Page:Dawn of the Day.pdf/391

Rh this spectacle is too good for this world and too subtle for human eves. — How many things does an actor divine and see when watching another at play! He notices at once when a muscle fails in some gesture ; he distinguishes those small made-up tricks which have been severally and coolly practised before the glass, and refuse to amalgamate with the whole; he feels when the actor is surprised on the stage by his own invention, and when he spoils it in the surprise. How differently again does a painter watch a person moving before him! His eye will at once see many additional things in order to complete the present appearance and to make it thoroughly effective; in his mind he tries several illuminations of the same object, he divides the whole effect by an additional contrast. Would that we had the eyes of this actor and this painter for the province of the human soul! — If we wish a change to be as radical is possible, we have to apply the remedy in small doses, but unremittingly, for long periods. Can a great action he accomplished in a trice? Let us therefore guard against precipitately and forcibly exchanging the state of morals, with which we are familiar, for a new valuation—we even wish to continue to live in the former for many, many