登陆注册
4711400000003

第3章

ROGERS.

{Samuel Rogers (English poet, 1763-1855), "Italy: Genevra" line 19. Samuel Rogers befriended James Fenimore Cooper and his family during their visits to England in 1826-33}

HAD there been a predecessor of Mr. Downing in the country, some five-and-twenty year since, to criticise Wyllys-Roof, the home of our friend Elinor, his good taste would no doubt have suggested many improvements, not only in the house itself, but also in the grounds which surrounded it. The building had been erected long before the first Tudor cottage was transported, Loretto-like, across the Atlantic, and was even anterior to the days of Grecian porticoes. It was a comfortable, sensible-looking place, however, such as were planned some eighty or a hundred years since, by men who had fortune enough to do as they pleased, and education enough to be quite superior to all pretension. The house was a low, irregular, wooden building, of ample size for the tastes and habits of its inmates, with broad piazzas, which not only increased its dimensions, but added greatly to the comfort and pleasure of the family by whom it was occupied.

{"Downing" = Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852), noted American rural architect and landscape gardener; "Loretto-like" = after Loreto, in Italy, where, according to tradition, a brick Holy House was miraculously conveyed through the air by angels in 1294}

The grounds were of the simplest kind. The lawn which surrounded the house was merely a better sort of meadow, from which the stones and briars had been removed with more care than usual, and which, on account of its position, received the attention of one additional mowing in the course of the summer. A fine wood, of a natural growth, approached quite near to the house on the northern side, partially sheltering it in that direction, while an avenue of weeping elms led from the gate to the principal entrance, and a row of locusts, planted at equal distances, lined the low, rude stone wall which shut out the highway. One piazza was shaded by noble willows, while another was faced by a row of cherry trees, flanked by peach and pear. Fruit trees, although so common and so lavish of their blessings in this climate, are often gathered about American country-houses, instead of being confined to gardens devoted to the purpose, as in Europe; a habit which pleasantly reminds us that civilization has made a recent conquest over the wilderness in this new world, and that our forefathers, only a few generations back, preferred the trees of the orchard to those of the forest, even for ornament. Fruit trees are indeed beautiful objects when gay with the blossoms of spring, or rich with the offerings of summer, and, mingled with others, are always desirable about a dwelling as simple and unpretending in its character as Wyllys-Roof. Beneath the windows were roses and other flowering shrubs; and these, with a few scattered natives of the soil--elm, hickory, sycamore, and tulip trees--farther from the house, were the only attempts at embellishment that had been made. The garden, surrounded by a white paling, was thought an ornamental object, and lay within full view of the drawing-room windows; and yet it was but a mixture of the useful and the beautiful, in which the former largely predominated. As a kitchen-garden it was certainly excellent; but the narrow flower-borders, which surrounded the ample beds of melons and strawberries, asparagus and cauliflowers, would have appeared meanly furnished in the eyes of a flower-fancier of the present day. There was not a hybrid among them, nor a single blossom but what bore a plain, honest name; and although there were lilies and roses, pinks and violets in abundance, they would probably have been all rooted out by your exclusive, fashionable gardener of the last summer, for they were the commonest varieties only. There were but two walks on the lawn; one of these was gravelled, and led to the garden-gate; the other was a common foot-path leading to the river, where the gentlemen of the family kept their boats, and where the cattle, who often grazed on the lawn, went to drink. The grounds were bounded on one side by a broad river, on the other by a sufficiently well-travelled highway. What particular river and highway these were, through what particular state and county they ran, we do not think it incumbent on us to reveal. It may easily be inferred, however, that Wyllys-Roof belonged to one of the older parts of the country, at no great distance from the seaboard, for the trees that shaded the house were of a growth that could not have been reached by any new plantation in a western settlement.

