It was upon a fine
autumn day that I approached the old domain of Carrickleigh. I shall
not soon forget the impression of sadness and of gloom which all that
I saw produced upon my mind; the sunbeams were falling with a rich
and melancholy lustre upon the fine old trees, which stood in lordly
groups, casting their long sweeping shadows over rock and sward; there
was an air of neglect and decay about the spot, which amounted almost
to desolation, and mournfully increased as we approached the building
itself, near which the ground had been originally more artificially
and carefully cultivated than elsewhere, and where consequently
neglect more immediately and strikingly betrayed itself.
As we proceeded, the road wound near the beds of what had been
formerly two fish-ponds, which were now nothing more than stagnant
swamps, overgrown with rank weeds, and here and there encroached upon
by the straggling underwood; the avenue itself was much broken; and in
many places the stones were almost concealed by grass and nettles; the
loose stone walls which had here and there intersected the broad park,
were, in many places, broken down, so as no longer to answer their
original purpose as fences; piers were now and then to be seen, but
the gates were gone; and to add to the general air of dilapidation,
some huge trunks were lying scattered through the venerable old trees,
either the work of the winter storms, or perhaps the victims of some
extensive but desultory scheme of denudation, which the projector had
not capital or perseverance to carry into full effect.
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