HIS POWER AS A GEOLOGIST. 321 



breathe from the Lyre of Inspiration, when swept by 

 the Spirit of God. And yet the harp of Orpheus does 

 exert an auxiliary power. It is of the nature of its 

 songs, so rich in the human sympathies, so charged 

 with the thoughts, the imaginings, the hopes, the wishes, 

 which it is the constitution of humanity to conceive and 

 entertain, it is of their nature to make us feel that the 

 nations are all of one blood, that man is our brother, 

 and the world our country.' 



Though this book is less geological than most of his 

 other works, there is none, I think, in which his power 

 as a geologist is more characteristically displayed. As 

 a naturalist, as a paleontologist, he has been often ex- 

 celled; but as a geologist, in the strict sense of the term, 

 as one whose aim it is to see the rocky bones of a country 

 beneath its robe of broidered green, he will not easily be 

 matched. For this his work in the quarry, his fifteen 

 years' journeying through various geological districts, 

 had been an education, potent and precious, before he 

 thought of formally studying geology. England was 

 new to him, and he had but a few weeks in which to 

 make himself acquainted with its geological aspects ; yet 

 he apprehended every essential feature of English land- 

 scape, and sets before us, in brief, rapid, vivid outline, 

 the geological anatomy of the country. The breadth of 

 his handling is superb, revealing the artist and the 

 master. And when he deals with intricate and com- 

 plex matters, when he gets among the coal-measures 

 and the salt-works, his lucidity is as remarkable as his 

 breadth. The light never is so dazzling as to obscure 

 the object on which it falls ; and yet we feel that the 

 light itself is pleasant to the eyes, and that its touch 

 lends beauty to that which it illumines. 



' Sir, you have an eye/ Pope's friends in need, when 



VOL. II. 21 



