NATURE IN ENGLAND 29 



sphere, and time would seem to have proved that 

 there is something here more favorable to his per- 

 petuity and longevity. 



The dominant impression of the English land- 

 scape is repose. Never was such a restful land to 

 the eye, especially to the American eye, sated as it 

 is very apt to be with the mingled squalor and 

 splendor of its own landscape, its violent contrasts, 

 and general spirit of unrest. But the completeness 

 and composure of this outdoor nature is like a 

 dream. It is like the poise of the tide at its full: 

 every hurt of the world is healed, every shore cov- 

 ered, every unsightly spot is hidden. The circle of 

 the horizon is brimming with the green equable 

 flood. (I did not see the fens of Lincolnshire nor 

 the wolds of York.) This look of repose is partly 

 the result of the maturity and ripeness brought 

 about by time and ages of patient and thorough hus- 

 bandry, and partly the result of the gentle, conti- 

 nent spirit of Nature herself. She is contented, she 

 is happily wedded, she is well clothed and fed. 

 Her offspring swarm about her, her paths have 

 fallen in pleasant places. The foliage of the trees, 

 how dense and massive ! The turf of the fields, 

 how thick and uniform! The streams and rivers, 

 how placid and full, showing no devastated margins, 

 no widespread sandy wastes and unsightly heaps of 

 drift bowlders! To the returned traveler the foli- 

 age of the trees and groves of New England and 

 New York looks thin and disheveled when compared 

 with the foliage he has just left. This effect is 



