Nature

from Essays: Second Series (1844)

The rounded world is fair to see, Nine times folded in mystery: Though baffled seers cannot im art The secret of its laboring heart, Throb thine with Nature!s throbbing breast, "nd all is clear from east to west# S irit that lur$s each form within %ec$ons to s irit of its $in& Self'$indled e(ery atom glows, "nd hints the future which it owes# Essay VI Nature There are days which occur in this climate, at almost any season of the year, wherein the world reaches its erfection, when the air, the hea(enly bodies, and the earth, ma$e a harmony, as if nature would indulge her offs ring& when, in these blea$ u er sides of the lanet, nothing is to desire that we ha(e heard of the ha iest latitudes, and we bas$ in the shining hours of )lorida and *uba& when e(erything that has life gi(es sign of satisfaction, and the cattle that lie on the ground seem to ha(e great and tran+uil thoughts# These halcyons may be loo$ed for with a little more assurance in that ure ,ctober weather, which we distinguish by the name of the -ndian Summer# The day, immeasurably long, slee s o(er the broad hills and warm wide fields# To ha(e li(ed through all its sunny hours, seems longe(ity enough# The solitary laces do not seem +uite lonely# "t the gates of the forest, the sur rised man of the world is forced to lea(e his city estimates of great and small, wise and foolish# The $na sac$ of custom falls off his bac$ with the first ste he ma$es into these recincts# .ere is sanctity which shames our religions, and reality which discredits our heroes# .ere we find nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs e(ery other circumstance, and /udges li$e a god all men that come to her# 0e ha(e cre t out of our close and crowded houses into the night and morning, and we see what ma/estic beauties daily wra us in their bosom# .ow willingly we would esca e the barriers which render them com arati(ely im otent, esca e the so histication and second thought, and suffer nature to intrance us# The tem ered light of the woods is li$e a er etual morning, and is stimulating and heroic# The anciently re orted s ells of these laces cree on us# The stems of ines, hemloc$s, and oa$s, almost gleam li$e iron on the e1cited eye# The incommunicable trees begin to ersuade us to li(e with them, and +uit our life of solemn trifles# .ere no history, or church, or state, is inter olated on the di(ine s$y and the immortal year# .ow easily we might wal$ onward into the o ening landsca e, absorbed by new ictures, and by thoughts fast succeeding each other, until by degrees the recollection of home was crowded out of the mind, all memory obliterated by the tyranny of the resent, and we were led in trium h by nature#

These enchantments are medicinal, they sober and heal us# These are lain leasures, $indly and nati(e to us# 0e come to our own, and ma$e friends with matter, which the ambitious chatter of the schools would ersuade us to des ise# 0e ne(er can art with it& the mind lo(es its old home: as water to our thirst, so is the roc$, the ground, to our eyes, and hands, and feet# -t is firm water: it is cold flame: what health, what affinity2 E(er an old friend, e(er li$e a dear friend and brother, when we chat affectedly with strangers, comes in this honest face, and ta$es a gra(e liberty with us, and shames us out of our nonsense# *ities gi(e not the human senses room enough# 0e go out daily and nightly to feed the eyes on the hori3on, and re+uire so much sco e, /ust as we need water for our bath# There are all degrees of natural influence, from these +uarantine owers of nature, u to her dearest and gra(est ministrations to the imagination and the soul# There is the buc$et of cold water from the s ring, the wood'fire to which the chilled tra(eller rushes for safety, 4 and there is the sublime moral of autumn and of noon# 0e nestle in nature, and draw our li(ing as arasites from her roots and grains, and we recei(e glances from the hea(enly bodies, which call us to solitude, and foretell the remotest future# The blue 3enith is the oint in which romance and reality meet# - thin$, if we should be ra t away into all that we dream of hea(en, and should con(erse with 5abriel and 6riel, the u er s$y would be all that would remain of our furniture# -t seems as if the day was not wholly rofane, in which we ha(e gi(en heed to some