Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-07-27
Letter from Rev. c.. A. Allen.


former pastor of the Church of the Messiah,
who is now travelling in Europe The letter
sdated London, July Sd, and We feel sure
It's fine descriptions viii amply repay one the
time spent in its perusal.l
In North Wales and the Lake country of
England, was struck with the resemblance
Of the less rugged parts 20 our own Vermont
In many a charming valley, but for the haw-
thorn hedges everywhere crossing the hill
sides stead of our stone walls, aud the
ocsas al low, stone, village cottages, or
ivy-v Md castles, | could easily imagine my
self riding on the new railway to Barre, AMI
down the wales Of Orange county But the
majestic grandeur of the Llanberis Pass, at
the foot of Snowdon lin North Wales), ia
nous as the scene of Gray's poem of Z" The
Rard,'' was unlike anything in New England.
And among the English Lakes. there is an
exquisite delicacy blended with firm, large
outlines IN the mountain views, which com
bine in loneliness that can hardly be
eaualed elsewhere in the world. | climbed
Loughrigg Fell a Sunday afternoon, and
there, on long. irregular hill, 1000 feet
above Lake Windermere, at its base, | saw
a panorama of mountain views which will
long linger in my memory like bright
dream Paradise could hardly be Iovelier
Such bewildering, Intoxicating pngeahtry
of mingled majesty and sweetness in crowded
hills and far-reaching valleys, and distant,
wide, lofty vlstas, bathed in the warm, bright
evening sunbeams. and the long, winding,
Lhill-embosomed, fairy Lake WindermeIS<
sssrsu~.-.-.ss srse~ s=oa.Ls
here and theirs in the near yalleys the ~
delightful little groves and brooks and wrtes
falls, and afar off, on the high horiz IN, the
vague gigantic forms of huge mountains that
loom up like the sentinels of this Land OF
Magic, conspicuous on every side, and by
their ruggedness and mass giving an expires
sion of dignity and sublirnity to the thousand
graceful curves of the low hills that nestle
among them. l ranbled from peak to peak
of the Fell, ard CARED for hours in trans
port of joy. And the evening sun, as il
neared the western hills, broke forth through
mass of clouds and poured flood of gold.
en- light in direct stream over the long
Langdale valleys, with that peculiar radiance
which we miss under the difFused sunbeams
of cloudless sky. No painting Of artist.
brightest fancies. or my own fairest imagin-
ings of fairy-land, ever compared with the
magnifeence and exquisiteness of that eve
ming landscape. / could have stayed a montl
on that hilltop, as Cd another Pisseh. Il
like the Hill Beautiful, where gooJ
christian was shown a view of the Detachable
Mountains, the frontier land of the Heaven
/ ~ Rest When analysed the landscape
| recognized that | could recall something
nearly as fine in our own country "a
single portions,-except that the outlines 81
the bill, both high and low, everywhere A.
sumed the most wonderfully varied anc
charming eurTes There was not a strok,
in the picture anywhere tas We should say Ci
Ia human artist s work that was commonplace
Every line was graceful, and every little bit
of beauty was full of amazing and delicat'
charm in a hundred dstails-e tree here, q
glimpse of high mountain brook there,
shaded hollow, or spot of concentrated ligh
on a high point, or indescrIhably fine blend
ing Of short curves elsewhere. This in7=ri
able perfection of detail in perpetual yariet,
of form, together with the completeness o
this Landscape, bringing together every foru
Ia hsauty, rugged mountsin. low valley, for
est, AFook and lake seeEped % ne the seore
OF its1oyeliness. What wonder that Words
worth was the native poet Of this land, anC
lo-ej it so ds-otedly, finding here througl
his long life constant inspiration for hi
meditative muse, and by his loving sympath!
and worship for Nature, as she here ofereC
herself in her most mysterious charms, 10
strain of poetry that was an epoch in tn,
history Of literature and as fresh and strang,
as the first morning in Eden, taught tn
world how to understand Nature everywher
far more deeply and truly than poet or arts
had ever known.
The faircst rural scenes in any memory
that is, Of villages and farm grounds, are il
Cheshire and en- the edge Of Wales an,
these, in their situation on a hillside or in
sweet valley, or in the wealth Of fragran
trailing vines ard towering shrubs over an,
about them, are very beautiful. Bat the,
} are almost always crowded together. will
bars dusty, narrow lanes among them, an'
: no pee or grassy garden near them, SO thu
! 70 New England eye they seem cherries
: and untidy. Almost everywhere cottage
are built Of stone, and generally of tn
toughest stone, plastered rudely inside anC
out,-a very warm and durable shelter, bu
not pleasing TO the eye, unless covered will
vines | have seen nowhere in this fair lan'
any rural homes that compare fer attractive
ness with our tidy, white painted New Eng
land country cottages, neatly fenced in, viii
broad border all around of thick grass ant
many bright plots of flowers, and old clint
or naples overshadowing the whole. Eng
land has magnificent castles and cathcdrals
and country seats. and lordly parks, anC
beautiful landscapes, which are worth cross
ing the Atlantic TO see, -but no such sweet
country cottage homes as hundreds that
have seen in Yankee-land.
have been struck. indeed. everywhere
H.s--aa untidiness in the country The fin
cst parks are often ill-kept, seraggly waste
of woodland and pasture, with many bar
patches, and often neglected piece of woods
more like a patch of West Pennsy!vsni
farm land than what | expected. The Lon
don parks. except Hyde Park, look shabbie
than the dreariest village common | eve
saw. Chatsworth Park is a huge gem Of ex
I, ouisite beauty. tTtis is in Derbyshire, b.
. the wsy.) But the towns, large and small
: with few exceptions, and especially the SINAI
I hamlets, are distressingly untidy, often wit
: mouldy look of neglected antiquity, whicl