120 STUDY OF NATURAL HIST@RY. 
surprise ordinary people; but it may be explained on 
very simple principles. Every one, raised above the 
condition of a clown, is in a greater or less degree 
sensible of the beauties of nature, as seen in a fine 
landscape ; but on none do such scenes make a 
stronger impression than upon the painter. He, 
and he alone, is able to analyse, as it were, the pic- 
ture before him, and to understand how that general 
effect, which is merely judged of by others as a 
whole, is produced in detail. By being able to do 
this, he feels the beauty of picturesque scenery in 
a much superior degree to others. The same feel- 
ings influence the naturalist: he walks abroad with 
others, and admires with them the general beauties 
of nature, but his perceptions of them are keener, 
because he understands them better. A thousand 
little circumstances, unobserved by ordinary eyes, 
attract his attention, and call forth his delight: the 
plants, the birds, or the “creeping things,” that he 
meets with, are known to him by name; he under- 
stands something of their modes of life; they come 
before him as old acquaintances, or, if as new ones, 
they are doubly welcome. While his companions 
are wondering, and enquiring of each other the 
name of a beautiful flower, a curious insect, or an 
uncommon bird, he is seldom at a loss for a reply. 
He is, in fact, conversant with those things before him, 
which are strangers to his companions. And as we 
always feel pleasure in proportion as we understand 
that which produces it, so does this feeling fre- 
quently rise to enthusiasm both with the painter and 
the naturalist. When these two pursuits, indeed, 
are united, we can hardly imagine a higher degree 
