362 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



you will put us down for two guineas.' All 

 those who are country born and bred, and 

 have a heart inside their body, have always 

 recognised and admired poor Jefferies' writiDg. 

 Shall I say what I think and know, that in 

 all our literature until now he has never had 

 a rival, and that it is most likely he will 

 never be equalled ? In a hundred years he 

 will be only more truly appreciated than at 

 present. The number of men who combine 

 the love and the knowledge of literary work 

 is more limited, perhaps, in this age than in 

 any previous one. Few people, again, of in- 

 telligence and refinement of heart and mind 

 live completely in the country, and much, very 

 much of his work, will be always unintelligible 

 to those who cannot exist in a country-house 

 unless it is full of frequently-changing guests. 

 I have been trying by a different art for thirty 

 years equal to almost the whole of his life 

 on earth to convey an idea to others of some 

 such subjects, and I feel with shame that in 

 the work of half a year I do not get so near 

 the heart and truth of Nature as he in one 



