Snippet from my current reading

"...life in England had a background, layers and layers of rich deep background, of history, poetry, old traditional observances, beautiful houses, beautiful landscapes, beautiful ancient buildings, palaces, churches, cathedrals."

--The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton, first published 1938

(Not a book I can particularly recommend, by the way -- I'm nearly done with it and I can't see what all the fuss is about.)