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- 



