I remain, Sir,
Your obliged,
WM. WORDSWORTH.

Rydal Mount, Dec. 9, 1844.

NOTE.—­To the instances named in this letter of the indifference even of men of genius to the sublime forms of Nature in mountainous districts, the author of the interesting Essays, in the Morning Post, entitled Table Talk has justly added Goldsmith, and I give the passage in his own words.

’The simple and gentle-hearted Goldsmith, who had an exquisite sense of rural beauty in the familiar forms of hill and dale, and meadows with their hawthorn-scented hedges, does not seem to have dreamt of any such thing as beauty in the Swiss Alps, though he traversed them on foot, and had therefore the best opportunities of observing them.  In his poem “The Traveller,” he describes the Swiss as loving their mountain homes, not by reason of the romantic beauty of the situation, but in spite of the miserable character of the soil, and the stormy horrors of their mountain steeps—­

                      Turn we to survey
    Where rougher climes a nobler race display,
    Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansion tread,
    And force a churlish soil for scanty bread. 
    No produce here the barren hills afford,
    But man and steel, the soldier and his sword: 
    No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array,
    But winter lingering chills the lap of May;
    No Zephyr fondly sues the mountain’s breast,
    But meteors glare and stormy glooms invest. 
    Yet still, even here, content can spread a charm,
    Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm.’

In the same Essay, (December 18th, 1844,) are many observations judiciously bearing upon the true character of this and similar projects.

No.  II.

To the Editor of the ’Morning Post.’

Sir,

As you obligingly found space in your journal for observations of mine upon the intended Kendal and Windermere Railway, I venture to send you some further remarks upon the same subject.  The scope of the main argument, it will be recollected, was to prove that the perception of what has acquired the name of picturesque and romantic scenery is so far from being intuitive, that it can be produced only by a slow and gradual process of culture; and to show, as a consequence, that the humbler ranks of society are not, and cannot be, in a state to gain material benefit from a more speedy access than they now have to this beautiful region.  Some of our opponents dissent from this latter proposition, though the most judicious of them readily admit the former; but then, overlooking not only positive assertions, but reasons carefully given, they say, ’As you allow that a more comprehensive taste is desirable, you ought to side with us;’ and they illustrate their position, by reference to the British Museum and National Picture Gallery.  ‘There,’ they add, ’thanks to the easy entrance now granted, numbers are seen,