Is it not too generally believed in my own country, that the profession of agriculture must exclude the pleasures of taste and intellect, and bind the thoughts down to a succession of homely toils or petty emoluments? Need it be so, if there was a spirit of contentment with moderate gains, and if the desire of becoming rich was not made the ruling motive? Rural life, as I saw it at Upton Lea, and as it is seen in many other parts of England, combining with simplicity and systematic diligence, a love of letters, refinement, and active benevolence, is but another name for true independence and rational happiness; or in the words of Cowper,
"Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace,
Friendly to all the best pursuits of man."
The hospitality of England is beyond my feeble power of description or of praise. In various ranks and modes of living, both in the city and country, it was my lot to be met by it, and. to find it always the same.
I think the English are true friends. They are not assiduous to put forth their best virtues at first sight, nor to overwhelm a stranger with courtesies, nor to run risks, like king Hezekiah, by the display of their most sacred treasures to foreign eyes. They make no protestations beyond what they feel, and are willing to embody in deeds.
