Great Britain -- Description and travel; Great Britain -- Rural conditions
I came over the high hill on the south of Guildford, and came down to
Chilworth, and up the valley to Albury. I noticed, in my first Rural
Ride, this beautiful valley, its hangers, its meadows, its hop-gardens,
and its ponds. This valley of Chilworth has great variety, and is very
pretty; but after seeing Hawkley, every other place loses in point of
beauty and interest. This pretty valley of Chilworth has a run of water
which comes out of the high hills, and which, occasionally, spreads into
a pond; so that there is in fact a series of ponds connected by this run
of water. This valley, which seems to have been created by a bountiful
providence, as one of the choicest retreats of man; which seems formed
for a scene of innocence and happiness, has been, by ungrateful man, so
perverted as to make it instrumental in effecting two of the most
damnable of purposes; in carrying into execution two of the most
damnable inventions that ever sprang from the minds of man under the
influence of the devil! namely, the making of _gunpowder_ and of
_banknotes_! Here in this tranquil spot, where the nightingales are to
be heard earlier and later in the year than in any other part of
England; where the first bursting of the buds is seen in Spring, where
no rigour of seasons can ever be felt; where everything seems formed for
precluding the very thought of wickedness; here has the devil fixed on
as one of the seats of his grand manufactory; and perverse and
ungrateful man not only lends him his aid, but lends it cheerfully! As
to the gunpowder, indeed, we might get over that. In some cases that may
be innocently, and, when it sends the lead at the hordes that support a
tyrant, meritoriously employed. The alders and the willows, therefore,
one can see, without so much regret, turned into powder by the waters of
this valley; but, the _Bank-notes_! To think that the springs which God
has commanded to flow from the sides of these happy hills, for the
comfort and the delight of man; to think that these springs should be
perverted into means of spreading misery over a whole nation; and that,
too, under the base and hypocritical pretence of promoting its _credit_
and maintaining its _honour_ and its _faith_! There was one
circumstance, indeed, that served to mitigate the melancholy excited by
these reflections; namely, that a part of these springs have, at times,
assisted in turning rags into _Registers_! Somewhat cheered by the
thought of this, but, still, in a more melancholy mood than I had been
for a long while, I rode on with my friend towards _Albury_, up the
valley, the sand-hills on one side of us and the chalk-hills on the
other. Albury is a little village consisting of a few houses, with a
large house or two near it. At the end of the village we came to a park,
which is the residence of Mr. Drummond.--Having heard a great deal of
this park, and of the gardens, I wished very much to see them. My way to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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