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THE RURAL LIFE OF ENGLAND.
THE RURAL LIFE OF ENGLAND.
BY WILLIAM HOWITT, AUTHOR OF THE “BOOK OF THE SEASONS,” ETC. SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED AND REVISED . WITH ILLUSTRATIONS ON WOOD BY BEWICK AND S. WILLIAMS. LONDON: LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS. 1840. LONDON: LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS. 1840. LONDON: PRINTED BY MANNING AND MASON, IVY-LANE, ST. PAUL’S. Preparing for Publication, in One Volume, 8vo. THE BALLAD POETRY OF MRS. HOWITT. To be beautifully embellished with Wood Engravings from original Designs. TO T
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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The kind and most cordial greeting which this work has received from the public, and by which a very large impression has been speedily exhausted, demands a prompt and grateful acknowledgement. After all, the highest gratification which an author can derive from his writings, next to the persuasion that he has effected some good to his fellow-creatures, is felt in the generous echo of his own sentiments, which reaches him from the amiable and intelligent of his countrymen and countrywomen, on al
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CHAPTER I. PRE-EMINENCE OF ENGLAND AS A PLACE OF COUNTRY RESIDENCE.
CHAPTER I. PRE-EMINENCE OF ENGLAND AS A PLACE OF COUNTRY RESIDENCE.
Let every man who has a sufficiency for the enjoyment of life, thank heaven most fervently that he lives in this country and age. They may tell us of the beauty of southern skies, and the softness of southern climates; but where is the land which a man would rather choose to call himself a native of—because it combines more of the requisites for a happy and useful existence; more of the moral, social, and intellectual advantages, without which fair skies or soft climates would become dolorous, o
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CHAPTER II. ENVIABLE POSITION OF THE ENGLISH COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, AS REGARDS ALL THE PLEASURES AND ADVANTAGES OF LIFE.
CHAPTER II. ENVIABLE POSITION OF THE ENGLISH COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, AS REGARDS ALL THE PLEASURES AND ADVANTAGES OF LIFE.
Alexander of Macedon said if he were not Alexander, he would choose to be Diogenes; Alexander of Russia also said if he were not Alexander, he would choose to be an English gentleman. And truly, it would require some ingenuity to discover any earthly lot like that of the English gentleman. The wealth and refinement at which this country has arrived, have thrown round English rural life every possible charm. Every art and energy is exerted in favour of the English gentleman. Look at the ancient c
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CHAPTER III. LIFE OF THE GENTRY IN THE COUNTRY.
CHAPTER III. LIFE OF THE GENTRY IN THE COUNTRY.
One of the chief features of the life of the nobility and gentry of England, is their annual visit to the metropolis; and it is one which has a most essential influence upon the general character of rural life itself. The greater part of the families of rank and fortune flock up to town annually, as punctually as the Jews flocked up to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover; and it may be said for the purpose of worship too, though worship of a different kind—that of fashion. A considerable porti
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CHAPTER IV. THE ROUTINE OF COUNTRY SPORTS.
CHAPTER IV. THE ROUTINE OF COUNTRY SPORTS.
In my last chapter I took a view of the variety given to rural life by the annual visit to town: but if a gentleman have no desire so to vary his existence; if he love the country too well to leave it at all, most plentiful are the resources which offer themselves for pleasantly speeding on the time. If he be attached merely to field sports, not a moment of the whole year but he may fill up with his peculiar enjoyment. Racing, hunting, coursing, shooting, fishing, all offer themselves to his cho
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CHAPTER V. SCIENTIFIC FARMING.
CHAPTER V. SCIENTIFIC FARMING.
Res rustica, sine dubitatione, proxima, et quasi consanguinea Sapientiæ est. Columella De Re Rustica. There may be a difference of opinion as to the strict utility or wisdom of the pursuits noticed in the last chapter;—of the excellence and rationality of those which form the subject of this, there can be none. Nothing can be more consonant to nature, nothing more delightful, nothing more beneficial to the country, or more worthy of any man, than the Georgical occupations which form so prominent
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CHAPTER VI. PLANTING.
