Graham's Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 3, March 1841Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 3, March 1841
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
The latter of the productions above, is, as its name imports, a
description of the rural life of England, whether found under the
gipsey’s hedge, in the peasant’s cottage, or amid the wide parks and
lordly castles of the aristocracy. It is a picture of which England may
be proud. The author has omitted nothing which could make his subject
interesting, and in presenting it suitably to his reader he has
surpassed himself, and almost equalled North. The old, but now decaying
customs of “merrie England;” the winter and summer life of peasant and
noble in the country; the sports of every kind, and every class, from
milling to horse-racing; and the forest and landscape scenery of every
portion of Great Britain are described with a graphic pen, and a fervor
of language, which cannot fail to make “The Rural Life of England”
popular every where.
Among the most interesting chapters of this work are those on the
Gipsies, and that respecting Mayday, and Christmas. The description of
Grouse-Shooting, both in the north of England, and the Highlands is
highly graphic; while the visits to Newstead and Annesley Hall are
narrated with much vivacity.
It was the popularity of these two last chapters which suggested the
preceding volumes above, entitled “Visits to Remarkable Places.” Nothing
can be simpler than the design of this latter work. With a taste for
antiquarian research, and a soul all-glowing with poetry, the author has
gone forth into the quiet dells, and amid the time-worn cities of
England, and visiting every old castle, or battle-field, known in
history, and peopling them with the heroic actors of the past, he has
produced a work of unrivalled interest. We wish we had room for a
chapter from the second of these two volumes, entitled “A Day-Dream at
Tintangel.” It is one of the most poetical pieces of prose we have ever
met with. The old castle of King Arthur seems once more to lift its
massy battlements, above the thundering surf below, and from its portals
go forth the heroes of the Round Table, with hound and hawk, and many a
fair demoiselle.
Next, certainly, to a visit to any remarkable place, is a graphic
description of its appearance. This, in every instance, where the author
has attempted it, is presented in the “Visits to Remarkable Places.”
Stratford on the Avon; Anne Hathaway’s cottage; the ancestral home of
the Sidneys; Culloden battlefield; the old regal town of Winchester,
formerly the abode of the Saxon kings, and where their monuments still
remain; Flodden-field; Hampton Court; and in short, most of the
remarkable places in England, are brought vividly before the reader’s
mind. Indeed, many a traveller, who has seen these celebrated places,
might be put to the blush by one who had attentively perused this work,
and who yet had never crossed the Atlantic.
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