Latebrae

John Cowper Powys (1872-1963), Autobiography (London: The Bodley Head, 1934), pp. 85-86: A longing for a lair, for a cave, for a fortress, for any hidden domain, which cannot be disturbed, is still deep in my nature. It is doubtless for this reason that I have always wanted to live in narrow quarters, a little house in the country or in a single room in the city, and I have a positive detestation of large houses. This feeling of being safe and snug in a hidden retreat, while the world passes by outside and cannot reach you, is very dear to me. I have always loved that passage in Scott’s poem about the hunted stag: "There, close-couched, while the thickets shed Cold dews and wild flowers on his head, He heard the baffled dogs in vain Rave through the hollow pass amain Chiding the rocks …" Hat tip: Eric Thomson.