120 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



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 



