SELBORNE 299 



that is to say, the earthly yet intelligent part 

 of him, which, being of the earth, cannot ascend ; 

 that a residuum of hfe remains, like a perfume 

 left by some long- vanished, fragrant object; or 

 it may be an emanation from the body at death, 

 which exists thereafter diffused and mixed with 

 the elements, perhaps unconscious and yet 

 responsive, or capable of being vivified into 

 consciousness and emotions of pleasure by a 

 keenly sjnnpathetic presence. At Selborne this 

 did not seem mere fantasy. Strolling about the 

 village, loitering in the park-like garden of the 

 Wakes, or exploring the Hanger ; or when I 

 sat on the bench under the churchyard yew, 

 or went softly through the grass to look again 

 at those two letters graved on the headstone, 

 there was a continual sense of an unseen presence 

 near me. It was like the sensation a man 

 sometimes has when lying stiU with closed eyes 

 of some one moving softly to his side. I began 

 to think that if that feeling and sensation lasted 

 long enough without diminishing in strength, 

 it would in the end produce something like 

 conviction. And the conviction would imply 

 communion. Furthermore, between the thought 



