i INTRODUCTION 11 



were regarded as often mischievous, and apt 

 to take offence ; sometimes as essentially 

 malevolent- even the most beautiful, like 

 the Venus of Tannhauser, being often on that 

 very account all the more dangerous ; while 

 the Mountains and Forests, the Lakes and 

 Seas, were the abodes of hideous ghosts and 

 horrible monsters, of Giants and Ogres, Sor- 

 cerers and Demons. These fears, though 

 vague, were none the less extreme, and the 

 judicial records of the Middle Ages furnish 

 only too conclusive evidence that they were 

 a terrible reality. The light of Science has 

 now happily dispelled these fearful nightmares. 

 Unfortunately, however, as men have mul- 

 tiplied, their energies have hitherto tended, 

 not to beautify, but to mar. Forests have 

 been cut down, and replaced by flat fields in 

 geometrical squares, or on the continent by 

 narrow strips. Here and there indeed we 

 meet with oases, in which beauty has not 

 been sacrificed to profit, and it is then happily 

 found that not only is there no loss, but the 

 earth seems to reward even more richly those 

 who treat her with love and respect. 



