of perceiving, or conceiving with the mind, things which +cannot be perceived by the senses? Its first and noblest use is,[6] to +enable us to bring sensibly to our sight the things which are recorded +as belonging to our future state, or invisibly surrounding us in this. +It is given us, that we may imagine the cloud of witnesses, in heaven, +and earth, and sea, as if they were now present,--the souls of the +righteous waiting for us; that we may conceive the great army of the +inhabitants of heaven, and discover among them those whom we most +desire to be with for ever; that we may be able to vision forth the +ministry of angels beside us, and see the chariots of fire on the +mountains that gird us round; but, above all, to call up the scenes +and facts in which we are commanded to believe, and be present, as if +in the body, at every recorded event of the history of the Redeemer. +Its second and ordinary use is, to empower us to traverse the scenes +of all other history, and to force the facts to become again visible, +so as to make upon us the same impression which they would have made +if we had witnessed them; and, in the minor necessities of life, to +enable us, out of any present good, to gather the utmost measure of +enjoyment, by investing it with happy associations, and, in any +present evil, to lighten it, by summoning back the images of other +hours; and also to give to all mental truths some visible type, in +allegory, simile, or personification, which shall most deeply enforce +them; and finally, when the mind is utterly outwearied, to refresh it +with such innocent play as shall be most in harmony with the +suggestive voices of natural things, permitting it to possess living +companionship, instead of silent beauty, and create for itself fairies +in the grass, and naiads in the wave. + +[6] I should be glad if the reader who is interested in the question +here raised, would read, as illustrative of the subsequent statement, +the account of Tintoret's 'Paradise,' in the close of my Oxford lecture +on Michael Angelo and Tintoret, which I have printed separately to make +it generally accessible. + + +10. Yet, because we thus reverence the power and art of imagination, +let none of us despise the power and art of memory. + +Let the reader consider seriously what he would give at any moment to +have the power of arresting the fairest scenes, those which so often +rise before him only to vanish; to stay the cloud in its fading, the +leaf in its trembling, and the shadows in their changing; to bid the +fitful foam be fixed upon the river, and the ripples be everlasting +upon the lake; and then to bear away with him no darkness or feeble +sun-stain, (though even that is beautiful,) but a counterfeit which +should seem no counterfeit--the true and perfect image of life indeed. +Or rather, (for the full majesty of such a power is not thus +sufficiently expressed,) let him consider that it would be in effect +nothing less than a capacity of transporting himself at any moment +into any scene--a gift as great as can be possessed by a disembodied +spirit; and suppose, also, this necromancy embracing not only the +present but the past, and enabling us seemingly to enter into the very +bodily presence of men long since gathered to the dust; to behold them +in act as they lived; but, with greater privilege than ever was +granted to the companions of those transient acts of life, to see them +fastened at our will in the gesture and expression of an instant, and +stayed on the eve of some great deed, in immortality of burning +purpose.--Conceive, so far as is possible, such power as this, and +then say whether the art which conferred it is to be spoken lightly +of, or whether we should not rather reverence, as half-divine, a gift +which would go so far as to raise us into the rank, and invest us with +the felicities, of angels.[7] + +[7] Passage written in opposition to the vulgar notion that the 'mere +imitation' of Nature is easy, and useless. + + +11. I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I +do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power, or hesitation of +speaking his opinions; but a right understanding of the relation +between what _he_ can do and say, and the rest of the world's sayings +and doings. All great men not only know their business, but usually +know that they know it; and are not only right in their main opinions, +but they usually know that they are right in them; only they do not +think much of themselves on that account. Arnolfo knows he can build a +good dome at Florence; Albert Durer writes calmly to one who has found +fault with his work,--"It cannot be better done;" Sir Isaac Newton +knows that he has worked out a problem or two that would have puzzled +anybody else; only they do not expect their fellow-men, therefore, to +fall down and worship them. They have a curious under-sense of +powerlessness, feeling that the greatness is not _in_ them, but +_through_ them--that they could not do or be anything else than God +made them; and they see something divine and God-made in every other +man they meet, and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful. + + +12. As far as I can observe, it is a constant law, that the greatest +men, whether poets or historians, live entirely in their own age, and +the greatest fruits of their work are gathered out of their own age. +Dante paints Italy in the thirteenth century; Chaucer, England in the +fourteenth; Masaccio, Florence in the fifteenth; Tintoret, Venice in +the sixteenth; all of them utterly regardless of anachronism and minor +error of every kind, but getting always vital truth out of the vital +present. If it be said that Shakespeare wrote perfect historical plays +on subjects belonging to the preceding centuries, I answer that they +_are_ perfect plays, just because there is no care about centuries in +them, but a life which all men recognise for the human life of all +time--and this it is, not because Shakespeare sought to give universal +truth, but because painting, honestly and completely, from the men +about him, he painted that human nature which is indeed constant +enough,--a rogue in the fifteenth century being _at heart_ what a +rogue is in the nineteenth, and was in the twelfth; and an honest or +knightly man being in like manner very similar to other such at any +other time. And the work of these great idealists is, therefore, +always universal; not because it is not _portrait_, but because it is +_complete_ portrait, down to the heart, which is the same in all ages; +and the work of the mean idealists is _not_ universal, not because it +is portrait, but because it is _half_ portrait--of the outside, the +manners and the dress, not of the heart. Thus Tintoret and Shakespeare +paint, both of them, simply Venetian and English nature, as they saw +it in their time, down to the root; and it does for _all_ time; but as +for any care to cast themselves into the particular ways and tones of +thought, or custom, of past time in their historical work, you will +find it in neither of them,[8] nor in any other perfectly great man +that I know of. + +[8] What vestige of Egyptian character is there, for instance, in +Cleopatra?--of Athenian in Theseus or Timon?--of old English in Imogen +or Cordelia?--of old Scottish in Macbeth?--or even of mediaeval Italian +in Petruchio, the Merchant of Venice, or Desdemona? And the Roman plays +appear definitely Roman only because the strength of Rome was the +eternal strength of the world,--pure family life, sustained by +agriculture, and defended by simple and fearless manhood. + + +13. I think it probable that many readers may be surprised at my +calling Scott the great representative of the mind of the age of +literature. Those who can perceive the intense penetrative depth of +Wordsworth, and the exquisite finish and melodious power of Tennyson, +may be offended at my placing in higher rank that poetry of careless +glance and reckless rhyme in which Scott poured out the fancies of his +youth; and those who are familiar with the subtle analysis of the +French novelists, or who have in any wise submitted themselves to the +influence of German philosophy, may be equally indignant at my +ascribing a principality to Scott among the literary men of Europe, in +an age which has produced De Balzac, and Goethe.[9] + +[9] I knew nothing of Goethe when I put him with Balzac; but the +intolerable dulness which encumbers the depth of Wilhelm Meister, and +the cruel reserve which conceals from all but the intensest readers the +meaning of Faust, have made him, in a great degree, an evil influence in +European literature; and Evil is always second-rate. + +But the mass of sentimental literature concerned with the analysis and +description of emotion, headed by the poetry of Byron, is altogether +of lower rank than the literature which merely describes what it saw. +The true seer feels as intensely as any one else; but he does not much +describe his feelings. He tells you whom he met, and what they said; +leaves you to make out, from that, what they feel, and what he feels, +but goes into little detail. And, generally speaking, pathetic writing +and careful explanation of passion are quite easy, compared with this +plain recording of what people said, and did; or with the right +invention of what they are likely to say and do; for this reason, that +to invent a story, or admirably and thoroughly tell any part of a +story, it is necessary to grasp the entire mind of every personage +concerned in it, and know precisely how they would be affected by what +happens; which to do, requires a colossal intellect; but to describe a +separate emotion delicately, it is only needed that one should feel it +oneself; and thousands of people are capable of feeling this or that +noble emotion, for one who is able to enter into all the feelings of +somebody sitting on the other side of the table. Even, therefore, +where this sentimental literature is first rate, as in passages of +Byron, Tennyson, and Keats, it ought not to be ranked so high as the +creative; and though perfection even in narrow fields is perhaps as +rare as in the wider, and it may be as long before we have another "In +Memoriam" as another "Guy Mannering," I unhesitatingly receive as a +greater manifestation of power, the right invention of a few sentences +spoken by Pleydell and Mannering across their supper-table, than the +most tender and passionate melodies of the self-examining verse. + + +14. Fancy plays like a squirrel in its circular prison, and is happy; +but Imagination is a pilgrim on the earth--and her home is in heaven. +Shut her from the fields of the celestial mountains, bear her from +breathing their lofty, sun-warmed air; and we may as well turn upon +her the last bolt of the Tower of Famine, and give the keys to the +keeping of the wildest surge that washes Capraja and Gorgona.[10] + +[10] I leave this passage, as my friend has chosen it; but it is +unintelligible without the contexts, which show how all the emotions +described in the preceding passages of this section, are founded on +trust in the beneficence and rule of an Omnipotent Spirit. + + +15. In the highest poetry, there is no word so familiar, but a great +man will "bring good out of it, or rather, it will bring good to him, +and answer some end for which no other word would have done equally +well. A common person, for instance, would be mightily puzzled to +apply the word 'whelp' to anyone, with a view of flattering him. There +is a certain freshness and energy in the term, which gives it +agreeableness, but it seems difficult, at first hearing it, to use it +complimentarily. If the person spoken of be a prince, the difficulty +seems increased; and when farther he is at one and the same moment to +be called a 'whelp' and contemplated as a hero, it seems that a common +idealist might well be brought to a pause! But hear Shakespeare do +it:-- + + "Awake his warlike spirit, + And your great uncle's, Edward the Black Prince, + Who on the French ground played a tragedy, + Making defeat on the full power of France, + While his most mighty father on a hill + Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp + Forage in blood of French nobility." + + +16. Although in all lovely nature there is, first, an excellent degree +of simple beauty, addressed to the eye alone, yet often what impresses +us most will form but a very small portion of that visible beauty. +That beauty may, for instance, be composed of lovely flowers, and +glittering streams, and blue sky and white clouds; and yet the thing +that impresses us most, and which we should be sorriest to lose, may +be a thin grey film on the extreme horizon, not so large, in the space +of the scene it occupies, as a piece of gossamer on a near-at-hand +bush, nor in any wise prettier to the eye than the gossamer; but +because the gossamer is known by us for a little bit of spider's work, +and the other grey film is known to mean a mountain ten thousand feet +high, inhabited by a race of noble mountaineers, we are solemnly +impressed by the aspect of it, and yet all the while the thoughts and +knowledge which cause us to receive this impression are so obscure +that we are not conscious of them. + + +17. Examine the nature of your own emotion, (if you feel it,) at the +sight of the Alps; and you find all the brightness of that emotion +hanging, like dew on a gossamer, on a curious web of subtle fancy and +imperfect knowledge. First you have a vague idea of its size, coupled +with wonder at the work of the great Builder of its walls and +foundations; then an apprehension of its eternity, a pathetic sense of +its perpetualness, and your own transientness, as of the grass upon +its side;--then, and in very sadness, a sense of strange companionship +with past generations, in seeing what they saw. They did not see the +clouds that are floating over your head, nor the cottage wall on the +other side of the field, nor the road by which you are travelling. But +they saw _that_. The wall of granite in the heavens was the same to +them as to you. They have ceased to look upon it; you will soon cease +to look also, and the granite wall will be for others. Then, mingled +with these more solemn imaginations, come the understandings of the +gifts and glories of the Alp;--the fancying forth of all the fountains +that well from its rocky walls, and strong rivers that are born out of +its ice, and of all the pleasant valleys that wind between its cliffs, +and all the chalets that gleam among its clouds, and happy farmsteads +couched upon its pastures; while, together with the thoughts of these, +rise strange sympathies with all the unknown of human life, and +happiness, and death, signified by that narrow white flame of the +everlasting snow, seen so far in the morning sky. These images, and +far more than these, lie at the root of the emotion which you feel at +the sight of the Alps. You may not trace them in your heart, for there +is a great deal more in your heart, both of evil and good, than you +can ever trace; but they stir you and quicken you for all that. +Assuredly, so far as you feel more at beholding the snowy mountain +than any other object of the same sweet silvery grey, these are the +kind of images which cause you to do so; and observe, these are +nothing more than a greater apprehension of the _facts_ of the thing. +We call the power 'Imagination,' because it imagines or conceives; but +it is only noble imagination, if it imagines or conceives the _truth_. +And according to the degree of knowledge possessed, and of sensibility +to the pathetic or impressive character of the things known, will be +the degree of this imaginative delight. + + +18. So natural is it to the human heart to fix itself in hope rather +than in present possession, and so subtle is the charm which the +imagination casts over what is distant or denied, that there is often +a more touching power in the scenes which contain far-away promises of +something greater than themselves, than in those which exhaust the +treasures and powers of nature in an unconquerable and excellent +glory, leaving nothing more to be by fancy pictured or pursued. I do +not know that there is a district in the world more calculated to +illustrate this power of the expectant imagination than that which +surrounds the city of Fribourg in Switzerland, extending from it +towards Berne. It is of grey sandstone, considerably elevated, but +presenting no object of striking interest to the passing traveller; so +that as it is generally seen in the course of a hasty journey from the +Bernese Alps to those of Savoy, it is rarely regarded with any other +sensation than that of weariness, all the more painful because +accompanied with reaction from the high excitement caused by the +splendour of the Bernese Oberland. The traveller--foot-sore, feverish, +and satiated with glacier and precipice,--lies back in the corner of +the diligence, perceiving little more than that the road is winding +and hilly, and the country through which it passes, cultivated and +tame. Let him, however, only do this tame country the justice of +staying in it a few days, until his mind has recovered its tone, and +take one or two long walks through its fields, and he will have other +thoughts of it. It is, as I said, an undulating district of grey +sandstone, never attaining any considerable height, but having enough +of the mountain spirit to throw itself into continual succession of +bold slope and dale; elevated, also, just far enough above the sea to +render the pine a frequent forest tree along its irregular ridges. +Through this elevated tract the river cuts its way in a ravine some +five or six hundred feet in depth, which winds for leagues between the +gentle hills, unthought of until its edge is approached; and then, +suddenly, through the boughs of the firs, the eye perceives, beneath, +the green and gliding stream, and the broad walls of sandstone cliff +that form its banks; hollowed out where the river leans against them, +at its turns, into perilous over-hanging; and, on the other shore, at +the same spots, leaving little breadths of meadow between them and the +water, half overgrown with thicket, deserted in their sweetness, +inaccessible from above, and rarely visited by any curious wanderers +along the hardly traceable footpath which struggles for existence +beneath the rocks. And there the river ripples and eddies and murmurs +in an outer solitude. It is passing through a thickly peopled country; +but never was a stream so lonely. The feeblest and most far-away +torrent among the high hills has its companions; the goats browse +beside it; and the traveller drinks from it, and passes over it with +his staff; and the peasant traces a new channel for it down to his +mill-wheel. But this stream has no companions; it flows on in an +infinite seclusion, not secret, nor threatening, but a quietness of +sweet daylight and open air--a broad space of tender and deep +desolateness, drooped into repose out of the midst of human labour and +life; the waves plashing lowly, with none to hear them; and the wild +birds building in the boughs, with none to fray them away; and the +soft, fragrant herbs rising and breathing and fading, with no hand to +gather them;--and yet all bright and bare to the clouds above, and to +the fresh fall of the passing sunshine and pure rain. But above the +brows of these scarped cliffs, all is in an instant changed. A few +steps only beyond the firs that stretch their branches, angular, and +wild, and white, like forks of lightning, into the air of the +ravine,--and we are in an arable country of the most perfect richness; +the swathes of its corn glowing and burning from field to field: its +pretty hamlets all vivid with fruitful orchards, and flowery garden, +and goodly with steep-roofed storehouse and barn; its well-kept, hard, +park-like roads rising and falling from hillside to hillside, or +disappearing among brown banks of moss, and thickets of the wild +raspberry and rose, or gleaming through lines of tall trees, half +glade, half avenue, where the gate opens, or the gateless path turns +trustedly aside, unhindered, into the garden of some statelier house, +surrounded in rural pride with its golden hives, and carved granaries, +and irregular domain of latticed and espaliered cottages, gladdening +to look upon in their delicate homeliness--delicate, yet in some sort, +rude; not like our English homes--trim, laborious, formal, +irreproachable in comfort--but with a peculiar carelessness and +largeness in all their detail, harmonizing with the outlawed +loveliness of their country. For there is an untamed strength even in +all that soft and habitable land. It is indeed gilded with corn, and +fragrant with deep grass, but it is not subdued to the plough or to +the scythe. It gives at its own free will; it seems to have nothing +wrested from it, nor conquered in it. It is not redeemed from +desertness, but unrestrained in fruitfulness,--a generous land, bright +with capricious plenty, and laughing from vale to vale in fitful +fulness, kind and wild. Nor this without some sterner element mingled +in the heart of it. For, along all its ridges stand the dark masses of +innumerable pines,[11] taking no part in its gladness; asserting +themselves for ever as fixed shadows, not to be pierced or banished +even in the intensest sunlight; fallen flakes and fragments of the +night, stayed in their solemn squares in the midst of all the rosy +bendings of the orchard boughs and yellow effulgence of the harvest, +and tracing themselves in black network and motionless fringes against +the blanched blue of the horizon in its saintly clearness. And yet +they do not sadden the landscape, but seem to have been set there +chiefly to show how bright everything else is round them; and all the +clouds look of pure silver, and all the air seems filled with a whiter +and more living sunshine, where they are pierced by the sable points +of the pines; and all the pastures look of more glowing green where +they run up between the purple trunks; and the sweet field footpaths +skirt the edges of the forest for the sake of its shade, sloping up +and down about the slippery roots, and losing themselves every now and +then hopelessly among the violets and ground-ivy and brown sheddings +of the fibrous leaves, and at last plunging into some open aisle, +where the light through the distant stems shows that there is a chance +of coming out again on the other side; and coming out indeed in a +little while from the scented darkness into the dazzling air and +marvellous landscape, which stretches still farther and farther in new +wilfulness of grove and garden, until at last the craggy mountains of +the Simmenthal rise out of it, sharp into the rolling of the southern +clouds. + +[11] Almost the only pleasure I have, myself, in rereading my old books, +is my sense of having at least done justice to the pine. Compare the +passage in this book, No. 47. + + +19.