\ 



192 



there a cultivated spot to relieve the picture, and to show the 

 triumph of human labor and enterprize over the roughness and 

 fierceness of nature, and the whole view is one of innumerable 

 attractions and great magnificence. A gentleman of distinguished 

 intelligence and cultivated taste, who has more than once made 

 the tour of Europe, has pronounced it scarcely inferior in inter- 

 est to any view which he has seen abroad. It seems to want 

 nothing but the fallen battlements of some ancient castle, or 

 the moss-grown walls of some deserted chateau, or the bloody 

 exploits of some ancient bandit, or the thrilling tale of some 

 love-sick damsel, borne away as a prize in the chivalrous arms 

 of some iron-clad knight-errant, to convert it into a perfect re- 

 gion of romance. Or, perhaps, it only needs to be farther re- 

 moved from us, and to demand for the sight of it the expense 

 and toil of a voyage to Europe, to attract admirers from all 

 parts of the country. 



I hope I shall be pardoned for departing from the proper 

 gravity of an agricultural report to speak of the enchanting 

 scenery of this delightful region ; but the pleasures which I 

 have myself enjoyed in its exploration, I am anxious to recom- 

 mend to others. The kind residents among these hills and 

 along these sequestered valleys will be happy in knowing how 

 much pleasure they afford to those who traverse them ; and 



\ even the plain matter-of-fact men, the most grovelling and mer- 

 cenary, may not deem it labor lost if, by the beauties of the 



I country, we can honestly attract the summer visits and resi- 

 dence, or even the passing tours, of the inhabitants of our cities, 

 who may thus furnish a quick and generous market for their 

 surplus produce. 



