On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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
Onci of the most unprofitable tnod ^ s of vi siting the country is to go \ b a watering-place ; in other words > to go from one large town to another . Yet this kind of travelling * , if so it may be called , is not altogether without its use . The change , even , from one town to another , is of some effect ; many persons move thus who would not otherwise move at all ; their bodies and minds are
refreshed by change of scene and occupation ; some knowledge is g&ined , and some prejudices are loosened or effaced . The art of travelling , as practised by the English gentleman in former times , whether at home or abroad , was to get over the greatest quantity of space in the least quantity of time . And even now those among us , who have more money than time or " wit , are addicted to the same habit . A more certain method of
engendering confusion of head , and of seeing enough of the outside of everything to be sure of forming the wrong opinion , could not be prescribed . The son who travels in this manner is , however , less likely to be injured than his father . The old gentleman ' s taste for novelty is gone , and a continuance of bodily motion and noise gives him annoyance . What he sees , or rather what passes
before his eyes , is new and strange ^ and therefore foolish or bad ; and he is wedded to many little habits and comforts which travelling iitipedes . He consequently returns a worse man than when lie went forth , excepting that he rates a little higher the pleasures of home . The young man enjoys noise and bustle , his spirits rise as he is shaken about ; variety and novelty are as yet his delight ;
lie sees much , mistakes half that he sees , and laughs at ev £ ry thirig ; his rest is not to be broken by a poor bed ; his appetite is proof against indifferent or strange food ; he rather enjoys than suffers from a change of habits . And if he , too , returns at last not much , wiser than when he started , he has passed his few weeks or months in pleasurable excitement , which is something ; and he can afterwards look back to the past without pain or uncharitableness .
Pedestrian tours or excursions may be prescribed to young men on the score of health , pleasure , and knowledge . In this country great facility of procuring conveyances to agreeable centres for commencing any tour is seldom wanting . It is by no means uncommon now for young men to go to the boundaries of Wales , or to the commencement of the fine country about the Cumberlaud Lakes , and then to travel on foot through the most beautiful
parts , sending on their luggage from place to place , as opportunity offers . The pedestrian will find it most to his advantage to reside for a few days in a good centrical spot , and then remove to another , by which means every place is well examined and thoroughly enjoyed . Ovw a monotonous tract , a lift may be occasionally obtained by a stage or e&r ; but the rule should be to trust to one ' s legs . The Quantity of walking that a man of average strength can
Untitled Article
I © # The Pleasure * of Walking *
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 198, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/54/
-