natural ob/ect# The fall of snowfla$es in a still air, reser(ing to each crystal its erfect form& the blowing of sleet o(er a wide sheet of water, and o(er lains, the wa(ing rye'field, the mimic wa(ing of acres of houstonia, whose innumerable florets whiten and ri le before the eye& the reflections of trees and flowers in glassy la$es& the musical steaming odorous south wind, which con(erts all trees to windhar s& the crac$ling and s urting of hemloc$ in the flames& or of ine logs, which yield glory to the walls and faces in the sittingroom, 4 these are the music and ictures of the most ancient religion# 7y house stands in low land, with limited outloo$, and on the s$irt of the (illage# %ut - go with my friend to the shore of our little ri(er, and with one stro$e of the addle, - lea(e the (illage olitics and ersonalities, yes, and the world of (illages and ersonalities behind, and ass into a delicate realm of sunset and moonlight, too bright almost for s otted man to enter without no(iciate and robation# 0e enetrate bodily this incredible beauty& we di our hands in this ainted element: our eyes are bathed in these lights and forms# " holiday, a (illeggiatura, a royal re(el, the roudest, most heart're/oicing festi(al that (alor and beauty, ower and taste, e(er dec$ed and en/oyed, establishes itself on the instant# These sunset clouds, these delicately emerging stars, with their ri(ate and ineffable glances, signify it and roffer it# - am taught the oorness of our in(ention, the ugliness of towns and alaces# "rt and lu1ury ha(e early learned that they must wor$ as enhancement and se+uel to this original beauty# - am o(er'instructed for my return# .enceforth - shall be hard to lease# - cannot go bac$ to toys# - am grown e1 ensi(e and so histicated# - can no longer li(e without elegance: but a countryman shall be my master of re(els# .e who $nows the most, he who $nows what sweets and (irtues are in the ground, the waters, the lants, the hea(ens, and how to come at these enchantments, is the rich and royal man# ,nly as far as the masters of the world ha(e called in nature to their aid, can they reach the height of magnificence# This is the meaning of their hanging'gardens, (illas, garden'houses, islands, ar$s, and reser(es, to bac$

their faulty ersonality with these strong accessories# - do not wonder that the landed interest should be in(incible in the state with these dangerous au1iliaries# These bribe and in(ite& not $ings, not alaces, not men, not women, but these tender and oetic stars, elo+uent of secret romises# 0e heard what the rich man said, we $new of his (illa, his gro(e, his wine, and his com any, but the ro(ocation and oint of the in(itation came out of these beguiling stars# -n their soft glances, - see what men stro(e to reali3e in some 8ersailles, or 9a hos, or *tesi hon# -ndeed, it is the magical lights of the hori3on, and the blue s$y for the bac$ground, which sa(e all our wor$s of art, which were otherwise bawbles# 0hen the rich ta1 the oor with ser(ility and obse+uiousness, they should consider the effect of men re uted to be the ossessors of nature, on imaginati(e minds# "h2 if the rich were rich as the oor fancy riches2 " boy hears a military band lay on the field at night, and he has $ings and +ueens, and famous chi(alry al ably before him# .e hears the echoes of a horn in a hill country, in the Notch 7ountains, for e1am le, which con(erts the mountains into an "eolian har , and this su ernatural tiralira restores to him the :orian mythology, " ollo, :iana, and all di(ine hunters and huntresses# *an a musical note be so lofty, so haughtily beautiful2 To the oor young oet, thus fabulous is his icture of society& he is loyal& he res ects the rich& they are rich for the sa$e of his imagination& how oor his fancy would be, if they were not rich2 That they ha(e some high'fenced gro(e, which they call a ar$& that they li(e in larger and better'garnished saloons than he has (isited, and go in coaches, $ee ing only the society of the elegant, to watering' laces, and to distant cities, are the groundwor$ from which he has delineated estates of romance, com ared with which their actual ossessions are shanties and addoc$s# The muse herself betrays her son, and enhances the gifts of wealth and well'born beauty, by a radiation out of the air, and clouds, and forests that s$irt the road, 4 a certain