CHAPTER VI. PLANTING.
“Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye’re sleeping .”— Heart of Mid-Lothian. What we have just said of the pleasures and benefit of scientific farming, may be said also of planting; it is but another interesting mode of employing time by landed proprietors, at once for recreation and the improvement of their estates. What, indeed, can be more delightful than planning future woods, where, perhaps, now sterile heather, or naked d
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CHAPTER VII. GARDENS.
CHAPTER VII. GARDENS.
We must now wind up, in a few words, what we have to say of the country life of the gentry, and these words must be on their gardens. In these, as in all those other sources of enjoyment that surround them, perfection seems to be reached. They live in the midst of scenes which, while they appear nature itself, are the result of art consummated only by ages of labour, research, science, travel, and the most remarkable discoveries. Nothing can be more delicious than the rural paradises which now s
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CHAPTER VIII. COUNTRY EXCITEMENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. COUNTRY EXCITEMENTS.
Before closing this department of my work, I must just glance at a few occurrences which serve to give an occasional variety to rural life, and may be classed under the head of Country Excitements. These are races, race-balls, county-balls, concerts, musical festivals, elections, assizes, and confirmations. It will not be requisite to do more than merely mention the greater part of these, for, to describe at length the race-ball and county-balls, the winter concerts of the county town and the mu
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CHAPTER I. THE ENGLISH FARMER.
CHAPTER I. THE ENGLISH FARMER.
There are few things which give one such a feeling of the prosperity of the country, as seeing the country people pour into a large town on market-day. There they come, streaming along all the roads that lead to it from the wide country round. The footpaths are filled with a hardy and homely succession of pedestrians, men and women, with their baskets on their arms, containing their butter, eggs, apples, mushrooms, walnuts, nuts, elderberries, blackberries, bundles of herbs, young pigeons, fowls
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CHAPTER II. THE ENGLISH FARMER, AS OPERATED UPON BY MODERN CAUSES AND THEORIES.
CHAPTER II. THE ENGLISH FARMER, AS OPERATED UPON BY MODERN CAUSES AND THEORIES.
Cobbett complains that the farmer has been spoiled by the growth of luxurious habits and effeminacy in the nation. That the simple old furniture is cast out of their houses; that carpets are laid on their floors; that there are sofas and pianos to be found where there used to be wooden benches and the spinning-wheel; that the daughters are sent to boarding-school, instead of to market; and the sons, instead of growing up sturdy husbandmen, like their fathers, are made clerks, shopkeepers, or som
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CHAPTER III. FARM-SERVANTS.
CHAPTER III. FARM-SERVANTS.
We have in a preceding chapter, taken a view of the English farmer. We have seen him at market—in his fields, and in his house receiving his friends to a holiday feast. If we were to go to the farm-house on any other day, and at any season of the year, and survey the farmer and his men in their daily and ordinary course of life, we should always see something to interest us; and we should have to contemplate a mode of existence forming a strong contrast to that of townsmen; and, notwithstanding
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CHAPTER IV. THE BONDAGE SYSTEM OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER IV. THE BONDAGE SYSTEM OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.
A person from the south or midland counties of England, journeying northward, is struck when he enters Durham, or Northumberland, with the sight of bands of women working in the fields under the surveillance of one man. One or two such bands, of from half a dozen to a dozen women, generally young, might be passed over; but when they recur again and again, and you observe them wherever you go, they become a marked feature of the agricultural system of the country, and you naturally inquire how it
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CHAPTER V. THE TERRORS OF A SOLITARY HOUSE.
CHAPTER V. THE TERRORS OF A SOLITARY HOUSE.
The citizen who lives in a compact house in the centre of a great city; whose doors and windows are secured at night by bars, bolts, shutters, locks, and hinges of the most approved and patented construction; who, if he look out of doors, looks upon splendid rows of lamps; upon human habitations all about him; whose house can only be assailed behind by climbing over the tops of other houses; or before, by eluding troops of passengers and watchmen, whom the smallest alarm would hurry to the spot:
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CHAPTER VI. MIDSUMMER IN THE FIELDS.
