Country Life and Sport
EVIDENCE multiplies very rapidly that the preservation of the native charm of rural England is becoming a crusade with the general public. What is not less satisfactory is that very .ivid interest in the subject is being shown outside Britain. For example : the Secretary of the Council for the Preservation Rural England reports that of the many letters received at the head office, at 83 Bloomsbury Square, in response to an article on the theme in the Spectator, a surprising number tome from overseas and a variety of countries. The peculiar homelike quality in English scenery is indeed almost a common- place of European literature and appeals to every visitor as peculiarly English. Though brief and simple, the most delightful tribute to the charm of the British countryside that ever I read was a casual account given by two German aimien who drifted across England in a balloon. The country, with its trim hedgerows and sheltered fields and small villages, seemed to them a succession of idealized homes and gardens. If that quality is to be kept, it is very necessary that vigorous and immediate efforts be made. Something has already been done by the C.P.R.E. in places as far apart as Glastonbury, the New Forest and Westmorland ; and it should be every- o here known that of this central council almost every aesthetic society in England is an active supporter, as well as a constitu- ent member. But the pace at which " uglification proceeds is frankly appalling.
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