some phases of mental trouble that harmonise
well with such surroundings, and that some persons, by the dispensing
power of the imagination, can go back several centuries in spirit, and
put themselves into sympathy with the hunted, houseless, unsociable way
of life that was in its place upon these savage hills. Now, when I am
sad, I like nature to charm me out of my sadness, like David before
Saul; and the thought of these past ages strikes nothing in me but an
unpleasant pity; so that I can never hit on the right humour for this
sort of landscape, and lose much pleasure in consequence. Still, even
here, if I were only let alone, and time enough were given, I should
have all manner of pleasures, and take many clear and beautiful images
away with me when I left. When we cannot think ourselves into sympathy
with the great features of a country, we learn to ignore them, and put
our head among the grass for flowers, or pore, for long times together,
over the changeful current of a stream. We come down to the sermon in
stones, when we are shut out from any poem in the spread landscape. We
begin to peep and botanise, we take an interest in birds and insects, we
find many things beautiful in miniature. The reader will recollect the
little summer scene in "Wuthering Heights"--the one warm scene, perhaps,
in all that powerful, miserable novel--and the great feature that is
made therein by grasses and flowers and a little sunshine: this is in
the spirit of which I now speak. And, lastly, we can go indoors;
interiors are sometimes as beautiful, often more picturesque, than the
shows of the open air, and they have that quality of shelter of which I
shall presently have more to say.

With all this in mind, I have often been tempted to put forth the
paradox that any place is good enough to live a life in, while it is
only in a few, and those highly favoured, that we can pass a few hours
agreeably. For, if we only stay long enough, we become at home in the
neighbourhood. Reminiscences spring up, like flowers, about
uninteresting corners. We forget to some degree the superior loveliness
of other places, and fall into a tolerant and sympathetic spirit which
is its own reward and justification. Looking back the other day on some
recollections of my own, I was astonished to find how much I owed to
such a residence; six weeks in one unpleasant country-side had done
more, it seemed, to quicken and educate my sensibilities than many years
i