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many respects , it is impossible to deny their salutary effects , on those who practise thern in moderation . We see frequent ae ^ counts of aged nobles undergoing a degree of dorporeal exertion , under the name of sport , and with marked advantage to their health , wMeh would fee considered the height of barbarity if ia ^ flicted as labour or puraishmeat on aay persons of their affe #
Rationalize athletic diversions , extend them through all ages and ranks of the community * and a fine and happy race will soon sprmg up : or Exclude such exercised , throw every obstacle in their way , stop footpaths , enclose village greens , leave no accessible open spaces in and around towns and cities , and the consequence will be a marked change in the health , and happiness * and morality of a people .
Our pleasures are not so numerous that we ought to cast off any one > fkr less those which , as conducing also to health , are ia some sense the basis of all other pleasures . It especially behoves townsmen of the more educated classes to contend against the evil , which afflicts them above all others ; and young townsmen : should exert themselves to the utmost to retain those of theitf boyish pleasures on which their health and happiness so much depend .
It is the crying sin of modern society , that young men , when their education is ( as it is called ) finished , find it necessary to recommence it upoti some rational plan . A great proportion of the educated persons in this country are townsmen * and very many of these have been brought up in complete ignorance of external nature , and in utter incapacity to taste her pleasures . Is this large and most important class of our countrymen always to
remain ignorant of the delights of nature ? Are they to be com * pletel y cut off from so large a portion of the purest and most lasting pleasures o £ humanity ? Are they to be debarred from relishing or even understanding the greater portion of the field of poetry and most of the fine arts ? Are they to be kept perpetual
prisoners within the bars of that great jail , an English city , and only now an * & then suffered to take a peep at the outskirts , wher £ the best has been done to destroy nature , or to . deform her , or render her ridiculous ? Prisoners indeed they are , and not the less so because they have been rendered prisoners by education and habit , no less than by physical necessity .
Few townsmen appreciate thoroughly the pleasures of walking in a fine country ; for these , like most of our simplest , least eat * citing , and most durable pleasures , do not come upon us all at once . They are composed of a great number of small parts , and require time and habit to produce their effectw
The changes of scenery in a fine country , as they constantly vary with the season , hour , and weather , as well as with the position of the beholder , must be dwelt upon somewhat , or they will not produce their full effect in raising pleasurable emotion * . It
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The Pleawres of Walking . | 9 £
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P 2
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 195, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/51/
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