CHAPTER XI 



THE PROFESSOR: AVIGNON (CONTINUED) 



I 



N sketching for the reader's benefit, the 

 characteristic features of the Avignon nat- 

 uralist, always busy with his researches, and 

 always on the alert for fresh discoveries, we 

 venture to flatter ourselves that we have 

 placed before him one of the most accom- 

 plished and attractive types of that harmoni- 

 ous synthesis of industry and genius, which 

 alone is capable of engendering great achieve- 

 ments, and which was so ably defined by the 

 Latin poet in the words : 



"... Ego nee studium sine divite vena, 

 Nee rude quid possit video ingenium. Alterius sic 

 Altera poscit opem res et conjurat amice." 1 



It will be no less interesting to see by what 

 varied and concurrent circumstances, by what 

 personal interventions, a virtuosity and an ac- 

 tivity so well co-ordinated were stimulated, 

 directed and controlled, sustained and pro- 



1 Horace, Ars Poetica, 409 et seq. 



143 



