| | 1 | Author: | Cooper
James Fenimore
1789-1851 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Homeward Bound, Or, the Chase  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The coast of England, though infinitely finer than our
own, is more remarkable for its verdure, and for a general
appearance of civilisation, than for its natural beauties.
The chalky cliffs may seem bold and noble to the American,
though compared to the granite piles that buttress the
Mediterranean they are but mole-hills; and the travelled
eye seeks beauties instead, in the retiring vales, the leafy
hedges, and the clustering towns that dot the teeming island.
Neither is Portsmouth a very favourable specimen of a
British port, considered solely in reference to the picturesque.
A town situated on a humble point, and fortified
after the manner of the Low Countries, with an excellent
haven, suggests more images of the useful than of the
pleasing; while a background of modest receding hills
offers little beyond the verdant swales of the country. In
this respect England itself has the fresh beauty of youth,
rather than the mellowed hues of a more advanced period
of life; or it might be better to say, it has the young freshness
and retiring sweetness that distinguish her females, as
compared with the warmer tints of Spain and Italy, and
which, women and landscape alike, need the near view to
be appreciated. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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