Not only near at hand, in
the lithe contortions with which it adapts itself to the interchanges
of level and slope, but far away also, when he sees a few hundred
feet of it upheaved against a hill and shining in the afternoon sun,
he will find it an object so changeful and enlivening that he can
always pleasurably busy his mind about it. He may leave the river-
side, or fall out of the way of villages, but the road he has always
with him; and, in the true humour of observation, will find in that
sufficient company. From its subtle windings and changes of level
there arises a keen and continuous interest, that keeps the attention
ever alert and cheerful. Every sensitive adjustment to the contour
of the ground, every little dip and swerve, seems instinct with life
and an exquisite sense of balance and beauty. The road rolls upon
the easy slopes of the country, like a long ship in the hollows of
the sea. The very margins of waste ground, as they trench a little
farther on the beaten way, or recede again to the shelter of the
hedge, have something of the same free delicacy of line - of the same
swing and wilfulness.
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