CHAPTER VI. MIDSUMMER IN THE FIELDS.
I never see a clear stream running through the fields at this beautiful time of the year but I wish, like old Izaak Walton, to take rod and line and a pleasant book, and wander away into some sylvan, or romantic region, and give myself up wholly to the influence of the season; to angle, and read, and dream by the ever-lapsing water, in green and flowery meadows, for days and weeks, caring no more for all that is going on in this great and many-coloured world, than if there was no world at all be
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CHAPTER I. GIPSIES.
CHAPTER I. GIPSIES.
The Gipsy King. By Richard Howitt . The Gipsy King. By Richard Howitt . The picture of the Rural Life of England must be wofully defective which should omit those singular and most picturesque squatters on heaths and in lanes, the Gipsies. They make part and parcel of the landscape scenery of England. They are an essential portion of our poetry and literature. They are moulded into our memories, and all our associations of the country by the surprise of our first seeing them,—by the stories of t
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CHAPTER II. NOOKS OF THE WORLD; OR, A PEEP INTO THE BACK SETTLEMENTS OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER II. NOOKS OF THE WORLD; OR, A PEEP INTO THE BACK SETTLEMENTS OF ENGLAND.
There are thousands of places in this beautiful kingdom, which if you could change their situation—if you could take some plain, monotonous, and uninteresting tracts from the neighbourhood of large cities, from positions barren and of daily observance, and place these in their stead—would acquire an incalculable value; while the common spots would serve the present inhabitants of those sweet places just as well, and often far better, for the ordinary purposes of their lives—for walking over in t
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CHAPTER III. NOOKS OF THE WORLD: LIFE IN THE DALES OF LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE.
CHAPTER III. NOOKS OF THE WORLD: LIFE IN THE DALES OF LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE.
The nooks of the world which we visited in our last chapter lay in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire; we will now change the scene a little northward. Such secluded and original spots we might indeed readily undertake to discover in almost every county of England; but I can only give a few specimens from the great whole, and leave every one to look about him for the rest. Lancashire is famous for its immense manufactures, and consequent immense population. In ranging over its wild, bleak hills, we
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CHAPTER IV. OLD ENGLISH HOUSES.
CHAPTER IV. OLD ENGLISH HOUSES.
Our country houses, and especially the older ones, are in themselves an inestimable national treasure. A thousand endearing associations gather about them. I cannot conceive a more deeply interesting work than a history of them which entered fully into the spirit of the times in which they were raised, and through which they have stood. Which should give us a view of the national changes which have passed over them; mighty revolutions, whether abrupt and violent, or slow and silent, in fortune,
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CHAPTER V. HARDWICK HALL.
CHAPTER V. HARDWICK HALL.
Mrs. Jameson has lately given a very vivid and charming account of this fine old place. I am not going to tread in her steps, but to describe the impression it made upon myself at different times, in my own way, and with reference to my own object. My first visit to it was when I was a youth of about seventeen. I had heard nothing at all of it, and had no idea that it was an object of any particular interest. I was at Mansfield, and casually heard that the present Duke of Devonshire, its proprie
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CHAPTER VI. ANNESLEY HALL AND HUCKNALL.
CHAPTER VI. ANNESLEY HALL AND HUCKNALL.
Early in the spring of 1834, I walked over with Charles Pemberton from Nottingham, to see Annesley Hall, the birth-place and patrimony of Mary Chaworth; a place made of immortal interest by the early attachment of Lord Byron to this lady, and by the graphic strength and deep passion with which he has recorded in his poems this most influential circumstance of his youth. Annesley lies about nine miles north of Nottingham, itself—the scene of his first and most lasting attachment—Newstead, his pat
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CHAPTER VII. NEWSTEAD.
CHAPTER VII. NEWSTEAD.
