veliest woods, and the soft
river gliding along amongst the lisping reeds, mirroring the
beautiful clouds which the soft evening breeze wafted across the
sky--when I heard the groves about me melodious with the music of
birds, and saw the million swarms of insects dancing in the last
golden beams of the sun, whose setting rays awoke the humming
beetles from their grassy beds, whilst the subdued tumult around
directed my attention to the ground, and I there observed the
arid rock compelled to yield nutriment to the dry moss, whilst
the heath flourished upon the barren sands below me--all this
displayed to me the inner warmth which animates all Nature, and
filled and glowed within my heart. I felt myself exalted by this
overflowing fulness to the perception of the Godhead, and the
glorious forms of an infinite universe became visible to my
soul.... From the inaccessible mountains across the desert, which
no mortal foot has trod, far as the confines of the unknown
ocean, breathes the spirit of the eternal Creator, and every atom
to which He has given existence finds favour in His sight. Ah!
how often at that time has the flight of a bird soaring above my
head inspired me with the desire of being transported to the
shores of the immeasurable waters, there to quaff the pleasure of
life from the foaming goblet of the infinite, and to partake, if
but for a moment, even with the confined powers of my soul, the
beatitude of the Creator, who accomplishes all things in himself
and through himself.... It is as if a curtain had been drawn from
before my eyes.... My heart is wasted by the thought of that
destructive power which lies concealed in every part of universal
nature--Nature has formed nothing that does not consume itself
and every object near it; so that, surrounded by earth, and air,
and all the active powers, I wander on my way with aching heart,
and the universe is to me a fearful monster, for ever devouring
its own offspring.... If in such moments I find no sympathy ... I
either wander through the country, climb some precipitous cliff,
or force a path through the trackless thicket, where I am
lacerated and torn by thorns and briars, and thence I find
relief.

Then, as he was going away, he felt how sympathetic the place had
been to him:

I was walking up and down the very ave