Solitude: on the mind and the heart

Introduction

In this unquiet and tumultuous scene of life, surrounded by the restraints of ceremony, the urgencies of business, the shackles of society, and in the evening of my days, I feel no delight in recollecting pleasures that pass so transiently away : my soul dwells with higher satisfaction on the memory of those happy days of my youth, when Solitude was my sole amusement; when I knew no place more agreeable than the sequestered cloister and the silent cell, the lonely mountain and the sublimely awful grove ; or any pleasure more lively than that I experienced in conversing with the dead.

I love to recal to my mind the cool and silent scenes of Solitude ; to oppose them to the heat and bustle of the world; to meditate on those advantages which the great and good of every age have acknowledged they possess, though perhaps too seldom experienced; to reflect on the powerful consolations they afford when grief corrodes the mind; when disease afflicts the body, when the number of our years bends us to the ground; to contemplate, in short, the benign influence of Solitude upon all the troubles of the heart.

Solitude is that state in which the soul freely resigns itself to its own reflections. The sage, therefore, who banishes from his mind all recollection of external objects, and retires within himself, is not less solitary than he who forsakes society, and devotes himself entirely to the calm enjoyments of a lonely life.

The mind surrenders itself in retirement to the unrestrained enjoyment of its own ideas, and adopts without limitation or restraint the sentiments which the taste, the temper, the inclination, and the genius of its possessor inspire.

Observe the shepherds of those extensive deserts : one chaunts the beauty which captivates his soul ; another moulds the clay into a rustic vase ; the surrounding charms of nature form the sole delight and admiration of a third; while a fourth investigates the precepts of the moral law, or contemplates the sublime truths of our holy religion. If they were respectively to meet a lovely shepherdess beneath the shades of their retirement, seated on the borders of some gently-flowing stream, the heart of each might perhaps become the slave of love ; but deprived of all that is dear to man, and doomed to taste involuntary Solitude, the best resource for each is to resign himself to the dictates of his inclination; a resource to which every well-disposed

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and virtuous mind may constantly resort without dismay or danger.

Man in a state of perfect freedom possesses an innate right to follow the suggestions of his fancy : some are delighted by the soft melody of the nightingale, while others listen with equal pleasure to the hideous shriekings of the owl. Some there are to whom even the visits of friendship are displeasing ; who, to avoid the painful intercourse, confine themselves eternally at home, and consume their hours in writing books or killing flies.

The poor dejected heart constantly attaches itself to some favourite object, as far at least as circumstances and situation will permit, from which it draws its consolation and support. Roaming through the cloisters of the Magdalene Convent at Hidelsheim, I was surprised to observe an aviary of Canary birds in the cell of a religieuse. A Braban^on gentleman, fearful of the effects of cold, and having the same aversion from women that certain persons are said to feel from mice, lived five-and-twenty years at Brussels immured within his house, without any other amusement than that of collecting a magnificent cabinet of paintings and pictures.

Under the confinement even of the dungeon itself, men, deprived for ever of their liberty, endeavour to beguile the Solitude in which they are forced to live, by devoting their thoughts, as far as they are able, to those pursuits which afford them the highest pleasure. The Swiss philosopher, Michael Ducret, measured the heights of the Alps during his confine ment in the prison of Aarburg, in the canton of Berne, in Swisserland; and while Baron de Trenck, a prisoner in the tower of Magdeburgh, was every moment anxiously employed in forming projects to effect his escape, General Walrave, the companion of his captivity, contentedly passed his time in the feeding of chickens .

The term Solitude does not, I conceive, always import a total absence from the world. Sometimes it conveys to my mind the idea of dwelling in a convent, or a country village : sometimes I understand it to mean the library of a man of learning : and sometimes an occasional retreat from the tumults of active life.

Men are frequently solitary without being alone ; for to constitute a state of Solitude, it is sufficient if the mind be entirely absorbed by those ideas which its own reflections create.

