he utter
peace and beauty of the hills, which seemed to uplift themselves, half
in majesty and half in appeal, into the still sky, as though they had
struggled out of the world, and yet desired a further blessing,--the
contrast between their meek and rugged patience, and the noisy, dusty
crowd of shameless and indifferent tourists, that circulated among the
green valleys, like a poisonous fluid in the veins of the wholesome
mountains. They brought a kind of blight upon the place; and yet they
were harmless, inquisitive people, tempted thither, most of them by
fashion, a few perhaps by a feeble love of beauty, and only desirous to
bring their own standard of comforts with them. The world seemed out
of joint; the radical ugliness and baseness of man an insult to the
purity and sweetness of nature.

Hugh walked back, in a close and heavy afternoon, across the fell, with
these thoughts struggling together in his heart. The valley was
breathlessly still, and the flies buzzed round him as he disturbed them
from the bracken. The whole world looked so sweet and noble, that it
was impossible not to think that it was moulded and designed by a Will
of unutterable graciousness and beauty. From the top, beside a little
crag full of clinging trees, that held on tenaciously to the crevices
and ledges, with so perfect an accommodation to their precarious
situation, Hugh surveyed the wide valleys, and saw the smoke ascend
from hamlets and houses, the lake as still as a mirror, while the
shadows lengthened on the hills, which seemed indeed to change their
very shapes by delicate gradations. It looked perfectly peaceful and
serene. Yet in how many houses were there unquiet and suffering
hearts, waiting in vain for respite or release! The pain of the world
pressed heavily upon Hugh; it seemed that if he could have breathed out
his life there upon the hill-top among the fern, to mingle with the
incense of the evening, that would be best; and yet even while he
thought it, there seemed to contend with his sadness an immense desire
for joy, for life; how many beautiful things there were to see, to
hear, to feel, to say; to be loved, to be needed--how Hugh craved for
that! While he sate, there alighted on his knee, with much
deliberation, a dry, varnished-looking, orange-banded fly, which might
have almost been turned out of a manufactory a moment before. It sent
out a thin and musical buzzing, as it cleaned its brown, large-eyed
hea