The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-08-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

OCR VILLAGE;
/KETCHES OT RURAL CHARACTER ARO ICEntr.
By Mary Russell Milford.

Whit:aka.

The sober charms of rural scenery are infinitely
attractive to a pure and virtuous mind than an the
ad:nu:ants to ileature which follow each other is
romance of real life." The scenes of enjoyment which the,
rcspea; vely represent are so opposite as to make us,
literally., converts to the poetical creed, that
God 'bade the country, and Man made the toss,
society, we are aware, has claims upon nery tr„ of
us, which arc not to be disallowed, but the enjovintnt
the "Village delights" does not necessarily vritbeirtw
from that interest which it becomes us to feel r: 117
events of the world. It does not follow that Leas..
are not plodding on in the beaten track of cite anti
nen, that we arc therefore forgetful of the ties ',hill
us to society. The fair authoress of the volume b<fr,
has given a faithful picture of her " Village," ar !1,
I filled up its comprehensive outline with a lively
of its most pleasing features. It it manifestly lips
softening the heart, to open it to all those itt.pre.:,‘
v:1 ich adorn and elevate our nature. After much
course with mankind, we are fain, most of us, to lx;,
happiness in ideal creation, and to seek in a retreat fr:r.
the more active scenes of life, whatever of real felicity is n
be found on this side of the grave. The elegant petits
poet has entbodisil the wish of many besides himself
'following lines:—

satin est requiescere tecto
Si lice, ct membra levers toro.
A little farm be trine, a cottage neat.
And *onto! couch. wberc balmy sleep may fall.
As eonnecttil with tl:is subject. we will prment
readers whit a specimen of Oar Viliege, selLetal
description of the fans yard.

" The farm-yard sivarmed with peacocks, um*"
geese, tan.e and wild-ducks, fowls, guinea-hens, ate,
pigeons; besides a brood or two of favourite bantata
die green court before the door, with a little
strutter of a cock at tbe;r head, who imitated the mar_
ficent demeanour of the great Tom of the barn-vard,:ril
Its Tom. in his turn, copied the fierce beating oethat
like and terrible biped t.:e he-turkey. I am the lean
tle world afraid of a turkey-cock, and used to
cicar of the turkery as often u I could. Commend re::
the peaceable vanity of that jewel of a bird, the
sweeping his gorgeous tail along the grass, or drapp:Lg
gmccfully from soirm low-bouglted tree, whilst he
round Isis crested head with the air of a birthday
see who Minim; him. IVhat a glorious creature • :^
How thoroughly content with himself and with a:: ..:
world !

" Next to her poultry, our good farmer's wife loved :e
flower-garden ; and indeed- it was of the ray first water--
the only thing about the place that was fine. She Ira :
real genuine florist: valued pinks, tulips, and aurier.:a.
fur certain qualities of shape and colour, with
beauty has nothing to do; preferred black ranurcalm-.
and gave into all those obliquities of a tiiple-rtitt.:
taste by which the pn.fesscd florist contrives to I.n
pace with the vagaries of the Bibliomaniac. Of 1.;
odd fashions, that of dark, gloomy, dingy flowers. appri
to me the oddest. Your true connoi..seur now, sbal! prj!
a deep puce hollyhock, to the gay pink blossoms s!::,
cluster round that splendid plant like a p;ratuid of srs.
So did she. The nomenclature of her ganlen was tz,
distress:ng still. One is never thoroughly sociablt ir.ts
flowers till they are naturalized as it were, chrism!,
provided with decent, homely, well-wearing Era
names. Now her plants had all sorts of hcatllcaisb sT
pellations, which—no offence to her learning, sista
sounded wrong. I liked the bes' garden best; the
of ground immediately round their hives, filled with crs
mon flowers for their use, and literally reolot
sweets.' Bees are insects of great taste in every war, e
seem often to select for beauty as much as for firm
They have a better eye for rolour than the florist. re
butterfly is also a Jikilante. ltover thout„li he be, be
nerally prefers the blossoms that become him best.
a pretty picture it is, in a sunshiny autumn day, to ',vs
bright spotted butterfly, made up of gold and purple. ::.1
splendid brown, swinging on the rich flower of use rha
aster !

