Excerpt from Picturesque Memorials of Winchester Within a still more recent period, however, a further advance, not less agreeable than surprising, has taken place in the same department of literature; by Which the splendour of topographical deco ration is maintained and even enhanced, While the expenses of its circulation are brought within a compass suitable to the pretensions not of peers and princes only, but of the vast, the intellectual, and enlightened mass of the community. AS a general means of gratifying literary taste, no light advantages may be anticipated from this extended influence of' Topography. But, besides this, there is a nobler philosophy, as well as a deeper policy, than has yet been properly developed, in attaching men, by examples of natural and artificial beauty, to the scenes of their childhood, education, residence, or other less direct associations; in unfolding to their view every hidden resource, and teaching them to love and revere whatever is lovely and venerable around them; in investing, as far as may be, the natural charms of home With those outward fascinations, which we are too apt to attribute only to distant and unknown regions in thus adding one more to the many other inducements that might be urged for domestic gratitude and content - reviving the recollections of the absent, and fixing the affections of the wavering. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.