We left Annesley, as we have said, by that long wood-walk which leads to the Mansfield road; and advancing on that road about a mile, then turned to the right through a deep defile down into the fields. Here we found ourselves in an extensive natural amphitheatre, surrounded by bold declivities—in some places bleak and barren, in others, richly embossed with furze and broom. Before us, at the distance of another mile, lay Newstead amid its woods, across a moory flat. The wind whistled and sighed
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CHAPTER VIII. CHARACTERISTICS OF PARK SCENERY.
CHAPTER VIII. CHARACTERISTICS OF PARK SCENERY.
How delicious is our old park scenery! How wise that such places as Richmond, Greenwich, and such old parks in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis, are kept up and kept open, that our citizens may occasionally get out of the smoke and noise of the great Babel, and breathe all their freshness, and feel all their influence! Who does not often, in the midst of brick-and-mortar regions, summon up before his imagination this old park or forest scenery? The ferny or heathy slopes, under old, stately,
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CHAPTER I. THE LOVE OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE MORE EMINENTLY DEVELOPED IN MODERN LITERATURE THAN IN THE CLASSICAL.
CHAPTER I. THE LOVE OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE MORE EMINENTLY DEVELOPED IN MODERN LITERATURE THAN IN THE CLASSICAL.
One of the most conspicuous features of English literature, is that intense love of the sublime and beautiful in Nature, which pervades, with a living spirit, the works of our poets; gives so peculiar a charm to the writings of our naturalists; possesses great prominence in our travellers; is mingled with the fervent breathings of our religious treatises; and even finds its way into the volumes of our philosophy. If we look into the literature of the continental nations, we find it existing ther
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CHAPTER II. THE PRE-EMINENCE OF THE LOVE OF NATURE IN THE ENGLISH LITERATURE OVER THAT OF ALL OTHER MODERN NATIONS—THE PROMOTION OF THIS PASSION BY THE WRITINGS OF PROFESSOR WILSON, IN BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE; AND BY THE WOOD-CUTS OF BEWICK—MEANS OF STILL FURTHER ENCOURAGING IT.
CHAPTER II. THE PRE-EMINENCE OF THE LOVE OF NATURE IN THE ENGLISH LITERATURE OVER THAT OF ALL OTHER MODERN NATIONS—THE PROMOTION OF THIS PASSION BY THE WRITINGS OF PROFESSOR WILSON, IN BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE; AND BY THE WOOD-CUTS OF BEWICK—MEANS OF STILL FURTHER ENCOURAGING IT.
In the former chapter I have endeavoured to point out the existence of a striking difference as it regards the love of nature between the classical and modern literature, and to explain, and I hope successfully, the principal causes of it. But it is not the less true, that almost as great a difference exists in this same respect between our British literature, and that of almost all other modern nations. I do not intend to go about very laboriously to attempt to prove this fact, for I think it s
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CHAPTER III. THE PRESENT STATE OF WOOD-ENGRAVING AS IT REGARDS RURAL SUBJECTS.
CHAPTER III. THE PRESENT STATE OF WOOD-ENGRAVING AS IT REGARDS RURAL SUBJECTS.
Unmeaning glitter, unprecedented softness, unprincipled novelty, shall sometimes set aside for awhile the truth and simplicity of nature, and the approbation of ages.— Life of Ryland. From what has been said in the last chapter, it is obvious that had Bewick been but one of a series of wood-engravers during the established period of the art, his merit would have been eminent and peculiar; but when it is recollected that, at one stride, he brought it to comparative perfection, our obligations to
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CHAPTER I. THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I. THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND.
Amongst the most interesting features of the country are our forests. There is nothing that we come in contact with, which conveys to our minds such vivid impressions of the progression of England in power and population; which presents such startling contrasts between the present and the past. We look back into the England which an old forest brings to our mind, and see a country one wild expanse of woodlands, heaths, and mosses. Here and there a little simple town sending up We see in the dist
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CHAPTER II. NEW FOREST.
CHAPTER II. NEW FOREST.
