104 
{canty hire of the labourer. Some few 
farmers raifed the wages during the {car- 
city, but when the evil was fomewhat 
abated, the wages were again reduced. 
‘Fhe cottagers keep ho cows; and a 
drop of milk is hardly to be procured by 
any means. Pea, 
From Fonthill to Wardour Caftle, our 
way had lain entirely through crofs-country 
road ; nor was the cafe altered in our way 
to Eaft-Knoyle, through which we were 
eonduéted, over commons, Janes and farm- 
yards, by a peafant, of whom we en- 
quired the way to Mere. From him we 
Jearnt that the farms in that neighbourhood 
were not in general very large. Few were 
above 3 or 400, more of them not above 
‘rool. ayear; and there were fome perhaps 
{though very few} as low as sol. or gol. 
"Fhe cottagers have moftly a bit of 
garden ; fome of them a pig; but 
none of them a cow ;-and the farmers un- 
derftood ceconomy better than to /ed/ their 
fkim-milk. Wages 7s. per week ; in hay- 
time 8 cr gs. in harveft from ros. to 32s. 
Hay-time and -harveft ufually occupy to- 
gether from 8 to 10 weeks. ‘The village 
of Eatt-Knoyle, like ail the cottages 
‘ fprinkled in our way, is built of ftone, and 
mofily covered with thatch. 
Here we met with another inftance of ruf- 
fic civility. An old man, attentive to our 
enquiries, conducted us thro’ the church- 
yard, and pointing out a fteep path which 
we were to afcend, and a mill on the fum- 
mit which we were to leave tothe right, 
gaveus one of thofe clear and diftiné direc- 
tions, fo rarely to be expected from the pea- 
fantry of this country. Fromthe fummit, 
thus pointed out to us, we-commanded 
one of the moft pleafing views I had ever 
feen. Hills and vallies, rich, fertile, and 
variegated, were feen finely interfperfed 
with woodlands and cottages, and here 
and there fome prouder manfions; while 
other hills, dimly defcried through the 
mifts, bounded the profpect and mingled 
with the horizon. Beautiful flopes and 
dells and climes, cloathed with fern and 
coppice, formed the rough foreground of the 
picture ; and the fky, cloudy, but rather 
wild and fublime than monotonous, formed 
a fombre but not unfuitable accompani- 
ment: while a fhower of rain gave addi- 
tional frefhnefs to all the nearer objects, 
and deepened the emerald tint of the fhort 
clcfe turf we trod. Anon the moving 
curtains of the fky were rent, and the 
beams of the fun, breaking through the 
interilices of dark clouds, brightly illumi- 
nated the diftant weftern hills, whofe mi- 
tigated {plendours, feen through the miity 
Ped-firian Excirfon through England and Wales. 
[Sept. 3, 
-yeil of an intervening fhower, gave a finifh- 
ing tho’ tranfient beauty to the whole. One 
of the diftinguifhed features of this {cene, 
is the high ridgy hill near Stourhead, with 
' Alfred's tower on the fummit. 
Evening was now approaching, and we 
had yet fix or feven miles to walk. - Yet 
it was with fome reluctance that we quitted 
this commanding. eminence for the down- 
ward path that led to Upton. Still, how- 
ever, both the atmofphere and our own or- 
gans were in a favourable ftate for the en- 
joyment of the picturefque, and the beauty 
and fertility of the home-fcene, in the low- 
lands, with their embowered and [cattered 
cottages, feemed to rival the extenfive di- 
verfity of the bird’s-eye profpeét. . Nor 
was it long before we again afcended, and 
regained our former view, with fome 
heightening additions: and now, once 
more, we defcended through a deep flope, ° 
fertileand well coppiced, toa little hamlet, 
called 
The Green; and thence, under luxuriant 
hedgerows andacrofs fields, no lefs invit- 
ing, to” 
Upham, Upton, or Upon (for fo varioufly 
it is called). This is‘a pretty village of 
ftone, retired and tranquil. But its beauty 
is all without: and perhaps the advan- 
tages of ftone-built cottages are more to 
the beholder than the occupant. In one of 
thefe, where we went to inquire our far- 
ther way, of a poor double-bént woman, 
who was feated at her wheel, we faw per- 
haps as much wretchednefs as we could 
well have encountered in the mud-cottages 
of the fenns of Lincolnfhire. 
Our way was ftill crofs-road—wild, ne- 
glected,unfpoiled, crofs-road--unfit indeed 
for chaifes of all kinds, curricles, gigs, or 
tandems—-But then it was variegated—it 
was wild—it was unfrequented—juf fuch 
as fuited the tafte of two excentric pedef- 
trians who abjured ‘* towered cities,’ and 
were fick of ** the bufy haunts of men ;”” 
and away we thridded down pleafant lanes, 
over ftiles, and along faint foot-tracks, by 
the fide of another part of that fine range of 
hills, whofe more commanding views had 
this day fo often delighted us. My com- 
panion fell into deep mufing and purfued 
the path undeviating ; but my fpirits were 
alert. L bounded to the fummit, and 
purfued my way along its fharp ridge, 
for more than a mile, to its termination. — 
The principal fcene commanded from 
this ridge, was the fame in which we had 
twice befere luxuriated—but it appeared — 
here with increafed advantages of extent, 
variety and’beauty; and as this part of the 
ridge over-peers the neighbouring hills, 
xt 
