the purpose of visiting some friend or relation in the neighbouring hamlet; she assuming that pure settled repose of feeling in which affection is blended with confidence, and the calm resolution to think and to act correctly is mingled with that innocence and purity which throw a charm around even the humblest walks of life: they all laughter and joyousness, plucking the flowers with a shout of delight, and bounding fawn-like around with that exuberance of spirit which is strikingly characteristic of youth and youthful feelings. Nor less pleasant, on a bright Sunday morning, to behold small groups of villagers-the aged matron and her progeny, the stout yeoman and all the members of his family, the village maiden, and the hardy labourer-pass quietly along the Old Fieldpath, leading towards the village church, as the village bells are throwing around their sober melody, and all objects presented around-the sacred, the venerable pile-the snug parsonage-house, the old hall, with its sunny slopes-meadows and cornfields, woods and streams homestead and orchard have assumed that holy calmness and peaceful serenity with which the great God of heaven blesses his appointed day of rest and of praise and thanksgiving.

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Far distant be the day, when the Old Field Footpaths of this fair country shall be stopped up, or diverted from the direction which they have assumed for centuries past! Far distant be the time, when, through the operation of change, the calm and peaceful feeling with which these time-honoured ways have been passed, shall be changed, if not to the scowl of hatred and revenge, at least to dissatisfaction-that hidden feeling of disapproval which is more fatal than any outward demonstration, diminishing respect where respect should be always due, and destroying that cordiality which, especially in small communities, should be invariably maintained for the good of all its members, from the highest to the lowest !

THE VALLEYS.

I might here intreat of the famous vallies in England, of which one is called the Vale of White-horsse, another of Eouesham, commonlie taken for the granary of Worcestershire, the third of Ailesbirie that goeth by Thame.

HOLINSHED. Description of Britaine.

THE peculiarly striking beauties which distinguish this fair land, so far, at least as picturesque attractions are concerned, almost invariably embrace those delightful hollows in the landscape which come under the term of VALLEYS. They embody the idea of snugness, of peace, and of security, in all their manifold varieties, and in all their manifold blessings. They form the scene where many a human habitation is raised at the foot of the aspiring mountain, and where the days of its occupants are passed in that peaceful serenity of repose-in that delightful security, not only

free from the intrusion of the heartless visitors with their endless store of small-talk, the frivolities of fashion, the disquisitions of show, and glare, and all manner of superciliousness -but, protected also from the violence of those tempests to which the higher localities are exposed-the roar of impetuous winds, which twist the gnarled oak from its apparently safe anchorage, and cast it prostrate upon the wild waste, as well as from the fire-winged bolt of the lightning, which rends the rock, and strikes into fragments whatever opposes its impetuous and devastating progress.* *

It is, indeed, no wonder that in our poets and writers who aspire neither to the sternness of the impartial historian, nor to the marble coldness, however classical, of the sage philosopher, or the common-place logic of the mere lover of disquisition-it is no wonder that we hear of the "happy valley," and find the most attractive scenes laid in those peaceful localities; scenes where peace and tranquillity have found

* Great mountains have a perception of the disposition of the aire to tempests, sooner than the valleys or plaines below. And therefore they say in Wales, when certain hills have their night-caps on, they mean mischiefe.— BACON. Natural Historie.

a happy home, where the wing of the tempest is not wafted, and where the pure domestic virtues have found their appropriate, yet unostentatious habitation, shining more beautiful in repose, like the plumage of the dove-more brilliant in their placidity of enjoyment, like the brightness of the unruffled lake-and more enduring in their splendour, because formed of qualities which retain the highest degree of polish-unknown to the ruffling of disquietude, the lashing of tempestuous passions, and the tarnish and rust of a life of heartless profligacy, or of shameless idleness.

Nor are the many blessings with which the Valleys abound confined to the mere enjoyment of domestic blessings, although these must claim a very important, if not an essential, degree of regard. There are other considerations which will not escape the attention of the careful observer, much less of him, whose heart, fully alive to the beauties of external nature, fully capable of appreciating the splendour, the magnificence of the fairest, the most attractive of scenes, sighs for the blessings of peaceful home enjoyments in some sequestered valley, now that his bosom is torn and bleeding, amid the struggles of self-interest,

K