THE WORKS OF HANNAH MORE. VOL. II. CONTAINING TALES FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE; THOUGHTS ON THE MANNERS OF THE GREAT; &.c. WITH NOTES. LONDON: H. FISHER, R. FISHER, AND P. JACKSON. 1834. BIBL BARLEY WOOD. THIS rural mansion, memorable for its consecration to the best interests of mankind, is seated on the gentle declivity of a hill in the parish of Wrington, about eight miles to the west of the city of Bristol, in the county of Somerset. The house, previously to its coming into the possession of Mrs. Hannah More and her sisters, by purchase of the lease, about the year 1805, was the dwelling of a small farmer; and a very homely structure. Considerable improvements and additions were of course necessary, to render the place fit for the accommodation of a family of ladies, who, though retired from the lively city of Bath, were certain of receiving many visitants, and those, too, persons of the first distinction in life. With great propriety, however, the new occupants resolved to adopt the rustic style as closely as possible, in the general form of the principal structure itself, as well as in its appendages, and in laying out the grounds, which they retained in their own hands. The roof of the cottage is thatched, which is the case with most of the houses in that part of the country. The body of the building is surrounded by a colonnade of rustic arches, which affords an agreeable walk when the weather does not permit a more extensive excursion. After entering the little village of Wrington, immortalized as the birth-place of LOCKE, an avenue, clothed on each side with luxuriant evergreens, leads directly to Barley Wood; the immediate approach to which is thus described by a person who visited its venerable proprietor a little before her removal from thence to Clifton, when, as she said, "I am now an insulated being, like Alexander Selkirk, left alone in a spot planted with my own hands, but no longer enlivened by the tender relations which endeared it in the enjoyment." At this time, a thick hedge of roses, jessamine, woodbine, and clematis, fringed the smooth and sloping lawn on the one side, while, on the other, laurel and laurustinus were in full and beautiful verdure. From the shrubbery the ground ascends, and is well wooded by the flowing larch, dark cypress, spreading chestnut, and some lordly forest trees. Amidst this diversified and pleasing scenery are seen rustic seats, temples, and two monuments, one a bust of LOCKE, and the other a marble urn to the memory of PORTEUS. But Barley Wood is not merely an object of grateful attachment to the inhabitants of a particular district or county; its fame is spread to the eastern and western world. In 1823 there was published in America a view of this interesting spot, for the purpose of contributing to the support of a female missionary school, to be called Barley Wood, in the island of Ceylon. |