[12] Although there are few districts of Northern Europe, however +apparently dull or tame, in which I cannot find pleasure; though the +whole of Northern France (except Champagne), dull as it seems to most +travellers, is to me a perpetual paradise; and, putting Lincolnshire, +Leicestershire, and one or two such other perfectly flat districts +aside, there is not an English county which I should not find +entertainment in exploring the cross-roads of, foot by foot,--yet all +my best enjoyment would be owing to the imagination of the hills, +colouring with their far-away memories every lowland stone and herb. +The pleasant French coteau, green in the sunshine, delights me either +by what real mountain character it has in itself, (for in extent and +succession of promontory, the flanks of the French valleys have quite +the sublimity of true mountain distances,) or by its broken ground and +rugged steps among the vines, and rise of the leafage above against +the blue sky, as it might rise at Vevay or Como. There is not a wave +of the Seine, but is associated in my mind with the first rise of the +sandstones and forest pines of Fontainebleau; and with the hope of the +Alps, as one leaves Paris, with the horses' heads to the southwest, +the morning sun flashing on the bright waves at Charenton. If there be +no hope or association of this kind, and if I cannot deceive myself +into fancying that perhaps at the next rise of the road there may be +the film of a blue hill in the gleam of sky at the horizon, the +landscape, however beautiful, produces in me even a kind of sickness +and pain; and the whole view from Richmond Hill or Windsor +Terrace,--nay, the gardens of Alcinous, with their perpetual +summer--or of the Hesperides, (if they were flat, and not close to +Atlas,) golden apples and all, I would give away in an instant, for +one mossy granite stone a foot broad, and two leaves of lady fern. + +[12] This, and the following passage, have nothing to do with the +general statements in the book. They occur with reference only to my own +idiosyncrasy. I was much surprised when I found first how individual it +was, by a Pre-Raphaelite painter's declaring a piece of unwholesome +reedy fen to be more beautiful than Benvenue. + + +20. I cannot find words to express the intense pleasure I have always +in first finding myself, after some prolonged stay in England, at the +foot of the old tower of Calais Church. The large neglect, the noble +unsightliness of it; the record of its years written so visibly, yet +without sign of weakness or decay; its stern wasteness and gloom, +eaten away by the Channel winds, and overgrown with the bitter sea +grasses; its slates and tiles all shaken and rent, and yet not +falling; its desert of brickwork, full of bolts, and holes, and ugly +fissures, and yet strong, like a bare brown rock; its carelessness of +what any one thinks or feels about it, putting forth no claim, having +no beauty, nor desirableness, pride, nor grace; yet neither asking for +pity; not, as ruins are, useless and piteous, feebly or fondly +garrulous of better days; but, useful still, going through its own +daily work,--as some old fisherman, beaten grey by storm, yet drawing +his daily nets: so it stands, with no complaint about its past youth, +in blanched and meagre massiveness and serviceableness, gathering +human souls together underneath it; the sound of its bells for prayer +still rolling through its rents; and the grey peak of it seen far +across the sea, principal of the three that rise above the waste of +surfy sand and hillocked shore,--the lighthouse for life, and the +belfry for labour, and this--for patience and praise. + +I cannot tell the half of the strange pleasures and thoughts that come +about me at the sight of that old tower; for, in some sort, it is the +epitome of all that makes the continent of Europe interesting, as +opposed to new countries; and, above all, it completely expresses that +agedness in the midst of active life which binds the old and the new +into harmony. We in England have our new streets, our new inn, our +green shaven lawn, and our piece of ruin emergent from it--a mere +_specimen_ of the Middle Ages put on a bit of velvet carpet, to be +shown; and which, but for its size, might as well be on a museum shelf +at once, under cover;--but, on the Continent, the links are unbroken +between the past and present; and, in such use as they can serve for, +the grey-headed wrecks are suffered to stay with men; while, in +unbroken line, the generations of spared buildings are seen +succeeding, each in its place. And thus, in its largeness, in its +permitted evidence of slow decline, in its poverty, in its absence of +all pretence, of all show and care for outside aspect, that Calais +tower has an infinite of symbolism in it, all the more striking +because usually seen in contrast with English scenes expressive of +feelings the exact reverse of these.[13] + +[13] My friend won't write out the reverse! Our book is to be all jelly, +and no powder, it seems. Well, I'm very thankful she likes the +jelly,--at any rate, it makes me sure that _it_ is well made. + + + + +SECTION III. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: THE SKY. + + +21. It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the +sky. It is the part of creation in which Nature has done more for the +sake of pleasing man--more for the sole and evident purpose of talking +to him, and teaching him--than in any other of her works; and it is +just the part in which we least attend to her. There are not many of +her other works in which some more material or essential purpose than +the mere pleasing of man is not answered by every part of their +organization; but every essential purpose of the sky might, so far as +we know, be answered if once in three days, or thereabouts, a great, +ugly, black rain-cloud were brought up over the blue, and everything +well watered, and so all left blue again till next time, with perhaps +a film of morning and evening mist for dew;--and instead of this, +there is not a moment of any day of our lives, when Nature is not +producing scene after scene, picture after picture, glory after glory, +and working still upon such exquisite and constant principles of the +most perfect beauty, that it is quite certain[14] it is all done for +us, and intended for our perpetual pleasure. And every man, wherever +placed, however far from other sources of interest or of beauty, has +this doing for him constantly. The noblest scenes of the earth can be +seen and known but by few; it is not intended that man should live +always in the midst of them; he injures them by his presence, he +ceases to feel them if he is always with them; but the sky is for all: +bright as it is, it is not + + "too bright nor good + For human nature's daily food;" + +it is fitted in all its functions for the perpetual comfort and +exalting of the heart,--for soothing it, and purifying it from its +dross and dust. Sometimes gentle, sometimes capricious, sometimes +awful--never the same for two moments together; almost human in its +passions, almost spiritual in its tenderness, almost divine in its +infinity, its appeal to what is immortal in us is as distinct as its +ministry of chastisement or of blessing to what is mortal is +essential. And yet we never attend to it, we never make it a subject +of thought, but as it has to do with our animal sensations; we look +upon all by which it speaks to us more clearly than to brutes, upon +all which bears witness to the intentions of the Supreme that we are +to receive more from the covering vault than the light and the dew +which we share with the weed and the worm, as only a succession of +meaningless and monotonous accident, too common and too vain to be +worthy of a moment of watchfulness, or a glance of admiration. If in +our moments of utter idleness and insipidity, we turn to the sky as a +last resource, which of its phenomena do we speak of? One says, it has +been wet; and another, it has been windy; and another, it has been +warm. Who among the whole chattering crowd can tell one of the forms +and the precipices of the chain of tall white mountains that girded +the horizon at noon yesterday? Who saw the narrow sunbeam that came +out of the south, and smote upon their summits until they melted and +mouldered away in a dust of blue rain? Who saw the dance of the dead +clouds when the sunlight left them last night, and the west wind blew +them before it like withered leaves? All has passed unregretted as +unseen; or, if the apathy be ever shaken off even for an instant, it +is only by what is gross, or what is extraordinary. And yet it is not +in the broad and fierce manifestations of the elemental energies, not +in the clash of the hail, nor the drift of the whirlwind, that the +highest characters of the sublime are developed. God is not in the +earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still, small voice. They are +but the blunt and the low faculties of our nature, which can only be +addressed through lamp-black and lightning. It is in quiet and subdued +passages of unobtrusive majesty, the deep and the calm, and the +perpetual; that which must be sought ere it is seen, and loved ere it +is understood; things which the angels work out for us daily, and yet +vary eternally; which are never wanting, and never repeated; which are +to be found always, yet each found but once;--it is through these that +the lesson of devotion is chiefly taught, and the blessing of beauty +given. + +[14] At least, I thought so, when I was four-and-twenty. At +five-and-fifty, I fancy that it is just possible there may be other +creatures in the universe to be pleased, or,--it may be,--displeased, by +the weather. + + +22. We habitually think of the rain-cloud only as dark and grey; not +knowing that we owe to it perhaps the fairest, though not the most +dazzling, of the hues of heaven. Often in our English mornings, the +rain-clouds in the dawn form soft, level fields, which melt +imperceptibly into the blue; or, when of less extent, gather into +apparent bars, crossing the sheets of broader cloud above; and all +these bathed throughout in an unspeakable light of pure rose-colour, +and purple, and amber, and blue; not shining, but misty-soft; the +barred masses, when seen nearer, composed of clusters or tresses of +cloud, like floss silk; looking as if each knot were a little swathe +or sheaf of lighted rain. + + +23. Aqueous vapour or mist, suspended in the atmosphere, becomes +visible exactly as dust does in the air of a room. In the shadows, you +not only cannot see the dust itself, because unillumined, but you can +see other objects through the dust, without obscurity; the air being +thus actually rendered more transparent by a deprivation of light. +Where a sunbeam enters, every particle of dust becomes visible, and a +palpable interruption to the sight; so that a transverse sunbeam is a +real obstacle to the vision--you cannot see things clearly through it. +In the same way, wherever vapour is illuminated by transverse rays, +there it becomes visible as a whiteness more or less affecting the +purity of the blue, and destroying it exactly in proportion to the +degree of illumination. But where vapour is in shade, it has very +little effect on the sky, perhaps making it a little deeper and greyer +than it otherwise would be, but not, itself, unless very dense, +distinguishable or felt as mist. + + +24. Has the reader any distinct idea of what clouds are? + +[15]That mist which lies in the morning so softly in the valley, level +and white, through which the tops of the trees rise as if through an +inundation--why is _it_ so heavy, and why does it lie so low, being +yet so thin and frail that it will melt away utterly into splendour of +morning when the sun has shone on it but a few moments more? Those +colossal pyramids, huge and firm, with outlines as of rocks, and +strength to bear the beating of the high sun full on their fiery +flanks,--why are _they_ so light, their bases high over our heads, +high over the heads of Alps? Why will these melt away, not as the sun +_rises_, but as he _descends_, and leave the stars of twilight clear; +while the valley vapour gains again upon the earth, like a shroud? Or +that ghost of a cloud, which steals by yonder clump of pines; nay, +which does _not_ steal by them, but haunts them, wreathing yet round +them, and yet,--and yet,--slowly; now falling in a fair waved line +like a woman's veil; now fading, now gone; we look away for an +instant, and look back, and it is again there. What has it to do with +that clump of pines, that it broods by them, and weaves itself among +their branches, to and fro? Has it hidden a cloudy treasure among the +moss at their roots, which it watches thus? Or has some strong +enchanter charmed it into fond returning, or bound it fast within +those bars of bough? And yonder filmy crescent, bent like an archer's +bow above the snowy summit, the highest of all the hills--that white +arch which never forms but over the supreme crest,--how is it stayed +there, repelled apparently from the snow,--nowhere touching it, the +clear sky seen between it and the mountain edge, yet never leaving +it--poised as a white bird hovers over its nest? Or those war clouds +that gather on the horizon, dragon-crested, tongued with fire,--how is +their barbed strength bridled? What bits are those they are champing +with their vapourous lips, flinging off flakes of black foam? Leagued +leviathans of the Sea of Heaven,--out of their nostrils goeth smoke, +and their eyes are like the eyelids of the morning; the sword of him +that layeth at them cannot hold the spear, the dart, nor the +habergeon. Where ride the captains of their armies? Where are set the +measures of their march? Fierce murmurers, answering each other from +morning until evening--what rebuke is this which has awed them into +peace;--what hand has reined them back by the way in which they came? + +[15] This is a fifth volume bit, and worth more attention. + +I know not if the reader will think at first that questions like these +are easily answered. So far from it, I rather believe that some of the +mysteries of the clouds never will be understood by us at all. +"Knowest thou the balancings of the clouds?" Is the answer ever to be +one of pride? The wondrous works of Him, who is perfect in knowledge? +Is _our_ knowledge ever to be so?... + +For my own part, I enjoy the mystery, and perhaps the reader may. I +think he ought. He should not be less grateful for summer rain, or see +less beauty in the clouds of morning, because they come to prove him +with hard questions; to which perhaps, if we look close at the +heavenly scroll, we may find also a syllable or two of answer, +illuminated here and there.[16] + +[16] Compare, in 'Sartor Resartus,' the boy's watching from the garden +wall. + +And though the climates of the south and east may be _comparatively_ +clear, they are no more absolutely clear than our own northern air. +Intense clearness, whether, in the north, after or before rain, or in +some moments of twilight in the south, is always, as far as I am +acquainted with natural phenomena, a _notable_ thing. Mist of some +sort, or mirage, or confusion of light or of cloud, are the general +facts; the distance may vary in different climates at which the +effects of mist begin, but they are always present; and therefore, in +all probability, it is meant that we should enjoy them.... We surely +need not wonder that mist and all its phenomena have been made +delightful to us, since our happiness as thinking beings must depend +on our being content to accept only partial knowledge even in those +matters which chiefly concern us. If we insist upon perfect +intelligibility and complete declaration in every moral subject, we +shall instantly fall into misery of unbelief. Our whole happiness and +power of energetic action depend upon our being able to breathe and +live in the cloud; content to see it opening here, and closing there; +rejoicing to catch through the thinnest films of it, glimpses of +stable and substantial things; but yet perceiving a nobleness even in +the concealment, and rejoicing that the kindly veil is spread where +the untempered light might have scorched us, or the infinite clearness +wearied. And I believe that the resentment of this interference of the +mist is one of the forms of proud error which are too easily mistaken +for virtues. To be content in utter darkness and ignorance is indeed +unmanly, and therefore we think that to love light and find knowledge +must always be right. Yet (as in all matters before observed,) +wherever _pride_ has any share in the work, even knowledge and light +may be ill pursued. Knowledge is good, and light is good: yet man +perished in seeking knowledge, and moths perish in seeking light; and +if we, who are crushed before the moth, will not accept such mystery +as is needful to us, we shall perish in like manner. But, accepted in +humbleness, it instantly becomes an element of pleasure; and I think +that every rightly constituted mind ought to rejoice, not so much in +knowing anything clearly, as in feeling that there is infinitely more +which it cannot know. None but proud or weak men would mourn over +this, for we may always know more, if we choose, by working on; but +the pleasure is, I think, to humble people, in knowing that the +journey is endless, the treasure inexhaustible,--watching the cloud +still march before them with its summitless pillar, and being sure +that, to the end of time, and to the length of eternity, the mysteries +of its infinity will still open farther and farther, their dimness +being the sign and necessary adjunct of their inexhaustibleness. I +know there are an evil mystery, and a deathful dimness,--the mystery +of the great Babylon--the dimness of the sealed eye and soul; but do +not let us confuse these with the glorious mystery of the things which +the "angels desire to look into," or with the dimness which, even +before the clear eye and open soul, still rests on sealed pages of the +eternal volume. + + +25. On some isolated mountain at day-break,[17] when the night mists +first rise from off the plain, watch their white and lakelike fields, +as they float in level bays, and winding gulfs, about the islanded +summits of the lower hills, untouched yet by more than dawn, colder +and more quiet than a windless sea under the moon of midnight; watch +when the first sunbeam is sent upon the silver channels, how the foam +of their undulating surface parts, and passes away, and down under +their depths the glittering city and green pastures lie like Atlantis, +between the white paths of winding rivers; the flakes of light falling +every moment faster and broader among the starry spires, as the +wreathed surges break and vanish above them, and the confused crests +and ridges of the dark hills shorten their grey shadows upon the +plain. Wait a little longer, and you shall see those scattered mists +rallying in the ravines, and floating up towards you, along the +winding valleys, till they crouch in quiet masses, iridescent with the +morning light, upon the broad breasts of the higher hills, whose +leagues of massy undulation will melt back, back into that robe of +material light, until they fade away, lost in its lustre, to appear +again above in the serene heaven like a wild, bright, impossible +dream, foundationless, and inaccessible, their very bases vanishing in +the unsubstantial and mocking blue of the deep lake below. Wait yet a +little longer, and you shall see those mists gather themselves into +white towers, and stand like fortresses along the promontories, massy +and motionless, only piled, with every instant, higher and higher into +the sky, and casting longer shadows athwart the rocks; and out of the +pale blue of the horizon you will see forming and advancing a troop of +narrow, dark, pointed vapours, which will cover the sky, inch by inch, +with their grey network, and take the light off the landscape with an +eclipse which will stop the singing of the birds, and the motion of +the leaves, together;--and then you will see horizontal bars of black +shadow forming under them, and lurid wreaths create themselves, you +know not how, among the shoulders of the hills; you never see them +form, but when you look back to a place which was clear an instant +ago, there is a cloud on it, hanging by the precipice, as a hawk +pauses over his prey;--and then you will hear the sudden rush of the +awakened wind, and you will see those watch-towers of vapour swept +away from their foundations, and waving curtains of opaque rain, let +down to the valley, swinging from the burdened clouds in black bending +fringes, or, pacing in pale columns along the lake level, grazing its +surface into foam as they go. And then, as the sun sinks, you shall +see the storm drift for an instant from off the hills, leaving their +broad sides smoking and loaded yet with snow-white, torn, steam-like +rags of capricious vapour, now gone, now gathered again,--while the +smouldering sun, seeming not far away, but burning like a red-hot ball +beside you, and as if you could reach it, plunges through the rushing +wind and rolling cloud with headlong fall, as if it meant to rise no +more, dyeing all the air about it with blood;--and then you shall hear +the fainting tempest die in the hollow of the night, and you shall see +a green halo kindling on the summit of the eastern hills, brighter, +brighter yet, till the large white circle of the slow moon is lifted +up among the barred clouds, step by step, line by line; star after +star she quenches with her kindling light, setting in their stead an +army of pale, penetrable, fleecy wreaths in the heaven, to give light +upon the earth, which move together hand in hand, company by company, +troop by troop, so measured in their unity of motion that the whole +heaven seems to roll with them, and the earth to reel under them. And +then wait yet for one hour, until the east again becomes purple, and +the heaving mountains, rolling against it in darkness, like waves of a +wild sea, are drowned one by one in the glory of its burning; watch +the white glaciers blaze in their winding paths about the mountains, +like mighty serpents with scales of fire; watch the columnar peaks of +solitary snow, kindling downwards chasm by chasm, each in itself a new +morning--their long avalanches cast down in keen streams brighter than +the lightning, sending each his tribute of driven snow, like +altar-smoke, up to heaven; the rose-light of their silent domes +flushing that heaven about them, and above them, piercing with purer +light through its purple lines of lifted cloud, casting a new glory on +every wreath, as it passes by, until the whole heaven, one scarlet +canopy, is interwoven with a roof of waving flame, and tossing vault +beyond vault, as with the drifted wings of many companies of angels; +and then, when you can look no more for gladness, and when you are +bowed down with fear and love of the Maker and Doer of this, tell me +who has best delivered this His message unto men! + +[17] I forget now what all this is about. It seems to be a recollection +of the Rigi, with assumption that the enthusiastic spectator is to stand +for a day and night in observation; to suffer the effects of a severe +thunder-storm, and to get neither breakfast nor dinner. I have seen such +a storm on the Rigi, however, and more than one such sunrise; and I much +doubt if its present visitors by rail will see more. + + +26.