48 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



As for us, we listened to the voice of this 

 master for ten years ; we shall hear no more 

 of his discourses ; but the old ones remain ; we 

 can go back to them again and again. It is 

 the quality of truthful work that it never 

 grows old or stale ; one can return to it again 

 and again ; there is always something fresh in 

 it, something new. In a great poem the lines 

 always bring some new thought to the mind ; 

 in great music, the harmonies always call forth 

 some fresh emotion, and inspire some new 

 thought ; in a true book there is always some 

 new truth to be discovered. If all the rest of 

 the literature of this day prove ephemeral 

 and is doomed to swift oblivion, the work of 

 Jefferies shall not perish. Our fashions change, 

 and the things of which we write become old 

 and pass away. But the everlasting hills 

 abide, and the meadows still lie green and 

 flowery, and the roses and wild honeysuckle 

 still blossom in the hedge. And those who 

 have written of these are so few, and their 

 words are so precious, that they shall not pass 

 away, so long as their tongue endureth to be 

 spoken and to be read. 