The haughty baron, proud of the distinctions of birth, feels himself alone in every society, the members of which are not ennobled by an equal number of titles derived through a long line of hereditary descents. A profound reasoner is, in general, solitary at the tables of the witty and the gay. The mind, even amidst the clamours of a popular assembly, may withdraw its attention from the surrounding objects, may retire as effectually within itself, may become as solitary as a monk in his monastery, or a hermit in his cell. In short, Solitude may be as easily attained amidst the gayest circles of the most brilliant city, as in the uninter-

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rupted silence of a poor, deserted village ; at London and at Paris, as well as on the plains of Thebais, or in the desert of Nitria.

A treatise, therefore, upon the real advantages of Solitude, appeared to me a proper means to facilitate the acquisition of happiness. The fewer external resources men possess, the greater efforts they make to discover in themselves the power of being happy ; and the more they are enabled to part without regret from their connections with each other, the nearer they most certainly approach to true felicity. The pleasures of the world are certainly beneath the attention with which they are pursued; but it is equally true, that, upon a serious examination, all those catholic notions, once so celebrated, of a total seclusion from the world and its concerns, appear altogether impracticable and absurd. To render the mind independent of human assistances, and teach it to rely entirely upon the strength of its own powers, is, I acknowledge, a noble achievement : but it is certainly equally meritorious to learn the art of living happily in society, and of rendering ourselves useful and agreeable to the rest of mankind.

While, therefore, I describe the allurements of Solitude, I shall endeavour to warn my readers against those dangerous and extravagant notions into which some of its disciples have been betrayed; notions equally repugnant to the voice of reason and the precepts of our divine religion.

Happily, to avoid all the dangers by which my subject is surrounded, to sacrifice nothing to pre-

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judice, to advance nothing in violation of truth, to obtain the approbation of the peaceful disciples of reason and philosophy, will be my anxious endeavour ; and if Affliction shall derive a ray of consolation from my labours ; if Melancholy, in forgetting the horrors of her situation, shall raise her dejected head to bless me ; if I shall be able to convince the innocent votaries of rural retirement, that the springs of pleasure soon dry up in the heat of the metropolis ; that the heart remains cold and senseless in the midst of all its noisy and factitious joys ; if they shall learn to feel the superior pleasures of a country life, become sensible of the variety of resources they afford against idleness and vexation; what purity of sentiment, what peaceful thoughts, what unfading happiness the view of verdant meads, the sight of numerous flocks and herds quitting the fertile meadows on the close of day, instil into the mind ; with what ineffable delight the sublime beauty of a wild romantic country, interspersed with distant cottages, and occupied by freedom and content, ravishes the soul; how much more readily, in short, we forget all the pains and troubles of a wounded heart on the borders of a gentle stream, than amidst the concourse of deceitful joys so fatally followed in the courts of princes; my task will be accomplished, and all my wishes amply gratified !

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Chap. II. The General Advantages Of Solitude

Solitude engages the affections of men whenever it holds up a picture of tranquillity to their views. The doleful and monotonous sound of the clock of a sequestered monastery, the silence of nature in a still night, the pure air on the summit of a high mountain, the thick darkness of an ancient forest, the sight of a temple fallen into ruins, inspire the soul with a soft melancholy, and banish all recollectiun of the world and its concerns. But the man who cannot hold a friendly correspondence with his own heart, who derives no comfort from the reflections of his mind, who dreads the idea of meditation, and is fearful of passing' a single moment with him'" self, looks with an equal eye on Solitude and on death. He endeavours to enjoy all the voluptuousness which the world affords ; drains the pernicious cup of pleasure to its dregs, and until the dreadful moment approaches when he beholds his nerves shattered, and all the powers of his soul destroyed, he has not courage to make the delayed confession, " I am tired of the world and all its idle follies, and now prefer the mournful shade of the cypress, to the intoxication of its noisy pleasures and tumultuous joys.

