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Untitled Article
will npt d <^ to scarpper pvgr the ground eis if we were t ravellin g express , keeping e ^ l ^ siyejyrjui well-wozp localities . Still less wtiil a hoodwintad vehicle suffice , dashing alortg the high road ( usually the ugliest line in the locality ) under perpetual anxiety lest ten miles an hour shpuld not be accomplished . To be fully
enjoyed , or even tolerably seen , a fine country must be walked through . The independence of the pedestrian will carry him into scenery attainable to no other traveller ,, and will allow him to dwell without limitation upon anything that strikes his fancy and gives him delight . He is not the slave of his horse or
carriage , or the fettered slave of the rapid stage-coach . He is not mocked by pleasures which he sees , but cannot wait for or get at to enjoy . Nature must be lived in for a time , and walked through , or she cannot be thoroughly known and fully enjoyed ; slxe must not be glanced at , and then fled from as if she were the cholera naorbus or plague .
An occasional visit to the country , and especially a pedestrian visit * is a valuable medicine for the mind ; whatever it presents is fresh , and healthy , and beautiful , and a relief from the daily routine of labour and care . It conveys us for the time into a newer and a better world . A thousand associations that
otherwise might grow so strong as greatly to circumscribe our happiness , may thus be prevented from becoming indissoluble ; among which not the least formidable are the petty domestic habits , whose bonds are at once the strongest and the least observed .
To the body , a complete change of food , of air ^ and of exercise , often produces remarkable results ; and no less extraordinary is the effect of a change of scene , of society , pleasures , and thoughts upon thei mind . Judicious travelling affords both ; and its striking effects are proverbial .
A perpetual residence on the same spot , especially in the interior of a . great town , must greatly enfeeble , if it do not completely destroy , habits of external observation , and tend materially to decrease many valuable powers . In the country nature checks this by varieties of productions , of seasons , and of weather ; but , in large towns , the changes of nature ,, except from heat to cold , are few and little observed ; and her most beautiful varieties are
never seen . In towns we become quick enough in observing and criticising each other ; but the pleasurable excitement arising from external observation of beautiful images , is , in most instances , comparatively small . Rich materials are gathered by the observing and reflecting
mind from the variet y ( however trivial in appearance ) which well-conducted travelling ensures , both in men and nature . To the pleasure of constantly acquiring new i n formation may be added subsidiary occupations such as , drawing , oc > botany , mineralogy and zoology . A very superficial knowledge pf these subjects may b&n source of great pleasure and instruction . Attain-
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196 The Pleasures of Walking .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 196, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/52/
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