OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



ideal, in the mind ? It does ; much the 

 same ideal that Phidias sculptured of 

 man and woman filled with a godlike 

 sense of the violet fields of grace, beauti- 

 ful beyond thought, calm as my turtle- 

 dove before the lurid lightning of the 

 unknown. To be beautiful and to be 

 calm, without mental fear, is the ideal 

 of Nature. If I cannot achieve it, at 

 least I can think it— 'The Life of the 

 Fields ' : The Pageant of Summer. 



SO trustful are the doves, the squir- 

 rels, the birds of the branches, 

 and the creatures of the field. 

 Under their tuition let us rid ourselves 

 of mental terrors, and face death itself 

 as calmly as they do the livid lightning ; 

 so trustful and so content with their fate, 

 resting in themselves and unappalled. 

 If but by reason and will I could reach 

 the godlike calm and courage of what 

 we so thoughtlessly call the timid turtle- 



57 



