482 LKSCTEBS IKOM BNGLAND. 



all soils. I am, therefore, confirmed in my belief, that the bWek- 

 thorn is the farmer's hedge plant for America, and I ani also satis-, 

 fied that it will mafce a better and far more durable hedge, ti^ajti-the 

 hawthorn does, even here. 



Though England is, beautifully wooded, yet the great preponder- 

 ance of the English elm — a tree wanting in grace, and only grapd 

 when very old, renders an_ English roadside landscape in thjs 

 respect, one of less "sylvan beauty than our finest scenery of like 

 character at home. The r American elm, with its fine .drooping 

 branches, is rarely or never seen here, and there is none of that 

 variety oi foliage which, we have in, the United States. For, this 

 reason (leaving out of sight rail fences) j, I do not think even, the 

 drives through Warwickshire so full of rural, beauty as thoije in the 

 valley of the Connecticut — -jvluch they most resemble. In June 

 our meadows there are as verdant, and our trees incomparably, more 

 varied Wd beautiful. On the other hand, ybu must remember that 

 here, wealth, and long civilization have so refined and perfected the 

 details, that in this respect there is no comparison — nothing in short 

 to be done but to admire and enjoy. For instance, for a circuit of 

 eight or ten miles, or more here, between Leamington and Warwick 

 and Stratford-on-Avon, the roads, which are admirable,are regu%ly 

 sprinkled every, dry, day in summer,) while along the railroads the . 

 sides are cultivated with grass, or farm crop^ or flowers, almost to 

 the very rails.- 



The ruins of Kenil worth, only five miles from Warwick, have 

 been so often visited and describedjhat they are almost familiar to 

 you. Though built long after Warwick castle, this vast palace, 

 which ■CQxered (including the garden . wa^ls) six or seven acres, is 

 entirely in ruins — like most of the very old castles in England. The 

 magnificent suites of apartments where the celebrated Earl of Lei- 

 cester, the favorite of Elizabeth, entertained his sovereigh with such 

 regal magnificence, are roofless and desolate — only here and there a 

 fragment of a stately window or a splendid hall, attesting the beauty 

 of the noble architecture. Oyer such of the walls aud towers as are 

 yet standing, grows, however, the most gigantic trees of ivy— abso- 

 lutely trees — with trunks more than two feet in diameter, and rich 

 masses of foliage, thai covered the hoary^ and crumbling walls with 



