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Untitled Article
the wind : now shadowing the light of her eyes , now parting aside to let forth the full and brilliant flash of the happy spirit within : making nature proud at beholding her child . Let every one be in woodland trim—that is , fit for a scramble through the branches and the gorse : all sylvan delight is alloyed , destroyed ,
if there be any demand on your attention or care lest your dress should be disarranged or damaged . Against long tails , flounces and frills , netting , gimping and furbelows , the forest has declared ceaseless and persevering warfare : so let your outward man or woman , boy or girl , be such as it will not affect your delicacy to
see rendered somewhat more picturesque at the close than it was at the commencement of the revel ; though , indeed , there is little likelihood of fractures if you have been wise in your equipmentdress so that you can be altogether in a thorough don't carishness for scratches . A beaver hat is a villain in the woods : a shawl
or veil no less so . Sandals , too , are an abomination ; their strings make so many unloving alliances with underwood and roots : so neat-fitting , stringless shoes , or ancle boots , with laceends carefully , snugly tucked in , if you please , ladies .
Well , the selection is made , the parly is assembled , all of eyes that can see beauty , and hearts that can rejoice in it , of spirits so uncorrupted that they will yield full scope to the expression of enjoyment , and each , in his or her own feeling , give and receive enjoyment , and , what is an indispensable characteristic , will not pretend to enjoy where enjoyment is not . So march ye now in the best of order , —no order at all , —into this calm realm of forest grandeur and glory . I'll tell you what such a party will do : first , assemble in a compact knot , ( without designing , planning such assemblage , and it would be a tedious wordy process to show vou the why of this , ") as if to catch and communicate
inspiration from all to all ; it is to that you so assemble , but you do not know what attracts you : —to hear the abort ejaculations of surprise , and subdued exclamations , murmurings , breathings of pure ra pture , —deep and holy is that rapture , and in what delicious variety of expression it shows itself ! What next ? Then you draw off by twos and threes for a while , till a more vivacious , exhilarating , dancing delight courses rapidly through the nerves ; and then , in as many directions as there are animated beings to
take them , bound forward over moss , through glade and heather , in very exuberance of bliss . Nay , I shoula not be surprised if some ran up to the trees , and kissed them ; nor should I regard such an ettravagance as aught but the gushing that throbbed with the love of nature , which superior intelligence and perception of beauty , moral or physical , animate or inanimate , does awake , and does fan its pure sparks into an unsullied , forth-issuing flame . Your eye looks yonder on a fawnlike creature , for agility , bounding along , now hidden , now glinipsingly fteen through the dangling branches , or peering over some fern-brake or gorae-
Untitled Article
A Peep into Sherwood Forest . 431
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1834, page 431, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2634/page/49/
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