haughty fa(or, as if from atrician genii to atricians, a $ind of aristocracy in nature, a rince of the ower of the air# The moral sensibility which ma$es Edens and Tem es so easily, may not be always found, but the material landsca e is ne(er far off# 0e can find these enchantments without (isiting the *omo ;a$e, or the 7adeira -slands# 0e e1aggerate the raises of local scenery# -n e(ery landsca e, the oint of astonishment is the meeting of the s$y and the earth, and that is seen from the first hilloc$ as well as from the to of the "lleghanies# The stars at night stoo down o(er the brownest, homeliest common, with all the s iritual magnificence which they shed on the *am agna, or on the marble deserts of Egy t# The u rolled clouds and the colors of morning and e(ening, will transfigure ma les and alders# The difference between landsca e and landsca e is small, but there is great difference in the beholders# There is nothing so wonderful in any articular landsca e, as the necessity of being beautiful under which e(ery landsca e lies# Nature cannot be sur rised in undress# %eauty brea$s in e(erywhere# %ut it is (ery easy to outrun the sym athy of readers on this to ic, which schoolmen called natura naturata, or nature assi(e# ,ne can hardly s ea$ directly of it without e1cess# -t is as easy to broach in mi1ed com anies what is called <the sub/ect of religion#< " susce tible erson does not li$e to indulge his tastes in this $ind, without the a ology of some tri(ial necessity: he goes to see a wood'lot, or to loo$ at the cro s, or to fetch a lant or a mineral from a remote

locality, or he carries a fowling iece, or a fishing'rod# - su ose this shame must ha(e a good reason# " dilettantism in nature is barren and unworthy# The fo of fields is no better than his brother of %roadway# 7en are naturally hunters and in+uisiti(e of wood'craft, and - su ose that such a ga3etteer as wood'cutters and -ndians should furnish facts for, would ta$e lace in the most sum tuous drawingrooms of all the <0reaths< and <)lora!s cha lets< of the boo$sho s& yet ordinarily, whether we are too clumsy for so subtle a to ic, or from whate(er cause, as soon as men begin to write on nature, they fall into eu huism# )ri(olity is a most unfit tribute to 9an, who ought to be re resented in the mythology as the most continent of gods# - would not be fri(olous before the admirable reser(e and rudence of time, yet - cannot renounce the right of returning often to this old to ic# The multitude of false churches accredits the true religion# ;iterature, oetry, science, are the homage of man to this unfathomed secret, concerning which no sane man can affect an indifference or incuriosity# Nature is lo(ed by what is best in us# -t is lo(ed as the city of 5od, although, or rather because there is no citi3en# The sunset is unli$e anything that is underneath it: it wants men# "nd the beauty of nature must always seem unreal and moc$ing, until the landsca e has human figures, that are as good as itself# -f there were good men, there would ne(er be this ra ture in nature# -f the $ing is in the alace, nobody loo$s at the walls# -t is when he is gone, and the house is filled with grooms and ga3ers, that we turn from the eo le, to find relief in the ma/estic men that are suggested by the ictures and the architecture# The critics who com lain of the sic$ly se aration of the beauty of nature from the thing to be done, must consider that our hunting of the ictures+ue is inse arable from our rotest against false society# 7an is fallen& nature is erect, and ser(es as a differential thermometer, detecting the resence or absence of the di(ine sentiment in man# %y fault of our dulness and selfishness, we are loo$ing u to nature, but when we are con(alescent, nature will loo$ u to us# 0e see the foaming broo$ with com unction: if our own life flowed with the right energy, we should shame the broo$# The stream of 3eal s ar$les with real fire, and not with refle1 rays of sun and moon# Nature may be as selfishly studied as trade# "stronomy to the selfish becomes astrology& sychology, mesmerism (with intent to show where our s oons are gone)& and anatomy and hysiology, become hrenology and almistry# %ut ta$ing timely warning, and lea(ing many things unsaid on this to ic, let us not longer omit our homage to the Efficient Nature, natura naturans, the +uic$ cause, before which