The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



to doubt. " The more 1 observe and experi- 

 ment, the more I feel rising before me, in the 

 cloudy blackness of the possible, a vast note 

 of interrogation." We might even find that 

 on certain occasions the fear of going astray 

 has caused him to limit to excess the range 

 of his interpretation. But this is done only 

 to give greater weight to his assertions, 

 wherever they are expressed firmly and with 

 quiet assurance. In short, there is reason 

 to subscribe to the flattering judgment of 

 his first biographer, who sees in the Souve- 

 nirs not only the most wonderful entomo- 

 logical repertory, but a true " essay upon 

 method," which should be read by every 

 naturalist, and the most interesting, instruc- 

 tive, familiar, and delightful course of train- 

 ing that has ever been known." ^ 



The most interesting, instructive, and de- 

 lightful course of training: his books are 

 this, not only in virtue of the writer's 

 method and point of view, but in virtue of 

 his language. For the living scenes of the 

 SouvenirSj as well as the interpretations in- 

 terspersed between them, are expressed in 

 words so simple and so well chosen that 



1 Fabre, Poet of Science, G. V. Legros, translated by 

 Bernard Miall, pp. 159-160. 



320 



