214 LOVERS OF NATURE 



there was any special brilliancy either — no- 

 thing near as sharp as I have seen of keen win- 

 ter nights, but a curious general luminousness 

 throughout to sight, sense, and soul. The latter 

 had much to do with it. . . . l!^ow, indeed, 

 if never before, the heavens declared the glory 

 of God. It was to the full the sky of the Bible, 

 01 Arabia, of the prophets, and of the oldest 

 poems. " 



Or this touch of a January night on the Del- 

 aware River : — 



"Overhead, the splendor indescribable; yet 

 something haughty, almost supercilious, in the 

 night; never did I realize more latent senti- 

 ment, almost 2^(^881071, in the silent intermin- 

 able stars up there. One can understand on such 

 a night why, from the days of the Pharaohs or 

 Job, the dome of heaven, sprinkled with planets, 

 has supplied the subtlest, deepest criticism on 

 human pride, glory, ambition." 



Matthew Arnold quotes this passage from 

 Obermann as showing a rare feeling for na- 

 ture : — 



"My path lay beside the green waters of the 

 Thiele. Feeling inclined to muse, and finding 

 the night so warm that there was no hardship 

 in being all night out of doors, I took the road 

 to Saint Blaise. I descended a steep bank, 

 and got upon the shore of the lake where its 

 ripple Game up and expired. The air was 

 calm; every one was at rest; I remained there 

 for hours. Toward morning the moon shed 

 over the earth and waters the ineffable melan- 



