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8i HERBERT SPENCER

there a sparkling .and romantic river winding perhaps
round the base of some ruined castle is a treat not
often equalled. I enjoyed it much. When I reached
the seaside, however, and found myself once again
within sound of the breakers, I almost danced with
pleasure. To me there is no place so delightful as
the beach. It is the place where, more than any-
where else, philosophy and poetry meet—where in
fact you are presented by Nature with a never-ending
feast of knowledge and beauty. There is no place
where I can so palpably realise Emerson's remark that
' Nature is the circumstance which dwarfs every other

One evening in August 1861 Spencer stood looking over
the Sound of Mull from Ardtornish house. " The gorgeous
colours of clouds and sky, splendid enough even by them-
selves to be long remembered, were reflected from the
surface of the sound, at the same time that both of its sides,
along with the mountains of Mull, were lighted up by the
setting sun; and, while I was leaning out of the window
gazing at this scene, music from the piano behind me served
as a commentary. The exaltation of feeling produced was
unparalleled in my experience; and never since has pleasur-
able emotion risen in me to the same intensity " {Auto-
biography, ii. p. 69).

Spencer's feeling for Nature was for the most part
limited to scenic effects. Occasionally, when he was
at leisure, he felt some "admiration of the beauties
and graces " of flowers, but this was so unusual that
it surprised him, " for, certainly," he says, "intel-
lectual analysis is at variance with aesthetic apprecia-
tion/' This does not of course mean that there is
any opposition between scientific interpretation and
artistic enjoyment; it simply means that the scientific



	8i HERBERT SPENCER there a sparkling .and romantic river winding perhaps round the base of some ruined castle is a treat not often equalled. I enjoyed it much. When I reached the seaside, however, and found myself once again within sound of the breakers, I almost danced with pleasure. To me there is no place so delightful as the beach. It is the place where, more than any- where else, philosophy and poetry meet—where in fact you are presented by Nature with a never-ending feast of knowledge and beauty. There is no place where I can so palpably realise Emerson's remark that ' Nature is the circumstance which dwarfs every other

	One evening in August 1861 Spencer stood looking over the Sound of Mull from Ardtornish house. " The gorgeous colours of clouds and sky, splendid enough even by them- selves to be long remembered, were reflected from the surface of the sound, at the same time that both of its sides, along with the mountains of Mull, were lighted up by the setting sun; and, while I was leaning out of the window gazing at this scene, music from the piano behind me served as a commentary. The exaltation of feeling produced was unparalleled in my experience; and never since has pleasur- able emotion risen in me to the same intensity " {Auto- biography, ii. p. 69). Spencer's feeling for Nature was for the most part limited to scenic effects. Occasionally, when he was at leisure, he felt some "admiration of the beauties and graces " of flowers, but this was so unusual that it surprised him, " for, certainly," he says, "intel- lectual analysis is at variance with aesthetic apprecia- tion/' This does not of course mean that there is any opposition between scientific interpretation and artistic enjoyment; it simply means that the scientific