[18] The account given of the stages of creation in the first +chapter of Genesis is in every respect clear and intelligible to the +simplest reader, except in the statement of the work of the second +day. I suppose that this statement is passed over by careless readers +without any endeavour to understand it, and contemplated by simple and +faithful readers as a sublime mystery which was not intended to be +understood. But there is no mystery in any other part of the chapter, +and it seems to me unjust to conclude that any was intended here. And +the passage ought to be peculiarly interesting to us, as being the +first in the Bible in which the heavens are named, and the only one in +which the word "Heaven," all-important as that word is to our +understanding of the most precious promises of Scripture, receives a +definite explanation. Let us therefore see whether, by a little +careful comparison of the verse with other passages in which the word +occurs, we may not be able to arrive at as clear an understanding of +this portion of the chapter as of the rest. In the first place the +English word, "Firmament," itself is obscure and useless; because we +never employ it but as a synonym of heaven, it conveys no other +distinct idea to us; and the verse, though from our familiarity with +it we imagine that it possesses meaning, has in reality no more point +nor value than if it were written, "God said, Let there be a something +in the midst of the waters, and God called the something, Heaven." But +the marginal reading, "Expansion," has definite value; and the +statement that "God said, Let there be an expansion in the midst of +the waters, and God called the expansion, Heaven," has an +apprehensible meaning. Accepting this expression as the one intended, +we have next to ask what expansion there is, between two waters, +describable by the term "heaven." Milton adopts the term "expanse," +but he understands it of the whole volume of the air which surrounds +the earth. Whereas, so far as we can tell, there is no water beyond +the air, in the fields of space; and the whole expression of division +of waters from waters is thus rendered valueless. Now with respect to +this whole chapter, we must remember always that it is intended for +the instruction of all mankind, not for the learned reader only; and +that therefore the most simple and natural interpretation is the +likeliest in general to be the true one. An unscientific reader knows +little about the manner in which the volume of the atmosphere +surrounds the earth; but I imagine that he could hardly glance at the +sky when rain was falling in the distance, and see the level line of +the bases of the clouds from which the shower descended, without being +able to attach an instant and easy meaning to the words, "expansion in +the midst of the waters;" and if, having once seized this idea, he +proceeded to examine it more accurately, he would perceive at once, if +he had ever noticed _anything_ of the nature of clouds, that the level +line of their bases did indeed most severely and stringently divide +"waters from waters"--that is to say, divide water in its collective +and tangible state, from water in its aerial state; or the waters +which _fall_, and _flow_, from those which _rise_, and _float_. Next, +if we try this interpretation in the theological sense of the word +_heaven_, and examine whether the clouds are spoken of as God's +dwelling-place, we find God going before the Israelites in a pillar of +cloud; revealing Himself in a cloud on Sinai; appearing in a cloud on +the mercy-seat; filling the Temple of Solomon with the cloud when its +dedication is accepted; appearing in a great cloud to Ezekiel; +ascending into a cloud before the eyes of the disciples on Mount +Olivet; and in like manner returning to judgment: "Behold He cometh +with clouds, and every eye shall see Him." "Then shall they see the +Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great +glory." While, further, the "clouds" and "heavens" are used as +interchangeable words in those psalms which most distinctly set forth +the power of God: "He bowed the heavens also, and came down; He made +darkness pavilions round about Him, dark waters, and thick clouds of +the skies." And again, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy +faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." And again, "His excellency is +over Israel, and His strength is in the clouds." And again, "The +clouds poured out water, the skies sent out a sound, the voice of Thy +thunder was in the heaven." Again, "Clouds and darkness are round +about Him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His +throne; the heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see +His glory." In all these passages the meaning is unmistakable if they +possess definite meaning at all. We are too apt to take them merely +for sublime and vague imagery, and therefore gradually to lose the +apprehension of their life and power. The expression, "He bowed the +heavens," for instance, is, I suppose, received by most readers as a +magnificent hyperbole, having reference to some peculiar and fearful +manifestation of God's power to the writer of the psalm in which the +words occur. But the expression either has _plain_ meaning, or it has +_no_ meaning. Understand by the term "heavens" the compass of infinite +space around the earth, and the expression "bowed the heavens," +however sublime, is wholly without meaning: infinite space cannot be +bent or bowed. But understand by the "heavens" the veil of clouds +above the earth, and the expression is neither hyperbolical nor +obscure; it is pure, plain, accurate truth, and it describes God, not +as revealing Himself in any peculiar way to David, but doing what He +is still doing before our own eyes, day by day. By accepting the words +in their simple sense, we are thus led to apprehend the immediate +presence of the Deity, and His purpose of manifesting Himself as near +us whenever the storm-cloud stoops upon its course; while by our vague +and inaccurate acceptance of the words, we remove the idea of His +presence far from us, into a region which we can neither see nor know: +and gradually, from the close realization of a living God, who "maketh +the clouds His chariot," we define and explain ourselves into dim and +distant suspicion of an inactive God inhabiting inconceivable places, +and fading into the multitudinous formalisms of the laws of Nature. +All errors of this kind--and in the present day we are in constant and +grievous danger of falling into them--arise from the originally +mistaken idea that man can, "by searching, find out God--find out the +Almighty to perfection"--that is to say, by help of courses of +reasoning and accumulations of science, apprehend the nature of the +Deity, in a more exalted and more accurate manner than in a state of +comparative ignorance; whereas it is clearly necessary, from the +beginning to the end of time, that God's way of revealing Himself to +His creatures should be a _simple_ way, which _all_ those creatures +may understand. Whether taught or untaught, whether of mean capacity +or enlarged, it is necessary that communion with their Creator should +be possible to all; and the admission to such communion must be +rested, not on their having a knowledge of astronomy, but on their +having a human soul. In order to render this communion possible, the +Deity has stooped from His throne, and has, not only in the person of +the Son, taken upon Him the veil of our human _flesh_, but, in the +person of the Father, taken upon Him the veil of our human _thoughts_, +and permitted us, by His own spoken authority, to conceive Him simply +and clearly as a loving father and friend; a being to be walked with +and reasoned with, to be moved by our entreaties, angered by our +rebellion, alienated by our coldness, pleased by our love, and +glorified by our labour; and, finally, to be beheld in immediate and +active presence in all the powers and changes of creation. This +conception of God, which is the child's, is evidently the only one +which can be universal, and, therefore, the only one which _for us_ +can be true. The moment that, in our pride of heart, we refuse to +accept the condescension of the Almighty, and desire Him, instead of +stooping to hold our hands, to rise up before us into His glory, we +hoping that, by standing on a grain of dust or two of human knowledge +higher than our fellows, we may behold the Creator as He rises,--God +takes us at our word. He rises into His own invisible and +inconceivable majesty; He goes forth upon the ways which are not our +ways, and retires into the thoughts which are not our thoughts; and we +are left alone. And presently we say in our vain hearts, "There is no +God." + +[18] This passage, to the end of the section, is one of the last, and +best, which I wrote in the temper of my youth; and I can still ratify +it, thus far, that the texts referred to in it must either be received +as it explains them, or neglected altogether. + +I would desire, therefore, to receive God's account of His own +creation as under the ordinary limits of human knowledge and +imagination it would be received by a simple-minded man; and finding +that "the heavens and the earth" are spoken of always as having +something like equal relation to each other, ("Thus the heavens and +the earth were finished, and all the host of them,") I reject at once +all idea of the term "heavens" being intended to signify the infinity +of space inhabited by countless worlds; for between those infinite +heavens and the particle of sand, which not the earth only, but the +sun itself, with all the solar system, is, in relation to them, no +relation of equality or comparison could be inferred. But I suppose +the heavens to mean that part of creation which holds equal +companionship with our globe; I understand the "rolling of these +heavens together as a scroll," to be an equal and relative destruction +with the melting of the elements in fervent heat; and I understand the +making of the firmament to signify that, so far as man is concerned, +most magnificent ordinance of the clouds;--the ordinance that, as the +great plain of waters was formed on the face of the earth, so also a +plain of waters should be stretched along the height of air, and the +face of the cloud answer the face of the ocean; and that this upper +and heavenly plain should be of waters, as it were, glorified in their +nature, no longer quenching the fire, but now bearing fire in their +own bosoms; no longer murmuring only when the winds raise them or +rocks divide, but answering each other with their own voices, from +pole to pole; no longer restrained by established shores, and guided +through unchanging channels, but going forth at their pleasure like +the armies of the angels, and choosing their encampments upon the +heights of the hills; no longer hurried downwards for ever, moving but +to fall, nor lost in the lightless accumulation of the abyss, but +covering the east and west with the waving of their wings, and robing +the gloom of the farther infinite with a vesture of diverse colours, +of which the threads are purple and scarlet, and the embroideries +flame. + +This I believe is the ordinance of the firmament; and it seems to me +that in the midst of the material nearness of these heavens, God means +us to acknowledge His own immediate presence as visiting, judging, and +blessing us: "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the +presence of God." "He doth set His bow in the clouds," and thus +renews, in the sound of every drooping swathe of rain, His promises of +everlasting love. "In them hath He set a _tabernacle_ for the sun;" +whose burning ball, which, without the firmament, would be seen but as +an intolerable and scorching circle in the blackness of vacuity, is by +that firmament surrounded with gorgeous service, and tempered by +mediatorial ministries: by the firmament of clouds the temple is +built, for his presence to fill with light at noon; by the firmament +of clouds the purple veil is closed at evening, round the sanctuary of +his rest; by the mists of the firmament his implacable light is +divided, and its separated fierceness appeased into the soft blue that +fills the depth of distance with its bloom, and the flush with which +the mountains burn, as they drink the overflowing of the dayspring. +And in this tabernacling of the unendurable sun with men, through the +shadows of the firmament, God would seem to set forth the stooping of +His own Majesty to men, upon the throne of the firmament. As the +Creator of all the worlds, and the Inhabiter of eternity, we cannot +behold Him; but as the Judge of the earth and the Preserver of men, +those heavens are indeed His dwelling-place: "Swear not, neither by +heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His +footstool!" And all those passings to and fro of fruitful showers and +grateful shade, and all those visions of silver palaces built about +the horizon, and voices of moaning winds and threatening thunders, and +glories of coloured robe and cloven ray, are but to deepen in our +hearts the acceptance, and distinctness, and dearness of the simple +words, "Our Father, which art in heaven." + + + + +SECTION IV. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: STREAMS AND SEA. + + +27. Of all inorganic substances, acting in their own proper nature, +and without assistance and combination, water is the most wonderful. +If we think of it as the source of all the changefulness and beauty +which we have seen in clouds,--then, as the instrument by which the +earth we have contemplated was modelled into symmetry, and its crags +chiselled into grace;--then, as in the form of snow, it robes the +mountains it has made with that transcendent light which we could not +have conceived if we had not seen;--then, as it exists in the foam of +the torrent, in the iris which spans it, in the morning mist which +rises from it, in the deep crystalline pools which mirror its hanging +shore, in the broad lake and glancing river;--finally, in that which +is to all human minds the best emblem of unwearied, unconquerable +power the wild, various, fantastic, tameless unity of the sea;--what +shall we compare to this mighty, this universal element, for glory and +beauty? or how shall we follow its eternal changefulness of feeling? +It is like trying to paint a soul! + + +28. The great angel of the sea--rain; the angel, observe,--the +messenger sent to a special place on a special errand. Not the +diffused, perpetual presence of the burden of mist, but the going and +returning of the intermittent cloud. All turns upon that +intermittence. Soft moss on stone and rock; cave fern of tangled glen; +wayside well--perennial, patient, silent, clear, stealing through its +square font of rough-hewn stone; ever thus deep, no more;--which the +winter wreck sullies not, the summer thirst wastes not, incapable of +stain as of decline;--where the fallen leaf floats undecayed, and the +insect darts undefiling: cressed brook and ever-eddying river, lifted +even in flood scarcely over its stepping stones,--but through all +sweet summer keeping tremulous music with harp-strings of dark water +among the silver fingering of the pebbles. Far away in the south the +strong river gods have all hasted, and gone down to the sea. Wasted +and burning, white furnaces of blasting sand, their broad beds lie +ghastly and bare; but here in the moss lands, the soft wings of the +sea angel droop still with dew, and the shadows of their plumes falter +on the hills; strange laughings and glitterings of silver streamlets, +born suddenly, and twined about the mossy heights in trickling tinsel, +answering to them as they wave. + + +29. Stand for half an hour beside the fall of Schaffhausen, on the +north side, where the rapids are long, and watch how the vault of +water first bends unbroken, in pure polished velocity, over the +arching rocks at the brow of the cataract, covering them with a dome +of crystal twenty feet thick, so swift that its motion is unseen +except when a foam globe from above darts over it like a falling star; +and how the trees are lighted above it under all their leaves,[19] at +the instant that it breaks into foam; and how all the hollows of that +foam burn with green fire like so much shattering chrysoprase; and +how, ever and anon startling you with its white flash, a jet of spray +leaps hissing out of the fall, like a rocket, bursting in the wind and +driven away in dust, filling the air with light; and how through the +curdling wreaths of the restless crashing abyss below, the blue of the +water, paled by the foam in its body, shows purer than the sky through +white rain-cloud, while the shuddering iris stoops in tremulous +stillness over all, fading and flushing alternately through the +choking spray and shattered sunshine, hiding itself at last among the +thick golden leaves which toss to and fro in sympathy with the wild +water,--their dripping masses lifted at intervals, like sheaves of +loaded corn, by some stronger gush from the cataract, and bowed again +upon the mossy rocks as its roar dies away,--the dew gushing from +their thick branches through drooping clusters of emerald herbage, and +sparkling in white threads along the dark rocks of the shore, feeding +the lichens, which chase and chequer them with purple and silver. + +[19] Well noticed. The drawing of the fall of Schaffhausen, which I made +at the time of writing this study, was one of the very few, either by +other draughtsmen or myself, which I have seen Turner pause at with +serious attention. + + +30. Close beside the path by which travellers ascend the Montanvert +from the valley of Chamouni, on the right hand, where it first begins +to rise among the pines, there descends a small stream from the foot +of the granite peak known to the guides as the Aiguille Charmoz. It is +concealed from the traveller by a thicket of alder, and its murmur is +hardly heard, for it is one of the weakest streams of the valley. But +it is a constant stream, fed by a permanent, though small, glacier; +and continuing to flow even to the close of summer, when more copious +torrents, depending only on the melting of the lower snows, have left +their beds,--"stony channels in the sun." The long drought which took +place in the autumn of 1854, sealing every source of waters except +these perpetual ones, left the torrent of which I am speaking, and +such others, in a state peculiarly favourable to observance of their +_least_ action on the mountains from which they descend. They were +entirely limited to their own ice fountains, and the quantity of +powdered rock which they brought down was, of course, at its minimum, +being nearly unmingled with any earth derived from the dissolution of +softer soil, or vegetable mould, by rains. At three in the afternoon, +on a warm day in September, when the torrent had reached its average +maximum strength for the day, I filled an ordinary Bordeaux wine flask +with the water where it was least turbid. From this quart of water I +obtained twenty-four grains of sand and sediment more or less fine. I +cannot estimate the quantity of water in the stream; but the runlet of +it at which I filled the flask was giving about two hundred bottles a +minute, or rather more, carrying down, therefore, about three quarters +of a pound of powdered granite every minute. This would be forty-five +pounds an hour; but allowing for the inferior power of the stream in +the cooler periods of the day, and taking into consideration, on the +other side, its increased power in rain, we may, I think, estimate its +average hour's work at twenty-eight or thirty pounds, or a +hundredweight every four hours. By this insignificant runlet, +therefore, rather more than two tons of the substance of the Mont +Blanc are displaced and carried down a certain distance every week; +and as it is only for three or four months that the flow of the stream +is checked by frost, we may certainly allow eighty tons for the mass +which it annually moves. It is not worth while to enter into any +calculation of the relation borne by this runlet to the great torrents +which descend from the chain of Mont Blanc into the valley of +Chamouni.[20] I but take this quantity, eighty tons, as the result of +the labour of a scarcely noticeable runlet at the side of one of them, +utterly irrespective of all sudden falls of stones and of masses of +mountain (a single thunderbolt will sometimes leave a scar on the +flank of a soft rock looking like a trench for a railroad), and we +shall then begin to apprehend something of the operation of the great +laws of change which are the conditions of all material existence, +however apparently enduring. The hills, which, as compared with living +beings, seem "everlasting," are in truth as perishing as they; its +veins of flowing fountain weary the mountain heart, as the crimson +pulse does ours; the natural force of the iron crag is abated in its +appointed time, like the strength of the sinews in a human old age; +and it is but the lapse of the longer years of decay which, in the +sight of its Creator, distinguishes the mountain range from the moth +and the worm. + +[20] I have slightly modified and abridged what follows, being impatient +of its prolixity, as well as ashamed of what is truly called the +ludicrous under-estimate of the mass of the larger streams. + + +31. Few people, comparatively, have ever seen the effect on the sea of +a powerful gale continued without intermission for three or four days +and nights; and to those who have not, I believe it must be +unimaginable, not from the mere force or size of surge, but from the +complete annihilation of the limit between sea and air. The water, +from its prolonged agitation, is beaten, not into mere creamy foam, +but into masses of accumulated yeast, which hang in ropes and wreaths +from wave to wave; and where one curls over to break, form a festoon +like a drapery from its edge; these are taken up by the wind, not in +dissipating dust, but bodily, in writhing, hanging, coiling masses, +which make the air white, and thick as with snow, only the flakes are +a foot or two long each; the surges themselves are full of foam in +their very bodies, underneath, making them white all through, as the +water is under a great cataract,--and their masses, being thus half +water and half air, are torn to pieces by the wind whenever they rise, +and carried away in roaring smoke, which chokes and strangles like +actual water. Add to this, that when the air has been exhausted of its +moisture by long rain, the spray of the sea is caught by it as +described above, and covers its surface not merely with the smoke of +finely divided water, but with boiling mist: imagine also the low +rain-clouds brought down to the very level of the sea, as I have often +seen them, whirling and flying in rags and fragments from wave to +wave; and finally conceive the surges themselves in their utmost pitch +of power, velocity, vastness, and madness, lifting themselves in +precipices and peaks furrowed with their whirl of ascent, through all +this chaos; and you will understand that there is indeed no +distinction left between the sea and air; that no object, nor horizon, +nor any landmark, or natural evidence of position is left; that the +heaven is all spray, and the ocean all cloud, and that you can see no +farther in any direction than you could see through a cataract.[21] + +[21] The whole of this was written merely to show the meaning of +Turner's picture of the steamer in distress, throwing up signals. It is +a good study of wild weather; but, separate from its aim, utterly feeble +in comparison to the few words by which any of the great poets will +describe sea, when they have got to do it. I am rather proud of the +short sentence in the 'Harbours of England,' describing a great breaker +against rock:--"One moment, a flint cave,--the next, a marble +pillar,--the next, a fading cloud." But there is nothing in +sea-description, detailed, like Dickens' storm at the death of Ham, in +'David Copperfield.' + + + + +SECTION V. