we to do? I should deem it advisable to begin our sovereignty by promising to all our acquaintances in advance a whole year’s amnesty for sins of every kind.
485
Distant perspectives.—A: But why this solitude ?— B: I bear no grudge against anybody. But when I am alone I seem to see my friends in a clearer and rosier light than when I am in their company; and when I loved and understood music best, I lived far from it. It seems that I am in need of distant perspectives to think well of things.
486
Gold and hunger.—Now and then we meet a man whose every touch changes all things into gold. But a certain evil day he will discover that he himself has to starve. All things around him are brilliant, magnificent, unapproachable in their ideal beauty, and now he longs for things which he cannot possibly transform into gold,— and how intense is his longing! Like a famished person longs for a meal!—What will he seize?
487
Blush of shame.—See here the noble steed, scraping the ground, snorting, longing for a ride and loving its known rider,—but, oh shame, his rider cannot mount
