"I have but a languid interest in facts, qua facts," he said; "and I try to arrive at history through biography.

I like to disentangle the separate strands, one at a time; the fabric is too complex for me." He had the greatest delight in topography.

"That is why," he used to say, "I delight in a flat country.

The idea of _space_ is what I want.
I like to see miles at a glance.

I like to see clouds league-long rolling up in great masses from the horizon--cloud perspective.