LANDSCAPE PECULIARITIES. 263 



generally pleasing objects in themselves, often supporting what 

 is most agreeable of all, and that you can never fail to admire, 

 never see any thing ugly or homely under, a drapery of ivy or 

 other creepers ; the ditches and banks by their side, on which the 

 hedges are planted ; the clean and careful cultivation, and gen- 

 eral tidiness of the agriculture ; and the deep, narrow, crooked, 

 gulch-like lane, or the smooth, clean, matchless highway. 



There seems to me to be a certain peculiarity in English foli- 

 age, which I can not satisfactorily describe. It is as if the face 

 of each leaf was more nearly parallel with all others near it, and 

 as if all were more equally lighted than in our foliage. It is 

 perhaps only owing to a greater density, and better filling up, 

 and more even growth of the outer twigs of the trees, than is 

 common in our dryer climate. 



There is a much smaller variety in the forest foliage, and 

 usually a much milder light over an English landscape than an 

 American, making the distances and shady parts more indistinct. 

 The sublime or the picturesque in nature is much more rare in 

 England, except on the sea-coast, than in America ; but there is 

 every where a great deal of quiet, peaceful, graceful beauty which 

 the works of man have generally added to, and which I remem- 

 ber but little like at home. This Herefordshire reminds me of 

 the valley of Connecticut, between Middletown and Springfield. 

 The valley of the Mohawk, and the upper part of the Hudson, is 

 also in some parts English-like. 



After all here said, I feel that there is a fascination in the 

 common-place scenery of this part of England, and generally of 

 midland, rural England, which I do not fully comprehend. I 

 have called it common-place, because there is nothing striking in 

 it ; no one point to be especially noted, or which can be remem- 

 bered afterwards. Yet, though I have traveled far and wide, 

 have visited scores of places greatly celebrated for the grandeur 