The dangers to which a life of Solitude is exposed, for even in Solitude many real dangers exist, afford no substantial argument against it, as by a judicious employment of the hours of activity and repose, and a proper vigilance upon the desires of the heart, they may be easily eluded. The adventurous navigator, when acquainted with the signal of approaching dangers, and the situation of those rocks and shoals which threaten his safety, no longer fears the perils to which he was before exposed. Still less are the advantages of Solitude disproved by the complaints of those, who, feeling a continual desire to escape from themselves, relish no pleasures but those which the world affords : to whom retirement and tranquillity appear vapid and fatiguing ; and who, unconscious of any higher delight than that of paying and receiving visits, have of course no idea of the charms of Solitude.

It is, therefore, only to those distinguished beings, who can resort to their own bosoms for an antidote against disquiet, who are fearless of the numerous sacrifices which virtue may demand, whose souls are endowed with sufficient energy to drive away the dread of being alone, and whose hearts are susceptible of the pure and tranquil delights of domestic felicity, that I pretend to recommend the advantages of Solitude. The miserable being, in whose bosom the corruptions of the world have already destroyed these precious gifts of nature ; who knows no other pleasure, is sensible to no other happiness, than what cards or the luxury of a richlyfurnished table affords; who disdains all exercise of the understanding, thinks all delicacy of sentiment

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unnatural, and, by a brutality almost inconceivable, laughs at the sacred name of sensibility; must be lost to virtue, and utterly incapable of pleasure from any operations of his own mind.

Philosophers and ministers of the Gospel, if they were entirely to deprive themselves of the pleasures of society, and to shun with rigid severity the honest comforts and rational amusements of life, would without doubt essentially injure the interests of wisdom and virtue ; but there are not, at present, many preceptors who carry their doctrines to this extent : on the contrary, there exists a multitude, both in the country and the town, to whom Solitude would be insupportable, who shamefully devote their time to noisy dissipations and tumultuous pleasures altogether inconsistent with their characters and functions. The celebrated sera is passed when a life of retirement and contemplation was alone esteemed, and when the approaches to heaven were measured in proportion as the mind receded from its attachments to the world.

After having examined the influence of Solitude upon the general habits of life, and upon those ordinary pleasures which are pursued with such unceasing avidity, I shall shew, in the first division of this chapter, that it enables man to live independent and alone ; and there is no misfortune it cannot alleviate, no sorrow that it will not soften ; that it adds dignity to his character, and gives fresh vigour to the powers of his mind ; that he cannot in any other situation acquire so perfect a knowledge

is 3 of himself; that it enlarges the sphere of attention, and ripens the seeds of judgment : in short, that it is from the influence of Solitude alone that man can hope for the fruition of unbroken pleasures and never-fading felicity.

The enjoyments of active life may be rendered perfectly consistent with all the advantages of Solitude ; and we shall soon discover upon what foundations the opinions of those philosophers are built, who maintain that the tumults of the world, and the dissipations of its votaries, are incompatible with the calm exercise of reason, the decisions of a sober judgment, the investigation of truth, and the study of the human heart.

The legion of fantastic fashions, to which a man of pleasure is obliged to sacrifice his time, impair the rational faculties of his mind, and destroy the native energies of his soul. Forced continually to lend himself to the performance of a thousand little triflings, a thousand mean absurdities, he becomes by habit frivolous and absurd. The face of things no longer wears its true and genuine aspect; and his depraved taste loses all relish for rational entertainment or substantial pleasure. The infatuation seizes on his brain, and his corrupted heart teems with idle fancies and vain imaginations. These illusions however, through which the plainest object comes distorted to his view, might easily be dispelled. Accustomed to a lonely life, and left to reflect in calmness and sobriety, during the silence of the solitary hour, upon the false joys and deceitful plea-

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sures which the parade of visiting and the glare of public entertainments offer to our view, he would soon perceive and candidly acknowledge their nothingness and insipidity : he would soon behold the pleasures of the world in their true colours, and feel that he had blindly wandered in pursuit of phan toms ; which, though bodies in appearance, are mere shadows in reality.

