POETRY 75

and therefore his appreciation of the genius loci was
always limited. He could not people the palaces,
the cathedrals, the castles, the ancient cities that he
visited. " When I go to see a ruined abbey or the
remains of a castle, I do not care to learn when it
was built, who lived or died there, or what cata-
strophes it witnessed. I never yet went to a battle-
field, although often near to one—not having the
slightest curiosity to see a place where many men
were killed and a victory achieved." He had few
historical associations even in Rome, and when at
Florence he did not go three miles to Fiesole. The
forms and colours of time-worn walls and arches
excited pleasant sentiments, he said, but that seems
to have been all. It was a sort of conchological
interest that he had.

One is unfortunately familiar with the cosmic pre-
occupation which the dominant scientific mood is apt
to engender, as also with historical erudition which
loses the wood in the trees or leaves Nature out
altogether. These are the defects of our limited
mental capacities and our ill-organised education ; but
that a man of Spencer's powers could be so com-
placent with his limitations is extraordinary. And
tkr he could write, " It is always the poetry rather
than the history of a place that appeals to me," is
more extraordinary still; as if the history were not
half the poetry.

Poetry—Spencer's attitude to poetry was character-
istic ; he took it all too intellectually and was usually
bored. He did not find enough thought in it, and
it may be doubted if he ever surrendered himself to
the artistic mood. At one time he regarded Shelleyntal pattern or personality,