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Return to the homeland
The
date
at
which
the
following
events
are
assumed
to
have
occurred
may
be
set
down
as
between
1840
and
1850
,
when
the
old
watering
place
herein
called
“
Budmouth
”
still
retained
sufficient
afterglow
from
its
Georgian
gaiety
and
prestige
to
lend
it
an
absorbing
attractiveness
to
the
romantic
and
imaginative
soul
of
a
lonely
dweller
inland
.
Under
the
general
name
of
“
Egdon
Heath
,
”
which
has
been
given
to
the
sombre
scene
of
the
story
,
are
united
or
typified
heaths
of
various
real
names
,
to
the
number
of
at
least
a
dozen
;
these
being
virtually
one
in
character
and
aspect
,
though
their
original
unity
,
or
partial
unity
,
is
now
somewhat
disguised
by
intrusive
strips
and
slices
brought
under
the
plough
with
varying
degrees
of
success
,
or
planted
to
woodland
.
It
is
pleasant
to
dream
that
some
spot
in
the
extensive
tract
whose
southwestern
quarter
is
here
described
,
may
be
the
heath
of
that
traditionary
King
of
Wessex
—
Lear
.
July
,
1895
.
A
Saturday
afternoon
in
November
was
approaching
the
time
of
twilight
,
and
the
vast
tract
of
unenclosed
wild
known
as
Egdon
Heath
embrowned
itself
moment
by
moment
.
Overhead
the
hollow
stretch
of
whitish
cloud
shutting
out
the
sky
was
as
a
tent
which
had
the
whole
heath
for
its
floor
.
The
heaven
being
spread
with
this
pallid
screen
and
the
earth
with
the
darkest
vegetation
,
their
meeting
-
line
at
the
horizon
was
clearly
marked
.
In
such
contrast
the
heath
wore
the
appearance
of
an
instalment
of
night
which
had
taken
up
its
place
before
its
astronomical
hour
was
come
:
darkness
had
to
a
great
extent
arrived
hereon
,
while
day
stood
distinct
in
the
sky
.
Looking
upwards
,
a
furze
-
cutter
would
have
been
inclined
to
continue
work
;
looking
down
,
he
would
have
decided
to
finish
his
faggot
and
go
home
.
The
distant
rims
of
the
world
and
of
the
firmament
seemed
to
be
a
division
in
time
no
less
than
a
division
in
matter
.
The
face
of
the
heath
by
its
mere
complexion
added
half
an
hour
to
evening
;
it
could
in
like
manner
retard
the
dawn
,
sadden
noon
,
anticipate
the
frowning
of
storms
scarcely
generated
,
and
intensify
the
opacity
of
a
moonless
midnight
to
a
cause
of
shaking
and
dread
.
In
fact
,
precisely
at
this
transitional
point
of
its
nightly
roll
into
darkness
the
great
and
particular
glory
of
the
Egdon
waste
began
,
and
nobody
could
be
said
to
understand
the
heath
who
had
not
been
there
at
such
a
time
.
It
could
best
be
felt
when
it
could
not
clearly
be
seen
,
its
complete
effect
and
explanation
lying
in
this
and
the
succeeding
hours
before
the
next
dawn
;
then
,
and
only
then
,
did
it
tell
its
true
tale
.
The
spot
was
,
indeed
,
a
near
relation
of
night
,
and
when
night
showed
itself
an
apparent
tendency
to
gravitate
together
could
be
perceived
in
its
shades
and
the
scene
.
The
sombre
stretch
of
rounds
and
hollows
seemed
to
rise
and
meet
the
evening
gloom
in
pure
sympathy
,
the
heath
exhaling
darkness
as
rapidly
as
the
heavens
precipitated
it
.
And
so
the
obscurity
in
the
air
and
the
obscurity
in
the
land
closed
together
in
a
black
fraternization
towards
which
each
advanced
halfway
.
The
place
became
full
of
a
watchful
intentness
now
;
for
when
other
things
sank
brooding
to
sleep
the
heath
appeared
slowly
to
awake
and
listen
.
Every
night
its
Titanic
form
seemed
to
await
something
;
but
it
had
waited
thus
,
unmoved
,
during
so
many
centuries
,
through
the
crises
of
so
many
things
,
that
it
could
only
be
imagined
to
await
one
last
crisis
—
the
final
overthrow
.
It
was
a
spot
which
returned
upon
the
memory
of
those
who
loved
it
with
an
aspect
of
peculiar
and
kindly
congruity
.
Smiling
champaigns
of
flowers
and
fruit
hardly
do
this
,
for
they
are
permanently
harmonious
only
with
an
existence
of
better
reputation
as
to
its
issues
than
the
present
.
Twilight
combined
with
the
scenery
of
Egdon
Heath
to
evolve
a
thing
majestic
without
severity
,
impressive
without
showiness
,
emphatic
in
its
admonitions
,
grand
in
its
simplicity
.
The
qualifications
which
frequently
invest
the
facade
of
a
prison
with
far
more
dignity
than
is
found
in
the
facade
of
a
palace
double
its
size
lent
to
this
heath
a
sublimity
in
which
spots
renowned
for
beauty
of
the
accepted
kind
are
utterly
wanting
.
