176 THE LIFE OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



off our former selves of yesterday, forcing us to look out 

 over the sea only, or up to the deeper heaven. 



' These breadths draw out the soul ; we feel that we 

 have wider thoughts than we know ; the soul has been 

 living, as it were, in a nutshell, all unaware of its own 

 power, and now suddenly finds freedom in the sun and 

 sky. Straight, as if sawn down from turf to beach, the 

 cliff shuts off the human world, for the sea knows no 

 time and no era ; you cannot tell what century it is from 

 the face of the sea. A Roman trireme suddenly rounding 

 the white edge-line of chalk, borne on wind and oar from 

 the Isle of Wight towards the grey castle at Pevensey 

 (already old in olden days), would not seem strange. 

 What wonder could surprise us coming from the wonderful 

 sea ?'* 



* The impassable precipice shuts off our former selves 

 of yesterday.' He sniffs immortal airs on the open road 

 ahead. 



* ' The Breeze on Beachy Head,' Nature near London. 



