146 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



AN ARCADIAN HAMLET. OUT OF THE WOULD, BUT NOT BEYOND THE REACH 



OF THE YANKEE PEDDLER. THE COTTAGES OF THE DOWNS. GROUT 



AND COBBLE-STONES. CHARACTER OF THE LABOURING CLASS OF THE 



DOWNS. WANT OF CURIOSITY. OLD STOCKBRIDGE, WINCHESTER, WILLIAM 



OF WYKEHAM. HIS LEGACY TO WAYFARERS. THE CATHEDRAL. SOME 



REMARKS ON ARCHITECTURAL SITUATION. SEARCH FOR LODGINGS. 



MOTHERLY KINDNESS. RAILROAD MISMANAGEMENT. WATERLOO DAY AT 



PORTSMOUTH. 



WALLOP, where we spend the night, is a most poetical 

 hamlet, so hidden by trees, that as we came over the 

 downs, after we were within a few moments walk of it, we 

 had to inquire where it was. It is a narrow road and string 

 of cottages some miles long, by the bank of a cool, silvery 

 brook, at which, when we first saw it, we rushed to drink like 

 camels in the desert ; and the water was indeed delicious. It 

 is an exceedingly quiet, peaceful place. As we sit at our win 

 dow at the &quot; Lower George,&quot; we can hear nothing but the rip 

 pling of the brook, which threads its way through the trees and 

 among the cottages across the street, the rustling of the trees 

 in the gentle air, the peeping of chickens, and the chirping of 

 small birds. There is a blacksmith s shop, but no smoke 

 ascends from it, and the anvil is silent. There is a grist-mill 

 further down ; there is a little, square, heavy-roofed school- 

 house, and there is a church and graveyard. But there is no 

 stage-coach, no public conveyance, not even a carrier s cart by 

 which we might send on our packs, runs through or from the 



