MBMOIR. XVii 



the enthusiasts. Downing always kept in ■ the hall of his 

 house, a cabinet, containing mineralogical specimens col- 

 lected in these excursions. At the house of the Baron, 

 also, and in that of his wealthy neighbor, Ed waM Arm- 

 strong,. Downing, discovered how subtly, cultivation refiiies 

 .men as well as plants, and there first met that polished 

 .society whose elegance and grace could .not fail to charm 

 -him as essential to the most satisfactory intercourse, while 

 it presented the most entire contrast to the associations of 

 his childhood. It is not dif6,cult to failcy the lonely child, 

 ,pl%ying, unheeded in the garden, and the dark, shy boy, .of 

 the Montgomery Academy, meeting with a thrill of satisfac- 

 ,tion, as if he had been waiting for them, the fine gentle- 

 men, and ladies at the Consul Greneral's,- and the wealthy 

 neighbor's, Mr. Armstrong, at whose country-seat he was in- 

 troduced to Mr. Charles Augustus Murray, when, for the first 

 time, he saw one of the class that he never ceased to honor 

 for their virtues and graces — the English gentleman. At 

 this t^ine, also, the figure of Eaphael Hoyle,. an English 

 landscape painter, flits across his history. Congenial in 

 taste and feehng, and with varying knowledge, the two 

 young men rambled together over the country near New- 

 burgh, and while Hoyle caught upon canvas the colors 

 and forms of the flowers, and the outhne of the landscape. 

 Downing instructed him in their history and habits, until 

 tbey wandered from the actual scene into discussions dear 

 to both, of art, and life, and beauty ; or the artist picLued 

 the imaginatioA of his friend with stories of English 

 parks, and of ItaUan vineyairds,' and of. cloud-capped Alps, 

 embracing every zone and season, as they rose, — while 

 the untraveUed youth looked across the river to the Fish-: 

 Mil lulls, and iqaa^ned Switzerland. This soon ended. 

 Eaphael Hoyle died. The living book of travel and 



