HOBSON'S CHOICE
[Sidenote: _William Hazlitt_]
One of the pleasantest things in the world is going a journey; but I
like to go by myself. I can enjoy society in a room; but, out of doors,
nature is company enough for me. I am then never less alone than when
alone.
The fields his study, nature was his book.
I cannot see the wit of walking and talking at the same time. When I am
in the country I wish to vegetate like the country. I am not for
criticising hedge-rows and black cattle. I go out of town in order to
forget the town and all that is in it. There are those who for this
purpose go to watering-places, and carry the metropolis with them. I
like more elbow-room and fewer encumbrances. I like solitude, when I
give myself up to it, for the sake of solitude; nor do I ask for
A friend in my retreat,
Whom I may whisper, Solitude is sweet.
The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty to think, feel, do,
just as one pleases. We go a journey chiefly to be free of all
impediments and of all inconveniences; to leave ourselves behind much
more to get rid of others. It is because I want a little breathing-space
to muse on indifferent matters, where Contemplation--
May plume her feathers and let grow her wings,
That in the various bustle of resort
Were all too ruffled, and sometimes impair'd--
that I absent myself from the town for a while, without feeling at a
loss the moment I am left by myself.
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