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: MOUNTAINS. + + +32. The words which marked for us the purpose of the clouds are +followed immediately by those notable ones,--"And God said, Let the +waters which are under the heavens be gathered together into one +place, and let the dry land appear." We do not, perhaps, often enough +consider the deep signification of this sentence. We are too apt to +receive it as the description of an event vaster only in its extent, +not in its nature, than the compelling of the Red Sea to draw back +that Israel might pass by. We imagine the Deity in like manner rolling +the waves of the greater ocean together on an heap, and setting bars +and doors to them eternally. But there is a far deeper meaning than +this in the solemn words of Genesis, and in the correspondent verse of +the Psalm, "His hands prepared the dry land." Up to that moment the +earth had been _void_; for, it had been _without_ _form_. The command +that the waters should be gathered, was the command that the earth +should be _sculptured_. The sea was not driven to its place in +suddenly restrained rebellion, but withdrawn to its place in perfect +and patient obedience. The dry land appeared, not in level sands +forsaken by the surges, which those surges might again claim for their +own; but in range beyond range of swelling hill and iron rock, for +ever to claim kindred with the firmament, and be companioned by the +clouds of heaven. + +What space of time was in reality occupied by the "day" of Genesis, is +not at present of any importance for us to consider. By what furnaces +of fire the adamant was melted, and by what wheels of earthquake it +was torn, and by what teeth of glacier and weight of sea-waves it was +engraven and finished into its perfect form, we may, perhaps, +hereafter endeavour to conjecture; but here, as in few words the work +is summed by the historian, so in few broad thoughts it should be +comprehended by us; and, as we read the mighty sentence, "Let the dry +land appear," we should try to follow the finger of God as it engraved +upon the stone tables of the earth the letters and the law of its +everlasting form, as gulf by gulf the channels of the deep were +ploughed; and cape by cape the lines were traced with Divine +foreknowledge of the shores that were to limit the nations; and chain +by chain the mountain walls were lengthened forth, and their +foundations fastened for ever; and the compass was set upon the face +of the depth, and the fields and the highest part of the dust of the +world were made; and the right hand of Christ first strewed the snow +on Lebanon, and smoothed the slopes of Calvary. + +It is not, I repeat, always needful, in many respects it is not +possible, to conjecture the manner or the time in which this work was +done; but it is deeply necessary for all men to consider the +magnificence of the accomplished purpose, and the depth of the wisdom +and love which are manifested in the ordinances of the hills. For +observe, in order to bring the world into the form which it now bears, +it was not mere _sculpture_ that was needed; the mountains could not +stand for a day unless they were formed of materials altogether +different from those which constitute the lower hills, and the +surfaces of the valleys. A harder substance had to be prepared for +every mountain chain, yet not so hard but that it might be capable of +crumbling down into earth fit to nourish the Alpine forest, and the +Alpine flower; not so hard but that in the midst of the utmost majesty +of its enthroned strength there should be seen on it the seal of +death, and the writing of the same sentence that had gone forth +against the human frame, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou +return." And with this perishable substance the most majestic forms +were to be framed that were consistent with the safety of man; and the +peak was to be lifted and the cliff rent, as high and as steeply as +was possible, in order yet to permit the shepherd to feed his flocks +upon the slopes, and the cottage to nestle beneath their shadow. And +observe, two distinct ends were to be accomplished in doing this. It +was, indeed, absolutely necessary that such eminences should be +created, in order to fit the earth in any wise for human habitation; +for without mountains the air could not be purified, nor the flowing +of the rivers sustained, and the earth must have become for the most +part plain, or stagnant marsh. But the feeding of the rivers and the +purifying of the winds, are the least of the services appointed to the +hills. To fill the thirst of the human heart for the beauty of God's +working--to startle its lethargy with the deep and pure agitation of +astonishment,--are their higher missions. They are as a great and +noble architecture, first giving shelter, comfort, and rest; and +covered also with mighty sculpture and painted legend. It is +impossible to examine, in their connected system, the features of even +the most ordinary mountain scenery, without concluding that it has +been prepared in order to unite as far as possible, and in the closest +compass, every means of delighting and sanctifying the heart of man: +"as far as _possible_,"--that is, as far as is consistent with the +fulfilment of the sentence of condemnation on the whole earth. Death +must be upon the hills; and the cruelty of the tempests smite them, +and the briar and thorn spring up upon them; but they so smite as to +bring their rocks into the fairest forms, and so spring as to make the +very desert blossom as the rose. Even among our own hills of Scotland +and Cumberland, though often too barren to be perfectly beautiful, and +always too low to be perfectly sublime, it is strange how many deep +sources of delight are gathered into the compass of their glens and +vales; and how, down to the most secret cluster of their far-away +flowers, and the idlest leap of their straying streamlets, the whole +heart of Nature seems thirsting to give, and still to give, shedding +forth her everlasting beneficence with a profusion so patient, so +passionate, that our utmost observance and thankfulness are but, at +last, neglects of her nobleness, and apathy to her love. But among the +true mountains of the greater orders, the Divine purpose of appeal at +once to all the faculties of the human spirit becomes still more +manifest. Inferior hills ordinarily interrupt, in some degree, the +richness of the valleys at their feet; the grey downs of southern +England and treeless coteaux of central France, and grey swells of +Scottish moor, whatever peculiar charm they may possess in themselves, +are at least destitute of those which belong to the woods and fields +of the lowlands. But the great mountains _lift_ the lowlands on _their +sides_. Let the reader imagine first the appearance of the most varied +plain of some richly cultivated country; let him imagine it dark with +graceful woods, and soft with deepest pastures; let him fill the space +of it, to the utmost horizon, with innumerable and changeful incidents +of scenery and life; leading pleasant streamlets through its meadows, +strewing clusters of cottages beside their banks, tracing sweet +footpaths through its avenues, and animating its fields with happy +flocks, and slow wandering spots of cattle; and when he has wearied +himself with endless imagining, and left no space without some +loveliness of its own, let him conceive all this great plain, with its +infinite treasures of natural beauty, and happy human life, gathered +up in God's hands from one edge of the horizon to the other, like a +woven garment, and shaken into deep falling folds, as the robes droop +from a king's shoulders; all its bright rivers leaping into cataracts +along the hollows of its fall, and all its forests rearing themselves +aslant against its slopes, as a rider rears himself back when his +horse plunges, and all its villages nestling themselves into the new +windings of its glens, and all its pastures thrown into steep waves of +greensward, dashed with dew along the edges of their folds, and +sweeping down into endless slopes, with a cloud here and there lying +quietly, half on the grass, half in the air,--and he will have as yet, +in all this lifted world, only the foundation of one of the great +Alps. And whatever is lovely in the lowland scenery, becomes lovelier +in this change; the trees which grew heavily and stiffly from the +level line of plain, assume strange curves of strength and grace as +they bend themselves against the mountain side; they breathe more +freely and toss their branches more carelessly as each climbs higher, +looking to the clear light above the topmost leaves of its brother +tree; the flowers which on the arable plain fall before the plough, +now find out for themselves unapproachable places where year by year +they gather into happier fellowship, and fear no evil; and the streams +which in the level land crept in dark eddies by unwholesome banks, now +move in showers of silver, and are clothed with rainbows, and bring +health and life wherever the glance of their waves can reach.... + +It may not, therefore, be altogether profitless or unnecessary to +review briefly the nature of the three great offices which mountain +ranges are appointed to fulfil, in order to preserve the health and +increase the happiness of mankind. Their first use is, of course, to +give motion to water. Every fountain and river, from the inch-deep +streamlet that crosses the village lane in trembling clearness, to the +massy and silent march of the everlasting multitude of waters in +Amazon or Ganges, owe their play, and purity, and power, to the +ordained elevations of the earth. Gentle or steep, extended or abrupt, +some determined slope of the earth's surface is of course necessary +before any wave can so much as overtake one sedge in its pilgrimage; +and how seldom do we enough consider, as we walk beside the margins of +our pleasant brooks, how beautiful and wonderful is that ordinance, of +which every blade of grass that waves in their clear water is a +perpetual sign--that the dew and rain fallen on the face of the earth +shall find no resting-place; shall find, on the contrary, fixed +channels traced for them from the ravines of the central crests down +which they roar, in sudden ranks of foam, to the dark hollows beneath +the banks of lowland pasture, round which they must circle slowly +among the stems and beneath the leaves of the lilies; paths prepared +for them by which, at some appointed rate of journey, they must +evermore descend, sometimes slow, and sometimes swift, but never +pausing; the daily portion of the earth they have to glide over marked +for them at each successive sunrise, the place which has known them +knowing them no more, and the gateways of guarding mountains opened +for them in cleft and chasm, none letting them in their pilgrimage; +and, from afar off, the great heart of the sea calling them to itself! +"Deep calleth unto deep." I know not which of the two is the more +wonderful,--that calm, gradated, invisible slope of the champaign +land, which gives motion to the stream; or that passage cloven for it +through the ranks of hill, which, necessary for the health of the land +immediately around them, would yet, unless so supernaturally divided, +have fatally intercepted the flow of the waters from far-off +countries. When did the great spirit of the river first knock at these +adamantine gates? When did the porter open to it, and cast his keys +away for ever, lapped in whirling sand? I am not satisfied--no one +should be satisfied--with that vague answer, The river cut its way. +Not so. The river _found_ its way. [22]I do not see that rivers in +their own strength can do much in cutting their way; they are nearly +as apt to choke their channels up as to carve them out. Only give a +river some little sudden power in a valley, and see how it will use +it. Cut itself a bed? Not so, by any means, but fill up its bed; and +look for another in a wild, dissatisfied, inconsistent manner,--any +way rather than the old one will better please it; and even if it is +banked up and forced to keep to the old one, it will not deepen, but +do all it can to raise it, and leap out of it. And although wherever +water has a steep fall it will swiftly cut itself a bed deep into the +rock or ground, it will not, when the rock is hard, cut a wider +channel than it actually needs; so that if the existing river beds, +through ranges of mountains, had in reality been cut by the streams, +they would be found, wherever the rocks are hard, only in the form of +narrow and profound ravines, like the well-known channel of the +Niagara, below the fall; not in that of extended valleys. And the +actual work of true mountain rivers, though often much greater in +proportion to their body of water than that of the Niagara, is quite +insignificant when compared with the area and depth of the valleys +through which they flow; so that, although in many cases it appears +that those larger valleys have been excavated at earlier periods by +more powerful streams, or by the existing stream in a more powerful +condition, still the great fact remains always equally plain, and +equally admirable, that, whatever the nature and duration of the +agencies employed, the earth was so shaped at first as to direct the +currents of its rivers in the manner most healthy and convenient for +man. The valley of the Rhone may have been in great part excavated, in +early times, by torrents a thousand times larger than the Rhone; but +it could not have been excavated at all, unless the mountains had been +thrown at first into two chains, by which the torrents were set to +work in a given direction. And it is easy to conceive how, under any +less beneficent dispositions of their masses of hill, the continents +of the earth might either have been covered with enormous lakes, as +parts of North America actually are covered; or have become +wildernesses of pestiferous marsh; or lifeless plains, upon which the +water would have dried as it fell, leaving them for great part of the +year desert. Such districts do exist, and exist in vastness; the whole +earth is not prepared for the habitation of man; only certain small +portions are prepared for him,--the houses, as it were, of the human +race, from which they are to look abroad upon the rest of the world; +not to wonder or complain that it is not all house, but to be grateful +for the kindness of the admirable building, in the house itself, as +compared with the rest. It would be as absurd to think it an evil that +all the world is not fit for us to inhabit, as to think it an evil +that the globe is no larger than it is. As much as we shall ever need +is evidently assigned to us for our dwelling-place; the rest, covered +with rolling waves or drifting sands, fretted with ice or crested with +fire, is set before us for contemplation in an uninhabitable +magnificence. And that part which we are enabled to inhabit owes its +fitness for human life chiefly to its mountain ranges, which, throwing +the superfluous rain off as it falls, collect it in streams or lakes, +and guide it into given places, and in given directions; so that men +can build their cities in the midst of fields which they know will be +always fertile, and establish the lines of their commerce upon streams +which will not fail. + +[22] I attach great importance to the remaining contents of this +passage, and have had occasion to insist on them at great length in +recent lectures at Oxford. + +Nor is this giving of motion to water to be considered as confined +only to the surface of the earth. A no less important function of the +hills is in directing the flow of the fountains and springs from +subterranean reservoirs. There is no miraculous springing up of water +out of the ground at our feet; but every fountain and well is supplied +from reservoirs among the hills, so placed as to involve some slight +fall or pressure enough to secure the constant flowing of the stream; +and the incalculable blessing of the power given to us, in most +valleys, of reaching by excavation some point whence the water will +rise to the surface of the ground in perennial flow, is entirely owing +to the concave dispositions of the beds of clay or rock raised from +beneath the bosom of the valley into ranks of enclosing hills. + +The second great use of mountains is to maintain a constant change in +the currents and nature of the _air_. Such change would, of course, +have been partly caused by difference in soil and vegetation, even if +the earth had been level; but to a far less extent than it is now by +the chains of hills which--exposing on one side their masses of rock +to the full heat of the sun, (increased by the angle at which the rays +strike on the slope,) and on the other casting a soft shadow for +leagues over the plains at their feet--divide the earth not only into +districts, but into climates; and cause perpetual currents of air to +traverse their passes in a thousand different states; moistening it +with the spray of their waterfalls, sucking it down and beating it +hither and thither in the pools of their torrents, closing it within +clefts and caves, where the sunbeams never reach, till it is as cold +as November mists; then sending it forth again to breathe lightly +across the slopes of velvet fields, or to be scorched among sunburnt +shales and grassless crags; then drawing it back in moaning swirls +through clefts of ice, and up into dewy wreaths above the snow-fields; +then piercing it with strange electric darts and flashes of mountain +fire, and tossing it high in fantastic storm-cloud, as the dried grass +is tossed by the mower, only suffering it to depart at last, when +chastened and pure, to refresh the faded air of the far-off plains. + +The third great use of mountains is to cause perpetual change in the +_soils_ of the earth. Without such provision the ground under +cultivation would in a series of years become exhausted, and require +to be upturned laboriously by the hand of man. But the elevations of +the earth's surface provide for it a perpetual renovation. The higher +mountains suffer their summits to be broken into fragments, and to be +cast down in sheets of massy rock, full, as we shall see presently, of +every substance necessary for the nourishment of plants; these fallen +fragments are again broken by frost, and ground by torrents, into +various conditions of sand and clay--materials which are distributed +perpetually by the streams farther and farther from the mountain's +base. Every shower that swells the rivulet enables their waters to +carry certain portions of earth into new positions, and exposes new +banks of ground to be mined in their turn. That turbid foaming of the +angry water,--that tearing down of bank and rock along the flanks of +its fury,--are no disturbances of the kind course of nature; they are +beneficent operations of laws necessary to the existence of man, and +to the beauty of the earth. The process is continued more gently, but +not less effectively, over all the surface of the lower undulating +country; and each filtering thread of summer rain which trickles +through the short turf of the uplands is bearing its own appointed +burden of earth to be thrown down on some new natural garden in the +dingles beneath. + +I have not spoken of the local and peculiar utilities of mountains. I +do not count the benefit of the supply of summer streams from the +moors of the higher ranges,--of the various medicinal plants which are +nested among their rocks,--of the delicate pasturage which they +furnish for cattle,--of the forests in which they bear timber for +shipping,--the stones they supply for building, or the ores of metal +which they collect into spots open to discovery, and easy for working. +All these benefits are of a secondary or a limited nature. But the +three great functions which I have just described, those of giving +motion and change to water, air, and earth, are indispensable to human +existence; they are operations to be regarded with as full a depth of +gratitude as the laws which bid the tree bear fruit, or the seed +multiply itself in the earth. And thus those desolate and threatening +ranges of dark mountain, which in nearly all ages of the world men +have looked upon with aversion, or with terror, and shrunk back from +as if they were haunted by perpetual images of death, are in reality +sources of life and happiness far fuller and more beneficent than all +the bright fruitfulness of the plain. The valleys only feed; the +mountains feed, and guard, and strengthen us. We take our idea of +fearlessness and sublimity alternately from the mountains and the sea; +but we associate them unjustly. The sea-wave, with all its +beneficence, is yet devouring and terrible; but the silent wave of the +blue mountain is lifted towards heaven in a stillness of perpetual +mercy; and the one surge, unfathomable in its darkness, the other +unshaken in its faithfulness, for ever bear the seal of their +appointed symbolism:-- + +"Thy _righteousness_ is like the great mountains; + +"Thy _judgments_ are a great deep." + + +33. Mountains are to the rest of the body of the earth, what violent +muscular action is to the body of man. The muscles and tendons of its +anatomy are, in the mountain, brought out with force and convulsive +energy, full of expression, passion, and strength; the plains and the +lower hills are the repose and the effortless motion of the frame, +when its muscles lie dormant and concealed beneath the lines of its +beauty,--yet ruling those lines in their every undulation. This then +is the first grand principle of the truth of the earth. The spirit of +the hills is action, that of the lowlands repose; and between these +there is to be found every variety of motion and rest, from the +inactive plain, sleeping like the firmament, with cities for stars, to +the fiery peaks, which, with heaving bosoms and exulting limbs, with +the clouds drifting like hair from their bright foreheads, lift up +their Titan heads to Heaven, saying, "I live for ever." + + +34. Where they are,[23] they seem to form the world; no mere bank of a +river here, or of a lane there, peeping out among the hedges or +forests, but from the lowest valley to the highest clouds, all is +theirs,--one adamantine dominion and rigid authority of rock. We yield +ourselves to the impression of their eternal unconquerable +stubbornness of strength; their mass seems the least yielding, least +to be softened, or in anywise dealt with by external force, of all +earthly substance. And behold, as we look further into it, it is all +touched and troubled, like waves by a summer breeze; rippled far more +delicately than seas or lakes are rippled; _they_ only undulate along +their surfaces--this rock trembles through its every fibre, like the +chords of an Eolian harp, like the stillest air of spring, with the +echoes of a child's voice. Into the heart of all those great +mountains, through every tossing of their boundless crests, and deep +beneath all their unfathomable defiles, flows that strange quivering +of their substance. Other and weaker things seem to express their +subjection to an Infinite Power only by momentary terrors: as the +weeds bow down before the feverish wind, and the sound of the going in +the tops of the taller trees passes on before the clouds, and the +fitful opening of pale spaces on the dark water, as if some invisible +hand were casting dust abroad upon it, gives warning of the anger that +is to come, we may well imagine that there is a fear passing upon the +grass, and leaves, and waters, at the presence of some great spirit +commissioned to let the tempest loose; but the terror passes, and +their sweet rest is perpetually restored to the pastures and the +waves. Not so to the mountains. They, which at first seem strengthened +beyond the dread of any violence or change, are yet also ordained to +bear upon them the symbol of a perpetual fear. The tremor which fades +from the soft lake and gliding river is sealed to all eternity upon +the rock; and while things that pass visibly from birth to death may +sometimes forget their feebleness, the mountains are made to possess a +perpetual memorial of their infancy--that infancy which the prophet +saw in his vision,[24]--"I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without +form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the +mountains, and lo, they _trembled_, and all the hills moved +_lightly_." + +[23] Passage written after I had got by some years cooler and wiser than +when I wrote No. 33, describing however the undulation of the gneiss +rocks, which, 'where they are, seem, to form the world,' in terms more +fanciful than I now like. + +[24] Utter misinterpretation of the passage. It is the old age, not the +childhood of earth, which Jeremiah describes in this passage. See its +true interpretation in 'Fors Clavigera,' Letter