But that in
the landscape which most engrossed the attention and awakened the
curiosity of the tender Imogen, was the appearance of the fields of
corn. It was in her eye novel, agreeable, and interesting. The harvest
was near, and the effect of the object was at its greatest height. The
tall and unbending stalk overtopped by far the native herbage of the
meadow, and seemed to emulate the hawthorn and the hazel, which, planted
in even rows, secured the precious crop from the invasion of the cattle.
The ears were embrowned with the continual beams of the sun, and,
oppressed with the weight of their grain, bended from the stalk. In a
word, the whole presented to the astonished view a rich scene of
vegetable gold. Upon this delightful object the shepherdess gazed with
an unwearied regard. Respecting it she asked innumerable questions, and
made a thousand enquiries; and it almost seemed as if her curiosity
would never be satisfied. Such is the power of novelty over the young
and inexperienced, and such the influence of the beautiful and
transcendent beauties of nature upon the ingenuous and uncorrupted mind.
But it was not possible for the shepherdess, interested as she was in
the uneasiness, to which she knew that her parents must be a prey, long
to banish from her mind the affecting consideration, or to divert her
attention to another object, however agreeable, or however fascinating.
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