On Going a Journey
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 criticizing hedgerows 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 fewerincumbrances. 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. Instead of a friend in a post-chaise or in a Tilbury, to exchange good things with, and vary the same stale topics over again, for once let me have a truce with impertinence. Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours' march to dinner -- and then to thinking! It is hard if I cannot start some game on these lone heaths. I laugh, I run, I leap, I sing for joy. From the point of yonder rolling cloud I plunge into my past being, and revel there, as the sun-burnt Indian plunges headlong into the wave that wafts him to his native shore. Then long-forgotten things, like "sunken wrack and sumless treasuries," burst upon my eager sight, and I begin to feel, think, and be myself again.
论旅行
旅行是世上最快乐的事之一;不过我向来喜欢独行。我热衷于室内交往;在户外,自然这个伴侣对我已是足够。那时我身虽处孤独但心并不孤独。
“原野是书斋,自然为书卷。”
我不明白,一个人一边散步一边谈话的妙处何在。在乡间的时候,我希望自己像草木一样在那儿生长,而不是评论篱笆和黑牛。我出城是为了忘记城市,以及那里的一切。有人也为此目的而去湖畔水滨,但他们把整个城市也带了去。我要的却是广阔天地,并不是累赘障碍。我喜欢独处,当我沉浸于孤独时,我别无他求。我并不渴求。
“隐居之时,友人在侧,
相与低语孤独之乐,亦为趣事。”
出游的灵魂在于自由,纯粹的自由,思人所乐之思,感人所乐之感,做人所乐之事。我们出游主要是为了摆脱一切障碍,一切不便之处;为了摆脱自我,更为了甩掉他人。正是因为我渴望有一点余暇时间来沉思各种琐碎小事,因而这时思想便
“可能丰其羽毛,长其羽翼,
而以前各个居住之处的热闹
却备受滋扰,甚至损害,”
我才暂时离开城市,而一旦悠然一身,我也不会怅然若失。因为仅在此时,我才能免去冒失之举,不用再在四轮驿车或二轮马车上和朋友絮叨美味佳肴,或变着花样地聊这些陈旧话题。但愿我能头顶蓝天,脚踏绿草地,面向一条蜿蜒小路,以及赶上三个小时的路程前去进餐,接着便是驰骋想象!我一定能在那寂静的草地上纵情欢乐。我一定会唱唱笑笑,跑跑跳跳,满心喜悦。从那远处滚滚的云端,我翻身跃进我的过去,并且沉溺其中,如同一个黝黑的印度人一头扎进碧波之中,随波逐流,却返回了故土。于是久已遗忘的许多东西——“沉埋的船只,无数的珍宝”,又会赫然在眼前,于是我又会感我所感,思我所思,自我回归。