The inevitable consequences of this ardent pursuit of entertainments and diversions are languor and dissatisfaction. He who has drained the cup of pleasure to its last drop ; who is obliged to confess that his hopes are fled, and that the world no longer contains an object worthy of his pursuit; who feels disappointment and disgust mingled with all his enjoyments; who seems astonished at his own insensibility ; who no longer possesses the magic of the enchantress Imagination to gild and decorate the scene ; calls in vain to his assistance the daughters of Sensuality ; their caresses can no longer charm his dark and melancholy mind ; the soft and syren song of Luxury no longer can dispel the cloud of discontent which hovers round his head.

Behold yon weak old man, his mind enervated, and his constitution gone, running after pleasures that he no more must taste. The airs of gaiety which he affects render him ridiculous. His attempts to shine expose him to derision. His endeavours to display the wit and eloquence of youth, betray him into the garrulity of old age. His conversation, filled with repetitions and fatiguing nar-

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rative, creates disgust ; and only forces the smile of pity from the lips of his youthful rivals. To the eye of Wisdom however, who saw him through all the former periods of his life, sparkling in the circles of folly, and rioting in the noisy rendezvous of extravagance and vice, his character always appeared the same.

The wise man, in the midst of the most tumultuous pleasures, frequently retires within himself, and silently compares what he might do with what he is doing Surrounded even by the excesses of intoxication, Jie associates only with those warm and generous souls, whose highly elevated minds are drawn towards eacli other by wishes the most virtuous, and sentiments the most sublime. The silence of Solitude has more than once given birth to enterprises of the greatest importance and utility; and some of the most celebrated actions of mankind were perhaps first inspired among the sounds of music, or conceived in the mazes of the dance. Sensible and elevated minds never commune more closely with themselves than in those places of public resort, in which the low and vulgar, abandoned to the caprice of fashion and the illusions of sensuality, become incapable of reflection, and blindly suffer themselves to be overwhelmed by the torrent of folly and distraction.

Vacant souls are always burdensome to their possessors ; and it is the weight of this burden that impels them incessantly in the pursuits of dissipation for relief. The irresistible inclination by which they are carried continually abroad, the anxiety with which they search for society, the trifles on which from day to day they spend their time, announce the emptiness of their minds, and the frivolous affection of their hearts. Possessing no resources within themselves, they are forced to rove abroad, and fasten upon every object that presents itself to their view, until they find the wished-for harbour to protect them against the attacks of discontent, and prevent them from reflecting on their ignoble condition.

The enjoyments of sense, therefore, are thus indefatigably followed, only as means of escaping from themselves. They seize with avidity upon every object that promises to occupy the present hour agreeably, and provide entertainment for the day that is passing over their heads : this must ever be some external object, some new phantom, something that shall prevent them from remaining with themselves. The man whose mind is sufficiently fertile to invent hour after hour new schemes of pleasure, to open day after day fresh sources of amusement for the lazy and luxurious, is a valuable companion indeed; he is their best, their only friend : not that they are destitute of those abilities which might prevent this sacrifice of time, and procure them relief, but having been continually led from object to object in the pursuit of pleasure, the assistance of others has habitually become the first want and greatest desire of their lives : they have insensibly lost the power of acting from themselves, and depend for every thing on those about them, without being able to direct or determine the impressions they ought to receive. This is the reason why the rich, who are seldom acquainted with any other pleasures than those of sense, are, in general, the most miserable of men.

The nobility and courtiers of France think their enjoyments appear vain and ridiculous only to those who 1 ave not the opportunity of partaking in them : but I am of a different opinion. Returning one Sunday from Trianon to Versailles, I perceived at a distance a number of people assembled upon the terrace of the castle; and on a nearer approach I beheld Louis the Fifteenth surrounded by his court at the windows of his palace. A man very richly dressed, with a large pair of branching antlers fastened on his head, whom they called the stag, was pursued by about a dozen others who composed the pack. The pursued and the pursuers leaped into the great canal, scrambled out again, and ran about to all parts, while the air resounded with acclamations and clapping of hands, to encourage the continuance of the sport. " What can all this mean ? " said I to a Frenchman who stood near me. " Sir," he replied with a very serious countenance, " it is for the entertainment of the court. "

The most obscure and indigent conditions are certainly happier than the state of these sovereigns of the world, and their slavish retinue, when reduced to the necessity of adopting such mean and abject modes of entertainment.

