YOUTH AND EARLY WRITINGS 57 



influence. There are many kinds of Christian, and it 

 may be noticed that a man who shows some beauty of 

 character is in danger of being ranked as of one kind, or 

 put into a special chiss of his own, or charitably labelled 

 anima naturaliter Christiana. Which Jefferies belonged to 

 I shall not venture to say, but hardly to ' the religion of 

 all sensible men,' if it is fair to draw conclusions from the 

 most intimate writings of his intellectual prime. 



1866 was, according to his own statement, the year 

 when he began to resort to the hills with a more or less 

 conscious purpose of getting rid of his usual surroundings. 

 He is so often careful of dates, even when they are of little 

 importance, and was so curious an observer of his own 

 spiritual progress, that I see no reason to question the 

 date. His heart, he says, grew dusty, ' parched for want of 

 the rain of deep feeling,' and at such times he walked up 

 Liddington Hill ' to breathe a new air and to have a fresher 

 aspiration. . . . 



' Moving up the sweet, short turf, at every step my heart 

 seemed to obtain a wider horizon of feeling ; with every 

 inhalation of rich, pure air a deeper desire. The very 

 light of the sun was whiter and more brilliant here. By 

 the time I had reached the summit I had entirely forgotten 

 the petty circumstances and the annoyances of existence. 

 I felt myself, myself. There was an intrenchment on 

 the summit, and going down into the fosse, I walked round 

 it slowly to recover breath. On the south-western side 

 there was a spot where the outer bank had partially 

 slipped, leaving a gap. There the view was over a broad 

 plain, beautiful with wheat, and inclosed by a perfect 

 amphitheatre of green hills. Through these hills there 

 was one narrow groove, or pass, southwards, where the 

 white clouds seemed to close in the horizon. Woods hid 

 the scattered hamlets and farmhouses, so that I was quite 

 alone. 



' I was utterly alone with the sun and the earth. Lying 

 down on the grass, I spoke in my soul to the earth, the 

 sun, the air, and the distant sea far beyond sight. I 



