The works of Edgar Allan Poe; newly collected and edited, with a memoir, critical introductions, and notes, by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry; the illustrations by Albert Edward Sterner.

TALES OF NATURAL BEAUTY

better -for the constant view nothing worse. And,
in the constant view, the most objectionable phase of
grandeur is that of extent; the worst phase of extent,
that of distance. It is at war with the sentiment and
with the sense of seclusion - the sentiment and sense
which we seek to humor in ' retiring to the country.'
In looking from the summit of a mountain we cannot
help feeling abroad in the world. The heart-sick
avoid distant prospects as a pestilence."
It was not until toward the close of the fourth year
of our search that we found a locality with which
Ellison professed himself satisfied. It is, of course,
needless to say where was this locality. The late
death of my friend, in causing his domain to be
thrown open to certain classes of visitors, has given to
Arnheim a species of secret and subdued if not
solemn celebrity, similar in kind, although infinitely
superior in degree, to that which so long distinguished
Fonthill.
The usual approach to Arnheim was by the river.
The visitor left the city in the early morning. During
the forenoon he passed between shores of a tranquil
and domestic beauty, on which grazed innumerable
sheep, their white fleeces spotting the vivid green of
rolling meadows. By degrees the idea of cultivation
subsided into that of merely pastoral care. This
slowly became merged in a sense of retirement -this
again in a consciousness of solitude. As the evening
approached, the channel grew more narrow; the banks
more and more precipitous; and these latter were
clothed in richer, more profuse, and more sombre
foliage. The water increased in transparency. The
stream took a thousand turns, so that at no moment
could its gleaming surface be seen for a greater dis1o6