GENERAL REMARKS. 
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of objects requiring constant care and attention, we are 
never free from the labor of life. The highest charm 
of a country place is the appearance of the most refined 
culture and beautiful results produced without apparent 
effort. 
In fairy tales, or fairy plays upon the stage, the fas- 
cination is in the magic result produced apparently by 
the touch of the wand. If we are permitted to get 
behind the curtain and witness the hurry and vexation 
of the scene shifters, and the groaning, shrieking process 
by which to the unconscious spectators a desert sud- 
denly becomes a paradise, we immediately realize the 
apples of the Dead Sea. We do not enjoy that which 
we see is produced through the agency of aching bones 
and weary limbs — and this is one reason why Nature 
is so attractive, because she works silently, or as a child 
once expressed it, “ without her shoes.” 
In the best English places, to such an extent is this 
feeling carried out, that the entire machinery is kept 
out of sight; and flowers bloom, and lawns are shorn, 
and walks are swept by invisible hands, at such hours 
as the family is supposed not to come out. 
It is told of the late Mr. Beckford, the eccentric 
and talented author of Yatheck, that he never allowed 
any work to be done at Fonthill Abbey during the day ; 
but if he wished a walk cut, or a new plantation made, 
he used to say nothing in way of preparation, but merely 
gave orders, perhaps late in the afternoon, that the im- 
provement or alteration should be completed and in a per- 
fect state by the following morning at the time he came 
out to take his usual ride. The whole force of the place 
and the strength of the neighboring village were then 
put into requisition and employed all night. We men- 
tion this, not as an example — for there are very few of 
us who would or could afford to spend, as Mr. Beck- 
ford did at Fonthill, twelve or fifteen millions of dollars 
■ — but simply to show how strongly English prejudice is 
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