My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

—SURVEYING IN BEDFORDSHIRE 63Those who only know Byron by his more romanticor pathetic poems, and who may think the panegyricof the anonymous writer in The Constitutional* to beoverdrawn, should read " The Age of Bronze," whichis pervaded throughout with the detestation of war,with admiration of those who fought only for freedom,and with scorn and contempt for the majority ofEnglish landlords, who subordinated all ideas ofjustice or humanity to the keeping up of their rents.Even if it stood alone, this one poem would justifythe poet as an upholder of the rights of man and as atruly ethical teacher.As there was no work of importance after themaps and reference books of the parish we had beensurveying were completed and delivered, and winterwas approaching, I went home for a short holiday.My father and mother and my younger brother werethen living in Hoddesdon, and as there was no directconveyance I made the journey on foot. It was, Ithink, the end of November, and as the distance wasabout thirty miles, and I was not very strong, Itwo days, sleeping on the way attooka roadside publichouse.I went through Hitchin and Stevenage, andnear the former place passed a quarry of a reddishchalk almost as hard as marble, which was used forbuilding. This surprised me, as I had hitherto onlyseen the soft varieties of chalk, and had been accustomedto look upon it as more earth than stone. Theonly other thing that greatly interested me was alittle beyond Stevenage, where, on a grassy strip by* This newspaper The Constitutional—appears to have existedonly two years. The Daily News, referring to a sale of Thackerayrarities last year, states that he contributed several articles to that paperas Paris correspondent, and that, in consequence, a set of the papersold in 1899 for two hundred guineas. A friend informs me that itdoes not exist in the Bodleian Library.