all forms flee as the dri(en snows, itself secret, its wor$s dri(en before it in floc$s and multitudes, (as the ancient re resented nature by 9roteus, a she herd,) and in undescribable (ariety# -t ublishes itself in creatures, reaching from articles and s icula, through transformation on transformation to the highest symmetries, arri(ing at consummate results without a shoc$ or a lea # " little heat, that is, a little motion, is all that differences the bald, da33ling white, and deadly cold oles of the earth from the rolific tro ical climates# "ll changes ass without (iolence, by reason of the two cardinal conditions of boundless s ace and boundless time# 5eology has initiated us into the secularity of nature, and taught us to disuse our dame' school measures, and e1change our 7osaic and 9tolemaic schemes for her large style# 0e $new nothing rightly, for want of ers ecti(e# Now we learn what atient eriods must round themsel(es before the roc$ is formed, then before the roc$ is bro$en, and the first lichen race has disintegrated the thinnest

e1ternal late into soil, and o ened the door for the remote )lora, )auna, *eres, and 9omona, to come in# .ow far off yet is the trilobite2 how far the +uadru ed2 how inconcei(ably remote is man2 "ll duly arri(e, and then race after race of men# -t is a long way from granite to the oyster& farther yet to 9lato, and the reaching of the immortality of the soul# =et all must come, as surely as the first atom has two sides# 7otion or change, and identity or rest, are the first and second secrets of nature: 7otion and >est# The whole code of her laws may be written on the thumbnail, or the signet of a ring# The whirling bubble on the surface of a broo$, admits us to the secret of the mechanics of the s$y# E(ery shell on the beach is a $ey to it# " little water made to rotate in a cu e1 lains the formation of the sim ler shells& the addition of matter from year to year, arri(es at last at the most com le1 forms& and yet so oor is nature with all her craft, that, from the beginning to the end of the uni(erse, she has but one stuff, 4 but one stuff with its two ends, to ser(e u all her dream'li$e (ariety# *om ound it how she will, star, sand, fire, water, tree, man, it is still one stuff, and betrays the same ro erties# Nature is always consistent, though she feigns to contra(ene her own laws# She $ee s her laws, and seems to transcend them# She arms and e+ui s an animal to find its lace and li(ing in the earth, and, at the same time, she arms and e+ui s another animal to destroy it# S ace e1ists to di(ide creatures& but by clothing the sides of a bird with a few feathers, she gi(es him a etty omni resence# The direction is fore(er onward, but the artist still goes bac$ for materials, and begins again with the first elements on the most ad(anced stage: otherwise, all goes to ruin# -f we loo$ at her wor$, we seem to catch a glance of a system in transition# 9lants are the young of the world, (essels of health and (igor& but they gro e e(er u ward towards consciousness& the trees are im erfect men, and seem to bemoan their im risonment, rooted in the ground# The animal is the no(ice and robationer of a more ad(anced order# The men, though young, ha(ing tasted the first dro from the cu of thought, are already dissi ated: the ma les and ferns are still uncorru t& yet no doubt, when they come to consciousness, they too will curse and swear# )lowers so strictly belong to youth, that we adult men soon come to feel, that their beautiful generations concern not us: we ha(e had our day& now let the children ha(e theirs# The flowers /ilt us, and we are old bachelors with our ridiculous tenderness# Things are so strictly related, that according to the s$ill of the eye, from any one ob/ect the arts and ro erties of any other may be redicted# -f we had eyes to see it, a bit of stone from the city wall would certify us of the necessity that man must e1ist, as readily as the city# That identity ma$es us all one, and reduces to nothing great inter(als on our customary scale# 0e tal$ of de(iations from natural life, as if artificial life were not also natural# The smoothest curled courtier in the boudoirs of a alace has an animal nature, rude and aboriginal as a white bear, omni otent to its own ends, and is directly related, there amid essences and billetsdou1, to .immaleh mountain'chains, and the a1is of the globe# -f we consider how much we are nature!s, we need not be su erstitious about towns, as if that terrific or benefic force did not find us there also, and fashion cities# Nature who made the mason, made the house# 0e may easily hear too much of rural influences# The cool disengaged air of natural ob/ects, ma$es them en(iable to us, chafed and irritable creatures with red faces, and we

