GENEEAL REMARKS. 43?) 



of objects requiring constant care arid attention, we are 

 never free from the labor of life. The highest charm 

 of a country pla,ce is the appearance of the most refined 

 culture and beautiful results produced without apparent 

 effort. 



In fairy tales, or fairy plays upon the stage, the fas- 

 cination is in the magic result produced apparently by 

 the touch of the wand. If we are permitted to get 

 behind the curtain and witness the hurry and vexation 

 of the scene shifters, and the groaning, shrieking process 

 by which to the unconscious spectators a desert sud- 

 denly becomes a paradise, we immediately realize the 

 apples of the Dead Sea. We do not enjoy that which 

 we see is produced through the agency of aching bones 

 and weary limbs and this is one reason why Nature 

 is so attractive, because she works silently, or as a child 

 once expressed it, " without her shoes." 



In the best English places, to such an extent is this 

 feeling carried out, that the entire machinery is kept 

 out of sight; and flowers bloom, and lawns are shorn, 

 and walks are swept by invisible hands, at such hours 

 as the family is supposed not to come out. 



It is told of the late Mr. Beckford, the eccentric 

 and talented author of Yatheck, that he never allowed 

 any work to be done at Fonthill Abbey during the day ; 

 but if he wished a walk cut, or a new plantation made, 

 he used to say nothing in way of preparation, but merely 

 gave orders, perhaps late in the afternoon, that the im- 

 provement or alteration should be completed and in a per- 

 fect state by the following morning at the time he came 

 out to take his usual ride. The whole force of the place 

 and the strength of the neighboring village were then 

 put into requisition and employed all night. "We men- 

 tion this, not as an example for there are very few of 

 us who would or could afford to spend, as Mr. Beck- 

 ford did at Fonthill, twelve or fifteen millions of dollars 

 but simply to show how strongly English prejudice is 

 28 



