THE SENTIMENT OF ANTIQUITY. 



IN America, the few remains of antiquity which have 

 been discovered belong to so remote an age, and are so 

 insignificant compared with those of Europe and Asia, 

 that they do not characterize the land nor affect the new- 

 ness of its appearance. Even nature, outside of its geo- 

 logical structure, seems less ancient here than on the old 

 continent, where we find a greater number of trees which 

 are survivors of a remote period of the past. Trees do 

 not attain their greatest age in a forest, where their 

 crowded condition is unfavorable to longevity ; and if any 

 in this country have become very aged, they do not dis- 

 play the sturdy and venerable appearance that marks old 

 standard trees. Hence, in the productions both of nature 

 and of art, America is new in comparison with Europe 

 and Asia. Though its mountains and valleys, its rocks, 

 meadows, and river-beds, are as old as those of the East- 

 ern continent, it is not hoary with the ruins of ancient 

 grandeur, nor shaded by trees that for centuries have 

 spread their umbrage over the same field and roadside. 



Though the European would look in vain in his own 

 country for those features that charm the admirer of our 

 half-cultivated landscapes, he is not so often offended by 

 disagreeable contrasts presented here in opposition to our 

 wood-scenery in the works of a flashy architecture. In 

 an old country, save those parts which have been changed 

 by recent improvements, its artificial works have been 

 sobered and mellowed by time. Structures originally 

 showy have lost their glitter; they wear a look of re- 



