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The Bushman — Life in a New Country by Edward Wilson Landor
page 79 of 335 (23%)

First impressions endure the longest, and are recalled with most
pleasure. Further acquaintance does not always give us a truer idea
of the value of the object, as familiarity frequently makes us
overlook as insignificant that which is constantly before us. It is
not the object that is proved to be really less valuable as we become
better acquainted with it, but our own views which change with our
position. My first impressions on visiting the various farms, or
rather gentlemen's residences, on the banks of the Swan, were
extremely agreeable. I thought nothing could be more delightful than
to live at one of those picturesque and lovely spots. If the romance
of that first feeling be now faded from my heart, it is not because I
have discovered that all which I then saw was an illusion, but
because a more sober state of mind -- that state into which the mind
settles as the excitement of sudden change and unwonted novelty
subsides -- teaches that happiness is not local, and that it is no
more likely to be found in the finest country residence than in the
main street of a town.

At the first view we are apt to imagine that people who live in one
of these pleasant retreats must needs be happier than ourselves, who
possess nothing but a miserable shilling.

This is the delusion; and when with increasing knowledge, we recover
from this, we cease to envy and to covet.

My first ride up the Swan was a most delightful one. No park in
England could be more beautiful than the grounds around some of the
dwellings.

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