William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 2

Nor is the loveliness of Fairmont Park less striking than the size. Neither the Prater in Vienna, nor Las Delicias in Seville, nor the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, though bright and varied, can compare in physical beauty with Fairmont. The drive along the Guadalquiver on a summer evening is delicious; and the views of Sevres and St. Cloud are always charming; but the Schuylkill is a more picturesque river than either the Guadalquiver near Seville or the Seine near Paris. The view from George Hill combines the several beauties of the view from Richmond Hill and Greenwich Hill. There is a wooded country rolling backwards into space. There is the wide and winding river at your feet, and, just beyond the river, camps of spires and steeples, towers and domes; and, rising over all, like a new Parthenon, the noble pile called Girard's College. Seen on a sunny day, in the Indian summer, when the forest leaves are burning into gold and crimson, and the shining marble flashes through the