[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."'
Sin,—Your interesting article on "Vastness and Isolation" in the Spectator of April 20th recalls to my mind Words- worth's own interpretation of the lines— "Those obstinate questionings
Of sense and outward things, Fallings from us, vanishings"—
as reported to me by the late Professor Bonamy Price. One day, as he was walking with the poet in the hills, he asked him what he meant precisely by the words, "Failings from us, vanishings." Wordsworth's answer was to this effect "Sometimes I find myself in a mood in which the whole material universe seems to fall away ; the sense of outward things is lost ; nothing remains but an immaterial self, detached from all physical conditions. In order to get back into the known world of consciousness I have to clutch at something,—so." Here he grasped the bar of the gate on which they were leaning at the moment. I was much struck by the story at the time, and made a note of it. I have since mentioned it to several friends, but so far as I am aware it has not found its way into print. Your readers will see how closely the explanation agrees with some of the experiences
quoted in your article, and in one particular detail—the recovery of the power of touch—how exactly it reproduces the description of Mr. J. A. Symonds.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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