There was something very hospitable about it, as if man had never shown
himself a tyrant near them. What a morning that was! Every sight is
worth twice as much by the early morning light. We borrow something of
the spirit of the hour to look upon them.
The first place, where we stopped was one of singular beauty, a beauty
of soft, luxuriant wildness. It was on the bend of the river, a place
chosen by an Irish gentleman, whose absenteeship seems of the wisest
kind, since for a sum which would have been but a drop of water to the
thirsty fever of his native land, he commands a residence which has all
that is desirable, in its independence, its beautiful retirement, and
means of benefit to others.
His park, his deer-chase, he found already prepared; he had only to
make an avenue through it. This brought us by a drive, which in the heat
of noon seemed long, though afterwards, in the cool of morning and
evening, delightful, to the house. This is, for that part of the world,
a large and commodious dwelling. Near it stands the log-cabin where its
master lived while it was building, a very ornamental accessory.
In front of the house was a lawn, adorned by the most graceful trees. A
few of these had been taken out to give a full view of the river,
gliding through banks such as I have described. On this bend the bank is
high and bold, so from the house or the lawn the view was very rich and
commanding. But if you descended a ravine at the side to the water's
edge, you found there a long walk on the narrow shore, with a wall above
of the richest hanging wood, in which they said the deer lay hid.
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