son when the country offered all that it
had of beauty and attraction; when the grove was leafy, and the blossomy
fruit-trees vied in gorgeous color with the flowery beds beneath them;
when the blackbird's mellow song rang through the thicket, and the heavy
plash of the trout rose above the ripple of the river; when the deep
grass waved like a sea under a summer wind, and the cattle, grouped
picturesquely, tempered the noonday heat beneath the spreading elms, or
stood contemplatively in the stream, happy in their luxurious indolence.

What a wealth of enjoyment does such a season offer! How imperceptibly
does the lovely aspect of nature blend itself day by day with every
incident of our lives, stealing its peaceful influence over our troubled
hearts, blunting the pangs of our disappointments, calming down the
anxieties of our ambitions! How pleasant is the companionship of our
book, and doubly, trebly delightful the converse of our friend! How
gratefully, too, do we imbibe the health that comes with every charm
of color and sound and form and odor, repeating at every step, "How
beautiful the world is, and how enjoyable!"

I am not going to disparage--far be it from me--the fox-cover or the
grouse-mountain; but, after all, these are the accidents, not the
elements, of country life, which certainly ought to be passed when
the woods are choral with the thrush, and the air scented with the
apple-blossom; when it is sweet to lie under the weeping-willow beside
the stream, or stroll at sunset through the grove, to gain that crested
ridge where the red horizon can be seen, and watch the great sun as it
sinks in splendor.

Lyle Abbey had not many pretensions to beauty of architecture in itself,
or to scenery in its neighborhood. Nor was it easy to say why a great,
bulky, incongruous building, disfigured by painted windows to make it
Gothic, should have ever been called an Abbey. It was, however,
both roomy and convenient within. There were fine, lofty, spacious
reception-rooms, well lighted and ventilated. Wide corridors led to rows
of comfortable chambers, where numbers of guests could be accommodated,
and in every detail of fitting and furniture, ease and comfort had been
studied with a success that attained perfection.

The grounds,--a space of several hundred acres,--enclosed within a
massive wall, had not more pretensions to beauty than the mansion. There
were, it is true, grand points of view,--noble stretches of shore