VI PREFACE. 



that he shall be quiet, and let me study and 

 understand that in my own way. If I meet with 

 any object that arrests my attention, I do not 

 wish to run over the roll of all objects of a similar 

 kind ; I want to know something about the next 

 one, and why they should be in juxtaposition. 

 If, for instance, I meet with an eagle on a moun- 

 tain cliff, I have no desire to be lectured about 

 all the birds that have clutching talons and 

 crooked beaks. That would take me from the 

 book of nature, which is before me, rob me of 

 spectacle, and give me only the story of the ex- 

 hibitor, which I have no wish either to hear or 

 to remember. I want to know why the eagle 

 is on that cliff, where there is not a thing for 

 her to eat, rather than down in the plain, where 

 prey is abundant; I want also to know what 

 good the mountain itself does, that great lump 

 of sterility and cold ; and if I find out, that the 

 cliff is the very place from which the eagle can 

 sally forth with the greatest ease and success, 

 and that the mountain is the parent of all those 

 streams that gladden the valleys and plains, I 

 am informed. Nay, more, I see a purpose in it, 

 the working of a Power mightier than that of 

 man. My thoughts ascend from mountains to 

 masses wheeling freely in absolute space. I look 

 for the boundary: I dare not even imagine it: 

 I cannot resist the conclusion " This is the 

 building of God." 



