them a key is always needed. The key may be large or it may be small, but
it must be something that will turn a lock. Of the things that charm an
American observer in the land of parks and castles, I can think of very few
that do not come under this definition of private property. When I have
mentioned the hedgerows and the churches I have almost exhausted the list.
You can enjoy a hedgerow from the public road, and I suppose that even if
you are a Dissenter you may enjoy a Norman abbey from the street. If,
therefore, one talks of anything beautiful in England, the presumption will
be that it is private; and indeed such is my admiration of this delightful
country that I feel inclined to say that if one talks of anything private,
the presumption will be that it is beautiful. Here is something of a
dilemma. If the observer permits himself to commemorate charming
impressions, he is in danger of giving to the world the fruits of
friendship and hospitality. If, on the other hand, he withholds his
impression, he lets something admirable slip away without having marked its
passage, without having done it proper honor. He ends by mingling
discretion with enthusiasm, and he says to himself that it is not treating
a country ill to talk of its treasures when the mention of each connotes,
as the metaphysicians say, an act of private courtesy.

The impressions I have in mind in writing these lines were gathered in a
part of England of which I had not before had even a traveller's glimpse;
but as to which, after a day or two, I found myself quite ready to agree
with a friend who lived there, and who knew and loved it well, when he said
very frankly, "I _do_ believe it is the loveliest corner of the world!"
This was not a dictum to quarrel about, and while I was in the neighborhood
I was quite of his mind. I felt that it would not take a great deal to make
me care for it very much as he cared for it: I had a glimpse of the
peculiar tenderness with which such a country may be loved. It is a capital
example of the great characteristic of English scenery--of what I should