It is a very curious
life that this artist leads, in this great solitude, and haunting
Stonehenge like the ghost of a Druid; but he is a brisk little man, and
very communicative on his one subject.
Mr. Hinchman rode with us over the plain, and pointed out Salisbury
spire, visible close to Stonehenge. Under his guidance we returned by a
different road from that which brought us thither,--and a much more
delightful one. I think I never saw such continued sylvan beauty as this
road showed us, passing through a good deal of woodland scenery,--fine
old trees, standing each within its own space, and thus having full
liberty to outspread itself, and wax strong and broad for ages, instead
of being crowded, and thus stifled and emaciated, as human beings are
here, and forest-trees are in America. Hedges, too, and the rich, rich
verdure of England; and villages full of picturesque old houses,
thatched, and ivied, or perhaps overrun with roses,--and a stately
mansion in the Elizabethan style; and a quiet stream, gliding onward
without a ripple from its own motion, but rippled by a large fish darting
across it; and over all this scene a gentle, friendly sunshine, not
ardent enough to crisp a single leaf or blade of grass. Nor must the
village church be forgotten, with its square, battlemented tower, dating
back to the epoch of the Normans. We called at a house where one of Mrs.
------'s pupils was residing with her aunt,--a thatched house of two
stories high, built in what was originally a sand-pit, but which, in the
course of a good many years, has been transformed into the most
delightful and homelike little nook almost that can be found in England.
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