And I suppose the Trossachs would
hardly be the Trossachs for most tourists if a man of admirable
romantic instinct had not peopled it for them with harmonious
figures, and brought them thither with minds rightly prepared for the
impression. There is half the battle in this preparation. For
instance: I have rarely been able to visit, in the proper spirit,
the wild and inhospitable places of our own Highlands. I am happier
where it is tame and fertile, and not readily pleased without trees.
I understand that there are some phases of mental trouble that
harmonise well with such surroundings, and that some persons, by the
dispensing power of the imagination, can go back several centuries in
spirit, and put themselves into sympathy with the hunted, houseless,
unsociable way of life that was in its place upon these savage hills.
Now, when I am sad, I like nature to charm me out of my sadness, like
David before Saul; and the thought of these past ages strikes nothing
in me but an unpleasant pity; so that I can never hit on the right
humour for this sort of landscape, and lose much pleasure in
consequence.
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