This forest seems to retain not only more of the forest character than all our other forests, but to have maintained more exactly its ancient boundaries. William of Malmsbury says, the Conqueror laid waste thirty miles of country for this forest. The perambulation of the 22d of Charles II., extending from Milton south along the Avon west, to Bramshire north, and within Southampton Water east, by Fawley and Boldre back to Milton, includes about thirty miles square, and this is the extent that is
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CHAPTER III. SHERWOOD FOREST.
CHAPTER III. SHERWOOD FOREST.
New Forest, as we have now seen, still retains its completeness as a forest—its herds of deer, its keepers going their daily rounds, its wild horses, and swine almost as wild, and all its ancient extent of wastes, woodlands, and forest people. A widely different condition does this once noble forest exhibit. It was more than all celebrated as the scene of the exploits of Robin Hood, and his merry men. In his day, it extended from the town of Nottingham to Whitby in Yorkshire, or rather it and th
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CHAPTER IV. FOREST ENCLOSURES.
CHAPTER IV. FOREST ENCLOSURES.
Before I quit this part of my volume, let me say a word on the subject of forest enclosures. There are certain persons who, from notions of national benefit, are very desirous that all crown lands should be disposed of; and all forests and wastes enclosed. As a matter of national benefit I think them considerably mistaken. For the very highest purposes of national benefit I desire, and that most earnestly, to see them kept open. I know the logic regularly employed by these people;—to make two bl
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CHAPTER V. WILD ENGLISH CATTLE.
CHAPTER V. WILD ENGLISH CATTLE.
We have a few herds of the original cattle which once abounded in England and Scotland, still remaining. We have long ago destroyed our wolves, bears, and boars; and it seems almost a miracle that a few of these inhabitants of our ancient forests have been preserved. They form the most interesting objects of those parts of the country where they exist. Every one knows the use Scott has made of them in the Bride of Lammermuir. There was formerly a fine herd of them at Drumlanrig in Scotland. In E
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CHAPTER I. COTTAGE LIFE.
CHAPTER I. COTTAGE LIFE.
What a mighty space lies between the palace and the cottage in this country! ay, what a mighty space between the mansion of the private gentleman and the hut of the labourer on his estate! To enter the one: to see its stateliness and extent; all its offices, outbuildings, gardens, greenhouses, hothouses; its extensive fruit-walls, and the people labouring to furnish the table simply with fruit, vegetables, and flowers; its coach-houses, harness-houses, stables, and all the steeds, draught-horses
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CHAPTER II. POPULAR FESTIVALS AND FESTIVITIES.
CHAPTER II. POPULAR FESTIVALS AND FESTIVITIES.
What a revolution of taste has taken place in the English people as it regards popular festivals and festivities! Our ancestors were passionately fond of shows, pageants, processions, and maskings. They were fond of garlands and ribbons, dancing and festive merriment. May-day, Easter, Whitsuntide, St. John’s Day, Yule, and many other times, were times of general sport and gaiety. Music and flowers abounded; mumming, morris-dancing, and many a quaint display of humour and frolic spread over the c
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CHAPTER III. MAY-DAY.
CHAPTER III. MAY-DAY.
May-day was celebrated with a gaiety and poetical grace far beyond all other festivals. It had come down from the pagan times with all its Arcadian beauty, and seemed to belong to those seasons more than to any Christian occasions. It is one that the poets have all combined to lavish their most delicious strains upon. The time of the year was itself so inspiring,—with all its newness of feeling, its buds and blossoms and smiling skies. It seemed just the chosen period for heaven and earth and yo
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CHAPTER IV. EASTER FESTIVITIES.
CHAPTER IV. EASTER FESTIVITIES.
May-day was the great festival of the young. Easter was the great festival of the church. It followed the dismal and abstemious time of Lent, and came heralded by Palm-Sunday, the commemoration of our Saviour’s riding into Jerusalem; Maundy-Thursday, the day on which he washed the feet of his disciples; and Good-Friday, the day of his death. All these days were kept with great circumstance. On Palm-Sunday there was, and still is, in Catholic countries, a great procession to church, with tapers a
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CHAPTER V. WHITSUNTIDE.
CHAPTER V. WHITSUNTIDE.
