'Perhaps they do, but still, uncle, there is too much art mixed up with
nature, in our English scenery. Here all is nature.'

'And I think you must be a very great lover of it, if you prefer this
hilly, iron bound island, to the level green sward of Derwent park,'
replied the earl.

'I must still plead guilty of the charge of loving nature as it is,
uncle,' responded Mary. 'I have seen it in a great variety of forms. I
have viewed its high grandeur amid the forests and mountains of America;
but never before this hour, have I ever seen it so pure, so serene, and
so calmly beautiful.'

'I must needs own, that this is at present, a quiet place enough,'
answered the earl, 'but do you not know, dear Mary, that even here, the
face of nature is oft times suddenly changed, by the awful sweep of the
howling hurricane, or the thundering shock of the subterraneous
earthquake.'

'Why, I really believe, that you are getting to be enthusiastic now,
dear uncle,' replied Mary Hamilton, 'but we cannot exactly agree, I move
that we drop the subject forthwith.'

'And I second the motion,' laughingly responded the noble earl.--'But
look at the ship, Mary, and see, she is almost hull down in the
distance.'

The vessel to which the earl alluded, the white sails of which were just
visible to his eyes and those of his companion, from the eminence on