GKEATNESS OF LITERATURE. 279 



becoming so immersed in details, so strained to con- 

 temjDlation of the physical glories of the universe, as 

 to forget the higher grandeurs of the soul, the nobler 

 beauties of the moral universe. From this danger we 

 are saved by the thrill of a fine poem, the swelling 

 sympathy with a noble thought, which flood the mind 

 anew with a sense of man's greatness, and the greatness 

 of his aspirations. It is not wise to dwarf Man by com- 

 parisons with Nature ; only when he grows presump- 

 tuous, may we teach him modesty by pointing to her 

 grandeur. At other times it is well to keep before us 

 om- hio-h callino' and our hioh estate. Literature, in 

 its finest moods, does this. And when I think of the 

 delight given by every true book to generations after 

 generations, moulding souls and humanising savage 

 impetuosities, exalting hopes and prompting noblest 

 deeds, I vary the poet's phrase, and exclaiin — 



" An honest book's the noblest work of man ! " 