This is the only ancient religious festival that has become a popular one since the Reformation, through the addition of a modern circumstance. Clubs, or Friendly Societies, have substituted for the old church ceremonies, a strong motive to assemble in the early days of this week as their anniversary; and the time of the year being so delightful, this holiday has, in fact, become more than any other, what May-day was to the people. Both men and women have their Friendly Societies, in which every
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CHAPTER VI. CHRISTMAS.
CHAPTER VI. CHRISTMAS.
The next and last of these popular festivities that I shall notice at any length, is jolly old Christmas,—the festival of the fireside; the most domestic and heartfelt carnival of the year. It has changed its features with the change of national manners and notions, but still it is a time of gladness, of home re-union and rejoicing; a precious time, and one so thoroughly suited to the grave yet cheerful spirit of Englishmen, that it will not soon lose its hold on our affections. Its old usages a
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CHAPTER VII. THE FAIRY SUPERSTITIONS.
CHAPTER VII. THE FAIRY SUPERSTITIONS.
The Fairies, which gave in old times one of the most interesting and poetical features to the country, have all vanished clean away. Of those supernatural and airy beings who used to haunt the woodlands, hamlets, and solitary houses of Old England, they were the first to depart. “They were of the old profession”—true Catholics; and with Catholicism they departed; and have only left their interest in the pages of our poets, who still cling with fondness to the fairy mythology. Bogards, barguests,
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CHAPTER VIII. THE VILLAGE INN.
CHAPTER VIII. THE VILLAGE INN.
There is nothing more characteristic in rural life than a village alehouse, or inn. It is the centre of information, and the regular, or occasional rendezvous of almost everybody in the neighbourhood. You there see all sorts of characters, or you hear of them. The whereabout of everybody all around is there perfectly understood. I do not mean the low pothouse—the new beer-shop of the new Beer-bill, with LICENSED TO BE DRUNK ON THE PREMISES blazoned over the door in staring characters—the Tom-and
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CHAPTER IX. POPULAR PLACES OF RESORT.—WAKES, STATUTES, AND FAIRS.
CHAPTER IX. POPULAR PLACES OF RESORT.—WAKES, STATUTES, AND FAIRS.
Besides the remains of the ancient festivals, the country people find a great source of amusement in these gatherings. The Wake is the parochial feast of the dedication of the church. It has now dwindled into a village holiday, shorn by the Reformation of all its ecclesiastical and sacred character. But it furnishes a certain point in every year, in every individual parish, to which the rural people can look forward as a point of rest and mutual rejoicing. It is a time which leads them to clean
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CHAPTER X. THE RURAL WATERING-PLACE.
CHAPTER X. THE RURAL WATERING-PLACE.
A great deal has been written about our fashionable watering-places, but there is another class of watering-places quite as amusing in their way, of which the public knows little or nothing. There are the rural watering-places, which are part and parcel of our subject, without which any picture of rural life would be incomplete; and which I shall here therefore take due notice of. These are the resort of what may be styled the burgher and agricultural part of our population. The farmer, the shop
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CHAPTER XI. SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF THE PEOPLE. HISTORY OF THEIR CHANGES, AND PRESENT STATE.
CHAPTER XI. SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF THE PEOPLE. HISTORY OF THEIR CHANGES, AND PRESENT STATE.
A mighty revolution has taken place in the sports and pastimes of the common people. They, indeed, furnish a certain indication of the real character of a people, and change with the changing spirit of a state. A mighty revolution has taken place in this respect, within the last thirty years, in England, and that entirely produced by the change of feeling, and advance of character. But if we look back through the whole course of English history, we shall find the sports and pastimes of the peopl
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CHAPTER XII. WRESTLING.
CHAPTER XII. WRESTLING.
We must not close this department of our subject without saying a word or two on wrestling. This exercise, which at one time was almost universal, is now, like many others, fallen into general disuse; and is confined almost entirely to Cornwall and Devon in the west, and the counties of Chester, Lancaster, Cumberland, and Westmoreland in the north. These counties, indeed, have always been pre-eminent in the science of wrestling, and have possessed practices peculiar to themselves. Formerly, the
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CHAPTER XIII. FAVOURITE PURSUITS OF ENGLISH COTTAGERS AND WORKMEN.
