and intruded with their measuring instruments, upon his garden. He saw
them; and who will not admire the patience that kept his hands from
their shoulders? I must stop.

But with the fear before me of the line being carried; at a day not
distant, through the whole breadth of the district, I could dwell, with
much concern for other residents, upon the condition which they would be
in if that outrage should be committed; nor ought it to be deemed
impertinent were I to recommend this point to the especial regard of
Members of Parliament who may have to decide upon the question. The two
Houses of Legislature have frequently shown themselves not unmindful of
private feeling in these matters. They have, in some cases, been induced
to spare parks and pleasure grounds. But along the great railway lines
these are of rare occurrence. They are but a part, and a small part;
here it is far otherwise. Among the ancient inheritances of the yeomen,
surely worthy of high respect, are interspersed through the entire
district villas, most of them with such small domains attached that the
occupants would be hardly less annoyed by a railway passing through
their neighbour's ground than through their own. And it would be
unpardonable not to advert to the effect of this measure on the
interests of the very poor in this locality. With the town of Bowness I
have no _minute_ acquaintance; but of Ambleside, Grasmere, and the
neighbourhood, I can testify from long experience, that they have been
favoured by the residence of a gentry whose love of retirement has been
a blessing to these vales; for their families have ministered, and still
minister, to the temporal and spiritual necessities of the poor, and
have personally superintended the education of the children in a degree
which does those benefactors the highest honour, and which is, I trust,
gratefully acknowledged in the hearts of all whom they have relieved,
employed, and taught. Many of those friends of our poor would quit this
country if the apprehended change were realised, and would be succeeded
by strangers not linked to the neighbourhood, but flitting to and fro
between their fancy villas and the homes where their wealth was
accumulated and accumulating by trade and manufactures. It is obvious
that persons, so unsettled, whatever might be their good wishes and
readiness to part with money for charitable purposes, would ill supply
the loss of the inhabitants who had been driven away.