272 RUDENESS AND SIMPLICITY. 



But why is this expression of rudeness, when com- 

 bined with other agreeable qualities of landscape, so 

 charming ? Why do we prefer a country that is marked 

 with a certain degree of wildness to one that is highly 

 ornate and beautiful ? Because we love the evidences of 

 a happy state of society. We would not that nature 

 should remain a wilderness, nor be transformed into a 

 garden, because the one indicates a savage state, the oth- 

 er a degree of luxury that is incompatible with the best 

 welfare of man. We would behold in our rural prospects 

 the traces of a hardy and virtuous population. If Nature 

 herself has become effeminate, what can we expect of her 

 children ? If Nature be dressed like a courtesan, will the 

 children of the swains who live upon her bounties be 

 contented with the humble emblems of industry, the 

 reaping-hook and the wheaten sheaf? I prefer those 

 appearances which are tokens of virtuous frugality, tem- 

 perance, and industry, to the most admired scenes of 

 grandeur and luxury. For this cause do the moss-grown 

 rocks by the hillside, fields of grain and orchards sur- 

 rounded by the rude landscape of nature, plain farm- 

 houses smiling amid the golden products of independent 

 labor, affect us with delightful sentiments, as evidence of 

 those healthful habits which are not yet banished from 

 the land by luxurious improvement. 



