8i6 WILLIAM HERBERT HOBBS 



After first treating of the continents, Professor Suess at the 

 opening of his second volume thus turns his attention to the oceans : 



We have descended from the high mountain country and taken our station 

 at the borders of the sea. The eye roams untrammeled over the vast expanse 

 of water. A great wave approaches; it seems about to reach us; then its 

 crest curls forward, it plunges downward, and with a dull roar the watery 

 flood sweeps far up toward us though without wetting our feet. Now the 

 water streams back and a long green line of sea-weed marks the limit of its 

 advance. Then follows a second and soon a third wave, and from time to time 

 one somewhat higher than the others which whirls the sea-weed still farther 

 up the b'^'ach and drives us back to the foot of the cliff. 



The roll of the water is repeated like the refrain of a mighty anthem. For 

 hours we could be held captive by the sublimity of the spectacle. But now 

 the crest of the wave is breaking at a greater distance from us, and soon the 

 lowest position of the ebb will be reached. Then the ocean rises and all the 

 abandoned streaks of white mussel shells and the green coils of sea-weed are 

 gathered up again as the foot of the wave advances farther and farther. When 

 six hours have elapsed the point is again reached where we first took up our 

 position, and once more the water laps at the foot of the cliff. 



Thus to a stately measure the heavenly bodies move the swaying ocean 

 and bring about its advance and retreat upon the strand.^ 



One other selection may be chosen to afford some idea of the 

 force and beauty of Professor Suess's literary style: 



It is the twentieth of June of the year 1320. The bells are ringing in the 

 bright Sabbath morning and the crowd is saluting with respect a tall and serious 

 figure — the great Dante — who with slightly bowed head is entering the chapel 

 of Santa Helena. 



All that can stir the human soul he has felt, and in the realm of the imagi- 

 nation he has traveled greater distances than any mortal before him. The 

 loss of his Beatrice he has survived, and that of his emperor from whom he 

 had awaited a better future for his Fatherland. Now fleeing from the hatred 

 of his own city he has found refuge at the court of the leaders of the North 



Italian Ghibellines With a gift for picture-writing never before equaled 



he has led his astounded contemporaries up to the abode of the saints and 

 down into the depths of the lower world. Now today he is returning to the 

 starting-point of his most powerful creation, to the critical examination of that 

 which is greater than all the conceptions of poetry — the actual ordering of the 

 universe. 



Professor Suess's activity in the political life of Vienna has 

 been somewhat overshadowed by his distinction as a scholar, but 



' Author's translation. 



