Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Crown of Wild Olive, and Lectures on Art Twenty years ago, there was no lovelier piece of lowland scenery in South England, nor any more pathetic in the world, by its expression Of sweet human character and life, than that immediately bordering on the sources Of the Wandle, and includ ing the lower moors Of Addington, and the villages Of Beddington and Carshalton, with all their pools and streams. N O clearer or diviner waters ever sung with constant lips Of the hand which giveth rain from heaven no pastures ever lightened in spring time with more passionate blossoming; no sweeter homes ever hallowed the heart Of the passer-by with their pride Of peaceful gladness - fain-hidden - yet full confessed. The place remains, or, until a few months ago, remained, nearly unchanged in its larger features; but, with deliberate mind I say, that I have never seen anything so ghastly in its inner tragic meaning - not in Pisan Maremma - not by Campagna tomb - not by the sand-isles Of the Tor cellan shore - as the slow stealing Of aspects Of reck less, indolent, animal neglect, over the delicate sweet ness of that English scene: nor is any blasphemy or. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.