ESOTERIC PERIPATETICISM. 197 



can, into communion with the spirit of the 

 scene. 



After all, it is next to nothing we are 

 able to tell of the pleasures of such fellow- 

 ship. We cannot define them to ourselves, 

 though they are "felt in the blood and 

 felt along the heart," much less to an- 

 other. Least of all need we attempt to ex- 

 plain them to any Philistine ; the walls of 

 whose house are likely enough hung with 

 " chromos," but who stares at you for a 

 fool or a sentimentalist (which comes, per- 

 haps, to nearly the same thing), when he 

 catches you standing still before one of 

 Nature's pictures. How shall one blest 

 with a feeling for the woods put into lan- 

 guage the delight he experiences in saun- 

 tering along their shady aisles ? He enjoys 

 the stillness, the sense of seclusion, the 

 flicker of sunlight and shadow, the rustle 

 of leaves, the insect's hum, the passing of 

 the chance butterfly, the chirp of the bird, 

 or its full-voiced song, the tracery of lichens 

 on rock and tree, the tuft of ferns, the car- 

 pet of moss, the brightness of blossom and 

 fruit, all the numberless sights and sounds 

 of the forest ; but it is not any of these, nor 



