magic touch upon English poetry and given to it that "light that never
was on sea or land." It has done far more than give a sense of colour
and beauty and nature-love. More than the love of nature in its beauty
is the sense of fellowship between man and nature, the sense that makes
man see his own joy and sorrow reflected in the mighty heart of Nature.
This is a very big subject, and can only be touched on here. The
beginning of this influence, which came also from Wales and France, is
due to Ireland. We must never forget how great a debt England owes to
Ireland. May we say that it was from the Irish missionaries whose feet
hallowed the soil of Iona that the English north country caught that
intense glowing love of the Holy Faith, which even still, in a measure,
differentiates the north of England from the south?[C] We must value
very greatly the solid foundation of strength, sincerity, what we call
_grit_, directness of expression, simplicity, to be found in early
English work; all these being great things, yet capable of receiving
into their fellowship and above it and beyond it, that which should give
what we look for in a great literature; the power of appeal to various
kinds of people, to "all sorts and conditions of men." And to Celtic
influence, Irish, British, French, we look for that which turns grey,
however fair a grey, to green, and purest pallor to the glory of
whiteness. It is beautiful, is it not, to think how various kinds of men
and women can help to complete one another by giving and taking what
each has to give, and each needs to take? It is the same with nations:
each has its own gifts, its own needs; and for a great and noble
world-literature we need the gifts of all.

[Footnote C: I have not, of course, forgotten the mission of St
Paulinus; but, as history shows, this does not affect the question here.
Glow and fervour permeate life, and literature being its outcome could
not but keep the mark of what had been set upon that life.]