

CHARM OF THE DOWNS 29 



rise from earth and float hither and thither at will 

 through the boundless fields of air. 



Oddly enough, that desire which we all have at 

 times for wings, or at all events for the power of 

 flight, and which like other vague and idle prompt- 

 ings is capable of cultivation and of being made a 

 real source of pleasure, most often comes to me on 

 these great green hills. Here are no inviting woods 

 and mysterious green shades that ask to be explored : 

 they stand naked to the sky, and on them the mind 

 becomes more aerial, less conscious of gravity and 

 a too solid body. Standing on one great green hill, 

 and looking across vast intervening hollows to other 

 round heights and hills beyond and far away, the 

 wish is more than a wish, and I can almost realise 

 the sensation of being other than I am a creature 

 with the instinct of flight and the correlated faculty ; 

 that in a little while, when I have gazed my full 

 and am ready to change my place, I shall lift great 

 heron-like wings and fly with little effort to other 

 points of view. 



To come back from this digression, or flight. It 

 is true that the extent of earth visible from the very 

 highest downs is not really great, but with a succes- 

 sion of dome-like outlines extending to the horizon 

 we have to take into account the illusion of infinite 

 distance produced on the mind by the repetition of 

 similar forms. The architect, in a small way, produces 

 the same effect in his colonnades. I was once very 