XLVI. + + +35. The longer I stayed among the Alps, and the more closely I +examined them, the more I was struck by the one broad fact of there +being a vast Alpine plateau, or mass of elevated land, upon which +nearly all the highest peaks stood like children set upon a table, +removed, in most cases, far back from the edge of the plateau,--as if +for fear of their falling; while the most majestic scenes in the Alps +are produced, not so much by any violation of this law, as by one of +the great peaks having apparently walked to the edge of the table to +look over, and thus showing itself suddenly above the valley in its +full height. This is the case with the Wetterhorn and Eiger at +Grindelwald, and with the Grande Jorasse above the Col de Ferret. But +the raised bank or table is always intelligibly in existence, even in +these apparently exceptional cases; and for the most part, the great +peaks are not allowed to come to the edge of it, but remain like the +keeps of castles far withdrawn, surrounded, league beyond league, by +comparatively level fields of mountain, over which the lapping sheets +of glacier writhe and flow, foaming about the feet of the dark central +crests like the surf of an enormous sea-breaker hurled over a rounded +rock, and islanding some fragment of it in the midst. And the result +of this arrangement is a kind of division of the whole of Switzerland +into an upper and lower mountain world,--the lower world consisting of +rich valleys, bordered by steep, but easily accessible, wooded banks +of mountain, more or less divided by ravines, through which glimpses +are caught of the higher Alps; the upper world, reached after the +first banks of 3,000 or 4,000 feet in height have been surmounted, +consisting of comparatively level but most desolate tracts of moor and +rock, half covered by glacier, and stretching to the feet of the true +pinnacles of the chain. It can hardly be necessary to point out the +perfect wisdom and kindness of this arrangement, as a provision for +the safety of the inhabitants of the high mountain regions. If the +great peaks rose at once from the deepest valleys, every stone which +was struck from their pinnacles, and every snow-wreath which slipped +from their ledges, would descend at once upon the inhabitable ground, +over which no year would pass without recording some calamity of +earth-slip or avalanche; while in the course of their fall both the +stones and the snow would strip the woods from the hillsides, leaving +only naked channels of destruction where there are now the sloping +meadow and the chestnut glade. Besides this, the masses of snow, cast +down at once into the warmer air, would all melt rapidly in the +spring, causing furious inundation of every great river for a month or +six weeks. The snow being then all thawed, except what lay upon the +highest peaks in regions of nearly perpetual frost, the rivers would +be supplied during the summer only by fountains, and the feeble +tricklings on sunny days from the high snows. The Rhone, under such +circumstances, would hardly be larger, in summer, than the Severn, and +many Swiss valleys would be left almost without moisture. All these +calamities are prevented by the peculiar Alpine structure which has +been described. The broken rocks and the sliding snow of the high +peaks, instead of being dashed at once to the vales, are caught upon +the desolate shelves, or shoulders, which everywhere surround the +central crests. The soft banks which terminate these shelves, +traversed by no falling fragments, clothe themselves with richest +wood, while the masses of snow heaped upon the ledge above them, in a +climate neither so warm as to thaw them quickly in the spring, nor so +cold as to protect them from all the power of the summer sun, either +form themselves into glaciers, or remain in slowly wasting fields even +to the close of the year,--in either case supplying constant, +abundant, and regular streams to the villages and pastures beneath, +and to the rest of Europe, noble and navigable rivers. + +Now, that such a structure is the best and wisest possible,[25] is +indeed sufficient reason for its existence, and to many people it may +seem useless to question farther respecting its origin. But I can +hardly conceive any one standing face to face with one of these towers +of central rock, and yet not also asking himself, Is this indeed the +actual first work of the Divine Master, on which I gaze? Was the great +precipice shaped by His finger, as Adam was shaped out of the dust? +Were its clefts and ledges carved upon it by its Creator, as the +letters were on the tables of the law, and was it thus left to bear +its eternal testimony to His beneficence among these clouds of Heaven? +Or is it the descendant of a long race of mountains, existing under +appointed laws of birth and endurance, death and decrepitude? There +can be no doubt as to the answer. The rock itself answers audibly by +the murmur of some falling stone or rending pinnacle. It is _not_ as +it was once. Those waste leagues around its feet are loaded with the +wrecks of what it was. On these perhaps, of all mountains, the +characters of decay are written most clearly; around these are spread +most gloomily the memorials of their pride, and the signs of their +humiliation. + +[25] Of course I had seen every other tried before giving this +favourable judgment. + +What then were they once? The only answer is yet again--"Behold the +cloud!" + + +36. There are many spots among the inferior ridges of the Alps, such +as the Col de Ferret, the Col d'Anterne, and the associated ranges of +the Buet, which, though commanding prospects of great nobleness, are +themselves very nearly types of all that is most painful to the human +mind. Vast wastes of mountain ground,[26] covered here and there with +dull grey grass or moss, but breaking continually into black banks of +shattered slate, all glistening and sodden with slow tricklings of +clogged, incapable streams; the snow-water oozing through them in a +cold sweat, and spreading itself in creeping stains among their dust; +ever and anon a shaking here and there, and a handful or two of their +particles or flakes trembling down, one sees not why, into more total +dissolution, leaving a few jagged teeth, like the edges of knives +eaten away by vinegar, projecting, through the half-dislodged mass, +from the inner rock; keen enough to cut the hand or foot that rests on +them, yet crumbling as they wound, and soon sinking again into the +smooth, slippery, glutinous heap; looking like a beach of black scales +of dead fish cast ashore from a poisonous sea, and sloping away into +foul ravines, branched down immeasurable slopes of barrenness, where +the winds howl and wander continually, and the snow lies in wasted and +sorrowful fields covered with sooty dust, that collects in streaks and +stains at the bottom of all its thawing ripples. + +[26] This is a fourth volume passage,--and I will venture to say of it, +as Albert Duerer, when he was pleased with his work--that for what it has +to do, it cannot be much better done. It is a study on the Col de Bon +Homme. + +I know of no other scenes so appalling as these in storm, or so woful +in sunshine. Where, however, these same rocks exist in more favourable +positions--that is to say, in gentler banks and at lower +elevations--they form a ground for the most luxuriant vegetation; and +the valleys of Savoy owe to them some of their loveliest +solitudes--exquisitely rich pastures, interspersed with arable and +orchard land, and shaded by groves of walnut and cherry. Scenes of +this kind, and of that just described, so singularly opposed, and +apparently brought together as foils to each other, are however +peculiar to certain beds of the slaty coherents, which are both vast +in elevation, and easy of destruction. In Wales and Scotland the same +groups of rocks possess far greater hardness, while they attain less +elevation; and the result is a totally different aspect of scenery. +The severity of the climate, and the comparative durableness of the +rock, forbid the rich vegetation; but the exposed summits, though +barren, are not subject to laws of destruction so rapid and fearful as +in Switzerland, and the natural colour of the rock is oftener +developed in the purples and greys which, mingled with the heather, +form the principal elements of the deep and beautiful distant blue of +the British hills. Their gentler mountain streams also permit the beds +of rock to remain in firm, though fantastic, forms along their banks, +and the gradual action of the cascades and eddies upon the slaty +cleavage produces many pieces of foreground scenery to which higher +hills can present no parallel. + + +37. Unlike Chamouni Aiguilles, there is no aspect of destruction about +the Matterhorn cliffs. They are not torn remnants of separating +spires, yielding, flake by flake, and band by band, to the continual +process of decay. They are, on the contrary, an unaltered monument, +seemingly sculptured long ago, the huge walls retaining yet the forms +into which they were first engraven, and standing like an Egyptian +temple;--delicately fronted, softly coloured, the suns of uncounted +ages rising and falling upon it continually, but still casting the +same line of shadows from east to west; still, century after century, +touching the same purple stains on the lotus pillars; while the desert +sand ebbs and flows about their feet, as those autumn leaves of rock +lie heaped and weak about the base of the Cervin. + +Is not this a strange type in the very heart and height of these +mysterious Alps--these wrinkled hills in their snowy, cold, +grey-haired old age, at first so silent, then, as we keep quiet at +their feet, muttering and whispering to us garrulously in broken and +dreaming fits, as it were, about their childhood,--is it not a strange +type of the things which "out of weakness are made strong"? If one of +these little flakes of mica sand, hurried in tremulous spangling along +the bottom of the ancient river, too light to sink, too faint to +float, almost too small for sight, could have had a mind given to it +as it was at last borne down with its kindred dust into the abysses of +the stream, and laid, (might it not have been thought?) for a hopeless +eternity, in the dark ooze, the most despised, forgotten, and feeble +of all earth's atoms; incapable of any use or change; not fit, down +there in the diluvial darkness, so much as to help an earth wasp to +build its nest, or feed the first fibre of a lichen; what would it +have thought, had it been told that one day, knitted into a strength +as of imperishable iron, rustless by the air, infusible by the flame, +out of the substance of it, with its fellows, the axe of God should +hew that Alpine tower?--that against _it_--poor, helpless mica +flake!--the wild north winds should rage in vain; beneath +_it_--low-fallen mica flake!--the snowy hills should lie bowed like +flocks of sheep, and the kingdoms of the earth fade away in unregarded +blue; and around _it_--weak, wave-drifted mica flake!--the great war +of the firmament should burst in thunder and yet stir it not; and the +fiery arrows and angry meteors of the night fall blunted back from it +into the air; and all the stars in the clear heaven should light, one +by one as they rose, new cressets upon the points of snow that fringed +its abiding-place on the imperishable spire? + + + + +SECTION VI. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: STONES. + + +38. There are no natural objects out of which more can be learned than +out of stones. They seem to have been created especially to reward a +patient observer. Nearly all other objects in nature can be seen to +some extent without patience, and are pleasant even in being half +seen. Trees, clouds, and rivers are enjoyable even by the careless; +but the stone under his foot has, for carelessness, nothing in it but +stumbling; no pleasure is languidly to be had out of it, nor food, nor +good of any kind; nothing but symbolism of the hard heart, and the +unfatherly gift. And yet, do but give it some reverence and +watchfulness, and there is bread of thought in it, more than in any +other lowly feature of all the landscape. For a stone, when it is +examined, will be found a mountain in miniature. The fineness of +Nature's work is so great, that into a single block, a foot or two in +diameter, she can compress as many changes of form and structure, on a +small scale, as she needs for her mountains on a large one; and taking +moss for forests, and grains of crystal for crags, the surface of a +stone in by far the plurality of instances is more interesting than +the surface of an ordinary hill; more fantastic in form, and +incomparably richer in colour. + + +39. On a Highland hillside are multitudinous clusters of fern and +heather; on an Alpine one, multitudinous groves of chestnut and pine. +The number of the things may be the same, but the sense of infinity is +in the latter case far greater, because the number is of nobler +things. Indeed, so far as mere magnitude of space occupied on the +field of the horizon is the measure of objects, a bank of earth ten +feet high may, if we stoop to the foot of it, be made to occupy just +as much of the sky as that bank of mountain at Villeneuve; nay, in +many respects, its little ravines and escarpments, watched with some +help of imagination, may become very sufficiently representative to us +of those of the great mountain; and in classing all water-worn +mountain ground under the general and humble term of Banks, I mean to +imply this relationship of structure between the smallest eminences +and the highest. But in this matter of superimposed _quantity_, the +distinctions of rank are at once fixed. The heap of earth bears its +few tufts of moss, or knots of grass; the Highland or Cumberland +mountain, its honeyed heathers or scented ferns; but the mass of the +bank at Martigny or Villeneuve has a vineyard in every cranny of its +rocks, and a chestnut grove on every crest of them.... The minute +mounds and furrows scattered up the side of that great promontory, +when they are actually approached after three or four hours' climbing, +turn into independent hills, with true _parks_ of lovely pasture-land +enclosed among them, and avenue after avenue of chestnuts, walnuts, +and pines bending round their bases; while in the deeper dingles, +populous villages, literally bound down to the rock by enormous trunks +of vine, which, first trained lightly over the loose stone roofs, have +in process of years cast their fruitful net over the whole village, +and fastened it to the ground under their purple weight and wayward +coils as securely as ever human heart was fastened to earth by the net +of the Flatterer. + + +40. When a rock of any kind has lain for some time exposed to the +weather, Nature finishes it in her own way. First she takes wonderful +pains about its forms, sculpturing it into exquisite variety of dent +and dimple, and rounding or hollowing it into contours which for +fineness no human hand can follow; then she colours it; and every one +of her touches of colour, instead of being a powder mixed with oil, is +a minute forest of living trees, glorious in strength and beauty, and +concealing wonders of structure. + + +41. On the broken rocks in the foreground in the crystalline groups, +the mosses seem to set themselves consentfully and deliberately to the +task of producing the most exquisite harmonies of colour in their +power. They will not conceal the form of the rock, but will gather +over it in little brown bosses, like small cushions of velvet, made of +mixed threads of dark ruby silk and gold, rounded over more subdued +films of white and grey, with lightly crisped and curled edges like +hoar frost on fallen leaves, and minute clusters of upright orange +stalks with pointed caps, and fibres of deep green, and gold, and +faint purple passing into black, all woven together, and following +with unimaginable fineness of gentle growth the undulation of the +stone they cherish, until it is charged with colour so that it can +receive no more; and instead of looking rugged, or cold, or stern, or +anything that a rock is held to be at heart, it seems to be clothed +with a soft dark leopard's skin, embroidered with arabesque of purple +and silver. + + +42. The colour of the white varieties of marble is of exquisite +delicacy, owing to the partial translucency of the pure rock; and it +has always appeared to me a most wonderful ordinance--one of the most +_marked_ pieces of purpose in the creation--that all the variegated +kinds should be comparatively opaque, so as to set off the colour on +the surface, while the white, which, if it had been opaque, would have +looked somewhat coarse, (as for instance common chalk does,) is +rendered just translucent enough to give an impression of extreme +purity, but not so translucent as to interfere in the least with the +distinctness of any forms into which it is wrought. The colours of +variegated marbles are also for the most part very beautiful, +especially those composed of purple, amber, and green, with white; and +there seems something notably attractive to the human mind in the +_vague_ and veined labyrinths of their arrangements. + + +43. I have often had occasion to allude to the apparent connection of +brilliancy of colour with vigour of life or purity of substance. This +is pre-eminently the case in the mineral kingdom. The perfection with +which the particles of any substance unite in crystallization, +corresponds in that kingdom to the vital power in organic nature; and +it is a universal law, that according to the purity of any substance, +and according to the energy of its crystallization, is its beauty or +brightness. Pure earths are white when in powder; and the same earths, +which are the constituents of clay and sand, form, when crystallized, +the emerald, ruby, sapphire, amethyst, and opal. + + +44. As we pass between the hills which have been shaken by earthquake +and torn by convulsion, we find that periods of perfect repose succeed +those of destruction. The pools of calm water lie clear beneath their +fallen rocks, the water-lilies gleam, and the reeds whisper among +their shadows; the village rises again over the forgotten graves, and +its church tower, white through the storm-light, proclaims a renewed +appeal to His protection in whose hand "are all the corners of the +earth, and the strength of the hills is His also." There is no +loveliness of Alpine valley that does not teach the same lesson. It is +just where "the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is +removed out of his place," that in process of years the fairest +meadows bloom between the fragments, the clearest rivulets murmur from +between their crevices among the flowers, and the clustered cottages, +each sheltered beneath some strength of mossy stone, now to be removed +no more, and with their pastured flocks around them, safe from the +eagle's stoop and the wolf's ravin, have written upon their fronts, in +simple words, the mountaineer's faith in the ancient +promise,--"Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction, when it +cometh; for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and +the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee." + + + + +SECTION VII. + +ILLUSTRATIVE: PLANTS AND FLOWERS. + + +45. Wonderful, in universal adaptation to man's need, desire, and +discipline, God's daily preparation of the earth for him, with +beautiful means of life. First, a carpet, to make it soft for him; +then a coloured fantasy of embroidery thereon; then, tall spreading of +foliage to shade him from sun-heat, and shade also the fallen rain, +that it may not dry quickly back into the clouds, but stay to nourish +the springs among the moss. Stout wood to bear this leafage; easily to +be cut, yet tough and light, to make houses for him, or instruments +(lance-shaft, or plough-handle, according to his temper); useless it +had been if harder; useless if less fibrous; useless if less elastic. +Winter comes, and the shade of leafage falls away, to let the sun warm +the earth; the strong boughs remain, breaking the strength of winter +winds. The seeds which are to prolong the race, innumerable according +to the need, are made beautiful and palatable, varied into infinitude +of appeal to the fancy of man, or provision for his service; cold +juice, or flowing spice, or balm, or incense, softening oil, +preserving resin, medicine of styptic, febrifuge, or lulling charm; +and all these presented in forms of endless change. Fragility or +force, softness and strength, in all degrees and aspects; unerring +uprightness, as of temple pillars, or unguided wandering of feeble +tendrils on the ground; mighty resistances of rigid arm and limb to +the storms of ages, or wavings to and fro with faintest pulse of +summer streamlet; roots cleaving the strength of rock, or binding the +transience of the sand; crests basking in sunshine of the desert, or +hiding by dripping spring and lightless cave; foliage far tossing in +entangled fields beneath every wave of ocean--clothing with +variegated, everlasting films the peaks of the trackless mountains, or +ministering, at cottage doors, to every gentlest passion and simplest +joy of humanity. + + +46. If ever in autumn a pensiveness falls upon us, as the leaves drift +by in their fading, may we not wisely look up in hope to their mighty +monuments? Behold how fair, how far prolonged in arch and aisle, the +avenues of the valleys, the fringes of the hills! so stately,--so +eternal; the joy of man, the comfort of all living creatures, the +glory of the earth,--they are but the monuments of those poor leaves +that flit faintly past us to die. Let them not pass, without our +understanding their last counsel and example: that we also, careless +of monument by the grave, may build it in the world--monument by which +men may be taught to remember, not where we died, but where we lived. + + +47. The Pine. Magnificent! nay, sometimes almost terrible. Other +trees, tufting crag or hill, yield to the form and sway of the ground, +clothe it with soft compliance, are partly its subjects, partly its +flatterers, partly its comforters. But the pine rises in serene +resistance, self-contained; nor can I ever without awe stay long under +a great Alpine cliff, far from all house or work of men, looking up to +its companies of pines, as they stand on the inaccessible juts and +perilous ledges of the enormous wall, in quiet multitudes, each like +the shadow of the one beside it--upright, fixed, spectral, as troops +of ghosts standing on the walls of Hades, not knowing each other, dumb +for ever. You cannot reach them, cannot cry to them: those trees never +heard human voice; they are far above all sound but of the winds. No +foot ever stirred fallen leaf of theirs: all comfortless they stand, +between the two eternities of the Vacancy and the Rock; yet with such +iron will, that the rock itself looks bent and shattered beside +them,--fragile, weak, inconsistent, compared to their dark energy of +delicate life, and monotony of enchanted pride--unnumbered, +unconquerable. + +Then note farther their perfectness. The impression on most people's +minds must have been received more from pictures than reality, so far +as I can judge, so ragged they think the pine; whereas its chief +character in health is green and full _roundness_. It stands compact, +like one of its own cones, slightly curved on its sides, finished and +quaint as a carved tree in some Elizabethan garden; and instead of +being wild in expression, forms the softest of all forest scenery, for +other trees show their trunks and twisting boughs; but the pine, +growing either in luxuriant mass, or in happy isolation, allows no +branch to be seen. Summit behind summit rise its pyramidal ranges, or +down to the very grass