{"particular state..." = Longbridge, we learn, has steamboat connections to New York City, while steamboat connections to Philadelphia are from nearby Upper Lewiston; in the course of the story, one of the first railroads in America comes through town; this suggests, if anywhere, New Jersey. Judicial matters take place in Philadelphia, which would seem to place Longbridge in Pennsylvania. It is not clear, however, that the author had any specific location in mind}

同类推荐
  • 观自在菩萨阿么齿来法

    观自在菩萨阿么齿来法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛垂般涅槃略说教诫经

    佛垂般涅槃略说教诫经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太公金匮

    太公金匮

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 谢文庄公集

    谢文庄公集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 汉诗总说

    汉诗总说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 燃犀传:雪之下

    燃犀传:雪之下

    一年之中,总有那么几天与众不同。在这样的日子里,界限会被打破,禁忌会被解除……《燃犀传:雪之下》用七篇绮丽如梦的文字,描述了火翼、冰鳍姐弟在香川古城和诡异的彼岸交缠、寻找真相的奇幻经历。
  • 溺宠天师大人

    溺宠天师大人

    一个是令六界闻风丧胆的妖之尊者,一个是与妖永处对立面的天师。可当彼此动情之时,纵然违背道义,掀起血雨腥风那又如何?只因你是你,不关乎身份、地位、荣耀!放眼六界,那个执子之手,与子偕老之人只有你,也只能是你……
  • 网游之百战无双

    网游之百战无双

    因为诺言,我失去自己在乎的一切,因为诺言,我才无所畏惧的执剑天涯。乱世有我,百战无双!
  • 末日BOSS

    末日BOSS

    末日降临,在这个末世中谁主沉浮!“去TM的一刀999!”“等等,我才是boss?”
  • 贵厂真乱

    贵厂真乱

    擅长做人皮面具的慕筱雅在一个伸手不见五指的夜晚被蒙面人要挟了……她威武不能屈,富贵不能淫的做人标准,在对方百金重酬下瞬间崩塌。蒙面人要西厂督主顾锦瑜的人皮面具,慕筱雅女扮男装,化作小太监混入皇宫,结果督主没遇着,先把皇帝当刺客胖揍了一顿!皇帝捉鸡斗鸟,除了正事啥都干!慕筱雅一不小心就引起了皇帝的注意,督主回宫,她赶紧趁机回到督主身边“伺候”,却意外发现督主竟是皇帝假扮的……不务正业的皇帝也有不为人知的另一面。这个世界太奇妙了,慕筱雅表示知道得多,死得早,趁早溜了好,却不知自己早已被一条叫作爱情的线牢牢困住。
  • 当家万万岁

    当家万万岁

    一睁眼,阎如玉直接进了土匪窝,还成了山中女大王。山中上下三百六十口,老衰幼弱残兵多,面黄肌瘦顿顿挨饿,还成了山下小官刷政绩的BOSS窝。即便如此,日子还得过。占山头、开荒地、存钱粮、努力洗白直奔小康,却愁得小的们整日心慌慌……“老大,今科的状元天文地理样样精通,勉勉强强可做新郎。”“老大,前日来攻打的将军,骁勇善战,威震四方,俘虏过来,可供观赏。”“老大,当朝的国舅来卧底,自是白嫩如玉、举世无双,不如顺便.....?”
  • 一团和气见深情

    一团和气见深情

    大明宫庭风云变幻,一个弱小的生命在一位妙龄宫女的庇护之下长成为一代君王,面对种种血雨腥风的,一生功过又有几人说得清,觉得成化帝朱见深的故事有许多可发挥之处,《一团和气》是他年轻时的绘画作品。
  • 元宫词百章笺注

    元宫词百章笺注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 我的连队

    我的连队

    本书是一本中篇小说集,收入“父亲和他的儿女们”、“一人当兵 全家光荣”、“男左女右”等五篇小说。
  • 他改变了部落

    他改变了部落

    部落都是废物,就像暴雪编剧一样。李昂本想逃离魔兽愈加恶心的剧情,不料最后竟成了其中的一员。黑门27年,讨伐巫妖王的战争刚刚开始不久。在诺森德的凛冽寒风中,李昂的思绪逐渐清晰:自己还有充足时间将艾泽拉斯带向一个截然不同的未来。一个属于部落的红色黎明……