Across England in a Dog - Cart, from London to St. Davids
and Back. By James John Hissey. (Bentley.)—Mr. Hissey, who; has made frequent tours through England in his own carriage, understands the art of enjoying scenery and country life. He takes his ease at his inn, and he takes it on the road, heedless of the precepts of guide-books, and visiting nothing on compulsion. With his wife as a companion, and in splendid weather, he started from London on September 1st, 1890, in a four-wheel dog-cart and two horses, reaching St. Davids in a fortnight, a distance of 282 miles.
The return journey took rather longer ; and his horses, after covering 586 miles, are said to have looked sleeker and fresher than when they started. Mr. Hissey has a tourist's best gifts, a contempt for inconveniences, and a hearty feeling of enjoyment. He knows how to use his eyes. He possesses a fund of good sense, and has an artist's love of colour. By far the most attractive passages in his pleasant narrative are those in which a keen delight in colour lifts the writer above his usual level. Enthu- siasm in such instances gives life to a style that is disposed to be a little tame. Mr. Hissey's illustrations, of which there are many, show—if, indeed, proof were needed—what a world of loveliness is open to home travellers. Being an artist himself, the writer has an eye to the faults of artists, and is angry with Turner for pretending to represent landscapes that bear no resemblance to his fancy- pictures. In his " Llanthony," the mountains, in Mr. Hissey's judgment, have not the faintest resemblance to the original, and, for the sake of effect, the artist has converted the little river into a. mighty torrent. " The ruins he has altered altogether (a trifle to him). A. little romancing may be conceded ; but in Llanthony ' Turner has not romanced a little, he has invented everything." Mr. Hissey, by-the-way, considers that Landor left the place be- cause he could not stand the gloom of the mountains. "It wants," he says, "a strong man and a strong mind to dwell for a lengthened time thus in the heart of the mountains." And then he adds : " To me they are always beautiful, often solemn, but never mournful !"
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