Two or three hares scampered out
of these ferns, and sat on their hind legs looking about them, as we
drove by. A sheet of water had been drawn off, in order to deepen its
bed. The oaks did not seem to me so magnificent as they should be in an
ancient noble property like this. A century does not accomplish so much
for a tree, in this slow region, as it does in ours. I think, however,
that they were more individual and picturesque, with more character in
their contorted trunks; therein somewhat resembling apple-trees. Our
forest-trees have a great sameness of character, like our people,--
because one and the other grow too closely.
In one part of the Park we came to a small tower, for what purpose I know
not, unless as an observatory; and near it was a marble statue on a high
pedestal. The statue had been long exposed to the weather, and was
overgrown and ingrained with moss and lichens, so that its classic beauty
was in some sort gothicized. A half-mile or so from this point, we saw
the mansion of Kuowsley, in the midst of a very fine prospect, with a
tolerably high ridge of hills in the distance. The house itself is
exceedingly vast, a front and two wings, with suites of rooms, I suppose,
interminable. The oldest part, Sir Thomas Birch told us, is a tower of
the time of Henry VII. Nevertheless, the effect is not overwhelming,
because the edifice looks low in proportion to its great extent over the
ground; and besides, a good deal of it is built of brick, with white
window-frames, so that, looking at separate parts, I might think them
American structures, without the smart addition of green Venetian blinds,
so universal with us.
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