i8o THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



semi-rural place one is near to the river, the 

 fields, and the woods. It is not altogether a 

 desertion of the country. Jefferies could not 

 leave the country altogether. It was necessary 

 for him to breathe the fresh air of the turf and 

 the fragrance of the newly-turned clods. He 

 could not live, much less work, unless he did 

 this. As for his work, that was daily suggested 

 and stimulated by this continual communing 

 with Nature. Poverty might prick him it 

 might make him uneasy for the moment it 

 never made him unhappy but unless his 

 brain was full to overflowing, he could not 

 work. Out of the abundance of his heart his 

 mouth spoke. It seems, indeed, futile to regret- 

 that such a man as this did not make a more 

 practical advantage to himself out of his 

 success. He could not. If a man cannot, he 

 cannot. Just as in scientific observation 

 there is a personal equation, so in the conduct 

 of life there is a personal limitation. Some 

 unknown force holds back a man when he 

 has reached a certain point. The life of 

 every man, rightly studied, shows his personal 

 limitation. But without the whole life of a 