"To come back to our farm. Within doors eett :Et;
went as well as without. There were no fine rnitteei:-
fing before the piano, and mixing the alloy of theirw:t
fangled tinsel with the old sterling metal ; nothing
extraordinarydnlar
was
an only son, excellently b
rought up, a fair slim yotili.
who a gaf
and Grind anthdrowsonminet:hGantePerenlibief by l veeltisatbana
d
loud hilarity, and harmonized delightfully with the sniEg
Ikindness of his mother. His tk pen sers and Thames,
too, looked well amongst the hyacinths and geraniums eS
filled the windows of the little snug room in whirl they
usually sate ; a sort of after-thought, built at an se:e
from the house, and looking into the farm-yard. ;rs
closely packed, with favourite arm-chairs, favourl'e ids,
favourite tallies, and a sideboard decorated with the Taht
cups and collars of the greyhounds, and generally 13',1
uith substantial work-baskets, jars of flowers, greaten
mids of home-made cakes and sparkling bottles of pow
berry wine, famous all over the country. The walls v.-1
covered with portraits of half a dozen greyhounds, a Ira
of spaniels, as large as life, an old pony, and the mew
and mistress of the house in half-length. She as sillies
possible, prim, mincing, delicate, in lace and sada; her
stariegly and ridiculously like, that when the pieta-tit:l
its good-humoured eyes upon you so you entered tile N.:. •
you were almost tempted to say--how d'ye do? ~.
the portraits are gone now, and the originals. Penh el
distance have despoiled that pleasant home. The
has lost its smiling mistress; the greyhounds their hi
master ; and new people, new manners, and new all
have taken prisses.sion of the old abode of peace milli*
—the great farm-house."
AU the kindliest affections of our nature are kiitTA
amid scents like these. Alias Mitford sketches wail
much exactness that but little is wanting to immediate l'ef'
sonification. The following description is not onil.Fer
nant with pleasing images, but 'hews the amiable wrict
I be capable of swaying all the tenderer emotions:—
" Through this little gate, and along the rem Ell'
bank of this green wheat-field, and they loft ir
me, the lovely violets, in ten-fold lovelinsts
ground is covered with them, white and purf'•ecr,c
ling the short dewy grass, looking but the mew el!1::!
coloured under the dull, leaden sky. There they l!e,:”
hundreds, by thousands. In former years I 1.11r4 ,
used to watch theist from the tiny green bud, ell
two stole into bloom. They never came on me lefeee,.i
such a sudden and luxuriant glory of simple brawl':
I do really owe one pure and genuine ple.
feverish London. How beautifully they arc ras(‘'
on this sloping bank, with the paten branches 'mai:
them, full of early bees, and mixing their lioneyN
with the more delicate violet odour! flow Wen:
and smooth and lusty are the branches, full of sap ar-t,',2oi
And there, just by the old mossy mot, is sorb •-•••;L,
primroses, with a yellow butterfly hovering over th.
a flower floating in the sir. I flat happiness to stye 1.;3,
turfy knoll, and fill my baAct with the blossoms • ":
a renewal of heart and mined ! To inhabit stieli
peace and sweetness is again to be fearless. ,
as a child. Then it is that thought becomesgay ros,
feeling religion. Then it is that s:e are I,,PrY
Oh that my whole life mold pass so, floating ea
and and innocent sensation, enjoying in peace and gral..l.te.i..
common blessings of nature, thankful above !I
simple habits, the healthful temperament, whiff
them so dear ! Alas! who may dare expect a life
happiness? But I can at least snatch and preleng
..1
fleeting pleasure, can fill my basket with pure titor,e•;7t,
my heart with pure thoughts ; can gladden my ITIt
with their sweetness; can divide my treasures site,
dear one, who cannot seek them ; cats see them
shut my eyes—and dream of them %Len I fall :slot, •

The Su:lacy (New South Wales) Gazette. of l'elainge
19, contains the followingparagraph:—" 1''11%,,t0
magistrate, has just ictunivil from a II darsexeurs,3-
the interior; from whom we obtain the di;aarceable
of the country, fur the space
of seventy milts routs!
Fonsutued by fire. The cause of this disaster,
Oh,
inevitably prnve destructive. to quantities of p10"'
tnlmted to Wine diSpUiet that hare arises kdlc,se6„,„;
natives and stockmen ; the former, to be revenge:l, li°
fire to the pass." . tc•r:i