The courtier, when he appears at a levee, outwardly affects the face of joy, while his heart is inwardly a prey to the most excruciating sorrows ; and speaks with the liveliest interest of transactions in which he has no concern : but perhaps it is necessary to his consequence that he should raise false appearances to the minds of his visitors, who on their side impose equally on him in return. The success, alas ! of all his schemes affords him no other pleasure than to see his apartments crowded with company, whose only merit and recommendation in his eyes consist in a string of hereditary titles, of perhaps no very remote antiquity or honourable origin.

On this privation of the light of human reason do the felicities of a worldly life most frequently depend. From this dark source spring the inordinate pride of the imperious noble, and the no less unbounded ambition of the simple mechanic. Hence arise the disdain of some, the haughtiness of others, and the folly of all.

To men of dissipated minds, who dread the painful intrusion of rational sentiment, these numerous and noisy places of public resort appear like temples dedicated, to their idol, Pleasure. He who seeks happiness on the couch of indolence ; who expends all the activity of his mind, all the energies of his heart, upon trifling objects; who suffers vain and frivolous pursuits to absorb his time, to engage his attention, to lock up all the functions of his soul ; cannot patiently endure the idea of being for one mo-

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merit by himself. Direful condition ! Is there then no occupation whatever, no useful employment, no rational recreation sufficiently high and dignified for such a character ? Is he reduced to the melancholy condition of not being able to perform one good and virtuous action during the intervals of suspended pleasure ? Can he render no services to friendship, to his country, to himself ? Are there no poor and miserable beings, to whose bosoms he might afford a charitable comfort and relief? Is it, in short, impossible for such a character to become, in any way, more wise or virtuous than he was before ?

The powers of the human soul are more extensive than they are in general imagined to be ; and he who, urged by inclination, or compelled by necessity, most frequently exerts them, will soon find that/the highest felicities, of which our nature is capable, reside entirely within ourselves. I The wants of life are, for the greater part, merely artificial; and although sensual objects most efficaciously contribute to our pleasure and content, it is not because the enjoyment of them is absolutely necessary, but because they have been rendered desirable by habit. The gratifications they afford easily persuade us, that the possession of them is essential to happiness; but if we had fortitude to resist their charms, and courage to look within our own bosoms for that felicity which we so anxiously hope to derive from others, we should frequently find a much greater variety of resources there, than all the objects of sense are capable of affording.

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Men of superficial minds may indeed derive some amusement from assemblies, to which the company in general resort merely to see and to be seen : but how many women of fashion expire in such assemblies under all the mortification of disappointed vanity ! How many neglected wits sullenly retire into some obscure corner of the room ! The mind, on entering the circles of the great and gay, is apt to flatter itself too highly with hopes of applause ; to expect with too much anxiety the promised pleasure. Wit, coquetry, sensuality, it is true, are, at these meetings, frequently exercised with considerable success. Every candidate displays his talents to the best advantage ; and those who are the least informed frequently gain the reputation of shiningcharacters. Amidst these scenes, however, the eye may occasionally be gratified by the sight of objects really agreeable ; the ear may listen to observations truly flattering. Lively thoughts and sensible remarks now and then prevail. Characters equally amiable and interesting occasionally mix among the group. We may form acquaintance with men of distinguished merit, whom we should not otherwise have had an opportunity of knowing ; and meet with women of estimable qualities and irreproachable conduct, whose refined conversation ravishes the mind with the same delight that their exquisite beauty captivates the heart.

