ESOTERIC PERIPATETICISM. 203 



"Who loves not Knowledge? Who shall rail against 

 her beauty ? " 



Not we, certainly ; but we will be bold to 

 add, with Tennyson himself, 



" Let her know her place ; 

 She is the second, not the first." 



In treating a theme of this kind, it is 

 hard not to violate Nature's own method, 

 and fall into a strain of exhortation. Our 

 intercourse with her is so good and whole- 

 some, such an inexhaustible and ever-ready 

 resource against the world's trouble and un- 

 rest, that we would gladly have everybody 

 to share it. We say, over and over, with 

 Emerson, 



" If I could put my woods in song, 

 And tell what 's there enjoyed, 

 All men would to my gardens throng, 

 And leave the cities void." 



But this may not be. At best, words can 

 only hint at sensations ; and the hint can 

 be taken only by as many as are predestined 

 to hear it. As I have said, the doctrine is 

 esoteric. How are those who have never 

 felt the like to understand the satisfaction 

 with which I recall a certain five or ten 

 minutes of a cool morning in May, a year 



