It is vain to assert that the atmospheres of the maritime or the low
levels do not affect the physical and mental condition of men; and after
all, Fontenelle was right when he maintained, in a curious paradox, that
inspiration is a barometer that varies, which mounts to genius or descends
to absurdity, according to the inconstancy of the weather; that there are
unhealthy countries, full of mists, winds, tempests, that never produce
clear understandings; and, on the contrary, there are lands with beautiful
skies and fields filled with sunlight and roses which give out flashes of
divine light.
Nearly all of the Grecian lyrists were born in the enchanting climates,
and among the beautiful scenes of the Asiatic shore or the isles of the
AEgean Sea. Most of the eminent men of Italy rose from similar
inspirations, which Michael Angelo observed when speaking of Vasari in
terms of admiration. Historians say that the sun was never softer, the
heavens brighter, the roses more prolific, the winds more perfumed, than
in the dawn of the eighteenth century, which produced that "wild garland
of beautiful women who recalled by their graces, their genius, the
courtesans of Greece," which gave birth to those philosophers who gave a
new impetus to liberty and religion.