Miscellany: Country Life In England

"The stately homes of England, How be.iutifui they stand! AmicNt their tall ancestral treee O'er ail the plcasailt land! The deftr across cheir grenswards bouiul, Thraugh ?hiidc and tunny glesm, And the stf'an glides past them with the sound Ol' swnie rejoicing stream." ï se'f öfi" aoo'rt áfic'r' iny arriv'aí in1 Ëhgland, for visit nmong the inlls of Yorkshire with about the same leelttig of a sehool boy niotmting the stKgö coacli for a chriötmos vaöatiort. My route thither was by stemn, and lay tlirough the manufscttfritTg towns. where my eyes were as usual grtíeted wilh the aöme array of speet ra lboings. clamorirrg for bread; and the same interminable rovrs of prison lióiisca, in which poor pale chilihcn are doomed to stand day after day, amid the roiir of WheetB and spindles, un'til théir young limbs ache' for the narrów and the long leep. Just ut cvening we carne to the valley of the Don reaching up to Shoffield; Before ut tho vhole heavens were illuminated with the Turnace fires which burn day aiïd nïght, feminding oneoi'the vale of Tophet. In the centre was ono tramendous chimney tossing its flhmes far up into the murky air, and casting a lund glare on all the surrounding landscape. This fire could be distinctly seen from the house where 1 afterwards staj ed. and I asked the gentleman of tho houeone day how long it had been bürning! He coolly replied, "ever sincc l was a ítfy." I thought of the firc that never dies. On the other side of ShefField nre a series of green sloping hills, stretching away towardsDerfcyhire, and one of the innumerable stuccoed cotriage.spr.inkled all over them, became my Eniglish home, ,for a number of weeks. The hospitable owner reccived me with a hearty English welcomo. A letter of íntrodtiction always iñeures a kind reception hero, or did at leas', in every c.tic of my own expèrience; and without them, thiQ doorsare stricily barred.As acón a í hacl settlod myaelf n my new home ï was struck with whnt must strike every man coming from a new, unfiniahed country likcours, to nn old established country like Eneland. and that ig the perfect order of every thir.g out door and inin the arrnngements of the house and thogrounds - the eervants - the stylo of living- tho ruien of intercoure - and evory pnrta-id parool of domestic liie. That the exterior o! Engliih liie s'ionld be nll tha is beautiful and taateful is no wonder. That the wnlksshould be smooth- the hedges clippcd - the velvet grass rolld irtto almost faultless evenness - the trees trimmed and the house most neatly adorned - is a Tery nocewisary result ofabounding wealih coupled wih exceeding oheapness of labor, in fact it ia the business of the mimerous paupers and unoccupitó laborr m that eountry to look nbout contntly to find omething ot of order, n the hopes of getting a few pence for settmg it to riglif If a iprinkle of mow iklla uring thn.iglu, you are be$et next mornmg by n score ol Kolf starved men begging , for the privilege of seeping your wtuka. Ifanything is to be done therp, tliere ie nlwnys ornebody nt your elbow to do t. Whon I.alightcd from the coach nt the gate, I found a poor boy waiting witli iiiscart to tnke my trunk (o the door. and lie told me thnt he had dragged his cart and kept up with the cnncli for a mile in order to gel a penny or two for himself and èick motlior. S-.irely t!ie 'glory' of Englnnd ia glorious. but her alunie is deeply and darkly shameful. I have. spoken before of the rare beauty of the park secnery. TlnS js owing in a great measure 10 the constantly rieh green of tbc grnPS and the foliage. The cümate is inoist, and there is no torrid sun to L,urn the leaves into a p.ematurc deadness, but eren in November the face of ihe country is groener and freaher than with us in June. By incessnnt cFipping. too, th'egrnss is made to grow much thicker, which ndds to its brightnesa, so that wheticver I was riding along on a mail coach Í feit a strong tendency to. get off the coach, leap over the hedge. and lie downon the velvet turf and rol!. Reader, excuse this expression- unless yoii have rocis yourself thi-o' an Enghsh park The houses here are usnally of brick covercd wiihu crenm colored atucco- --ometimes of stone but never of wood. Tlieir siyles are as variou3 ns the tastesof their owners. Somc are or the Eliznbethnn order with high gablea, pointcd windows and curiously cnrved door-wnj'a; sonie are miniature Chinese pagodis; while many nro simple square boxes covered nh a brpnd flat roof exrendijig far beyond the cornice. and loolutig like a West India hat. Ten to one but ihere will be a vinecreeping over iip door, and anold doek or two in the iawn, and if it be a place of any pretention - a troop of deer lyi'ng quie;Iy in thé.shade.Sö much for the exterior; the intcrnal nrrnngemcnifl are equally well ordercd. As Mr. Ooper has well observed. "Nothing here is at si.tes nnd sevens." Labor is so cheap than ah fibundnnce of servants is nlways to be had nt a moderate sum. They are gencrnlly tiíly nnd obliging nnd well qunlificd for thoir dutios: in inct the competition s so great that tbey woulrl !oose their places if thc-y .were not'so. In our own country of comparatiye equality, where thcrc are no fixed ninks, it is mpoasible that ilioro should be mich sérvnnts s in Englnnd.