CO ATE FARM. 45 



me, so that perhaps, after all, I was mistaken, 

 and there never was any such place, or any 

 such meadows, and I was never there. And 

 perhaps in course of time I shall find out also, 

 when I pass away physically, that as a matter 

 of fact there never was any earth." That, 

 indeed, will be the most curious discovery 

 possible in the after-world. No earth then 

 no Coate ; no " Wild Life in a Southern 

 County," and no " Gamekeeper at Home," 

 because there has never been any home for 

 any gamekeeper. 



I have dwelt at some length upon these 

 early years of Jefferies' life because they are 

 all-important. They explain the whole of his 

 after-life ; they show how the book of Nature 

 was laid open to this man in a way that it 

 was never before presented to any man who 

 had also the divine gift of utterance, namely, 

 by a man who, though steeped in the wisdom 

 of the field and forest though he had read 

 indeed in the book could not read it aloud 

 for all to hear. 



In order to read this book aright, one must 

 live apart from one's fellow-men and remain 