thin$ we shall be as grand as they, if we cam out and eat roots& but let us be men instead of woodchuc$s, and the oa$ and the elm shall gladly ser(e us, though we sit in chairs of i(ory on car ets of sil$# This guiding identity runs through all the sur rises and contrasts of the iece, and characteri3es e(ery law# 7an carries the world in his head, the whole astronomy and chemistry sus ended in a thought# %ecause the history of nature is charactered in his brain, therefore is he the ro het and disco(erer of her secrets# E(ery $nown fact in natural science was di(ined by the resentiment of somebody, before it was actually (erified# " man does not tie his shoe without recognising laws which bind the farthest regions of nature: moon, lant, gas, crystal, are concrete geometry and numbers# *ommon sense $nows its own, and recognises the fact at first sight in chemical e1 eriment# The common sense of )ran$lin, :alton, :a(y, and %lac$, is the same common sense which made the arrangements which now it disco(ers# -f the identity e1 resses organi3ed rest, the counter action runs also into organi3ation# The astronomers said, !5i(e us matter, and a little motion, and we will construct the uni(erse# -t is not enough that we should ha(e matter, we must also ha(e a single im ulse, one sho(e to launch the mass, and generate the harmony of the centrifugal and centri etal forces# ,nce hea(e the ball from the hand, and we can show how all this mighty order grew#! 4 !" (ery unreasonable ostulate,! said the meta hysicians, !and a lain begging of the +uestion# *ould you not re(ail to $now the genesis of ro/ection, as well as the continuation of it?! Nature, meanwhile, had not waited for the discussion, but, right or wrong, bestowed the im ulse, and the balls rolled# -t was no great affair, a mere ush, but the astronomers were right in ma$ing much of it, for there is no end to the conse+uences of the act# That famous aboriginal ush ro agates itself through all the balls of the system, and through e(ery atom of e(ery ball, through all the races of creatures, and through the history and erformances of e(ery indi(idual# E1aggeration is in the course of things# Nature sends no creature, no man into the world, without adding a small e1cess of his ro er +uality# 5i(en the lanet, it is still necessary to add the im ulse& so, to e(ery creature nature added a little (iolence of direction in its ro er ath, a sho(e to ut it on its way& in e(ery instance, a slight generosity, a dro too much# 0ithout electricity the air would rot, and without this (iolence of direction, which men and women ha(e, without a s ice of bigot and fanatic, no e1citement, no efficiency# 0e aim abo(e the mar$, to hit the mar$# E(ery act hath some falsehood of e1aggeration in it# "nd when now and then comes along some sad, shar 'eyed man, who sees how altry a game is layed, and refuses to lay, but blabs the secret& 4 how then? is the bird flown? , no, the wary Nature sends a new troo of fairer forms, of lordlier youths, with a little more e1cess of direction to hold them fast to their se(eral aim& ma$es them a little wrongheaded in that direction in which they are rightest, and on goes the game again with new whirl, for a generation or two more# The child with his sweet ran$s, the fool of his senses, commanded by e(ery sight and sound, without any ower to com are and ran$ his sensations, abandoned to a whistle or a ainted chi , to a lead dragoon, or a gingerbread' dog, indi(iduali3ing e(erything, generali3ing nothing, delighted with e(ery new thing, lies down at night o(er owered by the fatigue, which this day of continual retty madness has incurred# %ut Nature has answered her ur ose with the curly, dim led lunatic# She has tas$ed e(ery faculty, and has secured the