- The English coniplain óf the rndeiiess of out sctvnnts; but the gentleman with whom I stay ed. who had visitt'd America, viewed the subject m the irae light when he snid, ''he wss glad to find the Inboiing clnsses n our country in siieh rood crcuiri8tnncés tliaf they cotild eomctitnes aftord to be snucy." In England they never can. The detíghtful description furnished by Mrs. Chvers of the familiar manners of onr Western helps' have beeri wid'cly read here; nnd niany a dinnér have 'I set into a perfect roar by art account of that modest damsel who thrutt lier head in the door and shouud "Miss Clavcrs! wad that you hollered? Í ibought I heerd a yell!" Among the indiípensable comforts of nn EnjühIi home are good horses to ride. good books to rend, good coal to burn. good sorvants to attend upon you. and above all good dinners to eat. All these thinge we had in abundance. The dinner was the all important thing. however. A dignity and interest is mtached to ihis btter ccremony there, we Yankee utilitarians- who ent merely to live- know nothing about. it must he served up at a certntn time, and the roast beet must be done to n turn, or the Englishnian is completely unhinged fer a 'ortnight.When you presenta note of introtluction here. f your new iriencl internis ;o 'honor the drak' upon liis hospitality, he will giveyoua dinnerpariy.& tliia will bo no trifling affair.in eiiher uouble or expenso. In France it has been wcll said that n lady can give a splendid party on two Lemons! But John Buil roasts his beef. and mutton and venison. and calis in his friendo, and mnkes a long, veiy long meal of u There are so many courses. so much wine bibing, and such a tremendous mportance attached to the qualïtirs o! the eaiables and drinkobles. that to a man who lins not made a god of his belly, th's bountiful hospitnlity is sotnewhat wearisome. At about seven o'clock the ladies retire to the drnwinp room, and the gentlemen fill up their glasses and fall nto n diacussion about the TariflTand Corh Laws. After discussing politics for an hour not in the light jesting manner which we do in America, but with a gravity Ix-coming a subject which is there an afiáirof Iasting imporiance and broad distinetion to all - they withdraw to the parlor, and finishing the evening with a cup of tea and a inoíSn witli he ladies. As for these hidies themselves, we opine, they will be found yery like to oducoted women o( the sama rank in America- perhaps a trifle more sédate, in externals they will differ exceedingly. The English married ladies will mostly look like vounlndies-the young Iadies will look like ovcrgrown children. And this arises from tlie fïict 'hat they arrive at thcir fall mrntal and physicnl development so much later than our ladies, and ns a natural consequenco endure much longcr. An F.nglish giri ia led ín by a servant and lakcs her place by hei mother's side durihg the last course of a dii.ner party, to bc nddressed nsa child.when her American coiemporary. i( we may use such a term- is i:coming out," and perhnps has already concluded her firet óampaign of conqueat. At this thné the Yankee girl is by far the most beautiful; ia the exquisite deücncy óf complexion and Ibrm, theelnsticy of step, the qöickness pf cxpressioTi and the airy gaity of stirit she is supeilative. In fnct thure are nö giila liko ihe Yaukee girls- the broud world over. Rut when twenty yëars have pnssed nway the American bentity haè faded, and ihe Eosh la Jy is just in her prime. The most beautiful women I saw in England were from thirty-five to forty. This is. tobe accounted for not merely from the Tact that the Er.glish people are morephlegmatic- live slower and live longer- bm from the moist températe climate, which has lew changes, and violent extremes, and which pcrmitsthem at nll times to ti.ke inuch exercise in the open nir. After all, ihis Inner ia the chiei renson. The Englisli ladies ride a great denl and walk a great deal - not in gnnse stockings and papershoes - but in good eubstantial boots, thick enough to climb hills aad ford atreams. An KnglUh lady in good health woaid no more think of calling her carnage to go one or two miles, than many of or American girls would think of lenrning to knit, when the ready made could be bought al the thopa, or of lenrning to make a pudding as long as their father can hiro n tra cook or keepoin of ji{.