Gothic Horror 219 



in the gloom beneath as of a groping beetle, 

 thrills like the rhythm of some single marvellous 

 verse that is learned in a glance and remembered 

 forever. Yet the delight, even at its vividest, is 

 shadowed by a queer disquiet. The aspect of 

 that monstrous, pale, naked, smooth -stretching 

 column suggests a life as conscious as the ser- 

 pent's. You stare at the towering lines of the 

 shape, vaguely fearing to discern some sign of 

 stealthy movement, some beginning of undula- 

 tion. Then sight and reason combine to correct 

 the suspicion. Yes, motion is there, and life 

 enormous but a life seeking only sun, life, 

 rushing like the jet of a geyser, straight to the 

 giant day. 



Ill 



DURING my own experience I could perceive 

 that certain feelings commingled in the wave of 

 delight, feelings related to ideas of power and 

 splendor and triumph, were accompanied by a 

 faint sense of religious awe. Perhaps our modern 

 aesthetic sentiments are so interwoven with vari- 

 ous inherited elements of religious emotionalism 

 that the recognition of beauty cannot arise inde- 