sweep the circlets of its boughs; so that there +is nothing but green cone, and green carpet. Nor is it only softer, +but in one sense more cheerful than other foliage, for it casts only a +pyramidal shadow. Lowland forest arches overhead, and chequers the +ground with darkness; but the pine, growing in scattered groups, +leaves the glades between emerald-bright. Its gloom is all its own; +narrowing into the sky, it lets the sunshine strike down to the dew. +And if ever a superstitious feeling comes over me among the pine +glades, it is never tainted with the old German forest fear, but it is +only a more solemn tone of the fairy enchantment that haunts our +English meadows; so that I have always called the prettiest pine-glade +in Chamouni, "Fairies' Hollow." It is in the glen beneath the steep +ascent above Pont Pelissier, and may be reached by a little winding +path which goes down from the top of the hill[27]--being indeed not +truly a glen, but a broad ledge of moss and turf, leaning in a +formidable precipice (which, however, the gentle branches hide) over +the Arve. An almost isolated rock promontory, many coloured, rises at +the end of it. On the other sides it is bordered by cliffs, from which +a little cascade falls, literally, down among the pines, for it is so +light, shaking itself into mere showers of seed pearl in the sun, that +the pines don't know it from mist, and grow through it without +minding. Underneath, there is only the mossy silence; and above, for +ever, the snow of the nameless Aiguille. + +[27] The new road to Chamouni has been carried right through it. A +cascade on the right, as you ascend, marks the place spoken of in the +text,--once as lonely as Corrie-nan-shian. + +Other trees rise against the sky in dots and knots, but this, in +fringes. You never see the edges of it, so subtle are they; and for +this reason,--it alone of trees, so far as I know, is capable of the +fiery change which has been noticed by Shakespeare. When the sun rises +behind a ridge crested with pine, provided the ridge be at a distance +of about two miles, and seen clear, all the trees, for about three or +four degrees on each side of the sun, become trees of light, seen in +clear flame against the darker sky, and dazzling as the sun itself. I +thought at first this was owing to the actual lustre of the leaves; +but I believe now it is caused by the cloud-dew upon them--every +minutest leaf carrying its diamond. It seems as if these trees, living +always among the clouds, had caught part of their glory from them; and +themselves, the darkest of vegetation, could yet add splendour to the +sun itself. + + +48. The Swiss have certainly no feelings respecting their mountains in +anywise correspondent with ours. It was rather as fortresses of +defence, than as spectacles of splendour, that the cliffs of the +Rothslock bare rule over the destinies of those who dwelt at their +feet; and the training for which the mountain children had to thank +the slopes of the Muotta-Thal, was in soundness of breath, and +steadiness of limb, far more than in elevation of idea. But the point +which I desire the reader to note is, that the character of the scene +which, if any, appears to have been impressive to the inhabitant, is +not that which we ourselves feel when we enter the district. It was +not from their lakes, nor their cliffs, nor their glaciers--though +these were all peculiarly their possessions--that the three venerable +cantons received their name. They were not called the States of the +Rock, nor the States of the Lake, but the States of the _Forest_. And +the one of the three which contains the most touching record of the +spiritual power of Swiss religion, in the name of the convent of the +'Hill of Angels,' has, for its own, none but the sweet childish name +of 'Under the Woods.' + +And indeed you may pass under them if, leaving the most sacred spot in +Swiss history, the Meadow of the Three Fountains, you bid the boatman +row southward a little way by the shore of the Bay of Uri. Steepest +there on its western side, the walls of its rocks ascend to heaven. +Far in the blue of evening, like a great cathedral pavement, lies the +lake in its darkness; and you may hear the whisper of innumerable +falling waters return from the hollows of the cliff, like the voices +of a multitude praying under their breath. From time to time the beat +of a wave, slow lifted where the rocks lean over the black depth, dies +heavily as the last note of a requiem. Opposite, green with steep +grass, and set with chalet villages, the Fron-Alp rises in one solemn +glow of pastoral light and peace; and above, against the clouds of +twilight, ghostly on the gray precipice, stand, myriad by myriad, the +shadowy armies of the Unterwalden pine. + + +49. It had been wild weather when I left Rome, and all across the +Campagna the clouds were sweeping in sulphurous blue, with a clap of +thunder or two, and breaking gleams of sun along the Claudian +aqueduct, lighting up the infinity of its arches, like the bridge of +Chaos. But as I climbed the long slope of the Alban Mount, the storm +swept finally to the north, and the noble outline of the domes of +Albano, and graceful darkness of its ilex grove, rose against pure +streaks of alternate blue and amber, the upper sky gradually flushing +through the last fragments of rain-cloud in deep palpitating azure, +half aether and half dew. The noonday sun came slanting down the rocky +slopes of La Riccia, and their masses of entangled and tall foliage, +whose autumnal tints were mixed with the wet verdure of a thousand +evergreens, were penetrated with it, as with rain. I cannot call it +colour,--it was conflagration. Purple, and crimson, and scarlet, like +the curtains of God's Tabernacle, the rejoicing trees sank into the +valley in showers of light, every separate leaf quivering with buoyant +and burning life; each, as it turned to reflect, or to transmit the +sunbeam, first a torch and then an emerald. Far up into the recesses +of the valley the green vistas arched like the hollows of mighty waves +of some crystalline sea, with the arbutus flowers dashed along their +banks for foam, and silver flakes of orange spray tossed into the air +around them, breaking over the grey walls of rock into a thousand +separate stars, fading and kindling alternately as the weak wind +lifted and let them fall. Every glade of grass burned like the golden +floor of heaven, opening in sudden gleams as the foliage broke, and +closed above it, as sheet-lightning opens in a cloud at sunset; the +motionless masses of dark rock, dark though flushed with scarlet +lichen, casting their quiet shadows across its restless radiance, the +fountain underneath them filling its marble hollow with blue mist and +fitful sound; and, over all, the multitudinous bars of amber and +rose--the sacred clouds that have no darkness, and only exist to +illumine--were seen in fathomless intervals between the solemn and +orbed repose of the stone pines, passing to lose themselves in the +last, white, blinding lustre of the measureless line where the +Campagna melted into the blaze of the sea. + + +50. Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity: +children love them; quiet, contented, ordinary people love them as +they grow; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice in them gathered; +they are the cottager's treasure; and in the crowded town, mark, as +with a little broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers +in whose hearts rests the covenant of peace. + + +51. Yet few people really care about flowers. Many, indeed, are fond +of finding a new shape of blossom, caring for it as a child cares +about a kaleidoscope. Many, also, like a fair service of flowers in +the greenhouse, as a fair service of plate on the table. Many are +scientifically interested in them, though even these in the +nomenclature, rather than the flowers; and a few enjoy their +gardens.... But, the blossoming time of the year being principally +spring, I perceive it to be the mind of most people, during that +period, to stay in towns. A year or two ago a keen-sighted and +eccentrically-minded friend of mine, having taken it into his head to +violate this national custom, and go to the Tyrol in spring, was +passing through a valley near Landech with several similarly +headstrong companions. A strange mountain appeared in the distance, +belted about its breast with a zone of blue, like our English Queen. +Was it a blue cloud, a blue horizontal bar of the air that Titian +breathed in youth, seen now far away, which mortal might never breathe +again? Was it a mirage--a meteor? Would it stay to be +approached?--(ten miles of winding road yet between them and the foot +of the mountain)--such questioning had they concerning it. My +keen-sighted friend, alone, maintained it to be substantial;--whatever +it might be, it was not air, and would not vanish. The ten miles of +road were overpast, the carriage left, the mountain climbed. It stayed +patiently, expanding still into richer breath and heavenlier glow--a +belt of gentians. Such things may verily be seen among the Alps in +spring, and in spring only; which being so, I observe most people +prefer going in autumn. + + +52. Perhaps few people have ever asked themselves why they admire a +rose so much more than all other flowers. If they consider, they will +find, first, that red is, in a delicately gradated state, the +loveliest of all pure colours; and, secondly, that in the rose there +is _no shadow_, except what is composed of colour. All its shadows are +fuller in colour than its lights, owing to the translucency and +reflective power of the leaves. + + +53. Has the reader ever considered the relations of commonest forms of +volatile substance? The invisible particles which cause the scent of a +rose-leaf, how minute, how multitudinous, passing richly away into the +air continually! + + +54. In the range of inorganic nature I doubt if any object can be +found more perfectly beautiful, than a fresh, deep snow-drift, seen +under warm light. Its curves are of inconceivable perfection and +changefulness; its surface and transparency alike exquisite; its light +and shade of inexhaustible variety and inimitable finish,--the shadows +sharp, pale, and of heavenly colour, the reflected lights intense and +multitudinous, and mingled with the sweet occurrences of transmitted +light.... If, passing to the edge of a sheet of it upon the lower +Alps, early in May, we find, as we are nearly sure to find, two or +three little round openings pierced in it; and through these, +emergent, a slender, pensive, fragile flower,[28] whose small, dark, +purple-fringed bell hangs down and shudders over the icy cleft that it +has cloven, as if partly wondering at its own recent grave, and partly +dying of very fatigue after its hard-won victory; we shall be, or we +ought to be, moved by a totally different impression of loveliness +from that which we receive among the dead ice and the idle clouds: +there is now uttered to us a call for sympathy, now offered to us an +image of moral purpose and achievement, which, however unconscious or +senseless the creature may indeed be that so seems to call, cannot be +heard without affection, nor contemplated without worship, by any of +us whose heart is rightly turned, or whose mind is clearly and surely +sighted. + +[28] Soldanella Alpina. I think it is the only Alpine flower which +actually pierces snow, though I have seen gentians filling thawed +hoof-prints. Crocuses are languid till they have had sun for a day or +two. But the soldanella enjoys its snow, at first, and afterwards its +fields. I have seen it make a pasture look like a large lilac silk gown. + + +55. It has been well shown by Dr. Herbert, that many plants are found +alone on a certain soil or sub-soil in a wild state, not because such +soil is favourable to them, but because they alone are capable of +existing on it, and because all dangerous rivals are by its +inhospitality removed. Now if we withdraw the plant from this +position, which it hardly endures, and supply it with the earth and +maintain about it the temperature that it delights in; withdrawing +from it, at the same time, all rivals, which in such conditions Nature +would have thrust upon it, we shall indeed obtain a magnificently +developed example of the plant, colossal in size, and splendid in +organization; but we shall utterly lose in it that moral ideal which +is dependent on its right fulfilment of its appointed functions. It +was intended and created by the Deity for the covering of those lonely +spots where no other plant could live. It has been thereto endowed +with courage and strength, and capacities of endurance; its character +and glory are not therefore in the gluttonous and idle feeding of its +own over luxuriance, at the expense of other creatures utterly +destroyed and rooted out for its good alone; but in its right doing of +its hard duty, and forward climbing into those spots of forlorn hope +where it alone can bear witness to the kindness and presence of the +Spirit that cutteth out rivers among the rocks, as He covers the +valleys with corn; and there, in its vanward place, and only there, +where nothing is withdrawn for it, nor hurt by it, and where nothing +can take part of its honour, nor usurp its throne, are its strength +and fairness, and price, and goodness in the sight of God to be truly +esteemed. The first time I saw the Soldanella Alpina, before spoken +of, it was growing of magnificent size on a sunny Alpine pasture, +among bleating of sheep, and lowing of cattle, associated with a +profusion of Geum Montanum, and Ranunculus Pyrenaeus. I noticed it only +because new to me--nor perceived any peculiar beauty in its cloven +flower. Some days after, I found it alone, among the rack of the +higher clouds, and howling of glacier winds; and, as I described it, +piercing through an edge of avalanche which in its retiring had left +the new ground brown and lifeless, and as if burnt by recent fire. The +plant was poor and feeble, and seemingly exhausted with its +efforts,--but it was then that I comprehended its ideal character, and +saw its noble function and order of glory among the constellations of +the earth. + + +56. GRASSES.--Minute, granular, feathery, or downy seed-vessels, +mingling quaint brown punctuation, and dusty tremors of dancing grain, +with the bloom of the nearer fields; and casting a gossamered grayness +and softness of plumy mist along their surfaces far away; mysterious +evermore, not only with dew in the morning, or mirage at noon, but +with the shaking threads of fine arborescence, each a little belfry of +grainbells, all a-chime. + + +57. Gather a single blade of grass, and examine for a minute quietly +its narrow sword-shaped strip of fluted green. Nothing, as it seems, +there of notable goodness or beauty. A very little strength and a very +little tallness, and a few delicate long lines meeting in a +point,--not a perfect point neither, but blunt and unfinished, by no +means a creditable or apparently much-cared-for example of Nature's +workmanship, made, only to be trodden on to-day, and to-morrow to be +cast into the oven,--and a little pale and hollow stalk, feeble and +flaccid, leading down to the dull brown fibres of roots. And yet, +think of it well, and judge whether, of all the gorgeous flowers that +beam in summer air, and of all strong and goodly trees, pleasant to +the eyes, or good for food,--stately palm and pine, strong ash and +oak, scented citron, burdened vine--there be any by man so deeply +loved, by God so highly graced, as that narrow point of feeble green. +And well does it fulfil its mission. Consider what we owe merely to +the meadow grass, to the covering of the dark ground by that glorious +enamel, by the companies of those soft, and countless, and peaceful +spears. The fields! Follow forth but for a little time the thoughts of +all that we ought to recognise in these words. All spring and summer +is in them--the walks by silent, scented paths--the rests in noonday +heat,--the joy of herds and flocks,--the power of all shepherd life +and meditation,--the life of sunlight upon the world falling in +emerald streaks, and falling in soft blue shadows where else it would +have struck upon the dark mould, or scorching dust. Pastures beside +the pacing brooks, soft banks and knolls of lowly hills, thymy slopes +of down, overlooked by the blue line of lifted sea, crisp lawns, all +dim with early dew, or smooth in evening warmth of barred sunshine, +dinted by happy feet, and softening in their fall the sound of loving +voices,--all these are summed in those simple words; and these are not +all. We may not measure to the full the depth of this heavenly gift in +our own land, though still as we think of it longer, the infinite of +that meadow sweetness, Shakespeare's peculiar joy, would open on us +more and more; yet we have it but in part. Go out in the springtime +among the meadows that slope from the shores of the Swiss lakes to the +roots of their lower mountains. There, mingled with the taller +gentians, and the white narcissus, the grass grows deep and free; and +as you follow the winding mountain path, beneath arching boughs, all +veiled with blossom--paths that for ever droop and rise over the green +banks and mounds sweeping down in scented undulation steep to the blue +water, studded here and there with new-mown heaps filling all the air +with fainter sweetness,--look up towards the higher hills, where the +waves of everlasting green roll silently into their long inlets among +the shadows of the pines; and we may perhaps at last know the meaning +of those quiet words of the 147th Psalm, "He maketh grass to grow upon +the mountains." + +Assembling the images we have traced, and adding the simplest of all, +from Isaiah xl. 6, we find the grass and flowers are types, in their +passing, of the passing of human life, and in their excellence, of the +excellence of human life; and this in twofold way: first by their +beneficence, and then by their endurance--the grass of the earth, in +giving the seed of corn, and in its beauty under tread of foot and +stroke of scythe; and the grass of the waters, in giving its freshness +for our rest, and in its bending before the wave. But, understood in +the broad human and Divine sense, the "_herb_ yielding seed"--(as +opposed to the fruit tree yielding fruit)--includes a third family of +plants, and fulfils a third office to the human race. It includes the +great family of the lints and flaxes, and fulfils thus the _three_ +offices of giving food, raiment, and rest. Follow out this fulfilment; +consider the association of the linen garment and the linen embroidery +with the priestly office and the furniture of the tabernacle, and +consider how the rush has been to all time the first natural carpet +thrown under the human foot. Then next observe the three virtues +definitely set forth by the three families of plants--not arbitrarily +or fancifully associated with them, but in all the three cases marked +for us by Scriptural words: 1st. Cheerfulness, or joyful serenity; in +the grass for food and beauty--"Consider the lilies of the field, how +they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin." 2nd. Humility; in the +grass for rest--"A bruised reed shall he not break." 3rd. Love; in the +grass for clothing, (because of its swift kindling,)--"The smoking +flax shall he not quench." And then finally observe the confirmation +of these last two images in, I suppose, the most important prophecy, +relating to the future state of the Christian Church, which occurs in +the Old Testament, namely that contained in the closing chapters of +Ezekiel. The measures of the Temple of God are to be taken; and +because it is only by charity and humility that those measures ever +can be taken, the angel has "a line of _flax_ in his hand, and a +measuring reed." The use of the line was to measure the land, and of +the reed to take the dimensions of the buildings; so the buildings of +the church, or its labours, are to be measured by humility; and its +territory, or land, by love. + + +58. LEAVES motionless. The strong pines wave above them, and the weak +grasses tremble beside them; but the blue stars rest upon the earth +with a peace as of heaven; and far along the ridges of iron rock, +moveless as they, the rubied crests of Alpine rose flush in the low +rays of morning. + + +59. MOSSES.--Meek creatures! the first mercy of the earth, veiling +with hushed softness its dintless rocks; creatures full of pity, +covering with strange and tender honour the scarred disgrace of ruin, +laying quiet finger on the trembling stones to teach them rest. No +words, that I know of, will say what these mosses are. None are +delicate enough, none perfect enough, none rich enough. How is one to +tell of the rounded bosses of furred and beaming green,--the starred +divisions of rubied bloom, fine-filmed, as if the rock spirits could +spin porphyry as we do glass,--the traceries of intricate silver, and +fringes of amber, lustrous, arborescent, burnished through every fibre +into fitful brightness and glossy traverses of silken change, yet all +subdued and pensive, and framed for simplest, sweetest offices of +grace? They will not be gathered, like the flowers, for chaplet, or +love-token; but of these the wild bird will make its nest, and the +wearied child his pillow. + +And as the earth's first mercy, so they are its last gift to us: when +all other service is vain, from plant and tree, the soft mosses and +gray lichen take up their watch by the headstone. The woods, the +blossoms, the gift-bearing grasses, have done their parts for a time; +but these do service for ever. Trees for the builder's yard, flowers +for the bride's chamber, corn for the granary, moss for the grave. + + +60. LICHENS.