It was very much a man of the world who wrote the following passage: "The desire for solitude is the most pleasant disorder of our times. It is man's natural reaction to the speed of modern life and to the evils of the world in which we live. And because today solitude is almost beyond our reach, we seek it the more eagerly. Some find it only in dreams; others again on the mountain-tops. The more fortunate, and I count myself among them, satisfy their craving by the side of running streams and lonely lochs. Berdyaev, who will be read when Stalin's name is little more than an unpleasant memory, calls this desire for solitude the nostalgia of the soul; and by this he means, I think, that communion with Nature is the way back for souls that have lost God."
The writer was Rober Bruce Lockhart, probably best known for his book Memoirs of a British Agent. This is the man who, as head of the British Special Mission to the Bolsheviks, met Lenin, Trotsky, Chicherin, Radek and other important people in the party, whom he had known and negotiated with. Then, when an attempt was made on Lenin's life, he was arrested, released, re-arrested and finally imprisoned. No doubt with many others in those revolutionary times. In October of 1918 he and a trainload of British and French officials were sent westward to safety. Bruce Lochart (later Sir Robert) led a varied and lively life. He was a diplomat, he became a banker with much travel in Europe, he was for years the kingpin of the Londoner's Diary in Beaverbrook's dominion, and through this and his many earlier connections he interviewed eminent or interesting people: the ex-Kaiser, Amy Johnson, then a noted aviator, and many, many politicians.
An often-quoted interview is one he had with the then German Chancellor Stresemann who had tried so hard to win some concessions from the Allies, some relaxation of the Treaty of Versailles. He had led his country into the League of Nations. "If you had given me one concession I could have carried my people . . . but you have given nothing . . . and the youth of Germany which we might have won for peace we have both lost. That is my tragedy and your crime." Six months later (the interview was in April 1929) Stresemann was dead. Worn out.
Lockhart wrote many books, but his favourite was the one from which is taken the piece at the beginning of this item. And it is timely because it is being reissued by the Flyfisher's Classic Library of Ashburton, Devon. "Of all my books it is my favourite", he wrote. "And my wanderings by small rivers have taught me much history and some knowledge of life and have brought me nearer a spiritual peace of mind than has any book or sermon." It is called My Rod My Comfort. Y