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Untitled Article
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
commands a terrace view of the far valley , where orchard , cornfield , and hop-garden , all in their season , yield a harvest of equal but differing beauty . Our traveller entered the little gate , heaved that expressive half-sigh , half-yawn , that says , ' that is done , and now for rest /—threw back his arms in a sort of extacy , using just so much exertion as to rouse the attention of his muscles to the delicious repose they were about
to enjoy , and then looked round the quiet shady inolosute , to secure the nook best fitted to his purpose . There was a mound heaped up in at remote corner , which probably at one time was a collection of superfluous mould , but wag now covered with rich soft grass , that had been kept freshly green by the shade of a chestnut growing directly above it , and throwing its branches so low as almost entirely to screen it from view . That was the place ! The knapsack was untied , and he threw
himself down . Ah !'—the pleasure was almost pain . He could not sleep ; but remained for some time in the full enjoyment of the cool green , transparent roof above him , and then closed his eyes , and continued in that state which is neither sleeping nor waking , reverie or contemplation , where the body may be described as being in a
pleasant unconsciousness of any thing save mere pleasurable sensation . How long he remained thus he did not know , nor did he ask ; for , on rousing himself , and looking between the boughs that formed a screen between him and the churchyard , his eye was at once fixed by a vision which , from its extraordinary appearance , he almost believed to be the creation of his own brain , while in the half-awakened state to which we
have alluded . At the opposite side of the churchyard , where the low fence made the boundary-line between it and the wide expanse of valley beyond , was a human face ; the rest of the person was concealed by the fence ; and , to make it so , must have been in a stooping posture . Though at some distance , the remarkable and strong character of the countenance , and its deadly paleness , peculiarly striking at such a time of sunny heat , gave to it the effect of near proximity . The traveller
unconsciously drew himself up higher on the bank , where he had full opportunity for observation , without its being returned upon himself . The ghastly face continued to rest upon the fence . A small black hat was drawn down nearly to the eye-brows , from beneath which there was a gaze so intensely searching as almost to attain to fierceness . The nose and mouth were * strongly marked ; and there was a firmness about the latter that contrasted strangely with the exceeding paleness of
the complexion . In this day , when the cheek of man , woman , and child , was burning and browning with the hot sun , when the earth was yellow with the thick shower of its beams—whence could come that face so pale , and yet so strong © f purpose ? And was it that of man or woman r It remained in this position until the whole of the churchyard had been carefully explored , and then the figure drew itself up for a moment to stoop again ; and in another instant a child was thrown
lightly over the fence—in the next , a woman was by its side . She was of middle stature , inclining to short $ but , from the energy and purpose in-her movements , gave an idea of being much taller . The figure was one of slight fabric , and even that had been evidently much impaired by sickness or . suffering . She was habited in the short jacket and petticoat worn by Welsh women of the peasant class , and a handkerchief was folded neatly across her chest . She was
Untitled Article
The JFtUh Wanderer . 515
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1834, page 515, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2635/page/55/
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