air of it, as another might have gone for mental renewal to a
favourite villa.

"Men seek retirement in country-houses," he writes, "on the sea-
coast, on the mountains; and you have yourself as much fondness for
such places as another. But there is little proof of culture
therein; since the privilege is yours of [38] retiring into yourself
whensoever you please,-- into that little farm of one's own mind,
where a silence so profound may be enjoyed." That it could make
these retreats, was a plain consequence of the kingly prerogative of
the mind, its dominion over circumstance, its inherent liberty.--"It
is in thy power to think as thou wilt: The essence of things is in
thy thoughts about them: All is opinion, conception: No man can be
hindered by another: What is outside thy circle of thought is nothing
at all to it; hold to this, and you are safe: One thing is needful--
to live close to the divine genius within thee, and minister thereto
worthily." And the first point in this true ministry, this culture,
was to maintain one's soul in a condition of indifference and calm.
How continually had public claims, the claims of other persons, with
their rough angularities of character, broken in upon him, the
shepherd of the flock. But after all he had at least this privilege
he could not part with, of thinking as he would; and it was well, now
and then, by a conscious effort of will, to indulge it for a while,
under systematic direction. The duty of thus making discreet,
systematic use of the power of imaginative vision for purposes of
spiritual culture, "since the soul takes colour from its fantasies,"
is a point he has frequently insisted on.

The influence of these seasonable meditations--a symbol, or
sacrament, because an intensified [39] condition, of the soul's own