--As in one sense the humblest, in another they are the +most honoured of the earth-children. Unfading as motionless, the worm +frets them not, and the autumn wastes not. Strong in loveliness, they +neither blanch in heat, nor pine in frost. To them, slow-fingered, +constant-hearted, is entrusted the weaving of the dark, eternal +tapestries of the hills; to them, slow-pencilled, iris-dyed, the +tender framing of their endless imagery. Sharing the stillness of the +unimpassioned rock, they share also its endurance; and while the winds +of departing spring scatter the white hawthorn blossom like drifted +snow, and summer dims on the parched meadow the drooping of its +cowslip gold,--far above, among the mountains, the silver lichen spots +rest, star-like, on the stone: and the gathering orange stain, upon +the edge of yonder western peak, reflects the sunsets of a thousand +years. + + + + +SECTION VIII. + +EDUCATION. + + +61. The most helpful and sacred work which can at present be done for +humanity, is to teach people (chiefly by example, as all best teaching +must be done) not how "to better themselves," but how to "satisfy +themselves." It is the curse of every evil nature and evil creature to +eat and _not_ be satisfied. The words of blessing are, that they shall +eat and be satisfied; and as there is only one kind of water which +quenches all thirst, so there is only one kind of bread which +satisfies all hunger--the bread of justice or righteousness; which +hungering after, men shall always be filled, that being the bread of +Heaven; but hungering after the bread or wages of unrighteousness, +shall not be filled, that being the bread of Sodom. And in order to +teach men how to be satisfied, it is necessary fully to understand the +art of joy and humble life--this, at present, of all arts or sciences, +being the one most needing study. Humble life; that is to say, +proposing to itself no future exaltation, but only a sweet +continuance: not excluding the idea of foresight, but wholly of +fore-sorrow, and taking no troublous thought for coming days; so also +not excluding the idea of providence or provision, but wholly of +accumulation;--the life of domestic affection and domestic peace, full +of sensitiveness to all elements of costless and kind +pleasure;--therefore chiefly to the loveliness of the natural world. + + +62. We shall find that the love of nature, wherever it has existed, +has been a faithful and sacred element of feeling; that is to say, +supposing all the circumstances otherwise the same with respect to two +individuals, the one who loves nature most will be always found to +have more capacity for _faith_ in God than the other. Nature-worship +will be found to bring with it such a sense of the presence and power +of a Great Spirit as no mere reasoning can either induce or +controvert; and where that nature-worship is innocently +pursued--_i.e._, with due respect to other claims on time, feeling, +and exertion, and associated with the higher principles of +religion,--it becomes the channel of certain sacred truths, which by +no other means can be conveyed. + + +63. Instead of supposing the love of nature necessarily connected with +the faithlessness of the age, I believe it is connected properly with +the benevolence and liberty[29] of the age; that it is precisely the +most healthy element which distinctively belongs to us; and that out +of it, cultivated no longer in levity or ignorance, but in earnestness +and as a duty, results will spring of an importance at present +inconceivable; and lights arise, which, for the first time in man's +history, will reveal to him the true nature of his life, the true +field for his energies, and the true relations between him and his +Maker. + +[29] I forget, now, what I meant by 'liberty' in this passage; but I +often used the word in my first writings, in a good sense, thinking of +Scott's moorland rambles and the like. It is very wonderful to me, now, +to see what hopes I had once: but Turner was alive, then; and the sun +used to shine, and rivers to sparkle. + + +64. To any person who has all his senses about him, a quiet walk, over +not more than ten or twelve miles of road a day, is the most amusing +of all travelling; and all travelling becomes dull in exact proportion +to its rapidity. + +Going by railroad I do not consider as travelling at all; it is merely +"being sent" to a place, and very little different from becoming a +parcel. + + +65. I believe an immense gain in the bodily health and happiness of +the upper classes would follow on their steadily endeavouring, however +clumsily, to make the physical exertion they now necessarily exert in +amusements, definitely serviceable. It would be far better, for +instance, that a gentleman should mow his own fields, than ride over +other people's. + + +66. In order to define what is fairest, you must delight in what is +fair; and I know not how few or how many there may be who take such +delight. Once I could speak joyfully about beautiful things, thinking +to be understood; now I cannot, any more, for it seems to me that no +one regards them. Wherever I look or travel, in England or abroad, I +see that men, wherever they can reach, destroy all beauty. They seem +to have no other desire or hope but to have large houses, and be able +to move fast. Every perfect and lovely spot which they can touch, they +defile. Thus the railroad bridge over the fall of Schaffhausen, and +that round the Clarens shore of the lake of Geneva, have destroyed the +power of two pieces of scenery of which nothing can ever supply the +place, in appeal to the higher ranks of European mind. + + +67. The first thing which I remember as an event in life, was being +taken by my nurse to the brow of Friar's Crag on Derwentwater. The +intense joy, mingled with awe, that I had in looking through the +hollows in the mossy roots, over the crag into the dark lake, has +associated itself more or less with all twining roots of trees ever +since. Two other things I remember as, in a sort, beginnings of +life;--crossing Shap-fells, being let out of the chaise to run up the +hills; and going through Glenfarg, near Kinross, on a winter's +morning, when the rocks were hung with icicles; these being +culminating points in an early life of more travelling than is usually +indulged to a child. In such journeyings, whenever they brought me +near hills, and in all mountain ground and scenery, I had a pleasure, +as early as I can remember, and continuing till I was eighteen or +twenty, infinitely greater than any which has been since possible to +me in anything. + + +68. A fool always wants to shorten space and time; a wise man wants to +lengthen both. A fool wants to kill space and time; a wise man, first +to gain them, then to animate them. + + +69. I suspect that system-makers in general are not of much more use, +each in his own domain, than, in that of Pomona, the old women who tie +cherries upon sticks, for the more portableness of the same. To +cultivate well, and choose well, your cherries, is of some importance; +but if they can be had in their own wild way of clustering about their +crabbed stalks, it is a better connection for them than any others; +and if they cannot, then so that they be not bruised, it makes to a +boy of practical disposition not much difference whether he gets them +by handfuls, or in beaded symmetry on the exalting stick. + + +70. Every great man is always being helped by everybody, for his gift +is to get good out of all things and all persons. + + +71. God appoints to every one of His creatures a separate mission, and +if they discharge it honourably, if they quit themselves like men, and +faithfully follow the light which is in them, withdrawing from it all +cold and quenching influence, there will assuredly come of it such +burning as, in its appointed mode and measure, shall shine before men, +and be of service constant and holy. Degrees infinite of lustre there +must always be, but the weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly +trivial, which is peculiar to him, and which, worthily used, will be a +gift also to his race for ever. + + +72. There is not any matter, nor any spirit, nor any creature, but it +is capable of a unity of some kind with other creatures; and in that +unity is its perfection and theirs, and a pleasure also for the +beholding of all other creatures that can behold. So the unity of +spirits is partly in their sympathy, and partly in their giving and +taking, and always in their love; and these are their delight and +their strength; for their strength is in their co-working and army +fellowship, and their delight is in their giving and receiving of +alternate and perpetual good; their inseparable dependency on each +other's being, and their essential and perfect depending on their +Creator's. And so the unity of earthly creatures is their power, and +their peace; not like the dead and cold peace of undisturbed stones +and solitary mountains, but the living peace of trust, and the living +power of support; of hands that hold each other and are still.[30] + +[30] A long, affected, and obscure second volume sentence, written in +imitation of Hooker. One short sentence from Ecclesiastes is the sum of +it: "How can one be warm alone?" + + +73. It is good to read of that kindness and humbleness of St. Francis +of Assisi, who spoke never to bird, nor to cicada, nor even to wolf +and beasts of prey, but as his brother;--and so we find are moved the +minds of all good and mighty men, as in the lesson that we have from +the 'Mariner' of Coleridge, and yet more truly and rightly taught in +the 'Hartleap Well'-- + + "Never to blend our pleasure or our pride + With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels,"-- + +and again in the 'White Doe' of Rylstone, with the added teaching, +that anguish of our own + + "Is tempered and allayed by sympathies + Aloft ascending, and descending deep, + Even to the inferior kinds;"-- + +so that I know not of anything more destructive of the whole theoretic +faculty, not to say of the Christian character and human intellect,[31] +than those accursed sports in which man makes of himself cat, tiger, +leopard, and alligator in one; and gathers into one continuance of +cruelty, for his amusement, all the devices that brutes sparingly and +at intervals use against each other for their necessities. + +[31] I am more and more grieved, as I re-read this and other portions of +the most affected and weak of all my books, (written in a moulting time +of my life,)--the second volume of 'Modern Painters,'--at its morbid +violence of passion and narrowness of thought. Yet, at heart, the book +was, like my others, honest; and in substance it is mostly good; but all +boiled to rags. + + +74. He who loves not God, nor his brother, cannot love the grass +beneath his feet, nor the creatures which live not for his uses, +filling those spaces in the universe which he needs not: while, on the +other hand, none can love God, nor his human brother, without loving +all things which his Father loves; nor without looking upon them every +one as in that respect his brethren also, and perhaps worthier than +he, if, in the under concords they have to fill, their part is touched +more truly.[32] + +[32] Morbidly Franciscan, again! and I am really compelled to leave out +one little bit my friend liked,--as all kindly and hopeful women +would,--about everything turning out right, and being to some good end. +For we have no business whatever with the ends of things, but with their +beings; and their beings are often entirely bad. + + +75. Things may always be seen truly by candid people, though never +_completely_. No human capacity ever yet saw the whole of a thing; but +we may see more and more of it the longer we look. Every individual +temper will see something different in it; but supposing the tempers +honest, all the differences are there. Every advance in our acuteness +of perception will show us something new; but the old and +first-discerned thing will still be there, not falsified, only +modified and enriched by the new perceptions, becoming continually +more beautiful in its harmony with them, and more approved as a part +of the infinite truth. + + + + +SECTION IX. + +MORALITIES. + + +76. When people read, "The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by +Christ," do they suppose it means that the law was ungracious and +untrue? The law was given for a foundation; the grace (or mercy) and +truth for fulfilment;--the whole forming one glorious Trinity of +judgment, mercy, and truth.[33] And if people would but read the text +of their Bibles with heartier purpose of understanding it, instead of +superstitiously, they would see that throughout the parts which they +are intended to make most personally their own, (the Psalms,) it is +always the Law which is spoken of with chief joy. The Psalms +respecting mercy are often sorrowful, as in thought of what it cost; +but those respecting the Law are always full of delight. David cannot +contain himself for joy in thinking of it,--he is never weary of its +praise: "How love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thy +testimonies are my delight and my counsellors; sweeter also than honey +and the honeycomb." + +[33] A great deal of the presumption and narrowness caused by my having +been bred in the Evangelical schools, and which now fill me with shame +and distress in re-reading 'Modern Painters,' is, to my present mind, +atoned for by the accurate thinking by which I broke my way through to +the great truth expressed in this passage, which all my later writings, +without exception, have been directed to maintain and illustrate. + + +77. I suppose there is no event in the whole life of Christ to which, +in hours of doubt or fear, men turn with more anxious thirst to know +the close facts of it, or with more earnest and passionate dwelling +upon every syllable of its recorded narrative, than Christ's showing +Himself to His disciples at the Lake of Galilee. There is something +pre-eminently open, natural, full fronting our disbelief, in this +manifestation. The others, recorded after the resurrection, were +sudden, phantom-like, occurring to men in profound sorrow and wearied +agitation of heart; not, it might seem, safe judges of what they saw. +But the agitation was now over. They had gone back to their daily +work, thinking still their business lay net-wards, unmeshed from the +literal rope and drag. "Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. +They say unto him, We also go with thee." True words enough, and +having far echo beyond those Galilean hills. That night they caught +nothing; but when the morning came, in the clear light of it, behold! +a figure stood on the shore. They were not thinking of anything but +their fruitless hauls. They had no guess who it was. It asked them +simply if they had caught anything. They say, No, and it tells them to +cast again. And John shades his eyes from the morning sun with his +hand to look who it is; and though the glistening of the sea, too, +dazzles him, he makes out who it is at last; and poor Simon, not to be +outrun this time, tightens his fisher's coat about him, and dashes in +over the nets. One would have liked to see him swim those hundred +yards, and stagger to his knees upon the beach. + +Well, the others get to the beach, too, in time, in such slow way as +men in general do get in this world to its true shore, much impeded by +that wonderful "dragging the net with fishes"; but they get +there--seven of them in all; first the Denier, and then the slowest +believer, and then the quickest believer, and then the two +throne-seekers, and two more, we know not who. + +They sit down on the shore, face to face with Him, and eat their +broiled fish as He bids. And then to Peter, all dripping still, +shivering, and amazed, staring at Christ in the sun, on the other side +of the coal-fire,--thinking a little perhaps of what happened by +another coal-fire, when it was colder, and having had no word changed +with him by his Master, since that look of His,--to him so amazed, +comes the question, "Simon, lovest thou Me?" Try to feel that a +little; and think of it till it is true to you: and then take up that +infinite monstrosity and hypocrisy,--Raphael's cartoon of the charge +to Peter. Note first the bold fallacy--the putting _all_ the Apostles +there, a mere lie to serve the Papal heresy of the Petric supremacy, +by putting them all in the background while Peter receives the charge, +and making them all witnesses to it. Note the handsomely curled hair +and neatly tied sandals of the men who had been out all night in the +sea-mists, and on the slimy decks; note their convenient dresses for +going a-fishing, with trains that lie a yard along the ground, and +goodly fringes--all made to match;--an apostolic fishing costume. Note +how Peter especially, (whose chief glory was in his wet coat _girt_ +about him, and naked limbs,) is enveloped in folds and fringes, so as +to kneel and hold his keys with grace. No fire of coals at all, nor +lonely mountain shore, but a pleasant Italian landscape, full of +villas and churches, and a flock of sheep to be pointed at; and the +whole group of Apostles, not round Christ, as they would have been +naturally, but straggling away in a line, that they may be shown. The +simple truth is, that the moment we look at the picture we feel our +belief of the whole thing taken away. There is visibly no possibility +of that group even having existed, in any place, or on any occasion. +It is all a mere mythic absurdity, and faded concoction of fringes, +muscular arms, and curly heads of Greek philosophers. + + +78. Among the children of God, there is always that fearful and bowed +apprehension of His majesty, and that sacred dread of all offence to +Him which is called the Fear of God; yet of real and essential fear +there is not any, but clinging of confidence to Him as their Rock, +Fortress, and Deliverer; and perfect love, and casting out of fear; so +that it is not possible that, while the mind is rightly bent on Him, +there should be dread of anything earthly or supernatural; and the +more dreadful seems the height of His majesty, the less fear they feel +that dwell in the shadow of it. "Of whom shall I be afraid?" + + +79. If for every rebuke that we utter of men's vices, we put forth a +claim upon their hearts; if for every assertion of God's demands from +them, we could substitute a display of His kindness to them; if side +by side with every warning of death, we could exhibit proofs and +promises of immortality; if, in fine, instead of assuming the being of +an awful Deity, which men, though they cannot, and dare not deny, are +always unwilling, sometimes unable to conceive, we were to show them a +near, visible, inevitable, but all beneficent Deity, whose presence +makes the earth itself a heaven, I think there would be fewer deaf +children sitting in the market-place. + + +80. If not by sympathy discovered, it is not in words explicable with +what divine lines and light the exercise of godliness and charity will +mould and gild the hardest and coldest countenance, neither to what +darkness their departure will consign the loveliest. For there is not +any virtue the exercise of which, even momentarily, will not impress a +new fairness upon the features. + + +81. The love of the human race is increased by their individual +differences, and the unity of the creature, made perfect by each +having something to bestow and to receive, bound to the rest by a +thousand various necessities and various gratitudes; humility in each +rejoicing to admire in his fellow that which he finds not in himself, +and each being in some respect the complement of his race. + + +82. They who are as the angels of God in heaven, yet cannot be +conceived as so assimilated that their different experiences and +affections upon earth shall then be forgotten and effectless: the +child, taken early to his place, cannot be imagined to wear there such +a body, nor to have such thoughts, as the glorified apostle who had +finished his course and kept the faith on earth. And so, whatever +perfections and likeness of love we may attribute to either the tried +or the crowned creatures, there is the difference of the stars in +glory among them yet; differences of original gifts, though not of +occupying till their Lord come; different dispensations of trial and +of trust, of sorrows and support, both in their own inward, variable +hearts, and in their positions of exposure or of peace; of the gourd +shadow and the smiting sun, of calling at heat of day, or eleventh +hour, of the house unroofed by faith, or the clouds opened by +revelation; differences in warning, in mercies, in sickness, in signs, +in time of calling to account; alike only they all are by that which +is not of them, but the gift of God's unchangeable mercy: "I will give +unto this last even as unto thee." + + +83. The desire of rest planted in the heart is no sensual, no unworthy +one; but a longing for renovation, and for escape from a state whose +every phase is mere preparation for another equally transitory, to one +in which permanence shall have become possible through perfection. +Hence the great call of Christ to men, that call on which St. +Augustine fixed as the essential expression of Christian hope, is +accompanied by the promise of rest; and the death bequest of Christ to +men, is peace. + + +84. He who has once stood beside the grave, to look back upon the +companionship which has been for ever closed, feeling how impotent, +there, are the wild love, and the keen sorrow, to give one instant's +pleasure to the pulseless heart, or atone in the lowest measure to the +departed spirit, for the hour of unkindness, will scarcely for the +future incur that debt to the heart, which can only be discharged to +the dust. But the lessons which men receive as individuals, they do +not learn as nations. Again and again they have seen their noblest +descend into the grave, and have thought it enough to garland the +tombstone when they had not crowned the brow, and to pay the honour to +the ashes, which they had denied to the spirit. Let it not displease +them that they are bidden, amidst the tumult and the dazzle of their +busy life, to listen for the few voices, and watch for the few lamps, +which God has toned and lighted to charm and to guide them, that they +may not learn their sweetness by their silence, nor their light by +their decay. + + +85. In the Cathedral of Lucca, near the entrance door of the north +transept, there is a monument by Jacopo della Quercia to Ilaria di +Caretto, the wife of Paolo Guinigi. I name it not as more beautiful or +perfect than other examples of the same period; but as furnishing an +instance of the exact and right mean between the rigidity and rudeness +of the earlier monumental effigies, and the morbid imitation of life, +sleep, or death, of which the fashion has taken place in modern times. +She is lying on a simple couch, with a hound at her feet; not on the +side, but with the head laid straight and simply on the hard pillow, +in which, let it be observed, there is no effort at deceptive +imitation of pressure.