equivoque, as though it were a secondary consequence and a vile
corruption, instead of a healthy cause. Their science was, it is true,
only founded on observation (and therefore easily warped to error by
_apparent_ analogies) instead of induction, while their aesthetics had
the same illusive basis; and yet, by fearlessly following the great
_manifest_ laws of organic life, they were enabled to lay the
foundations of all which in later ages came to perfection in the Hindu
Mahabarata, and Sacrintala--in Greek statues, and, it may be, in Greek
humanity--in Norse Eddas, and Druidic mysteries. All of these, and, with
them, all that Phoenician, Etruscan, and Egyptian gave to beauty, owe
their origin to the fearless incarnation in early times of the manifest
laws of Nature in myth, song, and legend. He who would feel Nature as
they felt it--a real, quickening presence, a thrilling, wildly beautiful
life, inspiring the Moerad to madness by the intensity of rushing
mountain torrent and passionately rustling leaves, a spirit breathing a
god into every gray old rock and an exquisite _love_ into every
flower--should take up the clue which these old myths afford, and follow
it to the end. Then the Hidden in forgotten lore will be revealed to
him, the Orgie and Mystery will yield to him all, and more than all,
they gave to Pythagoras of old. He will hold the key to every faith--nay
more, he will form and feel new faiths for himself in studying mountains
and seas. To him the cliff, high-rising above the foaming tide, the
serpent gliding through the summer grass, the cool dark woodland path
winding into arching leafy shadows, the brook and the narrow rocky pass,
the red sunset and the crimson flower, gnarled roots and caverns, lakes,
promontories, and headlands, will all have a strange meaning--not vague
and mystical, but literal and expressive--a mutual and self-reflecting
meaning, embodying all of the Beautiful that man loves best in life, and
consecrated by the exquisite fables of a joyous mythology.

I have long thought that a work devoted to the natural poetry and
antique mystery of such objects as occur most prominently in Nature
would be acceptable to all lovers of the Beautiful. It would be worth
the while, I should think, to all such, to know that every object, by
land or sea, was once the subject of a myth, that this myth had a
meaning founded in the deepest laws of life, and that all were curiously
connected and mutually ref