What has become of the inferior planet which Decuppis, about nine years ago, declared he saw traversing the disc of the sun?
37.
“Ignorance is bliss”—but, that the bliss be real, the ignorance must be so profound as not to suspect itself ignorant. With this understanding, Boileau’s line may be read thus:
“Le plus fou toujours est le plus satisfait,”
—“toujours” in place of “souvent.”
38.
Bryant and Street are both, essentially, descriptive poets; and descriptive poetry, even in its happiest manifestation, is not of the highest order. But the distinction between Bryant and Street is very broad. While the former, in reproducing the sensible images of Nature, reproduces the sentiments with which he regards them, the latter gives us the images and nothing beyond. He never forces us to feel what we feel he must have felt.
39.
In lauding Beauty, Genius merely evinces a filial affection. To Genius Beauty gives life—reaping often a reward in Immortality.
40.