Read "Post-Prandial Philosophy" by Grant Allen online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
As I strolled across the moor this afternoon towards Waverley, I saw Jones was planting out that bare hillside of his with Douglas pines and Scotch firs and new strains of silver birches. They will improve the landscape. And I thought as I scanned them, "How curious that most people entirely overlook this constant betterment and beautifying of England! You hear them talk much of the way bricks and mortar are invading the country; you never hear anything of this slow and silent process of planting and developing which has made England into the prettiest and one of the most beautiful countries in Europe."
What's that you say? "Astonished to find I have a good word of any sort to put in for England! " Why, dear me, how irrational you are! I just _love_ England. Can any man with eyes in his head and a soul for beauty do otherwise? England and Italy -- there you have the two great glories of Europe. Italy for towns, for art, for man's handicraft; England for country, for nature, for green lanes and lush copses. Was it not one that loved Italy well who sighed in Italy --