Page:Walks in the Black Country and its green border-land.pdf/209

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and its Green Border-Land.
195

Coalbrookdale with its kitchen-souvenirs. Who ever heard its name pronounced without thinking of a sad-iron or an iron porridge-pot? What village or hamlet in the United States has not some memento of Coalbrookdale in suites of its hollow-ware? From the Wrekin the eye runs up and down the slopes of this great basined expanse, and takes in all this checker-work of nature, art, labour, and history in a glance.

We could not have selected a more favourable time or have had a better day for our view from the Wrekin. We not only had a splendid vista of landscapes grouped picturesquely in the best lights, but we saw a whole season in its most beautiful aspects; and the best season in the English year. The plane scenery in England in autumn cannot be equalled by that of any other country, nor by the view in this at any other time of the year. Our American skies, mountains, and trees in the Indian summer are more brilliant in their tinting than those of Eng- land; but the surface or landscape picture here in the same month excels ours in finish and beauty, and also surpasses the English scenery in spring or summer. In spring there is a monotony of tinting in the general landscape after all that the flowers can do to vary the aspect. The green shows all its resources of colouring; but green is the ground of every shade, and it