618 
further, along an intricate crofs road, in 
the dark. We procured, indeed, a tolera- 
ble fapper: but one fmall bed for two of 
us in a {mall roem, in which, alfo, was 
_ another bed with two other travellers, re- 
paired but imperfectly the fatigues of the 
day. In fhort, the Red Lion is a little 
inn upon a great high-road, and of courfe 
the worft place a traveller can put up at 
who wifhes for frugal and comfortable ac- - 
commodation. 
Saturday, Fuly 1. We rofe at -eight 
o'clock, imperfectly refrefhed, and pur- 
fued our way, over heaths and moors, to 
Bag fbot, with fearcely an obje&t worthy of 
oebteryation to relieve the drearinefs of the 
road. Neither was the profpect much. 
improved on the other fide of Bagfhot ; 
but having refrefhed ourfelves with an 
excellent breakfatt, of tea and rolls and 
cream, which did us more good than the 
fleep of the preceding night, our animal 
fpirits regained their tone; and the viva- 
tity of converiation made the miles pafs 
unheeded under our feet. We canvafled 
various fubjects of literature and criticifm, 
the {tate of morals and the exifting -infti- 
tutions of fociety. We lamented the con- 
dition of our fellow-beings, and formed 
Utopian -plans of retirement and coloni- 
fations. On one fubjeé&, and only one, we 
effentially difiered—America. I cannot 
look towards that country with all the 
danguine expectations fo frequently cherith- 
ed. I think I diicover in it too much of 
the oldleaven. Its avidity for commercial 
aggrandifement augurs but ill even for the 
preient generation; and I tremble at the 
comfequences which the enormous appro- 
priations of land may entail upon pofte- 
rity. Almoft every circumftance I can 
colleét makes me fear for the future, ra- 
ther than exult in the prefent. ‘This con- 
verlation, to ourfelves at leaft, was high] 
important. It matured and. methodifed 
im cur minds the proje€t (which before 
had only floated acrofs: our brains in 
moments of weariefs and ‘difguft) of re- 
tiring to fome fequefiered {pot, and {pend- 
ing the remainder of our days in ruftic 
induftry and philofophical feclufion. 
Having crofled the Loddon, at Black- 
evater, from Surry into Hampfhire, the 
appearances of cultivation increafe; and, 
of courfe, the road becomes lefs dreary. 
At Hartford Bridge we refted ourfelves 
nearly two hours, during the heat of the 
day; and, refuming our journey, were 
gratified by the. improving profpe&is. of 
cultivation and fertility. _ Of the pic- 
turefque, indeed, there was ftill an entire 
blank 5 but the eye repofed with fatisfac- 
4 Pedeftrian Tour in England and Palen 
[Sept. 
tion on the frefhnefs of the furrounding 
verdure. 
About four miles from Hartford Bridge, 
the hamlets of Murrel Green and Hook are 
feparaied by a little tranfparent brook, 
which empties itfelf into the Loddon near 
Arborfield: and wader which a drain is 
conduéted to draw off the waters from 
fome neighbourmg lands. 
The ftate, cultivation, and the fertility 
of the pattures arrefted our attention. But 
what principally delighted us was the 2p- 
parent comfort and decency of the cot- 
tages, whofe little gardens were ftocked 
with ufeful vegetables, and whofe doors 
and windows were decorated with rofe and 
woodbine. The only wretched habita- 
tions we met with, were two tenements 
made out of one farm-houfe (the farm be- 
longing to which, in the progrefs of mo- 
nopoly, had been united to another in the 
neighbourhood), and four others into which 
a deferted inn (which had been a farm alfo) 
was in another place divided. Thefe ha- 
bitations were. miferable indeed. Shat- 
tered windows, crazy walls, floorlefs apart- 
ments, and negleéted rcofs; proclaimed 
the comfortlefs conditicn of the inhabit. 
ants. From a decent motherly woman, 
whom we found with a family of young 
children around her, in one part of the 
former of thefe buildings, we learned that os 
rains and fnows frequently beat in upon 
them, and they were cbliged to move their 
beds from corner to corner of the room, 
in the vain hepe of finding, in fome part, 
protection from the inclemencies of the 
weather. Thefe circumftances are by ne 
means peculiar to the village of Hook. 
Wherever we met with farm-houfes thus 
divided, we uniformly found them. the- 
moft miferable habitations in the neigh- 
bourhood. How fhould it be otherwife? 
The labourers, who inhabit them, ‘con- 
fider their tenure as too precarious, and 
the premifes too large for them to think 
about repairs; and a crazy old manfion, 
in which his hedgers and ditchers only 
are to refide, is an object beneath the at- 
tention of an overgrown capitalift. 
A little further on is a plantation of 
oaks, belonging to. Lerd Dorchetter, 
planted originally at the diftances where 
they are intended to grow, and protected 
each by a high circular bank of turf, 
which gives them the appearance of 
Chriftmes brambles fiuck in the centre of - 
fo many twelfth-cakes. I am not wood- 
man enough to decide on the advantages 
of this mode of plantation; but to the 
eye, the effet is extremely ungracious. 
Soon aiter turning our backs on this 
unfightly 
