We have to inform the public of a remarkable discovery, which, though
partially disclosed by former travellers, has still remained, for the
most part, a strange secret. It is this;--that there is actually, at
this present moment, and in this our own beautiful country of Great
Britain, a large tract of territory, which to nine hundred and
ninety-nine thousandths of our beloved countrymen is as much an
undiscovered land as the other end of New South Wales, or the Pole which
they have gone to find out. We have read of places in romance, which
were more shut out by magic from people’s eyes, though close to them,
than if a fifty-foot wall encircled them. It would seem as if some such
supernatural prohibition existed with regard to the land in question;
for the extremities of it reach to within a short distance from the
metropolis, which it surrounds on all sides; nay, we have heard of
persons riding through it, without seeing any thing but a sign-post or
some corn; and yet it is so beautiful, that it is called emphatically
“the country.”
It abounds in the finest natural productions. The more majestic parts of
it are at a distance, but the zealous explorer may come upon its gentler
beauties in an incredibly short time. Its pastures and cattle are
admirable. Deer are to be met with in the course of half a day’s
journey; and the traveller is accompanied, wherever he goes, with the
music of singing birds. Immediately towards the south is a noble river,
which brings you to an upland of the most luxuriant description, looking
in the water like a rich-haired beauty in her glass: yet the place is in
general solitary. Towards the north, at a less distance, are some other
hilly spots of ground, which partake more of the rudely romantic,
running however into scenes of the like sylvan elegance; and yet these
are still more solitary. The inhabitants of these lands, called the
country-people, seem, in truth, pretty nearly as blind to their merits
as those who never see them; but their perceptions will doubtless
increase, in proportion as their polished neighbours set the example. It
should be said for them, that some causes, with which we have nothing to
do in this place, have rendered them duller to such impressions than
they appear to have been a century or two ago; but we repeat, that they
will not live in such scenes to no purpose, if those who know better
take an interest in their improvement. Their children have an instinct
that is wiser, till domestic cares do it away. They may be seen in the
fields and green lanes, with their curly locks and brown faces,
gathering the flowers which abound there, and the names of which are as
pretty as the shapes and colours. They are called wild roses, primroses,
violets, the rose campion, germander, stellaria, wild anemone,
bird’s-eye, daisies and buttercups, lady-smocks, ground-ivy, hare-bells
or blue-bells, wake-robin, lillies of the valley, &c. &c. The trees are
oaks, elms, birches, ash, poplar, willow, wild cherry, the flowering
may-bush, &c. &c. all, in short, that we dote upon in pictures, and wish
that we had about us when it is hot in Cheapside and Bond-street. It is
perfectly transporting, in fine weather, like the present for instance,
to lounge under the hedge-row elms in one of these sylvan places, and
see the light smoke of the cottages fuming up among the green trees, the
cattle grazing or lying about with a heavy placidity accordant to the
time and scene, “painted jays” glancing about the glens, the gentle
hills sloping down into water, the winding embowered lanes, the leafy
and flowery banks, the green oaks against the blue sky, their ivied
trunks, the silver-bodied and young-haired birches, and the mossy grass
treble-carpeted after the vernal rains. Transporting is it to see all
this; and transporting to hear the linnets, thrushes, and blackbirds,
the grave gladness of the bee, and the stock-dove “brooding over her own
sweet voice.” And more transporting than all is it to be in such places
with a friend, that feels like ourselves, in whose heart and eyes
(especially if they have fair lids) we may see all our own happiness
doubled, as the landscape itself is reflected in the waters.[206]
[206] The Indicator.
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