200 PROSERPINA. 



only, the epithets minima or maxima are to be understood 

 when used in ' Proserpina ' : and so also, every statement and 

 every principle is only to be understood as true or tenable, 

 respecting the plants which the writer has seen, and which 

 he is sure that the reader can easily see :. liable to modifica- 

 tion to any extent by wider experience ; but better first 

 learned securely within a narrow fence, and afterwards 

 trained or fructified, along more complex trellises. 



7. And indeed my readers at least, my newly found read- 

 ers must note always that the only power which I claim for 

 any of my books, is that of being right and true as far as 

 they reach. None of them pretend to be Kosmoses ; none 

 to be systems of Positivism or Negativism, on which the 

 earth is in future to swing instead of on its old worn-out 

 poles ; none of them to be works of genius ; none of them 

 to be, more than all true work must be, pious ; and none to 

 be, beyond the power of common people's eyes,* ears, and 

 noses, ' aesthetic.' They tell you that the world is so big, and 

 can't be made bigger that you yourself are also so big, and 

 can't be made bigger, however you puff or bloat yourself ; 

 but that, on modern mental nourishment, you may very 

 easily be made smaller. They tell you that two and two are 

 four, that ginger is hot in the mouth, that roses are red, and 

 smuts black. Not themselves assuming to be pious, they 

 yet assure you that there is such a thing as piety in the 

 world, and that it is wiser than impiety ; and not themselves 

 pretending to be works of genius, they yet assure you that 

 there is such a thing as genius in the world, and that it is 

 meant for the light and delight of the world. 



8. Into these repetitions of remarks on my work, often 

 made before, I have been led by an unlucky author who has 

 just sent me his book, advising me that it is " neither critical 

 nor sentimental " (he had better have said in plain English 

 "without either judgment or feeling"), and in which nearly 



* The bitter sorrow with which I first recognized the extreme rarity 

 of finely-developed organic sight is expressed enough in the lecture 

 on the Mystery of Life, added in the large edition of ' Sesame and 

 Lilies.' 





