whatever dulness there may be here is all their own. Sir Arthur Helps has
well said: "What! dull, when you do not know what gives its loveliness of
form to the lily, its depth of color to the violet, its fragrance to the
rose; when you do not know in what consists the venom of the adder, any
more than you can imitate the glad movements of the dove. What! dull, when
earth, air, and water are all alike mysteries to you, and when as you
stretch out your hand you do not touch anything the properties of which
you have mastered; while all the time Nature is inviting you to talk
earnestly with her, to understand her, to subdue her, and to be blessed by
her! Go away, man; learn something, do something, understand something,
and let me hear no more of your dulness."

[1] Shakespeare.

[2] Waller.

[3] _Faust_.

[4] Luther.

[5] The word used [Greek: merimnaesaete] is translated in Liddell and
Scott "to be anxious about, to be distressed in mind, to be cumbered with
many cares."

[6] Milton.

[7] Seneca.