symmetrical growth of the bodily frame, by all these attitudes and e1ertions, 4 an end of the first im ortance, which could not be trusted to any care less erfect than her own# This glitter, this o aline lustre lays round the to of e(ery toy to his eye, to ensure his fidelity, and he is decei(ed to his good# 0e are made ali(e and $e t ali(e by the same arts# ;et the stoics say what they lease, we do not eat for the good of li(ing, but because the meat is sa(ory and the a etite is $een# The (egetable life does not content itself with casting from the flower or the tree a single seed, but it fills the air and earth with a rodigality of seeds, that, if thousands erish, thousands may lant themsel(es, that hundreds may come u , that tens may li(e to maturity, that, at least, one may re lace the arent# "ll things betray the same calculated rofusion# The e1cess of fear with which the animal frame is hedged round, shrin$ing from cold, starting at sight of a sna$e, or at a sudden noise, rotects us, through a multitude of groundless alarms, from some one real danger at last# The lo(er see$s in marriage his ri(ate felicity and erfection, with no ros ecti(e end& and nature hides in his ha iness her own end, namely, rogeny, or the er etuity of the race# %ut the craft with which the world is made, runs also into the mind and character of men# No man is +uite sane& each has a (ein of folly in his com osition, a slight determination of blood to the head, to ma$e sure of holding him hard to some one oint which nature had ta$en to heart# 5reat causes are ne(er tried on their merits& but the cause is reduced to articulars to suit the si3e of the arti3ans, and the contention is e(er hottest on minor matters# Not less remar$able is the o(erfaith of each man in the im ortance of what he has to do or say# The oet, the ro het, has a higher (alue for what he utters than any hearer, and therefore it gets s o$en# The strong, self'com lacent ;uther declares with an em hasis, not to be mista$en, that <5od himself cannot do without wise men#< @acob %ehmen and 5eorge )o1 betray their egotism in the ertinacity of their contro(ersial tracts, and @ames Naylor once suffered himself to be worshi ed as the *hrist# Each ro het comes resently to identify himself with his thought, and to esteem his hat and shoes sacred# .owe(er this may discredit such ersons with the /udicious, it hel s them with the eo le, as it gi(es heat, ungency, and ublicity to their words# " similar e1 erience is not infre+uent in ri(ate life# Each young and ardent erson writes a diary, in which, when the hours of rayer and enitence arri(e, he inscribes his soul# The ages thus written are, to him, burning and fragrant: he reads them on his $nees by midnight and by the morning star& he wets them with his tears: they are sacred& too good for the world, and hardly yet to be shown to the dearest friend# This is the man'child that is born to the soul, and her life still circulates in the babe# The umbilical cord has not yet been cut# "fter some time has ela sed, he begins to wish to admit his friend to this hallowed e1 erience, and with hesitation, yet with firmness, e1 oses the ages to his eye# 0ill they not burn his eyes? The friend coldly turns them o(er, and asses from the writing to con(ersation, with easy transition, which stri$es the other arty with astonishment and (e1ation# .e cannot sus ect the writing itself# :ays and nights of fer(id life, of communion with angels of dar$ness and of light, ha(e engra(ed their shadowy characters on that tear'stained boo$# .e sus ects the intelligence or the heart of his friend# -s there then no friend? .e cannot yet credit that one may ha(e im ressi(e e1 erience, and yet may not $now how to ut his ri(ate fact into literature& and erha s the disco(ery that wisdom has other tongues and ministers than we, that though we should hold our eace, the

truth would not the less be s o$en, might chec$ in/uriously the flames of our 3eal# " man can only s ea$, so long as he does not feel his s eech to be artial and inade+uate# -t is artial, but he does not see it to be so, whilst he utters it# "s soon as he is released from the instincti(e and articular, and sees its artiality, he shuts his mouth in disgust# )or, no man can write anything, who does not thin$ that what he writes is for the time the history of the world& or do anything well, who does not esteem his wor$ to be of im ortance# 7y wor$ may be of none, but - must not thin$ it of none, or - shall not do it with im unity# -n li$e manner, there is throughout nature something moc$ing, something that