--It is understood as a pillow, but not mistaken +for one. The hair is bound in a flat braid over the fair brow, the +sweet and arched eyes are closed, the tenderness of the loving lips is +set and quiet; there is that about them which forbids breath; +something which is not death nor sleep, but the pure image of both. +The hands are not lifted in prayer, neither folded, but the arms are +laid at length upon the body, and the hands cross as they fall. The +feet are hidden by the drapery, and the form of the limbs concealed, +but not their tenderness. + + +86. I do not know any district possessing a more pure or uninterrupted +fulness of mountain character, (and that of the highest order,) or +which appears to have been less disturbed by foreign agencies, than +that which borders the course of the Trient between Valorsine and +Martigny. The paths which lead to it out of the valley of the Rhone, +rising at first in steep circles among the walnut trees, like winding +stairs among the pillars of a Gothic tower, retire over the shoulders +of the hills into a valley almost unknown, but thickly inhabited by an +industrious and patient population. Along the ridges of the rocks, +smoothed by old glaciers into long, dark, billowy swellings, like the +backs of plunging dolphins, the peasant watches the slow colouring of +the tufts of moss and roots of herb, which little by little gather a +feeble soil over the iron substance; then, supporting the narrow slip +of clinging ground with a few stones, he subdues it to the spade; and +in a year or two a little crest of corn is seen waving upon the rocky +casque. The irregular meadows run in and out like inlets of lake among +these harvested rocks, sweet with perpetual streamlets that seem +always to have chosen the steepest places to come down for the sake of +the leaps, scattering their handfuls of crystal this way and that, as +the wind takes them with all the grace, but with none of the +formalism, of fountains; dividing into fanciful change of dash and +spring, yet with the seal of their granite channels upon them, as the +lightest play of human speech may bear the seal of past toil, and +closing back out of their spray to lave the rigid angles, and brighten +with silver fringes and glassy films each lower and lower step of +sable stone; until at last, gathered altogether again,--except perhaps +some chance drops caught on the apple blossom, where it has budded a +little nearer the cascade than it did last spring,--they find their +way down to the turf, and lose themselves in that, silently; with +quiet depth of clear water furrowing among the grass-blades, and +looking only like their shadows but presently emerging again in little +startled gushes and laughing hurries, as if they had remembered +suddenly that the day was too short for them to get down the hill. +Green field, and glowing rock, and glancing streamlet, all slope +together in the sunshine towards the brows of ravines, where the pines +take up their own dominion of saddened shade; and with everlasting +roar, in the twilight, the stronger torrents thunder down, pale from +the glaciers, filling all the chasms with enchanted cold, beating +themselves to pieces against the great rocks that they have themselves +cast down, and forcing fierce way beneath their ghastly poise. The +mountain paths stoop to those glens in forky zigzags, leading to some +grey and narrow arch, all fringed under its shuddering curve with the +ferns that fear the light; a cross of rough-hewn pine, iron-bound to +its parapet, standing dark against the lurid fury of the foam. Far up +the glen, as we pause beside the cross, the sky is seen through the +openings in the pines thin with excess of light; and, in its clear +consuming flame of white space, the summits of the rocky mountains are +gathered into solemn crowns and circlets, all flushed in that strange +faint silence of possession by the sunshine, which has in it so deep a +melancholy, full of power, yet as frail as shadows; lifeless, like the +walls of a sepulchre, yet beautiful in tender fall of crimson folds, +like the veil of some sea spirit, that lives and dies as the foam +flashes; fixed on a perpetual throne, stern against all strength, +lifted above all sorrows, and yet effaced and melted utterly into the +air by that last sunbeam that has crossed to them from between the two +golden clouds. + +High above all sorrow? Yes; but not unwitnessing to it. The traveller +on his happy journey, as his foot springs from the deep turf, and +strikes the pebbles gaily over the edge of the mountain road, sees +with a glance of delight the clusters of nut-brown cottages that +nestle along those sloping orchards, and glow beneath the boughs of +the pines. Here, it may well seem to him, if there be sometimes +hardship, there must be at least innocence and peace, and fellowship +of the human soul with nature. It is not so. The wild goats that leap +along those rocks have as much passion of joy in all that fair work of +God as the men that toil among them,--perhaps more. Enter the street +of one of those villages, and you will find it foul with that gloomy +foulness that is suffered only by torpor, or by anguish of soul. Here, +it is torpor--not absolute suffering--not starvation or disease; but +darkness of calm enduring: the spring, known only as the time of the +scythe, and the autumn as the time of the sickle, and the sun only as +a warmth, the wind as a chill, and the mountains as a danger. They do +not understand so much as the name of beauty, or of knowledge. They +understand dimly that of virtue. Love, patience, hospitality, +faith--these things they know. To glean their meadows side by side, so +happier; to bear the burden up the breathless mountain flank +unmurmuringly; to bid the stranger drink from their vessel of milk; to +see at the foot of their low death-beds a pale figure upon a cross, +dying, also patiently;--in this they are different from the cattle and +from the stones; but, in all this, unrewarded, as far as concerns the +present life. For them, there is neither hope nor passion of spirit; +for them, neither advance nor exultation. Black bread, rude roof, dark +night, laborious day, weary arm at sunset; and life ebbs away. No +books, no thoughts, no attainments, no rest,--except only sometimes a +little sitting in the sun under the church wall, as the bell tolls +thin and far in the mountain air; a pattering of a few prayers, not +understood, by the altar-rails of the dimly gilded chapel,--and so, +back to the sombre home, with the cloud upon them still unbroken--that +cloud of rocky gloom, born out of the wild torrents and ruinous +stones, and unlightened even in their religion, except by the vague +promise of some better thing unknown, mingled with threatening, and +obscured by an unspeakable horror--a smoke, as it were, of martyrdom, +coiling up with the incense; and amidst the images of tortured bodies +and lamenting spirits in hurtling flames, the very cross, for them, +dashed more deeply than for others with gouts of blood. + + +87. A Highland scene is beyond doubt pleasant enough in its own way; +but, looked close at, has its shadows.[34] Here, for instance, is the +very fact of one--as pretty as I can remember,--having seen many. It +is a little valley of soft turf, enclosed in its narrow oval by +jutting rocks, and broad flakes of nodding fern. From one side of it +to the other winds, serpentine, a clear brown stream, drooping into +quicker ripple as it reaches the end of the oval field, and then, +first islanding a purple and white rock with an amber pool, it dashes +away into a narrow fall of foam under a thicket of mountain ash and +alder. The autumn sun, low, but clear, shines on the scarlet +ash-berries and on the golden birch-leaves, which, fallen here and +there, when the breeze has not caught them, rest quiet in the crannies +of the purple rock. Beside the rock, in the hollow under the thicket, +the carcase of a ewe, drowned in the last flood, lies nearly bare to +the bone, its white ribs protruding through the skin, raven-torn; and +the rags of its wool still flickering from the branches that first +stayed it as the stream swept it down. A little lower, the current +plunges, roaring, into a circular chasm like a well, surrounded on +three sides by a chimney-like hollowness of polished rock, down which +the foam slips in detached snow-flakes. Round the edges of the pool +beneath, the water circles slowly like black oil; a little butterfly +lies on its back, the wings glued to one of the eddies, its limbs +feebly quivering; a fish arises, and it is gone. Lower down the +stream, I can see over a knoll the green and damp turf roofs of four +or five hovels, built at the edge of a morass, which is trodden by the +cattle into a black Slough of Despond at their doors, and traversed by +a few ill-set stepping stones, with here and there a flat slab on the +tops, where they have sunk out of sight;--and at the turn of the brook +I see a man fishing, with a boy and a dog--a picturesque and pretty +group enough certainly, if they had not been there all day starving. I +know them, and I know the dog's ribs also, which are nearly as bare as +the dead ewe's; and the child's wasted shoulders, cutting his old +tartan jacket through, so sharp are they. + +[34] Passage written to be opposed to an exuberant description, by an +amiable Scottish pastor, of everything flattering to Scotchmen in the +Highlands. I have put next to it, a little study of the sadness of +Italy. + + +88. Perhaps there is no more impressive scene on earth than the +solitary extent of the Campagna of Rome under evening light. Let the +reader imagine himself for a moment withdrawn from the sounds and +motion of the living world, and sent forth alone into this wild and +wasted plain. The earth yields and crumbles beneath his foot, tread he +never so lightly, for its substance is white, hollow, and carious, +like the dusty wreck of the bones of men. The long knotted grass waves +and tosses feebly in the evening wind, and the shadows of its motion +shake feverishly along the banks of ruin that lift themselves to the +sunlight. Hillocks of mouldering earth heave around him, as if the +dead beneath were struggling in their sleep. Scattered blocks of black +stone, four-square remnants of mighty edifices, not one left upon +another, lie upon them to keep them down. A dull purple poisonous haze +stretches level along the desert, veiling its spectral wrecks of massy +ruins, on whose rents the red light rests, like dying fire on defiled +altars; the blue ridge of the Alban Mount lifts itself against a +solemn space of green, clear, quiet sky. Watch-towers of dark clouds +stand steadfastly along the promontories of the Apennines. From the +plain to the mountains, the shattered aqueducts, pier beyond pier, +melt into the darkness, like shadowy and countless troops of funeral +mourners, passing from a nation's grave. + + +89. I was coming down one evening from the Rochers de Naye, above +Montreux, having been at work among the limestone rocks, where I could +get no water, and both weary and thirsty. Coming to a spring at the +turn of the path, conducted, as usual, by the herdsmen, into a +hollowed pine trunk, I stooped to it, and drank deeply. As I raised my +head, drawing breath heavily, some one behind me said, "Celui qui +boira de cette eau-ci, aura encore soif." I turned, not understanding +for a moment what was meant, and saw one of the hill peasants, +probably returning to his chalet from the market place at Vevay or +Villeneuve. As I looked at him with an uncomprehending expression, he +went on with the verse: "Mais celui qui boira de l'eau que je lui +donnerai, n'aura jamais soif." + + +90. It may perhaps be permitted me[35] to mark the significance of the +earliest mention of mountains in the Mosaic books; at least of those +in which some Divine appointment or command is stated respecting them. +They are first brought before us as refuges for God's people from the +two judgments of water and fire. The Ark rests upon the mountains of +Ararat; and man, having passed through the great Baptism unto death, +kneels upon the earth first where it is nearest heaven, and mingles +with the mountain clouds the smoke of his sacrifice of thanksgiving. +Again; from the midst of the first judgment by fire, the command of +the Deity to His servant is, "Escape to the mountain;" and the morbid +fear of the hills, which fills any human mind after long stay in +places of luxury and sin, is strangely marked in Lot's complaining +reply, "I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me." The +third mention, in way of ordinance, is a far more solemn one: "Abraham +lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off." "The Place," the +mountain of myrrh, or of bitterness, chosen to fulfil to all the seed +of Abraham, far off and near, the inner meaning of promise regarded in +that vow: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh +mine help." And the fourth is the delivery of the law on Sinai. It +seemed then to the monks that the mountains were appointed by their +Maker to be to man refuges from judgment, signs of redemption, and +altars of sanctification and obedience; and they saw them afterwards +connected, in the manner the most touching and gracious, with the +death, after his task had been accomplished, of the first anointed +Priest; the death, in like manner, of the first inspired Lawgiver; and +lastly, with the assumption of His office, by the Eternal Priest, +Lawgiver, and Saviour. + +[35] With reference to the choice of mountain dwellings by the greater +monastic orders. + +Observe the connection of these three events. Although the _time_ of +the deaths of Aaron and Moses was hastened by God's displeasure, we +have not, it seems to me, the slightest warrant for concluding that +the _manner_ of their deaths was intended to be grievous or +dishonourable to them. Far from this, it cannot, I think, be doubted +that in the denial of the permission to enter the Promised Land, the +whole punishment of their sin was included; and that, as far as +regarded the manner of their deaths, it must have been appointed for +them by their Master, in all tenderness and love, and with the full +purpose of ennobling the close of their service upon the earth. It +might have seemed to _us_ more honourable that both should have been +permitted to die beneath the shadow of the Tabernacle, the +congregation of Israel watching by their side; and all whom they loved +gathered together to receive the last message from the lips of the +meek lawgiver, and the last blessing from the prayer of the anointed +priest. But it was not thus they were permitted to die. Try to realize +that going forth of Aaron from the midst of the congregation. He who +had so often done sacrifice for their sin, going forth now to offer up +his own spirit. He who had stood among them between the dead and the +living, and had seen the eyes of all that great multitude turned to +him, that by his intercession their breath might yet be drawn a moment +more, going forth now to meet the angel of death face to face, and +deliver himself into his hand. Try if you cannot walk in thought with +those two brothers, and the son, as they passed the outmost tents of +Israel, and turned, while yet the dew lay round about the camp, +towards the slopes of Mount Hor; talking together for the last time, +as step by step they felt the steeper rising of the rocks, and hour +after hour, beneath the ascending sun, the horizon grew broader as +they climbed, and all the folded hills of Idumea, one by one subdued, +showed, amidst their hollows in the haze of noon, the windings of that +long desert journey, now at last to close. But who shall enter into +the thoughts of the High Priest as his eye followed those paths of +ancient pilgrimage; and through the silence of the arid and endless +hills, stretching even to the dim peak of Sinai, the whole history of +those forty years was unfolded before him, and the mystery of his own +ministries revealed to him; and that other Holy of Holies, of which +the mountain peaks were the altars, and the mountain clouds the veil, +the firmament of his Father's dwelling, opened to him still more +brightly and infinitely as he drew nearer his death?--until at last, +on the shadeless summit, from him on whom sin was to be laid no more, +from him on whose heart the names of sinful nations were to press +their graven fire no longer, the brother and the son took breastplate +and ephod, and left him to his rest. There is indeed a secretness in +this calm faith, and deep restraint of sorrow, into which it is +difficult for us to enter; but the death of Moses himself is more +easily to be conceived, and had in it circumstances still more +touching as regards the influence of the external scene. For forty +years Moses had not been alone. The care and burden of all the people, +the weight of their woe, and guilt, and death, had been upon him +continually. The multitude had been laid upon him as if he had +conceived them; their tears had been his meat night and day, until he +had felt as if God had withdrawn His favour from him, and he had +prayed that he might be slain, and not see his wretchedness. And now +at last the command came, "Get thee up into this mountain." The weary +hands, that had been so long stayed up against the enemies of Israel, +might lean again upon the shepherd's staff, and fold themselves for +the shepherd's prayer--for the shepherd's slumber. Not strange to his +feet, though forty years unknown, the roughness of the bare mountain +path, as he climbed from ledge to ledge of Abarim; not strange to his +aged eyes the scattered clusters of the mountain herbage, and the +broken shadows of the cliffs, indented far across the silence of +uninhabited ravines; scenes such as those among which, as now, with +none beside him but God, he had led his flocks so often; and which he +had left, how painfully! taking upon him the appointed power to make +of the fenced city a wilderness, and to fill the desert with songs of +deliverance. It was not to embitter the last hours of his life that +God restored to him for a day the beloved solitudes he had lost, and +breathed the peace of the perpetual hills around him, and cast the +world in which he had laboured, and sinned, far beneath his feet in +that mist of dying blue;--all sin, all wandering, soon to be forgotten +for ever. The Dead Sea--a type of God's anger understood by him, of +all men, most clearly, who had seen the earth open her mouth, and the +sea his depth, to overwhelm the companies of those who contended with +his Master--laid waveless beneath him; and beyond it the fair hills of +Judah, and the soft plains and banks of Jordan, purple in the evening +light as with the blood of redemption, and fading in their distant +fulness into mysteries of promise and of love. There, with his +unabated strength, his undimmed glance, lying down upon the utmost +rocks, with angels waiting near to contend for the spoils of his +spirit, he put off his earthly armour. We do deep reverence to his +companion prophet, for whom the chariot of fire came down from heaven; +but was his death less noble whom his Lord Himself buried in the vales +of Moab, keeping, in the secrets of the eternal counsels, the +knowledge of a sepulchre, from which he was to be called in the +fulness of time, to talk with that Lord upon Hermon of the death that +He should accomplish at Jerusalem? + +And lastly, let us turn our thoughts for a few moments to the cause of +the resurrection of these two prophets. We are all of us too much in +the habit of passing it by, as a thing mystical and inconceivable, +taking place in the life of Christ for some purpose not by us to be +understood, or, at the best, merely as a manifestation of His divinity +by brightness of heavenly light, and the ministering of the spirits of +the dead, intended to strengthen the faith of His three chosen +apostles. And in this, as in many other events recorded by the +Evangelists, we lose half the meaning, and evade the practical power +upon ourselves, by never accepting in its fulness the idea that our +Lord was "perfect man,"--"tempted in all things like as we are." Our +preachers are continually trying, in all manner of subtle ways, to +explain the union of the Divinity with the Manhood--an explanation +which certainly involves first their being able to describe the nature +of Deity itself, or, in plain words, to comprehend God. They never can +explain, in any one particular, the union of the natures; they only +succeed in weakening the faith of their hearers as to the entireness +of either. The thing they have to do is precisely the contrary of +this--to insist upon the _entireness_ of both. We never think of +Christ enough as God, never enough as Man; the instinctive habit of +our minds being always to miss of the Divinity, and the reasoning and +enforced habit to miss of the humanity. We are afraid to harbour in +our own hearts, or to utter in the hearing of others, any thought of +our Lord as hungering, tired, sorrowful, having a human soul, a human +will, and affected by events of human life, as a finite creature is: +and yet one half of the efficiency of His atonement, and the whole of +the efficiency of His example, depend on His having been this to the +full. Consider, therefore, the Transfiguration as it relates to the +human feelings of our Lord. It was the first definite preparation for +His death. He had foretold it to His disciples six days before; then +takes with Him the three chosen ones into "an high mountain apart." +From an exceeding high mountain, at the first taking on Him the +ministry of life, He had beheld and rejected the kingdoms of the +earth, and their glory: now, on a high mountain, He takes upon Him the +ministry of death. Peter and they that were with Him, as in +Gethsemane, were heavy with sleep. Christ's work had to be done alone. + +The tradition is that the Mount of Transfiguration was the summit of +Tabor; but Tabor is neither a high mountain, nor was it in any sense a +mountain "_apart_," being in those years both, inhabited and +fortified. All the immediately preceding ministries of Christ had been +at Cesarea Philippi. There is no mention of travel southward in the +six days that intervened between the warning given to His disciples +and the going up into the hill. What other hill could it be than the +southward slope of that goodly mountain, Hermon, which is indeed the +centre of all the Promised Land, from the entering in of Hamath unto +the river of Egypt; the mount of fruitfulness, from which the springs +of Jordan descended to the valleys of Israel? Along its mighty forest +avenues, until the grass grew fair with the mountain lilies, His feet +dashed in the dew of Hermon, He must have gone to pray His first +recorded prayer about death; and from the steep of it, before He +knelt, could see to the south all the dwellings of the people that had +sat in darkness, and seen the great light, the land of Zabulon and of +Naphtali, Galilee of the nations,--could see, even with His human +sight, the gleam of that lake by Capernaum and Chorazin, and many a +place loved by Him, and vainly ministered to, whose house was now left +unto them desolate; and chief of all, far in the utmost blue, the +hills above Nazareth, sloping down to His old home; hills on which yet +the stones lay loose that had been taken up to cast at Him when He +left them for ever. + +"And as He prayed, two men stood by Him." Among the many ways in which +we miss the help and hold of Scripture, none is more subtle than our +habit of supposing that, even as man, Christ was free from the fear of +death. How could He then have been tempted as we are?--since among all +the trials of the earth, none spring from the dust more terrible than +that fear. It had to be borne by Him, indeed, in a unity which we can +never comprehend, with the foreknowledge of victory,--as His sorrow +for Lazarus with the consciousness of His power to restore him; but it +_had_ to be borne, and that in its full earthly terror; and the +presence of it is surely marked for us enough by the rising of those +two at His side. When, in the desert, He was girding Himself for the +work of life, angels of life came and ministered to Him; now in the +fair world, when He is girding Himself for the work of death, the +ministrants come to Him from the grave. But, from the grave, +conquered. One from that tomb under Abarim, which His own hand had +sealed long ago; the other, from the rest into which he had entered +without seeing corruption. "There stood by Him Moses and Elias, and +spake of His decease." Then, when the prayer is ended, the task +accepted, first, since the star paused over Him at Bethlehem, the full +glory falls upon Him from heaven, and the testimony is borne to His +everlasting Sonship and power. "Hear ye Him." + +If, in their remembrance of these things, and in their endeavour to +follow in the footsteps of their Master, religious men of bygone days, +closing themselves in the hill solitudes, forgot sometimes, and +sometimes feared, the duties they owed to the active world, we may +perhaps pardon them more easily than we ought to pardon ourselves, if +we neither seek any influence for good, nor submit to it unsought, in +scenes to which thus all the men whose writings we receive as +inspired, together with their Lord, retired whenever they had any task +or trial laid upon them needing more than their usual strength of +spirit. Nor perhaps should we have unprofitably entered into the mind +of the earlier ages, if among our other thoughts, as we watch the +chains of the snowy mountains rise on the horizon, we should sometimes +admit the memory of the hour in which their Creator, among their +solitudes, entered on His travail for the salvation of our race; and +indulge the dream, that as the flaming and trembling mountains of the +earth seem to be the monuments of the manifesting of His terror on +Sinai, these pure and white hills, near to the heaven, and sources of +all good to the earth, are the appointed memorials of that light of +His mercy, that fell, snowlike, on the Mount of Transfiguration. + + +FINIS. + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + +Edinburgh & London + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frondes Agrestes, by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRONDES AGRESTES *** + +***** This file should be named 31045.txt or 31045.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/4/31045/ + +Produced by Paul Murray, Chandra Friend and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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