ALPINE FIELDS FOR ENGLAND 151 



Such measure would be no violent innovation ; it 

 would be a natural amplification of the hereditary 

 trend of our instinct for the beautiful. Swiss 

 mountain-fields are not like Japanese gardens : our 

 nature responds to them without affectation, for in 

 them our mind 



" Doth straight its own resemblance find." 



It is all very well for confirmed materialists to 

 say we have not to study this side of the question 

 because it is too fanciful ; it is not to be dismissed 

 by calling us mystics. Fancy has led men to much 

 that is now inseparable from their understanding, 

 and tlie mystic has stood for ages upon spots where 

 Science is only now confidently placing her foot. 

 Really and truly, too, the aesthetic aspect of life 

 comes under the head of the utilitarian, and it 

 matters more than much that is deemed material. 

 Ruskin thought that " a wood of English trees is 

 of more value to humanity than a Bank ; " but this 

 savours of too dogmatic thinking, and of the 

 extreme dream of a specialist enthusiast. Without 

 drawing invidious comparisons between the utilities 

 of life, we may say that the woods and fields have 

 an importance all their own, and that, by increas- 

 ing their beauty, we increase their importance. 



