434 THE FLIGHT OF THE WOOD-NYMPHS. 



The red-winged starling, long exiled from our villages, 

 still uttered his melancholy ditty among the willows in 

 the valley, and wove his nest among the tall rushes that 

 rose out of the water. The ruff-necked grouse beat his 

 muffled drum in the adjoining forest, and the hermit- 

 thrush poured forth his indescribable strains, like some 

 voice that had wandered from the groves of Idalia. Even 

 in the depth of winter the hearts of the farmer and his 

 family were cheered by a multitude of merry voices, that 

 seemed to be peculiar to the place. 



This charming spot soon became celebrated in all the 

 country around for its romantic beauties ; and it was 

 eagerly coveted by many people of wealth who were seek- 

 ing a place of rural retirement. The cottager who had 

 lived here ever since his birth regarded it with affection 

 and reverence, as his own paternal homestead. But there 

 are not many who can resist the temptation of gold to make 

 a sacrifice either of principle or affection, and the rustic 

 possessor of this little farm was not one of them. He sold 

 it to a man of wealth and cultivated taste, whose wife 

 and daughters were unaffected lovers of nature, and who 

 were delighted with the idea of occupying a place that 

 was celebrated as the resort of the wood-nymphs and 

 other deities of the groves. The new proprietor deter- 

 mined to adorn and improve it to the utmost extent. He 

 resolved that the decorations of the modern landscape art 

 should be added to the advantages it had derived from 

 nature ; the beauties of other climes should be engrafted 

 upon it, and the whole work should be crowned with the 

 best efforts of the sculptor and the architect. 



In accordance with these plans, the work of beautify- 

 ing and improving the place was commenced. Standard 

 English works on landscape gardening were consulted; 

 the great Italian painters were studied for hints which 

 Nature is supposed to communicate only through their 



