第57章 LETTER XXII(3)
Waiting for our horses,we were amused by observing the dress of the women,which was very grotesque and unwieldy.The false notion of beauty which prevails here as well as in Denmark,I should think very inconvenient in summer,as it consists in giving a rotundity to a certain part of the body,not the most slim,when Nature has done her part.This Dutch prejudice often leads them to toil under the weight of some ten or a dozen petticoats,which,with an enormous basket,literally speaking,as a bonnet,or a straw hat of dimensions equally gigantic,almost completely conceal the human form as well as face divine,often worth showing;still they looked clean,and tripped along,as it were,before the wind,with a weight of tackle that I could scarcely have lifted.Many of the country girls I met appeared to me pretty--that is,to have fine complexions,sparkling eyes,and a kind of arch,hoyden playfulness which distinguishes the village coquette.The swains,in their Sunday trim,attended some of these fair ones in a more slouching pace,though their dress was not so cumbersome.The women seem to take the lead in polishing the manners everywhere,this being the only way to better their condition.
From what I have seen throughout my journey,I do not think the situation of the poor in England is much,if at all,superior to that of the same class in different parts of the world;and in Ireland I am sure it is much inferior.I allude to the former state of England;for at present the accumulation of national wealth only increases the cares of the poor,and hardens the hearts of the rich,in spite of the highly extolled rage for almsgiving.
You know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed charity,because timid bigots,endeavouring thus to cover their sins,do violence to justice,till,acting the demigod,they forget that they are men.And there are others who do not even think of laying up a treasure in heaven,whose benevolence is merely tyranny in disguise;they assist the most worthless,because the most servile,and term them helpless only in proportion to their fawning.
After leaving Sleswick,we passed through several pretty towns;Itzchol particularly pleased me;and the country,still wearing the same aspect,was improved by the appearance of more trees and enclosures.But what gratified me most was the population.I was weary of travelling four or five hours,never meeting a carriage,and scarcely a peasant;and then to stop at such wretched huts as Ihad seen in Sweden was surely sufficient to chill any heart awake to sympathy,and throw a gloom over my favourite subject of contemplation,the future improvement of the world.
The farmhouses,likewise,with the huge stables,into which we drove whilst the horses were putting to or baiting,were very clean and commodious.The rooms,with a door into this hall-like stable and storehouse in one,were decent;and there was a compactness in the appearance of the whole family lying thus snugly together under the same roof that carried my fancy back to the primitive times,which probably never existed with such a golden lustre as the animated imagination lends when only able to seize the prominent features.