262 THE LIFE OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



spirit of the ancient Greeks seemed to her in accord with 

 the times, for men had, or appeared to have, so httle 

 control over their own hves that they might well imagine 

 themselves overruled by destiny. . . .' She, too, in those 

 iron days, preserves almost alone ' the religion of the 

 primitive church ' and ' the duty of humanity to all, the 

 duty of saving and protecting life, of kindness and 

 gentleness ... a living protest against the lawlessness and 

 brutality of the time.' Felix does not oppose her, but is 

 ' simply untouched,' for his mind is too clear and his 

 knowledge of the physical sciences too great ; yet the 

 mystery of existence has impressed him in the solitary 

 forest, and though he despises superstitions, he cannot 

 shake off ' the apprehensions aroused by untoward 

 omens,' such as the stepping on an adder. In the chapter 

 on ' Superstitions,' founded on the manuscript of one who 

 had lived among the Romany and seen their worship and 

 sorceries, Felix looks eagerly at ' the strange diagrams ' 

 which might be alchemical signs, just as Bevis pores over 

 the books of magic, and as Jefferies set his mind to work 

 at the sight of markings on eggs of birds and wings of 

 butterflies, at the shape of bones and of strange beasts, 

 at the divine curves of the human body. 



