It was divided by fences into very pleasant fields, with green lanes shaded by trees, leading from one place to another.

The brook flowed through this land along a very beautiful valley, and there were groves and thickets here and there, both along the margin of the brook, and in the corners of the fields, which gave to the grounds a very sheltered, as well as a very picturesque expression.

Mary Erskine also caused trees and shrubbery to be planted near the house, and trained honey-suckles and wild roses upon a trellis over the front door.

All these improvements were made in a very plain and simple manner, and at very little expense, and yet there was so much taste exercised in the arrangement of them all, that the effect was very agreeable in the end.

The house and all about it formed, in time, an enchanting picture of rural beauty.[A] [Footnote A: See Frontispiece.] It was, however, only a few occasional hours of recreation that Mary Erskine devoted to ornamenting her dwelling.