THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. 
many months within city walls, wearily pine 
for fresh country breezes, and for the green, the 
delightful, the refreshing green of the fields and 
hedgerows ? 
Well does the author remember his own feelings 
after a first residence of a few months in London. 
Coming away from the delightful West of England, 
amidst whose beautiful scenes he must have im- 
bibed in his earliest years his passionate love for 
hill, woodland and stream, the atmosphere of the 
Metropolis hung heavily upon him. Six months 
of that first residence in the great wilderness of 
houses seemed six years to him. But oh ! the glad 
sense of freedom when the time came at the end of 
the six months for relaxation, and business could 
be thrown up for a few weeks. How keen was the 
enjoyment of the railway journey for a hundred 
and sixty miles — how delightful to drink in the 
lovely landscapes which passed in rapid alternation 
before his eye! 
Such an experience is by no means a solitary 
one. It has been said that there are hundreds of 
thousands of town dwellers who every day are 
