Upon no equal space of earth was, or ever had
been, the same energy of human power put forth daily. At this
particular season also of the assizes, that dreadful hurricane of
flight and pursuit, as it might have seemed to a stranger, which swept
to and from Lancaster all day long, hunting the county up and down, and
regularly subsiding back into silence about sunset, could not fail
(when united with this permanent distinction of Lancashire as the very
metropolis and citadel of labour) to point the thoughts pathetically
upon that counter-vision of rest, of saintly repose from strife and
sorrow, towards which, as to their secret haven, the profounder
aspirations of man's heart are in solitude continually travelling.
Obliquely upon our left we were nearing the sea; which also must, under
the present circumstances, be repeating the general state of halcyon
repose. The sea, the atmosphere, the light, bore each an orchestral
part in this universal lull. Moonlight and the first timid tremblings
of the dawn were by this time blending; and the blendings were brought
into a still more exquisite state of unity by a slight silvery mist,
motionless and dreamy, that covered the woods and fields, but with a
veil of equable transparency. Except the feet of our own horses,--
which, running on a sandy margin of the road, made but little
disturbance,--there was no sound abroad.
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