AUGUST 421 



ways. To generalise on love is almost as difficult as to 

 define it ; it means such different things to different 

 people. Girls who read novels and poetry are apt to 

 think that the fancy they feel for the first man they 

 meet is the great passion which they will never get over; 

 whereas, broadly speaking, strong feeling most often 

 belongs to inconstant natures. As I think of it, real 

 love never exists until it is tried by adversity ; but I am 

 the last to deny that the real thing however you define 

 it gives dignity and nobility to life, and makes it worth 

 living. ' C'est bien a P amour qu'il en faut venir a toute 

 e"poque, en toutes circonstances, en tout pays, tant qu'on 

 veut chercher a comprendre pourquoi 1'on vit sans 

 vouloir le demander a Dieu.' 

 Thomas Moore puts it : 



When first the Fount of life was flowing, 



Heavy and dark and cold it ran, 

 Every gloomy instant growing 



Bitterer to the lips of Man ; 

 Till Love came by one lucky minute, 



Light of heart and fair of brow, 

 And flung his sweetening cordial in it, 



Proudly saying, ' Taste it now/ 



Mr. Austin has a pretty definition of love : 



'Tis a fifth season, a sixth sense, a light, 

 A warmth beyond the cunning of the sun. 



Another element ; fire, water, air, 

 Nor burn, nor quench, nor feed it, for it lives 



Steeped in its self -provided atmosphere. 



Doubt and fear were linked with it in very early 

 days, for Plotinus says of love : ' It is worth the labour 

 to consider well of Love, whether it be a god, or a devil, 

 or a passion of the mind, or partly god, partly devil, 

 partly passion.' Dr. South puts it: 'Love is the great 



