The pitmen in the counties of Durham and Northumberland reside in long
rows of small houses, to each of which is attached a little garden,
which they cultivate with such care and success, that they frequently
bear away the prize at Floral Exhibitions.
[002] Of Rail-Road travelling the reality is quite different from the
idea that descriptions of it had left upon my mind. Unpoetical as this
sort of transit may seem to some minds, I confess I find it excite and
satisfy the imagination. The wondrous speed--the quick change of
scene--the perfect comfort--the life-like character of the power in
motion, the invisible, and mysterious, and mighty steam horse, urged,
and guided, and checked by the hand of Science--the cautionary, long,
shrill whistle--the beautiful grey vapor, the breath of the unseen animal,
floating over the fields by which we pass, sometimes hanging stationary
for a moment in the air, and then melting away like a vision--furnish
sufficiently congenial amusement for a period-minded observer.
[003] "That which peculiarly distinguishes the gardens of England," says
Repton, "is the beauty of English verdure: _the grass of the mown lawn_,
uniting with, the grass of the adjoining pastures, and presenting _that
permanent verdure_ which is the natural consequence of our soft and
humid clime, but unknown to the cold region of the North or the parching
temperature of the South.
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