I INTRODUCTION 9 
because it is constantly before us. For “the 
senseless folk,” says King Alfred, 
is far more struck 
At things it seldom sees. 
“Well,” says Cicero, “did Aristotle observe, 
‘If there were men whose habitations had 
been always underground, in great and com- 
modious houses, adorned with statues and 
pictures, furnished with everything which 
they who are reputed happy abound with; and 
if, without stirrmg from thence, they should 
be informed of a certain divine power and 
majesty, and, after some time, the earth should 
open, and they should quit their dark abode to 
come to us; where they should immediately 
behold the earth, the seas, the heavens; should 
consider the vast extent of the clouds and 
force of the winds; should see the sun, and 
observe his grandeur and beauty, and also his 
creative power, inasmuch as day is occasioned 
by the diffusion of his light through the sky ; 
and when night has obscured the earth, they 
should contemplate the heavens bespangled 
and adorned with stars; the surprising variety 