leads us on and on, but arri(es nowhere, $ee s no faith with us# "ll romise outruns the erformance# 0e li(e in a system of a ro1imations# E(ery end is ros ecti(e of some other end, which is also tem orary& a round and final success nowhere# 0e are encam ed in nature, not domesticated# .unger and thirst lead us on to eat and to drin$& but bread and wine, mi1 and coo$ them how you will, lea(e us hungry and thirsty, after the stomach is full# -t is the same with all our arts and erformances# ,ur music, our oetry, our language itself are not satisfactions, but suggestions# The hunger for wealth, which reduces the lanet to a garden, fools the eager ursuer# 0hat is the end sought? 9lainly to secure the ends of good sense and beauty, from the intrusion of deformity or (ulgarity of any $ind# %ut what an o erose method2 0hat a train of means to secure a little con(ersation2 This alace of bric$ and stone, these ser(ants, this $itchen, these stables, horses and e+ui age, this ban$'stoc$, and file of mortgages& trade to all the world, country'house and cottage by the waterside, all for a little con(ersation, high, clear, and s iritual2 *ould it not be had as well by beggars on the highway? No, all these things came from successi(e efforts of these beggars to remo(e friction from the wheels of life, and gi(e o ortunity# *on(ersation, character, were the a(owed ends& wealth was good as it a eased the animal cra(ings, cured the smo$y chimney, silenced the crea$ing door, brought friends together in a warm and +uiet room, and $e t the children and the dinner'table in a different a artment# Thought, (irtue, beauty, were the ends& but it was $nown that men of thought and (irtue sometimes had the headache, or wet feet, or could lose good time whilst the room was getting warm in winter days# 6nluc$ily, in the e1ertions necessary to remo(e these incon(eniences, the main attention has been di(erted to this ob/ect& the old aims ha(e been lost sight of, and to remo(e friction has come to be the end# That is the ridicule of rich men, and %oston, ;ondon, 8ienna, and now the go(ernments generally of the world, are cities and go(ernments of the rich, and the masses are not men, but poor men, that is, men who would be rich& this is the ridicule of the class, that they arri(e with ains and sweat and fury nowhere& when all is done, it is for nothing# They are li$e one who has interru ted the con(ersation of a com any to ma$e his s eech, and now has forgotten what he went to say# The a earance stri$es the eye e(erywhere of an aimless society, of aimless nations# 0ere the ends of nature so great and cogent, as to e1act this immense sacrifice of men? Auite analogous to the deceits in life, there is, as might be e1 ected, a similar effect on the eye from the face of e1ternal nature# There is in woods and waters a certain enticement and flattery, together with a failure to yield a resent satisfaction# This disa ointment is felt in e(ery landsca e# - ha(e seen the softness and beauty of the summer'clouds floating feathery o(erhead, en/oying,

as it seemed, their height and ri(ilege of motion, whilst yet they a eared not so much the dra ery of this lace and hour, as foreloo$ing to some a(ilions and gardens of festi(ity beyond# -t is an odd /ealousy: but the oet finds himself not near enough to his ob/ect# The ine'tree, the ri(er, the ban$ of flowers before him, does not seem to be nature# Nature is still elsewhere# This or this is but outs$irt and far'off reflection and echo of the trium h that has assed by, and is now at its glancing s lendor and heyday, erchance in the neighboring fields, or, if you stand in the field, then in the ad/acent woods# The resent ob/ect shall gi(e you this sense of stillness that follows a ageant which has /ust gone by# 0hat s lendid distance, what recesses of ineffable om and lo(eliness in the sunset2 %ut who can go where they are, or lay his hand or lant his foot thereon? ,ff they fall from the round world fore(er and e(er# -t is the same among the men and women, as among the silent trees& always a referred e1istence, an absence, ne(er a resence and satisfaction# -s it, that beauty can ne(er be gras ed? in ersons and in landsca e is e+ually inaccessible? The acce ted and betrothed lo(er has lost the wildest charm of his maiden in her acce tance of him# She was hea(en whilst he ursued her as a star: she cannot be hea(en, if she stoo s to such a one as he# 0hat shall we say of this omni resent a earance of that first ro/ectile im ulse, of this flattery and baul$ing of so many well'meaning creatures? 