It is not to be gotten out of text-books of any kind; it is not to be found in botanies or geologies or works on zooelogy; it is to be gotten only out of familiarity with Nature herself.

Daily fellowship with landscapes, trees, skies, birds, with an open mind and in a receptive mood, soon develops in one a kind of spiritual sense which takes cognisance of things not seen before and adds a new joy and resource to life.

In like manner the feeling for literature is quickened and nourished by intimate acquaintance with books of beauty and power.

Such an intimacy makes the sense of delight more keen, preserves it against influences which tend to deaden it, and makes the taste more sure and trustworthy.

A man who has long had acquaintance with the best in any department of art comes to have, almost unconsciously to himself, an instinctive power of discerning good work from bad, of recognising on the instant the sound and true method and style, and of feeling a fresh and constant delight in such work.