Thou openest thine hand—they are filled with good.
Thou hidest thy face—they are troubled:
Thou takest away their breath—they die and return to their dust.
Thou sendest forth thy Spirit—they are (re-) created:
And thou renewest the face of the earth.”
Inspiration, therefore, does not consist in an intensification of the soul’s being, in the implanting of a new principle, or springing source in the centre of its substance, but it consists in a leading forth of the soul to a greater intensity of manifestation—to a greater distance from the original chaos, the-hom, or “deep.”
BETH.
A LITERARY GOSSIP WITH MISS MITFORD.[[12]]
Draw the curtains, stir the fire, make a semicircle round the rug, and now for a causerie. Mary Russell Mitford shall talk to us out of the three volumes of reminiscences she has just given to the world; and whatever we have to say about the sundry things she discourseth upon therein shall be said in a cordial, and, at the same time, perfectly frank spirit, as becometh an honest fireside.