Temperament must also have had something to do with
it. Her nervous system was too highly strung, she was too sensitive,
too emotional, too intense. She reflected phases of feeling with which
she was brought into contact as a lake reflects the sky above it, and
the bird that skims across it, and the boats that rest upon its breast;
yet, like the lake's, her own nature remained unchanged; it might be
darkened by shadows, and lashed by tempests till it raged, but the pure
element showed divinely even in its wrath, and the passion of it was
expended always to some good end.
But even her love of the beautiful was carried to excess. It was a
passion with her which would, in a sturdier age, have been considered a
vice. She delighted in the scent of flowers, the song of the thrushes
in the spring; colour, and beautiful forms. Doubtless the emotion they
caused her was pure enough, and it was natural that, highly bred,
cultivated, and refined as she was, she should feel these delicate,
sensuous pleasures in a greater degree than lower natures do. There was
danger, however, in the over-education of the senses, which made their
ready response inevitable, but neither limited the subjects, nor
regulated the degree, to which they should respond.
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