154 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE DECEIT OF DESCRIPTIONS OF SCENERY. THE SOUL OF A LANDSCAPE. 



THE ISLE OF WIGHT, ITS CHARACTERISTICS. APPROPRIATE DOMESTIC 



ARCHITECTURE. GENIAL CLIMATE. TROPICAL VERDURE. THE CLIFFS 



OF ALBION. OSBORNE. THE ROYAL VILLA. COUNTRY LIKE OF THE 



BOYAL FAMILY. AGRICULTURAL INCLINATION AND RURAL TASTES. THE 



BOYAL TENANTRY. A RURAL FETE AT OSBORNE. 



IT1HERE is always a strong temptation upon the traveller to 

 * endeavour to so describe fine scenery, and the feelings which 

 it has occasioned him, that they may be reproduced to the 

 imagination of his friends. Judging from my own experience, 

 this purpose always fails. I have never yet seen any thing 

 celebrated in scenery, of which I had previously obtained a 

 correct conception. Certain striking, prominent points, that the 

 power of language has been most directed to the painting of, 

 almost invariably disappoint, and seem little and common 

 place, after the exaggerated forms which have been brought be 

 fore the mind s eye. Beauty, grandeur, impressiveness in any 

 way, from scenery, is not often to be found in a few promi 

 nent, distinguishable features, but in the manner and the un 

 observed materials with which these are connected and com 

 bined. Clouds, lights, states of the atmosphere, and circum 

 stances that we cannot always detect, affect all landscapes, and 

 especially landscapes in which the vicinity of a body of water 

 is an element, much more than we are often aware. So 

 it is that the impatient first glance of the young traveller, 



