The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-20
A DISTINGUISHED Poets Book Of Prose.

WIN WOTNlllfNSS. s'i4c - uiN'iil''lN NV "a
snob, however. NJ W. ii.
4 Distinguished Poets Book Of Prose.
We hate TO fa'ter any man, but among
the things that We had rather read than the
verse that Is written by the Poet Laureate
of England il the prose that he writes and
in -Haunts OF Ancient Peace, 10y Alfred
Austin (The Macmillan Company, We have
a very agreeable book OF the rambles and
conversations Of the author and the Poet
ard lama and Veronica, amid the venei-
able scenes that still exist in England and
are discoverable Il trust it is thoroughly
underst ood." said LAMA on the eve OF the
Journey. which was TO be made by horse
and wagon in the month OF September
that shall be taken nowhere, see nothing.
and converse with nobody, that i not
ancient. wish to see OF England, or so
much Of il a. is left" This indicates the
plan which, OF course, took its form strictly
in Difference TO Lamia's wishes. she adj
mitted The interest and the educational value
Of new things, but she stipulated hot the
less for an itinerary that should not include
tubular bridges and motor cars and wonders
Of the sort. Her particular craving was
afor the urbanity Of the Past, for feminine
serviceableness. for washing DAYS, home
made Jams. lavender bags, recitation OF
Gray's 'Elegy,' and morning and evening
prayers" She insisted upon old inns and
old people and the most out of-fashion
ideas. Presumably, the journey left her
with no complaint to make. We seemed
saws the chronicle, "to have got beyond
the range Of corrugated iron fatmoheds
and barbed wire. There we're generous
breadths Of grass on either side hetween
the roadway and tine hedges. The latter
wore allowed to have some little will and
way of their own, the cottages stood we'll
hack from highway or lane looked solid,
s,urdy and weather tight, though of vague
antiquity: and the folk inside them. though
I dare sav thrifty enough, had spared time
| 10 cultivate unremunerative flowers and
money enough to invest in white paint and
muslin curtains. so as to give TO their win
dows. above and below, look OF comeli-
meas and care
Pleasant scenes, indeed, scenes calculated
to make US wish that all the world might
have the peace and rest and sufhciency
| indicated. Our author goes on TO other
| interesting suggestions. One cannot well
| drive about England with ones eyes open
without observing indication after indica-
,ion of the strong individuality OF the Eng
lish character. which may yet prov" our
best safeguard against that exotic 'colec-
| ,ivis,p' Of which We hear 40 much. The
very landscape, its shapeless fields, its
| irregular he'd gerows, it's winding and way
| ward roads, its accidental copses, its arbi-
,rar;ness of form and feature, are n silent
/ uniformity
preconceived or mechanical views of life.
Who divided these fields? Who marked
oil, these roads? No one did. They divided
and marked out themselves, just as strong
characters divide and sever themselves
from others, settle their own boundaries
and define irregularly their own place and
position, A square field you Will no more
and in an English landscape than round
one. They are all informal, swerving and
syceping in and out in manner unaccoun'
able. which endows each Of them with life
and a kind Of personality The very lanes
meander and zigzag 20 you might almost
think their course had been decided 10y the
s,cps of some OF our deeply drinking Saxon
ancestors, whose legs were more or less
unsteady "a they wendell homeward after
a DAYS matching or threshing'
II ia true enough that outside of some OF
thu regulation novels the life of England il
sufaciently varied. They say by gosh II
PARTS Of England, the same as they DO u
Roston. though neither in Boston nCl
London would this be generally believed
plenty of Englishmen never suspect tina
the Yankees talk exceedingly pure English
aWby saws the author OF this book, should
Sussex I've utterly unlike Kent? will an
swer the aucstio when any one tells M
why one Engishman IL unlike any othe
Enelishman. We are hewn, not sawn, ant
M consular Director with Code has de
creed that We shall be this or do that, o
that our dear old haphazard land shall b
divided into depart ments.' In the land ant
In the people the same irregularity is to To
observed. That everything in Engis
| country life In a growth, not a mechanism
NAV I've seen again In the diversity Of aspec
worn by its various counties, An accurat
obscrver Of nature ought TO be able to I'll
within a day or two, without any calenda
| | TO help him, what day Of the year it is, an
he will equally be able to surmisc wha
county Of England he is In without the al
| of man or guide book" Kent and Suisse
here are meant to serve a. a general illus
tration. How many classes are there /
: England? do not know, Attempt t
: define them and you will find yourself in
= difficulty. Iamost think there are as man
Glasses as men. and certainly there are a
many classes az counties. Passing froi
!, | Kent TO Sussex is like passing from on
$ society to another. Kent is softer-l d
I, not mean in climate. but in aspect
refined. more careful Of itself, litt
I | more self-conscious: in a word, more civi
2 lied Sussex once had its iron work
4 a. it's hammer ponds to this day testif,
h but these have disappeared, and Suisse
:. seems well pleased TO have got rid of then
= There Is rooted rusticity In Sussex foil
q which would i'll accord with manufactuI
8 Of any sort. l was pleased to Did he
i all touched their hats'-as, may ! be a
5 lowed to say. why should they ,.ot' The
Il never heard Of Goethes three reverence
d reverence for what Is above on, reverend
y for what In below one, and everence Il