But by what a number of painful sensations must the chance of receiving these pleasures be purchased ? Those who are restrained either by silent sorrow, a secret discontent, or a rational disposition, from mixing in the common dissipations of life, cannot see without a sigh the gay conceit, the airy confidence, the blind arrogance, and the bold loquacity, with which these votaries of worldly pleasures proclaim a felicity, that leads them, almost inevitably, to their ruin. It is, indeed, irresistibly laughable to observe the excessive joy of so many men in place, the absurd airs of so many old dowagers, the presumptuous and ridiculous fopperies of so many hoary-headed children 5 but who, alas ! is there, that will not grow tired even of the pleasantest comedy, by seeing it too frequently ? He, therefore, who has often been an eye-witness of these scenes, who has often yawned with fatigue in these temples of pleasure, and is convinced that they exhibit rather the illusion and appearance than the substance and reality of it, becomes dejected in the midst of all their joys, and hastily retires to domestic privacy, to taste of pleasures in which there is no deceit ; pleasures which leave neither disquietude nor dissatisfaction behind them.

An invitation to the board of Luxury, where Disease with leaden sceptre is known to preside, where painful truths are blurted in the ears of those who hoped they were concealed, where reproach and calumny fall without discrimination on the best and worst of characters, in the estimation of the world, conceived to confer the highest honour, and the greatest pleasure. But he, who feels the divine energies of the soul, turns with abhorrence from

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societies which tend to diminish or impair their operations. To him the simplest fare with freedom and content, in the bosoms of an affectionate family, is ten thousand times more agreeable than the rarest dainty, and the richest wine, with a society where form imposes a silent attention to the loquacity of some vain wit, whose lips utter nothing but fatiguing nonsense.

True social pleasure is founded on unlimited confidence, congeniality of sentiment, and mutual esteem. The spiritless and crowded societies of the world, wdiere a round of low and little pleasures fills the hour of entertainment, and the highest gratification is to display a pomp of dress and levity of behaviour, may perhaps afford a glimpse of joy to light and thoughtless minds, eagerly impatient to remove the weight which every vacant hour accumulates. But men of reason and reflection, instead of sensible conversation or rational amusement, find only a dull unvaried jargon, a tiresome round of compliments, and turn with aversion from these temples of delight, or resort to them with coldness, dissatisfaction or disgust.

How tiresome do all the pleasures of the world appear, when compared with the happiness of a faithful, tender, and enlightened friendship ! How joyfully do we shake off the shackles of society for that high and intimate connection of the soul, where our inclinations are free, our feelings genuine, our sentiment unbiassed 3 where a mutual confidence of thoughts and actions, of pleasures and of pains uninterruptedly prevails; where the heart is led by Joy along the path of Virtue, and the mind conducted by Happiness into the bowers of Truth: where every thought is anticipated before it escapes from the iips ; where advice, consolation, succour, are reciprocally given and received in all the accidents and misfortunes of life. The soul, thus animated by the charm of friendship, springs from its sloth, and views the irradiating beams of Hope breaking on its repose. Casting a retrospective eye on the time that has past, the happy pair mutually exclaim with the tenderest emotions, " Oh ! what pleasures have we not already experienced, what joys have we not already felt ! " If the tear of affliction steal down the cheek of the one, the other, with affection, wipes it tenderly away. The deepest sorrows of the one are felt with equal poignancy by the other; but what sorrow can resist the consolation which flows from an intercourse of hearts so tenderly, so intimately, so closely, united. Day after day they communicate to each other all that they have seen, all that they have heard, all that they feel, and every thing they know. Time flies before them on his swiftest pinions. The ear is never tired of the gratification of listening to each other's conversation. The only misfortune, of which they have any fear, is the greatest they can possibly experience, the misfortune of being separated by occasional absence or by death.

Possessed of such refined felicity, it must not be attributed to austerity of character, or incivility of manners, but to a venial error of imagination, if the intercourses of ordinary minds no longer charm us ; if we become insensible to their indifference, and careless of their aversion ; if in consequence of the superiority of our joys we no longer mix in the noisy pleasures of the world, and shun all society which has numbers only for its recommendation.