The prevalent winds of winter sweeping without check along the open slope had bent the hawthorn before them, and the heat of the sultry summer day appeared the greater on that exposed height.

On either hand hills succeeded to hills, and behind I knew they extended farther than the eye could reach.

Immediately beneath in front there was a plain, at its extreme boundary a wood, and beyond that the horizon was lost in the summer haze.

Wheat, barley, and oats--barley and wheat and beans, completely occupied the plain.

It was one vast expanse of cereals, without a sign of human life; for the reaper had not yet commenced, and the bailiffs' cottages were hidden among the ricks.