INFL UENCES IN LITER A TURE. 1 07 



elements seems most active in the brain when 

 the pleasurable excitement of a rational pas- 

 time is upon it. The artist is often surprised, 

 while aimlessly sketching in the presence of 

 Nature ; at the sudden coming on of a genu- 

 ine " inspiration" a suggestion leaping out 

 of some accidental touch, or out of some elu- 

 sive, shadowy change in the phases of things. 



The direct study of Nature is dry, and its re- 

 sults, however useful and entertaining, far from 

 satisfactory from a literary or artistic stand- 

 point. As one can see an object better in the 

 night by not looking straight at it, so the in- 

 direct view of Nature is best for the discovery 

 of those inspiring morsels upon which the gods 

 used to feed, and with which the poet, the 

 novelist, and the painter of to-day delight to 

 stimulate themselves. But the gods were hunt- 

 ers and athletes, as well as lyrists and song- 

 sters. They bent the bow with as much ease 

 and delight as they blew in the hollow reed or 

 thrummed on the stringed shell. They robbed 

 the wild bees of their honey, and chased the 

 deer over the hills ; they followed the streams 

 of Arcadia, and haunted the fountains and 

 glens of both Italy and Greece. The poets are 

 said to be the successors of the gods. The 

 gums and resins, the spices and saps, the per- 

 fumes and subtle essences of Nature make their 

 nectar and ambrosia. It is the presence of 

 this flavor of Nature that discloses the work of 

 a genuine genius. No amount of cunning arti- 

 sanship can create, it can only build. Genius 

 works with animate materials and essences ; 

 its 



" Conscious stones to beauty grow." 



