...DARKNESS "Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings." Samuel Johnson, 1775 I he outstanding men of genius in the Renaissance were haunted by the...

...lona." For, "Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings." Thus we in some measure see the due proportion of things, and the greatness and the littleness...

...observes, "Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of human beings" (148). This may seem an eccentric philosophical dictum for a travel writer to adopt,...