her assistance to nature, but that
there was little in that place for which they were not solely obliged to
the latter. Miss Trentham interrupted her who was speaking and told us
that as she had no share in the improvements which had been made, she
might with the better grace assure Mr Lamont that Lady Mary Jones, Miss
Mancel, and Mrs Morgan were the only persons who had laid out that wood,
and the commonest labourers in the country had executed their orders.
Lamont was much surprised at this piece of information, and though he
would have thought it still more exquisitely beautiful had it been the
design of the person he imagined, yet truth is so powerful, that he
could not suppress his admiration and surprise. Every cut in it is
terminated by some noble object. In several places are seats formed with
such rustic simplicity, as have more real grandeur in them, than can be
found in the most expensive buildings. On an eminence, 'bosomed high in
tufted trees', is a temple dedicated to solitude. The structure is an
exquisite piece of architecture, the prospect from it noble and
extensive, and the windows so placed, that one sees no house but at so
considerable a distance, as not to take off from the solitary air, which
is perfectly agreeable to a temple declaredly dedicated to solitude. The
most beautiful object in the view is a very large river, in reality an
arm of the sea, little more than a quarter of a mile distant from the
building; about three miles beyond it lies the sea, on which the sun
then shone, and made it dazzlingly bright. In the temple is a picture of
Contemplation, another of Silence, two of various birds and animals, and
a couple of moonlight pieces, the workmanship of the ladies.

Close by the temple runs a gentle murmuring rivulet, which flows in
meanders through the rest of the wood, sometimes concealed from view,
and then appearing at the next turning of the walk. The wood is well
peopled with pheasants, wild turkeys, squirrels and hares, who live so
unmolested, that they seem to have forgot all fear, and rather to
welcome than flee from those who come amongst them. Man never appears
there as a merciless destroyer, but the preserver, instead of the
tyrant, of the inferior part of the creation. While they continue in
that wood, none but natural evil can approach them, and from that they
are defended as much as possible. We there 'walked joint tenant of the
shade' with the animal race; and a perfect equa