Smyrna times., 1859-04-14
MISCELLAN EO u S.
FACT AND FANCY.
Homes in the Country,
Says the HOrticuLturiSt:

Says the HorticuLturiSt:
"a pleasing writer in Fraser's Magazine
for December last, discusses the Impossbllity
OF our being happy any,chcre, aud declares, !
do not hesitate TO say that the scenery amid
which man lives, and The ht use in which he
lives, have vast deal to do in making HIM what
he Is. Life in itself is neutral thing, color.
less and tasteless; it takes its color and It's fla
vOr from the scenes amid which we lead IT, 1t
Is like water, which external influences may
make the dIrtlest or clcanest, the bitterest or
sweetest Of all things. Life, character, feel
ing, are things greatly dependent on external
influences only stolid people are not affected
BY the scenes in which they live We all re-
member the little child in Wordsworth's poem
expressing decided preference for one place
IN the country over another, which appeared to
have greater attractions; and who, when press.
ed for his reasons, did, after much reflection,
fix upon a single fact as the cause Of his prefer
enee:
AT Klve there was no weathercock;
And that's the reason why
ale adds: i" do not thInk have ever seen
happier people, or people who appeared more
thoroughly envable, than those VINO have been
building pretty residence in the country If,
then thus is a source OF happiness, and external
influences are of great import, it is we'll to
lect good example, and build your mansion
with TASTE"
We see it mentioned in daily paper that a
criminal under sentence of death, in the Tombs,
has pigeon for companion in his CELL And
to see what a blessing and relief to solitary
confinement even this may be, read the follow
ing passage from Count Gontalonere's account
Of his Imprisonment:
The Prisoners Experience.
"FIfteen years | existed IN a dungeon ten
feet square! Daring six years | had COM
PanlOn; during nine | was alone | never
could rightly distinguish the face of him who
shared my captivity in the eternal twilight OF
cur cell. The first year we talked necessarily
together; we related our past lives, our Joys
forever gone, over and over again. The next
year We communicated to each other our
thoughts and ideas on all subjects. The third
year we had no ideas to communicate; we were
beginning to lose the power of reflection. The
fourth, at the interval of month or so, we
would open our lips TO ask each other If il were
possible that the world went on as CAV and
bustling as when we formed portion Ut man. |
kind. The fifth we were silent. The sixth he |
was taken away never knew where, to exc
eution or liberty. But was glad when he was
gone; even solitude was better than the pale, |
vacant face. One day Git must have been
year or two after my companion left me) the
dungeon door was opened, and, whence pro. |
eeedIng knew uOt, the following words were |
uttered: by order of his imperial majesty, |
Intimate to you that your wife died a year
ago. Then the door was shut, and heard no |
more they had bus, flung this great agony upon
me, and left me alone with it,"
But, apropos of solitude, we wonder if our
dramatic authors are all aware that men must
Live in Cities to Write Plays?
A critic of Shakespeare, in an English Re-
view, speaks of his coming up from Slratford to
London, and says:
"The drama can be developed only where
men live in fellowship together; where every
man Is near the centre of a hundred great and
small intrlgues; where sins are backest, vir-
tues most conspicuous; where little il seen of
sunsets aud bulter-cups, but life is made I'D of
the stir and dialogue of men, of clashing human
interests and the lnces'ant change of human
hopes and fears; and where leisure il left 40 no
man to brood for days over single incident
No national drama has been formed among any
people that had not town teeming with ac.
tivity. No genuine dramatic poet has been
bred 10 any land on country milk, or has found
sufficient inspiration in the winds and clouds.
the starlight, or the scent ofSnew-mown hay
AT Strattord, and before coming to London, if
the reasonable belief of the investigators of his
)life be just, Shakespeare wrote Venus and
Adons.' Had he remained at Stratford. he
would have produced more such poeals, aud be.
coIae. most probably, q grand ElIzabethan
Wordsworth. But he would mol, we suspect,
have written plays" S.,