Thus the
study of nature should be carried forward thoroughly and with
system. Every gratification should be rolled long under the
tongue, and we should be always eager to analyse and compare, in
order that we may be able to give some plausible reason for our
admirations. True, it is difficult to put even approximately into
words the kind of feelings thus called into play. There is a
dangerous vice inherent in any such intellectual refining upon
vague sensation. The analysis of such satisfactions lends itself
very readily to literary affectations; and we can all think of
instances where it has shown itself apt to exercise a morbid
influence, even upon an author's choice of language and the turn of
his sentences. And yet there is much that makes the attempt
attractive; for any expression, however imperfect, once given to a
cherished feeling, seems a sort of legitimation of the pleasure we
take in it. A common sentiment is one of those great goods that
make life palatable and ever new. The knowledge that another has
felt as we have felt, and seen things, even if they are little
things, not much otherwise than we have seen them, will continue to
the end to be one of life's choicest pleasures.
Let the reader, then, betake himself in the spirit we have
recommended to some of the quieter kinds of English landscape.
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