Stowe’s distinguished countryman

Stowe’s distinguished countryman

Stowe’s distinguished countryman

Mrs. Stowe’s distinguished countryman, Washington Irving, took a sounder view of our rural pleasures; for he says in his charming Sketch Book:

The fondness for rural life among the higher classes of the English has had a great and salutary effect upon national character. I do not know a finer race of men than the English gentlemen. Instead of the softness and effeminacy which characterizes the men of rank of most countries, they exhibit a union of elegance and strength, of robustness of frame and freshness of complexion, which I am inclined to attribute to their living so much in the open air, pursuing so eagerly the invigorating recreations of the country.

I think this is a mistake. In a copy of the rules forwarded to me by a Cheshire squire, one of the hereditary members of the club, it is a pair of gloves. But in the notes, the songs and ballads by R. Egerton Warburton, Esq., of Arley Hall, it is printed breeches.