7ust we not su ose somewhere in the uni(erse a slight treachery and derision? "re we not engaged to a serious resentment of this use that is made of us? "re we tic$led trout, and fools of nature? ,ne loo$ at the face of hea(en and earth lays all etulance at rest, and soothes us to wiser con(ictions# To the intelligent, nature con(erts itself into a (ast romise, and will not be rashly e1 lained# .er secret is untold# 7any and many an ,edi us arri(es: he has the whole mystery teeming in his brain# "las2 the same sorcery has s oiled his s$ill& no syllable can he sha e on his li s# .er mighty orbit (aults li$e the fresh rainbow into the dee , but no archangel!s wing was yet strong enough to follow it, and re ort of the return of the cur(e# %ut it also a ears, that our actions are seconded and dis osed to greater conclusions than we designed# 0e are escorted on e(ery hand through life by s iritual agents, and a beneficent ur ose lies in wait for us# 0e cannot bandy words with nature, or deal with her as we deal with ersons# -f we measure our indi(idual forces against hers, we may easily feel as if we were the s ort of an insu erable destiny# %ut if, instead of identifying oursel(es with the wor$, we feel that the soul of the wor$man streams through us, we shall find the eace of the morning dwelling first in our hearts, and the fathomless owers of gra(ity and chemistry, and, o(er them, of life, ree1isting within us in their highest form# The uneasiness which the thought of our hel lessness in the chain of causes occasions us, results from loo$ing too much at one condition of nature, namely, 7otion# %ut the drag is ne(er ta$en from the wheel# 0here(er the im ulse e1ceeds, the >est or -dentity insinuates its com ensation# "ll o(er the wide fields of earth grows the runella or self'heal# "fter e(ery foolish day we slee off the fumes and furies of its hours& and though we are always engaged with articulars, and often ensla(ed to them, we bring with us to e(ery e1 eriment the innate uni(ersal laws# These, while they e1ist in the mind as ideas, stand around us in nature fore(er embodied, a resent sanity to e1 ose and cure the insanity of men# ,ur ser(itude to articulars betrays into a hundred foolish

e1 ectations# 0e antici ate a new era from the in(ention of a locomoti(e, or a balloon& the new engine brings with it the old chec$s# They say that by electro' magnetism, your sallad shall be grown from the seed, whilst your fowl is roasting for dinner: it is a symbol of our modern aims and endea(ors,4'of our condensation and acceleration of ob/ects: but nothing is gained: nature cannot be cheated: man!s life is but se(enty sallads long, grow they swift or grow they slow# -n these chec$s and im ossibilities, howe(er, we find our ad(antage, not less than in the im ulses# ;et the (ictory fall where it will, we are on that side# "nd the $nowledge that we tra(erse the whole scale of being, from the centre to the oles of nature, and ha(e some sta$e in e(ery ossibility, lends that sublime lustre to death, which hiloso hy and religion ha(e too outwardly and literally stri(en to e1 ress in the o ular doctrine of the immortality of the soul# The reality is more e1cellent than the re ort# .ere is no ruin, no discontinuity, no s ent ball# The di(ine circulations ne(er rest nor linger# Nature is the incarnation of a thought, and turns to a thought again, as ice becomes water and gas# The world is mind reci itated, and the (olatile essence is fore(er esca ing again into the state of free thought# .ence the (irtue and ungency of the influence on the mind, of natural ob/ects, whether inorganic or organi3ed# 7an im risoned, man crystalli3ed, man (egetati(e, s ea$s to man im ersonated# That ower which does not res ect +uantity, which ma$es the whole and the article its e+ual channel, delegates its smile to the morning, and distils its essence into e(ery dro of rain# E(ery moment instructs, and e(ery ob/ect: for wisdom is infused into e(ery form# -t has been oured into us as blood& it con(ulsed us as ain& it slid into us as leasure& it en(elo ed us in dull, melancholy days, or in days of cheerful labor& we did not guess its essence, until after a long time#