London to John O Groat's. 7 



nothing with those generous and delightful institutions 

 of Old England, the footpaths, that thread pasture, 

 park, and field, seemingly permeating her whole green 

 world with dusky veins for the circulation of human 

 life. To lose all the picturesque lanes and landscapes 

 which these field-paths cross and command, is to lose 

 the great distinctive charm of the country. Then, 

 neither from the coach-box nor the saddle can he make 

 much conversation on the way. He loses the chance of 

 a thousand little talks and pleasant incidents. He can- 

 not say " Grood morning " to the farmer at the stile, nor 

 a word of greeting to the reapers over the hedge, nor 

 see where they live, and the kind of children that play 

 by their cottage doors ; nor the little antique churches, 

 bearded to their eye-brows with ivy, covering the 

 wrinkles of half a dozen centuries, nor the low and 

 quiet villages clustering around, each like a family of 

 bushy-headed children surrounding their venerable 

 mother. 



In addition to these considerations, there was another 

 that moved me to this walk. Although I had been up 

 and down the country as often and as extensively as 

 any American, perhaps, and admired its general scenery, 

 I had never looked at it with an agricultural eye or 

 interest. But, having dabbled a little in farming in 

 the interval between my last two visits to England, and 



