PirAurcfiqiic Promenade, near Dorking. 



IS2].] 



been partially deposed by flic ruinous 

 importation of forei^fn finery. 



Let it not be presumed, tiiat because 

 the captiousness of an infatuated few, 

 seconded by the craft and rapacity of a 

 Ujouey-gettiug niicrocosni, lias been 

 the medium throuu;!! whicb these arti- 

 cles have b.^eu introduced, the intui- 

 tive acumen of our own mauufaclurers 

 i'.nd mechanics has been in any degree 

 lessened — the case lias happily been 

 the reverse: unabated rivalry has 

 acted as a stimulus to assiduity, and 

 demonstrated that characteristic spirit 

 by no means fixed or stationary. The 

 English nation may be quoted as an 

 incontrovertil)le attestation of this 

 fact, but the nomenclature cannot 

 counterpoise tlie complicated miseries 

 of those millions of human beings, 

 who at this moment are pining for the 

 bare means of sustenance. Such de- 

 plorable deficiencies, to be met with 

 in almost every parish throughout our 

 isle, rather demand compassion of the 

 well-disposed, than aggravation by 

 the unfeeling taunts and sarcasms of 

 jjurse-pioud insolence. 



By a single turn of my bead, 1 lost 

 sight of tliese ostensive symbols of 

 weal tb, and its pageant attributes; my 

 mind, but a few minutes before, al)- 

 stracted with the fallacious sophisms 

 and miscalculations of finite reasoninj, 

 found repose in musing on the rich ex- 

 panse of wood scenery, and the luxuri- 

 aui undulations of the fields and mea- 

 dows in the neighbourhood. The trees 

 waving their branches to the gentle ze- 

 phyi's ; tlie notes of tiie featliered tribe 

 resounding in the adjoining thicket; the 

 lark still carollir.g her matin lays v."ifli 

 the sweet expressiveness of devotional 

 ardoin- ; and llic winding perspective of 

 (he hills, formed by frittering sand- 

 banks,and()ver-hung with (he boughsof 

 the tlourishing hedges, formed a truly 

 imposing group. Nature now seemed 

 to swidl th<! scene M'itli all the beau- 

 ties of the vegetative kingdom — at 

 on<-e paralizing to tlie A-anity and 

 piesui)ij)tuousness of man — man, who 

 with his fool-hardy and feeble-minded 

 controversies, inveighs against lier su- 

 preiiu! order and perfection, callous 

 to the plentcoiisuess sin; has so munifi- 

 cently distrihutcd tiiroiighout the cre- 

 ation : but his arguments are tlic more 

 decisively disproved by rejx-ated exami- 

 nation. Who can deem the apotiieosis 

 ofarf less than an act of impiety and in- 

 gratitude; and heimnisly reproachful 

 to the Cix'afurc — whose comforts and 



125 



whose very existence arc dp|>endent 

 on the wisdom he thus arrogantly at- 

 tempts to scan. 



I (raced in the features of the 

 shepherd, who lay at my feet, a 

 placidity and comj)osurc, which, al- 

 though mixed widi some degree of 

 vacancy, bore an untutored testimony 

 of innate happiness. Familiarized to 

 the several objects aroimd him, how 

 wearisome must be this sedentary em- 

 ployment of a shepherd, when unaided 

 even by the boon of village instruction ? 

 Literary annalists have not however 

 overlooked the prodigies of talent 

 whi(di this obscure station iias produced, 

 and which the liberality of the age has 

 not left unnoticed. Witness tlie pasto- 

 rals and sonnets of a Bloomfield ! the 

 unstudied strains of a Clare! whose 

 winning susceptibility of descriptive 

 composition, outvies the laboured pro- 

 lixity of pedantiy andaftectation. True 

 to their Original, they have stripped 

 language of its unmeaning sophistry, 

 and delineated the artlessness of rural 

 life, in the feeling fluency of melody 

 and rhyme, Thomson, the poet of 

 nature, wrote some of his most pa- 

 thetic stanzas in a favourite summer- 

 house on the picturesque lianks of the 

 Thames, Burns, in the wild rovings of 

 his youthful fancy, loved to " aposti-o- 

 pliize the spirit of the storm," amidst 

 its resistless fury. Every one must 

 confess the magical influence of sub- 

 lime scenery (m tlic mind and lieart ; 

 and he who has but once felt the genial 

 glow it creates, will court more frequent 

 interviews wilh such varied sequester- 

 ed spots as Ji^oi'on and IFestcotf. 



I sat revolving the summarj' of in- 

 fluence I had deduced from a dispas- 

 sionate computation of the multiplicity 

 of measures which we grasp at for the 

 acquirement of temporary happiness. 

 In the tide of human alVairs, all seem 

 looking toward the same goal, and not- 

 withstanding the incalculable contra- 

 riety of tlieir mctiiods, (he frequency 

 of fiiiure does not evince the nonentity 

 of the point so invariably aimed at, 

 Tlie great error of mankin<I appears to 

 be in overstraining firf, and interdict- 

 ing the endless variety of enjoyments 

 whicii nature continually jiresents for 

 the furtlier extensicni of their present 

 comforts. A populous city, crammed 

 with a million of human beings, is thus 

 j)r(!ferred to tlie retirement of the 

 countiy, merely because it is the grand 

 mart for every commodity wliicli iu- 

 -defa(igii)lc industry can furnish. The 



man 



