HOME LIFE. 363 



University against the warlike temper of the students. I 

 immediately sent it on to M. Daru, with another very earnest 

 appeal.' 



It was under the influence of circumstances of this depress- 

 ing character that in May 1807 the 'Aspects of Nature' was 

 dedicated to those - oppressed spirits ' who, glad to escape from 

 the stormy waves of life, accompany me with sympathising 

 interest through the dense glades of primeval forests, across 

 immeasurable plains, and over the rugged heights of the 

 Andes. To such the following lines of the chorus speak with 

 sympathetic voice : 



Auf den Bergen ist Freiheit ! Der Hauch der Griifte 



Steigt nicht hinauf in die reinen Liifte ; 



Die Welt ist vollkommen iiberall, 



Wo der Mensch nicht hinkommt mit seiner Qual.' 1 







The same tone of sadness pervades also the following pas- 

 sages : 2 



o 



'Let those who, wearied with the tumult of discordant 

 nations, are striving to obtain the enjoyment of intellectual 

 calm, turn their attention to the silent life of vegetation, and 

 therein contemplate the mysterious processes of Nature, or, 

 yielding to those impulses implanted in man from the earliest 

 ages, let them gaze with wondering awe upon those celestial 

 orbs, which are ever pursuing, in undisturbed harmony, their 

 ancient and unchanging course.' . . . 



' Thus, when the charms of intellectual life wither, when, 

 under the relentless hand of time, the productions of creative 

 art are gradually perishing, the earth with indestructible 

 vitality is ever putting forth new life. With wondrous pro- 

 digality, Nature continues to unfold her countless buds uncon- 

 cerned, though man, with whom she ever stands at variance, 

 should, in his presumption, trample on her ripening fruit.' 



In the hope that by means of negotiation with the Emperor 

 Napoleon the burdens imposed by the shameful peace of Tilsit 

 might be somewhat diminished, the Government, in the spring 



1 ' Ansicliten der Natur/ 3rd. ed., Preface, p. 10. 



2 Ibid. vol. i. pp. 38, 286. 



