THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. 223 



of James VI., remarks on " works worthy of memory 

 which, lacking some mighty Maecenas to encourage them, 

 might perchance IDC buried with eternal silence." For 

 no one can tell how many a soul sublime has felt the 

 influence of malignant star and dropped into the grave 

 unpitied and unknown. As the loveliest flower may be 

 born to blush unseen, so may their lot doom to nothing- 

 ness many a soul quite as great as a Hampden, a Milton, 

 or a Cromwell. It is not necessary that the fittest 

 should survive. Survival of the fittest is a brocard 

 false. Who shall say that alone the seed was good that 

 fell on the good ground, and alone the bad that fell on 

 the bad ? Endless night lies on those that want the 

 poet. 



" Paulum sepultse diktat inertiae 

 Celata virtus." l 



1 That from M. Jules Verne (p. 209) ought to have been followed 

 by a passage from Mr. R. M. Ballantyne, who (The Dog Crusot, 

 p. 261) writes thus: "Animal life swarmed on hill and dale. 

 Woods and valleys, plains and ravines teemed with it." Then he 

 names, as in " profusion " together, " red deer in herds, beavers, 

 otters, racoons, the martin, the black fox, and the wolf, sheep, goat", 

 badgers, wild-horses, elks, bears, black, brown, and grizzly." The 

 whole passage is a very strong one, and from a man who had really 

 seen the Rocky Mountains and the valleys in them. 



