

London to John O 'Groat's. 263 



tion at the birth of the English Spring. The fact 

 is, it is a baby three months old when it is 

 baptised. It is really born at Christmas instead 

 of Easter, and makes no more stir in the family 

 circle of the seasons than any familiar face would 

 at a farmer's table. 



In a utilitarian point of view, it is certainly an 

 immense advantage to all classes in this country, that 

 Nature has tempered her climates to it in this kindly 

 way. I will not run off upon that line of reflection 

 here, but will make it the subject of a few thoughts 

 somewhere this side of John 0' Groats. But what 

 England gains over us in the practical, she loses in the 

 poetical, in this ecpnomy of the seasons. Her Spring 

 does not thrill like a sudden revelation, as with us. 

 It does not come out like the new moon, hanging its 

 delicate silver crescent in the western pathway of the 

 setting sun, which everybody tries to see first over the 

 right shoulder, for the very luck of the coincidence. 

 Still, both countries should be contented and happy 

 under this dispensation of Nature. The balance is 

 very satisfactory, and well suited to the character and 

 habits of the two peoples. The Americans are more 

 radical and sensational than the English ; more given 

 to sudden changes and stirring events. Sterne 

 generally gets the credit of saying that pretty thought 



