Sor] AND SYMBOLS. 329 



take into account its under-currents. The " sounding line " of 

 any one of a hundred biographical histories will enable you to 

 discover that the throne, the parliament, the church, and all 

 imperial institutions, are vastly influenced by a variety of 

 under-currents. Logic, courtesy, and religion are on the sur- 

 face, but underneath them all there are bad under-currents 

 which sweep along with a " swigging force." T. 



The Music of Solitude. 



The nightingale is celebrated all over the world for its song, 

 which without doubt is superior to that of all other birds. 

 Naturally shy, it retires into the freshest and most sheltered 

 and secluded places, rarely exposing itself to observation. 

 Brushwood and thickets, witch-elms and evergreen trees, grow- 

 ing on the banks of some retired water-course, are its favourite 

 dwellings. In its seclusion it sings not only during the day 

 but also in the night ; but let any discordant noise approach 

 its retreat and it stops instantly. It seems to love solitude 

 above all things. The soul of the poet resembles the nightin- 

 gale in this ; for it is in the retirement of lonely hills and 

 valleys, away from all the clatter of the world, that the poet 

 becomes, as Landor says, " the serene creator of immortal things," 

 of which he discourses in delightful spiritual melody. The 

 soul's purest music is only heard in solitude, "far from the 

 maddening crowd." RE. 



Sorrow Mitigating Anger. 



Dry air is a bad conductor, and favours undue electrical ac- 

 cumulations ; but moist air is a good conductor, and drains the 

 electricity harmlessly from the atmosphere. Each drop of rain 

 as it falls becomes freighted with some of the superabundant 

 electricity, and carries it off in safety to the earth. The falling 

 torrent, moreover, soaks house, tower, and tree, and shrub, 

 and thus adds to the facility with which they conduct the 

 fluid harmlessly from the air. Anger resembles the light- 

 ning, and sorrow the rain. So long as anger rages in its own 



