Athens  was  a  small  city,  and  the  Athenians  were
capable  of  being  all  stowed  on  board  two  or  three  of  the
P.  and  0.  steamers — that  is,  the  leading  citizens  ;  yet
they  live  to  us,  while  millions  and  millions  of  the  "  bar-
barians "  around  them  perished  utterly,  and  left  no  sign
behind.
174   AUSTRALIAN  AND  NEW  ZEALAND  TALES  AND  SKETCHES.
Thus,  it  may  be  positive  gain  to  a  commiinity  to  want
unlimited  "  elbow  room,"  and  to  find  itself  witbin  natural
conditions  wbich  operate  as  a  matrice  to  condense  and
give  definite  expression  to  the  natural  bent  of  its  national
genius.
Big-ness  is  all  very  well,  but  it  has  necessarily  nothing  to
do  with  greatness,  although  this  is  frequently  overlooked.
Comparatively  speaking,  I  judge  that  Tasmania  is,
of  all  members  of  the  Austral  group,  the  least  known  to
average  non-colonial  Englishmen  and  women,  Avhich  is,  in
truth,  a  strangely  ironical  paradox,  seeing  that  it  is  a  far
more  perfect  analogue  of  Grreat  Britain  than  Kew
Zealand,  and  that  in  a  far  greater  number  of  physical
circumstances  it  recalls  to  all  natives  of  the  United
Kingdom  who  once  visit  it  the  best  and  most  endearing
features  of  England,  especially  England  as  she  is  em-
balmed in  the  cameo-like  sonnets  of  Wordsworth  or  the
sweet  and  pure  domestic  lyrics  of  Mrs.  Hemans.
