The country seats of England form, indeed, one of the most remarkable
features, not only in English landscape, but yet more in what may be
termed the genius and economy of English manners. Their great number
throughout the country, the varied grandeur and beauty of their parks
and gardens, the extent, magnificence, and various architecture of the
houses, the luxurious comfort and completeness of their internal
arrangements, and their relation generally to the character of the
peasantry surrounding them, justify fully the expression we have used.
No where has this mode of life attained so high a degree of perfection
and refinement. We will allude to two circumstances, amongst many
others, in illustration. The first of these is, the very great number of
valuable libraries belonging to our family seats. It has been sometimes
remarked as singular, that England should possess so few great public
libraries, while a poorer country, like Germany, can boast of its
numerous and vast collections at Vienna, Prague, Munich, Stutgard,
Goettingen, Wolfenbuttel, &c. The fact is partly explained by the many
political divisions and capitals, and by the number of universities in
Germany. But a further explanation may be found in the innumerable
private libraries dispersed throughout England--many of them equal to
public ones in extent and value, and most of them well furnished in
classics, and in English and French literature.
The other peculiarity we would name about our English country-houses is,
that they do not insulate their residents from the society and business
of active life; which insulation is probably a cause, why so many
proprietors in other countries pass their whole time in the metropolis
or larger towns. The facility and speed of communication in England link
together all places, however remote, and all interests, political and
social, of the community. The country gentleman, sitting at his
breakfast table a hundred miles from London, receives the newspapers
printed there the night before; his books come to him still damp from
the press; and the debates in parliament travel to every country-house
in England within fifty or sixty hours of the time when they have taken
place. The like facility exists as to provincial interests of every
kind. The nobleman or country gentleman is a public functionary within
his district, and no man residing on his estates is, or need feel
himself, unimportant to the community. _Quarterly Rev._
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