Lydia Sigourney

“ On each side of its gate-unshrinking sentinels-was a dark spruce; one spreading its arms in goodly show, the other more diminutive, and never able, by any force of culture, to equal its competitor. Its broad front, turned toward the rising sun, boasted no decoration, save the white rose and the sweet brier, trained in alternate columns to its eaves. A small court-yard of velvet-like turf, a spacious meadow in the rear, traversed by a swift, clear brook; and large gardens, with their terraces, fruit-trees, and flower-beds, made the peaceful domain beautiful. ”

“ Variety and abruptness of change marked the landscape. Here and there rose bold, beetling cliffs, like a citadel, surrounded by impregnable parapets. Expanses of the softest green were interspersed where lofty elms uplifted columns of umbrageous shade, or willows wept downward into the streams. Every brooklet was like dancing crystal. ”

“ Through their gorges wild wind-harps play when winter holds his court. Cottages are perched, like eagle nests upon the cliffs, and patrician mansions luxuriate amid lawns of velvet. White sails dance at the will of the breeze ”