1 84 UNDER THE TREES. 



a world for his own soul ; a world apart from care 

 and weakness and the confusions of strife, in which 

 the faiths that inspire him and the ideals that lead 

 him are the great and lasting verities. To this 

 world-building all the great poetic minds are driven; 

 within this invisible empire alone can they rec 

 oncile the life that surrounds them with the life 

 that floats like a dream before them. No great 

 mind is ever at rest until in some way the Real and 

 the Ideal are found to be one. Literature is full of 

 these beautiful homes of the soul, reared without 

 the sound of chisel or hammer by the magic of the 

 Imagination divinest of the faculties, since it is 

 the only one which creates. The other faculties 

 observe, record, compare, combine ; the imagina 

 tion alone uses the brush, the chisel, or the pen ! 



If one were to record these kingdoms of the 

 mind, how long and luminous would be the cata 

 logue ! The golden age and the fabled Atlantis of 

 the elder poets ; the &quot; Republic &quot; of the broad- 

 browed Athenian ; the secret gardens, impregnable 

 castles, sweet and inaccessible retreats of the medi 

 aeval fancy ; the Paradise of Dante ; the enchant 

 ing world through which the Fairy Queen moves ; 

 the &quot; Utopia &quot; of the noble More ; the Forest of 

 Arden what visions of peace, what glimpses of 

 beauty, accompany every name ! To all these 

 worlds of supernal loveliness there is a single key ; 

 fortunate among men are they who hold it ! 



