hedgerows,' he would make the most of any features of a
higher order; in the pleasure with which he would cherish the few places
where the current of the Avon was perceptible, or where a glimpse of the
horizon could be discerned; in the humorous despair with which he would
gaze on the dull expanse of fields eastward from Rugby. It is no wonder
we do not like looking that way, when one considers that there is
nothing fine between us and the Ural mountains. Conceive what you look
over; for you just miss Sweden, and look over Holland, the north of
Germany, and the centre of Russia."[14]

This dreadful midland monotony impelled Dr. Arnold to seek refreshment
and compensation in a holiday home in the Lake district, and there he
found all that his eyes longed for, streams, hills, woods, and
wild-flowers. Nor had his belief in the value of these sweet natural
surroundings been illusory; such instincts are not given for our
betrayal, and the soul of a wise man knows its own needs, both before
they are supplied, and after. Westmorland gave him all he had hoped
from it, and more. "Body and mind," he wrote, "alike seem to repose
greedily in delicious quiet, without dulness, which we enjoy in
Westmorland." And again: "At Allan Bank, in the summer, I worked on the
Roman history, and hope to do so again in the winter. It is very
inspiring to write with such a view before one's eyes as that from our
drawing-room at Allan Bank, where the trees of the shrubbery gradually
run up into the trees of the cliff, and the mountain-side, with its
infinite variety of rocky peaks and points upon which the cattle
expatiate, rises over the tops of the trees."

Of all happily-situated mental laborers who have worked since the days
of Horace, surely Tycho Brahe was the happiest and most to be envied.
King Frederick of Denmark gave him a delightful island for his
habitation, large enough for him not to feel imprisoned (the
circumference being about five miles), yet little enough for him to feel
as snugly at home there as Mr. Waterton in his high-walled park. The
land was fertile and rich in game, so that the scientific Robinson
Crusoe lived in material abundance; and as he was only about seven miles
from Copenhagen, he could procure everything necessary to his
convenience. He built a great house on the elevated land in the midst of
the isle, about three-quarters of a mile from the sea, a palace of art
and science, with statues and paintings and all th