Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/353

 328 ENGLISH HOSPITALITY.

phere, makes an English winter, though comparatively mild, a depressing season to those nurtured under sun nier skies.

But the bright footsteps of Spring made amends for all. At Denmark Hill, and its vicinity, I was enwrap ped in a region of flowers, where, amid a knot of fami lies, derived from the good Gurney root, I sojourned for a time, more as an inmate than a guest. The party with whom I left home, returned to our native land in February ; but by the advice of friends on both sides of the water, I forbore the inconvenience and risk of a winter passage, and in my consequent loneliness, the kindness of the English character shone conspicuously forth. I was not permitted to remain for a day at a public house ; but in different abodes, where I was induced to become a visitant, my literary occupations were cared for, had patience with, and up held, while every effort was made to replace the heart- solitude of a stranger, by the sweet home-charities.

To whatever spot it was supposed I might desire to see, I was courteously and zealously taken, by a vari ety of friends. Among these, was the home of a gen tleman-farmer, a class of the English community for whom I had high respect, and whose habitudes I was gratified to have opportunity to observe. It was at Upton Lea, in the neighborhood of Windsor Castle, that I was invited to pass a day or two at the residence of a young and interesting couple, who conducted a large rural establishment. Broad fields were there under the neatest and most skilful processes of culti-

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