processes of culture or opportunities of observation in some degree
habitual. In the eye of thousands and tens of thousands, a rich meadow,
with fat cattle grazing upon it, or the sight of what they would call a
heavy crop of corn, is worth all that the Alps and Pyrenees in their
utmost grandeur and beauty could show to them; and, notwithstanding the
grateful influence, as we have observed, of ordinary Nature and the
productions of the fields, it is noticeable what trifling conventional
prepossessions will, in common minds, not only preclude pleasure from
the sight of natural beauty, but will even turn it into an object of
disgust. 'If I had to do with this garden,' said a respectable person,
one of my neighbours, 'I would sweep away all the black and dirty stuff
from that wall.' The wall was backed by a bank of earth, and was
exquisitely decorated with ivy, flowers, moss, and ferns, such as grow
of themselves in like places; but the mere notion of fitness associated
with a trim garden-wall prevented, in this instance, all sense of the
spontaneous bounty and delicate care of Nature. In the midst of a small
pleasure-ground, immediately below my house, rises a detached rock,
equally remarkable for the beauty of its form, the ancient oaks that
grow out of it, and the flowers and shrubs which adorn it. 'What a nice
place would this be,' said a Manchester tradesman, pointing to the rock,
'if that ugly lump were but out of the way.' Men as little advanced in
the pleasure which such objects give to others are so far from being
rare, that they may be said fairly to represent a large majority of
mankind. This is a fact, and none but the deceiver and the willingly
deceived can be offended by its being stated. But as a more susceptible
taste is undoubtedly a great acquisition, and has been spreading among
us for some years, the question is, what means are most likely to be
beneficial in extending its operation? Surely that good is not to be
obtained by transferring at once uneducated persons in large bodies to
particular spots, where the combinations of natural objects are such as
would afford the greatest pleasure to those who have been in the habit
of observing and studying the peculiar character of such scenes, and how
they differ one from another. Instead of tempting artisans and
labourers, and the humbler classes of shopkeepers, to ramble to a
distance, let us rather look with lively sympathy upon persons in that
condition, wh