e living, and
buildest their sepulchres when dead; thou that honorest to such
stature of praise the plagiarists upon Nature, and clothest the
copyists of patient Labor's pictures in such purple and fine linen;
thou whose heart is softening to the sweet benevolences of Christian
charity in so many directions,--wilt thou not think, with a new
sentiment of kindness and sympathy, on this Blind Painter, who has
tapestried the hills and valleys of thy island with an artistry that
angels might look upon with admiration and wonder!

Wilt thou not build him a better cottage to live in?

Wilt thou not give him something better than dry bread and cold
bacon for dinner in harvest?

Wilt thou not teach all his children to read the alphabet and the
blessed syllables of the Great Revelation of God's Love to man?

Wilt thou not make a morning-ward door in his dwelling and show him
a future with a sun in it, in _this_ world, as well as the world to
come?

Wilt thou not open up a pathway through the valley of his
humiliation by which his children may ascend to the better
conditions of society?

CHAPTER XIV.

NOTTINGHAM AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS--NEWSTEAD ABBEY--MANSFIELD--TALK
IN A BLACKSMITH'S SHOP--CHESTERFIELD, CHATSWORTH AND HADDON HALL--
ARISTOCRATIC CIVILISATION, PRESENT AND PAST.

From the Belvoir Vale I continued my walk to Nottingham the
following day; crossing a grand old bridge over the Trent. Take it
all in all, this may be called perhaps the most English town in
England; stirring, plucky and radical; full of industrial intellect
and vigor. Its chief businesses involve and exercise thought; and
thought educed into one direction and activity, runs naturally into
others. The whole population, under these influences, has become
_peopled_ to a remarkable status and strength of opinion, sentiment
and action. They prefix that large and generous quality to their
best doings and institutions, and have their Peoples' College,
Peoples' Park, etc. The Peoples' Charter had its stronghold here,
and all radical reforms are sure to find sympathy and support among
the People of Nottingham. I should think no equal population in the
kingdom would sing "Britons never, never will be slaves," with more
spirit, or, perhaps, with more understanding. Their plucky, English
natures became terribly stirred up in the exciting time of the
Reform Bill, and they burned down the magnificent palace-castle of
the old Duke of Newcastle