Hinds, to which he had become
endeared, owing to its use in Rugby Chapel. But his lack of ear
was, he considered, amply recompensed by his love of flowers:
'they are my music,' he declared. Yet, in such a matter, he was
careful to refrain from an excess of feeling, such as, in his
opinion, marked the famous lines of Wordsworth:
'To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do
often lie too deep for tears.'
He found the sentiment morbid. 'Life,' he said, 'is not long
enough to take such intense interest in objects in themselves so
little.' As for the animal world, his feelings towards it were of
a very different cast. 'The whole subject,' he said, 'of the
brute creation is to me one of such painful mystery, that I dare
not approach it.' The Unitarians themselves were a less
distressing thought.
Once or twice he found time to visit the Continent, and the
letters and journals recording in minute detail his reflections
and impressions in France or Italy show us that Dr. Arnold
preserved, in spite of the distractions of foreign scenes and
foreign manners, his accustomed habits of mind. Taking very
little interest in works of art, he was occasionally moved by the
beauty of natural objects; but his principal preoccupation
remained with the moral aspects of things. From this point of
view, he found much to reprehend in the conduct of his own
countrymen.
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