An English holiday with car and camera . d. At these way-side summer-houses our forefathers, or at least theirwives and friends, used to repair in order to watchthe coaches, post-chaises, and other traffic of theroad go by, which mild excitement in a less exactingage sufficed to while away a dull hour or two, withtea and other refreshments to help. As gazeboesare gradually disappearing, we stopped to photo-graph this rather fine example of one; some daythere may be none left to photograph; indeed,during this journey we only saw two. I believethat in the old days those gathered in the gazeboesu
An English holiday with car and camera . d. At these way-side summer-houses our forefathers, or at least theirwives and friends, used to repair in order to watchthe coaches, post-chaises, and other traffic of theroad go by, which mild excitement in a less exactingage sufficed to while away a dull hour or two, withtea and other refreshments to help. As gazeboesare gradually disappearing, we stopped to photo-graph this rather fine example of one; some daythere may be none left to photograph; indeed,during this journey we only saw two. I believethat in the old days those gathered in the gazeboesused to set their watches by the mail-coaches asthey passed, which speaks well for the punctualityof the mails if not of the time-keeping of thewatches! Another disappearing and less pleasing relic ofthe past, that may still be occasionally observedwhen travelling across country, is the watch-housesthat were erected in many churchyards overlookingthe graves therein to prevent their desecration bybody-snatchers. A gruesome reminder of the. GAZEBO, NETHER STOWEY. VII COLERIDGES COTTAGE m good old days and of doing that have almostpassed from memory. One comes unexpectedlyupon many such, almost forgotten, things when on adriving tour, such as whipping-posts, scolds chairsand bridles, etc. Frankly, Nether Stowey disappointed us: trulythe country around is beautiful enough to satisfythe most exacting critic of the beautiful, but thevillage itself is plain, without any suspicion ofpicturesqueness or distinction ; it is, however, clean,homely, and sweet. Possibly we expected toomuch of Nether Stowey, hence our disappointmentfor a spot having such rich literary associationsseems to demand some grace ; thither Coleridgecame, and there he wrote The Rime of theAncient Mariner, Christabel, and other poems—^Wordsworth following Coleridge as a resident inthe neighbourhood. The cottage in which Coleridge lived stands atthe further end of the village on the way to Mine-head, it being the last
Size: 1384px × 1805px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidcu3192, booksubjectlegends