CHAPTER XIII. FAVOURITE PURSUITS OF ENGLISH COTTAGERS AND WORKMEN.
In my last chapter I gave a general view of the present rural sports and pastimes of the peasantry—perhaps as it regards wrestling, more prominently than some readers might think judicious. But what is prominent in the country life of any part of England, it is my bounden duty to set before my readers; and there is no feature of English life more remarkable than the sanguine attachment of the people of some particular parts to particular sports; more especially where those sports have relaxed th
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CHAPTER XIV. SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY.
CHAPTER XIV. SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY.
Faust. In other days, the kiss of heavenly love descended upon me in the solemn stillness of the Sabbath; then the full-toned bell sounded so fraught with mystic meaning, and a prayer was vivid enjoyment. A longing, inconceivably sweet, drove me forth to wander over wood and plain, and amid a thousand burning tears, I felt a world rise up to me. Hayward’s Translation. Goethe, in his Faust, has given a very lively description of a German multitude bursting out of the city to enjoy an Easter Sunda
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CHAPTER XV. CHEAP PLEASURES OF COUNTRY LIFE.
CHAPTER XV. CHEAP PLEASURES OF COUNTRY LIFE.
To the real lover of the country there needs no great events, no exciting circumstances to effect his happiness. The freshness of the country, and the profoundness of its quiet, are to him full of happiness. The whole round of the seasons, the passage of every day, the still walk amongst fields and woods, and by running waters, are to him sources of perpetual pleasures. When “the winter is over and gone,” he sees with joy the increased light amongst the breaking clouds and dispersing fogs; he fe
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CHAPTER XVI. LINGERING CUSTOMS.
CHAPTER XVI. LINGERING CUSTOMS.
Wordsworth. How rapidly is the fashion of the ancient rural life of England disappearing! Every one who lived in the country in his youth, and looks back to that period now, feels how much is lost! How many of the beautiful old customs, the hearty old customs, the poetical old customs, are gone! Modern ambition, modern wealth, modern notions of social proprieties, modern education, are all hewing at the root of the poetical and picturesque, the simple and cordial in rural life; and what are they
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CHAPTER XVII. EDUCATION OF THE RURAL POPULATION.
CHAPTER XVII. EDUCATION OF THE RURAL POPULATION.
We have said that we will look at what education and other causes are doing, and what they are leaving undone in the change of character which they are effecting in the rural population. It appears by the Reports of the Poor-Law and Charity Commissioners that education progresses more in the northern and manufacturing districts than in the southern and agricultural ones. This is, no doubt, very much the case; and what education is leaving undone in these districts is, that it acts too timidly, t
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CHAPTER XVIII. CONCLUDING CHAPTER.
CHAPTER XVIII. CONCLUDING CHAPTER.
Wordsworth. We have now taken a comprehensive view of the rural life of England; of the mode in which “gentle and simple,” rich and poor, pass their life in the country; of the sports, the pastimes, the labours and various pursuits which fill up the round of rural existence; of the charms and advantages which there await the lovers of peace, of poetry, of natural beauty, and of pure thoughts: and I think it must be confessed that though other countries may boast a more brilliant climate, none ca
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WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
VISITS TO REMARKABLE PLACES ; Old halls, Battle-fields, AND SCENES ILLUSTRATIVE OF STRIKING PASSAGES IN ENGLISH HISTORY AND POETRY. With Forty Illustrations by S. Williams , price One Guinea. CONTENTS. I.—Visit to Penshurst in Kent; the Ancient Seat of the Sidneys. II.—Visit to the Field of Culloden. III.—Visit to Stratford-on-Avon; and the Haunts of Shakspeare—Charlecote Hall—Clopton Hall, etc. IV.—Visit to Combe Abbey, Warwickshire, as connected with Elizabeth of Bohemia, and the Gunpowder Plo
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