Page:A Nameless Nobleman.djvu/66

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UEEN ELIZABETH, of various memory, commanded her portrait to be painted without shadow; and the idea was so little wise that we may fairly conclude it to have been all her own, and that Burleigh and the rest of the councillors who made the greatness and the goodness of the maiden queen (probably wife of Essex) thought this one of the occasions when their royal charge might be left to her own guidance, without danger to any one but herself.

And why was it so absurd an idea? Simply because it ignored one of the primal laws of creation, the law of contrasts. Why is coming day so lovely? Because it is so strong a contrast to the darkness, colorlessness, repose, of night. Why is night so lovely when its soft and perfumed darkness falls between us and the world which has wearied us all day? Because of the contrast to that day we welcomed so blithely, and shall again welcome on the morrow.

Why did the God of beauty make the skies and sea blue, the forests green, the birds, the flowers, the rainbow, the gems and minerals, of every tint into which light may be divided, if not to teach us the refresh-