Gleanings in Europe England Author:James Fenimore Cooper General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1837 Original Publisher: Carey, Lea and Blanchard Subjects: France England London (England) History / General History / Europe / France History / Europe / Great Britain Literary Criticism / American / General Travel / Europe / General Travel / Europe / Gre... more »at Britain Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: LETTER XVI. ' TO RICHARD COOPER, ESQ., COOPEHSTOWN, N. Y. Whatever may be said of the beauty of the country in England, in particular parts, it scarcely merits its reputation as a whole. I have seen no portion of it that is positively ugly, a heath or two excepted, and yet I have seen more that is below mediocrity, than above it. I am told, ho wever,! have not seen its finest portions. There is certainly little to admire, in the way oMandscape', immediately in the vicinity of London, so far as I have become acquainted with its environs, and we have now entered and left the town in nearly every direction. Taking our own village as a centre, and describing a circle, with a radius of fifty miles, I greatly question if all England could supply the same field of natural beauty. Our landscapes have much the effect of English park scenery, too, aided by the iso- lated and graceful woods that belong to every farm, and the negligent accidents of clearing, of which the celebrated art of landscape gardening is merely an imitation. But this country has a great advantage, both in its higher finish and in its numerous and interesting artificial accessories. It is only when viewed at the distance of a mile or two, that the scenery of our country, for instance, has the park- like character at all; the foreground of the picture commonly wanting the ne...« less